A reflection of the "shutdown"...

All day yesterday my husband was in a mood. It was the kind of mood that clouds up the whole house where it doesn't feel like there is room for both of us to share the same space. I know that vibe. He was worried.

Last night I tried to stay up until midnight to see what the verdict was going to be regarding the government shutdown. My husband is retired military and that retiree paycheck is supposed to be a given. No matter what, on the 1st of the month we can top off our bank account.

In my restlessness, I did eat some no-no's and I would have spent some money online if I had it like that. Then I came to my blog and read the "go for it" comments on my mention to change the color scheme. So that is what kept me busy for two hours after my son went to bed.

By 11:00 I was getting sleepy. I knew where I was going to put all the colors. I had made a mock CSS sheet in word using find and replace all for the various colors. I managed no snacking while I spent my nervous energy on something wise and free.

I had already viewed a pending deposit in our bank account so I was able to relax and go to sleep.  I don't usually sleep very well, but I did until I picked up my phone at 4 something and googled shutdown.

It was official. 

Schools would open, the mail would run, no flights would be cancelled, the military gets paid, trash will pick up, but 800,000 some federal workers get furloughed and congress gets paid. Wait. CONGRESS gets PAID?

SCREEEEEEEECH!

I sighed and got up. This whole shutdown just seems like a battle of good versus evil. I turned on the news briefly before shutting it off at 6am wanting to separate myself from reality. I went to Facebook to see what my pissed off cousin would have to say. It humored me. I closed out Facebook quickly before somebody pissed me off. 

So yeah, we did get paid today. But not completely. What I had anticipated was now a reality. Youth sports on base are cancelled until further notice. So that means the teams my husband was scheduled to shoot today had to cancel. What happens tomorrow or the day after that? 

I gently prodded the brooding Papa Bear with questions. "What about the Marine Corp Balls?" He is scheduled to shoot his first one of the season on Thursday. He said, "I think we will be fine with that. The ball money was already allocated." That's a sigh of relief I guess. But will anyone buy pictures? I kept that question to myself.

I'm waiting to hear how this is all going to play out. What will be the repercussions? This is one of those times in my life that I hate being a grown up.

Here's the thing... when I don't know what to do. I pray. And play with my blog.  

What do you do to relieve stress? Do you know anyone personally affected by the shutdown?