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.