Apologies

I owe anyone who's been here a huge apology. I would also like to say sorry to Kelly at http://almostfrugal.com/ who was nice enough to give me a guest spot on her blog on December 9th, and I didn't even drop in and leave a comment. She has an excellent site, by the way. You should visit.

My only excuse is that I allow things to weigh me down and cancel out my voice. Instead of logging in when times are tough and pounding out something on my keyboard, I choose to do things like sit in a chair and stare at a wall instead. I know, real productive.

I'll explain how my silence started. First I have a son who is incredibly talented (totally unbiased motherly opinion here) in art. He was accepted to an art school in California. His paperwork was complete and he was going to go full time and live on campus in student housing so he used the last of his money to buy a plane ticket and off he went. When he arrived he was told that all of his loans did not go through so he could only take two classes instead of four and he would not have a place to stay. We were broke in Florida and my son was homeless in California. He stayed as long as he could hopping from one couch to another, went to school and looked for work. he never found a job or a place to stay so I used the cash we had saved to repair our car to bring him home on a bus. It was a little bit cheaper than a plane and when every penny counts...

Second, my dad was planning to visit over the holidays. He has prostate cancer which leached into his bones. He's been surprisingly healthy but he's a tough man. When he went for his check-up he found he needed two units of blood and further treatments that cancelled his plans.

Third my sister who is diabetic had an amputation over a year ago that never healed properly and she had to go in for more surgery to remove more of her leg. She's recovering now and working hard to build up her strength and balance.

In addition, my eldest daughter and her year old son were planning to visit when her grandfather came down. She was starting to get her life in order. Her boyfriend found a full time job, they purchased a used car, she was going to school, and they were set to move into a rental of their own. Then the car broke down and they couldn't take the rental because it was outside of town where they would need a car. She dropped school. Then, worst of all, her boyfriend sliced almost half his finger off on the saw at the meat packing plant where he worked. He then lost his job because he failed the post accident drug test. Lovely.

Other than all of that, everything is fine. I am working as many hours as they will give me. We are packed into our two bedroom house. My youngest who moved here with us originally has one bedroom, my husband and I the other. Currently, my son has the living room floor, two air mattresses have popped. We don't have money for extravagances but we are surviving.

I really can't complain. My husband, youngest daughter, and myself all have jobs which in this area are particularly hard to come by. Even fast food restaurants seldom hire. I just hope my son can find work soon.