Greg is all freaked out and depressed again. I admit that I have also gotten somewhat hooked on airline (well, the pilot wives ones) forums, but I think you have to take everytyhing you read on there as information that may not necessarily be factual. Anyone can post an opinion or rumor and you don't know if it's true. Greg seems to latch on to any piece of really good or really bad news, which I think is a mistake. This morning he discovered a posting that said something about Continental possibly selling thirty-one 737-500s to some Russian airline. Apparently this was a possibility a while back but then the company couldn't get financing and now they might have gotten the financing and be back trying to make the deal with Continental happen again. This completely freaked Greg out because he's been going by the Continental business plan that came out in October that showed them not only keeping all the planes in question, but also getting an additional 9 planes next year. If they did in fact lose 30+ planes it would obviously reduce the chances of his getting called back and probably mean additional furloughs if anything. This immediately sent Greg into a terrible down-spin. I hate that. I mean, in my opinion there's just as much possibility of the merger with United happening or the company suddenly deciding to get rid of more planes for some reason other than the Russians wanting them, so the possibility of him never getting called back is always there and he should always know this is a possibility.
It also happened right before we were leaving for Gibson's for a brunch he hosted this morning. I could tell Greg was about to severely melt down on the way in the car. I put on the cheeriest Christmas music I could and sang along like a dork to try and cheer him up. I think brunch helped. Usually when he's in a dumpy mood he wants to stay home and curl up in bed and wallow. Which I understand. But I don't think that's always the best thing. I think sometimes it helps to have something going on to take your mind off things, so brunch was good for that.
In addition to that he was going over our finances the other day and said that we are in fact losing money each month, which is not a huge surprise to me since he's working pretty much a minimum wage job. I feel like I've done a lot to try and cut back on my personal spending. I usually bring lunch to work and I don't let myself go near Ann Taylor or Banana Republic, even though I'm mostly wearing older clothes. I buy the groceries but I carefully pick out what I know we need and will eat and don't go nuts on extras. I am mainly guilty of social spending- dinner and nights out with friends on occasion. I will do even more if I can to curb that though. It's difficult because sometimes being social means spending some money, and I feel like I need my social time to keep myself sane with all that is going on.
I again to not know how to help with our situation. I again told him I think he needs to figure out what he wants to do for a career if he doesn't go back to flying. I think it's crazy for him to let the online airline forums dictate his outlook on his aviation career. I've been saying since day one of his furlough that he should plan as if he's not going back and if he gets to go back that's great.
Sorry to my readers if all of this sounds repetitive. I know I sound like a broken record, but this seems to be my place for venting and sorting through my thoughts.
Despite all this, I feel ok. I'm even in a relatively festive mood. I'm going to go wrap some Christmas presents and might even start making some Christmas cookie dough. I think that will be a good mood booster.