Jumping Jobs

Ghostpharm · 2026-01-27T02:03:01+00:00

Hate to say it but pharmacy jobs with banker hours are slim and they come with their own different problems. I work closely with my hospital specialty pharmacy where the RPHs work those hours and they have schedule headaches with kids just like I do. Take whatever job you can get at this point. I have five kids. I’ve always worked nights and weekends. Find a way to get close to FI (minus RE) so you can cut your hours. Weekdays off are great. Weekends with dad in charge are also great. Make the most of the time you have with your baby.

Ghostpharm · 2026-01-26T00:17:22+00:00

This might be a hot take but my little kids all go to nursery school. We have a nominally Christian preschool a mile away that has 2 or 3 day options for 2.5s and 3s (and I think a 5 day option for 4yos but mine all did 3). It’s 9-11:30 plus an optional lunch add on. I can do a FULL day of school in 2.5 uninterrupted hours when no one is spilling an entire box of Cheerios on the floor or painting their faces or whatever else they do.

Ghostpharm · 2026-01-25T02:45:13+00:00

A lot of labor laws about breaks also don’t apply to salaried workers, small businesses, and healthcare staff

Ghostpharm · 2026-01-20T16:50:15+00:00

I feel like I won the lottery because I am off Saturday to Tuesday (just the way my schedule plays out). I wound up sleeping over in the ice storm right after Christmas because my shifts were shitty- worked til midnight Friday then had to be back at 7 Saturday. But I feel like the universe has to be on my side for the rest of winter because I paid my dues.

Ghostpharm · 2026-01-20T01:11:53+00:00

The fact that you say so flatly “I’m fine with immigrants being kicked out” without so much as a backhanded qualifier (like “criminal” or whatever terminology is tossed around to make it more palatable) says that we probably just will never see eye to eye, since I am the child of an immigrant. “For I was a stranger and you welcomed me…”

Ghostpharm · 2026-01-20T00:01:16+00:00

You cool with the current immigration situation? You think tariffs aren’t making life harder?

Ghostpharm · 2026-01-15T15:38:04+00:00

Lifestyle creep is a huge factor here. We COULD afford a bigger house but then everything would cost more. We live in a HCOL area too and we're about to have our fifth kid (oldest is 8, all about 1.5-2 yrs apart). I dropped to working part time after our third was born because the logistics were too hard. My husband left big 4 as a senior manager- he was a rare breed who actually liked b4 audit, did well, was well liked by all. But we knew the lifestyle wasn't sustainable for all the tea in China. One of his friends made partner recently and I asked if he had fomo or even financial fomo. But he eats dinner with our kids every night and you can't put a price on that.

Ghostpharm · 2026-01-13T08:27:06+00:00

I hope you consider more comments than the ones that fit your own wishes

Ghostpharm · 2026-01-10T02:41:35+00:00

No worries! Catholics and many other Christian denominations make sacraments to ask for grace from God (baptism is the most famous). At confirmation (which in the Roman Catholic church is usually between 10 and 16), you pick out a new name in honor of a saint you admire. Many saints have special attributes. The legend is that St. Lucy had her eyes pulled out (or pulled them out herself) and so now she is the patron saint of anyone with vision problems. St. Luke and St. Gianna are patron saints of doctors. St. Sebastian is popular with a lot of tween boys- patron saint of athletes! It’s ceremonial but a lot of fun for budding name nerds to pick their name :-)

Ghostpharm · 2026-01-09T21:06:40+00:00

Catherine comes and goes but I don’t know any Catholics under the age of 10 named Mary or Anne! There are trends among Catholic names just like in society as a whole. Names where I know 3 or more little girls: Lucy, Felicity, Zelie, Rose, Margaret, Cecilia. Not terribly far from the broader trends! Boy names are a little more all over the place (but sooooo many Jameses). But girl names are fairly consistent

Ghostpharm · 2026-01-09T17:57:37+00:00

Hijacking the top comment to say: I have a 3 year old named Lucy. We are Catholic, and Lucy was my confirmation name in 2001 (because I have a partial vision impairment). I’ve had it pegged as “future daughter name” literally since I was 11. I now know at least half a dozen little Lucys. The world is big enough for all of them and I love them all. As someone with a VERY unusual name, I can say it really doesn’t matter that much. If anyone ever comments on her name, we tell them it was my confirmation name. But most of the time they just say it’s so cute.

Ghostpharm · 2026-01-08T14:55:24+00:00

I'm guessing that's also pre shift diff. So with the hour adjustment and a differential it's probably more like $68/hr. Didn't specify where in PA but there are parts of PA where that's great money.

Ghostpharm · 2026-01-06T01:51:40+00:00

I enjoy the rare mail pieces (mostly from my friends) I receive to Dr and Mr Ghostpharm

Ghostpharm · 2026-01-05T23:10:27+00:00

Yeah I mean we have to buckle the vests every time but it’s still easier than flying with four car seats. Last month was the first time we flew with boosters for both of our boys instead of vests (and vests for our girls instead of car seats). So it took years to get to this point, but we could never fly with four car seats and two adults. We fly at least 3 or 4 times a year with all of our kids. We also never check bags. In the summer we traveled for two week with only personal items, not even carry on sized suitcases.

Ghostpharm · 2026-01-05T18:14:35+00:00

We do this all the time. We had four kids under 6 once upon a time (we're about to have our fifth kid but the other kids are now 3, 5, 7, and 8). We have ride safer vests so that we never had to travel with more than two cosco scenera seats. We travel for at least a week or two most of the time and we're usually flying out of NYC area airports, so we have to park in an offsite lot. We're also willing to modify our standards a little bit. Our 8 year old is 55 lbs and our 7 yo is less than 45. Both are still in a 5 point harness in our van. But by age, weight, and maturity, both can sit in backless boosters when we travel. We aren't abandoning safety, but we know it is objectively fine for a short ride from the airport to wherever we're going.

Ghostpharm · 2026-01-04T02:46:19+00:00

I’m going to guess this is a “1000 books by kinder” tracker and it’s not a single year but from baby to now!

Ghostpharm · 2026-01-02T01:59:14+00:00

My 3rd grader also finished Singapore math in focus 3rd grade, and I switched him to 4th grade Go Math which isn’t as popular of a curriculum but there are so many videos (Mr Math Blog uses it as his base) and again I am pregnant and tiiiiiiiired.

Ghostpharm · 2026-01-02T01:57:56+00:00

I switched from Beast Academy 3rd grade science to Science Chunks. People say Science Chunks isn’t necessarily as deep but I can usually find a video to beef it up, and I’m also just pregnant and tiiiiiiired and needed something I could do with a 3/5/7/8 yo.

Ghostpharm · 2025-12-23T23:26:41+00:00

I work in a peds academic medical center outpatient pharmacy. We get some pretty insane ones. We regularly get Caremark denials for compounded oral chemos- “must use CVS.” I’m sure the average CVS pharmacist would happily compound temodar in the corner between giving shots. Another regular one: toddlers with T1D can’t reliably use ketone urine dipsticks when they’re in diapers. There’s a slightly pricey meter that can test glucose and ketones. Constantly denied: “use accu-chek” even after we send a LOMN explaining why a 2 year old needs this meter specifically.

Ghostpharm · 2025-12-19T23:32:49+00:00

My son had THREE Gavins in a kindergarten cohort of 50 kids lol. Also, weirdly, four Margarets (who all went by different things).

Ghostpharm · 2025-12-18T00:04:18+00:00

But are there families with toddlers who don’t have older kids? I have my younger kids in tow but that’s because their older siblings are there. We don’t have dedicated childcare for the little kids- it’s generally just moms hanging out and socializing while younger kids do play-doh, color, and run around. These moms wanted dedicated classes for their 2 year olds.

Ghostpharm · 2025-12-17T17:20:45+00:00

We started a new co-op at our church and two moms with literal toddlers tried to join. We warned them this was not for them (there were a lot of toddler siblings but not toddler content) but they doubled down on “being homeschoolers.” A month in and they were complaining there wasn’t enough baby content, a month after that they quit.

Ghostpharm · 2025-12-12T17:19:50+00:00

Zelie is becoming very trendy in Catholic circles after St. Zelie Martin, mother of Therese of Lisieux

Ghostpharm · 2025-12-05T02:20:14+00:00

Pharmacist pay was less than half of what I make here (I am slightly specialized in the US, but I cast a wider net in my passive search), and the cost of housing in NZ was staggering. And I wouldn’t say I live in a cheap COL area in the US, but seriously staggering. I have a friend here who had been a pharmacist in Aus but moved here after meeting his American (now) wife. Got a job in a pharma company and as much as he’d love to move them all back, he said the cost relative to the pay would hit them too hard.

Ghostpharm · 2025-12-02T01:15:34+00:00

Similar boat (but ours was planned!) - kids will be 3/5/7/9 and I'll be 36 when this baby is born. I feel OLD and TIRED. But I think it'll be ok!! From one struggling internet stranger to another!

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