Sick again and sick of it.

David has the flu now and is laying down upstairs slowly wishing to die. I cannot get him to take anything because of the nausea. Ezekiel is better, JT is better, Cenneidigh is better but Qatar is sick now. I need to have a healthy family I am sick of sickness. What a mess. Qatar slept by the toilet last night and Cenneidigh slept with a bucket in her face. She is better now. I cannot wait until spring, the sunshine, and heat to get everyone out of doors breathing fresh air. I have been home most of the week with sick somebodies lying around the house.

I hate germs and viruses.

Blog readers

David and I have our blogs on sitemeter and I have one international reader. Iceland, I wonder who that is? (HAHAHA) But David has several international readers. I love to look at the map of where the readers come from, it is fun to see who is looking and not commenting. It takes a few minutes to hook up to and then it sends weekly updates.

Cenneidigh told Jane(Jane calls the subs) this morning that her mom walks up and down the stairs all morning. To be fair I had to say she was right. We cancelled our gym membership and I walk up one set of stairs and down the other and around the house for exercise in the winter on the days I am not lifting weights. I have very little upper body strength and I am sick of being weak and flabby.

This is bad, really really bad.

I think I am scared

I watched Oprah while I was making dinner last night and I am freaking out. People without jobs, homes and anything. I feel that the recession has really not hit Austin yet and I really hope it doesn't. My life is pretty much the same, except where food is concerned the prices have gone way up. But gas has gone down. This media hype scares me and I know it is stupid to be worried because I can do nothing about it. Dave Ramsey is calm I should be calm as well. Just keep saving and keep to a budget is all I really can do. YUCK!!!!!

Sick of winter sick of sick kids

Winter has gone on long enough and yet we are only in February. It is 40 today, but tomorrow it is suppose to snow and be cold again.

Zeke is home sick and threw up most of the day yesterday. JT threw up at school, but perked up when he got home to drive me crazy the rest of the day. My stomach is not feeling great, but then I am taking care of Zeke and he took two showers yesterday because he did not like the way he smelled. An early spring is what is needed and I think it would be great to have an early spring. Here's wishing.

The Banfield Carnival, subbing, passports and the week.

Well the Banfield Carnival is over for another year and I cannot say I am disappointed. Amanda, Bonnie, Gunnar, John R., Eric and I made balloon animals for over three hours last night. 5-8 is the carnival and we got there at 4 to start getting ready and blowing up some balloons, we raised the ticket price and I was afraid that we had just raised the price over the demand level. We were not as busy as usual, but we collected more tickets then last year so I think we may have found the perfect demand and supply price. We used two hundred plus balloons, but I was not half as tired as I am usually am at the end of the night. We only made twenty or so octopus, thank heaven those take five balloons. The first year we made over 150 octopus. A good night for balloon making and Amanda and I were able to race some fish before the carnival ended.(I won.)

I was planning on stayng home yesterday to get my stuff togehter for the carnival, but I got called in to teach Chemistry and Physics at the HS. The teacher had a student teacher so the day was almost boring with nothing really to do. I did enjoy the explanation of Excel and I think I learned a bit about sound and light waves. A good day to be a sub. I am saving everything for Iceland. BTW we did get all of our paperwork done for the passports and signed at the court house so it should be about three weeks until we get them.

I learned a new thing about MN tax returns this week. If you do not itemize, but donate more then 500 to charity, church or non-profits during the year you can take a subtraction on your MN taxes. Cool for those who pay lots of tithing, but do not itemize their federal taxes.

Happy Birthday Ezekiel he is ten today

Ezekiel is ten today and wow he is growing up fast.

Happy 10th Birthday Ezekiel we love you. Zeke was number three and the third boy in our family. He was the easiest pregnancy and delivery of the bunch. He weighed 8 pounds 6 ounces and was 22 inches long. He was two weeks early thank heaven or he would have been huge. Good kid Happy Birthday Sweetheart.

Sick of being sick

I am finally feeling better, but now David is sick and he kept me up most of the night. He has the flu with chills and a fever. He is miserable.

I am staying home today, I did not have any scheduled appointments and since I have worked 10 of the last 11 days I am taking it off and working tomorrow instead. I have two returns to amend, one due to my mistake and the other due to the customers change of mind(I even asked if he was sure about the return before I finished it(adding business expenses or not) and then two days later he is not sure and wants to make the changes). Amendments are not really difficult they are time consuming. I have been working dosed up on Dayquill and many other cold and flu meds to keep going this week it is nice to have a clear head today.

The strange world we live in.

The world is full of strange things, but I think that this area has to top the list. Doing taxes gives you a lot of information about people and I can tell you WOW!!! I know more about many people and families then I ever wanted too. Whenever I think my life sucks, I just have to think about all the people I have served so far this year and then I remember that my life is a cake walk. My problems are small and if only I can help my children realize how important it is to make good decisions now then theirs can be a cake walk to, at least when compared to the lives I am dealing with.

Examples:

1. Many many single mothers with many children from many fathers and no child support or assistance from the fathers at all.

2. Multiple w-2s from lack of a single good job and raising a family with a very little income.

3. Intelligence in question in some of the people we serve.

4. Needing their refund now so they willingly pay sometimes in the range of $300 to get it in the next day or so.

5. Low incomes for families. Under 20000 a year with two income earners and multiple kids.

6. Someone told me her grandmother was rich because she made $14 an hour. The girl made under $7000 last year and is a single mother.

7. I could go on, but it is just scary the financial lives some people live.

I feel sorry for many of the people we serve, their lives are very different from what I would imagine the life they wish they had. Money is not everything, but life without it is difficult. Education is the only way out. Their lives are holding then hostage from a lack of money and the stupid use of credit and the only key is to get an education. But then number 3 comes in to play.

Tax Mistake

I discovered one mistake I had made today and I made the same mistake on several returns. Luckily for me it only was really a mistake on two and I'm in contact with the two individuals. There is so much to remember and do on the return that even with the great software program we use there are still things that get missed or forgotten. I have that mistake under control now, so time will tell how many others I will make. I hope it is rare and I am not making any more this year. I now know I am only human, what a bummer.

It is Official

We are going to Iceland June 6th -18th. We found tickets for under six hundred dollars, YEA. Now my bed is covered with travel books about Iceland and books on travel in general so we can be sure not to over pack and yet be prepared for weather. June is one of the driest months there so hopefully we will not get rained out. Swimming is a big pass time there, 7 thermo pools in the capital. It should be a fun experience and we are bringing Gunnar and Qatar they just do not know yet. I had to order birth certificates for both of them, I cannot find them anywhere. Passports for all of us since David and mine expired a few years ago. Now I am saving up for spending money for activities and things.

Ezekiel and The Science Fair

He did it again and won the same award as last year. His conclusion was a little wonky, but he pulled it off by knowing what he was talking about when it came to his project and Acid Rain. Way to go Ezekiel. Good job. He was given a lot of good advice about next year, even if he did think some of it was mean.

Memory Lane

David found a group for DT residents from 87-88 on Facebook and now we are walking back down memory lane. It worries me when I think about it, it does not seem that long ago to me and yet I am turning 40 this year and have five kids all in school so I guess I'm wrong

This is our first date. My ward Christmas party. The girl in the back was my roommate Marcia and the kid in the red sweater I knew for two years before his mission but cannot remember his name. Santa was a goofy kid from our ward. Good Times.