Hanging by a thread

So, have any of you ever felt so overwhelmed that your entire existence felt like it was held together by a mere piece of thread?

Well, sometimes i do. And right now is one of those times. You know, when I first lost my job I actually thought, "well, at least I will be home more and be able to do stuff with the kiddos and do some of the projects I have always wanted to do." But alas, I actually seemed to be busier, you know, looking for a job and doing more cleaning for example.

And now I find myself with a job, even if it is for half of what I was making. So I try to do other little things to make money and now. I work twice as hard as I used to and still don't come close to what we used to make. (BTW, Our ENTIRE household income is now at 50% of what it is.)

So, the cuts get deeper. We are actually thinking of cutting out the home phone line. I know! Crazy! Anyway, the plus side of that is no calls looking for money. hehe

Anyway, we laid out our income and listed all the expenses. Not a fun time to be sure. So now that we are done slashing, at least for now, we are stressing out but at least we are taking turns. As of yet, we have yet to both be stressed out over our lack of income at the same time. Hope that holds out for awhile.

Whew----------------------------let me catch my breath


So, I think a lot about what is really important. I mean, WHAT is REALLY important? I think that is a question that is quite loaded actually. What matters the most to me?

I know for a certainty what my answers are. And while I really want to keep the house and I love our vehicles etc. etc. If my family is happy and healthy and safe, that is all that really matters. There is always a chance at a new house or a new car later on.... but with your family...you only get one shot.

So I DO have a question for you marvelous bloggers out there.

Is there anything you have had to cut back on?

What about ingenious ways to stretch your dollars? I have definitely seen more and more blogs about being thrifty. Awesome!

And since we are all from different parts of the country/world, how are things economically in your community?

As always, thanks for visiting and Have a great day!

That song in your head.....

So, I have posted several times about music. Some of you(Emma) have called me out for my music and taken some guesses on who I am based on my music. It has been fun to say the least.

Well, music is a defining part of my life. As I have stated before I feel that there is a song for every part of our life. Life has a soundtrack. We just need to plug in our own music.

In a recent blog visit I saw an awesome post about an old tv sit com. The first thing I did when I thought of the show was start singing the theme song in my head. Do you do that?
I thought it was so funny how I could remember it after not hearing it for so long.

Now I wonder what you all think about this? Are there shows that you just can't help but sing the theme song to? What about other songs in general. Are there some special songs that define certain moments in your life?

I'd love to hear about it.

Have a great day!

Hitting the proverbial wall!

Ever just have a bad day?


While I think I have had a pretty good attitude through the whole layoff thing I think I am mentally starting to hit "the wall".

And I am feeling really terrible for my down and out feelings. Guilty even. I have really come to grips with the fact that the lord allows us to have trials in order to test us. I really do believe that how we face diversity is what really defines us.

Through all the emotional ups and downs through the last month, I have kept it pretty well together. I even allowed myself to be happy on occasion. But now, even with the cuts, there are more needed. We are now actually living the way we told ourselves we could. And do not get me wrong, I do know that we could be even worse off. (never ever, ever, never say out loud "can it get any worse?!")

Bills are due and past due and we decide what is important NOW, and what can wait(as if money will magically appear later) Anyway, My Internet access is one of the things that had to go. It is a luxury and a convenience, but not necessary.(sure it is, lol, but hence the reason for such bad blog stalking lately)

So we at my house have started making lists. Lots and lots of lists. One of those lists are the things we decided are the must pays. The things that we feel need to be paid before anything else. Obviously, church tithes and Mortgage top the list. There are only a few other items on this MUST PAY list. And then of course we have lists of debts, and lists of wants. Then we have lists of needs, whether we can afford them all or not.

Funny how when you really investigate your needs, most of them are just wants. Something to think about, no?

So, of course I want to know what ya'll think. Do you make lists? What kind of lists do you make? And last but not least, tell me your biggest want in life, hint, not a need, but a want. Like a dream or desire from the bottom of your consciousness.

Okay, well, I will see you soon,

Follow the rules?

What is the first thing that goes through your mind when someone gives you a rule to follow?



Times up. Is your first reaction to question that rule? I ask this because I happened to notice something the other day. It was outside of a business establishment that had a posted notice that there was no smoking allowed on their premises. I read this as I past an employee smoking right next to it. Where was my camera when I needed it?



Anyway, I laughed about how it looked, but it has got me thinking. Now, I am not posting this about smoking. This was just the incident that started this train of thought. See if you can follow me through this thought.

The more I thought about it, the more instances I was able to recognize in life where the rules were ignored. Let's visit a few just for giggles.

• The toddler who when told not to put their hands on something hot proceeds to do just that.
• The junior high student who when told not to have "certain" friends or listen to "certain" music, do so because it is what they were told not to.
• The high school student who takes up smoking or worse because they were told it was wrong
• The young college student who cheats on an exam or copies someones notes.
• What about at work: Do you steal paperclips? What about rules about gifts from clients.
• Taxes! Who can even follow all the different"rules" involved here?
• I worked with people who said, "oh yeah, you are not supposed to (fill in the blank) but everyone does, so just to let you know"
• Often do I see someone make left turn on red when there is no cop in site.
• Is it really a business dinner if it's watching Monday night Football with the buddies?
• Do we use the Car pool lane when we shouldn't?
• What about going through the express checkout with more than 10 items.

These are just a few of the everyday rules that are broken. There are some who will not break any of them. And then there are those who seem to break as many as they can get away with. The rest of us are all somewhere in-between.

So, are you a rule breaker?

What is the threshold for how serious you treat a rule handed down lets say at work?

Do you judge others based on what rules they follow?

What rules have you broken this week?

What rules have you seen broken this week?

Have a great week stalkers!

BlogStalker revealed!

Okay everyone, it's finally time to take off the veil of secrecy and come out of the shadows!

I wrestled with whether to do this for several days now. The problem is I have become so busy as of late. I have found a lot of part time and spotty work, here, there and everywhere to try and make up for the lack of income now that I am part of the unemployment statistics. I of course am working twice the amount I was used to for about 1/2 of what I was used to.

So what happened is that I was trying to keep up with the family(very important) and blogging(important, but not necessary) and of course that animal ----sleep---.

SO HERE IS THE DEAL! I AM GOING TO MERGE MY FAMILY BLOG WITH BLOGSTALKER!

This will have many benefits, not the least of which will be that I will only have to post on one blog so I might actually post semi-regularly.

My biggest worry is that once you all know who I am,.......FOR REAL.........I will become so boring to everyone that none of you will ever come back. But, I guess that is the chance I take.

So

Without

Any

Further

Delay ................................................................(and for those who do not want to know, I give you the choice on whether to click the link or not)

Here is the link to my family blog and a picture of me! Click to reveal BlogStalker!

Have a great day!