I finally did it.  After 18 years, 11 months, and some odd days, I am no longer a Walgreens employee! A couple months after my sixteenth birthday, I started working at Walgreens, and I never left. 

In high school, I needed the job for gas money (and Aqua Net for my big hair stage).  In college, I stayed on and worked after classes and weekends.  When I started teaching, I worked weekends, school holidays, and summer breaks (don't get me started on teacher pay standards!).  When we moved to Tulsa, I didn't know a soul and needed a reason to leave the house on a regular basis, so I stuck with Walgreens. 

Well, I've squeaked by and was barely on the payroll the last few years (thanks to that 4 weeks paid vacation time a year), but my long Walgreens career is officially over.  I can say that I have been a cashier, cosmetician, photo clerk, pharmacy tech, assistant manager, Hallmark lady, and bookkeeper. 

My longevity was mostly due to emotional ties — I met my husband at Walgreens and have found so many life-long friends there.    It was also like a bad habit I couldn't kick — I just didnt' know how NOT to go work at Wally World on a regular basis.  When I shop, I have to bite my tongue from asking people if they need help finding things.  And often, the employees ask me if I know the answers to random questions while I'm shopping.    

So, now I'm shopping for IRA's and roll-over accounts but can look at the silver lining: I still get an employee discount thanks to my man!

Happy New Year to everyone!!  I am a few days late in my New Year's wishes, but still catching up on life after time off.  I have already begun working on my resolutions for 2009,  which I am sharing below.  I follow the  'keep it simple' method, so I only have two, but they are biggies!

1. Get healthy.
 Not only lose weight, but start eating healthier, working out more, and taking better care of myself.  I've become so much less active the last couple years due to working more (on my butt in front of a computer mostly) and spending hours a day in the car doing kid pick ups and drop offs.  So, less eating on the go, more veggies, and less Sugar Free Red-Bull (which will save my a lecture every time Big B sees the can, because thanks to Red Ribbon Drug-Free week at school, my son thinks I'm on drugs as Red Bull is a harmful stimulant according to my man). 

2. Make my Mommy minutes shorter.
As in telling the kids, "Give me a minute," or "I'll be there in five minutes" and taking advantage of them having no concept of time.   I realized how much I said that when Miss J started saying, "two minutes, mommy" every time I ask her to do something! Hopefully our household will be happier and I will feel better.