Year's End

As I sit here on the eve of New Year's Eve, I ponder the future. Will George really marry Breezy and live happily ever after? Will Tom and Charlie find jobs? Will Dan survive the divorce? Will my sister ever speak to me again? Will I see Fifi, Emmi and Krissy? Will Bailey come to live with me? Will my boys be OK?

Mo got a bad bite on his side that got infected. Wednesday I found him in the basement with a huge hole in his side from where the cyst burst. Shawn took him to the vet, who shaved my baby bald on his side and cleaned the wound. I'm sure it was Po' Boy - and I'm fairly certainly Mo started the fight. Thank goodness Mo is up to date on his shots. The vet said the wound looked good - I cried when I saw it. Horrible. Maybe Mo will stay away from Po' Boy now?

Well, this is the last entry for 2011 - may 2012 find us healthy, safe and happy in life.

Bailey, the Dog

Dan got his next assignment and, apparently, has had a talk with Kelly. He sent me an email saying he is going to Baku and will be in a small apartment. No one will be there to care for the animals during the day so he can't take them with him. He is looking for a home for Bailey and asked if we would take him. My instinct is, of course, to say absolutely. Shawn's instinct, of course, is to say no. There are pro's and con's but the biggest reason to do it is because Dan needs us to. I talked to Shawn this evening and he is struggling. He's asked to think about it for a bit. This won't be taking Bailey for a few weeks or months but for years - maybe his entire life. I don't know if Dan will ever be able to claim him again - and if he can, if Bailey will really remember being part of Dan's life. For sure we would have him three years as that's the average length of time an assignment lasts.

My heart is shattered for Dan. Obviously Kelly has told him she has no intention of going with him to his next assignment so one of the two will be filing for divorce. Dan has lost everything - his wife, his girls, his home, his pets, probably 70% of his salary and half his retirement. The only things he has left is his job and his siblings. His girls will probably always be visitors now - unless he retires before they finish high school and one or both of them decide to live with Dad. He's going to be halfway around the world locked in a small apartment with no family or friends. I am terrified he's going to start to get careless with his safety figuring there's no one he needs to protect himself for anymore. And all I really can do is pray for him.

No More Flexing

Word came down that we are losing our flex option at work beginning February. When Angela took over as manager and had all her let's-get-to-know-each-other meetings, EVERYONE told her the ability to flex our work hours was the most important perk of the job - the one we wanted to keep above all others (of course, it's pretty much the ONLY perk of the job!). She was so understanding, totally got our desire to keep that perk. "Yes, I hear you.' And now we find out her response is, 'fuck you' and take it away - for the good of the investors of course. God forbid they get a letter in the afternoon mailing rather than the morning mailing.

Yeah, she is SO working to improve the morale of the team. Micromanaging, taking away all the secondary roles we have so there is nothing to put in our ISPs (which translates to no reason for decent bonuses), and taking away the few perks we have left after years of losing them. I guess the good news is that the only thing left she can do (without firing us) is to make the telecommuters return to the office. And that would only affect four or five of us (of course I would be one of those numbers!)

We were so optimistic when Doug was fired and Angela took over. Management saw our disillusions, they were going to fix things and make us love our jobs again. Right; rather it's out of the frying pan and into the fire.

Count Down

So, we are mere weeks away from a New Year. Wonder what it will bring. I have always found the celebration of a new year a bit odd - for all you know, you are celebrating the year in which you will die. How cheery is that? Even if it's not the year of your demise, you are still celebrating moving closer to your end of days. Hooray, I am a year closer to my death! Let us drink champaigne and celebrate! But celebrate we do; even I try to stay up till midnight if only to offer the simple prayer, "Please, Lord Jesus, let me make something of this new year."

I have the Christmas lights on the house - actually, George came by and put the Christmas lights up. That's as far as I've gotten with the holiday decorating. I have the rest of the week off so hopefully I'll have a tree up and garland draped across the fireplace and down the banister by the end of it. I've started one of my famous To Do lists - this one for Christmas. Decorate, address Christmas cards, wrap gifts, mail packages.... I am seriously going to skip Christmas one year. But not this year.