It keeps going. . . and going. . .

Winter is back this morning with an additional inch of snow, just after we cleared the last bit it sent our way. . . ah well, I knew spring was too good to be true.
The following are pictures I think I haven't posted before. If they're re-runs. . . sry.


I wasn't sure if I had included this one, or a similar one before. These are my children's toys. The big one is for the big boy, the little one is for the tiny thing.


Princess dress, the umbrella she purchased for herself, and snow, nothing could make her happy.
The video I'm including is from an email I received at work a few weeks ago . . . at least it was using mattresses and not cardboard boxes.



This is the video from last week: Puzzle Magic. I took two videos, but this one is the cutest. The first one was five minutes before when she still had about 1/2 the sky left to finish.



So one last thing that my little girl did this week: she helped her daddy move some heavy stuff into the basement storage with no complains so she earned enough allowance this week to purchase the next item on her list, a purse. It's brown with a purple/silver design on the sides. It's way cute, but already too small for the many toys she wants to cram inside. :)

As for Jason, he's having a much better week than the last post. He has regained some of the hearing in his ear, though the doctors said it could be a month before it all comes back. We also got the hospital bill. $800!. I was shocked and asked for an itemized bill. Most of the smaller charges were actually more reasonable than I expected for an ER visit, so I didn't fight the room rental charge which was more than 1/2 the cost. I wanted to ask for a copy of their financial statements for last year to calculate the actual cost of a room for 2 hrs, but I stopped myself.
He also talked with his advisor this week, who is a teacher in his new career field. (I love that the guidance comes from people who actually understand the field and goals). Jason was told that he's on track and doing all the right things. The man also knew of the Master's program that Jason is considering and mentioned another within the same school that is also gov't funded. In exchange for 2 years after graduation they pay for all schooling (Master's program) and give a living allowance. So Jason now has a few options to consider. He's excited.
Lastly for him we finally got to an eye doctor now that we're on a vision plan through my work.
He wanted contacts, so now he has to wait for them to order them (because his prescription is right in the middle of the two they stock). I'm excited that we're finally getting his broken glasses replaced. Tape just isn't meant to hold glasses long-term :)

As for me this week was great. Every time I ran out of work I was given a project which required thought and research so I've been enjoying it.
I feel bad for the intern though. He was hired for audit, but they got the audits done in half the normal time this year, so he's been doing tax. Every time he makes a comment to me I can't help but laugh.
"I don't understand check-tapes! I didn't even include this number and it still balances!"
"Um, it should be on there. . . unless there is an overall loss and then it wouldn't be deductible."
"Oh, well there was a loss."
"Well, there ya go, but it should still be on your checktape and then backed off at the bottom as a carry-over to next year."
"oh."
or
"It's so frustrating. The last few returns they've given me I can't finish! I don't understand why they're giving them to me when I can't finish them!"
"Well, actually, that's one of the major reasons for us. As we enter and list what items we're missing it saves the reviewer time and effort and costs the client less in the end. Most clients don't give all their information the first time around."
"Oh"
Listening to him parrot things I said in my first few years I just have to give a shout out to my old boss who patiently explained all of this to me and taught me the process of a normal firm. That's one thing my company doesn't spend very much time doing. They give two days of training and then whatever feedback they deign to mention, but there's so much they don't say or just fix on their own because it's faster. Steve was always very nit-picky and would send things back for minor changes, or would print off the corrections and write notes and put them on my desk. At the time I found it bothersome, but I now understand and am grateful for it.

Amazing

So first I have to gush over my daughter. This week she's done some amazing things.
1) Fully potty trained at night. There was a bit of a fuss over the fact that she can't have a glass of milk at night anymore, or a cup of water, but she actually woke up yesterday and went potty at 4:30 am and then went back to bed.
2)We couldn't find any "challenging" puzzles in her age group - because every one we bought for her she can do in ten minutes flat, so we went to the next age group up . . . 6+
Well we assumed she wouldn't be able to do them, one they were 100,300,500 pieces and two they were a lot smaller than she is used to. Well we were wrong. The day we brought it home she had already done one of the 100 piece ones, the next day she did another one and the third day she started on a 300 piece. Granted she doesn't like to do these ones alone, but all we have to do is sit there and hand her pieces or just talk to her. The second puzzle she did was 1/2 done before I even started helping. (she found all the unicorn pieces and the sky).

She's amazing. The other thing she did which made me all squishy inside was on Sunday at church Jason was using her doodle board to write out words and she was guessing as usual, but then he wrote Mom and she said "mmmmm . . . mom!"
It was cool.

This last week was also my birthday week and it was fabulous. I worked like normal and then on Saturday I stayed home and Jason and alisabeth gave me my presents early. I got two books in a series I've been reading and an Apple/Peeler/Corer/Slicer which I've wanted for a long time. Jason and Alisabeth had a blast with that one while I read :)

Sunday (the actual day) I was invited to dinner by a co-worker and he made us enchiladas and amazing chips and dip and we had a great time. I also learned how and made my first "real" cake with a fondant top and cut out fondant letters/shapes to decorate it with. It was pretty basic, but I was pleased with the results. So we had that after dinner.
They also have a 3 year old son, so Alisabeth and Aiden had a good time playing until they both got tired.
The night ended with a band as we had to be rocked out of the snow because Jason parked on slush which froze back up around the tires. It was great.

Then Monday at work I got a delivery of flowers from my mother and they sat proudly on my desk where everyone in the office could jealously admire them :)
I also got a package in the mail with a new I-pod from my mother and a few computer games.
All in all it was a great week for me.

Jason the other hand has had a pretty lousy one. Besides finding out that we had missed the last gas bill from the Tucson house, and a medical bill for Alisabeth, and a bunch of other financial issues he was sick most of the week. That culminated in an intense ear ache which was bad enough on Sunday that he had a hard time enjoying himself at my party. This morning at about 4:30 he woke me up and we decided that he should go to the ER. The doctor described it "as if a bomb had gone off in his ear."
He was given a shot in the butt of antibiotics, some oral antibiotics, ear drops and off-brand vicodin for the pain.
On top of that we had to get the cats on antibiotics because whatever Baggera brought with him when we adopted him still hasn't gone away so most of our household is currently on drugs. It's great.

I have a few videos and pictures to post, but I need the camera, so that will come later.