February Low Income Mama Support Thread - Page 8

[shayinme]

Yay for day 7 of not smoking especially with so much on your plate.

Shay

[Aura_Kitten]

OMG ediesmom that's so much to go through.
First, you're amazing ~ so much nit-picking. I could never do that. Seriously, I'd cave and buy the poison.
And ~ dealing with a girl w/ PMS... I don't know how I'm going to handle my dd when she's that age. But then again I could swear she has PMS already. It's hard to imagine it will get worse than the Independent Three's....

: ~ Paperwork Strength Vibes ~ :

And, you cook your dd's lunches? That's incredible!! I was making my ds's lunches for awhile but, man I just can't stick with it.

Congrats on the not smoking

On the vicodin ~ did you wean off or just pull yourself off ~ ?? Not that it would help at this point. But I was on it consistently for awhile and decided, "man I'm so done with this $^&!@" and pulled myself off cold turkey ~ and had really bad withdrawals (on top of the return of the symptoms I had been taking it for)... so I went back on it and when it was about the time that the symptoms were decreasing I weaned myself down off of it and it was much, much easier to handle. But I started taking it again because my endo really is bad enough I can't function without it. I really commend people who are able to manage chronic pain without meds. I'm a wuss.


No we didn't catch the lunar eclipse, it's been horribly drizzly / rainy and massively cloudy for what feels like ages (really only a few days but I am sick of winter). :


(I JUST figured out what "LO" means. * how * long have I been @ MDC??) She's ok .... no ear infection (dr checked yesterday) but we still don't know what's actually wrong. She was up all night with this cold thing she's got now... coughing and waking up squeaking because she couldn't breath, but now she's resting. She actually had ANOTHER semi-solid bowel movement yesterday so I'm hoping this trend continues and she gets over whatever it was she was sick with for so long. We're still waiting on the cultures from the stool sample (giardia + ovum/parasites)... and next week she's getting tested for food allergies and celiac disease. Assuming either of the cultures comes back positive I guess I don't have to worry about CD or Cystic Fibrosis (which was the other concern) but at this point we're going ahead with the tests for everything.

I spoke with the CalWORKS representative from my campus and he said..... :: drumroll :: .... that if I need to I can go ahead at this point and take the entire rest of the semester off to deal with my dd, and have the whole thing be exempted as Good Cause.... AND get my endo taken care of.... AND that he would be my advocate in court if I went ahead and appealed the decision to refuse the endo medication (which is the point I'm at now since MediCal won't cover the cost of the hormones that would actually stop the stuff from growing ~~~ meaning I would stop hurting so much) and if I wanted to withdraw from all of my classes it would be totally excused. I'm NOT sure if I want to go that route.... but it's an option I hadn't realized I would have, and that takes SO MUCH STRESS OFF ME!!! So that is going to require a lot of thought..... (WWYD??)

OK ~ I need to do major work on my kitchen today... but I need to wait until my dd is up (that's my excuse for not jumping up and getting started ASAP)... send me clean kitchen vibes... I hate cleaning but I hate mess. :

[Dillpicklechip]

Okay, it's late in the month but I am going to subscribe...I have participated a bit in some of the other Low Income threads but I keep leaving because it gets depressing identifying myself as such...but I feel the need to vent a wee bit, hope it's okay!

Holy cow, I just don't know what we're going to do. My husband has been out of work since the assholes he was working for fired him in early January for getting injured at work. No, they are not supposed to do that, but since he was only a contract worker I guess he doesn't have any rights. We have been getting some help from social assistance, but our rent is too expensive and what they give us goes all to rent. I work part time from home, which makes only enough to cover most, but not all, of groceries.

I don't know how we are going to manage next month...I just got my baby bonus from the government, and I have enough that if we add that to what we'll get from social assistance, we can pay rent, and utilities next month too...but then we'll have zilch for car insurance, phone, and credit card payments. Dh's Mastercard has been cancelled too because the balance was too high and they're calling every week telling us to make a payment...we have nothing to pay them with. What on earth are we going to do?

Here I am trying to feed everyone well too...I am pregnant, plus I have low blood sugar and have to eat a lot of protein, and my dd has issues with her immune system...we are going to have to get food from the food bank this week which just sucks! I can't even eat beans right now because of the pregnancy, they give me unbearable gas...

I feel so stressed out that we are going to be several hundred dollars short this month, even if we do go to the food bank, and the worst part is that I can't talk to anyone about it. If I were to call up a family member and start talking about our money woes, it's going to look like I'm begging...nobody wants to hear how poor we really are.

Dh had a job interview at Home Depot a couple of weeks ago that went really well, but they haven't called him back yet. We're crossing our fingers over this because he wants to work part time and go to school for accounting. Although to do that we'd have to be even poorer for a few years....UGH!! I am so sick of being poor!

Life is just so overwhelming sometimes. We've been poor a lot, but I've never been in this situation before where I have to actually choose which bills we pay and which we put aside. I think we are going to have to move to a smaller, cheaper place, even though we have another child on the way and my dh has a beloved woodworking workshop in the garage...:

Sorry for feeling sorry for myself! It's hard not to sometimes, it feels like we've been poor absolutely forever, and like it will go on forever...

[Aura_Kitten]

Dill!
Welcome back

I know exactly how you're feeling, and I'm so sorry you're going through this. I was in a very very similar situation (sans blood sugar issues) when I was pregnant with my dd... I learned it takes exactly 90 days before PG&E shuts off a person's power... I learned the phone company can wait to get paid and they'll just jack up your costs.... and I learned that food from a dumpster behind a grocery store is actually really decent.

On the job interview: CALL THEM! And ask for a status update!! They want people who look interested... so if you/your dh is interviewed, make sure you/he thanks them for their time... and then follow up with a phone call to check on the status of the application. Good luck.

Do you qualify for food stamps / cash aid or WIC, or unemployment ~ ?? Because that could help cover at least some of the grocery costs...

[justmama]

Originally Posted by ediesmom

pip, my pek, hates the garlic powder stuff i have been giving them. i think he'd rather starve. stella eats poop, so garlic is a step up for her

evil doggie likes garlic huh?
sending you paperwork completing vibes. I hate all that stuff. It's so overwhelming to do the welfare shuffle.

[justmama]

Originally Posted by Dillpicklechip

Okay, it's late in the month but I am going to subscribe...I have participated a bit in some of the other Low Income threads but I keep leaving because it gets depressing identifying myself as such...but I feel the need to vent a wee bit, hope it's okay!

Holy cow, I just don't know what we're going to do. My husband has been out of work since the assholes he was working for fired him in early January for getting injured at work. No, they are not supposed to do that, but since he was only a contract worker I guess he doesn't have any rights. We have been getting some help from social assistance, but our rent is too expensive and what they give us goes all to rent. I work part time from home, which makes only enough to cover most, but not all, of groceries.

I don't know how we are going to manage next month...I just got my baby bonus from the government, and I have enough that if we add that to what we'll get from social assistance, we can pay rent, and utilities next month too...but then we'll have zilch for car insurance, phone, and credit card payments. Dh's Mastercard has been cancelled too because the balance was too high and they're calling every week telling us to make a payment...we have nothing to pay them with. What on earth are we going to do?

Here I am trying to feed everyone well too...I am pregnant, plus I have low blood sugar and have to eat a lot of protein, and my dd has issues with her immune system...we are going to have to get food from the food bank this week which just sucks! I can't even eat beans right now because of the pregnancy, they give me unbearable gas...

I feel so stressed out that we are going to be several hundred dollars short this month, even if we do go to the food bank, and the worst part is that I can't talk to anyone about it. If I were to call up a family member and start talking about our money woes, it's going to look like I'm begging...nobody wants to hear how poor we really are.

Dh had a job interview at Home Depot a couple of weeks ago that went really well, but they haven't called him back yet. We're crossing our fingers over this because he wants to work part time and go to school for accounting. Although to do that we'd have to be even poorer for a few years....UGH!! I am so sick of being poor!

Life is just so overwhelming sometimes. We've been poor a lot, but I've never been in this situation before where I have to actually choose which bills we pay and which we put aside. I think we are going to have to move to a smaller, cheaper place, even though we have another child on the way and my dh has a beloved woodworking workshop in the garage...:

Sorry for feeling sorry for myself! It's hard not to sometimes, it feels like we've been poor absolutely forever, and like it will go on forever...

I am nak and needing to make lunch for the big girls but I couldn't read and not send some your way. I'll brainstorm for you whiel I make lunch once I get the babe off the boobie. I'll be back.

[Dillpicklechip]

Originally Posted by Aura_Kitten

Dill!
Welcome back

I know exactly how you're feeling, and I'm so sorry you're going through this. I was in a very very similar situation (sans blood sugar issues) when I was pregnant with my dd... I learned it takes exactly 90 days before PG&E shuts off a person's power... I learned the phone company can wait to get paid and they'll just jack up your costs.... and I learned that food from a dumpster behind a grocery store is actually really decent.

On the job interview: CALL THEM! And ask for a status update!! They want people who look interested... so if you/your dh is interviewed, make sure you/he thanks them for their time... and then follow up with a phone call to check on the status of the application. Good luck.

Do you qualify for food stamps / cash aid or WIC, or unemployment ~ ?? Because that could help cover at least some of the grocery costs...

Thanks AK. Dumpster diving is something I had not thought of...we do have a really big grocery store close by us, I wonder if dh would be too shy to go check it out...lol I can't believe I am saying that.

I will tell him to call Home Depot, you're right it can't hurt.

I don't know what WIC is, we don't have food stamps in Canada though. You get a certain amount of money from social assistance per month, some of it is allocated for food and clothing, some for housing. Of course the amount they give you is pretty small though, basically enough to just survive if you are living in subsidized housing (which we are not). Unemployment maybe...man it makes my head spin though thinking of adding more paperwork to the mix! We're already jugging documents between WSIB (Worker's Safety and Insurance Board) and social assitance, our social assistance might get cut off because WSIB won't give us a document saying that they're not giving us any more money....argh!

[Dillpicklechip]

Originally Posted by Aura_Kitten

Dill!
Welcome back

I know exactly how you're feeling, and I'm so sorry you're going through this. I was in a very very similar situation (sans blood sugar issues) when I was pregnant with my dd... I learned it takes exactly 90 days before PG&E shuts off a person's power... I learned the phone company can wait to get paid and they'll just jack up your costs.... and I learned that food from a dumpster behind a grocery store is actually really decent.

On the job interview: CALL THEM! And ask for a status update!! They want people who look interested... so if you/your dh is interviewed, make sure you/he thanks them for their time... and then follow up with a phone call to check on the status of the application. Good luck.

Do you qualify for food stamps / cash aid or WIC, or unemployment ~ ?? Because that could help cover at least some of the grocery costs...

Thanks AK. Dumpster diving is something I had not thought of...we do have a really big grocery store close by us, I wonder if dh would be too shy to go check it out...lol I can't believe I am saying that.

I will tell him to call Home Depot, you're right it can't hurt.

I don't know what WIC is, we don't have food stamps in Canada though. You get a certain amount of money from social assistance per month, some of it is allocated for food and clothing, some for housing. Of course the amount they give you is pretty small though, basically enough to just survive if you are living in subsidized housing (which we are not). Unemployment maybe...man it makes my head spin though thinking of adding more paperwork to the mix! We're already jugging documents between WSIB (Worker's Safety and Insurance Board) and social assitance, our social assistance might get cut off because WSIB won't give us a document saying that they're not giving us any more money....argh!

[asianyoushi]

i dont believe canda has wic.... *its a program in th usa for woman , infants and children... they give each qualified child/woman a check for 3 months at at time to buy milk cheese eggs juice carrots peas peanut butter tuna and cereal.

[asianyoushi]

so hubby is still at his job.. these 17 hours shifts is really annoying and he only been to work for one day. the children are going crazy i do not like this set up at all....................

[ediesmom]

hi dill!

you aren't whining, btw. this is the place to tell it like it is....no judgement.

1st....have dh call home depot. the squeaky wheel gets the grease
2nd....BEANO! is a natural enzyme that you take a few drops of before eating beans, brocolli, peppers....anything gassy....and you don't get gas. i did it while i was nursing, and edie didn't get gas either. its cheap for what it is (about $5) and it lasts forever. i think pretty much everywhere sells it....near the tummy stuff.
3rd....is there wic and food stamps in canada?

oh, and lentils aren't gassy like beans. and quinoa is a complete protein in itself, and its cheap. (think cold quinoa salad...yummy) garbanzo beans are less gassy, too.

and a big


the day is going fine. blah!


i really think i may be having withdrawals from the vicodin. i never really liked it (except for the relief) so i thought it wouldn't matter. so, what do you do? kinda weirdly shaky (i've tested my glucose a zillion times thinking it was that), far off feeling, and just want to sleep....but can't.

lots of water, good food and rest....are my thoughts. any others?

okay, off to finish some more paperwork

someone needed vibes and now i can't remember who

so i am sending generic but very powerful vibes to all!:

[Dillpicklechip]

Originally Posted by asianyoushi

so hubby is still at his job.. these 17 hours shifts is really annoying and he only been to work for one day. the children are going crazy i do not like this set up at all....................

Oh my, 17 hour shifts! What kind of work does he do?

Originally Posted by ediesmom

hi dill!

you aren't whining, btw. this is the place to tell it like it is....no judgement.

1st....have dh call home depot. the squeaky wheel gets the grease
2nd....BEANO! is a natural enzyme that you take a few drops of before eating beans, brocolli, peppers....anything gassy....and you don't get gas. i did it while i was nursing, and edie didn't get gas either. its cheap for what it is (about $5) and it lasts forever. i think pretty much everywhere sells it....near the tummy stuff.
3rd....is there wic and food stamps in canada?

oh, and lentils aren't gassy like beans. and quinoa is a complete protein in itself, and its cheap. (think cold quinoa salad...yummy) garbanzo beans are less gassy, too.

and a big

Thank you! I do have a bottle of beano that my mom gave me but it's almost gone and I really don't think I can afford to get more...maybe I will beg my mom to buy me some. I will need it, because dh just went to a nearby foodbank and I know he's going to come back with at least 3 cans of kidney beans, probably some baked beans too!

Nope, no WIC or food stamps in Canada. I only wish!

[asianyoushi]

Originally Posted by Dillpicklechip

Oh my, 17 hour shifts! What kind of work does he do?

he just started working for a private security company that sends officers onto boats the coast guards thinks could be a threat( they drop anchor down 5 miles off the coast and have to "baby sit" the ships crew.... the boat they were on last night came from the Middle East...
hubby is suppose to do this job 3 16 hour shifts a week( the extra hour is the the commute that he doesnt get paid for(he drives 30 minutes one way to the pickup site where the company sends a company van to take them to the site where they get on the boat..) and do another job([patrol] his regular job 4-12 hour shifts the rest of the week....

[asianyoushi]

dill do u have angel food ministries up there? or is there a way u can contact local churches to see if the have any food resources for the low income families?

[Belleweather]

Originally Posted by Aura_Kitten

I spoke with the CalWORKS representative from my campus and he said..... :: drumroll :: .... that if I need to I can go ahead at this point and take the entire rest of the semester off to deal with my dd, and have the whole thing be exempted as Good Cause.... AND get my endo taken care of.... AND that he would be my advocate in court if I went ahead and appealed the decision to refuse the endo medication (which is the point I'm at now since MediCal won't cover the cost of the hormones that would actually stop the stuff from growing ~~~ meaning I would stop hurting so much)

Hey, AK. I'm just wondering what you're doing about your endo, and what hormones you'd like to be on and stuff. I'm at a turning point with my own endo and I'm trying to figure out what I can do about it -- If I can't do something to control the pain so I can function, I'm going to lose my job from having too many absences and being seen as unreliable, so I really do HAVE to find something that works this time. : Feel free to PM me if you want.

[asianyoushi]

??????? what ever happen to kentucky mama(i think that was her username)? i cant seem to find any of her posts.... im i loosing it????? did her posts just disapeared????????

[Dillpicklechip]

Originally Posted by asianyoushi

he just started working for a private security company that sends officers onto boats the coast guards thinks could be a threat( they drop anchor down 5 miles off the coast and have to "baby sit" the ships crew.... the boat they were on last night came from the Middle East...
hubby is suppose to do this job 3 16 hour shifts a week( the extra hour is the the commute that he doesnt get paid for(he drives 30 minutes one way to the pickup site where the company sends a company van to take them to the site where they get on the boat..) and do another job([patrol] his regular job 4-12 hour shifts the rest of the week....

Oh, wow...that doesn't sound like much fun at all. It's great your dh has a job, but...what a cold, long and and boring one!

Originally Posted by asianyoushi

dill do u have angel food ministries up there? or is there a way u can contact local churches to see if the have any food resources for the low income families?

I've never heard of Angel Food Ministries, so I don't think we have it in Canada. There are about half a dozen food banks we could go to, but of course that only goes so far. Most of them will only let you come once every 3 months, and often you don't get much that is really useable as sometimes the food is really expired or even moldy.

Dh did go to one government-funded food bank today, he got some good stuff. He got this enormous frozen meatloaf, it must be a foot and a half long! I hope it's still good, there's really a lot of meat there. And a frozen chicken quesadilla mix, although it expired a few months ago hopefully it's still okay...and a bunch of other things, Cheerios, canned ham, beans, corn etc, nothing super healthy but it will help out a lot over the next week.

The only thing is that the people there were snarky to dh...they said "Didn't you just get your baby bonus?" He said "Yes, we did but we need every penny to pay the bills at the beginning of the next month we can't use it for food," and they were like "Well, we'll help you out this time, but we expect that the people who come here really need our help and are in an emergency situation, we don't want to be helping people who are sitting on a lot of money." Oh yeah, that description fits us to a tee. Sitting on a lot of money, because we have two hundred bucks put aside for 5 hundred bucks of bills.

Now that I remember, last time dh went to that food bank last year they were snarky too. The ones are churches are normally more friendly.

Dh tried to apply to college for the fall, and we realized that it's going to be over a hundred dollars for the application fee...pooh. I guess he'll have to wait for a bit until we can scrape that together somehow.

[asianyoushi]

Originally Posted by Dillpicklechip

Oh, wow...that doesn't sound like much fun at all. It's great your dh has a job, but...what a cold, long and and boring one!

I've never heard of Angel Food Ministries, so I don't think we have it in Canada. There are about half a dozen food banks we could go to, but of course that only goes so far. Most of them will only let you come once every 3 months, and often you don't get much that is really useable as sometimes the food is really expired or even moldy.

Dh did go to one government-funded food bank today, he got some good stuff. He got this enormous frozen meatloaf, it must be a foot and a half long! I hope it's still good, there's really a lot of meat there. And a frozen chicken quesadilla mix, although it expired a few months ago hopefully it's still okay...and a bunch of other things, Cheerios, canned ham, beans, corn etc, nothing super healthy but it will help out a lot over the next week.

The only thing is that the people there were snarky to dh...they said "Didn't you just get your baby bonus?" He said "Yes, we did but we need every penny to pay the bills at the beginning of the next month we can't use it for food," and they were like "Well, we'll help you out this time, but we expect that the people who come here really need our help and are in an emergency situation, we don't want to be helping people who are sitting on a lot of money." Oh yeah, that description fits us to a tee. Sitting on a lot of money, because we have two hundred bucks put aside for 5 hundred bucks of bills.

Now that I remember, last time dh went to that food bank last year they were snarky too. The ones are churches are normally more friendly.

Dh tried to apply to college for the fall, and we realized that it's going to be over a hundred dollars for the application fee...pooh. I guess he'll have to wait for a bit until we can scrape that together somehow.

sorry social services up there arent friendly and or help full..

hubby said he enjoyed the the shift the middle easterners were friendly and spoke english very well--no communication issues.. the only thing he doesnt like is bing on a boat- hubby aparently hates water?!: i dont know what that is about cuz in the 5 years we been together fear of water has never been an issue... but um okay..

[justmama]

dill, anything you can sell on ebay? crafty things you can do to make some money? watch a kid or two during the week? I am staying at home right now on tax refund money until next month but I am also knitting for extra money to supplement. Do you canadians have any social services organizations you can go to for some assistance???

[EarthyMamaofDaisy]

Hey Mamas,
I haven't posted in awhile cuz everything here has been so depressing. I just finished reading all the posts and it seems everyone else isn't doing much better! My husband and I have been fighting really bad. We talked about divorce but it just wont' work out because neither one of us wants to go up against a custody battle. He keeps reminding me that either way he's taking our daughter wherever he goes. I'm afraid he would kidnap her and besides there's no way I could make it financially on my own. I really don't have the energy to work full time and I'm horrible at finding jobs. I interview really terribly. And my car insurance just went up by a lot. I called to ask why and they said the re-evaluated the NH rates. I'm running out of food and need to go back to the food pantry soon. We are almost out of pellets again and we have to spend $250 out of this week's check for another ton. I'm hoping that will last us the rest of the winter. : Daisy came down with a croupy cough and fever but I've been giving her Aconite and she's improving.
Anyway, the only thing that cheered me up is that a few weeks ago I bought some really cheap batik fabric at JoAnne's and yesterday I sewed some cheery new curtains for my living room window. Also I'm working really hard to get my name out there for doing part time childcare. Now if I could only keep my house clean for if I get any prospective customers...

Hugs to everyone!