Lists, Lists, and More Lists

These days I feel like I have been living off of multiple lists. Every morning I check my planner to see what is on my lists. It finally hit me last night (don't laugh, this was a very delayed thought) that I have so many lists I am working off of! I have:

• list of things to do with the kids before I go back to work, whenever that is
• list of things I need to do to secure a new job
• list of things to do around the house before I, you guessed it, go back to work

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Lists are driving my life! But, I'm someone who likes instant gratification. Nothing makes me happier than marking off that item off of a list. And the list could be anything. I loved at my previous job marking off a territory that we just filled. Yea! But, if it isn't on the list, I will easily forget about it. I have notepads and sticky notes in my car, on my nightstand, on my kitchen bar just in case something comes to me to add to my list. Then I compile them in my planner. But, that is what works for me.

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I marked off a huge item on my list yesterday that I am so excited about. Hold onto your seats, organizing papers. Woo hoo! Isn't that so fun? Yea, I don't like it either. But I was tired of trying to find things and having to go to muliple places in my house to find it. I have been meaning to reorganize and put everything together in one place for months and months. Yesterday just so happened to be a day that I was in the mood to tackle this project. After I finished that, I moved on to cleaning and organizing all sorts of things....under the bathroom sink, the pantry, the kids closets. It felt great! When I get in those moods, watch out. Everyone around me suffers because I am so focused on finishing it completely and perfectly. When I say suffer, I mean it was after 6 pm, my sister called me as she was cooking dinner and asked what I was cooking. Cooking? Why? What time is it? Crap! They need to eat! Last night my kids ate at 7:30.

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I wish I was focused on cleaning like that more often. Then I think of how much in the zone I get that my kids would be the ones from the TV show "Wife Swap" crying to the other mommy that their mom cleans the house more than hanging out with them. No thanks, I would rather have an unorganized, cluttered home. :) I love watching that show, but it kills me how so many moms are either more into making themselves happy first and ignoring their kids, or more into having a perfectly clean home and ignoring their kids. How do they not see what they are doing? Never mind, that's a whole other blog.

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I should close, I know there is something on my lists that I can do so I can mark it off!

Has Anyone Seen My Husband?

I think my husband is about to hit me up for a new set of golf clubs. Or ask for a night out with the guys. Was he a victim of the body snatchers? Whatever the reason, I don't care. I love it!

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Here is why I think something is up with him. We went to some friend's house last night for game night. We got home really late, but naturally, the kids were up super early. Ugh, I was so tired and had a really bad headache. Jason got up not long after I did and started helping out. After an hour or so I climbed back in bed for some quiet time. I ended up falling asleep. Off and on I woke up and heard Joshua come in to see me. Jason would shuttle him out of the room to not bother me. When I got up after sleeping some more, I came in the living room to it being spotless. He said he had the kids pick up their mess and then said they were currently in their own rooms cleaning that too. What??? Really??? So, I got to take a nap uninterrupted and then woke up to a clean house with children cleaning? Did I wake up in the wrong house with the wrong family? Or am I getting my delayed Mother's Day that didn't go as planned? As Jason told me, it's because they love me.

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All of this makes me think of what my mom told me years ago, "write the good things down so that you can look back and remember them for when our husbands upset us". Good advice mom!

Week of Fun with Family

My second week of what I like to call, being a paid stay at home mom, we spend the week visiting my sister and her family in Georgetown. Wait, we did spend all day Monday in our pj's never leaving the house. I don't plan on having many days like that, but I did nothing but house stuff indoors, so why change clothes? :) We went to the library for story time Tuesday mid morning before we headed out for Georgetown.

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Wednesday, my sister in law Jennifer and niece Ryan came to visit us. The kids just played and played so well together!! Every once in awhile you would hear from one of the kids, "Josh, no!", "Joshua, give that back!", or "Joooooooooooossssshhhhhh!!!". Ah, the life of a taunting, devious 2 year old! That evening we went to a splash park and has so much fun! Except for the bees. They were around trash cans and kept going in our drinks and all around us. Kate was NOT a fan of the bees. Sammi was fine, then seeing Kate freak out made her freak out too. Why do kids do that? Anywho, we wore them out which was the goal!

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This picture is of all the cousins...backrow L to R, Sammi, Ryan, Kate. Frontrow L to R, Will, Josh, and Nic. I think this picture turned out great! We tried to get more, but Joshua was done after this one and refused to sit near them and smile.

Thursday we spent all day at home while the kids just played and played. That night my wonderful brother in law Greg watched the kids while Meredith and I went to dinner to my fave Mexcian restaurant, Chuy's. I ate so much that I made myself sick! That is the only food that I will just eat and eat until I can't eat anymore. It's a good thing I don't eat that everyday!

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Friday we went to see my cousin Karen and her family that just moved back to Austin from Ohio. My Aunt Barbara was in town from Colorado to help them unpack. So we got to see a lot of family members we have not seen in awhile, which was so nice. After lunch we headed home. Sammi was not so happy about leaving. I'm glad that she loves her cousins so much!

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The best part about coming home was coming home to a clean house and dinner being cooked by Jason! I about passed out to come home to all of that. Even the bathrooms were cleaned! Then after dinner Jason, get this, hold onto your seats......watched a movie with me! For those of you that know Jason well, you know that he is not a person that sits and watches movies with me. And those of you that know me well know that I LOVE to watch movies. So I almost passed out again when he had a movie ready for us to watch. I think we need to go out of town without him more often if this is what I get to come home to!

Goodbye Pfizer!

Friday was my last day at Pfizer. What a strange day that was. I got hardly any sleep the night before and my stomach was doing gymnastics. Not fun.

Most of the day had people coming by to see me or answering calls from people calling me to say goodbye. Near the end of the day, I went around the office to give hugs and say "see ya later" because I just did not want to say goodbye. I was fine at first, but the more people I talked to, the harder it got. Near the end I was biting my lower lip to keep it from quivering. When it was time to say goodbye to my coworkers and boss, I started to break down. I did NOT want to cry in front of anyone!

I said goodbye to my boss and as the elevator doors closed, I finally let it all go. Then here I was, walking out of the building carrying my last box of things and crying. How cliche was that? I was just hoping that no one saw me like that. Silly, isn't it? Then I called Jason and just boo-hooed. He handled me well, just letting me cry and talk. I got home and found a bouquet of flowers that one of my favorite Regional Managers sent me.

It still feels weird, after almost 11 years knowing that I won't be going back to work there. I truly loved it there, loved my job, loved my company, loved my coworkers and boss. So now I will experiencing my next phase in life: being a stay at home mom for a few months and then working some place new. Jason keeps reminding me that I will make new friends wherever I go, which I know. But it's one thing to choose to leave a company and it's another to be told you are leaving. Not a fun place to be, even when you know the decision to have me go makes sense.

Thank you to all of my incredible friends for being there for me to listen to be cry, yell, and just talk. I am lucky to have you!

Below are some pictures from a going away party my team threw for Danny and I. It was so fun! The first one is of me and Danny. I am going to miss him being my boss!

June Pics

I know I have been behind on posting pics, so here are some of my favorite from June. My camera isn't acting right, so some are foggy looking. I am still searching for the right camera, and YES, I am being picky!

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Two kids in a laundry basket....if Joshua sees a laundry basket, you can bet that he will dump whatever is in it so that he can play with it.

Sammi and her cousin Kate playing with her fairytale playset...don't you just love the attire they are in while they play?

Sammi's school had professional face-painters come to, you guessed it, paint their face! :) You can't tell by this picture, but her face is painted like a horse. She insisted on leaving it on when she went to gymnastics that night. You can imagine the comments she got!
This picture was taken on Mother's Day after Joshua fell and just about bled to death...ok, that is being dramatic, but he bled a lot and scared me! His bandaid is at the top of his forehead, right in the middle.

Yee-Haw!

Dr. Joshua B. Cantrell He loves his doctor kit, especially the glasses. If he has on the stethescope, he will go up to everyone and put it to their chest then his and says "my heart"

Sammi was not thrilled to see Joshua wearing HER sunglasses. As she said, "he is going to break them!" Ah, she knows him well.

Don't you just love his blue mustache?
I hope everyone is enjoying their summer so far!

Isn't Corporate America Great?

Huh, where do I begin with this post?

I would say that pretty much all of my friends and family know how much I love my job, love the people I work with, and have loved Pfizer for the past 10 years. Unfortunately that will all be coming to an end. After weeks of speculation and rumors, I was told that Pfizer is eliminating the recruiting department for our field sales division. Blah. I wasn't shocked, but it is still hard to fully take in that the end of my career at Pfizer is here. It's one thing to choose to leave a company, but it's another to be told you are leaving.

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The reasons for Pfizer to make such a big cut is very clear and makes total sense: we will not be hiring anyone outside the company for at least 2 years. What on earth would I be doing that entire time? Certainly not what I was hired to do. It still sucks, I loved my job and I know I will land on my feet at another great company.

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The plus side to this is that I am getting an amazing severance package. Let's just say that if I choose to not work for a year, I can. Me and my family will keep the amazing benefits for a year. When I say amazing, I mean amazing. It cost us zero dollars to have Joshua. That's right folks, nothing, nada, zilch. When Joshua had his open heart surgery, the total bill was almost $70,000. What did we pay? Just take a guess. $100 bucks is all we had to shell out. And did I mention we pay nothing for our prescriptions? You now get the picture, they are incredible benefits. I have already told myself to not expect that anywhere else.

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My last day is July 18th, then I am paid through September 15th. Not too shabby of a deal....stay home with my kids while I get P-A-I-D. But now I have to decide what to do: start looking and interview for jobs so that I can start working late September or early October so that I can invest my severance pay? Or stay home for awhile? I have been thinking and thinking about that for the past week.

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I have decided that I am going to keep Sammi in preschool part time until she starts Kindergarten on Aug. 25th. They take field trips twice a week that she loves, so I'll keep her doing that. Then after she starts school I will not have her go to daycare before or after school until I start a new job. Keller ISD still has half day Kindergarten. Can you believe that? And I'll keep Joshua in his home care part time so that I don't lose his spot. I just adore the woman that watches him (she watched Sammi too when she was a baby) and don't want to take him out and lose his spot! He is not ready for preschool yet, so I want to keep him there until he is. So at least I have what will happen to the kids figured out! I will truly enjoy being a stay at home mom for awhile. But I am not used to being home so much, so we will see how soon it will be that I am climbing the walls and calling my friends that stay at home to get some tips and ideas. :)

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This past week has also left me feeling nostalgic. Thinking of so many I have formed amazing relationships with, what all the company has allowed for me to do, places I have travelled, things I have learned, etc. When Joshua was recovering from his heart surgery for 6 weeks, my boss allowed for me to work from home that entire time so that I did not have to take unpaid time off. Can you believe that? So generous of him. I love my boss, he is a great person and friend. I was telling another friend just today of all the places I have travelled to with Pfizer. You ready to read my long list? Atlanta, Orlando, Miami, NYC (a kagillion times. and yes, I just made up that word), Boston, Providence, Baltimore, Parsippany, Newark, Charleston, New Orleans, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Chicago, Denver, St. Louis, Scottsdale, Phoenix, Salt Lake City, San Diego, Laguna Beach, Los Angeles, San Jose, Seattle, and the best two saved for last....Honolulu and Cabo San Lucas. I can thank Pfizer for my frequent flier miles and high status with American Airlines!

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Ok I know this has bored many, so I'll close this post. Goodbye Pfizer, thank you for the many great years!

Go Rangers!

Tuesday night we went to the Texas Rangers baseball game with my dad, Jason, and Sammi. We thought we were going to get rained out, but it ended up being breezy and nice! This was the first time for Sammi to see them play and my Dad's first time at the "new" stadium since he moved back to Texas.

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Sammi was so giddy with excitement and that she could wear her Rangers jersey to an actual game. Jason got that for her for Christmas. Most of the game Jason was explaining things to her about the game. It was cute. We left Joshua at home with Jason's dad for obvious reasons! We would have been chasing him up and down the stairs and all over. No thanks!

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I hate this picture of me and my double chin! But at that angle, there was no choice. :(

Aren't we cute? Sammi took this picture. Not bad!

Jason, Sammi, and my dad. He was just as excited as Sammi was. I grew up with him taking me to many Ranger games, but at the old stadium. I have many fond memories of those times!

This picture is of several Golden Knights skydivers from the Army. When they jumped out over the stadium, they were so high up that they were just specks in the sky. No thanks! I'll stay on the ground!

Here some are landing on the field. Several bounced from landing so hard. But it was neat to watch!

Me, my dad , and Sammi

Sammi and my dad playing. She was giving him her mean glare.

Me and my girl. I might be biased, but she is so stinkin' cute!

Jason, the pushover, got Sammi a big foam finger. We had to apologize to the people in front of us a few times from her accidentally hitting them. Oops!

I love this picture of the three of them as we were walking back to the car.