Spring....What A Blessing!!!

Well it is finally over and put away...2009 tax season that is!! We made it through and hubby and I took 2 days off last week to celebrate and recharge. I love my job and enjoy doing taxes, but 4 months of 6 days a week, 9-11 hour days can get to you after awhile. So to celebrate, hubby bought me a gift...only hubby could find the perfect gift for me...a yellow magnolia tree!!! I love it!!! We are redoing some landscaping in the back yard after tearing out some bad bushes last fall. We have a clean slate to work with and have now put in 2 burning bushes and the yellow magnolia! We also bought 2 new bird feeders and a new hummingbird feeder. We both love watching the birds from our deck and especially those crazy hummingbirds!! They fly at such amazing speeds and will fly right by your ears!

Now that we are back to a regular schedule, hubby and I will be riding to work together every morning. It saves on gas for one thing, but it gets me up and going so that I get to work early and therefore, can leave at 5pm. Left to my own, I would get to work around 8:30 or 9am and then have to work until 6pm. Seems like when that happens, we don't get to do as much in the evening as we like. Last year we both got bikes and we have been trying to take rides in the evenings. I have a basket on mine for the dog, but he does not get that excited about going. Could be that the first time I put him in the basket, I ended up dumping him right out!!

I have been doing some great shopping on www.shopgoodwill.com . got some wonderful buys for daughter in law for her every changing shape...baby shape that is..she is due in Sept and needs comfy clothes. I spent $68.78 and got her 2 dresses, 5 tops and a pair of jeans!! Pretty good...

you should check out the site. You get to shop all the goodwills in the country!!!

Hubby and I joined the Partners In Prayer group at church and have been praying for 6 families from our church. It has been very good for us and I hope for the families we have been praying for. We will get a new group each month. It will be interesting to hear how things go after a few months. I hope that everyone will keep to their commitments and that is becomes a fixture in our church.

Well need to get some accounting and payroll tax returns done today. Enjoy the weather this weekend..it was 71 degrees this morning at 6:30am!!!

I CAN SEE THE END!!!!!

I cannot believe that it has been over a month since I last blogged. I am not very good with this during tax season and I will make sure next year to acknowledge that from the get go! We are down to 1 week left and things are getting kinda hurried, to say the least. We are all tired and ready to take some time off. We all take the day after tax season off, and this year our boss is leaving for vacation on the 16th. I am taking the 17th off also, as husband and I are going to spend some time together. This tax season has been hard on him for some reason. He has not enjoyed his extra time alone like he has in the past, which I suppose is a good thing! I miss spending evenings with him also, so we are going to take 2 days instead of one this year and work on a landscaping project in our yard. Last night before Bible study, we mapped out some plans and hopefully this weekend he can do some actual yard work to prepare. Lots of things have been going on besides tax season, we both had bad colds, our grandson has had pneumonia twice, hubby has built a bridge for a youth organization here in town and step son has had some issues with skipping school!!! But I think as the 15th gets closer, we are getting all our ducks in a row and ready for spring!!
Spring is one of my favorite times of the year. I love spring flowers, especially tulips and mine are just beginning to get ready to bloom. The ones closest to the house have been munchies for the bunnies and I think I will have to spray them or I wont have any flowers. The weather has not been that good so far, we even had snow on Monday. But my lilac bush is still budding and the day lilies are rapidly growing too.
Hubby and I have been dieting all of tax season and are starting to see real results. He has lost about 15 pounds and I have lost 22, which is amazing in itself!!! We are looking forward to bike riding soon and this year we are going to go camping for the first time. We bought a great tent last fall on Craig's List and cant wait to use it. We will be on vacation in June, so we are hoping to get a few camping nights in then. I found a bike rack at Goodwill and some camping supplies. we still need a few things, but we are ready for the adventure.
I need to get back to my tax returns. I will hope to post more often after next week and I appreciate anyone who takes the time to read my ramblings.
I wish everyone a wonderful, hope filled Easter. I pray that God will fill your hearts with His love and you are able to spend the day with all your loved ones close.

Tax Season....Part 2

Well as you can see from the date of this post, I was not so good at keeping things updated during tax season. We are into March now, with the 15th coming very fast. That is the 15th of March. That is the deadline for corporate tax returns to be filed. We will then work towards the 15th of April, which is the personal tax deadline. We have been very busy and I have been putting in long hours. Hubby has been very busy also, working 10 hour days for the past 2 weeks. Since he works for a company that does a lot of repair work, they have been busy because most places cannot afford to buy new equipment, they just fix the old stuff. He has been getting up at 3:30am to be at work at 5am. I am not a morning person, I would rather get up at 7am to get to work by 8:30am, then work until 9pm or so. Tonight we are going to celebrate that his overtime at work is over for now and treat ourselves to dinner out. We made a promise to ourselves during this tax season that we would work on our finances and our health. We have not been going out to eat and we have not been cooking at home. We have made our own version of Nutri-system by eating Healthy Choice meals and Lean Cuisines. It has been working very well. Hubby has lost 13 pounds and I have lost 22 pounds!!! It has made life so much easier for hubby since he usually gets the kitchen duties during tax season and he hates to cook. So now we go to the freezer "buffet" and pick our what we would like for supper. We have been eating soup for lunch each day. I have cooked on the weekends some, but we are trying to be very conscience of our portion sizes.

Other than work and church, we have not been doing much. We did get to babysit for the grandkids on Valentine's Day so their parents could have a nice dinner. We love babysitting and dont get to do it often enough. Our grandkids live about an hour away and we are not as able to see them as much when we are both working extra hours. As soon as the 15th of April comes though, we are going to bring them both over to spend the weekend with us. I cant wait!! We will get to babysit more often for the new one coming in September since they only live across town. I will add a new picture I just got today of the grandkids. They are just too cute!

My break is over and I need to get back to this accounting work that I am doing today. I will try to do better with the updates and thanks for those who are following. I have a few that I follow and I enjoy reading how their lives are going.

Tax Season....

I know I have not posted here in awhile, so I have some catching up to do. As you can see by the title of this blog, this is the season of my life now and until April 15, 2009. This is my job, along with other related duties that being a bookkeeper/accountant does between January 1, 2009 and April 15, 2009. I will not have much of a life during this time and in fact, I am typing this as some documents are printing and it is 7:24am!!

We have had some great things going on in our family, one of which is that we are going to be grandparents again!! I LOVE being a grandma. it is just the best. My youngest son and wife, who just got married in Oct are expecting in September. They were so excited to tell us, which is good, but this is going to be a long pregnancy. This grandchild will be the first Great-Grandchild on both sides of son's family. His Dad's parents have no great-grandkids and my Mom does not either. We are all thrilled.

The other big thing that has happened since Christmas is our office has moved. We had been in the same place for several years and about 3 years ago, we got new landlords. What we thought was a good thing turned out to be not so good. They did not doing any upkeep on the property, no landscaping and the biggest thing was no security. I came to work one morning in early December at 7am and the front door to the building was standing wide open. Hubby was with me, so he went in first (what a guy!). No one had broke in, they just didn't lock the door the night before. so anyhow, now we are in a brand new space, built just for us. Not the whole building was built for us, just the office space. We have new beautiful surroundings and we all love it. I have new furniture that is very nice and has lots of desk space. All of the wall colors and carpet was picked out by our team and we are very happy now. Moving an office is lots of work, but it was all worth it.

Hubby had the flu last weekend and was very sick. He is so much better now. I stayed away from him so I would not get it and so far so good. I have only had the flu, knock on wood, one time in my life. It was terrible!! I try very hard to be healthy during tax season.

well, it is time to get back to the work at hand. I will try to keep up with the blog better and let you in on some of my small thought during this long season of taxes, cold and snow!!

Christmas 2008

Well Christmas is finally over. I'm glad and sad at the same time. Since we have a blended family, we have several celebrations. First, we had Christmas with my family on Dec 21st. It was so much fun! We all got together at my youngest son's home and probably had one of the funnest Christmases we have ever had!!! Everyone got along, enjoyed the games we played, exchanged gifts with a new twist and ate too much!!! But even Mom had a great time!! Next was the best gathering, Christmas Eve service at Hazel Dell with our church family. I LOVE Christmas Eve services. Our pastor, all the staff and their families do the service and it is so meaningful. Very spiritual and just makes the whole season come together. My favorite part is the end with the candle light part. Just gives the true meaning to the season. Next we were at step-daughters house with hubby's kids. Sometimes this can be very stressful, but this year was very calm and quiet. Everyone liked their gifts and we enjoyed the granddaughter and grandson so much. Love watching little kids open gifts..miss that once our kids have grown up. Next was mother in laws on the 27th. Most of the siblings were there and a good time was had by all. Enjoyed seeing more extended family, some we had not seen for a few years, and once again, lots of nice presents and good food. Mother in law had started a new family tradition this year by having hubby, who is oldest of her children, read the Christmas story from Luke. The little kids were really interested and listened so well. Hope this is one tradition that continues. Finally, yesterday, the 28th, we had Christmas with my boys and daughter in law. Had a wonderful dinner of prime rib...daughter in law is a fabulous cook!!! Played some games on Wii and had a great time. Oldest son got me a Colts sweatshirt that I love, especially since I didn't have any Colts wear and youngest son and daughter in law got me the coolest blanket/throw/snuggle cover. I have already used it even!!! Hubby got what he likes most, Sears gift card!! He loves shopping for tools...guess they are like shoes, cant have enough!! So now we are done. Had to go back to work today to rest..LOL But not really, because next is tax season. Hard to believe it is here again. First we have to move our office to a new location though. Friday is the moving day and I think things will be very stressful at the office until that is done!! Hopefully things will go smoothly and we will get all moved and ready for work soon. Hope all of you had a wonderful Christmas and will look forward to a great New Year!!!

Brookside Youth Center

This Thursday hubby and I will be spending our day helping members of our church prepare a Christmas dinner for over 200 kids and their parents at Brookside Youth Center. This is the second year that we have done this for the center and let me tell you that the volunteers get a far bigger blessing than the kids!!! These kids come to Brookside every day after school for a meal, mentoring, tutoring and other classes. They live in the highest crime rate and prostitution rate area of Indy. They are bused in and they are also bused home. Most of them only get this meal and the one they get at school. On weekends, God only knows. During the summer, Brookside has a day camp every week day from 9am to 3pm. One of hubby and Is best friends is a member of the board for Brookside. We will start cooking around noon, the kids will arrive around 3:30pm and go to their classes. We will then provide a craft time for them, dinner and each child will receive a blanket, hat and gloves to take home as a gift. We will also have a worship time and singing time. I am looking so forward to doing this and being a part of this great program. These kids need one thing more than even the food, they just need attention. They come from homes that are filled with stress, poverty and parents, usually only one, who just don't have time for kids because they are just trying to make ends meet. It is a very sad story, but one that is growing by leaps and bounds in this time of recession, crime and a Satan filled world. I just hope that we can make a difference, even if only for a short time in each of their lives. We also hope that we can show God's love to their parents. Let them know we are here for them, we are praying for them and that God loves them very much. It will be a very long day, but I already know that I will be filled with the Holy Spirit.

Tis The Season...

I love all the aspects of Christmas. I love being in church on Christmas Eve and participating in the candle light services. I look forward to driving around neighborhoods looking at the lighting displays and trees that you can see in the windows. Going downtown Indianapolis is tons of fun during the holiday. There are the store windows that are so cute, the lights on the Monument Circle and the really tall toy solders guarding the circle. I have lived here for alittle over 6 years and I have still not made it downtown to see the lighting of the circle. Seems like it is always so cold!! I love the holiday, I don't like the weather..LOL We have gone to Christmas at the Zoo and it is really beautiful. They have lights everywhere and there are ice carvings going on, hot chocolate being served and Santa makes a grand appearance. This year we are taking our 2 yr old granddaughter and I know that I will see things through her eyes that I have not seen before. She has a way of making even the cold fun. We are putting up our tree tomorrow evening and I am really looking forward to that. We have a 7 foot tree that we decorate in traditional red and green lights, lots of glass hearts and plaid ribbon bows. We have been collecting rustic ornaments as a couple for the past 4 years. We both love birds, feeding them all year round and watching them from our deck in the spring, summer and fall. So we have several bird themed ornaments. Before I was married, I always had a frilly tree..(that is what my boys called it), but now that I have someone who wants to share this part of the holiday with me, it's fun to do something we both like. Saturday evening hubby's Mom and Step Dad are coming for dinner and then we are taking them to our church's annual Christmas Choir show. It will be lots of beautiful music and fun skits. But even after all this, the one thing I look forward to more than anything is doing Christmas for people who would have had none otherwise. Last year our church started having a Christmas dinner for the kids at Brookside Youth Center. I am in charge of that this year and I will write more to tell you all about it. It is a very special night for lots of inter-city kids. Stay tuned....Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells!!!