Listen, I sincerely hate asking for help, but with a continual series of mishaps, including car troubles, my mounting medical bills, and cut funding that has cost Jolene an entire month, we're in need of a little help.

To make a long story short, we've been trying to pay off medical bills while paying down credit cards from past car repairs, and through that have generally been doing a good job at staying afloat. But Jolene's job loss on top of this most recent car break has busted new unexpected holes in the ship.

With an upcoming ablation looming, and us worried about what that might inevitably cost (all with insurance, by the way--being sick is expensive), the funding for Jolene's position was cut, and though she has jobs lined up, there will still be an unemployment gap, which we had figured out.

That is, until the past weekend when, traveling from Toledo, we found ourselves stranded in Lima for the night, my car having broken down at a sketchy gas station at 11 pm. After miraculously getting the car to start, we luckily got to a hotel, hoping that all that was needed was a battery.

Both the car's battery and the alternator were shot, and between that expense, a hotel for the night, and fees for roadside assistance, we found ourselves in a precarious position, having erased what little we had set aside to get us over the gap.

I hate to ask for help. I know we all need it, and I'm trying to get over that block, so if you could spare a couple of bucks, it would be immensely helpful.

Pass it along, drop a fiver, whatever you can do would be immensely appreciated.