That giant sucking sound you hear? It's the economy sucking money out of my bank account.

Everyone knows how bad the economy is right now. It sucks.

The university where I work is in the midst of a hiring freeze and they are eliminating jobs across campus. For now, my job seems to be safe. That could change at any day. I could get to work on Tuesday and be told "you're fired." And that would be that.

My husband is a purchasing manager for a company that sells steel to the auto industry. Guess who isn't buying steel lately? Yeah, the Big 3 -- who just happen to be the company's big customers. We keep waiting for something bad to happen -- and today it happened. My husband, along with all other salaried workers at the company, was informed today that his salary is being reduced by 10%.

Granted, it's not as bad as a 20% reduction - which is what was part of the rumor mill. And, he still has a job. For now. But a 10% reduction in salary is huge to our family budget. It's going to have a very negative effect on everything.

He's been looking for a new job for months (years???). He had what we thought was THE interview last month...but he didn't get the job. I keep hoping against hope that he gets another interview somewhere that will lead to THE JOB. So far, nothing.

This whole situation just SUCKS.

I'd post the 5 things I'm grateful for today, but really there's only 1. That my husband still has his job. For now.