December 23, 2008
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Christmas will come and only just.
So where do I start? My last post told you of a snow storm that hit Calgary on Friday 12th December, dropping about two feet of snow on us and The Husband was sent home on “snow days”. As this had happened before, we really did not think much of it. A couple days and he would be back at it, after all he had been told that the crew would be working from the beginning of December straight through to Christmas then off for two weeks and back to work the 5th of January 2009. Well …. not so. On the following Monday, 15th December, The Husband finally got a call at 8PM!!! saying that he was laid off until further notice and the crew would not be back to work until well in to the New Year. Uhhhh …. pardon…. did I hear you correctly??? This is not good.
I started making the necessary enquiries about what to do next and it was not looking good. The Husband is tied to his employer on his work permit and therefore can not work for anyone else. I had only one child to mind so was not bringing in very much income and to add to that, Tiny Wee Man was about to leave as his Mam wasn’t making any money (she is on 100% commission), and according to Service Canada, TH would not be eligible for Employment Insurance (even though he had paid in to it!) but, he should apply anyhow and see what the outcome was. At this point, we would be no worse off than we already were. I did go and inquire about Income Assistance and was told by that Government Agency there was nothing they could do to help us in December, and to go back at the beginning of January. ~ And again …. did I hear you correctly?
So now a scramble as we have been living on a tight budget that did not allow for such … Emergencies. We had accounted for TH to be working the extra two weeks and that alone was a hefty chunk of dosh… Calls were made and things were attempted to be attained, but there would be no more income for the rest of the month for either of us from our current sources. That meant I got to start looking for work out of the house and considering what move to make next.
As all seemed to be a bit lost, I asked for help from the public of Calgary, by posting an add asking for help on the web site Kijiji. And with great thanks to two separate people and a huge break from our landlord for the next months rent, we made Christmas come and will just and only just keep ourselves for another month. It is going to mean some great sacrifices on all parts, but it can and hopefully will be achieved. The one thing that we have come to a major agreement on, we will not let it happen again.
I can not thank thank those that helped enough. To say that they were generous is an understatement. Seriously, we would not have made it through Christmas and the rest of December without their help. While I did not get to actually meet one of the people who helped, I can only refer to them as Angels!
But now I must go. The Monsters are finally asleep and Santa needs to arrive and then get some sleep to be rested for tomorrow. It is going to be a big enough day. Santa will arrive tonight and then we have to celebrate Oldest Large Child’s birthday in the evening. Once again, I am lead to think of the generosity of complete strangers and again, I can not thank them enough! The standard has been set and I can only think to do for others next year as was done for us this. May they have blessings all year long and know that what they have given, gave more than they can imagine.
MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL AND TO ALL A GOOD NIGHT!
