Remember back when I was a contributing member of society?

Last week at my doctor appointment I had gained 4 pounds but my tummy measurement hadn't changed. A quick peek at my ankles confirmed where all those pounds had gone so the doctor told me it was time to stop working. I ended up having just 2 weeks to train my replacement at work instead of the 3 or 4 weeks we were planning on, but it seems to have worked out. He calls me at home occasionally with questions and that makes me feel smart & useful even though I just lay on the couch lamenting the fact that daytime tv is really boring.

My last day at work was last Friday. Friday was also Linda's birthday. She is one of those people who is so nice you want to hate her for it, but you can't because she's so sincere. She's worked at New Season Foods for 35 years or something like that. She was one of my very favorites because not only did she have a great personality, but she was very meticulous about turning in receipts and everyone knows receipts are the way to an accountant's heart! Anyway, it was her birthday so they told me that morning they were surprising her with a birthday party at 3 o'clock that afternoon. Everytime I saw her I had to hide my silly grin about the surprise, and to make it even more exciting I would only talk about it in a whisper even though she works on a different floor from me and wouldn't have heard anyway.

So come 3 o'clock we all headed down for Linda's party. It was so cute, they had lots of presents and two cakes and after a minute I realized all the gift bags were blue and there was a stork on one of the cakes. Like for a baby, which is a weird choice for a birthday party. I am a little slow I guess. We did have cake and sing for her birthday, but it was mostly a baby shower for ME! I was so surprised! We even played some baby shower games. It was a great end to my last day at work!

I kept my hard hat just in case I need it. You can see the sticker on it designates me as a member of the Safety Committee and I'm delighted to announce that the committee has agreed to let Charlie be the safety mascot when he comes along...I actually really will miss this job. It's been my best accounting job since graduating, mostly because the maintenance manager frequently brought me maple bars, but also because it was low-stress and I worked with a great group of people.