Good and Bad:

I am under sooooo much stress with having to practically run this farm's operation on my own, since Hubby is now working at a local agricultural supply store in order to get our health insurance covered without us having to pay for all of it's cost out of our pocket. We had been doing that for 15 years, but the premiums and the ability to afford the very basic of policies (that's coverage for generic drugs only, and with a deductible of $5000.00 on each of us that we had to pay before insurance would cover at 80%, , just to be able to afford the cost of the insurance which had climbed to $600 a month, for no more than what is really a catastrophic policy, had become financially unbearable, but with my heart condition, it is necessary to have insurance, otherwise the hospital could take a lien on our property and force us to pay for services by forcing foreclosure without any insurance coverage if I had to be hospitalized again. A short stay in the hospital for my heart condition can run into a whole lot of money in a hurry) so, with Hubby's new job we are now able to afford a little better policy and are not hit with the current double digit increase in health care coverage for those who are currently paying for their own coverage which as occurred as a result of the new HealthCare Act; And,

my mother has gotten herself into a financial bind, again, by relying toooo heavily on government assistant programs to cover the needs she should be taking care of herself. And, her bank will not allow her to stop coming asking for money via a cold check; her bank will give her money and assess a $25 fee for each check she gives, and then deduct the whole from her social security check when she gets it at the 1st of the month; I've pleaded with her bank to stop this because it throws her into financial chaos and that us kids are not able to continue "bailing her out", but the response they gave me was that she is a customer and they like my mother, and they don't want to interfere with the elderly's independence. (what a joke, what they really don't want to give up is the money they are making off her cold checks she cashes with them each time she give one, and they know their "risk" is guaranteed because they help themselves to recoup their "loans" when here social security check gets deposited each first of the month) So, without a power of attorney to keep her from getting into trouble with her bank and quick cash places, i.e. Check into Cash, money places which she frequents and us kids found out about, we cannot do anything to prevent her from this reckless behavior that throws us kids into a tail spin. And, mother refuses to give us a power of attorney over her finances. Mother still has her wits; she's just financially reckless. A good woman, she is, but this has been her behavior for years. Always getting herself into these financial nightmares, and then us kids having to cover her "mistakes", but paying them ourselves. And now, at 75 years of age, she has too little coming in every month to be reckless with. She gets social security from my Dad's earnings after he died, and $16 a month in food stamps. That's all. She has no bills except electric and her auto insurance, which we, kids, are sure she has allowed to lapse. Her water and satellite is paid by my brother who lives on the property with her, but he has lost his job and unable to help her. My oldest brother is on disability and unable to help her. The youngest brother has had his hours cut to 32 a week and has had his wife to loose her job. And, I am not working, only doing freelance work and the financial situation is tight for me. Mother has been relying on the government funded Heating and Cooling Assistance program to cover 80% of her electric bills, and I checked online the other day, with the privacy act is vertically impossible to get any information of someone's accounts without authorization, but I was able to view her account online where I had set up an viewing account on her electric bills some time back, but had not checked it since Mother ws indicating to me that with the help of the government assistant program she was able to cover her electric bills, her electric usually runs somewhere near $300 a month (why? we, kids, do not know) and we, kids, assumed that she was able to pay the difference and had been paying it because no one had cut her lights off; well, I discovered only by viewing what has been paid, not the actually electric bills themselves that the government's been paying, but she hadn't been paying her share, now the government assistance program she had been relying sooooooo heavily upon, despite my warning that it was included in the government's spending cuts, has been completely ELIMINATED and she is faced with 2 months of electric bills totaling approx. $700 that she has no way of paying and neither do us kids! So, on top of not being able to find stable work, a Husband who treats me like I am beneath him, a Mother who is financially irresponsible, a health condition that could render me back in the hospital because if my heart goes into arrhythmia, I have to have it "stopped" and restarted again, with all this stress, and managing this farm, I am drained!!!!!!!!!


It is maddening.

But that is what is going on my neck of the woods at the moment, how is it going with everyone else?

Sorry about all the typos, folks, and the rambling, but my thought mentality is FRIED!!!

Well, I cooked a healthy meal from scratch and had friends over. I did not stress out beforehand.

How are you, Beau and others?

I am better today, all. The anxiety meds sure do the trick!

Thanks!

My older daughter finally enrolled to finish school (part time) while still doing her day job. My son is helping her finance her studies, and I am assisting her by taking care of her little girl. She is on her way to a better future at last! I am so grateful for this!