I guess the biggest news is that Spouse was laid off. Yes, the Cue Vee See era is over. He got 4 weeks notice, *all* his vacation paid, and one week of severance for every year he worked there, so that’s not bad. It gives us a little while before we have to worry overmuch, at least.

He was not the only lay-off, but the other person was told by HR on a Tuesday that his last day was that Friday. When he began contacting the local temp agencies, he learned that virtually his entire office was also in contact with the agency, trying desperately to get out of there. Interestingly, just before Spouse’s last day they told everyone that there was a company-wide freeze going into effect: nobody who left was going to be replaced, and there will be no raises NEXT APRIL. And then three days later Spouse finds out they hired one of the contractors.  Huh.  Will the “no raise next april” thing apply to the contractor as well?
Really, the only thing I can say for them is that they provided enough health insurance to get us the babes. And a really nice body pillow at a discount, can’t forget that. But other than that, it was pretty crappy from start to finish, and Spouse has been a changed man since they gave him the news: he’s happy again. I’d forgotten what that was like.  We keep having these moments where we look at each other and get all giddy thinking, “woohoo!  You’re/I’m off tomorrow, too!” and then we feel a little guilty because isn’t losing one’s job supposed to be a horrible scary time?  I don’t know, maybe we’ll be stressed in a couple weeks, but right now we’re all just so happy to be together.  And like my shrink once told me, “Worry is not preparation.”  So why not enjoy this, if our inclination is to do so?

And why not foster 6 cats for the local shelter while we’re at it? (A mom with her three tiny kittens, and a pair of beautiful young sisters left on the street!  The temptation to keep them all is overwhelming!)
(Although in hindsight I can say that since we’re going to be among the uninsured in a couple days, this was probably NOT the time to watch Sicko.  I know Moore’s stuff is often rumored to be full of inaccuracies, but even if he pulled 75% of it out of his ass, the remaining 25% is still plenty to piss one off.  Oof. )