Survived week #1

Well I've been the PIC at Pamida and living in Norton for 1 week now. Work has been busy and a little stressful. Everything moves a little slower with me there since I am still trying to learn the system. I was frustrated, but each day got a little better, and my tech tells me I'm catching on well. I know things will get better; I cant change things over night. I'm so busy with pharmacy things that I don't have time to do any of the cleaning, organizing, or even check my work email. We got the OK to hire a 3rd person, which will help tremendously, but the hardest part is finding the time to get an ad out and setting up interviews! That's my goal for this next week. The days go by fast and I'm usually exhausted when I get home. We've had to stay late, and I've even gone in an hour early some days to get a head start, so my days have been long. I'm meeting a lot of the customers and still really excited about the job. Once I get more comfortable with things it will be great. We've already gained a few more customers. I transferred 7 prescriptions yesterday from the other pharmacy downtown!!

I've been trying to get out in the community. Thursday night the Young Professionals Group was having activities downtown: silent auction, free hot chocolate, dance performances, jumping gym for the kids, etc. and most of the business were open. I went and got information on the Young Professionals Group and plan to go to their next meeting. I think that would be a great organization for me to get involved in. I introduced myself to the other pharmacist downtown since we do a lot of talking on the phone, and I strolled thru the businesses. They have a lot of cute stores.
Friday night I went to the big rival football game Norton vs. Smith Center. Norton prevailed 41-20. Go Bluejays!! Everyone was super excited.
Saturday night I went to the little theatre downtown and saw Walstreet: Money never sleeps. Good movie for those of you wanting to see it. Sounds like they get a lot of good movies there.
They also have a new Mexican Restaurant in town that I've checked out a couple times.

And then there's my poor house. I've realize now just how fortunate I was to always have a nice clean home. When deciding on a place, we wanted something pretty inexpensive and something we could fix up. We thought it would be fun to have a project and see how we could turn a place around. It's something we've never done before. We found an ad in the paper for a house with a huge lot, 3 car garage ( which is very unusual in Norton) new roof, new copper piping, and new AC/furnace. Sounds great! We went to look at it and it happened to be an old school house that they added on to. It is really tall; you would think it was 2 story, but there's only just one. Large kitchen, 3 small bedrooms., family room, and a small unfinished basement. It definitely has character and a lot of potential. It was being rented at the time to a couple guys with 2 big dogs. The carpet was in pretty bad shape, but it was livable. I didn't move much; a bed, clothes, a few kitchen items, and the $40 fridge and microwave Devin snagged at a garage sale the day before we left. When we got here, the house was in worse shape then what we remembered. It smells so bad....kind of like barnyard/dog/urine/old lady. The carpet is very soiled.....I don't even want to walk on in without shoes! We're hoping to rip up the carpet and get started on a few things when Devin comes back in a couple weeks. We're still very excited about the place and know this is just temporary. I'll have to post pictures as we go.
I finally got Internet and cable on Friday!!! I was about to go nuts!! I've spent a lot of time staring at my dogs. At least I have them to keep me company and entertained. I'll probably be making a trip to Clay Center next weekend to do laundry......or I guess I could rinse my clothes out with the hose and hang it on the clothes line. Living like this is pretty comical.......but also sad because I know there are a lot of people in this town that really do live like this. I am very thankful.

On the road.....

I'm pooped. I didn't know traveling took so much out of you! It all began last Friday. I headed down to Hutch for the State Fair and camped in the RV with my folks. It was so hot that we spent most of the time in the AC watching football. I did manage to make a quick sweep of the grounds and found me some traeger pellets and seasonings, a garlic mincer, and a fragrance thingy; along with my kettle corn and turkey leg! We visited with some of Devin's family and then I made the 4 hour drive up to Norton. I worked in my new store Monday and Tuesday, then headed 2 hours north to North Platte, NE for a manager's meeting on Wednesday. I enjoyed the meeting. I learned a little more about Pamida and it's future and brought home ideas to use in my pharmacy. I then drove 5 hours to Clay Center and spent the night with my parents. My friend, John, from Pharmacy School manages the Patterson's Health Care Pharmacy in Abilene and was in desperate need of help on Thursday. I couldn't not help a friend or my hometown pharmacy, so I grabbed a couple nut rolls and headed to Abilene Thursday morning and worked 9 hours, then drove 3 hours back to Olathe. I could barely keep my eyes open! We were supposed to have a garage sale Friday morning. That didn't happen. We were supposed to have a garage sale today. That didn't happen either. I had no energy to get everything together. It's taking all I have to get boxes and totes put together of basic necessities to move to Norton. I'll be heading back to Norton Sunday morning to begin working full-time. I'll be glad to be in one place for awhile!

The New Gig

I will be managing Pamida Pharmacy. I've heard of Pamida, we have one in Clay Center, but I never knew they have pharmacies in some of their stores. Their focus is small town, rural communities. Here are a few things that attracted me to the position: open M-F 9:00am-6:00pm, Saturday 9am-1pm; NO holidays; NO drive-thru; less corporate control and demands....they allow the managers to run the pharmacy like independent pharmacies and provide funding; slow-paced and relaxing atmosphere; paid time off for community service; work with just a hand-full of doctors and nurses; paid for every minute I'm there.....no more donating time, etc. There will be things I will miss about Walgreens; they are the best in retail pharmacy and the computer system is top-notch, but I'm ready for the change. The Norton Pamida has a lot of potential. There hasn't been a full-time pharmacist there in about 2 years, which deters customers from coming. It's a mess and needs cleaned-up and organized. I have a lot of challenges ahead of me. I have 2 days left at Walgreens. I don't think it has really hit me yet. I work a couple days next week in Norton, travel to Nebraska for a manager's meeting, and will begin full-time on the 27th. The next few weeks will be nothing but work, work, work so we're heading to Hutch this weekend to enjoy the fair, family, and crappy food.

The Burning Question Answered

Where am I moving to you ask? Well, it's a small town out west with a population of about 3000-3500. Going from big cities like Phoenix and Kansas City it will definitely be a big change. I'm closer to Denver than KC and just a short drive from Nebraska. Their high school is 3A and they have a very strong athletic department which the community is very involved. They have a newspaper that only comes out once a week on Tuesdays. Our date-night dinner choices will be McDonalds, DQ, Subway, Pizza Hut, Taco Bell, Attitudes Steakhouse and Grill, Adventures in Eating, and Town and Country. There's also a little coffee shop, pub, and chinese restaurant. Starbucks, Mi Ranchito, and nice restaurants are a thing of the past. Living in the bigger cities we had everything at our fingertips. If we needed anything, we went a got it....big or small. Now we will be making lists for our shopping trips to the bigger near-by towns. The closest Wal-Mart is an hour and a half away in Hays, KS or Kearney, NE. It will take some adjusting, but I'm excited for the slower pace......the simple life. No more "keeping up with the Jones's" mentality that's so common here in Johnson County. No more HOA's!!!!! It's the pheasant hunting capital and there is a state park just outside of town so the hunting, fishing, and boating will keep my man happy. With the small town comes the gossip which I'm not too excited about. I'll be under a microscope for awhile being new in town, and the new pharmacy manager no less. There is also a state prison which provides a lot of jobs for the community. I like the little town and would be happy to start a family here. So.....the answer to your question is: Norton, KS

Below is a picture of the street I currently live on. A sign???? or just a coincidence????

Letter

I remember it so clearly.....I was at the Hereford House in Lawrence, KS for a Walgreen's recruitment dinner. The slide show was nice and fancy. The company looked great, the benefits looked great, and I just couldn't think of any reason why this company wouldn't be good for me to begin my pharmacy career. They were the #1 retail pharmacy chain and I could see why. It's hard to believe that was over 6 years ago. I spent over 4 1/2 years with Walgreens in Phoenix and over a year and a half with them here in Olathe. Walgreens is all I know. I was comfortable......but not exactly happy or excited to go to work everyday. The nights and weekends were getting old, and I wasn't happy with all the corporate demands. I knew there were better jobs out there for me, but with the down economy I knew Walgreens was stable, and again, I was comfortable. I get calls from recruiters all the time at work, but I usually just pretend I'm listening to them. It was back in April when I answered the phone. This one was different. "Pharmacy Manager...no nights, weekends, or holidays...sign on package....small town...etc, etc." It must have been music to my ears, because I couldn't stop thinking about it. I went and told Devin and he was very encouraging and said lets check it out! We both went for a quick visit and it was something we both thought would be a good career move for me. I've always wanted to take my career to the next level and manage, but wanted it to be on a smaller scale than Walgreens. This would be perfect. After much negotiation I signed a contract with them in May. I didn't have an exact start date; I wanted to try and sell the house before we made the move. With all the cut-backs due to the poor economy, Walgreens asked us to take some volunteer time off. I, of course, volunteered. I went and worked at my new store instead for a couple weeks and I did not want to come back! It was very different, but so simple and relaxed. We still haven't had any luck selling our house, but I've decided to go ahead and get started. The company has been so patient with me, and I don't want to keep them waiting any longer. Now comes the hard part. The Letter. Telling those that I've worked with for so long that I am leaving. It was hard. I've met some of my greatest friends at Walgreens. Walgreens has been good to me, but it is time to move on. And as I told them in my resignation letter, if it wasn't for working for such a great company and with so many exceptional professionals, I wouldn't have the confidence I do now to take on this new role. So my letter is in. I submitted it on Friday. It felt good. I have 12 days of work left......but who's counting!
To be continued.........

Just Because

My sweetie went to the store last night and came home with these:

He brought me some Twizzlers too! My favorite!! I asked him what he had done (hahaha) and he said nothing......he just wanted to do something nice for me. Awwwwww......

Puppies

The puppies are almost 4 weeks now. They are starting to walk around and talk a lot. They are so cute at this stage.

I just had to show these pictures of Raven. She sleeps in the most awkward positions and it cracks me up! She always looks so peaceful though.