Work

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Piecemeal Income

I still haven’t had any hits on a full-time job and time is running out to make ends meet for June. I’m grabbing every little contract I can.

Today, I’m spending about four hours counting cars for a traffic survey, from 7AM to 9AM and from 4PM to 6PM. The morning shift flew by! There was a lot of traffic so learning to use the counter device and coordinate my fingers kept my mind occupied. I hope to be more accurate this afternoon. The most important thing I learned is to not drink a giant coffee if you’re going to be sitting in a car for two hours. 🙂

I also have an extra day of flier delivery this week, so that will help the bottom line.

One thing I’m having to do this month that I hate is be very aggressive with my accounts receivable. I did a contract for someone who has tons more work for me, but she is ignoring every email where I ask about being paid for the first batch. Needless to say, I don’t have time to waste with someone who has no intention of paying me!

I still can’t believe I’ve been here almost eight weeks and haven’t had a nibble, not when I’ve been employed in much smaller markets in much less time!

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Discipline

I think of myself as a very undisciplined person. I procrastinate a lot and need external motivation to do the chores I hate. So I’m always amazed that I can successfully work for myself at home. I dragged myself out of bed at seven this morning (seven!) and was in the office hard at work by eight. I knew that tomorrow’s deadline is doable but would require very long days. I was right; I didn’t clock out till 8 tonight and it’ll probably be the same tomorrow.

But, of course, I don’t work straight through. I took a break in the morning to put ingredients in the breadmaker, had a proper lunch break,  went on a walk in the late afternoon to regain my focus, and had a proper dinner break (mustard chicken with veggies and fresh bread to mop up the sauce!). I still managed to put in close to a ten-hour work day.

This is truly the way I prefer to earn my bread; working in intense spurts at my own pace. I’m not going to give up working at building a viable and steady self-income stream even while I am very open to finding an external job.

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No Trouble Keeping Busy

I didn’t have much planned for today, just a bit of laundry and finishing up my flier routes for the week.

Well…

I woke up to find out my bid for an interesting contract was accepted! It’s a 500 page document that is putting my translation, proofreading, and coding skills to the test. I have to deliver the final product on Monday. It’s going to be a busy weekend!

Before starting on that, I did two flier routes. Doing the fliers is now a joy. My body has adapted to the exercise, I’ve mastered the most efficient way to do them, and except for one day I’ve always had perfect weather to do them. The money is such a joke, but I really am being paid to get some fresh air and exercise so doing them is most definitely worth my time.

I came back in for lunch and to start the laundry. I decided that I might as well do a marathon day of it and do ALL my bedding, towels, and clothes. I stopped counting loads at six… I worked on my project between loads and when the end of the laundry was in sight I headed out to do the last of my flier routes.

It was almost five when I came back in so I switched over some laundry and then made a nice dinner with the last of the salmon I bought in Oregon! YUM. The laundry was all done by the time I finished dinner so I decided to burn a few more calories by making the beds.

The bed in the back was cat-free, so I started on it. Of course, by the time I’d laid the bottom sheet down I suddenly had two cats to contend with. They weren’t happy when I made them move so I could add the covers, but I finally got it done. They flopped down as though they’d been the ones running around like mad all day so I figured I’d be able to do the loft bed in peace. HA. I’d no sooner gotten the sheets in place than Neelix was insisting on helping me!

By the time the laundry was dealt with and the dinner dishes done, I decided I’d earned an ice cream so I went to the convenience store across the street to get one!

I think I’ll put in a couple more hours of work before curling up with the novel I started the other night. Might as well get a head start on the mammoth project; I suspect it’s going to be a race to the finish line!

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Such Adorable Kitties

It’s been a ho-hum kind of day. I had an interview for a part-time position, but I didn’t come out feeling like anything was going to come of it.

My cats decided to cheer me up when I came in by being SO CUTE. If anyone is sick of seeing my cats, tough! 😀

Neelix taking a bath. Notice how he’s pinning down his tail.

Tabitha sitting behind the computer watching a birdie on the fence the way I watch the latest episode of House.

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The Toughest Job Market Ever

I cannot believe I have been in Lethbridge for just going on five weeks and have absolutely no job prospects. I have never sent out this number of resumes (more than 100) with absolutely no response. I’m shocked because there are so many want ads out there. It’s not like Osoyoos or Campbell River where I had to throw all my hopes into one or two places.

Moreover, I haven’t been able to pick up another contract in months. I have reached the end of my resources and am just grateful to be in a safe place that eliminates some worries. I can get through May, barely, but after I’m staring at a brick wall. And every day that I’m not bringing in a living wage (because I am working a little every day) is one more day where I watch my dream of going south for five months next winter march away.

Taking the winter off to push out the full-timing ebook and prepare the seminar was a huge financial mistake. I’m only sharing this as a heads up to others who would want to follow in my footsteps and RV pre-retirement. The whole ‘do what you love, the money will follow’ thing is complete bull!

I don’t regret not heading back up to Yukon, though, because of the cost of getting up there and back. I just wish I hadn’t been so complacent in my first few weeks in Lethbridge. I was sending out so many resumes I figured that the calls would start flooding in. Ha!