Maybe things are finally going in positive direction. Two days ago I saw the Medicaid counselor that the nursing home sent me to. He was a very nice, helpful young man that gave me some good direction and assistance as he did not charge me the $150 that his sessions usually cost. Now while I am sure they have a way to write that off it still is income that he passed up and it greatly benefits Tam and I. I will use that to help fix her car and pay bills. I spent the majority of yesterday copying, printing, and filling out the forms and documents for our application. Once finished I went to see Tam and turn in the application. The nursing home office manager said they trust this man so much that if he says we qualify, they take his word as gold and allow you to stay while the application is processed, which takes 30-90 days. He told me that based upon our assets and income, or rather lack thereof, we would have no problem qualifying. So, this is good news. I want her home in a bad way and she wants to be home but if she is to come home as healthy as she can, she needs to be in the nursing home where she can get the physical therapy she needs to walk again. She needs her arms to work better and be stronger. I just cannot give her that. I try to do all that I can and it is never enough, there is always more that needs to be done. We will be moving in 3 months so that we can be much closer to my work and that will mean more help since I will go from spending $6 a day on gas to less than $2. Fuel adds up quickly. Speaking of the cost of fuel, I have been really studying my spending habits. As I have learned to look for hidden calories and carbs in my food I have applied the same attention to finances. There are so many hidden costs that we just don't think about. Yesterday I needed to download 4 bank statements for Tam's account and 4 for mine. As we do not have internet at home I went to this cafe I had just learned about in Grapevine that offers free wifi. It is about a 7-8 mile drive to it, which is closer to me than the coffee shops by my work. But the $2 cup of coffee is not the only expense I have. thinking about what it costs, I realized that with gas @ $2.75 a gallon and it takes a gallon to get there and back, that $2 cup of coffee now cost nearly $6. For yesterday's needs it was worth it and since it is on my way whenever I work at the Grapevine store the cost is eliminated but to just drive up there to goof off the cost is now too high. I can't wait to move since there are none of these coffee/cafe shops around where I live but there is 2 of them within a mile of my work. Yes, things are looking up.