Taking the Scenic Route

Ok, I am going to be tacky and talk about money again.  So, if whining about money bothers you, please feel free to skip this post.

We went to the Food Stamp Office this week.  The guy was gruff, mean, rude and the first question out of his mouth was a very accusatory “Why do you want food stamps” I gotta tell you, it took everything in me to not make a really sarcastic comment at that point.  I ended up mumbling something like “we need food” The entire appointment he was condescending and kept saying things like…I don’t know if you will qualify…*if* you qualify…blah, blah, blah. Um, dude, can you do math? The monthly gross income has to be under $1600ish, we make about half of that. How do we not qualify?!?!?  Then he said that there is a backlog and it will be several weeks before they even will review the application, and we have to get a letter from his employer because pay stubs aren’t enough…he actually asked “are you sure this is for a two week period…are you sure you don’t get paid more than this”  Ok guy, we aren’t STUPID, we are just POOR. Geez, it sucked! Plus, ds wanted to nurse, and at 3 years old and the way this older guy was acting, I knew that was not going to go over well…and we are smack in the middle of an SRS office.

At least we got our tax return so we won’t actually go hungry, hopefully we will get FS in time so we don’t have to spend our money on food instead of electricity and such. I didn’t have any doubt we were eligible until the appointment, and now I am stressed about it. I don’t need much, but it does means a difference in quality of food, that is for sure. I am SOOOO looking forward to dh’s student days to be over and then hopefully, FINALLY, we will be able to do all those things we want…like own a home and have insurance.

Speaking of housing…

I can not tell you how bad I want my own home.  A home where I can rip out the carpets when they are cheap, gross, and nasty.  A home where I can paint the walls ANYTHING BUT WHITE.   A home with a basement so I don’t have to be worried every single storm system (tornadoes…been through enough of them that I am nervous about it).  A bonus would be a garage so we don’t have to scrape windows.  A home with a back yard with no broken glass, cigarette butts, and no dog crap everywhere (unless, of course, it is our dog).  A home with some PRIVACY, where maintenence and office people can’t just walk in whenever they want to (even with warning this is annoying), a space where my child can play without the neighbors trying to take his toys, push him, or flaunt their toys in front of him and then scream if he so much as touches it. A back yard where I can let Zane play without having to be a few feet away at all times.  (So he has a sense of indenpendence…although I imagine I would be watching him from a window for a while yet) A home so we can finally start buying furnature for ‘how much we like it’ instead of ‘how hard is it to move’ and “will it work in another space’.  A home where we can put nails in the wall and wire the way we want (computer networks and such) so we don’t have lines of cords running along the ceiling, the floor, and the walls to make things work ok.  I mostly want our own space.  Ours to do with as we please.  Someday it will happen, but it is so hard to wait some days.