mickeym

Hey, y'all. How is everything for everyone? I hope going better than for my household.

I'm just going to flat-out say it -- and I'm so upset that I need to -- but we need financial help. Again? Still? I don't even know, any more.

We've had a rash of missing wallets/IDs. Madisyn finally found hers, so she's applying for jobs again. But Megan and Donnie are both waiting on replacement IDs. Donnie lost the job she had. They claimed she called in excessively (they said 10 times, we could only count three, and she had Dr's notes for two of those). Matthew is finally employed, but it's construction-related, so the jobs are just starting to come in. He's been with the company for three weeks, now, but only started working this week.

Our electric bill is being covered by the local Community Action service, but that still leaves water, and the overdraft I created in my bank account because we had to have groceries -- and no matter how many cuts you make to a grocery list, it's still expensive to feed five people. And we need groceries again. We'll need rent again in ten days' time, and Matthew needs his meds, and it's an endless fucking list of things we need to pay, it seems.

If anyone can help, any amount, I would be forever grateful. We're going to use Megan's Paypal. Her email is megan.vanmeter11@gmail.com

I'm posting this here on LJ, on DW, and on FB. If you can repost or share it, I'd be grateful for that, as well.

None I'm going to admit to saying out loud, anyway.

Motherfucking Trump. I'm finally settled (more-or-less) into school, looking forward to progressing and getting my certifications in another couple of semesters. And I decide to check CNN.com. Just to keep up with stuff.

Here's what greets me: https://www.cnn.com/2025/01/27/politics/white-house-pauses-federal-grants-loan-disbursement/index.html

Among other things, he's pausing federal grant and loan disbursements. You know, the ones needed if you're attending any institution of higher learning.

My blood pressure shot up so fast and probably so high, my head hurts now. I just...I'm so angry I just want to cry. It's not just the pausing of grants and loans. It's the whole article. Read it. It's illuminating.

I want to smash my fist into his stupid, orange, fucking FACE.

Edit: I'm feeling a little like Chicken Little here, because I've gone back and re-read the article. The second paragraph states:

"Federal agencies “must temporarily pause all activities related to obligation or disbursement of all Federal financial assistance,” White House Office of Management and Budget acting director Matthew Vaeth said in the memorandum, a copy of which was obtained by CNN. The pause also blocks the issuance of new grants. "

A friend also pointed out that the article states further down that payments/assistance to individuals won't be affected. I read that as my SSI, and Matthew's SSDI, but federal pell grants and loans are (also) paid to individuals.

So, cautiously and hopefully optimistic, but not going to breathe easy until I hear from the financial aid office. Thank you all for playing this round of "Freak Out with Kim". 🙂

Ugh. More fleas in my bedding. (This whole flea crisis is compounded by the fact that both the washer and dryer aren't working properly, and it's taking a full day to do, like, two or three loads. We still have six trash bags full of clothing and bedding.)


Gofundme: https://gofund.me/a9aa38ba

(Originally posted to LiveJournal)

Lately, when I get my "kudos" notifications from AO3, I click on the story to re-read it (if it's not a hugely long fic). I'm always amused when it's a Star Trek or Sentinel fic, because that period in my life seems *so long* ago. This journal is 22+ years old, and those stories pre-date this journal.

One of the stories that received a kudos today is one I wrote for SPN Big Bang in 2010. One of the comments I received for that story (that I had to come back to LJ to find/read) was (in part) "OMG Kim, you put them in therapy and fed them s'mores". It made me smile, happy and a little sad at the same time. Fandom was such a HUGE part of my life, for so many years, that there is a lot of happy attached to it.

But I haven't written a word in, god, probably a decade, now. Or close to it, anyway. I've enjoyed a lot of shows and movies, but I can't seem to get fannish about any of them. So many friends have moved on, or just disappeared altogether. There's very little action, like a community, here on LJ. I don't know about DW. I'll likely post this over there, as well. I need to make more of an effort to be social. I have so much of my life tied up in LJ/DW, and in Facebook. Some of you I see there. I'd love to see more of you there. Or, wherever. Where are fannishly-inclined folks meeting, these days? Do I need to get on other social platforms? Tell me where and how, because I really want to be social again. My life seems so very small and sad, and has for quite some time. I'd like to have some of the happy back.

Hey, everyone.

Posting here (LJ, FB, DW) to beg some help. My family isn't able to help this time around, and Matthew is still jobless.

We have a $270 electric bill that is, apparently, due on the 6th. I say apparently, since ordinarily my bill is due on the 15th, and we're eligible for a payment arrangement (it extends the pay-by date). But not this time, and I don't know why. I'm going to call the electric company in a few hours, when they're open, to find out what's going on, but I'm going to proceed like it's due on Tuesday.

To that end, can anyone help us out? Any amount at all is welcome and will be very greatly appreciated.

My paypal address is gasperkimberlee@gmail.com

Many, many thanks in advance.

Louisville is having it's Pride Parade on the 15th. I won't be going — it's too expensive to rent a wheelchair, and I can't walk/stand.

But our household will be well represented: Megan and her gf, and Matthew and Madisyn will be going, as well, though they're going separately. Megan and her girl are staying up there through until Sunday evening. I don't think M2, because they don't have the money.

I posted this on FB, and I'll post here, as well: if anyone needs someone to give them a Mom Hug (virtually, or in RL, though they'll have to come to me for that one), let me know. Likewise if they want someone to talk to. I struggled with my bisexual self for a LONG time — I knew as early as 6th or 7th grade that I liked to look at girls as much as boys, and wasn't that a revelation in gym class? — but I'm finally at peace with it.

So, yeah. If you know someone who maybe wants to talk, I can do that. Texting, phone call, FB messaging, email, whatever. Hell, video chat, if that's what they want.

As for everyone else: Happy Pride Month, may it be a joyful thing for all of us celebrating. <3

And apologies to anyone who sees this pop up twice, since I'm cross-posting.

Hey, LJ folks. How's stuff? I hope 2024 is going well for y'all. Dine, I got your postcard. Thank you, honey. I appreciate your thinking of me.

This gets really long from here, so I'm going to say up front that yeah, I'm asking for some financial help. *Any* thing at this point will help out. We're using Megan's payal for this, so it's megan.vanmeter11@gmail.com.

Matthew and Madisyn are back together, and currently staying with us. In my living room. Madisyn got kicked out of the house she and Matthew had been renting a room at, when she went to jail. She also lost her job. Within a couple days of her being released she was over here, sleeping in Matthew's car. Within a few days of that, they were back together, and living in a motel. They got kicked out of one for cooking in their room and clogging the drain up washing dishes. They got kicked out of a second motel because they couldn't pay the rent. So they came back down here, asked to store their stuff in our little bedroom (that is currently holding all the stuff Megan and I had in the storage unit), and were going to sleep in the car, in our parking lot.

Matthew didn't have to be homeless — he's on the lease here, for heaven's sake. But he wouldn't come in and leave Madisyn in the car. (And the cat they adopted, a week into their living-in-a-motel.) So Megan and I talked about it, and decided they could come in at least for the time the temp was hovering around/below freezing at night. Then we decided they could stay while they worked to save up money for an apartment. We hoped they'd be out by the beginning of May; then we hoped it would be June or July... and now with the latest round of bad luck, we'll be lucky to EVER get them into their own place. What happened, you might be asking. Well, Matthew was buying a car from a friend. The friend pulled money off his credit card and bought a car from his neighbor, and then Matthew was going to pay him $400/mo for four months, blah blah blah. That happened in late December. Fast forward to April. Matthew's now missed one and a half payments. He had his friend come over so they could talk about it, and said friend said to Matthew that at no point would he repossess the car, just pay him when he can.

A week later Megan and Matthew were heading out for her endoscopy appointment she's been waiting for six months for. She went through the door first, and stopped and said, "where's the car?"
The friend come in the middle of the night, used the spare set of keys he still had, and took the car. All of Madisyn's tools were in the car, too. The police took Matthew up to Chris's house to get the tools out of the car — this after we were told that he didn't know where the car was, and that 'the bank' had repossessed it. So he lied straight to Matthew's face. We asked him to come over and talk about it, but he said he would and never did.

With no car, Madisyn had to quit the job she had in Louisville, and we had to reacquaint them to the idea of staying down here. Megan has an extra bike she said Madisyn could have — and she'd be able to bike to a job nearby. So Madisyn has been putting in apps left and right, and had a bunch of interviews scheduled. Now we're just waiting for one of them to hire her. Matthew is a little trickier. Doug's in the hospital again, and on a ventilater. Doug's brother told Matthew that he should get to Kansas sooner, rather than later. We don't have the money to send him out there, and it's going to suck if he gets a job and then has to leave right away because of his Dad. He message his uncle and asked if Dan, or Doug could get him the money to go out there. No response from Dan yet, and he texted him a couple days ago.

Now, remember the cat I mentioned, a few paragraphs above? We've been having fun integrating Snowball into the cat household, but she's a bit older (around six), and fixed, and super calm. No problem with that one, and most of our babies get along, if warily, from a distance.

Then tonight. Oh, Lord, tonight. Matthew and Madisyn went outside to smoke a cigarette, and then there's this sudden uproar. I'm in the bathroom when it begins, and Matthew knocks and opens the door. They found *three* of the cats they had at Robert's, wandering around right near our door. And someone put a bowl of food right out on the sidewalk coming up to our house. I'm certain they were left here just into the evening hours tonight. And suddenly, our cat population has sprung from five...to EIGHT. I told them that they need to find a way to get a bottle of flea shampoo, and get them bathed by tomorrow evening. If they don't have fleas, it's no harm no foul, but if they do, that'll fix it. But the best part, is that two of the three cats are unfixed males. The other one of the three is Luna, who is an unfixed female (along with three of our four, but it wasn't a problem up until now) who has been pregnant twice in the past ten months or so.

So! Everyone is caught up now, for the chaos in my life. The chaos that keeps on going and going and going, not unlike the Energizer bunny. And my apartment. Oh, man. It looks, I swear, like I'm on my way to trying out for Hoarders. And that's making me even more nuts.

Meanwhile, they have no income except for Matthew's SSDI check, which they won't get for another week. They have a past-due phone bill. They need groceries. I'm covering that as best as I can, because even if I cook just for Megan and myself, most recipes make enough for four people. But I can only do so much. And they'll need cat food and litter, at least until they decide what they're going to do with the three they just got (back). They also have to pay me something for rent, because our electric and water are higher than usual, and we need a little help with that. So yeah. We need some help. Please. If you can help out at all, I would appreciate it. Paypal can go to megan.vanmeter11@gmail.com. Thank you in advance. :)

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you who are celebrating, today. I hope the day finds you surrounded by love ones, with all you require to have a wonderful day.

I am so very thankful for Matthew and Megan, and that Matthew has come home.

I'm extraordinarily thankful for my Mom, my Aunt, my sister and her family. They've done so much, helping and supporting me and mine through this year.

I'm also extraordinarily thankful for my friends. Some of you I've known for more than four decades; some of you I've only known a year or two, and most of you in between that. I thank you for the love, support, and assistance many of you have given me (us). I am not exaggerating when I say that you've helped us stay in our home, and put food on the table.

I'm thankful that I have a good roof over my head, all my basic needs met, and some of the not-so-basic needs/wants.

I sincerely hope that everyone has a good holiday, no matter how you celebrate it.

Love and hugs from me and mine, to you and yours. <3

Hey, y'all :)

Hard to believe the holiday season is upon us (well, nearly so).

I'd like to do holiday cards this year and am going to do my best to make it happen. If you'd like a card from me, leave me your name (how your name should appear on the mailing address) and snail addy. The info will only be visible to me.

I'm really looking forward to the holidays this year. :)

https://gofund.me/f224513d

Matthew hit a deer Wednesday night. On top of losing $700 to a scam, plus a household restructuring after some fairly heavy drama. We're in pretty bad shape right now.