I just finished "Bitter is the New Black" and can't wait to read the other books by Jen Lancaster. First, and foremost, she is funny and you can invision every single thing she is talking about. I can imagine the "dot com palace" I can picture the apartment in the 'hood and I can invision what the new townhouse will hopefully be for Fletch and Jen. I laughed at her antics and wanted to strangle some of the people who screwed her. No really, I wanted to pick up the phone and ask them what the hell they were thinking and who gave them permission or the go ahead to do what they had done to her in her career. She showed considerable more self restraint than I think I would have in those situations. I finished the book and sat and thought about everything they had been through and, though I have a child to add to the mix, could relate to almost all of it. There was a time when I had a closet full of size 6 suits and went to court for work all the time. I worked in the City (San Francisco, not Chicago). I left the house at 6:00 a.m. and didn't get home until sometime after 5:00 p.m., and that was only after my son was born. Before my son was born I would get home at 7:00 or 8:00 p.m. and sometimes later. Now, I work ten miles away, as opposed to many more to the City, and go to work in Dockers, or whatever the other label I wear calls them. I am so far removed from the City it isn't funny. Unfortunately, since that job, and the one I held after it, I am also so far removed from the pay check I used to get it isn't funny. Like Jen, I got to the point where I wondered why I needed immediate gratification on everything (think credit card). I realized it was because I always had the pay check to back it up. I was always able to keep my bills down by making substantial payments every month. Then, I got my pay cut by 15% at my job in the City. That may not seem like much, but it was a wake up call. Then my job got eliminated all together, along with others in our firm. I was only on unemployment for two and a half months, but that truly screws with your psyche to be on unemployment when you have worked since you were seventeen years old. On to another job, no suits, no court, no anything I had at my other jobs. Oh well, it was a job. Then, the work started to slow down. Then, my hours got cut. Now, I have such a different life it isn't funny. I say no more often to my son when we are in the store and he is wonderful and understanding about it and is the best kid in the world. I don't have the money to buy clothes and to do any extra things. I could totally relate to Jen as her spending scaled down and her priorities switched to her new life. Her dogs (and God knows they are expensive!!!), her husband, and her friends. I think we are all reinventing our lives right now in this economy. Thank you Jen, for taking us on your ride and making us all realize that just because your life switches gears it doesn't mean you can't be happy and still have what matters most....family, friends and your dogs.

I haven't been here in almost two years, so this is a little experiment to see if anyone ever stops by. A lot has happened...I got laid off for the first time in my life at the end of last summer due to downsizing and was out of work for two and a half months. It was truly the most frightening, sick to my stomach, time I have ever had in my life. I found a job in mid November and got my hours cut in May as the work was slowing down. I am now just barely making it with the pay cut and watching everyone else in this economy suffer. I keep telling my son that he is going to read about this in his history books in high school and college. His children are going to ask him how the depression was and ask him how we survived. I don't know how we survive. I guess we just keep on plugging along and thank God we have a roof over our head, we both have jobs and we can pay the bills every month. I feel like someone is putting their thumb down on all of us and we are just about to be squished. I don't know how much longer people can survive this recession. More and more people are losing their houses, their jobs... and their sanity. Everything was supposed to turn around in May of 2009 and that was five months ago. So when folks, when are things going to get better? We have all had it so good for so long that nothing has taught us to deal with stuff like this. I hope things turn around soon. I don't know how people handled this in the great depression. Unfortunately we have so many more expenses in this day and age, cell phones, cable tv, computers and the internet. All sorts of expenses that we count on everyday that they didn't have when things went all haywire back then. Is anybody else feeling like it is going to get worse before it gets better? I don't see the light at the end of the tunnel yet.