I know it's been forever since I posted anything. I tend to like to go in spurts. So I figure I should just catch people who read this up on what's been going on with me. Let's see...since the Dominican I have...lost 15 lbs. and lots of my tummy chub, then gained a bunch of tummy chub back, found out the project I worked for might be canceled, then it got canceled and I received my severance package, fast forward 3 weeks and I just finished my last day at SemCAMS. Yea!!!!!!!!!
To dive more into the losing my job thing, I have worked at SemCAMS for 3 whole years as of June 12. It's been an interesting journey. I've never worked for a company so long. I got to go through all of the regular job stuff that I usually go through within a year span, and so much more. First 6 months are bliss, especially if your job is better than your last one. Then you start learning everything about the company that no one tells you in the first 6 months cause they don't want you to quit. At the 8 month mark, you want to quit, but continue on because you know it would look bad to quit a job for no good reason so you press on. The year mark hits and you loath your job and your life and life just sucks. Then you get a promotion, and go through the honeymoon stage again, but not quite as intense because you know all the bad stuff already, but now you get to learn all the bad stuff about the person you are now working for. You stay in denial for a little while about how bad that person is to work for and pretend they're not so bad, and then it hits and you hate your job and your life all over again. This is where the story changed for me (assuming that everyone goes through this...but I could just be special...). I had applied for another job, thought I had gotten it, thought they had told me an actual start date, then I gave SemCAMS 2 weeks notice and said all the "so longs" and "farewells" only to find out that they didn't actually give me the job and they wouldn't want me to start for another 6 months. That's when I had to go back to my boss, groveling at his feet asking for my job back. That was sure one dose of humility! They were nice and took me back, but had to look for a different position for me to take because I had done such a good job at convincing them that they didn't need me. Good job, Christa. They decided to send me over to the project office. This was good and bad. When I started at SemCAMS, I was the receptionist. At the 8 month mark, I HATED reception and swore that I would never do it again. God laughed...or rather said to Himself, "don't be too sure about that". I was promoted to Admin Assistant, where I was free and didn't have to be chained to the reception desk, and loved it...at least, that part of it. So the bad part about working at the project office was the fact that I had to sit at reception. I was pretty angry about it, and had quite the attitude when I first went over there. In time, their positive atmosphere rubbed off on me and I started seeing the world from a whole new light. It helped that I had oodles of people praying for me, and I was going through a lot of personal healing as well. The combination was incredible. I learned a ton about myself. Now I can say that I know what my strengths are, what I love doing, what I hate doing, what I KNOW I can do. I have a confidence that can't be taught, and a new appreciation and love for myself that I never had before. Thank the Lord! PAUSE...where was I going with this???? Oh yah...why I was laid off...So. A couple of months ago SemCAMS was on the market to be sold and everyone was looking forward to finding out who was going to buy us. The time came, and we found out that no one bid high enough so we didn't sell. This was really bad news for the project as we were relying on the new owners to fund the project. A couple of weeks later we found out that they would have to cancel the project. That same day, I was given a severance package and a month's notice. Once I got over the "grieving period", I worked my butt off and was able to leave yesterday, a week early.
What am I going to do with myself now, you ask? This is the awesome part!!! After 7 years of working all year round, I get to take the whole summer off!!!!!!!!!! I never really thought this would ever happen, unless I got pregnant and went on maternity leave...but as I keep hearing, that is NOT a vacation. I feel so blessed to this time. What a gift. And as I have been thinking about everything that I could get done within this time span I realized, I don't have time to work! Andrew and I are leaving for Hamilton in a week and a half and spending a week with Jin, Colin, and Liam and then taking the train (never done this before, so super excited about it!) to Montreal for Andrew's best friend's wedding. At the beginning of August, we will be in Saskatoon for a whole week, and then I may be flying by myself, or possibly with Andrew to Michigan in the middle of August for one of my best friend's wedding. In the middle I will be working on cleaning, and fully reorganizing our whole house and garage, and doing tons of yard work. Yea!!!! Anybody want to come out and help??? :)
So, that's my story. Thank you for reading it. Now I will reward you with some pictures of our yard so far. It's so pretty!!!!
To dive more into the losing my job thing, I have worked at SemCAMS for 3 whole years as of June 12. It's been an interesting journey. I've never worked for a company so long. I got to go through all of the regular job stuff that I usually go through within a year span, and so much more. First 6 months are bliss, especially if your job is better than your last one. Then you start learning everything about the company that no one tells you in the first 6 months cause they don't want you to quit. At the 8 month mark, you want to quit, but continue on because you know it would look bad to quit a job for no good reason so you press on. The year mark hits and you loath your job and your life and life just sucks. Then you get a promotion, and go through the honeymoon stage again, but not quite as intense because you know all the bad stuff already, but now you get to learn all the bad stuff about the person you are now working for. You stay in denial for a little while about how bad that person is to work for and pretend they're not so bad, and then it hits and you hate your job and your life all over again. This is where the story changed for me (assuming that everyone goes through this...but I could just be special...). I had applied for another job, thought I had gotten it, thought they had told me an actual start date, then I gave SemCAMS 2 weeks notice and said all the "so longs" and "farewells" only to find out that they didn't actually give me the job and they wouldn't want me to start for another 6 months. That's when I had to go back to my boss, groveling at his feet asking for my job back. That was sure one dose of humility! They were nice and took me back, but had to look for a different position for me to take because I had done such a good job at convincing them that they didn't need me. Good job, Christa. They decided to send me over to the project office. This was good and bad. When I started at SemCAMS, I was the receptionist. At the 8 month mark, I HATED reception and swore that I would never do it again. God laughed...or rather said to Himself, "don't be too sure about that". I was promoted to Admin Assistant, where I was free and didn't have to be chained to the reception desk, and loved it...at least, that part of it. So the bad part about working at the project office was the fact that I had to sit at reception. I was pretty angry about it, and had quite the attitude when I first went over there. In time, their positive atmosphere rubbed off on me and I started seeing the world from a whole new light. It helped that I had oodles of people praying for me, and I was going through a lot of personal healing as well. The combination was incredible. I learned a ton about myself. Now I can say that I know what my strengths are, what I love doing, what I hate doing, what I KNOW I can do. I have a confidence that can't be taught, and a new appreciation and love for myself that I never had before. Thank the Lord! PAUSE...where was I going with this???? Oh yah...why I was laid off...So. A couple of months ago SemCAMS was on the market to be sold and everyone was looking forward to finding out who was going to buy us. The time came, and we found out that no one bid high enough so we didn't sell. This was really bad news for the project as we were relying on the new owners to fund the project. A couple of weeks later we found out that they would have to cancel the project. That same day, I was given a severance package and a month's notice. Once I got over the "grieving period", I worked my butt off and was able to leave yesterday, a week early.
What am I going to do with myself now, you ask? This is the awesome part!!! After 7 years of working all year round, I get to take the whole summer off!!!!!!!!!! I never really thought this would ever happen, unless I got pregnant and went on maternity leave...but as I keep hearing, that is NOT a vacation. I feel so blessed to this time. What a gift. And as I have been thinking about everything that I could get done within this time span I realized, I don't have time to work! Andrew and I are leaving for Hamilton in a week and a half and spending a week with Jin, Colin, and Liam and then taking the train (never done this before, so super excited about it!) to Montreal for Andrew's best friend's wedding. At the beginning of August, we will be in Saskatoon for a whole week, and then I may be flying by myself, or possibly with Andrew to Michigan in the middle of August for one of my best friend's wedding. In the middle I will be working on cleaning, and fully reorganizing our whole house and garage, and doing tons of yard work. Yea!!!! Anybody want to come out and help??? :)
So, that's my story. Thank you for reading it. Now I will reward you with some pictures of our yard so far. It's so pretty!!!!
And my blue bin!!!!! I love my blue bin...they start collecting the day we leave for Hamilton though...oh well. Yea for recycling!!!
2 comments:
Oooo, the yard looks really pretty. :) You must love being able to use and enjoy it a lot more now.
Hey you should blog at least once a month. It's boring to keep looking at the same thing. Maybe I should start one??
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