Accidental Accountant

Remember that one time I became an accountant and I didn't know it?!

Sarah + Numbers = CHAOS!

When I accepted my current position (which I have a love/hate relationship with) I knew that it had a fair amount of budgeting/accounting/expense reporting associated with it.  I mean I RUN the program.  Like all of it.  And our money comes from many different places, one of which is the state.  Which you can imagine, if you follow the CA budget news at all, is quite a stressful, tenuous situation.  ie we never know if there will be money or how much.  And it also means that I have to keep track of and report accounting information to about 99 thousand places.  Yay bureaucracy.  All of this is good.  I do understand the purpose.  I support fiscal transparency.  What I do not support is leaving Sarah to figure out how to expense report and budget project on her own with no training.  But alas this is what is happening.  And today (if you had asked me last week I would have said something different probably) I am feeling like I am slowly (emphasis on the SLOWLY) starting to understand. 

That being said, I still don't want to be an accountant.  Never did.  Praise Buddha for calculators and excel spreadsheets or I would be in deep doo doo.  I don't know how the accountants of yore did all this nonsense by hand!  NONSENSE.  I resolve here and now to implement proper, continuous book keeping practices for this year’s program so that this time next year I will not be crying over my spreadsheets...  And today SP told me that I can quit my job if I want to.  Now that's real love I think.  But with an impending wedding and life dreams I think I'll keep spread-sheeting for a little while longer...

Other than the fact that I'm dreaming in excel formulas life is quite good.  Busy but good.  Busy is better than not busy probably.  Because it means you are alive and social and living every drip out of every minute.  This weekend was a fun one even if it was packed to the last drop.  We spent Saturday moving SP's brother and sister and law and super cute baby chunk into their new house.  A very charming little starter house, I'm very happy for them.  And am even happier that I'm not moving right now!  Moving BLOWS.  But it was really good to see them and snuggle a baby and help get them settled in.  Sunday was project day.  New media cabinet was modified to fit our insanely large cable box.  Seriously why is it so enormous? I can't imagine there is THAT much going on in there.  After a little bit of hole drilling (all SP, I'm not allowed near the power tools) everything fits in just perfectly and all the technology is fabulously (and cutely hidden).  And then...bum bum bum...I (somehow) convinced SP to let me paint our kitchen table an obscenely bright color.  This may not be all that shocking to normal people but if you know SP you know that she's not the biggest fan of color.  She's more of a grey, black, white kind of girl.  And the table is DEFINITELY not one of those colors.  Pictures to follow when the kooky project is complete.  Let’s just say that it is definitely going to be a statement piece.

AND THEN.  (I know right, how crafty are we?!) we carved pumpkins.  Free hand.  yeah.  Let’s just say SP's is adorable.  Mine not so much.  But its ok because I roasted up the pumpkin seeds, which is really the only reason I participate in pumpkin carving at all!  Yummy yum yums.

Mmm pumpkin goooo - note: no kitchen table in the background...

I forgot to mention that we did all this crafting (and some IKEA shopping, because sunday just doesn't seem to be complete these days without a trip to IKEA) on about 4.2 hours of sleep.  Nothing like waking up at 3:00am to the sound of your pipes SQUEALING like something is dying inside of them.  It was truly terrifying.  And just when we thought it had stopped we were awoken again to the gorgeous sound around the 6am hour.  At which point the horrible noise and vibration continued for about an hour when we called the landlord and told him he better send a plumber...and maybe an exorcist right quick!  And when the plumber arrived - no sounds!!!!

As it turns out, not our pipes but rather the pipes of the apartment next door.  Luckily the plumber who came to diagnose our pipes (and of course found nothing) went next door and did fix our neighbors pipes, because I’m pretty sure if that would have continued I would have scratched my own ears off.  And burned holy sage around the entire apartment...

This week we get to slow down a touch, no dinners or doggy lessons.  Just the normal stuff and I have to tell you, doing laundry has never sounded better...

Happy Tuesday peeps!  Here's to hoping you get to slow down too....

Oh the lessons you'll learn...

Important lessons learned this weekend/week:

• When you pick up a stray animal, the act of picking it up means that you have assumed responsibility for said animal.
• SPCA's don't really take strays
• Sacramento animal control is closed Mondays and Tuesdays (so don't pick up an animal Sunday night through Wednesday morning)
• 2 dogs and 2 people in 1 bed is too many bodies for any kind of sleeping
• If you put the Crockpot on high for 8 hours when the recipe calls for LOW for 8 hours your Crockpot will meet an untimely death (unless you like eating meteorites)
• Highlighters make good fake candles if you a) don't' have any candles b) the person being celebrated is in love with office supplies
• Trench coats are le awesome
• The check engine light is from Satan and is meant to cause immense panic
• I have a physical panic attack reaction when I see the hoarders commercials (like I almost cried/threw up simultaneously - hoarding = two things that don't' work well for Sarah, ocd and claustrophobia)
• I dislike Halloween (pls don't make me dress up) but I do in fact love Halloween decorations.  Or maybe I  love all decorations all the time.
• The one dollar bin at target is god's gift to cheap decorators
• I like rain?!!!!??? (wait what?!)

Overall it was a good weekend, it was just filled with a few things that SP and I definitely hadn't planned on.

I have so much more to say about life.  But in the mean time enjoy this fabu Halloween pic:

SP's gonna kill me ;)

Happy Pre-Halloween and Pre-Pre Thanksgiving and Pre-Pre-Pre Christmas (or other holidays that fall around this time that you celebrate)!  I love holiday season!

A quickie (not that kind) for SP

Dear SP,

Sometimes you prance around the apartment like a show pony and I love it so much.  Sometimes you "rush in place" and it’s a shimmy/shake like the world has never known.  Sometimes (aka every day) you make my coffee even though you don't drink any yourself or even particularly enjoy the smell.  SP you give the best hugs.  Your shoulders make the best kleenex.  You are infinitely kind to others.  If we had the financial and time resources I'm pretty sure you'd help every living soul you passed in the streets.  Your ability to eat the exact same things over and over and over again fascinates me (and makes cooking easy!)  You are unendingly optimistic and work harder than probably anybody I've ever met.  Your unfailing faith in me is undeserved but so very appreciated.

Thank you for always watching my crappy reality tv shows and allowing me to be a tv voyer.  Thank you for letting me have all my feelings whenever I need to feel them.  Thanks for always picking up the dog poop.  Seriously thanks.  Thanks for working hard at our relationship - even when it is challenging.  Thanks for trying new things with me and for mini adventures.  Thanks for kicking your own butt to try to make me the happiest girl in the world.  And thanks for always making me laugh really hard.

I love you more than a giant bowl of popcorn with seasoned salt (and you know that's a LOT!)

-Me

Oh Em Gee

Oh em gee you guys, its FALL!

I knew it was fall when the temp didn't hit 90 all last week and it was all breezy and leafy and fall-ey and beautiful.  I knew it was fall by all the beautiful, creamy leather boots that are taking over the shoe departments of the world, and by the cinnamon smell that is around every corner.  Being a southern CA girl, I've always loved some sunshine and some summer weather, but I have a confession to make - I think I'm becoming a northern CA girl.  I mean I really like fall you guys.  And I watch Giants games (blasphemy, I'm sorry Padres, you'll always be my baseball first love).  Who would have thought?  6 years ago at this time I would not have been thinking, “man I wish it would rain.”  And yes I know I will be eating these words, every last drop of them, when it’s been raining for 30 days straight and I'm shoving my head directly into the florescent light fixture.  But still, I'm so excited.  I can't wait for hot tea and blankets.  For reading books in bed while it rains outside.  I can't wait for crisp cool weather and coats and sweaters and boots.  As a rule I think I look significantly better in fall/winter clothes.  And don't even get me started on the holidays.  I'm already a self proclaimed Christmas junkie.  But I love thanksgiving so very much as well.  The food and the colors (I've always looked good in earth tones ;) and the family.  I love that my mom pulls out the Christmas stuff literally the day after thanksgiving and we torture my father by turning on the Christmas music as soon as possible.  I can't wait for apple and cinnamon and scarves.  Oh I can't wait!

To get into the fall spirit SP and I went to Apple Hill awhile ago.  We walked in nature and fed some stinky goats and took fall-ey pictures and looked at crafts.  And we ate apple crumb doughnuts.  Can we just have a moment of silence for apple crumb doughnuts?  I mean really those things will always deserve my everlasting love and worship.  If the world is going to end, I'm going out eating apple crumb doughnuts (and mac and cheese) they're THAT good.

In honor of the season change (and the fact that my hair was a rat nest) I got BANGS.  Bangs dude.  It’s been a long while since I've had some bangs.  And an even longer time since I've had front bangs (that my mother didn't cut in our front yard - word to the wise, moms should probably never cut bangs, their children's or their own - love you mom!)  I'm still getting used to them.  It’s weird to have something touching my face all the time, but overall I think I likey.  Now if I could only figure out how in the world the salon person could get my hair to curl (and STAY for 2 days).  I just don't understand, despite exact replication of what they do I cannot curl my hair.  Maybe I need a new curling iron.  Anybody have any tips on curling uncurlable hair?

Last weekend SP and I went to see my bestie at her hippie cottage in Fort Bragg, CA.  And apparently there is a crazy murderer on the lose in the woods.  (like for real)  I promise we stayed in well populated areas.  Pictoral debrief to come soon.

Happy Fall-ing people!

Is this what being eaten by zombies feels like?

I wrote this yesterday...My Prayers were Answered!

**************************************************************************************************

Dear God of slumber,

Please bless me this night with your sweet dreams.  Because if I don't sleep tonight I'm pretty sure I will cut a b*tch tomorrow.  Is this what being eaten by zombies feels like?  Please help.

Thanks,
Sarah

**************************************************************************************************

I think I'm a pretty level headed person (I can hear SP laughing in my head right now) most of the time.  Obviously I get worked up and anxious and happy and scared and and and but I would say in GENERAL i'm relatively even tempered.  But let me tell you something, when peeps don't sleep, all sh*t hittith the fanneth.  Like no joke, I'm pretty sure everything on the planet is annoying (the florescent lights at work are too florescenty, peoples emails are too emaily, my diet coke isn't diet cokey enough - Can I get an Amen?).  And my brain it just stops working.  Like today I'm pretty sure I stared at the same budget I had been working on for like 35mins trying to do the same (very basic) calculation over and over and over.  (I'll have you know I did eventually figure it out and it was a stupid mistake and that's all we're saying about that).  But really can I be blamed for my irritable disposition and my inability to do arithmetic (can I do this when well rested?! NO!) when it is due in fact to my lack of zzzzzzzzzzz's.  It's not like I'm choosing to be grumpy.  I throw my hands up in surrender, today I'm grumps mc gee.  I'm pretty sure there will be a drool puddle on my keyboard right quick here. 

In other news this insomnia is probably training me well for the wee ones of the future (Calm down SP, my ovaries are on hold - sorta)

Happy Dreaming,
Sarah

I went on vacation and all I got was...

On Vacation I got:

-to relax and swim in the beautiful ocean
-to watch SP plank at Disneyland
-to go to DISNEYLAND
-the stomach flu
-to walk on le beach
-to eat my body weight in mexican food
-a sunburn
-hugs from my momma and my daddy

Epic Plank-age & the Happiest Place on Earth!

Pancho the Disney Donkey

We make such beautiful Disney characters!

 Pretty sure this series of pictures speak for themselves:

We also went to the Aquarium:

Beautiful San Diego!

Vacation, was le lovely (with a tiny bit of terribleness).  It was not quite long enough.  Oh how I wish the parental units lived just a touch closer.  More hugs all around.  

This weekend SP and I are continuing the fun with a mini vacation to San Jose to see our fabulous friend Joshy in THIS! Which is one of my all time favorite musicals anyway but its always just a little bit better when you know somebody in it.  We're taking dog baby with us so hopefully we'll have some outside time too...

Oh cray cray doglet...

Happy labor day peeps!

Saltwater babyyyyy

Sometimes I drink, like, gallons of crystal light.  No joke i'm ingesting at least a liter a day...if not more.  Sometimes I think about what all of those crystal light chemicals are doing to my insides.  And then I think about how much broccoli I consume and I don't even worry about the chemicals.  Everybody knows that broccoli kills cancer.  Just ask George Carlin...

In other news: I SURVIVED!

All 193 students are home and alive and well and I don't care how they are because they are not my responsibility anymore.  And I haven't even received any hate mail or angry parent phone calls etc.  And there are murmurings of keeping me on for another year (and forever!!!!^googleplex).  Please pray for the CA budget so that I can keep my job which I love/hate.  Being asked to continue employment (and being assured that my boss "has absolutely no interest in hiring anyone else") was a pretty great compliment I have to say.  Apparently hard work REALLY does pay off...who knew...

On Sunday after the program ended SP took me to the beach.  It was glorious.  We let kook a dook dog run around and swim in the ocean.  She's kind of a beach/dog freak.  She's like a hyper 2 year old at the beach running around all crazy time and eating sticks and crying at/running to every dog within a 100 yard radius (people love that as you can imagine).  We ate lunch at this cute little cafe overlooking the ocean.  I inhaled burger and fries and fish tacos and mimosas and it was fabulous.  Then SP and I laid on the beach and took a deep breath.  And I remembered what it felt like to not worry about work every minute of every single day.  And it was good. 

OH THE BEACH

Lunch was oh so fresh

And in 7 days I will do it all again.  7 days until vacation in so-cal with the parentals and SP!  We are leaving babydog in the capable care of our friends.  It will be the longest we have ever left her.  I am concerned about it, no lie.  She is very quirky.  And does anybody know how to love her better than me?  I think not... But it will be good to get away from here.  And hibernate.  See some old friends.  Eat some mexican food.  Take a few walks/jogs on the beach.  Enjoy the salty air and my mom's hugs and my dad's chuckly laughter.  I can't wait to see the flowers in the backyard and the ever growing/freaky shrine to the Virgin Mary that mom is eternally working on.  I can't wait for disneyland and reading books and sleeping in (please God, PLEASE reset my internal clock!)  I want to watch movies and go to the wild animal park and do nothing.  I can't wait to turn off the email and the work anxiety and just be.  Just be me with SP.  and the sunshine. 

I'm very lucky I've realized lately.  SP and I are coming to a place in our lives where things are pretty stable.  Where we can save and grow and build our lives.  Its comforting.  It's exciting.  It's weird.  Not like either of us was ever selling our blood for money or anything, but its nice to feel like we can buy vegetables instead of top ramen...This isn't coming out right.  I'm feeling blessed.  and grateful.  That's the moral of this story.

We are in the planning stages for what we are fondly referring to as "The Party About Love"  Suggestions welcome, nothing guaranteed.  (except good food, and sparklers - SP demands sparklers!)

Also I'm pretty much obsessed with THIS song right now.  Yum.

Wishing you sunshine and salt water!