Intro

As an employee of the Federal Government, more specifically, The Army Corps of Engineers, the threat of FURLOUGH has been looming for months.  At first I was not sure if I'd be furloughed or not.  Then I found out that if I was furloughed, it would be one day a week for 22 weeks.  22 weeks was reduced to 11 weeks eventually, but I still didn't know if I would be affected or not, and the possibility of it being reduced to 7 days was also being thrown around.  30 days prior to the furlough start date I was asked to sign a letter stating that it was possible I would be furloughed, and then finally, last week, I received notice that I would indeed be furloughed for one day a week, for 11 weeks, starting the week of July 8th.

At first the thought of being furloughed was devastating, and the uncertainty and lack of information surrounding it was not comforting!  I of course quickly calculated how much money I would be loosing, also devastating, and decided I needed a plan!  My first step was to re-think my summer plans; I didn't want to commit to anything I wasn't sure about being able to afford.  Second step was to look for a roommate to help with my mortgage and household bills and expenses.  I had been considering the option of a roommate ever since I bought my house, but hadn't put much thought or effort into making it happen.  Luckily, right around the time there was first talk of the possibility of a furlough, one of my friends was looking to move to the city, and everything just kind of fell into place!

With a roommate to lessen the financial burden of the furlough, I was able to look at an extra day off each week in the middle of the summer in more of a positive light.  I started a list of all the things I could accomplish on my days off and continued to add to it anytime I thought of something I'd like to get done but never have time to do.  Before I knew it, I was actually looking forward to being furloughed, and as crazy as it sounds, think I would have been slightly disappointed if I didn't end up getting those days off!

So, my goal is to make these days off as productive as possible, and the idea of a blog, to hold me accountable to marking things off my list seemed like a good one!  The plan is to post what I accomplish each furlough day, so next week the posts will begin!

In conclusion, I have 2 confessions:

1)  Not all of my furlough days are on Fridays, just thought that title had a nice ring to it.
2)  I am in no way shape or form a literary genius, nor anywhere close to being one, so don't judge, and if you actually read to the end of this, thanks for bearing with me!