Sunday Recap and Unemployment Fun

So it's been a moderately successful day.  I finished fixing the weatherstripping on my trunk, as well as de-cluttering the car and repackaging my emergency car kit to conserve more space.  Made sure a 7-gallon water can I recently picked up held a seal and could be held in place with a seat belt in the back seat (it can).  Also cleaned out my cooler and got it set up out in the car.  I made a magnetized mosquito net/screen to fit over the sun roof of the car, which will have its uses.  All these activities relate to the big project I'm working on, that should, soon, be ready for a grand reveal.

I grabbed a Nutrisystem Carmel Sundae Swirl ice cream treat for a snack, since I missed breakfast and lunch.

I really don't care for care for ice cream all that much, but I'm trying to avoid my shelf food to maintain my stock for the project I'm working on.  It held me over to dinner, which was good enough for me.

For dinner, I had a Lean Cuisine Margherita Pizza, and it was pretty good.

I also had  some cauliflower (vegetable) and light ranch dressing (fat) for sides.  It was a good meal, and fortified me for finishing some of my work with the car this evening.

I just realized as I was writing this (I took a break to file my weekly unemployment claim) that I'm about to exhaust my EUC (emergency unemployment compensation) tier 1 benefits, in a few weeks, which is problematic.  I'm hesitant to mention the joys of unemployment, here, but this is part of the whole experience of me.

Now, running out of tier 1 wouldn't be a problem (other than, you know, the crushing depression that goes with long-term unemployment), I'd normally pass straight to tier 2, except for the fact that congress didn't pass the extension before the Memorial Day recess.  They're starting to consider the bill again Monday, and if they pass it, I should be able to continue receiving benefits without interruption.

For anyone not familiar with the progression of benefits, for most states, the one I'm from particularly, there is an initial 26-week period of benefits provided from the state itself.  Following that, you enter the period covered by the federal EUC, for which you must apply, which is comprised of 3 tiers.  The tiers cover 20 weeks, 14 weeks, and 13 weeks, respectively.  People who qualified for tier 1 automatically start the tier 2 benefits if they do not go off of unemployment before the period begins, and have to file a special claim when their tier 2 benefits run out and they want to apply for tier 3 benefits.  After that point, many states have instituted extension programs.  All told, this is 76 weeks+state extensions.

If they pass the bill, I'm going to continue planning on the big project I've been talking about, and concern over this is why I haven't revealed my plans fully, because it's dependent upon having that small amount of cashflow.  Otherwise, I'll just drop the project, and be glad that I took care of some of the minor projects I've had going on in the meantime.