Potpourri

Long time no blog. The short story is that I just got tired. Bone tired. Trudging through the days tired. I think there are some fixable reasons for that, and I'm working on them. In the mean time, I decided I had to give over and put school at the top of the list. I even considered leaving my job early (I'm due to leave in early May), but work is so slow right now that it didn't seem necessary. And things are going better at school with my priority change. I'm a good student, always have my reading done before lecture, show up at every single lab and discussion section, turn in homework early and carefully read even the optional articles. Not surprisingly, so far, this semester is far less stressful than last. The family seems fine with it, we're all in high nesting mode, anyway.

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Annie had her first driving lesson today. I was surprised to find that I was actually worried about that. But it was fine, and she seems to be over her anxiety about driving, too, and ready to get on with it. Three cheers.

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I was thinking yesterday that what we needed right about now were some Fireside Chats, and wondering when Mr. Obama might start telling us regularly that, yes, everything IS grim, but it'll be OK. Then tonight I turned on Marketplace on NPR and realized that Kai Ryssdal is the Fireside Chat guy. If you don't regularly listen to this program (and you're like me, not a financial wizard), you should. Ryssdal and his guests and reporters do a marvelous job of breaking the financial madness down into understandable and useful chunks, in an easy-going, shucks, it's gotta get better delivery style. Cool jazz in between the segments, too.

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The economy has been keeping both we grownups awake lately, as we consider job changes. So I finally went to that dark place this week, The Worst Case Scenario. It came as a shock, but I think we'd survive even if we both lost our jobs for a while. It wouldn't be FUN. But if we made do without everything unnecessary that we've come to take for granted, we'd still have food and a roof and (used) clothing for a very long while. And that made me feel a lot better. I really didn't want to end up in a modern-era Dorothea Lange photo.

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And so, I can end on a cheery note. Things aren't as dire as they could be. It's raining cats and dogs here (helping our parched, drought-weary state), the stimulus bill passed, our Governor is pushing hard to pass a budget so Rob will keep getting paid, we're all healthy and we know how to cook beans in a pot. In fact (as was mentioned on Marketplace tonight) for people like us who have always been the ones NOT going skiing, NOT going to Europe, NOT buying cool stuff for the kids, this is kind of a nice time for us. We fit in, for the first time in a long while.

That said, my heart goes out to the many who are not feeling cheery tonight. I know so many people who have lost jobs just this month, it boggles the mind. Hang in there. Like Kai will tell you, it's gotta get better.