I'm back!

I haven't completely fallen off the face of the earth, but there were moments this week when I wish I would.  And it nothing to do with my worries of early this week.

I've been spending my time doing lovely things like coughing to the point I hoped I'd hack up a lung, shivering during a hot flash, and most recently, trying to keep up with constant nasal drip.  Oh yeah, and just for fun I threw in a migraine on Wednesday.  Try coughing with a migraine...between nausea and feeling as though my head was going to explode...it was one of the worst days of my life.

Because I'm a loyal employee idiot I managed to make it into work the rest of the week, though it was probably not the best idea since I probably spread my germs around.  I didn't want to miss any announcements on Thursday though I should have known nothing definitive would have been provided.  We do know our budget has been cut again, however the work is going to increase.  Surprise, surprise...not!

The other item to come out of the budget is the goal of the federal government to renegotiate sick leave benefits for public servants.  Currently we earn 15 days a year, which can be carried forward if not used.  Should a significant illness occur, the employee can use up to 13 weeks of leave before disability would normally kick in.  Those who don't use the hours lose them on leaving their employment.  However, many employees use their sick leave as earned - I saw stats that say the average public service employee uses 12.5 days a year, while the private sector uses 8.5 days in a year (my numbers may be slightly off but it was in that range).

I suspect they may try to reduce the number of days we can earn in a year, and perhaps cap the amount of hours carried over.  I can't see the unions giving away the benefit entirely, as it would have an impact on the private sector as well.

So things at work aren't as bad as I thought they might be (at least not yet), and I'm starting to feel better.

I'm getting lots of couch time in with my Sasha. The cats seem to enjoy that I'm a hot water bottle, but not so thrilled when I start coughing and send them flying.

Time for me to catch up with the rest of you, I did manage to lurk a little this week but I don't think I commented.  Who knows, for a good portion of the week....brain...not...working.

Happy Saturday, everyone!