Working Girl

Hmmm, here's a post I failed to publish - better late than never! :)

I have less than two weeks left at the office before I start my maternity leave. I am taking two weeks off before my "due date", hoping that if the JuneBug comes a little early, I'll have still gotten in some relaxation time. And if the JuneBug is a little late, well, we'll just be that much closer to the end of the school year, and will save some poor substitute teacher from trying to control Steve's class during the last few days of school. (Because as if those days aren't chaotic enough, without changing up the routine!)

People keep asking me if I'm going to miss being at work. There is a lot of exciting stuff going on right now, with our food waste pilot coming up. Since I started in Waste Management almost two years ago, I've been working towards this pilot. We got final approval from Council in January, and starting in October, we will begin collecting food waste and other organics at the curb from 5,000 pilot households. This project is kind of my "baby" at the moment. I'm very excited to see how things turn out. But since I won't be here, I'll just have to check in every once in a while. Of course, that's not to say that there won't be exciting stuff happening when I come back after a year either! That's when we make the decision to roll out Region-wide or not, and then the BIG plans start! So there will be more than enough to keep me busy. So, looking ahead to just the stuff I'm
going to miss at the office while I'm gone, sure I have some regrets about not being involved with my very own pilot right from the start. But look at what I'll get to be doing instead! The JuneBug will actually be here! So I'm sure that I really won't miss work at all.

And I plan to visit everyone too, and get the scoop on how things are going. Everyone I work with is so great - they held an office shower for me a few weeks ago, and it was just fantastic! Everyone I work with is so wonderful. It had a Dr. Seuss theme, and it was amazing the creative stuff they came up with! They decorated the room with red and blue balloons, and kites that look like the ones Thing 1 and Thing 2 play with in "The Cat in the Hat". There were all kinds of great nibblies, including Green (deviled) Eggs and Ham, Goldfish crackers (for the fish from Cat in the Hat), and a crazy, topsy-turvy Seussified cake! One of the girls had even found a Dr. Seuss video to play on the TV! Oh, and another had prepared a special beverage for me - apple juice with pieces of chocolate bar floating in it - served in a potty! Let me tell you, that "punch" just got better
and better looking as the afternoon went on!

We got many wonderful gifts (including a beautiful hand-knitted sweater from my friend Diann that I cannot wait to see on the JuneBug!) and a VERY generous gift card. So while I might not miss work over the next year, I can definitely see myself missing my wonderful co-workers. Cheers!