Amie Slott

When you find yourself unemployed, you instantly realize how much of your day is no longer dictated by external priorities. It’s both liberating and terrifying all at the same time. No longer driven by other’ priorities all day, I’ve used my time off to define my own personal priorities and tackle some things I’ve never done! Here is a peak at some of the things I’ve added to and crossed of my list recently.

Painting rooms. I’ve painted rooms before but usually with my husband’s help with anything that required a ladder. This time, however, I tackled our bedroom and a stairwell all by myself.

Pulling up carpet in a stairwell and painting the steps underneath. I felt like a total badass ripping out carpet with a crowbar! When I discovered linoleum under the carpet on the landing, I phoned a friend for advice on how to get the adhesive up and with a lot of elbow grease successfully removed the linoleum and adhesive with my own two hands…and a scraper, gloves and mask!

Removed and reapplied the grout around our bathtub. We live in a nearly 100 year old house, trust me there are always projects!

Created an eCommerce site to help organize and raise funds for our church youth ministry.

Chaperoned 40 high schoolers to a conference in Southern Missouri. An ER visit and two broken fingers later, I still consider it an amazing weekend.

Free Movie Wednesday with my son at the local movie theater. Who can say no to free movies in an air conditioned theater during the heat of summer!

Lots and lots of reading!

And last week I started a course on LLMs and AI. Stay tuned for more as I complete the certification.

My favorites though…?

A trip to Chicago for a weekend of shopping with my daughter.

A weekend playing in St Louis with the family. Who can beat a brewery tour, Les Mis at the Muny, and a day at the zoo!

Lots of video game playing with my son.

Creek hikes and lake swimming.

Babysitting a friend’s 14 month old.

Substitute teaching at my son’s school.

Coffee dates and lunches with both my kids.

Time to rediscover what matters.