Well...

Life sure likes to throw sideways.
I started a new blog (yay!) and things are going well over there, though some of the ideas I had for it are on hold because of.. complications.. in other areas..
In early February Hubby got laid off.. surprise, out of no-where.. know we told you we were going to have work and gave you an assignment for this week, but, oops.. we lied..
So we've been income-less for a month and a half now. This has not been fun. Money is tight, but so far we are managing. Not sure how much longer that will all last though. I am very anxious for our tax refund to show up soon. But we have had some blessings through all of this:
We had gotten a line of credit last summer that was supposed to be used this coming summer as an emergency back up for a road trip Hubby wanted to take. (Motorcycle across the country type thing..) His lay off last fall pretty much put an end to the plans for that trip, but we have had that money as a cushion. Even though we HATE touching it, we are very grateful to have had it available.
I am so grateful that I listened to all the messages and promptings over the years about food storage. We have needed to buy very few things this past month and a half because we have plenty of food and supplies stored up. And it's all stuff we normally eat anyway. So there is no, "ugh, we're sick cuz we've suddenly changed our diet" period of adaptation. We have been able to eat regular food, and regular meals, even roasts, steaks, french fries, cookies, etc, and all the trimmings, because I have a well stocked pantry and freezer. I'd been contemplating the idea of getting another freezer and/or fridge for a while, I think I might be able to convince Hubby of it now.. (Ok, we did have a second fridge in the basement, but it kinda died.. we still use it for shelving and storage though.. we'd gotten it for free. It was very old.. avocado green type old... the freezer on it still works though..) But, yes, food storage rocks. I highly recommend it. Even with my food allergies and dietary restrictions, having supplies of things I can eat and not have to worry about any of it has been wonderful. Also, I've somehow managed to accrue a 3 to 6 months supply of my prescription meds. This is one of those things that gets forgotten a lot of times as well. While my meds aren't horribly pricey, it is nice to know that, if we need to, I can skip ordering them for a month or two.
Even failures can turn into successes. I was attempting a recipe creation using some of the bottled carrots form the pantry. It wasn't working out the way I was hoping. I didn't want to throw it out, of course, so I gave it some thought and turned my failed recipe into dog treats, that, let me just say, my dogs go NUTS for. They love these things more then anything else I've ever seen them react to. Even our shy little Petey who is the biggest scaredy cat in the world will come out of his hidey holes and DEMAND these cookies.. And Hubby has been applying for everything he can find. He has even been pointed into directions that he'd really like to go, but never thought he'd qualify for. One company even cold called him about a job that would be _exactly_ what he wants to be doing, but he never thought they'd even look at him. And they called him! Out of the blue. They'd seen his resume online and wanted to talk to him. We're still waiting on call backs about a lot of things, but this lay off might be the chance for him to make some HUGE changes. He's also had the chance to meet and talk to some new people that have pointed him in other directions. He's off talking to Big brothers Big Sisters this afternoon, and he's found a local group that are restoring an old steam locomotive. Now, Hubby LOVES trains.. his father worked on the old steam engines back in the day, so he's just loving having the chance to work on bringing an old one back up to snuff. We went and talked to them a bit on Saturday and he will be going over to fill out paperwork and such for helping out later this week.
I'm really hoping he hears back from one or two of these companies this week. It's a hard time for electricians right now. One of the local companies laid off about 70 or so of them a week or so before he got laid off, so there are a lot of them looking for work right now. Everyone keeps saying that hiring will be picking back up in "March or April." I'm really hoping for sooner over later..