I have $22 in my bank account and I'm missing a week of hourly pay plus tip, all thanks to Gustav. We were supposed to be payed yesterday but management refused to give us our paychecks. Today I threatened to call a lawyer and the Department of Labor, and they forked my check right over.

Lately our paychecks have been bouncing a week after depositing them, causing us to rack up $70 in NSF check fees from the bounced paychecks, plus fees from whatever personal checks we have written (thinking we have the funds from the paychecks) that end up bouncing.

We thought we had gotten smart. Last pay period we brought our checks to the bank that issues our payroll checks, and cashed them rather than depositing them in our own account. That didn't work today because the payroll account has no money in it.

So this is where I stand now:

- I have no food in my fridge.
- I have hardly any money in my account to go buy groceries to feed my family.
- I have a paycheck that's worthless.
- That worthless paycheck is missing $480, plus my pocket is missing $350, all thanks to that week off of work due to Gustav.
- I'm currently only getting to work 4 hours a day and no tips in comparison to the 8 hours plus $50 in tips a day before Gustav.
- It's going to be at least 4 weeks before the cafe is back up and running, so that's another 4 weeks of 4 hours plus no tips a day.
- Calvin's birthday is in 19 days and I don't even know if I'm going to be able to afford to buy him anything. How do you explain to an 8 year old that he doesn't have any presents to open on his birthday?
- All my bills are due and I have no money to pay them.

Last night I got hardly any sleep because I was so stressed out. Every time I fell asleep I'd have nightmares about Calvin going hungry, getting kicked out of my apartment, etc. I feel like I'm on the verge of a nervous breakdown.

For Katrina, we had FEMA money to help us out. This time we have nothing.

But there's two things keeping me somewhat sane:

1. Department of Social Services is giving out a months worth of food stamps for those affected by Gustav. We're a family of 3, so we'd get $438. That is, if we get to apply before the deadline. The centers that are giving out the food stamps have been shutting down due to so many people showing up, and running out of applications. We have 3 more days to attempt to apply before the deadline.

2. Wesley has thousands of comic books that he's been meaning to go through and rate the conditions of, so we can sell them. That money was going to go towards paying for our wedding, but now it will have to go towards keeping our heads above the water financially. But, that's only if we can find someone to buy them.