You must have read my mind. As an educator of 38 years who got the boot because I couldn't sell slots to a private preschool in tough economic times, I was shocked to find out that education and experience aside, this place just wanted a used-car salesman. Picked the wrong girl - first I'd have to believe in what I was selling.

But bitterness aside, my first act was to cash in on the unemployment I've never used over my 40-something years of work. For the next year my former employer is obligated to pay my less than living wage while I join the other 8,9% of the people in my area who are also trying to find a job. Currently the obvious economic recession has dried up the administrative marketplace when it comes to private schools. What do you think will go first, the payment for the Hummer or Sarah's spot at a pricey preschool?

Next I "reallocated and restructured" - very much the way GM is supposed to be doing with our bailout money. I put my gimlet eye on the combined funds my husband and I bring in each month. Fortunately we don't owe astronomical amounts and we have been living carefully since my husband retired several years ago. But things like movies every weekend fell to the financial ax...and I just adore movies! We aren't dedicated concert and play goers but we'd squeeze in one of them every couple of months. Well, we did, but now we don't.

The places that were most obvious to cut were the meals out, the Starbucks treats and the entertainment. Sounds like we were going to stay home and play a lot of Old Maid, but during the good times we'd purchased museum memberships. It turns out that Los Angeles County Museum of the Arts has a marvelous theater and every Tuesday they show vintage flicks for a buck if you are a senior citizen. Pretty reasonable and you can take a picnic lunch and have a great day out.

The next thing in my restructuring business plan was to look at bills and see how to best manage them. If you pay the minimum on your credit card bill you will end up going backward because there is a juicy interest payment each month to consider, so minimum plus interest plus 10% seemed pretty good. Buying a fabulous work wardrobe, which had been justifiable at one time, came to a grinding halt. Too bad, I also love shopping, but that led to the closet where I pulled out the wardrobe and gave it a look. There were several new combinations I hadn't seen before. Because shopping is like a spiritual experience for me, I promised myself a foray out to the thrift store if the urge became unbearable.

Then I decided to be realistic and match income with outgo - that means confessing to every penny that goes out - no cheating and getting an extra $40 cash back on the grocery receipt. That is not found money. You would be surprised if you did this to find out how much leakage there is in the family budget. You can definitely put a stop to a lot of waste if you are willing to honestly slash the pork.

Of course the whole object of being unemployed is to become gainfully employed once more, so that meant I needed to take stock of my skills. I am an educator and an administrator. I also happen to be a writer. Well, now I answer ads for writers as well as educators. There are a ton of little part time writing jobs out there, and hardly any educational administrative jobs within a reasonable commute. .

But being around children is a big draw for an educator. So, here's a job that I created for myself that brings in a great deal of money per hour, if not in a week. Every elementary school has a passel of children hanging out after school and the parent organization usually strives to find people who can come in and corral a class of about 15 for an hour. Each child pays a little, plus a material fee and it's win/win. I just finished a holiday cooking series to children from 1^st through 5^th grades. It was filled; it was popular; it was profitable, but alas, it's only 1 hour and 1 day in the week. Remember that any money made while unemployment is deducted from your weekly check. In this case, this is about establishing a relationship. If I were to do this 5 days a week at this school and other elementary schools in the area, I would be off unemployment and doing something I love to do for an hour plus maybe another 45 minutes for set-up and clean-up.

I am at a point where I would certainly go back to work 8 hours a day if it were in my chosen profession, or if that doesn't happen, I believe I can parlay my talents into profit by using them in different ways. I do volunteer time in my week because there are work skills to be gleaned and relationships to establish. I do teach cooking to the kids at church for free and because of that I was inspired to go to the schools with the same offering and make money. I don't mind tithing time at church, but outside of that, my cooking classes equal a moneymaking skill. Don't forget that all of my cooking series lessons are also marketable as either a cookbook or up on line.

I know I will never stop working, recession or not, and I need to be clever enough to figure out how to have some time to myself without enslaving myself to a 9 to 5 job I'm not crazy about. If I can keep spending in check and still do what I love to do, I'm the winner. Most of all, I have found that coping means keeping a positive attitude that things will improve soon enough and that I can manage, if not sumptuously, at least in an acceptable manner.

My entertainment is now of the free to half-price variety. Parks and beaches don't cost money. Having friends over for cards and a slice of pie is just like it was in the old days when we were young and broke. These can be some of the best times. Christmas came just the same then as it did this year. Gifts were homemade and well loved. We are not alone out there in the big world without a dollar to spare. Adults agreed we didn't need or want anything for the holidays except time to spend together. Even the kids seemed to catch the spirit. The daughter of a friend asked for a Slinky for her birthday, bless her heart.

Nowadays we have seen the monster and it's flat broke too. Many friends aren't asking when they can resume their former opulent lifestyles, but rather shaking their heads and wondering what in the world led them to behave that way in the first place. Once we got over the fear of being out on the streets, at least we were able to dig down and find our good old American values that say, Yes We Can, and we probably don't need a big corporate bailout to achieve it.

My parents came through the Great Depression and they talked about Victory Gardens and making do in creative ways. It's almost a privilege to think that we can gain strength fro these good people today and shore up our economy and our country with pride.