first, a funny: we were trying to get baby cat to say our landlord's name and she wasn't being cooperative, so he promised her $5 if she said it. she said it, and he did indeed give her $5. and he left! i so wasn't expecting him to actually follow through. lol

anyway, things have kind of...gone a bit upside down at the house since the kids got out of school. not that the two are related much, except that they're already driving me up the wall.

first, the good news: kitten has a new job. it's going to take a bit for it all to work out—she has to finish training, scheduling will be inconsistent until they finish training another shift manager, and, of course, we'll have to wait for the checks to actually kick in. once all that happens, however, the income from it should be consistent than her last job, and it apparently includes at least some benefits. definitely a big plus when you have a baby. especially a rough and tumble baby, and baby cat is definitely all tumble and scrapes. of course, the job also means another schedule adjustment after starting to switch from my school schedule to my night owl schedule. so far, it doesn't look like a major change since she'll probably work afternoons/evenings for the most part. so the one who may have to do the most adjusting would be baby cat.

also, saxy and i are looking into buying a house through the georgia first time buyer, low income programs. i know that may sound crazy with our income, but the income is part of the reason why we're looking at doing it. right now, we bring in a total of about $2300/month. rent and utilities alone eat up $1600-1700 of that, and that's just insane. with the remaining money we pay for the car, insurance, medications, and food (which just goes to show why i'm not on half my medications; we just can't afford them). we can't do much more even if we need to because that means something on the list gets shorted. unfortunately, things need to be taken care of outside those categories, and we're perpetually struggling to keep from losing utilities. car and house are ALWAYS paid no matter what, but it's hard. right now, with housing prices the way they are, we can probably drop our house payment anywhere from $300-$500. and if we get a place that's not as old as this one (30+ years now, with a contractor who took some crazy short cuts), we might even be able to cut our gas and electric costs by at least $100. that's kind of money is significant at our level of income. so, i've printed up some of the material on these programs and now just have to get started with the process. one of the programs needs to have all its money spent in the next year, so i really need to get on top of things.

there's also some bad in the recent upside downing of our household. my heart medications apparently have stopped working—my body has adjusted to the dose. unfortunately, this was not caught early enough, so when i went in for something else entirely, my bp was 175/110—just below critical. i've been ordered off my exercise program since exercising when it's that high could cause a stroke. once it's back to something reasonable, i can start up again. really, this is very frustrating. i'm trying to do the right stuff, and then something like this happens. it's not forward progress, and that's what's driving me crazy. anyway, the doctor (who i think i like: respectful but still takes command, explains what we're doing and why, not brusk or rude) has increased the dose of my current medication, and monday I have to go back and see if it's working. once the bp is back down to reasonable, i can start exercising again, but i suspect i'll have to take it more seriously than i have been. previously i was doing the program twice a week with a midweek "run around town" thing. now i'll definitely have to go for everyday, monday through friday. he also wants me to go from my "healthy regardless of weight" thing to actually losing weight. me and losing weight do not have a successful relationship, but i guess i'm partly on the way with our new eating habits, so that's something.

and there's also now a more serious concern that i might be developing diabetes. i'm hoping not since the last thing this family needs is yet one more medication that needs to be paid for. and me and needles, any kind of needles (even pin prick needles) do not get along. so i'm really hoping i'm not there yet and that we can salvage this before it does get there. on the 1st, we're going to b&n and looking for a diabetic cook book that also explains the disease and basics of maintenance and all that. i figure with the way our diets are now, there won't be much to change. i will have to reduce my sugar a bit further, probably my grains, but we're eating a fairly healthy diet these days with more fresh produce. right now, my major focus on the whole eating thing will be to cut portions, which should also help with the weight thing. the real fun will be trying to adjust my diet to be leaner and healthier while keeping the high fat and protein content in taz's.

all of this has had us in a bit of a tizzy this past week, plus at least half the household had a cold. we're moving forward, making plans, and doing what we need to do. we should become less upside down as we adjust to everything, but for now, it all feels a bit crazy.