Last week was hard.
ELC (short for "Extremely Large Company"), Inc. laid off 13 of my co-workers and is moving another five to a different department and location — and, more importantly, removing them from our budget and headcount. Some of my close friends were amongst those that got the ax and it's been a funky feeling time. Let's just say that everyone has been looking over their shoulder while wondering "Why did they keep me?"
We've also been wondering, "When is it going to be my turn?"
I'd had a hunch that they were going to be reorganizing the way we worked as the new management would repeatedly ask, "Why do we need this position?" However I didn't guess the full extent of their reorganization plans. I thought that it was only going to be a max of three or four folks — myself being among those that would get cut. Imagine my surprise when the total topped 12 by the end of the day and I was still there.
(The 13th person was out Thursday and Friday and just got the news today.)
Folks have started calling this Phase II, as there were layoffs during the summer while I was on maternity leave. And we all feel Phase III isn't that far off.
You know that sense of security and well-being at work that's REALLY important when you have a lot to deal with personal-wise... Well, I've had close to none of that since I've returned. I've felt like I've had to re-prove myself to the new Powers that Be... Powers who don't think that I'm fabu as all they know about me is that I had the audacity to have twins while on their watch. So my nose has been extremely to the grindstone since my return to work. Hence some of the blog silence.
I've been so busy, in fact, that I've pretty much stopped posting over on the WW Boards. And that was something that I ALWAYS made time to do.
My spidey senses tingling over impending lay-offs led to Mark and I sitting on our hands as to what to do regarding our apartment situation. You see, our little apartment has gotten too cramped and uncomfortable for us. The current arrangement we have with the kids being in our room is not a model to grow on but we thought it would be a temporary arrangement until we moved to a larger apartment. Which is something that I am totally not comfortable doing right now. I know that if I got canned I could probably quickly find a job making enough to make ends meet at this place. But if we moved to a larger, pricier joint, I have my doubts about finding a job to support the nine of us — don't forget about the menagerie! This would also be the case if it were Mark returning to work. And forget about putting the twins in daycare if we both had to work... One of our salaries would pretty much go towards paying just for that, thereby negating any potential benefit.
And, truth be told, neither one of us wants to put the kids in daycare right now. Mark enjoys being a stay-at-home dad and I enjoy knowing that my babies are being cared for by their dad, someone who truly loves them.
After a few talks we ultimately decided to stay put, reorganize the apartment and stockpile money for the next few years. So Mark and I decided to turn our bedroom fully into the kids' room and to reclaim the "cat room" and turn that into our bedroom / home office.
This led to evaluating what we needed to do / get in order to make the model work.
Out goes Mark's old full-size four-poster bed and my exercise bike. In it's place will come the king-size bed and my desk, computers, files from the filing cabinets and the shredder. Conversely, the kids' room will get a new sofa bed, another crib, drapes to shut out the light and a new play rug. Out goes Mark's old dresser since half of the drawers are busted and out go my clothes from my closet as the twins don't have a closet of their own. In come two new wardrobes — one for each of us — to take up residence in the hallway. And so on.
We knew that a second trip to Ikea was in order — the first having taken place when I was pregnant. We finally went this past Sunday but prior to our going I scrutinized their catalog, picking the cheapest items to tide us over. However, when we went, we were pretty practical. We opted for comfort over price, while still managing to keep the cost low. Our initial sofa-bed choice wound up being upgraded for one that felt better when you actually sat on it but our plans for custom-designed wardrobes were downgraded as we spotted something sturdy, heavy-duty and pre-designed that was affordable to boot. So we're $1800 poorer — we spent $100 on home delivery to get some of the really large items home — and in about a week we'll have reconfigured our lives for the long haul.
And then the kids will have their own room, we'll be bunking with the cats and all new routines will need to be learned...
Wish us luck!
P.S. Both Aden's and Hunter's 365 galleries are now up to date. Go check 'em out!
P.P.S. I have been ferociously working on this. Pictures and updates on that soon.
