Food Stamp Challenge, week 39
By Milehimama on Oct 1, 2009 in Food Stamp Challenge
I actually managed to hang on to most of my receipts this week. Having husband dear home has changed my routine, and I can’t seem to remember if I’m coming or going on most days! I’m actually grocery shopping during daylight hours, which means when I get home from the store all of the children pelt me with questions, comments, complaints, and tattles all at once and I’m lucky if I remember to put the milk in the fridge, let alone keeping track of the little papers!
But then I didn’t fill in the “we spent” portion of this post and forgot to post this on Monday, and well, the ship has sailed. We spent approximately $40.
We’re continuing to eat out of the pantry.
I got:
18# apples, 9 large baking potatoes (these things are HUGE!), 3# white onions, 1# tomatoes, 2 heads Romaine lettuce, 3 bell peppers
16 oz. Kraft sliced cheese, 4 gallons of milk, 6 cans of Treet meat, 1 bag of caramel lollipops to bribe the children with
5 loaves of bread, 24 whole wheat hamburger buns, 100 corn tortillas
We’re eating we ate:
Monday, Sept. 28: Crockpot beef with Hatch chiles, salad
Tuesday, Sept. 29: Black eyed peas cooked with spinach instead of collard greens. Husband added a chopped up chicken breast and it added a wonderful dimension of texture.
Wednesday, Sept. 30: failed falafels that actually made pretty good burgers, tomato and onion summer salad
Thursday, Oct. 1: Hot dogs, ranch beans, green beans
Friday, Oct 2: Loaded baked potatoes (cheese, bacon, sour cream, broccoli), salad (I’ve got cukes and avocados for that, nom nom nom!)
Saturday, Oct 3: Tuna noodle skillet (basically, tuna casserole on the stove top) with peas (what else?)
Sunday, Oct 4: Pot roast, rice, green beans
Sundays, I think, will be our new crockpot days. Mass is at 4 pm and it’s pretty far away. We get home between 6:30 and 7 pm because I hang out and talk while the kids play.
On the Food Stamp front, things are looking up. I’m expecting a packet of info from the lawyer who has filed the class action lawsuit, I think I figured out why they said we didn’t qualify (mixed signals and an unclear entry), and I am absolutely AMAZED at the people who have come out of the woodwork to help a family you’ve never even met. Astounding, and humbling. My readers are the best!
I also called the WIC clinic, and since they had Mr X on file there, the lady said she might be able to get me in next week or the week after instead of waiting and waiting for a new client appointment.
I spent today (Thursday) running around picking up documents (shot records, employment documents), and I think I may be able to get the older kids’ social security cards without a birth certificate. I’m going to try, anyway, but I need to refill my ink cartridge so I can print out the applications. I just have to wait for my real driver’s license to come in (I don’t have a current photo ID, because when I switched my license from CO to TX, they gave me a temporary license until the official one comes in the mail; this is one hold up on being able to go to the food pantry.)
I only need one more thing… does anyone in Houston have a CHC Speller Level D we could borrow? Mr P is done with C and I have E – but not D! No?
::crickets::
Well, I’ll just assingn him spelling words from the book he doesn’t want me to force him to read, then.
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Why do you have to wait to get your license in the mail? That just strikes me as odd because here, you go to the DMV, turn in your paperwork, stand on a line, get a picture and five minutes later, you’re handed your license.
Can you get birth certificates from the counties where the kids were born?
I’m so glad you’ve had so many people pulling for you. It does a heart good to know that there really are people out there who care and will go to bat for others.
Tia | Oct 2, 2009 | Reply
They mail then here. They did in Denver, too. Maybe the big cities doon’t have enough equipment to process them, or maybe they want to make sure you put your actual address down on the license.
I *can* get birthcertificates (after I have a picture ID), but they cost around $20-30 each and take 4-6 weeks. $30 x 8 = money I don’t have right now! LOL Two I can get right away because the kids were born in Harris county – Houston – so I just have to go to the office in person. But 4 kids were born in Denver, which I have to mail, 1 was born in another county in TX, and one was born in SC.
But again, I have a real problem with denying food to desperate and destitute people because they don’t have a birth certificate for their kids.
It’s my own fault, really. I should have sent off for the certs a while ago but procrastinated because I didn’t need them for anything and I kept hoping they’d turn up. But we’ve (finally) finished unpacking almost all of our boxes and they’re nowhere in sight. I’m missing our 2007 tax return, birth certs, and 3 social security cards.
Milehimama | Oct 2, 2009 | Reply
I had to get a new copy of my birth certificate a few years ago and it was pricy. I couldn’t believe it. I was going to suggest WIC but figured the wait there would be long too and they would tell you to apply for food stamps first. If your husband has a photo id I would send him with any birth certificates you have to the food pantry. Maybe you could get something that way even if it was based on a smaller family size.
Becky | Oct 2, 2009 | Reply
The reason you are required to have a birth certificate is to prove that you and your children are legal citizens. Based on what I’ve read here (ie – your disgust with the fact that Migrant workers can get emergency food stamps), I have no doubt that you and your readers would have little problem denying food to deperate and destitute Mexicans. You hate our President so much, when he and his party are you next best hope for health care and a path out of poverty. I cannot understand such hypocricy from “Christians.”
Laure | Oct 10, 2009 | Reply
I do not hate our President. I also don’t think food pantries should deny food to anyone, legal or illegal. My note about the migrant workers – who may or may not be illegal aliens – was to show how the system unfairly puts some people above others. Migrant workers get a preference because of their job.
That might be why I wrote “It is a crime against charity to require a government issued piece of paper before they will give food to hungry children.” in the post where I mention migrant workers getting preferential treatment.
Next best hope for a plan out of poverty? ROFL.
If the Administration really cared about the poor, than why was his Cash for Clunkers for NEW cars only, and not applicable to the working poor who need to repair the cars they have? Why did the money rain into the banks, but not the soup kitchens? Why is more debt and spending encouraged, leaving out those who cannot get credit?
This healthcare – the Baucus proposal taxes the sick (raising the deduction threshold from 7.5% to 10%) and will tax medical devices. That’s a new tax on contact lenses and crutches as well as pacemakers. That’s going to disproportionately affect the poor, too.
Milehimama | Oct 10, 2009 | Reply
Clarification. I don’t hate our President, but I think electing him was a mistake and many of his positions, especially on life issues, are execrable. So, in essence, I do hate a lot of his policies and ideas.
Milehimama | Oct 10, 2009 | Reply