And an hour later....

Things are not looking as bleak. Russ heard from a training group in Omaha who really really want him to work for them and have already set up days for him to do trainings. While the one place has not paid us, another sent a little money and Russ got a partial refill on the blood pressure medication I'm still taking. Probably a good plan, given the stress of the situation.

But it is nice to breathe a little again. We're far from out of the woods. We don't have the funds to pay most of our extra bills (Internet, websites, etc.), but it is possible that it will come through in time.

By the way, I am NOT celebrating my birthday this year. I'm going to wait until things are better and then convince Russ that he has to go to the zoo with me.

I did write and say there was no way I could attend the Santa Barbara Writer's Conference and be part of the Ebook pannel. There's just no way we could pull together enough money to do something that expensive by June. I know that some people at FM wanted to do a fund raiser for it -- but quite honestly, when you're not certain you are going to make the next electric payment, raising money for something that frivolous... well, it just wouldn't have worked out.

But things are looking better!