A Jewel of Thought

So I must not have too many Jewels of Thought since I haven't been writing. Life is pretty normal at the moment. As far as my job goes, I'm back on cruise mode of regular payroll stuff. Every now and again I get weird W2 questions or requests to resend it, but those are not hard to deal with and should stop by the 15th. In September I get an increase in work load since a coworker is going to be having a baby. I'm excited that I get to do some of my old jobs like bank reconciliation. Ok so I'm weird, I really enjoy doing that. There is just a joy I get when everything matches up or you solve the problem of why they don't match up. I will probably do some new things too that she will train me before she leaves. I will probably go into the office more just to get things done quicker so I will have to figure out what to do with Josh. Most of the time, I'm sure GM will take him, but depending on how often I need/want to go in I might have someone in either Gardner or Lawrence look after him. My boss said I could do most at home, but then I feel bad for Josh if I'm not giving him time.

In Josh news, he will be graduating infant toddlers when he turns 3. We will miss the weekly visits of Mrs. Nadene. He has made so much progress and I have learned a lot on techniques I can use to help him. He communicates his wants and needs very well now. We are working on expanding his vocab now. His articulation could be better, but that will come as he learns more words and I understand him and that is all the counts at the moment. In May, Josh will be going to Madison elementary 2 times a week to work on his speech and he may qualify later for more of a preschool environment. He is growing up so quickly. I am so proud of him.

In Jen news, I just had a Bday. Celebrated by eating Chipotle and making a cake with Josh. Both were yummy. I got an IPod case and I don't know the name of it, but a media center type hard drive device so that we can digitally put our movies on it and scroll to the one we want to watch. I'm excited. It will be so nice, especially with Josh's shows. They are getting so scratched up that some of them we can't watch any more. I had a nice relaxing Bday. Things I'm looking forward to...fence, vacation in Aug to UT, family reunion at my brother's new house, 4th of July, Josh going to school, Josh's 3rd Bday, 3rd book in Hunger Games Series

Procrastination & Family Update

So the boy is asleep and I have a lot of work that I have to get done before Tuesday & I am not motivated to do anything. I just want to curl up in my bed and watch a good chick flick. Instead I'm surfing the net and updating my blog. I'm jealous of everyone elses blogs & I want mine to look cute too. I guess by being on the computer, I'm close to my work. I will be so glad when Jan 31st hits. Q4 reports will be done & W2s will be out the door and I can almost return to work 30 hours a month (almost because I will still have annual reports due by end of Feb). Then I can relax and focus on my dirty house.

Other family news...FHE on Monday will consist of going to a townhall meeting and protesting a rezoning of the land 2 or 3 house plots of land away from us. Prieb who owns the land wants to rezone it from single family homes to apartments. We were leagally suppose to be notified, but we weren't. Our neighbor went door to door letting our neighborhood all know. She is one of the only ones that got contacted (it's right next door to her). So we have all banded together and since there is not very many of us we also are letting the near by neighborhoods know. I hope we win. Only time will tell. That is going to suck big time if it passes.

Jason also just got told that the big project he was working on at B&V is being shut down so he could loose his job or get relocated to another section in B&V (out of nuclear division to another division). Hopefully the later. They do see value in Jason (he has received a couple of raises that aren't the normal inflation one & in his last review he recieved the highest rating you can get & not very many people get that one) so I'm quite confident they will keep him.

Stuck in the Daily Poo

WARNING: lots of complaining ahead.....I feel sluggish and tired and stuck in the daily rut. I don't know what it is or how to get out of it. Yesterday was a full day of work & Josh. Most of work I got done the night before, but there was an extra thing they asked me to do...I did...then they didn't want it done...already submitted to the bank...it's kind of hard to undo after that even though I tried. I feel bad, although I shouldn't...they really should make up their minds...anyway that was hard to balance because it was after nap time...thank you Wall-E(Josh really liked the 1st 40 min of that show) and Ginger for help. Now lets talk about before nap time...for the past couple of days Josh will only drink milk & eat fruit = yucky slimey poo = messy all over pants...I ended up changing him in the bath tub after trying to take off his pants & getting it all over his legs & feet. After a good rinse under the facet, I scrubbed him down well. Now lets warp to later...Jason is home...dinner time. Josh will not taste anything. He needs to eat something. I don't want to go through another poo mess. We end up force feeding him some mashed potatoes. I just wanted him to taste some. He could reject later after he tried it. Well he showed us. He wouldn't swallow & then he started gagging on it until he vomited the contents of his stomach all over himself. Wonderful day. So here I am...work at the moment is not fulfilling/fun...not to mention I starting to worry about W2/end of the year returns that I have to do. I'm such a worry wart. At home Josh likes to see how far he can go with my patients. Plus the doctor has me half way worried that he is not talking yet...Although I'm not so sure I like my new doctor. And finally Jason is never home...work, thesis, gym, & seminary seems to be his life at the moment. So the next question how do I get out of this rut...Christmas music, a good house cleaning, or a day off...I don't know maybe I will try all 3.

Catching Up

So I've been busy for awhile. Here is the update on my so called life.



Work-Things have been going great. I've spent a little more time then I would like, but I'm having to do some clean up to get back on track. Not to mention I had to do 3rd Quarter reports for all of the states that EMR has employees in...which is a lot.



Family-We are pumped about preparedness & food storage again & want to start collecting & preparing. Josh is getting big. He is going to be a dragon for Halloween this year. I had to go on a shopping spree the other day to get him warm clothes that fit. Jason is still doing seminary. I help out every onece & awhile.



Fun Things in Life-My car broke down at Walmart. Mom had to come rescue Josh & I. With Josh screaming in the car while we transfered groceries & tried jumping the car. 2 different guys came and helped us with the car. The first guy actually helped us jump the car. After that I was going to call a tow truck adn the second guy came back & tried to help so I let him try to tightening things which didn't help...verdict is in this morning from the mechanics...its the starter. My car the money eater.

First Day on The Job

Well today is my first official day of work and I really can't work. My computer (company computer) won't talk to the network properly. The IT guy thinks it is something to do with the wireless router because they have had problems with that in the past and considering Jason hooked it up without the router & it worked I believe he is right. The only problem is I can't work from where it manually plugs in...that's why we have wireless. I guess we have to change the IP address somehow. Our FHE last night was Jason drawing a picture & explaining how IP addresses work and how it is like a telephone number and each of the computers are like extentions. Jason still didn't understand what exactly had to be changed so hopefully the email the IT guy sent back will help him tonight so I can access what I need. In the meantime Ginger will still be doing payroll for this time around since I'm not up to speed yet. So this morning I went to the library and tried to go shopping for a baby shower gift...Josh wasn't in the mood so I bought nothing and I still have to go back to get something. I just can't pick out something cute when he is screaming. We also looked at halloween costumes...I was thinking a pumpkin but I don't know. None of the costumes jumped out as cute! Buy me! So in summary I accomplished nothing today besides driving around and emailing people.

Back in the Saddle Again

So I'm working again. Thursday I went out to Lawrence for my drug screen & signed all the forms that I need. I am now an employee of EMR, Inc after working with/for them through other companies for 4.5 years. It was fun to see everyone again. There are a couple of people who are no longer there that I miss, but it was still good see everyone else. Beverly seems to be enjoying my old office since it is in the "accounting wing" and everyone was happy to see me back. I now have most everything I need to process the payroll this coming week. It will be a little rocky this first go around. I have my computer..laptop which I requested so if I come into the office I can use my own computer...but they didn't have a mouse for it & the touch pad is driving me insane and they still need to finish setting up my microsoft applications & give me a log in for the accounting program. Other than that I can pick up where I left off, but I can do it from the comfy chair of my own home. Just for the icing on the cake. After this payroll....I get to do the quarterly reports!!! Yea! That will actually be good so that I can get it back to how I like it organized. Anyway I am pumped. I hope it doesn't add extra stress to our lives. I hope it gives me the extra flare and drive that I seem to be lacking lately.

Baby Steps

In Josh news, we have been walking him back and forth between Jason & I. He can basically walk across our living room with no problems just as long as he is walking towards someone he loves. He is so cute. Sometimes on his way to dad he will fall down and he will crawl back to me start again...redo. Sometimes he also gets distracted by the sippy cup on the couch or the cookie on the floor that he looses site of his goal mom/dad and he veers off course to the object (which we encourage of course just as long as after his break, he continues practicing). So he can walk end of story...but if you try to walk with him and wiggle your finger out of his strong grip, then he plops down and gets mad at you. He just likes to hold hands.

In other Josh news, he is practicing to be an Olympic diver. I gave him a 8.3 on his last dive into the bath tub. He scored high because he did it with a smile and a little laughter, but there were some deductions because he missed the rubber ducky and he was still wearing his shirt and diaper...he got away from me while I was getting him ready to hop in the bath.

News on the home front. We have successfully completed one week of seminary or should I say Jason has. I'm still struggling with waking up early, but that has been a life long struggle. I cooked pancakes for everyone this morning. That was fun. I also got a call from work. They want me to do payroll again...I could work from home. There are pros & cons floating around in my head, but I think I'm going to do it...am I crazy? I enjoy the association with people at work, I enjoy keeping up on my skills, and the extra money would be fun money...fence, TV, computer, new car fund, food storage...ok they are all fun. This would be the only time I could do it...once child 2 comes along, I wouldn't have time. I know it sounds a little selfish but I do miss working.

Closing a Chapter

So yesterday was hard on me. I closed a chapter in my life. The day started out crazy. Jason left for work with the boy to drop off. I was going to finish getting ready for work...makeup & breakfast but then I realized that there was a diaper bag on the table. So I basically packed up and left since I had to go the opposite direction to drop off the diaper bag. I was an hour late to work. At work, I tried to get everything done and I of course didn't, but I guess that is someone else's job now. I organized my desk so that someone else could hopefully pick up where I left off. I just know it won't get done though since the client is in the midst of taking their accounting back in house...they gave their notice last Friday...and my coworkers/boss barely have time to do their jobs. Oh well not my job now. So I was the last one to leave the office today and I was packing all my personal belongings and it hit me and I started crying. Getting this job was a trial for me and an answer to a prayer. I have met wonderful people who have touched my life that I may never see again. I probably won't work again until my children are grown and maybe not even after that. Looking back at the path I have gone down and how much I have grown because of this job and all the good memories just makes me want to cry and smile at the same time. It was hard taking off my name plate on my door. I remember that I started in a storage room where people didn't even know I was there unless they were filing something. I then moved to a cubicle, then to a better cubicle, and then to an office with my name on the door. Well I guess I'm now moving home and you can't get better than that. Josh's favorite book at the moment is Goodnight Moon. So I will end this post with...Goodnight Neosystems, Goodnight EMR, Goodnight work, Goodnight commuting in the Car. Goodnight taxes. Goodnight faxes and Good night all my wonderful coworkers and friends.

Roof

So I slacked a little today and started playing WOW (World of Warcraft) again while Josh was sleeping in the morning. I hear this thud while playing and thought they were working on the houses next to ours. So I looked out the window out back and no one is there. I hear another thud and it sounds like it is coming from Josh's room. Fear struck me and I thought that he had pulled himself up & out of his crib & had fallen out. I rushed to his room to find a peaceful baby in bed & I hear another thud...It's on my roof. I looked out the window & saw some guys and a truck. Yea they are fixing our roof again! I didn't even have to call this time. That was on my list of things to do today. Hopefully it will be the last time the have to fix our roof. I swear our house is situated in a wind tunnel sometimes. I did get to explore Gardner a little bit. Josh & I went walking on a trail and found a cool park to go swing at. This other little boy kept staring at Josh and then he told his mom that Josh wasn't wearing pants and that he was in his underwear. I about died laughing. Josh was wearing shorts. I have enjoyed my 2 days of mommyhood. I will be going back to work on Friday, but that should be my last day. :) Yea!!

One Month and Counting

I did it. With mixed emotions, the clock is now ticking down to full time mommyhood...May 15th. Here I come Josh. You will have my full attention.

ROCK CHALK JAYHAWKS!!!! What a nail biter on Monday night, but we made it through and we are the champions!!!!

Rock Chalk Jayhawk KU!!!

So we beat good old Roy and his boys or in other words we beat North Carolina. It was a good game to watch too! Now we are on to the final match up against Memphis. I watched the game in Lawrence at Erin's house and I made it home safely. KU fans are driving around like lunatics, half drunk, honking horns, and lighting off fireworks. Mass Street is just a hoard of people. (I saw it on the news). Jason is not home yet. I wonder if he will get home before he turns into a pumpkin. After priesthood he went over to Tate's house to watch the 2nd half and now they are watching the 1st half. Maybe it's a guy thing. If I watch the 2nd half & knew the outcome, I wouldn't go back and watch the 1st half. The excitement just wouldn't be there. I figure I would let Jason stay out late and have some fun since he had to watch Andrew & Josh today. I was suppose to watch Andrew, but I had to go into work & work. I worked 40 hours from Tue-Sat. and I feel more behind then ever. Can I just say close the freaking period. I can't do my job very well and not stress out about it until we do. I hate waiting last minute to do everything. I keep missing things and having to go back and fix them. I broke down and shut my door and cried at work on Friday because I was very hormonal and stressed out. Then I scooped myself off the pitty party and went back to work. I kept looking at Josh's picture on my computer and told him I was coming home. Stay at home mom is probably coming a lot faster then I was calculating originally. If we hadn't lost my old boss I would probably continue to work until child number 2, but I don't think it is worth it anymore because I don't enjoy it anymore. so I got off on a not so happy tangent...After work I went out to eat with Erin & Liz. It was fun but the service was slow. We ate at IHOP. How hard is it to cook a pancake. Anyway that's the low down on my Saturday.

In other news, we had real strong winds on Monday. Strong enough for us to watch the sides of the top floor of the house across the street collapse. (they were in the process of building it). Later that night Jason was like we forgot to put the trash out. I just laughed. It would have blown away if we had. We lost a handful of shingles. I have called the roofing guys, but they haven't come out yet. I also called the gutter guys to fix 2 gutters (too long...the final grading & sod are covering them) and they haven't come yet. They better come this week or else I'm calling the builder. On an up note I am getting couches on Monday! Yea! Only a month & half later. They will be here just in time for the Jayhawks to play Memphis.

And for all of you who are wondering what I did for my Bday. I went to work. Yea! Jason & I did go out for steak for dinner and Liz watched the boy for us so I wouldn't have to juggle enjoying myself and making him happey. I did make my traditional cake (yellow cake, chocolate frosting & the round sprinkles, yum!) We have been eating it all week.

Movin is So Much Fun!

So we are moved but not unpacked. I hate living out of boxes but I have just been so tired. We had a lot of people helping us move. Elders Quorums are great. It has been nice that Josh spent the weekend at Grandma Drapers (nice not to have to worry about him) and that my mom has helped out a lot with packing and cleaning the new house. I think we have a lot of junk and we will not be moving for awhile.

I've also had to work this weekend which has added extra stress especialy since what I'm trying to do for work is not working out the numbers don't match aaaa! An accountants nightmare. Anyway I guess I will finish it on Monday when I can talk to people and ask why those aren't matching. I just want to get it out of the way so I can just focus on my house and all the boxes laying around.

Today was nerve racking. It was our first Sunday in a new ward. I'm not one that likes to get out of my comfort zone. I didn't even have Josh to hide behind. Babies are such good conversation starters. Meeting new people is scary for me and new names never seem to stick with me. I haven't changed wards in 8 years. Friends have come and gone but I've always had a big group of people that I feel comfortable around some being closer than others. I guess I just feel awkward being in social settings where I don't know people because I clam up.

Anyway it is way past bed time so I will end this post with 2 words that I'm thankful for today.....Jacuzzi Tub

February Is almost over

My goodness this week has gone by quickly. One of my new year's resolutions is to read a book each month. I guess I will be cramming it in the last week. Nothing new to report on the home front. I don't think the weather is going to cooperate with pouring concrete and our move in date though considering it snowed today. Josh got to watch me shovel the driveway. Well I guess I better get to work. I have take home work to do that Josh didn't let me work on during the day and it needs to be done by tommorrow at lunch time. I so want to quit my job now. I just want to stop worrying about it and not have any responsiblity and be able to focus on my family. I do have a firm set date though about quitting. I know I am not going to do year end stuff again. Maybe I will quit sometime in the summer. I do have a new boss now so maybe things will settle down again. I think I bored him to death the other day when I was showing him how to do payroll.

Ode to the Best Boss Brad

So I thought now that I have a new boss to write about that I should close the book on my old boss Brad and write about the top eight reasons why he was the best boss. So here they are not in any particular order.

1. Socialable & Fun: He was always joking around with everyone in the office and his stories about his weekends, family, or friends were always fun to listen to.
2. Teaches You: If we were getting bored with what we were doing at work. He would show us how to do more stuff to vary our work a little and keep us interested.
3. Trusting: I think it was my 3rd week of working and I had the worst week with cars dying and having flat tires. My friend dropped me off and I finished work early. I was just going to stick around and surf the net until she picked me back up, but Brad offered to let me drive his car home and bring it back at the end of the day. He didn't even know my driving record. He let me know before that you could drive awhile after the empty gas light came on because his tank was getting low. Halfway home it came on. I put in $5 of gas...I wasn't getting stranded with his car knowing my week with cars was horrible. I figured it would be thanks for letting me take his car. The next day he asked if I got gas so he gave me $5 even though I told him he didn't have to.
4. Gratiful/Appreciated employees: About once a month he would take us out to lunch and pay out of his own pocket. I thought that was cool. It let us know on a personal level that he cared and appreciated us.
5. Got Things Done and Stands By his Decisions: He did his job and went the extra mile to explain accounting stuff to nonaccounting people. Also after he made decisions or he knew he was right, he didn't let people walk all over him and that is what EMR needs in their accounting dept. head.
6. Flexible: He was very accommidating to my schedule when I was pregnant and needed to leave for appointments or if I was feeling sick.
7. Went the Extra Mile: I've already said this but it deserves it's own category. He was always adding to his monthly reporting to EMR with extra graphs, charts or commentary of what was happening with their finances. If you needed something he would get it for you or help you get to an answer
8. Kept Things Running: I didn't realize how much behind the scenes stuff he did until he left.

A Little Bummed...16 days maybe

So it is up in the air at the moment as of when the builders can pour cement...our front steps and driveway. As of right now it is too cold which may mess up our closing day/move in day and the interest rate we have locked in. :( So lets all pray for spring weather. I've already got most of the house packed up and I'm ready to go. I don't need this! I am so ready to move, get settled and become a full time stay at home mom. In other news, I now have a boss at work. I guess he started last week. He is being trained at the moment how to use the accounting program we use. He is a lot different than Brad (my old boss) so it will be interesting. I haven't had too much interaction with him yet, but I hope he catches on and fits in at EMR and can be an asset to them. I think he will have a hard time filling in Brad's shoes though.

I'm a Bum

So I had a whole list of things to do today. Not happening. It has been a busy week. I have worked about 40 hours since last wednesday and I'm still not done with payroll tax filing. I just want to quit I'm so drained at the moment. Probably good I have a day off to recharge. Today I get a day with Josh. We need to go grocery shopping and we have a play date/lunch at 1 so we probably should get moving but Josh is sleeping and I'm thinking of joining him. I get to go back to work tommorrow. Fingers crossed I will finish everything that is due on Jan 31st and most of the stuff that is due Feb 28th so I can focus on the new year. It doesn't help that Jason has been working everyday since last Saturday and he has been working overtime. He also has a deadline at the end of the month. We are going to the temple on Saturday. It is so tempting to cancel it and just rest, but we haven't been to the temple since October. Maybe we are so busy because we have plans to go to the temple. Well at least our pocket book will be happy at the end of the month. It will help buy all of the new house stuff. Although I would rather be spending my time with Josh and not at work. I was talking to a coworker the other day and she flat out asked me if I was quitting to be at home after we move. I told I probably would after we are settled and after they have found someone to replace my boss. (I don't want EMR to be up a creek without a paddle) She would love to stay home with her kids if she could.

Tough Day at Work

There are days when I just think to myself 'I should just quit my job and then I won't have to worry about it'. Today was one of those days. I dread the transition to a new calendar year every year. This year was worth dreading. First of all we no longer have a boss that knows how to make things run smoothly and can answer or help you find the answer to questions that arise. Second problem IT people don't think ahead so it makes us have to work harder (that one won't be a big problem until I do W2, but I'm already worrying about it). Third problem EMR's Memphis office. These all equal starting payroll at 2:30 on the day I have to submit it to the bank and I couldn't even start then because I had to close out 2007 payroll before I could start on what was due today. I didn't start sooner because we had to wait for Memphis invoices which are suppose to be turned in during the middle of Dec (Billing out Nov Work). After entering those, they had to close out Nov before we could open Jan (you can only have 2 months open at a time). That took longer than usually since our boss is usually the one that does that. Finally we could make a back up of the database and close out AP and payroll. Anyway I have to go back tomorrow and finish up. I just keep telling myself wait until we get settled in the house and then if I want to I can quit. I'm not looking forward to the rest of this month at work, but I have to remind myself I always hate this time of the year and payroll because of taxes and W2s.