A New Chapter Begins

I was laid off from Helix House yesterday. The timing really sucks and the worst part is that on Monday's conference call everything was normal. It was a real, go get them team, pep talk to push toward the end of the year. Then yesterday afternoon it was "Sorry, we are restructuring and changing things up. All the 1099 employees are gone." As a severance they will be paying us regularly through December. That's nice of them.

I have to admit, I'm pissed about it. I had a feeling something was going to change soon, but it still stunned me when it happened. It was a slap in the face. It's nothing personal, just business; but in reality it is personal. It affects me and all the others in the company very personally.

I don't blame my immediate supervisor. It's not his fault, he was just following orders and I know it hurt him to do it. He was the best boss I could ever hope for and I wish him and the one remaining Tucson employee the best.

The company is just doing what it thinks is best for itself by seriously downsizing, but could their timing suck any harder? They let go of all of Albuquerque, most of Phoenix, and all agents in Tucson. "Happy Holidays! We have to let you go because we are going in a new direction now." Heaven forbid we should be invited along!

 It was a fun job and I met some really great people who I will miss. I made friends that will hopefully last me forever. Sadly, now the family there is gone. I'm worried about my clients and former coworkers. I was asked not to call my clients until after the holiday weekend. That way Helix House can contact them first. I will be calling them on Monday though. I owe them that. 

What's funny is that I just got a part time job at PetSmart to cover the health insurance we signed up for. Now I need another second job for the same reason. At least PetSmart is fun, I've done 2 shifts so far and I love it. All the cute animals and I get to help take care of them! The people there are great and really nice. I'm super excited about it, but now I need to find a full time job. I hope I can find one fast and that I can keep my part time one as well. It's funny how life happens sometimes.
Wish me luck!

I'm thankful I have my family, my friends, and for getting a new experience. I'd never been laid off before.

I hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving and that we all eat well!

Have fun!

Cyclovia was fun!

This morning my husband and I went to the GABA bike swap meet and Cyclovia. It was a lot of fun and we had a blast. It felt really good to toodle around on Sylvia. We got there early and a lot of it wasn't open yet on the way out, but on the way back it had really picked up steam.

The route.

It's always nice to not have cars around and it's really special when the sun is kind of shining. (It was a cloudy day. Yay!)

Her first sticker.

My husband got me this cool sticker for Sylvia, now when I look down she's grinning back at me. I think it matches perfectly.

Bike swap meet was crowded.

It was hard to get through the bike swap meet, there were a ton of people. Our bikes made it tricky to navigate, but I'm glad we rode in. You can't impulse buy if you can't carry it home; although I might have been able to strap another bike on my rack and my husbands long tail could have carried one easily.

Sylvia and the party bike.

I'm not sure how it works, but this looked cool.

Fruit smile

One of the volunteers was making fruit smiles and I had to get a pic. It looks like me! I was really grateful they were passing out fruit and granola bars at the end of the route. I forgot breakfast. (Ok, I was just to impatient to leave.) It hit the spot! I also got 2 free bush seedlings and a new bike route map, plus, lots more stickers.

It's cardboard!

There were these neat sculptures made of cardboard. This one reminded me of Davy Jones from Pirates. Then my husband told me what it was. Let's see if you can guess.

It's a walrus!

Not the same statue as the one above. I liked this one too.

A bike plane thing!

The snake bridge

To get to and from downtown you have go through a snake. I love this bridge!

It was a lot of fun and I can't wait to do it again. Now it's back to figuring out my cover so I can publish. Wish me luck!

Halloween was Great!

I hope every ones Halloween was fun. I got to go trick or treating with 7 wonderful young people.  My niece and nephews, a couple of their friends and my brother and sister in law. There were 5 adults so everyone was covered. I love trick or treating! 

Then I got to go to Nightfall with the in-laws! That was fun and the comedy act was great! It was a wonderful night and I can't wait for next year. 

I also finished my short story finally and I just need the cover done. Then I will be published!!!! I'm really proud of myself for it! I haven't been posting much because I had to make my deadline. 

I ran 5k in my house today and felt great after. My knee isn't bothering me much lately. I'm grateful for that. I can't wait until I can go for more than a minute in the real world without pain. That will rock!

Sadly when I went to update my phone this morning it killed it so I lost all the pictures on it from last night. On the plus side I had emailed some to my mother-in-law so I still had those. Yes I cried at the loss, but oh well. More storage space. 

Here are a few that were saved. 

They were great!

Spooky house!

Blurry fun

Boy am I glad to have these!

Have fun!