Updates on "life"

Boy has life taken some strange/cool/fabulous twists and turns for our little family lately. Seems like there's never a dull moment around here, and it just keeps getting better. Here's a little round-up of the craziness:

1. As I mentioned a few posts ago I finally finished school and will be graduating in June. Finally. The free time that this has now given me, as well as the weight of it off my shoulders, can't be described. I'm loving every minute of it and look forward to doing all of the things that I have put off for the past 7 years due to time constraints. YAY!

2. Our Walt Disney World trip is just 10 days away. I can't believe how fast the time has gone. None of us has ever been and we are all soooo excited for it. My mom will be joining us on this 8 day adventure and I'm sure I'll have lots and lots of pictures to share when we get back.

3. About 5 weeks ago Ron and I decided to get our basement finished. We hired a contractor to do it and for the past few weeks have had people in and out of the house on a daily basis doing construction (and making a HUGE mess everywhere. UGH.) It is now about 95% finished and looks great. The kids love their new toy room and I have a new craft room to play in too. Of course I took before and after shots so look for a post about that soon.

4. I've worked in the Pharmaceutical industry for the past 11 years and have been at my current company (Wyeth) for over 6 years. A year and 5 months ago we were bought by a much bigger company (Pfizer) who started doing waves of layoffs right away. About 20,000 people to be precise. I was told long ago that I wouldn't be retained at the new company but was never given a layoff date. For the past 17 months I've gone to work wondering if today would be the day I would be let go. Well.....last Wednesday was finally the day. I was told that my last day would be July 2nd and that I didn't have to come into the office anymore. I can't begin to explain the feeling that I had as I was walking out of the building that day. Joy. Happiness. Big sigh of relief. The end of a trying year and the beginning of a new life for me. I'm now a stay-at-home-mom, something I never thought I would ever get to be. I've been given the gift of spending the summer with my 2 beautiful children instead of sending them to summer camp and wishing I was with them. I feel less stress now than I think I have ever felt in my entire life. Finances will be tight, but we'll make it work. THANK YOU PFIZER!

5. The girls and I have a really exciting trip planned in late July/early August (unfortunately Ron couldn't get off from work so he can't go with us). First we're flying to Las Vegas to visit my mom for a few days, then my mom is flying with us to Seattle to visit my brother for a few days! It promises to be a trip full of memories for the girls and I. My mom has a few surprises up her sleeve for our time in Vegas (word has it that we'll be seeing the Lion King musical at the Mandalay Bay casino while we're there....shhhhh....the girls don't know about it!) My brother also has some fun things planned for us, I really can't wait to go!!!

So, there's a round-up of all the new and exciting things going on at the Chrupcala house. What's new with you?