For whatever reason (and I can't seem to come up with one specific reason), our monthly expenses are going up! Partially due to the increase in hanger rent, partially due to my school expenses (tuition, books, etc), and partially due to rising grocery costs and my need to eat gluten-free foods (which are VASTLY more expensive than their gluten-counterparts)... Current options fail at this point - if I suspend my schooling for the time being, I not only delay my graduation date, but I have to start paying back student loans as of now... not a great option. We aren't confident that we can sell the Apache in this market (by far, one of our largest expenses) and break even on the loan, and we still have to put a roof over our heads and food in our bellies (the list goes on and on)...
So, what happens when your expenses exceed your income and you can't really get rid of your expenses? You find a second job... I know, you all probably think I am insane to take on a second job with everything else going on in my life... But, Aaron already has a second job on top of one that takes up great chunks of his day... Really, the only option was to find a second job that would still give me the flexibility to travel when needed for my full time job and allow me to still work on my homework. Luckily, Aaron's company was looking for PT Customer Service Agents... Awesome, right? Yep.
I started today, mostly just an introduction to the computer system. Heck, the last time I was a CSA for an airline, we used paper and pencil for the reservations and schedule... Now, I'm no stranger to technology, but it will be a bit of a learning curve to understand the system and it's multiple quirks... I may cross train in other areas, but we'll see where this goes first.
My first "full" day is tomorrow. Pray for me and my sanity (and that the coffee shop in the airport that always seems to be closed is ACTUALLY open so I can get caffeinated properly... I smelled the coffee that they brew in the back office and it's not good... but, then, I've become spoiled since getting my Keurig).
Friday, August 24, 2012
Thursday, August 9, 2012
Birthday Celebrations and More!
First, I want to say "Happy Birthday" to my husband. Today was his special day and I had fun planning it. Although, he kind of almost ruined the surprise. He was "supposed" to go to bed early last night so I could finish preparations and he was "supposed" to be off today. My original plan was to set everything up last night and then let him wake up to it... But, no... He decided that he needed to work today, and since he didn't have to go in at the butt-crack of dawn, that he could stay up with me and get up with me... crap...
Plan B meant frantically finishing the preparations this morning and (after making sure he was STAYING at work) setting up the surprise on my lunch break... I threw in a sandwich delivery just to make sure he stayed at the airport...
So, what was the surprise? I set up a little scavenger hunt for my honey. We are in that stage where you don't really know what to get for the other person because (1) he already has pretty much everything he needs and (2) you don't have a whole lot of cash to drop on a present that you know he'd really love.
So, starting out with his birthday card - I found a pretty cute one of a dog (he's just crazy about canines) that was blank inside. I wrote a simple little saying and signed it from Me, Noni, & Lijha (had to include the dogs). Then I added a little note to the bottom of the card - "If you think this is all you get today, turn the card over"
On the back of the card was clue #1 - A quote from one of our favorite books by one of our favorite authors (if we are being completely honest here, we haven't read the book in QUITE some time, but I remember when it was the center of our little world... like back in year 1 of being married). He had to use a little help from Google to "get" what it meant, but it led him to the book where he found a gift card to the local coffee shop.
Attached to the gift card was clue #2 - "A gift given with love! We call it beautiful, others call it creepy... The product of a troubled heart, the nun appeared and restored peace." - I know, not really poetry, but very well meaning. This was to point him to a beloved painting that his grandfather created. It is very special to us because it was given to us the last time we saw him. The story he told of the painting is one of loss and pain and grief. The painting was a kind of therapy (and as a closet artist myself, I completely understood its personal meaning and why he was giving it to us). He painted it after the death of one of his sons. "The nun appeared..." because he hadn't planned on painting her. Just, one day, he was painting and there she was... She helped him overcome his grief. It was not long after we received this painting that Aaron's grandfather died after a battle with lung cancer. We miss him dearly...
Anyway, I hid his gift around this painting. I have to admit that we have two - the original oil painting and a similar watercolor painting that hangs in our dining room. My original idea was to hide this gift behind the painting but it hangs too high in the living room to do so. Then I tried to put it behind the one in the dining room, but it wouldn't stay. So, I hid it behind the TV underneath the original painting. The gift was the blue-ray edition of "The Last Starfighter"... Yeah, I went there... Bring on the cheesy '80's acting and special effects!
On the case for the movie was his 3rd clue - "Greetings Starfighter! You have been chosen by the Star League to defend the frontier against Noni and the Lijha armada. Be sure to watch out for the bouncing beast! You'll find you next clue where you'll leash expect it." (Did you see what I did there? I just couldn't resist...)
This, of course, led him to our front door where we have the dogs' leashes hanging on hooks. The bouncing dog reference is for Lijha... She likes to bounce and jump at her harness and leash when she thinks she is going somewhere... Hanging on one of the hooks was a gift bag with little toy cardboard gliders... The kind you would give out at a 6-year-old's party... I always get him something fun like this for birthday or Christmas.
What better clue to put on a 6-year-old's toy but a reference to the liquor cabinet! No, he didn't get a bottle of scotch (this time) but I did hide his special dark chocolate there... He got 3 kinds - regular (70% dark), orange, and chili...He tried the chili one first. He says it has a slow burn... The final clue on the chocolate bars led him to our coffee table that is shaped like a large trunk. We keep all kinds of things in there, but mostly extra blankets for when company comes. To make it easier to clean the living room, I added the castors that came with it to the bottom... Aaron hates it on wheels because it pushes away anytime he tries to prop his feet up on it, but to his credit, he hasn't tried to remove the wheels (yet)...
I hid his last gift under the table, primarily because he would know something was up if I tried to put it inside the table (as was my original plan)... The only time the table is clear enough to remove the hidden top is when we have it cleaned off for company... The rest of the time it looks like a bomb went off and scattered random mail, magazines, cups, and dog toys on it... Had I disturbed any of this, he would have KNOWN something was up...
His last gift was a set of random coupon cards... Mostly I wrote things on them that I thought he would appreciate... Like "ONE FREE Movie Night" or "FREE PASS from taking out the garbage" or - his personal favorite - "ONE FREE Homework-Free Night"... I required that he give me at least a day's notice when he wants to invoke one of these cards simply because I may need to shuffle things around to make sure I can accommodate the due dates of various assignments...
Birthday dinner was at our new favorite restaurant downtown - he got sushi and I got Chicken Udon soup. I shared my pot-stickers with him (it was his birthday, after all). We just got back home and need to work in the morning (him at o'crap-thirty), so we won't be doing anything else too crazy... Like breaking out the absinthe (last year's birthday present)...
BUT WAIT! THERE'S MORE!!!
Aaron has been working on a video of him flying at work (well, of him flying - I don't think he would call it "work")... It was taken on a VERY nice (VERY RARE) day here not too long ago. It was a beautiful flight and I hope you enjoy it :) PS - Look for the heart-shaped lake!
Plan B meant frantically finishing the preparations this morning and (after making sure he was STAYING at work) setting up the surprise on my lunch break... I threw in a sandwich delivery just to make sure he stayed at the airport...
So, what was the surprise? I set up a little scavenger hunt for my honey. We are in that stage where you don't really know what to get for the other person because (1) he already has pretty much everything he needs and (2) you don't have a whole lot of cash to drop on a present that you know he'd really love.
So, starting out with his birthday card - I found a pretty cute one of a dog (he's just crazy about canines) that was blank inside. I wrote a simple little saying and signed it from Me, Noni, & Lijha (had to include the dogs). Then I added a little note to the bottom of the card - "If you think this is all you get today, turn the card over"
On the back of the card was clue #1 - A quote from one of our favorite books by one of our favorite authors (if we are being completely honest here, we haven't read the book in QUITE some time, but I remember when it was the center of our little world... like back in year 1 of being married). He had to use a little help from Google to "get" what it meant, but it led him to the book where he found a gift card to the local coffee shop.
 |
| By Herminio Ulibarri |
Anyway, I hid his gift around this painting. I have to admit that we have two - the original oil painting and a similar watercolor painting that hangs in our dining room. My original idea was to hide this gift behind the painting but it hangs too high in the living room to do so. Then I tried to put it behind the one in the dining room, but it wouldn't stay. So, I hid it behind the TV underneath the original painting. The gift was the blue-ray edition of "The Last Starfighter"... Yeah, I went there... Bring on the cheesy '80's acting and special effects!
On the case for the movie was his 3rd clue - "Greetings Starfighter! You have been chosen by the Star League to defend the frontier against Noni and the Lijha armada. Be sure to watch out for the bouncing beast! You'll find you next clue where you'll leash expect it." (Did you see what I did there? I just couldn't resist...)
This, of course, led him to our front door where we have the dogs' leashes hanging on hooks. The bouncing dog reference is for Lijha... She likes to bounce and jump at her harness and leash when she thinks she is going somewhere... Hanging on one of the hooks was a gift bag with little toy cardboard gliders... The kind you would give out at a 6-year-old's party... I always get him something fun like this for birthday or Christmas.
What better clue to put on a 6-year-old's toy but a reference to the liquor cabinet! No, he didn't get a bottle of scotch (this time) but I did hide his special dark chocolate there... He got 3 kinds - regular (70% dark), orange, and chili...He tried the chili one first. He says it has a slow burn... The final clue on the chocolate bars led him to our coffee table that is shaped like a large trunk. We keep all kinds of things in there, but mostly extra blankets for when company comes. To make it easier to clean the living room, I added the castors that came with it to the bottom... Aaron hates it on wheels because it pushes away anytime he tries to prop his feet up on it, but to his credit, he hasn't tried to remove the wheels (yet)...
I hid his last gift under the table, primarily because he would know something was up if I tried to put it inside the table (as was my original plan)... The only time the table is clear enough to remove the hidden top is when we have it cleaned off for company... The rest of the time it looks like a bomb went off and scattered random mail, magazines, cups, and dog toys on it... Had I disturbed any of this, he would have KNOWN something was up...
His last gift was a set of random coupon cards... Mostly I wrote things on them that I thought he would appreciate... Like "ONE FREE Movie Night" or "FREE PASS from taking out the garbage" or - his personal favorite - "ONE FREE Homework-Free Night"... I required that he give me at least a day's notice when he wants to invoke one of these cards simply because I may need to shuffle things around to make sure I can accommodate the due dates of various assignments...
Birthday dinner was at our new favorite restaurant downtown - he got sushi and I got Chicken Udon soup. I shared my pot-stickers with him (it was his birthday, after all). We just got back home and need to work in the morning (him at o'crap-thirty), so we won't be doing anything else too crazy... Like breaking out the absinthe (last year's birthday present)...
BUT WAIT! THERE'S MORE!!!
Aaron has been working on a video of him flying at work (well, of him flying - I don't think he would call it "work")... It was taken on a VERY nice (VERY RARE) day here not too long ago. It was a beautiful flight and I hope you enjoy it :) PS - Look for the heart-shaped lake!
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