My husband and I have been trying to keep ourselves extremely busy for the past four months to avoid unemployment-related depression. As we currently have zero (0, none, nada, zip) income, we are getting very creative with our time and energy.
Our pond is rapidly being overgrown with an invasive pond-weed called Milfoil. This stuff makes it almost impossible to fish in the pond, and it exacerbates fish-kill in the winter by robbing oxygen from the water as the stuff dies and rots. We decided a good way to keep ourselves occupied is to drag this stuff out of the pond an armful at a time. This has also proved to be great exercise, as the stuff is terribly heavy when wet!
Hubs rigged up a hook from a piece of metal (I had salvaged it on a pre-unemployment trip to the lake), a large fishing sinker, and some nylon trot line. We throw the weed-harvesting-rig out into the pond and slowly drag it back in, bringing 20-40 pounds of the weeds back to the bank with it. We load up the garden trailer and pull up to 200-300 hundred pounds at a time to the garden. We are improving our aim every day, and spend roughly an hour a day harvesting this stuff, as well as 20-30 minutes spreading it.
The pictures aren't the best, but I think you get the idea. We are hoping to get enough "mulch" tonight to finish the paths in the tomato garden. We have also mulched our grapevines with it and hope to do our asparagus bed with it in the fall. When dry, it is very light and soft to walk on. It's a wet, dirty job, but we are enjoying working together on a big project, and it feels so good to be building muscles while recycling our pond weeds!
Source: Thought of it myself and did a little online research to see if it was a good idea---turns out it was!
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The pictures are great, so quit your belly achin'. Things like this don't usually happen when husband and wife are just lovers. They happen when they're lovers and friends.
My only regret is that I can't give you more thumbs up.
I also agree that the pictures are great! It's wonderful that the two of you can work together.
I can't say how much I admire your decision to find something constructive to do for yourselves while unemployed. I had that same experience 2 yrs. ago after a 3 mos. stay in the hospital. I couldn't work anymore and disability hadn't been approved yet. I was very weak, but felt like I wanted to do something to help us out. So I sorted little things around the house, cooked really simple things, knitted baby blankets for presents we could otherwise not afford, tore up junk mail and sale papers in small pieces to use instead of cat litter and read some books at the same time as my grandchildren, who were on the road for the summer.
Your positive attitude will bring many positive results. My kinda people!
I just wanted to say thank you to everyone for the encouraging and kind comments---they really make our day!
Great post, I hope you win!
Jacquelyn,
I appreciate what you shared about your time in the "hot seat" of unemployment...we have been doing all kinds of things too, I only took time to post this one rather "different" example.
Some days I work from "up" to "down", and I don't mean the sunrise/sunset. When I keep busy things just go better, I suppose because I don't have time to really think about our troubles too much. When I do start thinking about them, I try really hard to see the silver lining---we have so many blessings to be thankful for!
Thanks again for you comments...
You are a very smart couple! What a wonderful example you are for others! Very impressed with you both!
I've been where you are now, and looking back, it totally 'reset' my life. Now, life is good, I enjoy even the smallest things, and my stress level is nowhere it was 'before' our health problems forced us both out of the workforce suddenly.
You should start selling that pond mulch. You could make a little income that way.
I wanted to thank everyone again for their comments, encouragements and voting for me... unfortunately I probably wont be posting for a while. When it rains it pours - I'll be having surgery and some chemotherapy in the next several months.
The good news is, hubby started a new job last Monday.
Thanks again!
Home recovering from the surgery, no chemo but will gone having radiation for a while.
Hope all my TF friends are well!
Thanks Abigail--Doctors say prognosis is excellent but I can definitely say that cancer is not thrifty, and it most certainly isn't fun.
Thank you and God Bless You. This article shows that even under the most dire situation, there is still hope.
Thank you Bonnie! We're slowly starting to recover, financially, as well as physically. I think for me keeping busy was the best thing I could do,...otherwise I start to feel worthless.
Even while I was recovering from the surgeries, as soon as I could actually do it, I started crocheting, just to stay busy. It was the simplest, most mindless pattern for a potholder, but I was doing something. Two surgeries,...five potholders!
Find something to keep you busy, no matter what the hard circumstances are---you'll feel better!
Well done. I shared on my garden tips on pinterset. Great tip.
This just popped up in my email, but it seems to be an old post. For what it's worth, I just wanted to say the Lord was taking care of you in your darkest hour. Your positivity and ingenuity are a wonderful inspiration to us all. May God continue to bless you.
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