How did you??????

So during my last week in Hartford I finally had dinner with my new (old) boss. Its the first time I've seen him since he was in IL traveling for work back in like February. He asked me an interesting question at dinner "How did you keep yourself busy while on layoff". He went on right away to say that he knew how much I needed to keep myself busy, and talked about his struggles when he was just on his rolling lay off weeks. See, my boss, does NOT know the meaning of work life balance. He said that the first couple of weeks he was on rolling layoff he went home to Brazil, so that was easy, but his second two weeks were at home. He did some honey do activities the first couple of days into that first week..but after that he was going crazy not being able to look at his laptop or blackberry. Mind you, my boss normally DOES check his blackberry from the beach, in fact, he's been emailing me from his vacation THIS week. I answered, which I'll share below, but we came to the conclusion that he really need some hobbies before he retired or else he'd drive himself (and I think his wife) crazy in his retirement!

So...what did I do on my layoff this summer....

Stuff around the house:
-Refinishing the deck
-Painting the kitchen
-Cleaning out the garage
-Cleaning out / organizing the basement
-Organizing (as best as one can) the craft room

Crafty stuff:
-Taught 2 sock classes and a sweater class (therefore also knitting 2 pairs of socks and sweater along with students)
-Knit the Decimal sweater from knitty as a sample for a friend to use at this year's TNNA trade show (wonder when I'm getting that back???)
-Knit a shawl for BFF's wedding in Seattle
-Cast on a handful of other projects still in process
-Photographed lots of my stash to update Ravelry
-Photographed and loaded several of mom's knitted items to our Etsy store
-Brought out the sewing machine and made Elphaba several new harnesses in an effort to perfect my design and possible sell some on our Etsy store

Travel:
-Lots of weekends in Naperville with mom
-Trip to Nashville to stay with one BFF and hubby
-Trip to PA to visit all my dear friends there
-Trip to CA for other BFF's bridal shower/bachelorette weekend (thanks dad for the plane ticket!)
-Trip to WA for BFF's wedding (guess technically I was working again by then but it was on a rolling layoff week!)

Misc:
-Watched the entire series of the West Wing from start to finish (thanks to Bravo reruns)
-Watched the entire series of Las Vegas from start to finish (thanks to TNT reruns)
-Started watching entire ER series again (this one is still ongoing since it only airs once a day unlike the other two that aired 2-3 times a day, also thanks to TNT reruns)
-Caught up on misc premium cable shows thanks to netflix instant watch on my tivo
-Walking and bike riding, 1 1/2 hours or so a day

So in general, I found LOTS of things to do to keep myself busy. In fact, if I didn't work, and didn't have to worry about money, then I think I would enjoy my time immensly without a job. The problem is the money. Despite what it might sound like, my fears about money and how long it would last me kept me from doing much. I agonized over going to see a movie or stopping at the redbox even to pick up a $1 DVD rental. I was horrified when I needed to replace all four tires on the CR-V and how that cost more than a single car payment.