UPDATE! Unemployment - Budget - Finances - Jobs - Health Insurance - Food Stamps - Back Pain - Goodbye PorchCat

First of all, I want to apologize to anyone who was looking forward to the posts I was going to do on dealing with Unemployment and job hunting etc. I was way more optimistic when I wrote about doing that than I ended up being about the reality of it.

The whole Unemployment benefits thing was done online, which was nice. I had to apply to at least 3 places each week and sign in and list them all along with phone numbers, contact info etc if known each Sunday. I got $240/week.

We also filed for government assistance to get food stamps, and we got $240/month of those.  We only got that for one month however.  Because when I started getting Unemployment payments, we went over the threshhold. Apparently for a household of 3 people, you have to make less than (I think it was) $2098 a month total to get any assistance. I mean, I guess if we didn't have all this debt and people hounding us to make payments, we'd be able to *survive* on $2000 a month, but don't you think that's a bit low to provide for 3 people?  I dunno.  Maybe it's just me.

I signed up for the Healthcare.gov as well. My husband and I were able to get Blue Cross Blue Shield of Tennessee for $79/month, which is amazing, but that's just due to a tax credit that we're *possibly* going to get due to income, etc.  I believe if we don't get a big enough tax credit, then we have to pay the difference.  I don't even want to think about that happening right now.  Our 16 yr old could not be put on the health insurance we have, because she's eligible for state assistance, and the federal govt is all about that. So, the website said it would send the info to the state, so she could get on TennCare. We didn't hear anything for weeks, and had to cancel her therapy appointments.  Finally, when I had to take her to the ER for possible appendicitis(it wasn't thank goodness!), the hospital was the one to tell us she had TennCare already. While it would have been nice to know, I'm very glad the hospital knew! Thankfully, with TennCare, it pays for 100% of her care. I am so so glad to have that weight off my shoulders and know she can get the care she needs.

As for that $240/week Unemployment, it only lasted about a month or so.  I had gotten an online job and also a part time job at a new shoe store in town. (I used to work for years in a shoe store long ago). The online job started giving me serious anxiety, so I quit it. Oddly, the part time retail job has been amazing! The only issue is, I get paid less than the Unemployment was. I could have continued to draw Unemployment, but I'd have to keep looking for a better job or more pay etc, and I just couldn't do it anymore. We've worked full time jobs for years, barely seen each other, barely seen the kids, and we both had had enough.  So we have part time jobs we love (or at least like a lot or are happy with), and we have at least 2 days off a week (though recently not on the same days as each other - boo).

We're still struggling to get the bills paid and put food on the table. We actually do not bring in enough each month to make all the minimum payments of everything, before even getting groceries or gas or cat food or toilet paper, etc. That's the main reason I stopped doing the budget posts.  We just can't do much of a budget right now.  It's more like survival mode right now.  Which creditor is loudest or annoying friends and family members or coming to the house or threatening to sue?  Those are the ones who get a payment that month.

I can actually make some money with this blog, through Adsense, so I'm going to try to post more regularly, and make it more of a routine. I moved my desk and computer to a more accessible place in my bedroom. It's no longer in that dark cramped smelly closet. It's a lot easier to just sit here and type, so I am! (If you want to help out, click on an ad now and then and share my posts :)  Thanks!)

The other thing I've been struggling with recently is my back. It was broken in 3 places when I was 18.  31 years ago yesterday in fact. I had a lot of other injuries, but the back pain is the one that has become a part of my every day life. Working in a shoe store in my 20s and early 30s was easy enough.  It was a lazy job, and we sat a lot.  But I was also younger and not as heavy and just overall better physically.  Then I had a desk job for 12 years. I put on weight, and the muscles got weak. So, now, with all the moving around and climbing ladders and lifting and walking and bending over and squatting to move shoes or put shoes away or get them down for customers etc, my back has been SCREAMING at me. I have muscle relaxers for it, which I hadn't used in forever, and this past week, I finally took one.  I've been living on 600 - 800 mg of Ibuprofen several times a day.  I can't take anything stronger and still work. And I don't want to take anything stronger on my days off because I have to much I need to do or want to do. I may have to go to a doctor for it once again and see if anything new has happened, or if it's just the muscles reacting to finally having to work after over a decade of not doing much at all. Since I don't want to take a lot of meds for it though, I don't know what I'm expecting. To be honest, I want him to wave a magic wand and just make it stop hurting.

In other news, we tried one last vet visit and a round of steroids and antibiotics for PorchCat. Imaging did show a mass in his skull, which I basically already knew would be there. Vet said it was inoperable.  We just had to make a decision.  The meds didn't do much at all, and the mass grew bigger.  So, we decided he'd been through way too much already, and it was time to say goodbye. Christopher was with me when I took him in for it.  They had a nice room just for that purpose, and we got to spend his last few minutes with him, cuddling and petting him. I cried for about a day straight.  Christopher took it a lot harder than I expected, too. We'll all miss him terribly.

Have a good day y'all! I'll try to be back soon with stories of what we've been doing to have some fun!