december_solstice

I'm exhausted - it's been a good weekend. Probably the best weekend I've had in a really long time. I've also been writing and staying busy and active. I'm starting to feel myself again, feeling more like a person, a human, and like a normal member of society. With life as we know it being ripped apart at the seams, the smallest glimpse of normality is a huge deal, I've noticed. Today I plan to do quite a bit of writing, job searching, and self-care. I just want to re-connect, to get involved, and just do things.

We've been out of the house almost non-stop since arriving here. The good thing is I'm getting a lot of exercise and I've been feeling really good physical because of it! I just wish I could say I was eating healthy too. I am making an effort, though. We don't have much wiggle room and are super limited. We can't cook in our apartment, and technically, we aren't even suppose to have food, but we do anyway (pantry crap, nonperishable - just building a small stockpile).

I'm also trying to save money, and so we rely heavily on food stamps. I try to find ways to eat fresh fruits and vegetables as often as I can, and avoid fast food. Last night, for example, I had chicken, brown rice, and a salad, as well as steamed edamame. I'm happy that I was able to eat some real food, and *almost* not break the bank for it. We've been doing SO MUCH walking and spending hours on end outside because it's better than sitting in a room twiddling our thumbs. We also saw Beauty and the Beast, which I liked.

Been spending more money than I'd like, but I suppose it's unavoidable. We lost everything. The shelter doesn't give you ANYTHING. And, it's your responsibility to buy everything yourself and clean your own unit. More or less just like your own apartment. So, yeah, we're more or less starting over. Everyday I realize something we need that we don't have because that's just how it goes when you move into a new place. Since we don't have a lot of money to spend, we have no choice but to buy things for the apartment very slowly. Regardless, I think we're making good progress. We have the absolute bare-minimum, but it's enough. I should really put together a list - we still need cleaning supplies. I got a broom and dustpan, but I need a toilet brush and a non-bleach cleaner. I have to take another look at the rules to make sure I don't accidently buy something contraband.

We're down to about $200 in cash and $200 in food stamps which is more than enough to get us through the next 2 weeks. It's also likely I can ask my Mom to help us out if we really absolutely need it. Also Thomas gets paid next week. We're in a good place considering we did quite a bit of spending this month.

We met with our social worker for the second time this morning. She more or less told us that it's a waiting game from here on out, we've fulfilled all the requirements (not including the medical results we're waiting on). We don't meet again for 2 weeks. I explained to her what we've been up to, and how we're making an effort to seek resources and information elsewhere, but in a lot of ways, it feels out of our control (because we can't do much of anything until DHS finds us eligible or not). She more or less said, "at least you're trying because most people here aren't". Which is kind of sad.

So, the plan is to take it easy on the rental vouchers until our next follow-up because I'm more or less wasting my time until I find out what happens next with DHS. I got a job interview for a job that I also can't do because it's night shifts and I can't even get all the way back here on public transportation because I'm literally in butt-fuck no where. I'm just going to keep applying for jobs with hopes that I can get an interview for one that actually works for me.

In the meantime, I'm working on the same writing project I've been working on since earlier this year (series of mini-memoirs...I skimmed it over and was really impressed with what I've written so far), and also writing articles for Hub Pages. Earlier I thought maybe I could pull previous things I've written off my lifestyle blog or elsewhere but fuck it, I rather write fresh stuff. At least then I won't have to worry about pulling it off the web elsewhere. So far, I really like Hub Pages. You can earn a small income through Google AdSense and Amazon Ads. Apparently, it's very possible to earn an upwards of $400-600/m of passive income, however, I'd like to assume that depends greatly on the long-term relevance of your content. The idea is to write helpful/how-to/informative articles. Before I can start actually earning income, I need to have an average of 10 well-written articles published. So that's my current goal, while also working on my other writing project.

Oh! And, in other news, I've deleted my *other* Dream width account (opened specifically for a guild community/page), and also my old LJ. I am also thinking of getting rid of/deleting Tumblr because it's dead and pointless. I actually tried to do that last night, and again today but couldn't make it work. Since it linked with Yahoo it's like...the passwords get all messed up. I'm not sure but it's a pain in the ass.