2011 and Beyond

Let's see...where did I leave off? DH had gotten laid off again in December 2010...ironically from a company I had worked for 5 years previously. They had hired me saying they needed someone full-time, but turns out once I completed the projects they needed done right away, they axed me. I had hated it there anyway, so it was a blessing in disguise...so when DH had taken this job, we had a bad feeling about it from the start. But really had no other choice. The only good thing that came out of it was that it had reset his unemployment. Back to the drawing board we went. 2011 was looking pretty bleak. But DH continued to look for work...and I still worked my part-time job, was STILL collecting unemployment benefits for myself (somehow) and I also continued to look for a better job for myself. In the meantime, we took in one of DH's friends as a roommate (we'll call him B). B had worked with DH at his stable job back in 2008...and B had also gotten laid off when the company sold...and had also yet to find good work. So we charged him next to nothing to rent out half of our mostly finished basement. Neither of us were overly fond of taking in a roommate, but we felt it was necessary to have that extra income rolling in, despite how little it really was. Ultimately, we were helping a friend who needed it just as bad as we did. Then, in June, we turned a corner. DH got a full-time, long-term temporary job with a Fortune 500 company. He had been working with a staffing agency for a few months to try and expand his search a bit and finally a temp job had opened up. It was sort of last minute...someone that orignally took the job found a different job and opted for that one instead...this opened the door for DH. He ended up having to start work the very next day and missed 2 days of training that other temps hired in that week had already completed. It was a bit of a drive, but not totally unreasonable and the pay was decent. Neither one of us liked the idea of temporary work, but what choice did we have. (to be continued...)