The mission this week is to let it all out. Get everything that’s driving you nuts off of your chest. And that’s why I debated participating this week.

On one hand, this should be a really easy post. Because, honestly? There are a ton of things that annoy me.
On the other hand, how many times a day can you think/say/type “This suuuucks” before you begin to annoy even yourself?

But, since I’m getting sick of the same post being up at the top, and since I apparently have a complete block going on, mentally speaking, here is my list of obnoxious things.*

1) The amount of homework I have to do is ridiculous. Between that and housework? Well, I think I figured out *why* I’ve had the same post up for nearly a week.

2) The Department of Veteran’s Affairs. Still annoying, still coming up with new reasons not to pay TheMan. Still inefficient, at best. At worst? Clearly a tool of the devil.

3) Germs. Look, I? Am busy. While both kids were down for the count last weekend** and needing lots of snuggles, care and tissues, among other things, I also had homework, housework, and tests that needed studying for. But I managed. Now, my throat is sore. And all I have to say is, Back. The Hell. Off.

4) There are not enough hours in a day. Self-explanatory.

5) Things keep breaking. If you’ll reference #2, right now is *really* not the best time for the Jeep to start acting odd, or the electronics to die, or the fridge to start whining. But has this stopped *any* of them? No.

6) It’s also really annoying to have to ask for help. It’s annoying to be dealing with the state/county “economic counselors” in order to be able to cover the kids’ medical bills. It’s annoying to have to ask my parents for a loan. It’s really freaking annoying that I felt the need to stick a little (hopefully not too jarringly out of place) donate button in the side bar. And it’s annoying that I felt like I had to erase, re-write, erase, re-write etc etc that last sentence, because, yes, it is something that’s driving me nuts, but still *I* put it there. And I don’t want anyone to think that I’m pointing it out to make them feel guilty.

So yes. Am done. Summary: Mostly annoyed by lack of cash, and lack of time.
So what are you annoyed by? Let me know in the comments, or click the button at the top to participate with your own post!
Love and such,
Jen Thepsychobabble

*The following items may contain a wee bit of hyperbole. Maybe
**Look for Weekend from Hell to appear in a different post.

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This a post that I didn’t want to write.
This is the post where I tell you, “You might not be seeing me much in a month or so, because I’m not sure how I’m going to pay the water bill* this month, or keep the cars insured*, never mind internet access.”

This is the post where I admit that the scales have tipped, and I feel more defeated than angry. The one where the system? Is kicking my ass.

It’s a looooong story, but I’ll try to sum it up. When TheMan was considering going back to school, a major deciding factor in whether or not we could swing it, was the GI Bill, aka “Money that was promised to TheMan for his educational expenses, because he put four years of his post-high-school life into the military.”

Now, we’ve worked with the government before. We’ve worked with the V.A. system before.
We realize that they are slower than mud, and fond of red tape. It is what it is.
So we planned. We looked at the time frame they gave us for how long it would take between submitting an application, and when we could expect to see payment. We tacked an extra month onto that when we planned.

Ah, but things did not go according to plan, not even a little. After trying to work with the unresponsive school rep, who seemed to know little about the GI Bill, despite it being part of her departments advertised services, we called our local county V.A. office.
They gave us a form to fill out, they told us to give it back, and we’ll send it in for you.
So we did. And we waited, patiently.
Then we called the national hot line, to see what the status of TheMan’s application was.

And we found out that, not only had they never received a form, but even if they had gotten it, it wouldn’t have been the right one.
Lovely. At this point? We were starting to run low on funds, despite TheMan working part-time for his mother.
And my pavement pounding? Was NOT turning up a job. At all.

Our next step was to call our congressman, Steve Kagen, and speak with the guy on his team who handles veteran affairs, Ron Lecker.
Initially, I was thrilled. Mr. Lecker said he would send us a release form, and that we would get this all straightened out.
Then there was illness in the office, and our family fell through the cracks…again. The form was never sent out.

After apologies from Mr. Lecker, we received the form last Saturday, 10/31/09. I mailed it back the following Monday, and the USPS assures me it arrived on Wednesday morning.

Hopefully, this time, we won’t fall through any more cracks. Hopefully, Congressman Kagen will be able to work miracles. Because I will tell you right now, I’ve been picking and choosing what bills to pay for the last month. And some of them are starting to get a wee bit cranky. But at this point? There’s no picking and choosing. They are all screwed.

___________________________________________________________
*At the time I wrote this, I honestly didn’t know where we would get the money for these two bills, each in the NEED TO PAY IMMEDIATELY! catagory. Thankfully, the credit union is done investigating the fraudulent charges (which I totally thought I wrote about, but now can’t find), and the returned money (after our account is no longer negative) is just enough to cover those two bills. Even the small miracles count.

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