We are buying new furniture!! Exciting as it sounds, buying new furniture is just a royal pain in the hind-quarters.

First of all, we bought new and badly needed office furniture for our home office last night. We got it at Office Max - 20% off - good deal. So we go to buy it, and they tell us that they have 4 out of 5 pieces, but they are all blocked on the loading dock by a few pallets of paper. They'll bring them to us on Wednesday - free! Fine by me. Well...they may or may not have the fifth piece available then...but maybe they will...but they may not. Hmmm....OK.

THEN, we are looking for a new family room suit to replace our poor, worn down couch and love seat that currently resides there. Do you know that me - lover of all things which is decor and furniture - cannot find a suit that I like at all! There is NOTHING out there that even remotely appeals to me. Phil found a suit that he likes, but it's too busy looking to me. I found one that I like OK, but it really won't match our new paint. *sigh* Just don't know...just don't know...

Anyway, we had Mackenzie's 2nd birthday party on Sunday - I meant, once again as I did with Maddie's party, for it to be a small "us and grandparents" party, but I ended up having 21 people there (all family except for our next-door neighbors). It was fun, though...she got a LOT of new movies, which she loves, and a lot of fun toys that Maddie has already stolen. Here are a few pictures:

My sweet baby at her 2nd birthday party:

The birthday cake - Dora!:

The girls trying on their new Halloween costumes that just came in the mail - Maddie is Sleeping Beauty, Mackenzie is Tinkerbell:

One-Fourth of the Way There!

I PASSED!!!

I can't believe it, but I passed the first part of my CPA Exam! Passing score is 75...I got an 81. Uh-huh. That's right. I'm ultra cool. Not to mention that this was the part that included tax, which I always seemed to struggle on in the previous years that I took it. I guess that actually DOING tax returns helped me to understand it better this time.

So now, I'm studying again - this time for the auditing section....then the Business Ethics section...and finally the big, ugly one - the FINANCIAL section. Bleh! I CAN do it! I WILL do it! Now...can someone find me some No-Doze?

Do you ever wonder why people...

...work in public service jobs (ie, fast food joints, stores, etc.) that they hate and insist on butchering the idea that the customer is ALWAYS right? Hey...there's a nice cushy desk job at the government with your name on it - then you won't have to talk to ANYONE all day long (or so my cousin says)!

...insist that it's their way or the highway even though their way is by FAR the minority opinion? Can we say PASSIVE-AGGRESSIVE? It's really not pretty...but apparently it's the style lately.

...drive in the fast lane as if it's the slow lane and they don't even blink an eye when 50 cars go around them honking? Move on over, sweetheart...you don't own the road.

...constantly term a differing opinion as "OFFENSIVE??" I don't get this...can some explain it to me? So just because you happen to not agree, it's automatically offensive? I just get so sick of hearing this word. What's offensive to me is when people overuse the term "offensive." HA!

So yeh, I'm in a bad mood today...can you tell? I really have no reason to be, afterall, today was "Bring your teddy bear to Preschool" day at Maddie's school, so I get to hear all about how some little boy stole Maddie's teddy bear and punched it in the face or something weird like that when I get home. :)

I guess I'm in a bad mood because it's going to rain all weekend when I've planned my first MAJOR (and much needed) garage sale in years, and I have 5 BILLION things that need to go, including 4 BILLION baby outfits that fit my girls no more.

Or maybe I'm in a bad mood because that silly girl at Hardee's this morning copped an attitude with me when I tried to tell her that the breakfast she was trying to give me actually was the breakfast that the man in front of me had ordered - I know...I heard him order it, and I certainly didn't want a smoked sausage biscuit. ICK!

Or quite possibly, it could be from the idiotic way that some people around here drive - it's a run-over or be ran-over town that I drive in here.

SO...think I'll head to the nearest Starbucks and get me a Venti Cafe Mocha with lots of extra whipped cream and chocolate shavings. That'll make my day (and put back 5 of the pounds that I've already lost - oh well!)!

P.S. Feel free to add your "Do you ever wonder why people..." comments - but keep it nice... ; )

Learning, Learning Everywhere!

It's back to school time and back to study time and everything else...

Maddie started her 4 year old Preschool class at Woodford Christian Preschool last Wednesday, the 6th. She absolutely LOVES it! To my surprise, she goes right into her classroom with no problems. She's learning so much and is making lots of new friends. Her teacher is a good friend of ours who we used to go to church with, so that makes me feel better knowing that Maddie is in such good hands.

So far, she is learning new songs, Bible verses and how to write her name. They fingerpaint, color, play and hear stories throughout their day as well. Maddie would tell you, though, that her favorite part of the day is snack time!

Here's a picture of Maddie taken on school orientation day (her first "un"official day of school):



I made it through the first part of my CPA Exam OK. I feel like I did very well on it, but after I returned home from taking it and began looking through my book, I found a few things that I messed up. I haven't received my grade yet, but I honestly have no feelings one way or the other as to if I passed it or not. I'll, of course, keep you all posted.

In the meantime, I have sent in my request to take the next two parts - Auditing and Business Ethics. I will take those in October and November, respectively. I began studying (again) for the Auditing section. *sigh* That was a really short study break that I got.

Otherwise, we are all just as busy as ever. Maddie just started her second year of dance and is taking tap and ballet this time. She loves both of them! Mackenzie and I are doing Kindermusick together, and we have SO much fun! She just loves to sing and dance, so it's all right up her alley. Plus, she's such a fun-loving, social child, and she greatly enjoys being with the other kids.

I guess that's it for now...just busy, busy, busy as ever! Guess I'd be bored if it were any different.

I'll Never Forget...How About You?

REMEMBERING 9.11.2001

http://911digitalarchive.org/special/americaattacked/index1.html

NEVER, EVER FORGET!

GOD BLESS THE USA!