Happy Holidays...oh ya...you're fired...

So, Wednesday morning started off like any other...I got ready for work, packed my lunch, and headed into the office. Then, things took a slight turn...
I walked in my office and by Daves office and he says "Katy, come in here", so I run my lunch back to the fridge and head right in.

(Just quickly, let me tell you a little bit about this Phoenix project my company has been working on. We have a 4 year contract with the City of Phoenix to replace water meters. Well, Dave was told that there was going to be a couple weeks in October where we wouldn't be able to change any meters because the City of Phoenix was going to be doing a big software conversion, and no meters could be replaced at all in that time. So, those couple weeks go by, but since the meter crew was told about this a while ago, they saved up and used all of their vacation days during that down time...it wasn't pleasant for Dave to have no income from Phoenix for that time, but he had planned for that so it wasn't the end of the world.)

Flash forward to Wednesday... I sit down in Daves office and he tells me that he just got back from a meeting at the City of Phoenix and they ended up NOT doing any software conversion, so now we were going to need to take the month of December off too...and not start back up again until Jan 4th.
Well, Dave is DEVISTATED as you can well imagine. This contract with the City of Phoenix is his bread and butter...this is where most of his money comes from and without it and with no other contracts...the income is...not much (from what I've been told...clearly I don't know what the actual dollars are). So we are sitting there (Danielle is there too) and I just keep saying 'What are those guys going to do? They have already used all their vacation time...and right before the Holidays! This is awful... " (The Phoenix crew is about 12 guys, a few of which Dave is finding 'something else' for them to do during the lay off, but most of them are just up a creek until January)

So, we are sitting there just sort of overwhelmed by it all and then Dave says to me "So, when are you going home for Christmas." I say, "Not till Christmas Eve" and he says "Well, you are welcome to go earlier if you want, is there anyway if you go earlier you can help your mom out at her shop?" I respond, "Well, we are mostly done with Christmas at the Fudge Factory by the 20th or so of December...so...if I were to be of any help there I would have to leave quite a bit earlier than I planned..." and he just sort of looks at me like 'is that going to be a problem' and so I keep going with "Ok, when is the earliest I could leave" and he says "Well, it would be easiest for me if you took off around the 1st, of December"... Then it hits me...OH, I'M BEING LAID OFF TOO!...so my eyes start to well up (because I am hormonal and a baby and it was right then that I made eye contact with Danielle and could tell she had already been upset) and I sort of choke out (still trying to hold back the actual tears) "Um...ya...I'm sure I can ask my mom if she could use me" and he says "It would be a big help to me..."

So...I head to my desk and start to compose an email to my mother, and about 10 or so minutes later the phone rings...and it's the City of Phoenix...and they inform Dave that actually they were going to start the software conversion a little earlier...and therefore Friday would be his last day to replace meters...THIS FRIDAY...November 20th! So Dave freaks out on the phone and is about on the verge of tears himself (my office is right outside of Daves, so I always hear all of his phone calls because he ALWAYS talks on speakerphone, that is how I know all of this) and then he comes into me and says, "You might as well go home for Thanksgiving...our last Phoenix day is Friday." Well, I'm thinking that maybe he is just being nice and will let me go home a lot earlier and he would be doing me a favor...but no...after talking to him for a few more minutes...and trying to not sound like I was begging to stay or refused to go...trying to assure him that I wasn't leaving because I wanted to...but only if it was doing him a favor... he says "Let me put it this way...it will be a financial burden to have you hear after Monday."

So, my last day of work for the year is Monday...

Good news: I get to go home on Wednesday and get to be in Nauvoo for the entire Holiday season! I get to be home for Thanksgiving, which I didn't get to last year and I really missed it. Also, I missed Christmas last year, so of course I'm excited to be there this year (even though I planned on that anyway, without being layed off for 6 weeks) I won't have to buy groceries or gas (or at least as much) for a while. I am only temporarily laid off...I still have my job come January 4th...(or I better, but don't get me started on that) My mom has been so excited about it that even though I am nervous about my job and money and upset by a few things, I haven't been able to help but be excited too! In fact, my mom wanted to surprise Tacy and Jessie, but I guess she couldn't contain herself cause she ended up telling them... I am very thankful for the fact that my mom has been overwhelmingly excited about me coming home. I have cried a lot he past couple days worrying and wondering what to do about certain things, and it would of been unbearable if she would of implied at all that it would be a burden for me to be there so early and so long...

Bad news: Clearly, I will miss my paycheck. I will miss Stacie, her graduation and graduation party. I will miss my two luscious roommates, Jillian and Whitney... I will be missing out on the FABULOUS weather that Arizona has to offer in December... My phone doesn't work at home, so I will be 6 weeks with no reception (unless I'm in Keokuk or Ft. Madison, and lets be honest, I'll probably be over there plenty)

But, the pro's outweigh the cons here...(at least until I have spent one too many days in a row with Tacy and Jessie and we are all about to kill each other. It has been a long time since the 3 of us have been together for more than just a week or so...)

So, that is that. If you are an Arizona friend of mine (which I think I only have 1 Arizona reader who didn't know this story already)...then I am bidding you farewell for the next while...

If you are a Nauvoo reader...which most of you are...I'M COMING HOME!! YEAH!!

Now, off to pack...