How's Everybody Doing?

Hey, I was just wondering how everyone was doing, since it's been about 5 weeks since our last day at 1 Toronto St. I won't say our last day of work, since some of you are still working, others like me are enjoying major "Chillaxing" time.

Post a note so I can get up-to-date on everyone.

I think about you guys often. I must say I do miss the fun times we had on the 10th floor.

Take care everyone.

Bob

Memories...

Here is the last photo of Chris and I. We are showing off what we planned to wear on November 1.

L

Oldie But A Goodie

Haha, it's almost Halloween! I saw this and made me laugh!

Hey Nette & Ryan, the photos of Theo are great, he sure has a full head of hair. I can tell already he'll have the ladies lining up (not for some years down the road), but eventually.

Nette, I'm glad to hear you are rebounding after the labour & initial set backs from breastfeeding & to use your expression "it's all good". I know you guys will be super parents, Theo is a very lucky child.

We miss your smiling face in the office Nette, but I realize you have a job that far more important right now.

Take care.

Bob

I WANT THE CROWN!

The crown looks so amazing, guys! Way better than in paper!

Wow, a JD calendar... I saw that coming. I think Jimmy had that down from months ago - just in his own computer;).

I love the photos! You all looked awesome, though, I was looking for Julie's - coz wasn't she the saddest? Glad she's okay now - she's very easy to please - anything sweet would do it or just keep her away from the subway!

Well, here are a couple of picts for you...Theo's getting bigger - and so are my biceps from carrying him around...

Any plans for the 'Last Hurrah' yet? Let me know!

Please tell Jules Neil should have won!

How it all began

It started because Julie was sad (one of her soccer teams was not doing well) one day. Julie is never sad, which made her being sad even sadder for her friends. So that day in August become Julie Soltesz Day. Her friends bought her little treats to help cheer her up. That was the first event in the movement now called Celebrate CREW (is that we have termed it?).

There is no rhyme or reason to who gets what day as their day. Overall it is random for whose day it is and what the date is. There are some constraints. For example, Frida and Pierre leaving the department pushed their dates ahead.

In addition to a poster announcing whose day it, there is a crown. It is made out of paperclips. People are encouraged to add to it. Below is the crown on Friday August 24. Sunny added the paperclips down the sides and the candy, Danny added a few more paperclips. Mike being the non-CREW member Social Conveener for CREW (he is in charge of collecting lottery money and birthday cake money) added two plastic knives.

Below are photos of people on their day. I apologize to Meaza. I have lost your photo somewhere on my computer. I know I have a copy at work. I will post it ASAP.

Here is Frida. She was the second victim, er I mean lucky person to wear the crown (Meaza was the first).

Here is Pierre. He was the first to have his photo with the Job Discontinuance countdown calendar.

Here is Don his day. I thought he was the happiest person to wear the crown...

... Until it was Sunny Day.

Danny is practicing his team photo pose for when he gets signed by Toronto FC. Which will be soon based on their recent play. Heck, I could do better. Okay not really but now that Danny Dichio is almost healthy things may improve. And poor Jimmy Brennan playing with broken ribs and a broken wrist. Sorry I got a little distracted there. Here is Danny...

It is like Samah was born wearing a crown...

Zakia had lucky Day 50 as her day. Unfortunately Zakia was already training for her new job on her day. Kristy has been very sad since Day 50. Maybe October can be Koko Kipp month to make her happy. Look how happy one day made Julie, a month should fix Kipp up.

Does anyone else think that Meena is related to Vanna White? I wonder how Meena would look as a blond?

As Jim said "Once you have Jusino Day, you have Jusino them all." Meena gave Jusino some posing tips.

Okay so Mike is not a member of CREW, but he does have to put up with us. So he got a day. Can you see Meena's influence. The guy from London took the pose to a whole new level.

I'll post the next patch of days, once a few have happened.

More later

Lesley

Hey Nette,

Beautiful pictures of your little one!!! He is so cute!


Frida & Pierre,

Congratulations on your new positions!! Good luck!!!

Take Care

Mary

P.S. Thank your for the Good luck wishes from all of you!!! Much appreciated...

Many Thanks!

Wow, I am able to sneak in a few moments...Theo is sleeping.

Okay, first thing, I would like to say thanks to all of you with your warm welcome and wishes! I love Bob's name, it was too funny! Lesley and Trish, thanks a whole lot for your great cookies and the change pad. Really thoughtful of you! Shirnette, thanks for the card! All you Facebook folks, thanks for the wall notes!

Yes! The dreaded labour is done and over with! My stitches are still sore but it's all good! My belly feels a little funny, very very empty...very used...ah well, c'est la vie...I'll just have to run it off!

Well, the first week was a little rough. I was in the hospital for three days. Thought all was good and dandy but the day after getting home, Theo was once again admitted back as he had developed jaundice! Ah, it was so painful to watch him in that incubator with the lights...He also lost more than 10% (7lbs 1 ounce) of his birth weight because unknowingly my milk hadn't come in yet and I refused to give him formula. I thought oh man, I couldn't even provide him with food! What a bad mom! Anyway, the hospital really really encouraged breastfeeding so they helped me get some supplements and there was a lot of support from everyone. Finally, my milk arrived a week after! Theo is now back to normal weight (7 lbs, 10 ounces) and gaining, thank goodness!

Wow, he's still sleeping! Ry's really trying hard not to wake him, I know it. He doesn't realize how hard it is to put Theo back to sleep!

Jules, I miss you girl! So much celebrity gossip to tell you...though I am behind on my tabloids! Funny, I can't think of one right now...baby brain I guess!

Kristy and Jon, congrats! Way to go with the cruise idea! Hope your clinic is doing well!

Bob, thanks for your concern regarding my mat leave. They finally were able to straighten it out. It was frustrating at first but it's all good now! ;)

Jim, I hope you enjoyed your vacation!

I'll post some picts now before I forget! Missing you ALL, really. And the birthday cake ;)

XOXOXO,

Nette

Sunny is the winner

I thought I should put it in print that Sunny won the "Theo Pool". She picked July 21st. There is no prize for being right. Well, bragging rights and that is "priceless".

Does anyone else wonder if Kristy is old enough to get married? I mean, congratulations Kristy and Jon!

Here are some recent photos from my garden.

More later.

Lesley

You Are All Invited

Please visit our website at http://kris-jon.weddingannouncer.com/ for details

CONGRATULATIONS

Nette & Ryan:
Congrats on the arrival of Theo, even though I didn't win the pool I'm still happy for both of you, especially Nette who had to put up with 30 hours of labour before having a C-Section. I'm sure Ryan was providing tons of support throughout the labour.

It will probably be a couple of days before you see this, I'm not even sure how long you stay in the hospital after a C-Section these days, when my daughter was born it was a week although my wife talked herself out in 5 days.

Nette if your Maternity Leave didn't get straighten out please let me know & I'll follow up with payroll.

Take care, we miss you around the office.

Bob

It's 1:21 in the Morning

(Mackers and I at the park, I can no longer sit this way...boo!)

I'm still awake. This is day 5 of barely 2 hours of sleep a day...YIKES!

I am officially on mat leave...meaning, I'm officially broke :( ...

Today, I was actually downtown to give back some ribbons and pins to Canadian Breast Cancer. I have officially withdrawn from their volunteer list... I know I know, but I always feel guilty when I get their email and can't get to it...ah well, some other time I guess.

So Jules finally used her Angel day? Doh, I thought she did that already but man, I don't blame her. Her July is just Soccer Mania...she must be in heaven!

So when can we cash in our shares? I'm waiting...like I said I'm broke! Tee hee!

Glad to hear lunch was good...I really wished I was there but no ride so no lunch. How's CAT, BTW? Weird, I just had this strong feeling for chicken just now ;)

Okay, time to try to get some sleep. This is nuts!

Oh wait, good luck on quilting!

Nette, Nette, Nette

Lunch was fantastic. We had a private room. The portions were large and the food was great tasting. Julie is going to write an article for the REW Review about the lunch.

I agree that scrabble is fun. We have a travel version.

Trish baked cookies today (oatmeal chocolate chip). So Theo anytime you are ready.

Julie was polishing her halo today. She used her Angel Day to recover from soccer overload. One day Julie may read the blog. But first she must decide on an internet provider.

I'm back hand quilting Mish Mash. I have so much left to do. My goal is to finish it by September. Hopefully the weekends will be cooler.

More later.

Lesley

Harry Potter...

Okay, I watched Harry Potter at midnight. I couldn't sleep so I thought we'd take a walk to Empress. What a wicked movie! Loved it! Ry didn't but he didn't read the books. His loss ;)

So, still no Theo. 38 weeks tomorrow.

BTW, Scrabble rocks! I had a Scrabble...fission... Ry was shocked!

How was Far Niente?


Hello? Anyone there? ;)

No work, no fun...really!

There's no word of a lie. I am really bored guys! So far, I have gone through seasons of tv episodes morning noon and night. The cushion part of my rocking chair is almost completely worn out before Theo even arrive!

BTW, I think Chris and I are out of the Baby pool. No 777 lucky day is bringing this baby out!

Aside from watching TV shows and replying to Lesley's text messages ($39.35 in text messages alone this month - not all Les but she's helping!), I've been discovering ways to help Ry and I during the upcoming busy times. First, grocerygateway.com. I got my groceries delivered for a minimal fee! That was pretty awesome! Then I was looking around todaysmenu.ca but I can't separate the meals...all 3 have to be delivered at the same time. With only a fridge life of 3 days, I really have to pick the best time to order them. I still love it though, the meals sound so Hell's Kitchenish without the swearing!

Okay, this post killed about 10 minutes...now what?

Miss you all!

Nette didn't even cry

Today was Nette's last day. She now on vacation until her mat leave starts. Everyone got a hug goodbye. I was surprised by the lack of tears. I kicked her to try to get a little tear action, but she is too tough. Here is a photo of Nette with the fancy brownies from her baby shower at work.

I'm not looking forward to Julie being back from her vacation. She is going to miss Nette. I'm not sure I can be around all that sadness.

We started an office pool about when Nette is going to have Theo. I picked July 23 (think 23 Nette). I'll cross off the days until Theo decides to join us.

More later.

L

Updated Blog

I have added some links to our site. Please have a look and let me know of any that I missed that you want added to our blog.

I have also added a "Recommended Reading List". Please let me know what you think should be added. Is there a book you are currently reading? Do you have a favourite book that you think should be on the list. I listed Then We Came To The End by Joshua Ferris. It is the story of an Ad Agency in Chicago that is going through a downsizing period with regular layoffs happening. The story is how the characters deal with this and continue working. I first read a review of the book the Saturday before we got our discontinuance news. I ordered it when I got home that Thursday. Not only is it timely, it is incredibly entertaining. The official site for the book is also funny (http://www.hachettebookgroupusa.com/features/twctte/twctte_022307/index.html). I should be done it soon. Let me know if you want to borrow it.

More later.

Lesley

Invitations

Invitations to post to the blog have been sent to everyone with email. To post you will need a Google account. If you don't have a Google account follow the instructions to set one up. After that you will be able to post to the blog (both text and photos).


You can comment on what other people post. The best way is to write your own post. If you click on the comment link you will be sending an email to the yahoo account I set up for the blog.

You can also label your post. There is a box at the bottom of posting page that allows you label your post. I have labelled this post with "invitations, instructions and job hunting". Nette could have labelled her post as "Nette, Theo, shopping."


Please let me know what you think of the template. It can be changed if we want something different.

We should take a team photo to post to the blog. The one we have is rather dated...


I will set up some job hunting links on the site. Please let me know of any good sites you know of.


I'll leave with a photo of spring.






Good night and good luck (a little Edward R Murrow for you).

Lesley

Nette and Theo

I wouldn't want to disappoint Lesley so here is Theo at 12 weeks!

Yesterday we went CRIB/Changing Table shopping. I couldn't help feeling panic - this is beginning to feel so real! I swear, I had to sit down on one of the chairs to steady myself!

Ryan, however, was going through the crib displays like he was in a candy shop.

Introduction to CREW 2007

In an effort to find new and fun ways to keep us updated about our exciting experiences post-job discontinuance this site has been set up.

Please feel free to post text and photos. You know Nette is going to fill up the site with photos of Theo, so sign in when you can.

Here is a photo from April 15th Walk for MS.