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The first week of my unemployment was spent, as is quite typical I understand, in an emotional jambalaya of anger, fear, sadness, resentment, exhilaration, indignation and relief. I think I cried every day. Despite that, I managed to go on a job interview on Friday.

The second week of my unemployment I swung into gear assembling all my pertinent job search paraphernalia, I applied for unemployment, I watched the dismal want ads and I cleaned. I cleaned my whole house from top to bottom. Dusted and vacuumed and threw out and put away all the stuff that gets neglected over time when one only gets two days a week to de-compress from the stress of working Monday to Friday. I think I only cried once.

I've been walking everyday and doing my stretching yoga because I want to feel more confident in my clothes when I go on job interviews.

On Tuesday, I roasted a chicken (whole, Foster Farms at Safeway .79/lb) I served it with mashed potatoes, green beans and dinner rolls. It made for a hot and nourishing dinner on a fair Autumn evening.

Yesterday, I made a rich and healthy chicken stock from the leftover chicken. Simmering that golden goodness for hours and filling the house with homey aromas. And then turned that into a Minestrone.



Garden vegetables sautéing.




After adding the tomato and chicken stock base.

Served it with some warm crusty bread. Even the teenager liked it.



I used this recipe from MyRecipe.com as a basis for this first effort of mine making a Minestrone, although I improvised some things, like substituting the squash we had for the zucchini and yellow squash and using our family favorite red kidney bean instead of the Great Northern Beans. I especially liked the baby spinach leaves.

Since many of the vegetables came from our own garden produce (squash and tomatoes) I think I made very economical use of our food shopping budget. Every little bit helps.

I applied for a really promising looking job offer yesterday. Keep your fingers crossed for me. Please.