This week in reruns.

Can I just say I love doing taxes. I was given the opportunity to help a friend and man it gave me such a sugar high that I can't sleep right now, so you benefit!

I love taxes, but I've found something that tops it...
I love audits.

I am in the middle of my first audit ever. . . mind you I didn't take the audit class in college because I heard they didn't teach you anything except how to read audit reports and I wanted an education in how to be an accountant. . . Poor Spencer, my trainer, and the lead on the project, is teaching me the ropes, but I think I'm catching on. (It helps that unlike tax I'm not expected to know anything, so the phrase I recently coined when Spencer comes to talk to me is "start at stupid and go from there.").
We get up every morning in order to drive the 1 hour to Blackfoot where we spend 11 hours pouring over, through, and around the books of a company to make sure they're documenting, billing and recording correctly. It is THE PERFECT job for someone who just really needs to be beyond type A. In life I spend hours creating excel spreadsheets which give me statistical and analytical data which I use in a variety of ways. At work I now play with spreadsheets which were specifically created the same way. I pour through files and data logs, generate "random" samples of work-types and categories and then I put it all together in an understandable and cohesive package so that anyone could read and understand whether or not the company is doing what it should be. How perfect is this job for me??
The down side? I still have to deal with people who don't truly have a clue what they're doing, but this was a great first experience. This company has no clue, but they're generally happy to listen to us explain it and once they understand they most often agree. I did have the controller tell me there was no way we were getting what we wanted in one situation, but it turned out to be a moot point because the million dollars worth of expenses had been put into a different category than usual and really weren't an issue after all.
As for Jason and Alisabeth they are thriving as well. She's happy as a lark every day and Jason has got a routine that keeps them both alive and smiling. He's been amazingly supportive of my 12 hour days and has done everything and more to ease my stress levels while I'm at home. Plus he listens to my insanely long stories about what I did at work.
Lastly, Jason and Alisabeth met me in IF yesterday so that Alisabeth could use her hard-earned allowance to purchase her princess dress.
I was terribly worried because unlike Tucson we don't have a "Disney" store here. I thought about going to Walmart and getting one of their dress up outfits, but I knew what she was looking for and that wasn't it, so we headed to the mall.
Inside we headed straight for the department stores (with a few detours to look at the play areas and toys).
She went straight in and Jason led her over to the toddler section where the dresses were on sale and within her price range. I looked in the children's dresses and gasped in surprise. There was a whole section devoted to "Cinderella" brand dresses and they were also the requested color. So after trying on a size 4T dress which fit snugly I convinced the complaining and not understanding child to come and look at the bigger-bigger dresses. Finally she agreed with a sulk to try on this one:

It was also on sale. . .
I've decided not to comment on parents who spoil their children for a while.
She's happy as a lark, as seen in the fact that she posed for about 20 minutes in it. I think we're going to bring them both to Boise with us this weekend and let the girls dress up and be princesses. I know Alisabeth will love it and I'm pretty sure Paige will too.
So guess what size this dress is. . .
You'll notice the bottom is folded under, but it's only folded about 1.5 inches. . .




Come on, take a guess. . .




Size 7. Yes, my 3 year old daughter fits almost perfectly into a size 7 dress. Yes it's tall, and yes when the bow is tight in the back it gathers slightly, but seriously, this is just wrong. (There were no dresses between the 4T and the 7, so my choice was big or wearable for 6 months or less. . . I chose big.)

I hope your coming week is as awesome as mine was.

So cute it deserved it's own post

As requested

I was reminded that I haven't posted a picture of our little angel in a while, so here are a few of the ones Jason has sent me at work.



We had a good week. I'm starting to get back into the swing of life. My co-workers are great and I'm really enjoying it. The other day we went out to lunch and I was in my high heeled boots and worried about the 3 inches of ice. Gallantly, our intern Matt took up a defensive position nearby in case I slipped so that I wouldn't land on my butt. That's just an example of the great people I'm surrounded with. If we're not laughing and joking we're working together perfectly. I love it.
School for Jason is still on hold. Even though they said they would have a decision in 6 weeks it has been 2 months and they still haven't had a chance to even look at his application. He's frustrated, but honestly it's not as though he was going to start any time soon. The earliest is April anyway so we're just trying to be patient. In the meantime he's researching and preparing contacts for several agencies he wants to work for when we get out of school. He's set his sights high and knows he's in for a challenge, but we're confident that he can do it.
We figure if he can start talking to the recruiters when he's done with his first semester that will give him plenty of time to shift class focuses to where the jobs want him to be + it will get his name in the ears of potential employers when the time comes for internships and final employment. We're doing a lot more research this time around and I have a feeling it will pay off in the end.
He's also adjusting well to being a stay-at-home dad. They've gotten in a good routine including an hour of pre-school a day. He makes up a sheet of letters and words and she traces them, then they sound out the words and then go on a treasure hunt around the house for things that start with the day's letter. When she's done she gets a giant star or some other shape on her page to say she's done an excellent job. She loves it.
The other day he made up the sheet while she was eating breakfast then left the room for about 10 minutes. When he came back she had finished breakfast and moved to the other table and was tracing her letters.
We also got to go to a birthday party today. It was at a pizza place with a HUGE play room for the kids. It was the birthday of my co-worker Spencer's newly adopted son. He just turned 3. There were a ton of relatives and friends there to support him and it was great to see. Alisabeth had a blast with the 3 level climbing gym. The arcade was cool too, but she got bored pretty fast with the train that didn't go anywhere. I was glad we were invited to go.
The other thing we got to do this week is Bountiful Baskets again!! We ended up having to drive to Idaho Falls to get one though because all 3 Rexburg sites were filled by the time we signed up Tuesday morning. Guess they go fast. (Don't listen to this next sentence) I wish I were still a stay-at-home mom because I would be totally willing to open up another Rexburg site. If they're filling up that fast I'm sure the demand is high enough for another site.
Anyway, we're excited. Relief Society had a food storage activity and I volunteered to make polk-a-dot soup which is lentils and carrots. It turned out really well and I enjoyed it a lot. They also had a mexican lentil dish that was awesome. It just made me aware again of how much is out there that we're not using. This woman who was teaching worked for a few years to develop a "densely nutritious" meal plan which she calls A Dollar a Day for 30 days. She has literally gone to stores, priced things out and based on nutrition and daily needs has formulated 3 meals a day for under $1. That means our monthly food budget could be $120. The food and recipes have a lot of flavor too, which I was surprised about. She talked about all of the foods on the shopping list and why she chose them and how to store/keep them and life expectancies and all kinds of information. It went so far over time it was laughable, but most of us were ready and willing for me. (I was one of the only ones who brought my child, so for me and the other mothers it was a bit long, but I was still VERY interested to learn what she knew.)
All in all it's been a great start. We're happy in our home, getting used to our roles, preparing for our future and enjoying the present as much as we can.

Tour of the New Townhouse

We have good neighbors (the one set we've met so far.) They have a 4 year old, so Alisabeth spent about an hour over there today.
We almost lost our cat the first week. He got lost, but the day we got home was the day our neighbor called to let us know he had seen our cat at the front of the complex (about 1/4 mile away).
Come and enjoy the tour.