GI Bill nonsense

So I finally had enough and wrote a scathing email to an editor on the staff of the Virginian Pilot. Here's the scoop:

I rely on the MGI Bill that I received after serving four years in the US Navy. I am a full-time student at Old Dominion University in my senior year of English/Pre-Law. I have not received my MGI Bill benefits for three months now. Our budget has been pinched tighter and tighter...now finally, the US Treasury, authorized by the VA, has begun issuing emergency checks of up to $3000 to veterans. Too little, too late, I say.

So The Virginian Pilot wrote a little article, in which they said "tax payer dollars" were going to this, as if the veterans themselves were not tax-paying citizens when they were active duty, earning this benefit. Let's just say I expressed my discontent in this email.

Anyway, now that's off my chest, I'm still waiting for my check...I requested it a week ago and am still waiting anxiously so we can get some of these creditors off our backs, at least temporarily. Who knows when I'll get another GI Bill payment, however....this is only a stop-gap measure by the VA when what they need to do is hire more workers at their VA education offices and light the fire under their butts to process those claims expediciously (in other words, to do their damn jobs).

It's getting really, really hard to remain patient. We are so broke we are squeezing water from rocks at this point. We ration gas, so we haven't been to church in a while because it takes a quarter tank to get there and back. Logan goes to work every day, and I go to school most days, but if my tank is dry, I don't go to school. All of my professors have attendance policies but have been extraordinarily understanding thus far. We live about half an hour from my school, which really takes some gas, especially because it's downtown and the stop-n-go really sucks the gas. We both try to fit trips to the store into the route to work or school so we don't waste gas making a separate trip, but of course we forget things and then have to make a separate trip.

Things we have learned:
-our kids like Hamburger Helper.
-Our kids do not like beans, and are pretty much over rice.
-Our two youngest go through way too many diapers, but we can save on wipes by using a washcloth that gets soaked in hot bleach water between uses.
-Bleach is cheap...might not smell as nice as other household cleaners, but does the job well for pennies and kills H1N1 dead in its tracks.
-Chocolate chip cookies are cheaper when homemade, but get eaten twice as fast :).
-Wal-Mart brand frozen broccoli is insanely cheap but is gone from the freezer case by about noon...gotta get there early.
-Farm Fresh has the cheapest milk, still, but that's about all they have cheap.
-The Market downtown puts their display meat on drastic clearance at the far right end of the meat display case...we're talking 3-4 marinated pork chops or steaks for $2, 4 lbs lean ground beef for $1.50. Not a thing wrong with them, but they have to change their display cases every day, so yesterday's stuff goes on clearance.
-Homemade Halloween costumes are way more fun. So is spending an afternoon with the family, playing football in the backyard...for free.
-PBS rocks.
-Casseroles are cheap, easy, and feed the whole family from one dish.
-We have gotten more spontaneous "I love you"s from spending one-on-one time with our children, rather than buying them toys or taking them to Chuck E Cheese or Jumpin Monkey and letting them go wild.

I'll be glad to get the check for my GI Bill, but I'm also glad to have learned a few of the things I have learned.....but seriously....gimme my money.