On the subtitle: [Dep]recession-era mom

Little pun there in the depression sub-title. I mean a) what is a recession, really? Since we've been down-sized 18 months ago and still grossly under-employed it feels like a depression to us. And b) well, most who know me know that I suffer from depression which has only buckled under stress. Thank heavens for pharmaceuticals. Oops. Unless it's a pharmaceutical company that fired my husband's ass in the first place. Which it was. They didn't just fire his ass either, his whole entire self to boot. And now he would like me to kindly point out that he wasn't fired, his entire department was deep-sixed.

Top ten ways to know you're in a [dep]recession:

1. First you stop buying cups of coffee at Starbucks. You buy bags of Starbucks ground coffee to brew at home. Then you start buying Folgers or whatever's on sale. You think it's okay until somebody buys you the real thing and you cry.
   
2. You cry when you enter CVS because the song is sentimental (and you're not even pregnant).
   
3. You cry when your son gets his brand new $50 wrestling shoes stolen from his locker because he has to have shoes and so you buy him some more and you hate that it scares you so much.
4. You're happy that your husband has so much time for you and your kids, but not for the reason why.
5. You're happy that your children's medications are free, but not for the reason why.
6. You have to take a 20 page online psychological test to get a job at fill-in-the-blank_________ (Border's, CVS, etc.)
7. You find yourself lying on the 20 page online psychological test because, well, just because you're messy at home doesn't mean you'd be messy at work!
8. You get a phone call from a friend you have spoken to in ages--the Somalian refugee mother with 6 kids who you used to help with literacy tutoring and you realize her income is higher than yours.
9. You lie to her because she asks how your adopted son is and it's been so long since you've talked, she doesn't even know that he is now your daughter. You're just too tired to explain.
10. You try to cook inexpensive meals like rice and beans and watch in dismay as they head for the $4 a pop box of cereal served up with $4 a half gallon Lactaid milk. You stop buying the $4 cereal and Lactaid.

The jig is up.