Will it never end?

 School Supplies for the soup kitchen, cost around $80.00, not to bad everything was on sale. When Kara leaves today Karsyn and I will make a delivery of school supplies and the extra fresh peaches I had leftover from canning, also have a bag of veggies to donate.

Here is a pint of coins from our Christmas jar. I have never figured out how much cash is in a jar so I took a pint jar to the coin Kiosk last night. Turns out this pint had $53.00. We usually give quart jars to the soup kitchen to distribute to needy families the week of Christmas. I was thinking of giving pint jars so more folks could receive something. Not sure if that would be a good thing or bad so I will check with the Director and see what she thinks.

With the dismal news over the stock market the past 2 weeks I had Rambo man check our 401K. We certainly didn't take the hit we suffered back in 2008 but we are still down 3%. At our age we really need to be moving forward in retirement savings however it could have been much worse had we stayed with some of the more aggressive stocks. So I guess that is the good news.
The bad news is his Department had another large layoff, as in they are now down to a skeleton group. My heart breaks for the many families we have known for years that are now facing an uncertain future. The business my hubby is in is very specialize so finding a job in the field will not be easy, until the Government gets it's act together the layoffs will continue. We of course never know when the shoe will drop on our own doorstep.
 To top it off on my way to pick Karsyn up this morning I heard a news report that Bank of America will be laying off and additional 10,000 people by the end of the year. Charlotte is the largest banking center in the country, no doubt the majority of the lay off will be in our community.
As I set here this morning while the little girls nap I know its time to make even more changes to our lifestyle so we are more prepared for what very well may come our way. It's hard to even know where to begin. First off is to take the donation to the food pantry and thank God we are still able to help others. Then on to weeding the garden before dark. I need to get the fall planting in this weekend if at all possible, there will be no rest time this weekend. At the end of each day I will be crunching numbers. Where can we cut back now, how can I squeeze more out of what we have coming to beef up our emergency fund. Discussing with my sweet Hubby who assures me we can get through anything about the cuts I feel we need to make. One thing is already out. I was going to visit him over Labor Day weekend, I just can't see spending money right now on a airline ticket. He is disappointed but agrees with me, the compromise is that our Anniversary trip is still on but I will be crunching more numbers to get the cost down as low as possible.
I need to find the joy in today and not forget what we have!!! The cute but exhausting little girls is one, the ability to continue giving to others, having a pantry that is overflowing with what we have mostly grown ourselves and a bag of dark chocolate that will help me with the new budget!!!