Circus, clowns, fire rings…those things have never really been “my thing”, but I’ve ALWAYS been amazed at the jugglers. Especially those that juggle eggs. If you drop a baseball or a tennis ball there really isn’t any consequences but if you drop an egg, there is a mess. If you drop a boiled egg you don’t trust yourself and you’re cheating. :p
I started training for the circus when I was 14.
Ok, I wasn’t training for the circus but I did learn how to juggle around the age of 14. I can’t remember who in my family taught me but I remember having the best luck with the Koosh balls. My ultimate juggling record is 4 Koosh balls. Not quite circus material.
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This game of life often throws some big curve balls and after (almost) 9 years of marriage my husband and I found ourselves in a difficult position. Our spending was UP and our bringing income in was LOW. Maybe you have been in or are in a similar position.
In our household my husband pays the bills, I hold the check card. Although he’ll tell me sometimes that we need to watch our spending, I actually had no idea how bad off we were.
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Three years ago I was laid off from my full-time job. The severance package I received made it able for me to stay at home and take care of my little ones. When the severance package ran out, I went to work part-time. We realized during my stint at home that most of what I was making was going for Daycare and the remaining of it was going for gas and oil changes (I had a little over an hour commute one way). Working part-time and having my mom watch the kids would put MORE income in our pocket. But that’s not what happened.
Between car repairs, tonsil bills, and basic life stuff we found ourselves BARELY treading water.
I spent hours upon hours devising plans to pay our debt off. I researched how to feng shui our home to make a space where money comes in. My husband was not on board with any of my plans. My stress hit the roof. And although this is my busy time at work, I offered to pick up a second job for a few reasons. 1. They aren’t offering any overtime at his work. 2. I’ve been working part-time for years although during tax season my hours increase it’s still not enough to help us out. 3. We owe the government again this year…
Initially I looked for work at home opportunities. In order to keep our daycare costs down I need a VERY flexible schedule. Bash is done at school at 2pm and he either needs to be picked up or for $11 a day he can go to the after school program. My job I have now allows me to go get him and bring him to his grandmothers place then come back and finish my work day.
While I’m searching and searching stress levels are soaring. I find some local bars/restaurants that could potentially have me work a couple of nights. The ones closest to our house were not hiring BUT one I had worked at ages ago had an email address on their website. I sent an email and went about searching. I started thinking maybe I could work at night stocking shelves and then get home before my husband left for work. A couple of my friends have two full-time jobs, with kids, maybe I could do that too.
Excel spreadsheets became my best friend. I started to lose sleep. Right before my stress sent me to sickness my husband said to forget it. He’d start going in at 3am – it was the only OT they were offering at his work. We could fix our situation that way.
The next day I got an email from the bar I used to work at. They wanted to meet with me. I told my husband I might as well go and check it out. I met with the owner and manager on Wednesday and started that Friday night.
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My schedule is intense right now. It won’t get better for my day job until after April 18, but then my waitressing hours will rise. The full April schedule is out and I only have two days off in all of April. The best part is I’m ok with it. I know that this is the fastest way for us to get out of our situation. I’m sure there will be things that I won’t be able to make or events I’ll be bummed to miss out on, but swimming in abundance is SO much better than almost drowning.
The juggle act has started. This time with REAL eggs.
Much Love and PEACE!
Jes xoxo