It's easy to make a buck. It's a lot tougher to make a difference.
~Tom Brokaw
Saturday, July 31, 2010
No More of This...
For a few days, I am taking some time off from my hectic work schedule. Hectic may be an understatement.
Earlier in the week, AT&T had a network outage that covered my neighborhood. We had no phone service and no Internet. This was bad for me. Employees like to get paid no matter what, so we loaded up the kids and my laptop and went for supper at one of our favorite restaurants in downtown. They have free Wi-fi, so I was able to submit their payroll for direct deposit while eating! Yeehaw!!
That's right. I worked through dinner. BUT, I am taking a break for the next few days!!
Ella is Afraid of Heights...
She braved the ferris wheel at the kiddie carnival for Layton though. He seemed so relaxed, and she could barely try to give me a thumbs up.
At this point, I want to add that the ferris wheel is all of 12 feet.
Friday, July 30, 2010
Aunt Diane!!????!!...
While eating dinner with my Aunt Diane and Grandmother, I decided to snap a few pictures. Layton was making his treasured Nixon pose when Aunt Diane was possessed by the spirit of my children...
Little Ella couldn't get in front of the camera fast enough.
And Hadley? She was hiding from the camera...as usual.
Thursday, July 29, 2010
Painful Awareness...
Are you ever painfully aware that people are staring at you?
I am.
Last night I ran 3 miles and walked just under 1 mile.
People were staring.
Maybe it's because I had on blue jeans.
In Alabama.
In July.
When it's 100 degrees outside.
Literally.
I hadn't planned on running, but I got to my favorite spot and couldn't resist. I hit that sweet spot...my stride...and the miles just went by.
Let them stare.
I might run in my wedding dress tonight! HA!
I am.
Last night I ran 3 miles and walked just under 1 mile.
People were staring.
Maybe it's because I had on blue jeans.
In Alabama.
In July.
When it's 100 degrees outside.
Literally.
I hadn't planned on running, but I got to my favorite spot and couldn't resist. I hit that sweet spot...my stride...and the miles just went by.
Let them stare.
I might run in my wedding dress tonight! HA!
Point Mallard...Point of Joy..
We don't live close to the beach. It would be an all day drive to get there since it's at the absolute opposite end of the state.
BUT...
We do live near Point Mallard. Recently, we were lucky enough to go with someone else footing the bill for entry. The children's favorite attraction was the wave pool. I'll post some pics of that in a bit. First I want to show you a few things...
The sign over the wave pool...
This is a distance shot. You can see the kiddie area...the big water slide...the platforms at the Olympic pool...picnic area...
This is the river area...complete with sand for volleyball...
More to come later...
BUT...
We do live near Point Mallard. Recently, we were lucky enough to go with someone else footing the bill for entry. The children's favorite attraction was the wave pool. I'll post some pics of that in a bit. First I want to show you a few things...
The sign over the wave pool...
This is a distance shot. You can see the kiddie area...the big water slide...the platforms at the Olympic pool...picnic area...
This is the river area...complete with sand for volleyball...
More to come later...
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
The Future of Reading...According to the Hubs...
I like to read. The hubs likes to read. He got one of these for his birthday...
He loves it. Me? Not so much. I think it's because I am a very tactile person. I like to feel the pages in my hands and smell the ink. I am nostalgic, and books are probably my first love.
Jay adores the Kindle though. I have to admit; it is a pretty clever invention. He can download all the books he wants and store them on this cutie, which is thinner than my food journal. He can move from one book to another without having to get up. I have to lug around a sack of books everywhere I go!
This is the future of reading though. I will have to get used to it!!
Do any of you have a Kindle?
Do you love it?
He loves it. Me? Not so much. I think it's because I am a very tactile person. I like to feel the pages in my hands and smell the ink. I am nostalgic, and books are probably my first love.
Jay adores the Kindle though. I have to admit; it is a pretty clever invention. He can download all the books he wants and store them on this cutie, which is thinner than my food journal. He can move from one book to another without having to get up. I have to lug around a sack of books everywhere I go!
This is the future of reading though. I will have to get used to it!!
Do any of you have a Kindle?
Do you love it?
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
If You Leave Your Phone Unattended...
While looking through the photos on my phone the other day, this little gem caught my eye...
Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T
Layton took this self portrait the day he went with me to take Hadley to riding lessons. How cute is that?
Layton took this self portrait the day he went with me to take Hadley to riding lessons. How cute is that?
Blog Hopping...
So, I've been doing some blog hopping lately and neglected to do a good job updating my own blog. Deal with it! This is not the first time I have disappointed my readers....and I have no doubt that it won't be the last time I disappoint my readers...all 5 of you! HA!!!! Does my husband count as a blog reader? He openly admits that he only looks at the pictures. Wow. It just occurred to me that I can write anything I want about the ole hubs, and he will never notice it. Hmmmmm. I feel a post about the hubs brewing for later this week!
Anyways, back to the blog hopping. Jenna is hosting a commenting challenge. You go to 10 blogs a day and leave a comment. This is a great way to find new blogs and make new digital friends!! If you have a chance, please consider participating!!
Anyways, back to the blog hopping. Jenna is hosting a commenting challenge. You go to 10 blogs a day and leave a comment. This is a great way to find new blogs and make new digital friends!! If you have a chance, please consider participating!!
Monday, July 26, 2010
Sunday, July 25, 2010
Carnival Time...
It is past time for me to blog about our first trip to the Kiddie Carnival this year! Here we go...
Hadley didn't ride many things. She sat and ate cotton candy most of the time. I guess she thinks she is too big for this stuff!
He is All Boy...
I had heard the expression....He is all boy...for years before I really understood what it meant.
Then, this happened to me...
Then, this happened to me...
And things started to make sense.
Saturday, July 24, 2010
Friday, July 23, 2010
Thursday, July 22, 2010
Really?...
I have completed more posts in 2010 than I have in any other year of blogging. In fact, the last three years doesn't even add up to the number of posts that I have completed so far in 2010! I have become a blogging machine!
I Hate QuickBooks...And Their Sorry Customer Support...
If you work for Intuit, buckle your seat belt because I am about to unleash my anger.
I HATE QuickBooks.
QuickBooks (hereafter referred to as QB or crapbooks) is a piece of junk software that will cost you more in the long run and be nothing but trouble.
Just a few of the reasons I hate crapbooks:
1. Direct Deposit. My biggest client has one employee who is extremely well compensated. It is a new entity. They've been in business for nearly a decade but recently switched from an LLC to an S-Corp. I can't process payroll for the owner because crapbooks demands a 6 month balance history on the payroll checking account before they will let direct deposit payrolls exceed $75,000 a month. Because they had to get a new name for the S-Corp, they also had to get a new bank account and EIN. The account is only four months old, so the owner has to sign paper checks and carry them to the bank to pay herself because of QBs policies...until the account has six months worth of history. Ugh.
2. Customer Support. I have never once gotten someone on the phone who speaks English as their primary language. I'm sorry to be completely inappropriate, but I can't understand a word that is being said to me in a heavy accent. It took me three hours to resolve a billing problem in 2008 because I couldn't understand that he was trying to repeat my credit card number to me.
3. It's too user friendly. That may sound stupid, but it's true. Clients with no knowledge of double entry bookkeeping end up coding a zillion checks to the wrong account. It takes me time to fix errors. Time is money in my business. Half the time, I could have done the whole year faster in some other program than I can sit and fix all the mistakes in QB. If you are using QB and wonder why the bill from your CPA keeps getting bigger and bigger, it might be because he/she is having to make 30 adjusting entries to correct problems in your books.
4. No forced "close" on accounting periods. This is my biggest problem with crapbooks. You are basically allowed to keep it open and running for as long as you want without having to close a period. This means you are free to change things from prior periods all you want. I once had to deal with a woman who decided to delete checks that had cleared the bank for no apparent reason. She wondered why her reconciliation was off by thousands and thousands. I wish that one was required to close a month before the next month could be tinkered with.
5. They sock it to you with fees. First you buy the software. Next you buy the payroll. Then you have to pay a fee for direct deposit. $1.25 per paycheck...so if you have 100 employees, you get hit with $125.00 in intuit fees. Every. Time. You. Run. Payroll. The payroll has to be renewed every. single. year. The payroll is only supported for a few years. For example, another great client of mine is a manufacturer. He bought QB in December 2007. It is the 2007 version. Because I show up on-site every week and handle 100% of his accounts payable and payroll, it has worked out really well. Until now. QB will no longer provide payroll updates for versions earlier than 2008. Even though the software he has works just fine, he is going to have to spend a fortune on 2010 Enterprise and 2010 payroll just so I can update the payroll tax tables.
There are times when crapbooks is a completely appropriate choice. There are times when I want to hunt down the team responsible for it and tatoo all of them with QB error messages that I see on a regular basis.
I actually feel better now that I have gotten that out of my system. It's just been a really frustrating week with Intuit.
I HATE QuickBooks.
QuickBooks (hereafter referred to as QB or crapbooks) is a piece of junk software that will cost you more in the long run and be nothing but trouble.
Just a few of the reasons I hate crapbooks:
1. Direct Deposit. My biggest client has one employee who is extremely well compensated. It is a new entity. They've been in business for nearly a decade but recently switched from an LLC to an S-Corp. I can't process payroll for the owner because crapbooks demands a 6 month balance history on the payroll checking account before they will let direct deposit payrolls exceed $75,000 a month. Because they had to get a new name for the S-Corp, they also had to get a new bank account and EIN. The account is only four months old, so the owner has to sign paper checks and carry them to the bank to pay herself because of QBs policies...until the account has six months worth of history. Ugh.
2. Customer Support. I have never once gotten someone on the phone who speaks English as their primary language. I'm sorry to be completely inappropriate, but I can't understand a word that is being said to me in a heavy accent. It took me three hours to resolve a billing problem in 2008 because I couldn't understand that he was trying to repeat my credit card number to me.
3. It's too user friendly. That may sound stupid, but it's true. Clients with no knowledge of double entry bookkeeping end up coding a zillion checks to the wrong account. It takes me time to fix errors. Time is money in my business. Half the time, I could have done the whole year faster in some other program than I can sit and fix all the mistakes in QB. If you are using QB and wonder why the bill from your CPA keeps getting bigger and bigger, it might be because he/she is having to make 30 adjusting entries to correct problems in your books.
4. No forced "close" on accounting periods. This is my biggest problem with crapbooks. You are basically allowed to keep it open and running for as long as you want without having to close a period. This means you are free to change things from prior periods all you want. I once had to deal with a woman who decided to delete checks that had cleared the bank for no apparent reason. She wondered why her reconciliation was off by thousands and thousands. I wish that one was required to close a month before the next month could be tinkered with.
5. They sock it to you with fees. First you buy the software. Next you buy the payroll. Then you have to pay a fee for direct deposit. $1.25 per paycheck...so if you have 100 employees, you get hit with $125.00 in intuit fees. Every. Time. You. Run. Payroll. The payroll has to be renewed every. single. year. The payroll is only supported for a few years. For example, another great client of mine is a manufacturer. He bought QB in December 2007. It is the 2007 version. Because I show up on-site every week and handle 100% of his accounts payable and payroll, it has worked out really well. Until now. QB will no longer provide payroll updates for versions earlier than 2008. Even though the software he has works just fine, he is going to have to spend a fortune on 2010 Enterprise and 2010 payroll just so I can update the payroll tax tables.
There are times when crapbooks is a completely appropriate choice. There are times when I want to hunt down the team responsible for it and tatoo all of them with QB error messages that I see on a regular basis.
I actually feel better now that I have gotten that out of my system. It's just been a really frustrating week with Intuit.
Papa...
My children call Jay's dad Papa Jim. They love him so much!! He is like putty in their hands. When the grandchildren ask to be pulled in the wagon...
...he jumps to it!!
...he jumps to it!!
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
He-He-Whooo...
Those who are long-time followers are familiar with my son's obsession with Michael Jackson. Yes, Layton loves some Beat It. He can't get enough Thriller. And Billie Jean? The kid is not his son.
Anyways, while we were getting gas one day, the familiar sound of MJ began to blast all over the parking lot.
As we all turn around, we see....
Anyways, while we were getting gas one day, the familiar sound of MJ began to blast all over the parking lot.
As we all turn around, we see....
He had a car with all the windows down blasting MJ music and a tip box. Do you see it there? Of course I had to pull out my camera and sneak a picture of this man who was dancing his heart out!!
Layton was absolutely shocked. For just a minute, he thought it really was MJ.
Since then, we've seen the dancing Michael Jackson impersonator in several other places around town. Each and every time Layton asks if we can stop and watch.
Cousins...Not Identical Cousins...
In June we went to my mother's family reunion in Tuscaloosa. The family is huge! Here is Ella bonding with some of her cousins. They play so well together even though they only see each other a couple of times a year!
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
My Husband Hit On A Nurse...
I was reading a post over at Pampers and Pinot that reminded me of a seriously funny moment in our history. We had only been married about a year when Jay had to have his wisdom teeth removed. Being the good wife that I am, please muffle your laughs, I scheduled an appointment for him.
We drove to the surgeon's office that morning, and everything was going quite well. We crossed paths with my mother...my little sister was having her wisdom teeth out the same day! Jay went back for the procedure, and I read a bunch of trash magazines.
A lovely nurse came out to get me. I followed her to recovery. There he was...my poor husband all drugged up with gauze hanging from his mouth. When the nurse leaned over to remove the gauze, Jay proceeded to start rubbing her arm and telling her how pretty she was. We're talking full on flirting. His whole hand was caressing the entire length of this woman's fore arm as he slurred on and on about how she was the prettiest nurse and the nicest nurse ever.
Yeah, I was vomiting in the trash bin. Not really.
I was trying my hardest not to laugh because the poor fellow was drugged up and actually thought he had a chance with this woman...who just spent untold amounts of time assisting an oral surgeon with digging chunks of tooth out of his gums. Would you want a date with a man whose oral hygiene you just finished tending to?
So, I sat down in the chair, and hubs noticed I was there. He asked me the time...which I am about to paraphrase because I don't remember the exact times...
Jay: What time is it?
Me: 9:52
Jay: That's good. Wasn't the nurse pretty?
Me: Yes dear, she was a regular hottie.
Jay: What time is it?
Me: 9:52
Jay: I feel good.
Me: Ok, try to be quiet and still.
Jay: Where's the nurse?
Me: I'm sure she has other patients.
Jay: Ok. What time is it?
Me: 9:52
Jay: Did you like the nurse?
Me: She seems ok.
Jay: What time is it?
Me: 9:53
Jay: Where's the nurse?
Me: I don't...
Jay: But what time is it?
Me: 9:53
And so this continues for two or three minutes. He kept asking for his hot nurse and the time. At least he was gutsy enough to do it in front of me! Ha!!
We drove to the surgeon's office that morning, and everything was going quite well. We crossed paths with my mother...my little sister was having her wisdom teeth out the same day! Jay went back for the procedure, and I read a bunch of trash magazines.
A lovely nurse came out to get me. I followed her to recovery. There he was...my poor husband all drugged up with gauze hanging from his mouth. When the nurse leaned over to remove the gauze, Jay proceeded to start rubbing her arm and telling her how pretty she was. We're talking full on flirting. His whole hand was caressing the entire length of this woman's fore arm as he slurred on and on about how she was the prettiest nurse and the nicest nurse ever.
Yeah, I was vomiting in the trash bin. Not really.
I was trying my hardest not to laugh because the poor fellow was drugged up and actually thought he had a chance with this woman...who just spent untold amounts of time assisting an oral surgeon with digging chunks of tooth out of his gums. Would you want a date with a man whose oral hygiene you just finished tending to?
So, I sat down in the chair, and hubs noticed I was there. He asked me the time...which I am about to paraphrase because I don't remember the exact times...
Jay: What time is it?
Me: 9:52
Jay: That's good. Wasn't the nurse pretty?
Me: Yes dear, she was a regular hottie.
Jay: What time is it?
Me: 9:52
Jay: I feel good.
Me: Ok, try to be quiet and still.
Jay: Where's the nurse?
Me: I'm sure she has other patients.
Jay: Ok. What time is it?
Me: 9:52
Jay: Did you like the nurse?
Me: She seems ok.
Jay: What time is it?
Me: 9:53
Jay: Where's the nurse?
Me: I don't...
Jay: But what time is it?
Me: 9:53
And so this continues for two or three minutes. He kept asking for his hot nurse and the time. At least he was gutsy enough to do it in front of me! Ha!!
Jack Sh*t, Gettin' Fit...He Cracks Me Up...
Have you heard of the blog Jack Sh*t, Gettin' Fit?
The author is hilarious!! And, really open about his weight loss struggles and successes. He did a post about television shows that literally made me laugh out loud!! Some of my favorites...
True Blood Sugar
Dancing with the Starves
Lard & Order
Two and a Half Meals
Are those not hysterical??!!?? My latest fitness/weight loss efforts are going well so far. I got in a good workout last night. Cardio at the high school track and strength in my living room. Layton said I looked strong while I was lifting the 10 pounders for triceps. It was so sweet!!
Last night I ran/walked just under 5 miles. 4.92 to be exact...according to the GPS thingy on my fitness tracker app on the ole cell phone. I couldn't run the entire distance because I was packing heat...which tends to weigh the pants down...and threatens to slide the pants down...yes, I need a holster for exercising. Ok, I know that probably seems a little extreme for a walk, but in my defense the track I like to walk goes through some heavily wooded areas.
As I walk, I keep expecting a serial rapist and murderer to jump out of the woods and try to grab me. It happened to Chandra Levy. I totally thought Gary Condit had something to do with her disappearance, didn't you? Can't you totally picture some psycho hiding in the tree line...
When I find myself alone on a stretch, I wonder if I am going to happen upon the decomposing body of a crime victim. It would be just like the first five minutes of Law and Order.
Scene Opens with:
Brunette running along wooded path.
She makes a face as she notices a horrible smell.
Her eyes hang on the sight of a lifeless hand sticking out of the bushes...
The author is hilarious!! And, really open about his weight loss struggles and successes. He did a post about television shows that literally made me laugh out loud!! Some of my favorites...
True Blood Sugar
Dancing with the Starves
Lard & Order
Two and a Half Meals
Are those not hysterical??!!?? My latest fitness/weight loss efforts are going well so far. I got in a good workout last night. Cardio at the high school track and strength in my living room. Layton said I looked strong while I was lifting the 10 pounders for triceps. It was so sweet!!
Last night I ran/walked just under 5 miles. 4.92 to be exact...according to the GPS thingy on my fitness tracker app on the ole cell phone. I couldn't run the entire distance because I was packing heat...which tends to weigh the pants down...and threatens to slide the pants down...yes, I need a holster for exercising. Ok, I know that probably seems a little extreme for a walk, but in my defense the track I like to walk goes through some heavily wooded areas.
As I walk, I keep expecting a serial rapist and murderer to jump out of the woods and try to grab me. It happened to Chandra Levy. I totally thought Gary Condit had something to do with her disappearance, didn't you? Can't you totally picture some psycho hiding in the tree line...
When I find myself alone on a stretch, I wonder if I am going to happen upon the decomposing body of a crime victim. It would be just like the first five minutes of Law and Order.
Scene Opens with:
Brunette running along wooded path.
She makes a face as she notices a horrible smell.
Her eyes hang on the sight of a lifeless hand sticking out of the bushes...
Come on. Tell me you wouldn't be slightly creeped out running this track as daylight starts to come to an end. So yes, I pack some heat when I walk or run this track. Or, I ask a friend to go with me.
Do you think I am totally paranoid?
Onward and Upward...
Hadley is still loving her riding lessons! She has started jumping rails and is thrilled with it!!
