How about looking into "Temping" as both a temporary way to extend your unemployment and also, a permanent solution.

When was laid off a few years ago I would do temping that usually went about 12 weeks. Then would extend my unemployment as officially ending a temp job is losing the job through no fault of your own. I really enjoyed temping as it allowed me to do different things with different people and frankly I wasn't expected to produce too much. Because I was a "temp".