I took a long walk after dropping the kids off at school today. I looked at houses in my neighborhood and coveted. I thought about how great it would be if I could get a job and make enough money for us to afford a mortgage that would allow us to stay in the same school boundaries, hell, in the same school district. I thought about how nice it would be to have a house that wasn’t so crowded. Maybe one with a garage big enough to hold my car and a laundry room that I could walk into.
I got home and turned on my computer and checked the news. The government is shut down. My husband is a Department of Defense Employee. His project has funds to last a little while, but not long. A week or so at the most. The furloughs over the summer along with the expenses of the move, our medical expenses at the children’s hospital in Rhode Island I had worked so hard to get help with, and some just shitty issues we’re having now have chewed away our savings. I’m not longer thinking about a bigger house with a normal sized garage. I’m thinking about survival.
I could go on and on about how mad I am at the Senate. How completely jacked up it is that they would let the whole country go to hell over Obamacare, but it doesn’t change anything. They weren’t thinking about people like me. People who cannot contribute to their campaigns because all of our money goes to pay for our kids’ care. They were doing what would make their donors and their party pat them on the backs. I want to change things. But I don’t have the time or the energy to.
I am depressed and I’m scared. We already live very frugally. I buy all of our clothes at Goodwill. We furnished our house from Craigslist. My car is 11 years old, and Lance’s car is worth less than Abby’s hearing aids. We’ve moved three times in the last two and a half years to pay off our debts and to build savings. Just like that, all of the frugality, all of the moves, all of our savings. They see it as politics. I see it as shooting the hostages.
I’ve been wracking my brain for ways to earn an income. I can’t work outside of the home because of Abby’s health issues and because I have to be able to drop everything at a moment’s notice for Casey. But I can work from home. I can write. You guys can see that, right? I can edit. If you know of anyone that needs writers or content editors, please let me know. Shoot, if you know anyone that can use anything where I can work from home, please PLEASE let me know.
I’m also selling ad space. If you’re looking for a cheap way to have thousands of people see your ad for your etsy shop, your blog, whatever, let me know. The tab above that says “PR Welcome” has details, too.
In the coming days I will open an etsy shop. I make jewelry that is pretty damn cute. I’d wear it myself, but I’m not that kind of girl. Which is hilarious because of how much I love to make it. When I can get the right part for my vinyl machine, I’ll sell that crap too.
That’s all I got. Hug a government employee today. Or their wives.
Lexi Mag 
I wish you didn’t have to struggle financially….it isn’t fair. Hope the shut down ends soon. Good luck with your etsy store!
I don’t have anything, Lexi. But I hope you find something and things start working out.
I will promote the heck out of your Etsy shop. Heck, if you need help setting it up, send me a message. I wish I could do more for my American friends who are or are married to government employees.
I am so praying this gets resolved quickly. My program has enough money to last a month, but after that, I have no idea what will happen. Luckily, my job is a very small part of my family’s income, so we’d be okay. I feel for all the families like yours where the primary earner is in jeopardy. If I hear of any jobs, I’ll let you know.
I am right there with you on the anger. I am so lucky that my husband is in the military so that all of our medical bills are completely covered but not everyone is that lucky. It disgusts me to no end that we are a supposedly civilized country and we are having an argument about if we should provide health care for all our citizens. That seems to me to be a no brainer. I am not thrilled with Obamacare, I think I could be done better but it is better than nothing and having thousands of our citizens drowning in medical debt.
Do what my therapist suggested (because my life is so unbelievably crazy)–write a book! Within the autism community YOU ARE FAMOUS. There HAS to be a way to make that work in your favor!
Oh, Lexi. My husband is a federal employee but he has to work and may not get paid. I pray that this resolves quickly. hugs, g
Wow… So sorry to hear that the government shut down is effecting you in a way more personal way than it is effecting most of us! I don’t have anything to advertise, but I would definitely buy something from your Etsy store!
I completely understand. My ex is DOD and has tons of mandatory work to do and now he doesn’t know when he will get paid for it. He is essential, the project is funded but they have been told that nobody is getting a paycheck until everyone gets one. We have $3000+ in therapy bills plus other medical bills. He makes a large income on paper but it disappears instantaneously into health care expenses.
I don’t know if you have any expiereence or knowledge but my mom does billing and coding online for a company based out of Houston, Tx she is making close to 400 a week but she is working full time. I can get the info if your interested. They have many other jobs such as dealing with insurancd vompanies about appeals and stuff like that. And they do train you. Any way just let me know 🙂 keep your chin up things are always worse before they get good.
http://www.Odesk.com
I am a dork, clicked to fast. I meant to say that Odesk is a platform for virtual jobs that you do from home. I am a virtual paralegal for a start up social media website, have had the job for a year and half and I love it. I am really happy with Odesk-no commute= do work in your jammies like I do.
Woah this website is usually fantastic i enjoy reading through your content regularly. Carry on the truly great do the job! You realize, lots of people want around just for this facts, you can enable them to drastically.
Sign up on the forum http://www.workplacelikehome.com its free and its a message board which lists a lot of work from home companies. They tell you which are legitimate and how to apply etc. Ive been working from home for 8 years now. I won’t get rich but it definitely helps pay the bills. Good luck
Hello, I’ve never commented here before but I do read your blog and you are one of my Mama heros. When you said you were looking for jobs taht you can do from home that involve writing, I immediately thought of this. My brother was an English Writing major in college and is now working his way through grad school for something not at all having to do with writing, but I know that he uses this website sometimes to get a little extra money on the side. I hope it helps you. Good luck!! http://www.textbroker.com/us/author-information.php
I’m a new visitor to your blog & think you do a great job. I’m sorry to read that you are going through such a difficult time. I don’t need ad space at this moment, but will soon for a chapter book release & I’ll definitely get in touch.
Totally sucks that you have to go through all of this, as do your hubs & kids. It’s totally not right at all. And you’re not the only one. And I wish that people could have just a teensy bit more awareness of who in this country is struggling to make ends meet & what that means.
Part of my job is editing. It’s hard to find a job out there in proofreading & editing – but they ARE out there. And there are small companies who will hire people to edit from home. I used to work for one part-time & I doubt it was the only kind that ever existed. Don’t give up.
And you are an AWESOME writer. I’m behind on my blog-reading & decided I need to catch up on yours. My first thought when I opened up tonight’s post & realized how many great posts you’ve written in such a short time was “How does she write this well so often?” You have a gift.