Time Out for a Thank You to Holly

As some of you know, Holly has set things up at the Holly Shop to help me out as winter is setting in. I can't begin to explain how grateful I am, since things are looking... well, I'm sure I'd survive another winter here as it is, but it would not be comfortable. It's been a rough year, and though we are technically doing better than we were last year at this time, there are still problems. (Last year at this time we were about three weeks from being homeless. Things could be far worse than they are now.)

Thank you to Holly, Peter Nix and Katherina Gerlach for their kindness... and to everyone who has been buying books to help out. The money from these sales is going to fix a number of things, from broken house problems and get the car ready for winter. I do not drive, but Russ has to take the car from Omaha to Sioux City whenever he comes home, and it's very dangerous once the ice sets in.

Russ will be home from the November 1 to November 9. During that time, we're going to make a decision on where I am going to stay for the winter and work on repairs where it is the most likely to help. We have two very small and houses that are side-by-side. Russ used one for his office, and it is in better shape than this one. I might be there for the winter, providing we can get the water pipes and heating fixed (it may mean some extensive work), and get the utilities turned on. With this money, it is an option. Otherwise, we were going to have to try and find a way to keep at least one room in this house warm enough for me and the cats. We went through this last year, and it was not pleasant.

This has been an incredibly rough year. I knew I would come through it anyway, but Holly's help and everyone's kindness means I'm not going to be sitting here worried about everything that is wrong, from broken pipes in both houses, to fuses that keep blowing for no good reason here. A house with a fully working heating system sounds very nice, too.

I'm going to believe that everything will be better by next winter. If Russ can get a job closer to home, we will have fewer expenses. Having a place to live in Long Island (even just a room) costs money, and coming home every couple months is far more expensive than it was just before Russ took this job. However, having any job is better than being out on the street. Between my three paying jobs, I've managed to pay for a number of Russ's tickets home, feed myself, and pay some of the ongoing bills. Russ has been concentrating on getting us out of debt, and we're nearly there. This means if a job does turn up in this area, even if it is less income, Russ can take it. All we have to do is make certain that we don't slip again. The last came suddenly -- we were doing well until the economy tanked and no one was hiring Russ for the work he'd been doing for years.

Having things work properly here in the house will cost us less in the long run. And -- something that is very important to me -- it will mean the kitty gang is less likely to be ill this year.

So thank you again to Holly and everyone else. I feel like for the first time in months I can look at next week without worrying.

And, amazingly, I'm starting to have more fun with writing again.