Tis The Season For Me To Rant And Ramble

Tis the season for giving, right? With our country in hard economical times, and even more so with the announcement of more layoffs of 50,000 employees from Chrysler and Ford. Times are hard for everyone. Well almost everyone. I guess times aren't so hard if you're rich and well off. Times have been hard for the hubby and I too. We are your average middle class family just trying to make ends meet everyday. We always seem to find a way to muddle through all this economic chaos. I should actually say the hubby seems to find side jobs when there are layoffs from his company. He is currently laid off and hoping to go return to work after the holidays. My hubby may still e employed, but boy have times changed for the employees of this company. Our health insurance has been down graded, with no notice from the employer. It would of been nice to know that our insurance had changed, so I could of saved the money to pay these unexpected bills. I was shocked when I started getting medical bills in the mail. Now I'm scared to check the mail box everyday. I just know there will be another bill I'll have to scrape up the money to pay. I have medical bills coming in left and right for the little one. No more yearly bonus to look forward too. We use to depend on my hubbys yearly bonus at the end of the year due to the hubby being laid off. It was the money we used to survive the layoff period. Unemployment just dozen’s cut it for us. The hubby's income has been cute back by $30,000.00 in last 4 years. yup, that hurt our pocket book. This company even has my hubby using his own personal cell phone for work phone calls. The hubby and I share our minutes each month on our family plan. So in the middle of the month the minutes are all used up and we started paying for air time. He's asked for a cell phone and the answer was no. The hubby said he is scared they will get rid of him if he complains to much. Sometimes I think the employers think they have their employees under their thumbs due to the work shortage. People are just plain desperate to keep there jobs. It's just not fair. I know, life’s not fair. Okay, so your thinking dang this girl complains a lot. There's actually a reason I'm telling you all this information. A few days ago the hubby comes home and tells me that some of the guys at work want all the employees to chip in $20.00 each and buy the four bosses of this company Christmas gifts. My response was What?? My hubby suggested chipping in and donating the money to a less fortunate family for a Christmas meal or toys for kids. The employees would have nothing to do with this idea. I guess they want to do a little brown nosing this year. For what reason I don't know. It's not like they will get rewarded for their kind efforts. These employees don't even get a Christmas card from their employer. Oh, by the way I forgot to mention that my hubby's employers are millionaires or pretty darn close. They live in million dollar homes and live extravagant life styles. This just doesn’t make sense to me. My hubby ended up donating his $20.00 to a less fortunate family this year and not buying for his employers. I'm so proud of him. Tis the season to think of the less fortunate. Just look around. There's less fortune all around you this year. Don't forget about the family that doesn’t even have the money to buy food for the holidays or leave gifts under the tree for their small children. Or the family that is living in a shelter because they lost their home to foreclosure or bankruptcy. Aren't the holidays for giving thanks and giving back what you can to your community? Lately all I see in people is greed. It just doesn’t sit well with me. Okay I'm done ranting and raving. Thanks to all who have listened to me rant and ramble today. I feel much better. Hey maybe this blog thing is therapeutic. I'm wishing all my wonderful blog friends a Happy Holiday and a Happy New Year.