My husband's job search is proving to be a very frustrating and emotional experience for us. We never imagined it would be so hard for him to find a job and it doesn't help when everyday there are more businesses laying off people because the economy is tanking. Never mind what Bush says, because I can speak from experience, and he still has a job.

Anyway, my point is, without a job, the husband isn't bringing in any money. Without money, we are living off our savings and money we get here and there from selling things. Our savings are gone and we are getting to the nitty gritty of things now. Thank goodness we have no credit card debt, after struggling to pay off the many cards we had, and we paid off the van last year and all we have left is the mortgage and payments on an used suv we needed to get in and out of our driveway when it snows.

When we bought the suv, they gave us a payment booklet and we paid the bill every month, late sometimes, but it got paid. Our last payment is next month! Or so we thought. Got a bill in the mail today from the bank with a new and improved statement with the remaining balance. I had to look at it several times before it sank in: our last payment isn't next month-- it's next year. oh no... All this time, we were doing the 'happy dance', thinking we had only one more payment and then we could breathe a little easier and we started to think what we wanted to get next with the extra money we would have had.

Just goes to show you, things don't always work out like you hope and plans can come unraveled right before your eyes.

We had some extra bills come this month-- property tax on the cars and the house, car insurance on the suv, and license tag fees on the cars. Then to top it off, the suv failed inspection because of the two front tires going bald and we need to replace them. We don't drive the suv anymore because of the cost of gas, plus the 6 of us don't fit in it-- it's a 5-seater. And so it just sits there and we planned to sell it after making that last payment. So much for that.

A friend is selling us his log splitter, which would save us hours of work splitting wood the old fashioned way with an axe, and give us more time to do other things, but he won't let us have it until we pay in full, which we understand. If you've been burned by other people, you don't tend to be trusting with others. But now we can't come up with the extra money to buy the splitter because of all the other money-eating stuff that's come up.

sigh.. If it ain't one thing, it's another. When it rains, it pours.

We will be tightening the belt yet another notch and I am going to try selling things on a new (to me) site. I'll keep you all posted, but I'll be busy for the next couple of days working on items to sell.

One more thing, next week will be a special 'food' week for mountain mama! I'll be posting recipes and how-to's and delicious pictures of various foods for you all, starting Monday! Come back and come hungry!