Struggling to survive

you need to brush up on your math skills gardener. 277 a week and saving 200 a month is not living on 77 bux a week

we keep our tanks full at all times as well as keep enough stored just in case... If we use it wisely and conserve we have enough gas in the car alone for 5 months.

This is survival which means continuing on living . Its not just a hobby

this is dilli

 

I can't always put gas in my tank, but right now I can keep my phone hooked up and I can find 50.00 a year to stay connected. I am not going to apologize or that. And I am going to find that money to stay connected for as long as I can. I may live on cucumbers most of the summer, I've lost weight and I've stayed connected. Let's see what February brings.

My internet connection brings in right now about half of my income. I am not ready to let go of that.

 

Right I missed that. Check back with us in five months. I hope you find a new job and get back on your feet. Been there now living on less. But not going to give up my internet. And I don't want to be disrespected because it's necessary for my survival. Without it I couldn't pay for my car insurance or taxes.

 

And I hope your gas doesn't degrade like ours here in California. I would add some Stabil to my tank if I was you.

 

thats fine gardener,as i have already stated,im not condemning anyone for there choices. my original statement that started all this was
something to the affect of "i have 0 sympathy for someone crying about hard times when they still have a internet."

thats not condemning anyone,that is saying your not going to get any sympathy from me if you still have a roof over your head,electricity and internet..
as i also stated,just be thankful you dont live somewhere like somalia and make the best of what ya got...

i dont see why that is such a big deal or so hard for people to comprehend..

 

ill check back as long as i can then i will move on.. like i said, i have savings to pay my property taxes for a decade,. we will make due...

 

Good for you. I am a little behind on mine but hope to get them caught up. And my internet connection is going to allow me to do that. I've been where you are for ten years now. I hope I never end up where the people in Somalia are they shouldn't be where they are today. I'm praying the world is a better place tomorrow.

 

who's not struggling in some way or another. for me its financial and emotional. i'm at the end of my rope and ready to end it all. wonder what its like on the other side? cant be as bad as this crap!!!!!!!

 

Hey, as long as you are alive, it's not the end. Please! Money can't buy you anything. You think it can, the world, everyone tells you it's important. But the most important thing is everyday you wake up, the sun comes up.,no one can control that. Take a walk, all alone by yourself look at the world. It doesn't matter what handbag you carry, what shoes you wear. The only thing that matters really is you are alive. And you should stay that way! Breathe...deep breaths, long walks. No one can take that away from you. Love, and respect those that love you. That's the most important thing. isn't that what Christ taught? And I am not a Chrstian, but some things are beyond religion. Klampner don't give up, PLEASE!

 

My older brother committed suicide. He's in a better place I know, but what he put his family through he didn't have to worry about, but the rest of us had to deal with it. Please don't. Realize that by continuing to live and being honest with your family you offer much more to them than the easy way out.

Try and remember that what's really important is sharing the little things: the smell of a first rain, the joy of letting go of the kid learning to ride a bike, painting an old hose and seeing it become something of beauty. Look to the little things...forget about what the commericals tell you is important.

You are what's important!

 

Hey-ya Shane,

A pot smoking parent isn't the worst thing that can happen to a kid. But I'm guessing you 'get' that point of view to a degree, since you've toked.

I think the propaganda outweights the reality of pot smoking. For sure, the smoke/tar is not good for your lungs. That's a given. But what I feel it comes down to is are you a good and decent person despite your pot smoking? Do you hold a job? Do you pay your bills? Are your moral ethics in tact? Do you foster a stable environment?

I'm not saying all pot smokers would make wonderful parents, but I am saying there's a huge faction of pot smokers out there who ARE responsible in every other ascpet of their lives (that is, IF you consider pot smoking to be irresponsible - which I don't). Just like our parents chose to have cocktail parties and drink into the wee hours of the night - I didn't find myself damaged by this. They were responsible in every other aspect of their lives, and they were responsible drinkers. Let's face it, the world and life is so big some days - one just wants a small escape now and then. I don't see that as unnatural or disdainful.

After my Mom stopped drinking, she started smoking pot at the ripe old age of 48. Her work performance did not suffer during her drinking days, nor when she began smoking pot. She was the same responsible gal she always was. Involved in local government, social issues, rallys, love her kids, blah blah blah (side note: After my Mom started toking, she sent me an article that even animals in the wild will seek out fermented berries and such for the effect).

I'm sure you'd agree that not all straight people make the best parents either. Case in point: The couple I gave my son up for adoption to. My son grew up to kill a man (not self defense!) and has done time for it in Folsom Prison. The girl they adopted, told me she had 20 sex partners by the time she was 14. Maybe there were no pot smoking parents in that house, but something was going on.

All that being said, I get really irked with all the propaganda surrounding pot. I've always lived responsibily. In relation to my community, my relationships, my jobs, my family, etc. Hell, I've even excelled in the work place (consultant in the building industry) while having a toke late at night after the damn day is over. The propaganda promotes the image that you can't hold your shit together if you toke. Well, I know many 100s of people that are living testimony to the opposite.

And yes, I'm aware that there are those who can't imbibe and hold it together (freak out, paranoid - whatever) I'd assume that's their chemical reaction to the substance - but this is what the propaganda leans on. Surely 'they' can't admit that there are many of us out there who keep our shit together on a daily basis - and have for 30+ years.

And, I typed this post with no anger towards you at all, it's just a dialog to me and I hope you see it the same way.

 

preaching to the choir lady i understand that, i'm just saying that the only reason smoking pot would "keep you from adopting children" is if the pot smoking were so important, you'd rather continue to do that than to adopt a child, in which case i don't think that person should be adopting children. If it came to someone saying "if you want to adopt you have to quit weed", as much as i like weed, i don't like it that much, and poeple who do have a problem.

 

I'm guessing these days, and in the lingering climate of Just Say No - if someone really wanted to adopt a child they's stop toking. At least long enough to pass all the check points.

 

Please, don't! Take a walk, take someone you love with you. Talk openly and honestly with them.

 

How is someone with no arms or legs going to bag groceries?

 

exactly.

 

nope, just tired of watching people jump to conclusions about other posters.

 

gardener, i have no one to talk to anymore. im going broke, lost all my so called friends in this b.s. divorce im going through after 24 years. my business is failing after 20 years and for some reason i have very strong feelings for a guy(of all things) and am to scared to talk to him about it. i cried all night, and many others, about all this and as far as i can tell i have ended up with nothing from 47 years of living.

 

Maybe you don't need all those things. Maybe this moment is fresh and new and your great fortune now is in being unburdened. Maybe it's the thought "I should have this" that is the real burden. Maybe this is a great opportunity to see life in an entirely new way, to LIVE life in an entirely new way.

When we cling to something that we had no control of anyway, then our happiness is entirely dependent on something that was always unstable and always subject to end. How can this be? Can this really be the truth of it?