Anticipated Expectations (Just another day at work)

Today I took my 2nd day off in several months. I still work 4 days a week as a medical assistant, but I've been going in on my days off to make up some time. I told my boss yesterday that I wasn't going to be in and he being the good "dad" (for lack of a better title) that he is, asked if I was going in to work at Doc's. I told him no, which I had meant. Needless to say, that just didn't happen.

I went with Dave this morning to drop off my car for some work, then I planned to drop Dave off at the business and pick him up later in the afternoon. I ended up deciding however, that I should stay and help with the anticipated lunch rush... that didn't ever come. We have some really good employees; so I didn't have to do a ton, but I did try to help out.

The highlight of my morning, next to cleaning nasty dishes, was mopping up spilled pizza sauce in the walk-in fridge. Yep, I can now check that off my bucket list. :0) Oh the joys of being a business owner. We ended up being there 5 hours before we left, and again, anticipated that we were done fore the day.

Although I hadn't planned to, I ended up taking a nap for a couple of hours, which turned out to be a good thing. We got a call at 8:15 or so that a group of 50 was going to be coming in just before we normally close. We had 2 employees there, who I think could have handled things, but we went in to help anyway.

So another 2 hours to the time card, but we made it through. Actually, I think things went really well. We really appreciate our employees. This was the first evening we've gone in for some time. I definitely did some work today, but it was worth it. Now it's off to bed to do it again tomorrow.

Just in Time

There's nothing better than mid-April. Lingering winter storms, late season colds (thanks to the lingering winter storms), and then there's the whole filing taxes thing. Can it get any better than that? Let's see...

We really have had some "freak" precipitation over the last couple of weeks. It seems it's either feast or famine. I also really have a cold and thanks to the small person developing in my tummy, drug options are limited. Best part, taxes. There always seems to be something that comes up, but for us this year it was quite the task.

Usually we would have filed months ago, had our return, and called it a day by now. However, this year we got to do business taxes with our personal, and we had to figure in some additional tax "quirks" from an inheritance of sorts that apparently was taxed in Illinois. A few highlights: Dave spent numerous hours working on the prep; we bought tax software that didn't work (complex return); talked to a few accountants, who were a little less than helpful; needed to get taxes figured out not only for the deadline, but because we ended up filing IL state tax, even though we live across the country; finally figured out the correct numbers, etc only to find out that we were out of white paper - needed paper to print IL state tax report because you have to have some form of IL issued ID to file electronically; borrowed paper from a neighbor and discovered ink was too low to print; got printer to work (miraculously) and had to find somewhere to get an envelope and stamp; went to a 24 hour grocery store, bought envelopes and stamps; and got to the post office around 11:10 PM. I do have to say that we went past the post office a few times and I for one rather enjoyed seeing all the people getting their very last minute returns in.

Another mega learning experience in the bag. Despite the challenges, I think Dave actually rather enjoys doing taxes. Not sure it's his calling in life or anything, but he liked figuring things out. Thanks Dad for all your help too! Although Dave gets discouraged from time to time, at least we know his tax prep skills continue to be utilized and improve. Way to go sweetie!

Poppy Seed to Grape to Peach

...or medium shrimp. It's amazing what 13 weeks can do. Or maybe it's just impressive how much growth can occur. After almost 2 years of trying, Dave and I are expecting our 1st baby! We're so excited. This will be the 1st grandchild on my side, and #24 for Dave's parents. :0)

Admittedly it has been a tough go so far. While I'm not out of the woods yet, I'm hoping that things will get better soon. I've been a little nauseous, but more than anything I've hurt. Being pregnant has been painful. Trust me, I know that sounds bizarre, but that's the best way I can describe it. I keep hearing that it will get better around week 14-16 or so, and here's hoping.

Quick story - When I was 6 weeks along or so, Dave asked me when you can hear the heartbeat. I told him that technically it could be heard at that point, which was true. However, you have to have the special equipment and whatever to hear it. Nevertheless, Dave went downstairs, grabbed my stethoscope, and brought it back up and stuck it to my tummy. Poor guy didn't know it couldn't be heard with my little stethoscope at that time. And that's my favorite story thus far.

I'll get a couple pictures up soon.

Conference Weekend

We were able to hear from our church leaders once again this weekend. As usual, I didn't make it through all of the talks, but the ones I did hear were excellent! Luckily, all of the talks will be available in the next month to read/watch/hear. Dave was able to go to the priesthood session for the menfolk, which I think was a great blessing for him. That however left me volunteered to "tend" the shop. :0)

The weather Friday and Saturday was fabulous!! Sadie and I were able to get out for a couple of really good walks. That was something I probably needed. I'm so glad we're into spring, but because it was conference, it also meant crazy, stormy weather. Right on cue, the snow, sun, snow, sun hit Sunday afternoon. We had planned to go on a walk with Dave, but that just ended up not happening.

Traditionally we have pizza during conference, but for various reasons we bypassed that one. We did get in our Sunday morning cinnamon rolls though. Mmm...so good! The conference addresses were great, but the weekend still flew by, far too quickly.