Budget, shmudget

Once upon a time, a young married couple lived a pleasant little life.  They had a cute little house, 3 dogs and no kidlets yet.  In 1995 the federal government shut down for a period of time and because Marc is deemed 'Necessary' he got the privilege of working without a paycheck for that period of time.  Eventually, he received his back pay, but as the government is prone to, it took a LONG time.  So this happy young couple planned ahead and stocked the pantry and the freezer.  They had money in savings and it was no biggie at all.

Fast forward to 2011.  The couple is no longer young (so-to-speak), has 4 dogs, 10 horses, 5 cats, 2 rabbits, and 1 guinea pig.  The house is much larger with a matching large mortgage payment, and a drained savings account because of the kidlets and animals.  Life is wayyyyyy more complicated than it was 16 years ago.  Marc was told this week that if the government doesn't come to another budgetary continuing resolution, then once again, he will get the privilege of working while others are furloughed.  While he will get paid eventually, it will be some time down the road after the government resumes regular operations.  The middle-aged couple is in no way prepared for an extended period of having the sole bread winner work without pay.  We have a mortgage, car payment, 4 hungry kids to feeds,  hungry animals, a dwindling meat supply in the freezer, and the savings account is getting into scary, shallow levels. 

We haven't been complete morons in the financial area, but our money is tied up in a Thrift Savings Plan, of which we could borrow from....if there were employees there to process the paperwork.  And while I know Marc is one of the lucky ones and will get paid, some of the people that work in his office are deemed 'non-essential' and they will get furloughed without ever getting paid for that unexpected time off.

Everyone knows I am a liberal democrat with decidely left leanings, but for heaven's sake, those children that are pouting and foot-stomping in Congress need to un-cross their angry arms, turns their frown's upside down and get the hell to work on solving this countries issues.  I really think that if we turned over this problem to a class of Kindergarten students, they would have better coping/sharing/compromising skills than those buttheads elected to lead. 

You think it will fly if I call my mortgage company and explain to them that my mortgage may be late because the federal government can't get their heads out of their butts and figure this crap out?  Nah, me either.  But how come they can be late on a payment and not sweat it?  

I'm fighting my stress induced coping skills which drive me to shop right now.  I suppose I should head to Sam's Club and do a little stocking up.  I don't know if there are enough Ding Dong's or Ho Ho's  to get me thru this stress.  Uffda, dis here problem is fer da birds!  Is that North Dakotan enough?