Hello again! It has been way too long since I've posted, huh? Things have been a bit crazy, but I guess that's expected....

Most of you know that we made it to Wisconsin. We are doing okay up here, not great, but okay. Donald searched for a job for about a month and couldn't find one, so he went back to the Gazette. Thankfully he had that to fall back on, but it is difficult living on his salary alone! We are very lucky we had money in savings to get us through the summer. I will be starting my job the last week in August, so the money situation will get much better then! It looks like both of my classes will be full, so now I am just waiting on my teaching license to come back.

My sister had her baby last week - Matthew Lee. He is a perfect baby in every sense. One of these days I will find the cord to my camera so I can post some pictures.

I have been very worried about things lately that are mostly out of my control, but worrisome nevertheless. For the last year or so, I've been learning about Peak Oil and discovering that we are sadly in the midst of it. For those of you who've never heard of Peak Oil, I highly suggest checking out some of these sites: The Oil Drum, Casaubon's Book, and The Automatic Earth. In a nutshell, Peak Oil essentially means that the supply of oil in the world has reached its peak, and now supply will decrease while demand continues to increase. As if Peak Oil weren't enough, the financial crisis in the U.S. is adding to our economic worries. Implications of these to crises are apparent: more people being unable to afford energy (gas, electricity, etc.), more people being forced out of their homes as a result of foreclosure, and more people being laid off or losing their jobs.

Unfortunately I am beginning to realize that my mom may be one of the first victims of these crises. She simply cannot afford her electric bill ($200/month in the summer with no air and $400-$500/month in the winter), her house payment ($900/month), and food ($500 a month for the four of them). Mom got a disconnect notice in the mail the other day and is now furious at the electric company for not having any compassion, etc. as the rates have increased almost 100% over the last 2-3 years. It appears that my sister and her baby will be "moving in" with us as she cannot have a newborn in the house with no electricity. Time will only tell how long it will be before they lose their house and then what? Will the whole family need to move in with us? What about her animals? Things are very uncertain right now, especially here in Janesville since GM will be closing in a year or so. That puts over 3,000 people in this city out of work which will have huge effects on the local economy.

I don't know what will happen in the future. But I do know that things are about to change, big time. How much can you afford to spend on energy? Personally, I know for myself that if gas prices get much higher, we certainly won't be able to afford going much of anywhere. Electricity? We certainly couldn't afford $300/month! Thankfully our house is very energy efficient, but if our rates double, we'd be priced out. I am afraid that more people than not will be in this exact situation in the next year or two, and then what? There are big changes coming...