Five on Friday - Favorites + a Big Announcement

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It’s been a dreary last few days but the chill in the air is back, so that sure does make me a happy camper!  I have lots of faves for you on the blog today, so let’s get started!

O N E – This Sweatshirt

Did you guys see my post on Insta Wednesday evening?  This sweatshirt is definitely a favorite right now!  I bought it several months ago and it’s just been hanging in my closet waiting to be worn.  Wednesday evening was dark and chilly and it had been a day at work, so it was the perfect opportunity for a glass of wine and my new wine sweatshirt!  I couldn’t find the original one to link, but I did find these identical ones on Etsy if you want to snag one for yourself!  All of you 80’s babies who were in your teens when Da Dip came out know what I’m talking about!

T W O – A Target Share

Target shared another one of my Instagram photos on their website this week!  It’s always cool seeing one of my favorite brands use my photos, so that was a definite favorite!  The link is here if you want to check it out!  I’m wearing my favorite Mossimo Skinny Jeans from there so that was the product they tagged!

T H R E E – A New Book

Emily Giffin, my favorite author, announced that she is releasing a new book next June!!  She doesn’t debut new books very often, so I am always thrilled when I see a new one out there.  Now to wait until June… 

F O U R – A New Christmas Album

Did you guys see that 98 Degrees has a new Christmas album?!?!  They were one of my favorite boy bands back in the 90’s so I am just way too excited about this!  I still have their original Christmas album from 1999 and it’s one of my favorites.  Their rendition of Ave Maria is so beautiful.  I can’t wait to see what they did with the new album… I’ll be downloading it this weekend for sure.

And speaking of downloading, did you guys see that T. Swift isn’t going to allow her new album to be streamed?  It came out today and apparently we are all going to have to buy an actual CD.  Haha.

F I V E – The Big Announcement

No, I’m not pregnant.  I know that’s usually the first thing people think of when a woman around my age says she has a huge announcement to make.  ;o)

As all of you long-time readers know, I have been wanting to be a stay at home mom for a couple of years now.  Well, that time has come, but perhaps a bit sooner than we originally wanted.  As excited I am for the opportunity, the circumstances surrounding the decision aren’t the greatest.  It’s a long drawn-out story, but I will try to keep it as brief as I can.

I have been working in sales and marketing for a global corporation the last 12.5 years.  I loved it for many years, but the past few years things have been steadily going downhill.  I haven’t been very happy for a while and just a couple of weeks ago something happened that became the last nail in the coffin. 

As a matter of fact, this text with Adrienne last week about sums everything up:

  

As you all know, this summer I did several rounds of a new treatment for my chronic low back and pelvic pain.  The specialist I had to see was located in Atlanta which is a long drive from where we live.  Therefore, I had to take full days off of work for each appointment, seven to be exact.  Well, at the beginning of this fiscal year at work, I knew that I wasn’t going to have enough vacation days to cover all of the appointments plus all of the time off I have to take with Jacob when his school is closed, so I sat down with my supervisor and discussed it with him. 

He told me that after our vacation days are exhausted we are allowed to take days off without pay, and that it wouldn’t be a problem for me to take several extra days off this year as needed. 

Fast forward six months – I have used all of my vacation days aaaand… my supervisor gets laid off.  I’m sure you can see where this is going… 

After discussing my situation with my new supervisor (whom I’ve worked with the entire 13 years I’ve been here), he told me he was fine with me taking days off without pay as well, but he had to go to HR to find out how to code the days off without pay properly in our system.  Upon discussing it with HR, HR promptly told him that nobody is allowed to take days off without pay.

Sigh.

My supervisor ended up setting up a meeting with the two of us and HR to discuss my options and HR told me that there was nothing they could do.  My options were as follows:

a)    Don’t take days off for the next five months.  Well this is absolutely not possible since Jacob still has Thanksgiving Break, Christmas Break, and Spring Break before my vacation starts over again on April 1.

b)    Keep taking days off without pay and get fired after the sixth occurrence.  (And keep in mind that this includes being sick.  We do not get sick time here and we are penalized for each day that we are out.  Hence the reason I always drag myself in even when I’m on my deathbed.)

c)    Resign.

Well I’m sure you can probably guess which option I chose.  There was no freaking way I was going to let them fire me, so I resigned and gave a notice of two weeks.

My supervisor did fight hard for me.  He suggested many different things to try to keep me here, and he mentioned several times what an outstanding employee I am, but HR was not willing to work with me.  It is baffling how quickly they will cut ties with someone who has never had any issues with attendance in almost 13 years, someone who has worked her butt off for the company, and someone who even won the employee of the year award in our department.  Baffling.  But I suppose nobody is ever irreplaceable in corporate America.

My biggest problem, though, is that it was approved in advance for me to do this so my days were planned accordingly and then halfway through the year they told me it was no longer allowed.  The least they could do is give me a grace period to get me through the rest of this year, but nope, that is not an option. 

My last day is next Friday, November 17.  While I’m a little excited, I’m mostly just sad and scared.  I have made my own money since I was 11 years old when my best friend and I started our baby-sitting and car-washing business.  #TrueStory  I then got my first real job at the age of 16 so I have been in the work force for the majority of my life.  I’ve never been a “kept woman” nor have I ever had the desire to be, so this is going to be a whole new situation for me.  Not to mention I am going to miss some of my coworkers like CRAZY.  I’ve seen some of them five days a week for the last almost 13 years.  It’s going to be really weird not seeing them anymore.

Because this is all happening so suddenly, we are obviously not prepared financially, so the next few months should be interesting to say the least.  And yes, I could look for another job, but then we would likely end up I in the same boat with vacation days because I would likely start my new job with even less than what I have at my current job.

We are going to try to make it work with me being a stay at home mom, so more than ever now, I feel that I HAVE to figure out a way to make some money from home.  Ladies, PLEASE, if you have any ideas send them my way.  There’s always the blog (although that was not my original intent for this space), and I’ve also toyed with the idea of starting an Etsy shop (but what the heck to sell??) or a Facebook group.  The problem is that every single idea/market is just so saturated already because everyone is trying to be an entrepreneur these days.

Sigh. 

Anyway, I have always pictured myself quitting to be a stay-at-home-mom, but I have always pictured myself quitting after I had a thriving side business, not before.

Thank you for listening to me rant today, and as always, thank you for reading and for your support.  I have a feeling you’re going to be seeing a lot more of me now!    

2017 just keeps on sucking but I’m praying that it is going to be a blessing in disguise!

*Linking up with A Liz Adventures and Carolina Charm for Five on Friday, A Little Bit of Everything for Friday Favorites,  September Farm and The Farmer's Wife for Oh Hey, Friday, Meet @ the Barre for Friday Favorites, and Cup of Tea for High Five for Friday.