Longest break ever!

How the hell do I come back after 3 months of not blogging?   JC.  I don't even know where to start.  It was a busy / hellish / long 3 months.  I feel like I should do a separate post for each kid.  So I will because this is my blog and I can.

Okay, let's get this party started.......I had my surgery on July 25th.  It was the worst pain I've ever felt in my entire life.  I was so ashamed of myself, I can't even lie.  I've had surgeries........(here's the TMI but this is my blog and you'll just have to flipping deal with it HA!) two separate breast surgeries to remove 5 tumors, 3 children (one where the epidural never kicked in), a needle biopsy they had to do 3 times to get what they needed and a partial hysterectomy that couldn't be done laproscopically so I have a full on 6in c-section scar.  Plus one other surgery that I really won't make you hear about b/c it's even too TMI for me.   I was so NOT prepared for the amount of pain I got from an effing KNEE.   RUKIDDING ME?!  I felt like the damn thing had been amputated.  It was ridiculous.  Then there was the humiliation.  I couldn't even go to the bathroom without getting help because I couldn't get out of bed.  It was horrible.  Talk about humbling.  I never want to go through anything like that again.   It's still not over.  Three months later and I'm just starting to go up / down stairs the regular way, I'm in Physical Therapy 2x a week and I'm still not able to do a lot of things that I absolutely took for granted.  I will get random sharp, shooting pains through my kneecap, a burning sensation through my scar and my knee will lock up and then release with a huge POP sound that other people can hear.  But, I keep reminding myself that I am ONLY three months out from surgery.  PT and my surgeon keep telling me how amazed they are with my progress, how they see some people that still can't even bend their knee all the way like I am more than capable of doing at this point.  Yesterday I wore my first pair of heels since JUNE!   Now that, my friends, was a major milestone for me.  I am a HUGE fan of heels.  Not wearing them for the past four months has almost killed me.  (yes, dramatic, I admit but again, this is my blog)  I wasn't able to wear my absolute favorite pair of wedges all summer and I wanted to cry.  But, drama aside, I made it through.   Now we're into fall which brings dresses and knee high boots.  So, like I said, yesterday I put on my first pair of heels.  I had PT and an ortho check up and they were both happy and impressed to see I was pulling off the boots so progress is progress and I'll just keep swimming!

Work.  Well, this has been a banner month.  I found out that my entire team is being packed up and shipped to Geneva.  You might say YAY!  That's amazing, what a great life experience!!  I would absolutely, 100% agree with you.  (and hell yes, we would have moved!!)  IF I were eligible to go.  But, alas, I am too far down on that totem pole to be considered to relo.   So, I'm stuck with no job.  Displaced as they say.  But, on the upside, I was told that I am "top rated" and they will not let top rated people leave.  So, it looks like I will get *some* kind of job.  Just not sure what that will be.   I'm VERY realistic though and I'm 99% sure it's going to be a demotion b/c there just aren't any EA positions open on our campus.  That's just the reality.  Reality sucks b/c I've been there for 14 years and it took me all that time to get to EA.   However, I won't give up and when an EA role does open, I'll go for it.  As long as I land on my feet then that's all that matters, right?  Starting over somewhere else after all this time would be my nightmare.

Home.  Kids are awesome.  Absolute lights of my life and my reason for being.  Like I said, I'm going to post separately about them b/c they have so much going on.  They keep me going every single day.  John and I are having growing pains right now.  I don't know how else to put it.  We've been really lucky the last 13 years b/c we've never had any real issues.  That's a blessing.  No marriage is perfect, including ours, that is 100% true.  Everyone has their issues, including us.  But we've never had any real issues.  I guess now it's our turn?  I don't know.  That's all I'm really going to say about that though b/c even though this is my blog I'm still not one to blast my business all over the place.  Everything happens for a reason and I'm confident that no matter what everything will work out however it's supposed to.  

Friends/Life.  Surgery was a real eye opener for me.  I had people checking in on me every.single.day that I didn't expect it from and people that I thought for sure I would hear from never checked in.  Now I am NOT a drama queen at all, not in the least. I don't expect ANYONE to stop for me.  EVER.  That's just not how I live at all and anyone who knows me, knows this.  If we make plans and you need to canx last min, shit happens honey, it's okay.  And I won't hold a grudge!  Now I know I did not have heart surgery, I had knee surgery.   But I still had surgery.   A text message, a FB note, a phone call, vm, anything would have been appropriate.  I"m  not looking for your undivided attention.  Hell no and I would have hated it.   But just a simple checking on you would have been okay.  I was shocked when I didn't hear anything at all from some.  But then random coworkers that I NEVER expected to hear from were texting me!  WHAT?!   I got flowers from people I never would have expected them from.  It was like some crazy, upside down/backwards day.   But, it is what it is.  You learn things, you take them in and you move on.   That's just all you can do.  I've made some new friends and had some new connections that have amazed me.   Like instant, soulmate type stuff which is crazy to me.  We went to a football fundraiser a couple of months ago and I randomly made a comment to this woman that was standing next to me and now we're hanging out with her, her husband and their kids multiple times a month.  We have SO much in common with them - instant click.  The funniest part - their kids weren't even playing football.  They just went to the fundraiser b/c friends of theirs told them they should go b/c it would be fun.  How crazy is that?  See, everything happens for a reason.  

So, I guess that's my update in a very long rant.  The gist of it anyway.  There's always more but who has time for that ish?   ;-)

Day 7

What's Your Dream Job?

Oh boy.  This is a tough one!

When I was growing up, it was Cosmetologist.  Um, does anyone even use that term anymore?!  Now it's hairstylist, aesthetician, etc.  I was sure I'd grow up and be doing people's hair.  I wanted to cut hair, I wanted to give facials.  All of it.  Now I'm not sure I could do it.  Unless I owned my own place.  Then I could keep my own hours, make my own money.  Maybe then I could pull it off.  But that's a lot.

Then it switched to Event Planner.  I would LOVE to spend my time planning weddings, parties, that sort of thing.  I love doing that and I have fun getting it done!  I planned my wedding and then two years later I planned one of my good friends' weddings because she lived out of state.  I went to the venue and did all of the planning, planned it.  Then I helped plan my guy bf's (first) wedding too.  I loved it!  Even now.  Just doing my kids birthday parties - I tend to go a little overboard with the themes and such.  Thankyouverymuch Pinterest for turning me into "that" Mom when it comes to my kids birthday parties.  LOL.

Now.........I would love to be a stay at home Mom who gets to volunteer.  But, I'd have to be independently wealthy for that to happen so it's a pipe dream.  For sure.  It's never going to happen. 

I'm pretty happy with what I do now though.  I'm an Executive Assistant four days a week to the Vice President of Global Female Shave Care.  Sounds super important right?   It's not.  It's a day job like everyone else LOL.  BUT.  My boss is super nice.  She's the nicest boss I've ever worked for.   My colleagues are wonderful.  My team treats me well.  For the most part.   My co-workers, the other girls that do the same thing that I do are great.  Sure there is the typical office crap that tends to be everywhere you go, there is no escaping that, but for the most part I am really happy here.  I'm lucky enough to work four days and have three days at home.  Not many people can say that.  Most days I'm happy here and not many people can say that either.  So, while I may not have my dream job, I'm pretty damn happy with the one I've got!

Training days

So I've been MIA because I've been in an Admin training class. I'll be in there in a couple of hours again today. The class doesn't start until 9am......I wish I could just come in when it started. Wouldn't that be nice?!

I was apprehensive about doing this training. I hate being away from my work desk because I always have so much going on. That's not me being all uppity about my job - that's just the way it is. But I love it and wouldn't have it any other way. If I'm going to be here for 10 hours a day I'd damn well better be busy. If I'm not, I'm asking for more work because I'd rather be swamped than sitting here twiddling my thumbs.

However. This class is actually pretty good! I can't fully explain the scope of my "office" here. It's not your typical place. I work for Procter & Gamble and our offices are at the Gillette World Shaving Headquarters. Once P&G bought Gillette we moved here. (yay, working back in Boston. Loving the frigging commute. yay.) So, this place is very unique because there are so many different facets. I know I'm not even going to cover them all but we have the plant where the manufacturing (of a few product lines) goes on, we have the Sales section (most are located out of their homes and do not have actual office space here) we have research and development, marketing, finance, legal, purchasing and on and on. There are multiple "buildings" to our offices. For instance, I'm in "K" building while many people are over in "G" building. Confused yet?

So, the class. I am really loving it. I am meeting and interacting with people that I normally would never interact with. I recognize a lot of the faces from the cafeteria or walking from building to building but I would never be able to sit and have a conversation. One of them is Executive Administrator to a big wig and wants to go get drinks sometime because we live in neighboring towns. She seems really nice and right up my alley so I said hell yeah.

It's funny to see just how different the job "administrator" is around here. People have NO idea what I do. Just because we are all tagged as administrators doesn't mean we do any of the same things. We definitely do not. I guess that's why I shudder when people ask me what exactly it is that I do at P&G. It's so hard to explain! I am an administrator. I am not a secretary. There most definitely is a difference. I do have to do travel for my immediate manager but I do not take her phone calls. I do plan meetings on a small scale, for say 8 people and then on a large scale, planning our year end meeting for 63 attendees, soup to nuts. I love it. But I also do analytical work. I run reports and compile spreadsheets on how our products are doing compared to our competitors. I do powerpoint presentations that are taken in to a customer to try and get our products on their shelves. I'm putting this in "laymans" terms. My work is more complex than that and there is much more that I do but this will kind of okay, not really give you a general idea.

So, one more day of training. One more day of interaction. One more day of networking with counterparts and I am really looking forward to it. I think this is going to turn into a more regular thing with the Boston Administrators and I'm really hoping it does. I think I would enjoy that very much. Life is good!