Bring your child to work day

BC did not get cut from his job at the copier giant. I apologize for not writing it sooner. We were terribly disappointed but I am sure it is for the best and when we received his paycheck this week, we were reminded of this blessing.

The kids went to work with BC last week. Bring your child to work day originally started as bring your daughter to work day. It was to encourage young women to work. The founders of this idea would be mortified to hear about my children's day.

Here is what my children learned about the copier giant that day:

Engineering and sales: The girls did a great job of using their sales skills to convince their dad to buy them ice cream at 10 am. Bubs was particularly interested in the "vacuum sucking machine" and the engineering behind it.

Measurements and freight scales: Every other week BC and some coworkers weigh themselves as part of a weight loss program they created. I think between the 5 of them, they are up 3lbs. They use the freight scale in the shipping area to weigh themselves. Since this was their weigh in day, the kids got to go with them. The 5 fathers weighed more than the 11 kids.

Stress relief: Sometimes the workplace can get too stressful. You know, the weighing in, vending machine trips and occasional meetings. BC and his buddy Alfred showed the kids how they play Kan Jam in the hallway by setting up two garbage cans and getting out the frisbee. And we wonder why the company isn't doing well.

Meetings: The kids did attend one meeting where they doodled on the white board. Who doesn't doodle during a boring project planning meeting.

Even if this day did not encourage my girl's to be engineers, it was a great day of bonding with dad!

Today's the Day

We think today is the day BC's company is going to swing the ax to several hundred people in R-town. We're not 100% sure. This is something we have been anticipating for several months. We've known it was coming but wasn't sure when. Rumors have been flying! The latest rumor is that it will be today.

If BC is laid off, he will start looking for a contract position in NC. Right now he has only been looking for a permanent job since he is currently employed full time.

In honor of the lay off, I told him to dress in his company garb. You know, the shirt, lanyard, etc. Show your loyalty and make it harder for the person laying you off.

By the way, we watched the movie "Up in the Air" last night. How appropriate! The movie is about a man (George Clooney) who lays people off for a living. It was a good movie as long as you don't get offended by the occasional F word from the people being fired and brief nudity.

Celebrity Julia

My brother George met his girlfriend at college. It's where all of us siblings have met our spouses except for Frushie. She met her husband in 10th grade.

George introduced us to Julia at Frushie's baby shower. I thought this was a bold move on his part. If I had three sisters who essentially mother me, I would think I would introduce her to them one by one. It might be overwhelming, right? Well George didn't think of that. BC says it was the right move. He said, "it's like ripping off a band-aid." No one wants to do it but it must be done so get it over with. Nice!

Yesterday I asked Celebrity Julia what it was like for her to meet all of us at once. It kind of came up because we were talking about my mom's Swedish drunk friend Margaret. I started to laugh because I was remembering Julia meeting all of us, at a major event, and meeting drunk Margaret too. I am sure she thought we were crazy. Julia said it was completely overwhelming for her. In my book, she passed the test that day.

Celebrity Julia loves my kids and they LOVE her. This is how she got her name. She has celebrity status in our house. My girls would talk about her but when they saw her, they became speechless. They would stare, smile and blush. They have gotten over being starstruck but she still is a celebrity! They fight over who sits next to her, run to her the minute she walks in the door, etc. Julia is a teacher who wears very hip outfits and awesome jewelry.

My uncle always refused to get attached to my cousins boyfriends until he knew it was a done deal (they got married). He said it was too dangerous because when they broke up, he was heartbroken. Too late for us, we have fallen in love with Celebrity Julia too!

Wake up

I like to sleep! If I could marry sleep, I would! Last night I made an agreement with my kids. They would not wake me up in the morning before 9 am, just this one day. There goes my Mother of the Year award. My kids agreed they could play the Wii downstairs and be quiet to not wake us up. Unfortunately my mother in law wasn't here to hear the agreement. June called us at 8 am this morning. We didn't answer. So she called back. So much for sleeping in.