No one need read this. I'm just venting.
I am beyond fed up. My Etsy shops sales have trickled to literally nothing. I thought about closing them but they're my only possibility for income right now. I thankfully got signed up for legit online surveys, which pop up 2-4 a month, just to be sure to cover my fees there. This economy has really put a huge damper on the job market, add in the May Day flooding that thrashed Nashville's businesses and homes, and well, I think you get the picture. Of what feels like a bazillion resume/applications that I've sent out I've had one phone interview and less than a handful of "resume received" emails. I'm either overqualified (yes, I know, not legal but it still happens), qualified but don't have some expensive course's certificate, or I'm possibly to much of a "city slicker" with my resume being chockfull of jobs in NY & CA. I even applied for a bunch of FEMA jobs, among others, through the local gov't job bank and never heard a peep back. After the song and dance they make you do (search online, go in person to the office, talk to a couple different people then they take and forward your resume) I thought surely I'd get some work now. I came prepared, dressed nice, slapped on the smile, had a nice big list of job numbers. Nothing. Thankfully my hubby finally found something a couple weeks ago thanks to a good friend of ours. We were seriously days away from packing up the kitties and moving into our van. His finally finding a job is good because it keeps us from falling further behind in bills, etc but it's unfortunately not helping us get ahead. Ergo, I need a job or one of us needs to become famous. Famous rock star (he) or seamstrix (me) would be really nice but I'll settle for a decent job.
This is where responsible = screwed. A part of why we moved down here for the better cost of living so we could save (apartments are half as much and twice, or more, the size of NY/CA apartments), buy a nice little house and finally friggin have kids. You know, so our kids wouldn't have to grow up in a little box of an apartment, ride the subway alone at 10yrs old or worry about getting mugged/stabbed/shot by school kids.
So back to the present, with jobs being mighty scarce I looked into the possibility of getting gov't help as our last resort. I keep hearing, "it's out there, you just gotta look", so I did. Well apparently since my hubby and I want to work (*gasp* I know) and he at least managed to find something, and we have no kids because we're trying to be responsible adults, we don't qualify for jack diddly worth of anything. But if I turn into a baby factory tomorrow then we could get the help. What the hell? My self-sufficient mentality made it hard enough to look into help from anyone but then to see it wasn't even available... Maybe I missed something but have you ever had to wade through gov't websites? It made my brain hurt and my eyes cross but I did it. I filled out so many questionnaires and read FAQs galore to no avail.
I've just got to keep on keeping on, I guess, and hope I'm not a senior citizen before I see the simplest of my dreams come true. Presently I've just got to deal with my vicious cycle of getting stressed out over all this nonsense which shuts down my creativity which stresses me out even more. This of course is no good since, like I said, my Etsy shops are currently my only job. Other than cleaning up after two furballs and a husband ;) It's getting harder and harder to keep the shops going with zero budget but I'll do it as long as I can because, everything else aside, it's what I love doing. Just like my hubby and his music.
Well I've got 21 multi-colored Batling bodies in front of me just squeaking to be completed. I don't know why it's 21, that's just what came about the other day along with a handful of Neko bits. Better get to stitching!