Oregon is sure in a lot of financial trouble.   We have twelve percent of our population out of work—percentage wise, we are the Numero Uno in the country in terms of unemployment   We are extremely in the red–four billion dollars!–and hunger is rampant here.  And by hunger, I don’t mean absolute starvation; I’m talking about nutrition deficiency.

Coming from a household that relies partially on hand-outs from unemployment, (the roommate only works 2ish days a week and the state will help compensate her for the rest of the week), I can tell you it’s hard. Hard.

Spaghetti sauce (the cheap can kind) dumped unceremoniously in rice have made up our meals. I call it What a Rice Surprise—I tend to put in whatever I have to supplement it and give it some dietary value. Nuked potatoes and steamed veggies are another household favorite.  I am so missing the taste of meat.  My gentle reader(s) would probably be shocked to find out just how bare our cupboards are.

So yeah, that’s why I haven’t been blogging as often as I’d like. Economically, the situation has been seriously depressed, which can turn to creative malaise….

I’m actually thinking about downsizing my cable/internet/phone services. Good ol’ Comcast is jacking up the prices again, and I need food more than the LOGO or Bravo stations.  I have also thought about selling my Bowen Statues….but that would KILL me.  Especially since I’d have to sell them for less than I bought them for.  (I have the full size statues of Storm, Gambit and Dark Phoenix.  Busts? Rogue, Sabertooth, Mystique, Psylocke, Angel, Nightcrawler a Sentinel, and Storm.) 

No. I won’t be getting rid of them. Not my “babies”.

I think I’ll start doing more comparison shopping and clipping out more coupons.   Maybe I’ll start monitoring the electricity usage closely and being more frugal–NOT miserly—with our resources.  That’s a start, right?