One more tip. Keep a record of when and who you contacted for work. Remember the question "DID YOU LOOK FOR WORK?" Sometimes they will ask you to list the people/companies you contacted. Don't remember the exact form but do know salient points: date company/address who(name/HR Dept.) and how(resume/interview/application). I kept that info in a notebook that I took with me whenever I went to the office and they sprung this on me. Good idea from Julie. Another reason for getting clients information. Kinda like the mechanic that had the garage close and does oil changes at people's houses - cash only, no records.

Yeah yeah YEAH! Another week in heaven! Grillin' stuffs, sitting on my duff, drinking a couple sips, scratching dog ears, and petting cats. I expected this week off but it was not offical until a few minutes ago. So far it is mostly good. Not doing so good on my chores... the truck is still dirty. Down to my last two gallons of apple/blueberry wine. Homemade with no sulfides so it is drinking down fine without the pickled tummy feeling. A trip to the city to visit a friend that was struck blind this year. So glad I had time to go visit. A bit frightening to see FoMoCo report such devestating losses. Part of me wants to laugh because the auto industry worships incompetence and part of me is worried about the loss of such a large customer. I made a couple extra years of wages working overtime building Ford parts so it would be sad if they failed. Just turned down a day shift job leading a new Ford truck product line. It should have been a prize line but current economic conditions just don't look good for it. My garden is not doing so well. Deer raided most of the veggies. A young doe with three fawns hanging out in the front yard. Don't know if she adopted some or actually had triplets... twins are common. Cross your fingers Jessy and we might have some tenderloin for you this year. It was so dry last month. I watered but it is not the same as a good rain storm like we had this last week. What is left is growing strong... lots of cayenne, habenera, and serreno peppers. Some yellow tomatoes and the Romas are growing strong. Biggest plant and most interesting is a volunteer squash plant. Looks like acorn squash but I'm not certain yet. It seems to have sprouted on its own but may be a prank from the teenage girls next door. Last year they went around my fields planting sunflowers... their mom narked them out. Real joke is I'd probably pay them to go out and plant birdfood. I don't get the humor but I'm very pleased anyway. Off to make some kombucha tea. Never tried it before so it will be a new toy. : ) lyra

I did not know where to post this Sable...I don't think that I can put it on the other forum now. I don't think that I can duplicate post. Seems that everyone reads Kitchen Table. I thank everyone for their prayers. I am going to talk to my doctor really soon. I also might need counseling. I need to get better and be strong during this crisis. I try to fake it around people but it doesn't always work. I really don't want to be so sad. The mortgage payments for the house that we live in now is $2,000.00 and I don't know who would pay that for rent. The other house is $1,500 ..we hope that we can get a renter who will pay that. I am going to the suggested link frugal times and check it out. I want to do everything that I can. DH will take a lower paying job. Also as soon as he is eligible, he will do unemployment. We have discussed his working 2 jobs...we don't have a problem with that. I have cut back a lot and had not done any Christmas Shopping. The money that we had in the Christmas Club we used for bills. We don't eat out anymore and we used to go out to dinner every Sunday as a family after church. I don't eat out for lunch anymore..sometimes I don't eat at all or I take a sandwich. Part-time jobs seem to be hard to get this time of year..it seems most places already have their part-time extra help already in place. I have considered childcare in my home and put an ad on Craigslist...no one responded yet. My sister sent me $20.00 just to treat myself to a hamburger. I first wanted to use it to save towards the next bill, but Mariend and Patti...she told me that was splurge money to treat myself and that's what I did. It seemed so odd that I spent that $20 so sparingly. I lasted for 2 weeks as I pinched off of it. I am much better now, but I was slightly suicidal...wanted to drive over a bridge on the way home one evening. I actually had to clinch the wheel and sing a song to get over. I was surprised that the thought even came to my mind. My Mom worried about my husband. He's in much better shape it seems. I hope not to offend anyone, but he says that God will take care of us. He is in much prayer and I pray also. Eliza Ann, thanks for sharing your story. Everyone has been so encouraging and I appreciate all of the responses and advice. I never thought to talk to the mortagage company or the power bill company. We have one car payment...and my 10 year old minivan is in good shape...looks and runs well. I got him a truck as a gift 3 years ago and I am close to paying it off in a few months. I gave a copy of his resume to a fellow at church to network and he is going to try and give us some leads for the shipyard. We frequent Monster.com and every lead that people give to us. It just seems that no one is hiring or have also had to lay-off people. He was like the 3rd or 4th at the top in his company and they have laid off others. Oh... he is only 50. I am 59. (smile). I definitely will let you know when our situation changes for the better. Thanks everyone, and to each of you have a Merry Christmas.

I have this link bookmarked: https://www.gardenweb.com/discussions/kitchentable When I click on it, it brings me directly to the KT. If you copy it and paste it into a new browser, it should bring up the KT. Then you can save it as the correct bookmark. This is what some of my bookmarks look like. You can see the Kitchen Table is one of them. When I click on it, it brings up the KT.