We're Number Four!

An online article about the top ten cities where the economy will probably get even worse caught my eye the other day. California made the top six, with Riverside the worst, then Stockton, Los Angeles, BAKERSFIELD AT NUMBER FOUR!, San Francisco, and Sacramento. Who cares what states the other cities were in, California RULES!

Yep, here in Bakersfield the unemployment rate still hovers around 12%, with the smaller agricultural towns around here coming in at 35% and 40%. So, despite all the so called good news about the recovery and how 200,000 new jobs were created last month or whatever, we've still got a long long way to go.

The same news report bragging about all the new jobs showed people going back to work. At a Bloomingdale's outlet store. Where they are probably making minimum wage. Yeah.

New post on Festival O Felines here! http://festivalofelines.blogspot.com/2011/04/hairbrushes-and-hairballs.html

I'm stalling this morning because I don't really feel like going and cleaning the shower that really needs to be cleaned. And the rest of the bathroom that really needs to be cleaned.

I've been keeping busy with Keith gone, working on gift bags and painting some new charms and doing some new little wood pins. Like these:




Available here and only $4.00 each!

Counting our Blessings

It's hard to stay positive and keep our spirits up when we feel like we are constantly struggling to get the bills paid and eat halfway healthy and keep the cats fed and buy cat litter. But at least we are hanging in there and have food to eat even if we are down to things like last night's dinner of scrambled eggs. It's another week until payday and we've got just enough money to put a tank of gas in the car so Keith can get to work next week and he'll be taking peanut butter sandwiches for his lunch, but damn, after watching the news last night (the real big network news, not our local home grown news team) I'm feeling pretty lucky that we even have that jar of peanut butter in the cupboard.

Unemployment will run out for a whole lot of people at the end of July unless the bill is passed to once again extend it. The numbers are staggering. By the end of July there will be over 3 million, yes THREE MILLION people whose benefits will run out. Three million people who have been out of work for a long long time with not much hope of finding a job any time soon.

Keith and I kind of looked at each other and once again said that while his job may not pay all that much and the work is back breaking and he has to work outside in the 100 degree heat and there are many many days when he absolutely hates having to get up and drive 30 miles to this job, AT LEAST HE STILL HAS A JOB! And a car to get to that job in.

The news did a story on just two people out of these 3 million, and the stories were heartbreaking. Both were men in their 50's, not good candidates for a job just because they ARE in their 50's, and we know that once you are over a certain age nobody wants to hire you because you are OLD, and both men have been on hundreds of job interviews and search every day for a job, but there is just nothing out there.

It's just sad and I don't think it's going to get better for those 3 million for a long, long time.

So, we'll eat our peanut butter sandwiches and scrambled eggs for dinner and be damn glad that we can actually afford to buy that peanut butter and those eggs in the first place.