Week One:
- Worry about money but then buy bread, milk and $5 in lottery tickets during an emergency grocery store run. (I just needed beer and diapers to round out the unemployed stereotype. Oh yeah, and I just won another losing ticket.)
- Take the kids swimming at the YMCA since we’ve already paid up for the month.
- Canceled all unnecessary monthly expenses.
- Play tennis and talk about taking lessons because what else do we have to do while we wait for people to call us back about jobs and maybe we should really be treating this like a nice paid vacation since we know we’ll be fine and get some sort of job anyway.
Week Two:
- Get frustrated because the only people calling us for jobs are insurance companies and fishy marketing companies.
- Play more tennis.
- Check email by the half hour for possible job opportunities.
- Tell ourselves people probably won’t contact us this week because it’s the week of July 4th and most of them are on vacation.
- Begin a great time with our friends Julie and Chris. They provide plenty of laughs and confidence boosting!
- Prepared for our garage sale that was planned prior to the job loss. Now though, it’s for more than just spending money.
Week Three:
- You guessed it. Play tennis. (We’re actually getting pretty good!)
- Get excited after two legitimate companies express interest in Andrew. One sets up a phone interview and a recruiter for the other (CSX!) called him after finding his resume online.
- Went shopping for job interview attire with Julie and Nia “just in case.” So far, there’s no need to remove the tags.
- Hoped garage sale would make a lot of money for us but we only made 10% of what we could have. Planning to have another in a few months.
- Took the kids to Chuck E. Cheese and had a blast! We’re pretty sure the $30 spent there won’t hurt us in the long run. Besides, it was worth it!
- Take Andrew’s business suit and shirts to the dry cleaners. Stress because I told the lady heavy starch but somehow she convinced me I wanted light starch. Will the lack of starch cost Andrew a job?!
Week Four:
- Feel a sense of comfort when Andrew’s parents arrive for a week long visit.
- Become bummed because no one is calling me for a job. I’ve applied for 10 positions but none in TV news. I’m just not going there until I really have to go there. It seems that may happen pretty soon.
- Andrew has a great phone interview with a company and they tell him they want him to meet all the big bosses for another interview. The only problem – it’s an hour and a half away from our house. We’re not writing it off yet but yikes!
- Another round of tennis for the budding stars.
- Andrew prepares for an upcoming hiring conference which is how he got his first job out of the military at Best Buy. Basically, head hunters arrange for a bunch of Fortune 500 companies to interview former military members and you’re pretty much guaranteed a job offer. Fingers crossed for that!
- Andrew and I go bowling and had the best time. It doesn’t get any better than two pitchers of beer, 3 games of bowling, my 5 strikes, some skee ball and a dangerous bout of air hockey. A memory I will hold close to my heart forever.
- Waiting and hoping as we make the most of our time together.
Are You Zhazha? 
Well, you know what you should do. Play doubles at the US Open in a couple weeks and your money problems will be over! I'm thinking about you both because my job is always on the line. Stress sucks. *Hugs* and prayers for your answers soon!
Sending lots of positive vibes your way!
Good luck, guys! I'm thinking of you often and hoping that this ends up leading to something better in the long run (fingers crossed).