No paid sick days for the self-employed. No health/dental benefits either. Last time I took time off to be sick was when I fractured my wrist in 2008 and had to wear a cast for 10 days - couldn't drive with it on.

I tend to work through all injuries and illnesses due to lack of financial choice, rather than some hardiness or self-flagellation or similar. I find I rarely get sick - most folks who work outside tend to be similar. I think it's just too darn cold for any germs during peak contagious illness months. The injuries are more frequent but I think I have a high pain threshold and have worked with all sorts of fractured/sprained/ bruised and punctured body parts.

As I get older I find this less and less appealing. Thanks to Cesar Millan the dogs are much better trained and my body is injured very seldom now.

I do long to take the occasional "mental health" day but have never done so yet. I did take 1/2 a day this year when the car broke down. It came back to life 30 minutes later but I had already cancelled my walks. It was bitterly cold out and I sat inside, drinking tea and reading all afternoon on a Thursday.

It was quite lovely!

Dagmar

My days off all go into a single bucket & are referred to as paid time off days, or PTO days. I get about 35 of them every year, and the Company has seven holidays in the U.S. (Our European branches get more.) No one cares what you use a PTO day for: vacation, sick, mental health, waiting for the cable guy, whatever. But since we have a fairly liberal work-from-home policy, I tend not to fritter away my PTO days on waiting for the cable guy. I also tend to work while I'm sick, but I do it from home -- unless absolutely prostrated.

When I used to work for Corporate America, we earned PTO--a few hours for every 40 hours worked, and it accrued faster as you had more years with the company. But they capped it at a certain number of hours/days. By the time I'd made it to supervisor, and was on salary rather than hourly, I capped out so often and found that it was VERY difficult to take a day off. My boss had so many days that were "not allowed" to be taken off by management--end of month, beginning of month, so that gave us only a week or so in the middle. With five supervisors vying for the same days each month, it made it increasingly difficult to take time off. Therefore I'd work and cash out my PTO at 40 hours here and there, not that I needed the money, but there was no way I'd work for them and not accrue PTO!

Now that I'm a small business owner, it's a bit different. We give the major holidays off as paid and depending on the number of years the guys have worked for us, that depends on the number of weeks vacation we give them. On top of that we give them 4 days of sick time, but we don't tell them that they have to use it as sick time....if they want to add to vacation, fine, as long as they know that once it's all used up, and if they're out of vacation time, they'll have to take any additional time off without pay. We renew it on their anniversary date. It's easier than accruing per pay period. We have one employee that is up to 4 weeks vacation per year and he takes maybe a long weekend and cashes out the rest.

But being the boss? Well, I take off whenever I feel like it! HAHAHA! I'm sorry, but I've been working since I was 13, so I feel like I deserve it!

So today, I left at 3 PM, took DS to Costco to pick up a few items. Dropped him off at home and went shopping. Since we're golfing in San Diego, I'll need golf PANTS. It'll be like 60 when we start out! I'll FREEZE! Then I stopped and got gift cards at Bed, Bath & Beyond and Target for the wedding gift (she was registered at both places plus Macy's, but I find that Target is the BEST store in the country!).

Morning all,

I think I've mentioned funding for my position is through a federal grant on a 5 year cycle. It's up for renewal, and actually we were supposed to hear a few months ago, but figure nothing will be announced til the fed. budget gets sorted out. But everyone's thought we have a really good chance for renewal. Now the boss wants to talk to me & the only two others whose position $ comes from the grant on a conference call tomorrow. I'm on pins and needles, afraid it's a call telling me my job is gone.

Gym workouts so far this week: 2
Really long walks with the dog: 1

I worked for 3 years with no paid days off, no benefits. I could take holidays etc. but couldn't afford to take many. And I only went to the doctor once in that time! It's nice having benefits and time off now... hope that's not going away. My boss told me to count doctor's appt's as sick time. My mom has been working at an hourly rate since their big move last summer. She got offered a contract w holidays, sick leave, benefits for the coming year. She's happy of course, but they told her that of course "no one really takes all their time off"... she said to herself, well, I am! She said she gets around 3 weeks of time off, plus holidays when the office is closed.

Jessica, how funny Carter is afraid of flies. Emma is the opposite, she loves to stalk and eat bugs. Last night she reminded us what a good guard dog she is. There was some kind of party going on at 1:30 AM the next street over, and people in the rental house down our street were doing burnouts and racing their golf cart around. I might have slept through that noise, but every five minutes Emma would start barking. No one will ever sneak up to my house. Where is my coffee? Good day all!

Keeping my fingers crossed for you Megan!

I've been on my new thyroid meds a week and my weight is down to 123 and I'm more "regular". Hmmm.... hope it continues.

I went to the awards ceremony the other night for the district-wide Read-a-thon. Six of my students were recognized, and my school won the OVERALL award! I thought we would because I am super competitive and I pushed them to participate! It is one of the only ways I get any funding whatsoever for the library. Our school won with most minutes read (over 750,000 in a month!), most number of pledges, most dollar amount of pledges (still waiting for the final $ results) and we had one of the top percentages of participation in the district. The coolest part was one of the other librarians told me I looked like a movie star! She went on and on about how fabulous I looked-- I had on my new dress from WHBM!

I go for my consult for the chiro today for my back. I was just thinking yesterday that this may be related to when I fell on my tailbone on Halloween. Maybe it started then.....

Michele, I'm glad your thyroid meds are working! Congrats on the awards for your school!

Megan, I am crossing my fingers for your job funding.

I get PTO as well, plus 7 paid holidays per year. For the hourly employees, they have to use PTO for sick leave as well as vacation. Since I'm salaried I only have to use PTO for vacation and I get separate unlimited sick time. The PTO accrues over time and there is a maximum limit, but we can't cash out our PTO. Basically if I hit the maximum, I just stop accruing and lose anything else I would have gotten. PTO only gets cashed out if you quit or get fired. Actually since I'm coming up on my 5 year anniversary next month I will start accruing an extra week of PTO per year (and my maximum goes up a little). I need to start planning when to use all this PTO so I don't hit the maximum!

Good morning good morning...

Ah the complications of PTO, sick days, vacation days, holidays... I came from a job with four weeks of vacation time that was really PTO and used as sick time as well to a job with two weeks vacation but no formal sick policy, so it is somewhat unlimited as long as not abused. I can also work from home for things like cable installations and service calls. DH gets something like 48 days of PTO - accrues every year and has been there a long time, so he is about to max out the availability.

Megan - fingers crossed for your job!

Saef - to me the vision of the park is often better than the park itself, yes, but getting out and doing something is worth it. I have too much of a tendency to sit and not do sometimes if I don't make myself go and see if it is going to be different this time.

Michele - congrats on your awards!

Allison - I love Target!

Busy week around here - our new location opened up on Monday and has been a little hectic....

to everyone else!

http://www.whitehouseblackmarket.com...&maxPg=1&size=

Here is the dress that I bought at BHWM and wore to the awards ceremony!

The sheath is my favourite style of dress (provided it fits). I am quite curvy and find that this style of dress flatters me.

Dagmar

This is gorgeous. And not only coming, but going. That keyhole back with the little bow is so clever & takes it beyond the usual sheath. It has a slightly retro feel that paradoxically makes it feel very up-to-date.

And you scored an amazing & classic basic piece. Because the detail is in the back, it doesn't interfere with anything you might do with the front. You could put on a cardigan or jacket with this. It has a neckline that would display a great necklace well. (I got a vintage squash blossom turquoise necklace for Christmas, so I'm on the alert for pieces like this that would set it off.) Or even a vintage costume jewelry brooch. Or a scarf. Or you could wear a simply amazing pair of strappy shoes & put the emphasis down there on your feet.

I want this in lipstick red.

I've never been to that particular boutique but have seen many references to it. For some reason I think "house" is "horse" & whenever I see the name, a few bars of the song "Big Black Horse & a Cherry Tree" plays in my head.

Great dress Michele!

Saef, oh man, beware of WHBM. I wasn't joking when I said I couldn't go in there without spending $300. I also can't go in there without buying yet another little black dress that I totally don't need, but they have the BEST little black dresses.

It was tricky putting it on as there are snaps and buttons at the back and I was a contortionist trying to get dressed! I had only a few minutes to take care of the puppy and transform! I wore sandals with it but any shoes would work. I also wore a colorful necklace and earring set. I was also worried my tattoo would show as I try to keep it covered for school and it was just barely covered!

I love BHWM but only buy items on sale. I also love their vanity sizing! I am a size O and XS there-- sometimes even a 00 or a XXS! Gotta love it.

They always have a sale rack Saef. You should check it out-- totally enabling!

Lovely dress! But it's funny, of all the times I've been in that store, I've never found something for myself. For my daughter, yes, but not me.

re WHBM I've been to stores in Chicago and NYC and, while their stuff is beautiful, I found the quality to be fairly low. I wouldn't want to pay full price for something whose stitching and construction don't seem like they'll last through more than a season.

And fashion advice from me is as my usual dress up outfit is nice jeans and a fancy top.

Dagmar

Gym workouts so far this week: 2
Really long walks with the dog: 1
(This hasn't changed since yesterday.)

I ended up working late yesterday, and by the time I finished at 6:30, I was just done. The lack of sleep from the dog barking at the party & burnouts the night before had caught up with me, along with being in the sun all day. I took Emma on a shorter walk, promised her a longer walk today, had some dinner, and collapsed. I broke down and turned on the AC last night, not bc it was so hot I couldn't stand it quite yet (I could have made it another 2 weeks! that's the type of person I am), but bc I figured the partying would continue, and hoped closed windows would keep Emma from hearing it. It did, fortunately, and I least I slept very soundly last night.

Thanks for the well-wishes all. My conference call is at 1:00 today. I'll let you know how it goes.

Michele, that is a gorgeous dress! Pictures? Glad the new meds seem to be helping, too.

Saef, are you by any chance obsessed with lipstick red? I hear you mention it a lot. By "a lot" I might mean twice.

2 days until the weekend... have a good Thursday all!