Step-parental Guilt and Other Ups and Downs

Ups: 

• We had a nice weekend, with +Laston Kirkland's birthday dinner and all
• All our bills are up to date. For the moment
• We are not in the same dire straits as my dear friend +Blacky Roach; his ISP is apparently cutting him off for "suspicion of illegal downloads" because of the IP address assigned to him at a time when there were some occurring. Blacky is disabled, and his Internet connection is about the only way he can interact with the outside world on any sort of regular basis. This is Not Cool.
• I love my job! This one is huge.

Downs:

• I have $22 to my name. Because I paid the bills and bought some groceries with the rest. And yes, I did grab some takeout this weekend for the family.
• Our lease is up in about two months, and the rent is being bumped up $156. Seriously? We're already paying an exorbitant amount for this cramped apartment, and they're raising the rates about twelve percent? We have some money we could use for a down payment on something small and cheap, but it's not exactly liquid, tied up as it is in retirement accounts.
• It's always money, isn't it? My new job pays more, but I haven't worked the full pay period yet, so my first paycheck was small, as well as the last one from my previous job. And there's still camp to pay for. Dang it.

And the worst bit; Leanna is sick or injured, and I took her to school anyway. I did the best I could. She complained of jaw pain this weekend, but she is getting twelve-year-old molars (her mother told me), and the emergency clinic had a long wait, so we decided to treat the symptoms and see what happened. And then this morning they poor child looked like a chipmunk from the swelling. I took her to school, notified the nurse what was going on, and texted her mom. 

About ten minutes later I got a call; the nurse took one look at Leanna and called her mom to come get her.

Bad stepmom.

EDIT: Talked to the school nurse, who was more concerned than upset ("Yes, Mrs. Kirkland, even without a fever, if her jaw is that swollen, please don't bring her in, okay?"). Looks like a bad case of Swimmer's Ear (to which Leanna is prone, and thank goodness we never got around to going to the pool this weekend!). Bright red and infected, the nurse says. Leanna's mom will let us know if the doctor agrees.

EDIT Two: Doctor confirmed; Leanna has a bad case of the Swimmer's Ear type of infection. I never thought to look into her ears, as we were still thinking molars (especially after her mom's reassurance Sunday), and she didn't have a fever.