It's been a long week with Alyssa and Samantha home. We sat down to figure our single income finances and found that we can still send Alyssa full time and Samantha two days a week to day care. I naively thought it would be okay to have them home. "I'll just shut the door while I work," I said. Sure, right.

There is nothing more irritating then being in the middle of a phone call with a customer and two kids outside rattling the door handle and throwing tantrums until you come out. Well, only one is throwing the tantrum and she's beginning the terrible twos.

Needless to say, Tanya was very happy. Her husband has been unemployed for over a year. So when we heard about Al's job I was as devastated for her as I was for us. We were a very stable income--the most stable income. Since we've tapered in the last month Tanya has been able to secure another full time duo--twin boys. They're Alyssa's age and she likes playing with them.

Samantha got to go back to school on Tuesday and is super happy. Yesterday the county library did a presentation about the library and the bookmobile. They were supposed to pass our cards to each child, and, we'll they forgot them. There were some very disappointed preschoolers. We were able to go check books out at the library yesterday after we had a mommy-daughter lunch date at McDonalds. I was a nice treat and a nice break from my chaotic work day. I have a feeling we'll be taking a trip to the library once a week from here on out.

Al is still looking for jobs, still searching, but no bites. It's tough out there.