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In A School Daze

“I’d rather have a life of “oh wells” than a life of “what ifs.” 

One of my Facebook friends posted these words of wisdom on her page recently. And believe me, I’m not judging this philosophy. I actually envy it. And, how I wish it was that simple for me to live in such a carefree way. But, unfortunately, I am dealing with this pandemic with more anxiety than positivity lately.

Like many parents, I desperately want our kids to go back to school and return to some sense of normalcy. Andrew does so much better in an interactive classroom setting than reading from a screen. Jenna can be a successful student either way, but obviously prefers attending lectures on campus to learning online. As their mom, I hope they are able to enjoy their youth and all of the milestones that come with it.

But, there is a flip side. The virus hasn’t disappeared like some people would like us to believe. As I write this post, CNN is reporting three million cases of COVID-19 in the U.S. THREE MILLION! That is some hoax!

(P.S. – it’s NOT a hoax.)

I hate to admit I have concerns. I would much rather have a c’est la vie‘ attitude. While I have been incredibly impressed with our school superintendent, local officials and the governor, who is thankfully not beholden to the president, all the precautions in the world may not be enough. On the other hand, what other choice do we have? I don’t want to be confined to our homes indefinitely. In some ways, life must go on and school is a big part of the process. As parents, we have all done our due diligence by reminding the kids about handwashing, social distancing and mask-wearing. Schools have put a lot of provisions in place and made changes for a safe return and are still working tirelessly to address other issues.

But, this is some scary shit. Am I right? The curve has not flattened and yet we are going from 0-60 – from lockdown to small groups at a social distance to being thrown into crowded schools. In my neck of the woods, restaurants are still limited to take out and outdoor dining only. How will schools do it any better?

I’m clearly in a daze when it comes to this unusual back-to-school season. We are dealing with things we have never dealt with before and on a global level. Hopefully, the plexiglass, hand sanitizer and temperature checks will protect all of our kids until a vaccine is discovered. In the meantime, I will pray that it all comes to an end soon enough.

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Anti-Coronavirus Activities

I’m sick of talking about this virus. Talking about it and listening to the news is like a plague within a plague.

So, I’m not going to write about it either. At least, not tonight. Here are some wonderful distractions to keep me from talking or listening or reading about…well, you know.

Let’s see…

I’ve become quite the competitor on Words With Friends–so much so that I had to delete the game from my phone because I was getting nothing else accomplished.

In other exciting news, I am one entire book ahead of schedule on my 2020 Goodreads challenge. I’m hesitant to recommend any of them to you though. Not because they weren’t fantastic reads, but picking the books you want to read should be up to you. Everyone has their own taste, and there are so many to choose from. Having said that…if you don’t have The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides on your list, you must buy it immediately.

Just sayin’ 😉

if you have followed my blog for a while or are one of my Facebook friends, you know that jigsaw puzzles bring me much joy and a zen feeling many of us might be craving these days because of… oops, never mind.

I’ve lost track of how many of them I’ve done since March. All I can say is that I know I’ve ordered more puzzles than I’ve finished. My TBC (to be completed) tower of puzzles might be just as tall as the TBR pile on my nightstand.

Oh! I was so bored one day that when Staples sent me an email requesting a review of my purchase of Wite-Out, I couldn’t say no. Perfect timing! How did they even know I was a writer?! I told them I’d be happy to. I thought it was pretty creative, but you tell me.

“Seriously? What can I say about Wite-Out? You don’t know you need it or remember that it even exists until you mess something up, and it is literally the only thing that can come to your rescue. Great texture. Same horrible smell. Not too tasty. But, it worked like a dream. Does it really need to come in a two-pack? I only needed one bottle.”  

Sadly, this might be the highlight of my quarantine life. That and spending time with my family, of course.

What are you doing to distract yourself these days?

 

 

5 Steps to Updating Your Resume

When was the last time you updated your resume? How about your LinkedIn profile? If you can’t remember, it might be time to revisit it. Nearly five years ago, I hired a career coach to help me figure out my next move. He helped me with my resume, cover letter, interview skills and networking strategy. I learned so much from him that I constantly call the experience life-changing. And while I am no expert in resume writing, here are a few things I’ve learned along the way.

Step 1: Update the basics
Did your phone number change? Is the email address you have listed the one that you check on a regular basis? Do you list your current address? Some experts say you only need to list your city and state but not your address. If you have any security concerns or wish to keep some information private, it’s perfectly okay to leave out your street.

Step 2: Revise your job description
If you only list your job duties and not your accomplishments, you are selling yourself short. Resumes in 2020 need to include not just what you are responsible for but what have you done to make a difference. Your accomplishments tell your story and the more metrics you add to your resume, the better it looks. For instance, my job description says I coordinate major fundraising initiatives, but my accomplishment is that I raised nearly $225K in the last end-of-year campaign making it the most successful in the history of the organization. Your accomplishments are what will get you noticed.

Step 3: Take out certain age-defining items
This is an easy thing to do, but not everyone does it. Get rid of your graduation dates. Future employers only need to know where you graduated from, what type of degree and course of study, and any awards you want to highlight. Another thing to consider is to only list your last three jobs on a resume because they are probably the most relevant to the type of position you want. This is something I haven’t done yet, but I’m seriously thinking about it.

Step 4: Make sure your LinkedIn profile matches your resume
I was recently promoted and added it to my LinkedIn profile, but not to my resume. What happened? The hiring manager wondered why it was online but not in print. It can be a red flag when job searching materials are inconsistent. You want to present yourself in the best way on paper and online. And if you don’t think they are checking out your LinkedIn profile, you would be mistaken.

Step 5: Proofread everything
Typos have no place on your resume. If human resources managers find a misspelled word, a missing word or the wrong punctuation, your resume will wind up in the circular file. You could be the perfect candidate for the position, but you won’t get far in the process if mistakes are found. Have someone with a good eye for spelling and grammar to review your resume. Read your resume (and cover letter) out loud to yourself. Run a spell check, but don’t depend on it completely because it always misses words that are spelled correctly but not necessarily the word you meant to use. Here’s a perfect example of this, I read the resume of a qualified young man for a public relations job, except he spelled it as pubic relations. 😉

Whether you are looking for a new job or have some free time on your hands, updating your resume to present your best self to employers will pay off in the long run.

 

 

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