Taking My Lumps

I tried the photoserver that Chasmyn and Persephone use, and couldn't figure out how to format it correctly. Bah. So now I'm going to try the other one Persephone suggested.

On to the actual post...

Bad things tend to hit me in lumps, whereas good things tend to be spread pretty evenly. That's a good thing, of course. That way life is never all bad. So here's what's going on...
We went to Dragonfest, which was great; but now we have -$15 in our bank account. We're behind on the gas bill, and the phone bill. We have bits and scraps of food in the house and another week until Hubby-Man gets paid. I just want to cry.
The Universe always provides, however; Sarah (co-owner of Home Krafts) bought outright all the shea butter products that I had left her on consignment. Woo! The check is in the mail. (I hope)
School has begun, which is great. L was offered the opportunity to take a semester of German at the high school. He is one of only 4 or 5 kids being given the opportunity. His first class is today. A semester of a foreign language is going to look great on his application for CBC. It costs $120, which we don't have, but we can make payments -and we will.

L had a growth spurt over the Summer, so the shoes I bought last April don't fit anymore. He had to wear them anyway on the first day of school; and again, I just wanted to cry. New shoes went on -you guessed it- the credit card. I remember having to wear too-small shoes, and I swore my son would never have to. Buck makes almost $45,000 a year, and we can't buy shoes because we went on vacation for the first time in four years??? Christ! (To be fair, it's our own damn fault. I should have gone to the grocery store when we got home from vacation, and instead I bought fast food or ordered pizza every night. My bad, and now I'm paying for it)
We had some extra school supplies, so I only had to buy another $23 worth of pens, pencils, etc. Went on the credit card.
I cashed in the change jar so L could have lunch, and Ramens were on sale (9 for a dollar) so we won't starve or anything. Hubby-Man is taking his lunch until payday, so that helps too. We have some bags of aluminum cans, but I was hoping to save those for Christmas money.

I know we're far better off than a lot of people. Heck, I only need to look at my own childhood to know that. Money is tight and we have a bank account, we have a change jar, we have aluminum cans; and beyond that, we have many things that we could sell if we really need to. I have an assortment of gemstones, gold, silver, and jewelers tools. It would hurt to part with them, but really... it's only stuff. (Oh, but it's MY stuff. The dragon in me doesn't want to let go)

And then there's the big money option. We could put L in aftercare and I could get a 9-5 job. I don't have any office skills, but I could assemble boxes or something. I love being a stay-home-mom. I really love it. Thinking of selling my jewelers tools hurts, but thinking of not being there to pick L up from school is a whole different kind of pain.
Hubby-Man doesn't want me to have to work. L doesn't want me to get a job, either. They love the luxury of having me all to themselves. And I have to say, I love it too.

Well. That's enough of me and my pity-pot. I think I just needed to get it all off my chest. Thanks for listening.

P.S. I have a new animal sighting to add to the list of critters in my neighborhood. Today I saw a weasel! It looks remarkably like a ferret,(which is a weasel, I know) only it's solid brown. Neat huh? So now I've seen kites, falcons, hawks, eagles, owls, bats, skunks, foxes, a turkey, a deer, a groundhog and sundry birds. I love living in the city.