Single mom of 2 needs assistance

Hi

First off I would like to say thank you for reading my story. I would like to tell you a little about myself and my family. My name is Katie and I am a single mother of 2 great kids. Jimmy is 16 and is a totally cool teenager. He is an awesome big brother to Madison who is 6 getting ready to turn 7. My kids also factor into my story that has led me to my situation but I'll talk about that in a bit. The last few years have been hard starting with my sons father passing away in 2008 and then I got laid off around the same time. In 2010, my moms boyfriend of over 20 years was diagnosed with acute myloid leukemia and he passed away 6 months later. He was the only stable male role model in my son's life. My sons father was a severe alcoholic and drug user. So after my moms boyfriend passed away I moved back in with my mom to help her clear out her house. When Gary died (moms boyfriend) he didn't have any life insurance or a will. The house was only in his name so we were going to have to move. Unfortunately right before the move my sons dog of 9 years passed away.

In 2011 we packed up our stuff and moved from Chicago out to Las Vegas to be close to family. When we got here, my mom and I shared a house to save money. She had cashed in part of her 401k to move us out here. As time went on the money started to dissappear. Seeing as neither one of us had a job. I had finished up my online school for medical transcription and was applying everywhere. But looking for a job in transcription was difficult and most required applicants to have 3 to 5 years experience. That is when I researched more about my school and saw that to actually get a job I would need to take more classes to actually get certified to even apply for jobs. If I would have known that when I started I would have picked another course.

When our lease was up my mom had decided to cash in the rest of her 401k and buy a house out in Pahrump (an hour away from Vegas) to be closer to her sister. But to up my chances for employment I stayed in Vegas. My mom paid for my security deposit and one months rent on my place, so now it was just me and the kids. I applied for public assistance and received Medical for us and food stamps in which I only receive 123.00 a month. My only means of income is my daughters child support (192.92 every 2 weeks, it was 300.00 every 2 weeks until her father decided to apply for unemployment during his 2 week lay off and got it reduced) and my sons survior benefits. He gets 1450.00 monthly. So during this time of my job search, I actually found a job! I started working for an auto repair shop in the front office. I was so excited to be able to go back to work. But during that time I was already 3 months behind on my car payment and my car got repossessed. My son had used some of his money he got from his dads 401k to buy a used car (a 1990 nissan 240sx) Little did we know at the time that his car was going to have major problems.

During my time at my new job, I had switched shops that had a different owner. They ended up telling me that I was going to get transferred to a new shop that was going to open right after Christmas. So a week before Christmas I was told that business was slow and I just had to wait till the new shop opened to go back to work. So when the time came around for the new shop to open, the open date kept getting pushed back and now they say it won't open until late spring. So, now I'm back again in my same situation. Looking for a job and struggling to get everything paid.

Over the holidays we drove out to spend time with my mother and my sons car broke down. Since I didn't have the money to take it to a shop we had to try and fix it ourself. We found out that the head gasket was blown so we started there. When you take off the head you are supposed to get it machined. I didn't have the money to do that either, so we just replaced the gasket on the head which was warped. So now that was done we thought it would at least run so we could get it back home. Man were we wrong! Turns out that alot of other things were going wrong. So far I've had to use all my money to replace the head gasket, intake and exhause manifold gaskets, a fuel injector, wires and connectors, water pump, alternator and battery just to find out that the car still won't turn on. I posted an ad on craigslist to see if anyone would be willing to help me tow the car back to my house in Vegas, and luckily a man was kind enough to help me out with that. We now have the car listed on craigslist for sale as is. Once the car sells (and hopefully it does) we are going to try and get a car for around 1000 to 2000. I have the most horrible credit and usually cant even qualify for financing for a 5000 car.

Anyway, all these car repairs and spending money on Christmas and not working has put me so far behind I'm really close to losing my house and having utilities shut off. I have taken out 3 payday loans to try and catch up but of course the payments for those are now totalling over 400 a month. I just keep getting further and further behind.

I'm not necessarliy on this site to ask for money, although it would be greatly appreciated. I am looking to see if anyone in my area has some sort of job available to help me get back on my feet. I need something close or something to do online that is legit seeing as I don't have a car right now. I know that most people on here offer rewards, but all I would be able to offer is my services like babysitting or dog walking and maybe some household chores.

So, I told you that my kids had some impact on my situation. Let me tell you more about them. My son Jimmy is 16 and a super awesome person. I know how I was at 16 and he is nothing like your typical teenager. He is kind, loving, funny and actually likes hanging out at home with me and Maddy :) When I was working he would make sure that Maddy was up and he took her to school and picked her up and watched her all day on Saturday. He is interested in working on his car, riding bmx, playing his xbox (of course) and getting into photography and cooking. To make extra money he also babysits my neighbors 4 kids ages 2 to 8. Jimmy has had a horrible last few years dealing with the deaths of his dad and Gary and his dog. Then on top of that we took him out of Chicago the only home he has known. It has greatly affected his school. He should be a junior in high school but only has 3 credits, so in other words its like he is a freshman. He is doing school online so he can help out with Maddy and he is looking for a job.

As for my little princess Maddy, she is a silly little girl. She is like a little mom. She loves to play with her babies and sets up a little daycare in her room for them. She was recently diagnosed with Aspergers so she can be a little difficult at times, but man she is smart and has the most awesome sense of humor. When we were in Chicago she went to a home daycare and learned to speak russian. I don't speak it, but would like to keep it up with her so I'm looking for someone out here for her to play with that does. She is in first grade and generally does ok, but is having a lot of behaviorial problems and gets made fun of alot because of her constant moving and hand flapping. She also gets in trouble alot for putting everything in her mouth at school. Her teacher complains that the kids have community supplies and Maddy chews on them. I have tried to get her special help at school but it seems like nobody is willing to help. I have done nothing but try since she started school.

I just want to say that I really appreciate you taking the time to read my story. I continue to strive to do the best for my family and live one day at at time. I am looking into getting back into school to take medical billing and coding (people are always hiring for that!!) At the current time I am in default on my old student loan. I was in culinary school before Maddy was born but couldn't finish due to medical reasons when I was pregnant. And in that short time my loan defaulted and I couldn't continue until my loan was paid off. But where there is a will there is a way right?

I hope that someone could find it in their heart to help us out. More than anything, I would like to be able to go back to work, and would rather have that than asking for fundraising.