I think Patric and I are nuts!

So if you are friends with my on facebook, you may have noticed the abundance of baking I have been doing lately. I am trying out recipes and changing them to be gluten free. Why would I do that?? Well--back in 2004 when Patric and I got married, he said he thought that we should open a gluten free restaurant or bakery or whatever. I laughed and said, no way. Obviously, during that time, I have baked gluten free and cooked gluten free, not only for the benefit of my immediate family of Patric and Josh and I, but also because I have diagnosed members of my family with gluten intolerance.

I don't know exactly how it came up last week...perhaps I bothered Patric again about his lack of a raise (well...his boss's lack of integrity really...) and how if Patric really put his mind to it, he could run his own business, like he did in Sweden. I asked him what his fear was...that America is the land of opportunity...that if he could make it in Sweden he could make it here...and all the other "pep talk" crap that comes out of my mouth when I try to put some confidence into my beaten down husband...which we all know, I participate in beating him down from time to time as well.

Well---his response was, I think we should do a gluten free bakery. (He has thrown this idea at me over and over again in the seven years we have been married, by the way). I said, fine...lets do it. Well--more like, ok, lets think about this seriously, talk with the county, research online for other gluten free bakers in the area, what our competition is like, what other gluten free bakers have done etc...because while I LOVE LOVE LOVE to bake, it kind of scares me to get REALLY busy with baking (how pompous of me...I don't even know if anyone will buy my stuff), and how would I keep up with Josh and running SJP Accounting (which has been AWESOME this year by the way...I am very pleased with the first quarter of 2011 for SJP Accounting.) While I love my husband, and I totally think he could do some of the work that I do, basically anyone could, I am a control freak when it comes to SJP Accounting. But---this gluten free baking idea is Patric's idea...so if he wants to do it, he will have to get on the phone with the county (which he has already done), research other gluten free bakers (which he has already done) etc.

I think he is serious about this one ladies and gents. We still need to figure it all out and we REALLY need to pray and probably make a trip up to the temple for this one (I am so grateful to be a Latter-Day Saint aka Mormon), because I am able to make decisions that are aided by the Big Man Upstairs. This is NOT an endeavor that I am going to take lightly...especially since I will take on most of the baking in the beginning, as Patric still has a full time job (which we had a goal for him to get out of soon...) and still run SJP Accounting AND still be a stay at home mom. I am exhausted just THINKING about it....but if it is truly what we are supposed to do, I am up to the challenge, and definitely excited to see Patric have some life in him again. I think his job has drained the life out of him...whether he sees it or not!

So while we are still in the research and development stages and maybe never will get to the actual opening of a gluten free business (which would initially be run from our home, but we have some long term goals, at least in our heads...for a storefront), you will continue to see yummy baked goodies posted on facebook and my runs to your house (if you are one of the lucky ones) with treats that I need you to try out ... so I don't gain a million pounds in this process (thank GOODNESS I bought a 6 month gym pass!!) Try not to drool too much on the computer screen...because I gotta tell you, all that I have baked this week have been AMAZING! And most importantly, I think that yummy gluten free treats are a must for those who suddenly have to change their diet!

So---what are your thoughts? am I nutso?

Josh is four??!

Where did the time go? I still remember the days leading up to his birth. I somewhat remember the hospital stay. I definitely remember the cuddly newborn days. But now my little boy is four? This must be a mistake! I have memories when I was four. I guess I need to start being a better parent since his memory is going to be getting better!

Anyway--I have been somewhat busy (ok a lot busy) these past few weeks and the mommy guilt set in quite a bit, so we did Josh's birthday fun this year. We got him presents (which some we had bought before Christmas, we just held onto them), and decided that we were going to take him to Chuck E Cheese's for his birthday dinner. We have never taken him to Chuck E Cheese's and the last time I went was for my niece Rebecca's like third birthday or something. Luckily it was a Monday night, so it wasn't too crazy. I kept going back and forth as to whether I should invite Josh's friend Brendan and our friends Chris and Valerie. Part of me wanted Josh's bestie there, but the other part of me didn't want to put our friends through the chaos. I decided to ask anyway, and they actually wanted to come. So that made Josh happy, and of course, us happy!

Here are some pictures of Josh on his birthday.

He is standing next to his "grow chart" that we created on our wall. He has grown an inch in a month! He is wearing his new Shaun White shirt. Ever since the olympics, he loves Shaun White, and target carries his clothing line, so when we walk past his picture he yells, "Shaun White!"
Two things Josh loves, cars and Toy Story. Luckily, hotwheels has combined them! This is a buzz hotwheel.
I actually think he is mocking me in this picture, because I asked him to smile.
We saw this big sidewalk chalk and just couldn't resist buying them for him.
All of Josh's loot. Toy Story 2, sidewalk chalk, a Mickey Mouse puzzle, the game Trouble, Buzz car and a Toy Story sticker book. He was satisfied.
Also--every week when we go food shopping, he has to see the M&M cake. So naturally, when we asked him what type of cake he wanted for his birthday he wanted the M&M cake. It was delicious!

Now you think that would end the festivities of Josh's birth. But no. One Sunday morning, back in January I believe, Patric sat down with Josh and asked if he wanted a birthday party. Of course a kid is going to want a birthday party. I immediately said, we have to limit the amount of friends that come. We have a lot of friends with kids in our church, but I couldn't fathom inviting everyone, so if your kid was not invited, it wasn't because we didn't want your child to be there...it was because we don't have the space or resources to have a party that big! We told Josh that he could pick eight friends. It did get bumped up to ten friends, but one couldn't make it, so we ended up having ten kids at our house yesterday (including Josh). I hope that they had fun. Luckily the weather was beautiful, so we spent a lot of time outside, blowing bubbles, swinging, and exploring the back yard.

We also played a different version of musical chairs and hot potato. Of course, the theme was Toy Story, since my child has loved Toy Story since the existence of his life! They also enjoyed cupcakes and ice cream and opening presents with Josh. Josh was super excited about his presents, naturally, and wanted to plow right through them. We made him stop after each present, and thank and hug the person who gave it to him.

Here are some pictures-
What cute little boys...with their tongues out...
Playing on the swings.
Waiting patiently for Hot Potato. I just couldn't resist taking a million pictures of these cute kids.
Playing "musical chairs."
The decorations.
The kids patiently waiting for some cake and ice cream.

So there it is. Another year of Josh's life down, hopefully many many many many many many many many many many many more to go!

Josh--if you read this later in life, know that your mom and dad love you VERY much and want nothing but happiness for you in your life....even if it means we lose a little of our sanity in the process!

Sweden!

We had the great opportunity to go to Sweden for Patric's sister Marie's 50th birthday party. Marie wanted Patric to come so she actually paid for his ticket! What a nice sister! I debated back and forth whether I should go, I knew I wanted Josh to go because he needs to know his family in Sweden as well, but finances being the way they have been, up and down, I wasn't sure. Of course, it is also the busy time for me with tax returns and various bookkeeping projects that come up...but, I decided to go as well. We flew out in the evening of Feb 9 and came home the morning of Feb 15 so it was a very short trip. Before we left, I was pretty sad that we were only going to be there for such a short time...we usually are there for two weekends, about 9 days...but we were only there for 4.5 days. Perhaps Harry and Marie were grateful that there houseguests were only there for a short time this time :)

The last time we went to Sweden was to sell Patric's apartment in Goteburg. I guess with that sale I figured he wasn't so interested in living there and that the discussion was off the table for awhile. Well, while we were there, we started talking about the move to Sweden again. Who knows if it will actually happen. Patric will have to take more initiative for it to happen. I do have to remind myself from time to time that I married Patric for the adventure of moving out of my comfort zone...of course, for the last almost 7 years we have been sitting comfortably in the same place I grew up...Patric, I NEED adventure! Make this happen!

Anyway--here are some pictures of the short trip! I didn't pull out the camera for the party, which is unfortunate because Marie looked so beautiful. I don't believe that she is 50...she looks great!
I love this picture of Patric and Josh. Josh absolutely LOVES snow...so this was his heaven on earth.
Patric's sister has a horse farm, so we always get to see these beautiful animals close up when we are in Sweden.
We flew into Sweden on the right day...it was the start of a big snow storm. The next day, flights were canceled. Patric and Josh never can resist doing snow angels.
Sweden is such a beautiful country...and this is just a taste of what Marie and Harry own.
Marie and Harry have an enormous dog...lucky she is the sweetest dog ever.
Patric's heaven...horses, snow, dogs, cats, kids...life doesn't get much better for him.
An example of Josh's fearlessness. Luckily this was a nice horse.
This is probably my favorite city in Sweden, Dalaro, so I needed to go there while we were in Sweden. These ducks were just relaxing on the road...we could literally touch them if we wanted.
Case in point. Patric is standing right next to the duck...and they aren't even phased by it.
It happened to start snowing while we were in Dalaro. It was beautiful. These ducks followed us where ever we went. I have a video on my phone that shows that..but I have to get it on youtube.
These are the houses on the water. Patric and I have dreams of living here one day. Dreams...
Josh loved the ducks..as you can tell. They jumped out of the water eventually as well. I don't have any pictures of that.

I already want to go back...this time in the summer, of course. I wish we could go this summer, but we gotta pay off the tickets we just bought first and get stuff down around here. Perhaps the summer of 2012 we can visit again (or maybe move...ha!).

Holy January!I

So--wow---I am SO excited that tomorrow is January 31 and I can move on from this month. It was a DOOZY!

To start--I was trying to be a good accountant and load up my software for this tax season. The only problem was, it wasn't working! I enlisted the help of a friend and he got it to load. I thought the problem was over and all would be well again in my world. (Had I known this was one of the minor things I would be dealing with this month I would not have stressed out as much). When I went to license the software, it wouldn't work. So I called tech support and spent probably about eight hours total on the phone with them. Turns out, I had a bad virus that virtually destroyed any chance of getting that program onto my computer. I had a few options 1. Erase everything on the lap top and start over 2. Buy a new lap top.

I opted for number two. Eventually I will erase everything off of my other computer, but I was so scared of losing something that I can't bring myself to do it. This is almost four years of work on my computer...I CERTAINLY can not lose that. How could I explain it to my clients?

I was already freaking out about money for this month because January is a tough month anyway--and now I am out buying a new computer...oh and Quickbooks was on sale, so I opted to buy it as well, since it was so cheap.

Then I decide to start on our tax return, at least get preliminary numbers in so I can plan. I knew I made more money last year then the previous year and having renters in our home, I anticipated having to owe a bit. I didn't anticipate THIS MUCH. I was freaking out!

And then...the next day we get a call from our tenants that the heater was making a really loud banging sound and so they turned it off. We knew that the heater was old...and we knew that eventually it was going to go out...but WHY did it have to be THIS month?? By this point, I thought...I REALLY can not handle anymore...my head is going to EXPLODE!

Remember---I was ALREADY freaking out about being able to pay all of our bills...and then on top of that all of these extra expenses are popping up.

After about a week...I am starting to relax...maybe even feel happy again? Calm? Peace?

HA!

I get a call on Friday Jan 21 from Patric. He says--out of breath--"Sasha, someone tried to run me off the road, the car....its flipped, I flipped the car...I need to call the police." Now...if you can remember...not too long ago Patric got rear ended and the car was totaled..we went through a lot of anxiety about buying a new car and dealing with insurance and all of that. I was NOT expecting to deal with this AGAIN!

Remember---I am ALREADY freaking out about money!!!

The car crash is a story in itself. I don't want to write it all out because it just makes me angry and sad. It will be a memory for Patric and myself to remember...but not sure if I need to write it out. If you have been one of the lucky ones to hear me tell it, thanks for listening to me and dealing with any of the tears that may have followed.

Anyway---so yes...these are all of the horror stories that have come from this month.

But--

In EVERY HORRIBLE thing that has happened this month...because all of them apart is enough for me to go gray and be admitted to a hospital...I have felt EXTREMELY blessed.

Lets start with the computer -

Having to buy another computer when we didn't have the month sucked. BUT- the lap top that I bought was super cheap. Half of the price of my other one. There was a nice sale going on. It was a pain to have to go get it in Manassas because the store we go to was out of them and I could only get it that day and then the price would go up $150.00 but it was in Manassas and it isn't too far away (I couldn't buy it online either, of course). 2nd...I had to buy Quickbooks this year. Intuit only lets you use all the functions of the software for three years...and I have been using QB 2008 for my clients...and..it was on sale as well...$150.00 off! So--I saved $300 total on two items I was considering buying this year anyway...

The heater breaking --

The first quote we got to fix the motor was $900 or to replace the entire unit was $3000.00. I am sure both Kami and my mom were worried about me that day. I literally was hyperventilating on the phone with my mom and bawling! Then, Trina Fife, BLESS HER HEART, gave me the number to a VERY NICE repair man. I gave him a call, and I asked him if he could give me a quote over the phone because I didn't want him to come out and charge me just to give me a quote. We had already paid $89 to the previous company (oh...and our tenants changed the locks AND put new walls up in our house that we didn't know about...I mean seriously people...my head was spinning this month).

The man said he could fix the motor for HALF of the price of the first company I contacted. He also said he would charge $4,200 to change both the heater and a/c. The first company, if we were to change both, would be $5,600. (It is smarter to change both at the same time if you have old units like ours). He came out because I said I was leaning more towards just changing the unit out at this point (even though we didn't have the money) because the last thing I want is more problems. He said he could come right away and measure things and give me the quote for the machine. When he came, he tried a few things out to see if it was even the motor. Now he originally told me that he would charge if it was a repair, but he gave free quotes for a new installation. He told me he was not going to charge me for coming out, even if I didn't put in a new unit.

We ended up getting a new motor for $450.00 instead of $900.00. I did tell him that when the time comes and we need to change it out, he will be the person to get the job!

Tax Return--

Something didn't sit right with me on our tax return. And so I went to the 1040 instructions of the self employed health insurance line. October of 2009 I decided to remove Josh and I from Patric's insurance at work because it was CRAZY expensive. It is a nice tax break to be on his insurance because it lowers our gross income, but we were going to have to pay over $800 a month!

On the instructions of the 1040, it states that if you are self employed and you are eligible to be on your spouse's subsidized insurance plan then you are not eligible for the deduction. My memory worked for once and I remembered Patric telling me when we were making the decision to remove Josh and I from his plan that the company he works for only pays for some of the employee's portion of the insurance and if you want coverage for your family you pay full price.

So---therefore I am not on a subsidized plan if I am on Patric's insurance...because we would pay the entire cost of the insurance. I decided to just see what other tax professionals thought of what I wanted to do, so I took it to a forum I go to, especially during tax time, for tax professionals. A CPA wrote on my thread that she believed I qualified for the deduction and then another tax professional said I did as well.

I am taking the deduction...and that literally saved me OVER a thousand on my taxes this year. I will be paying only a little over $200 total this year (I will get a refund from VA that I am offsetting towards what I owe to the Feds).

--The car accident

While losing the car that I loved so much for 6.5 years...and dealing with another totaled car, and a police man that charged the wrong person with the accident etc. My husband is still alive. My son has a father still. The biggest thing that made me cry when dealing with all of this was the thought that Josh wouldn't have his father anymore. I know what it is like to lose a father at a young age. If we lost Patric, I would be SO incredibly sad and MAD. It would fulfill all the fears I had when I married him. Being alone...Josh losing someone so young. I don't wish losing a parent at a young age on anyone.

Also--we are going to get a decent amount for the Matrix and we already bought another car. We bought the car for $5000 and we will get about $8000 for the car...so we will be able to pay for the other items that came up this month with that money and then replenish our savings as well a bit.

Oh--and in the midst of all this, I got extra work that I didn't anticipate...so we were able to pay our bills.

I have to constantly remind myself of how much I am blessed. This was a VERY hard month for me. I have cried a lot. I literally had a head ache for a week. That has been replaced with eye twitching. Heavenly Father must REALLY think that Patric and I can handle a lot because he throws A LOT of stuff at us that most people will never have to deal with in their lives. It does unite us closer to each other, which is probably the greatest gift of all. I love my husband so much and do not want to EVER lose him.

So--to those who wondered where I have been...this is what I have been up to this month!

Catching Up!

Wow--so I dropped off the face of this blog! To say life got busy is an understatement. Patric's birthday, Christmas, New Years all have come and gone. Now it is January 16! I have had a rough couple of weeks into 2011. My computer got a virus that destroyed it basically...and since it is tax season I was freaking out. Got that taken care of, and had to jump right into work...which I have been grateful to have because I have been freaking out about our finances. People have come out of the blue needing additional work and so I feel very blessed in that regard...but I have had a lot of long nights because of my computer problems and lots of work.

We have a lot of ideas for the future of my company---we really want to market my company now. I have been holding back a lot because I wanted to be available for Josh, but he is almost four and I need to stop holding back. There are many opportunities out there, and I need to stop resisting them.

So--lets look at pictures!

These two cuties waiting for Santa to arrive to throw candy to them!
His excitement is so fun! I love him so much!

I love this shot that I got. The man of the hour himself--Santa!

Our stockings!
For the last couple of years, we have been buying pjs for Josh for Christmas Eve. He was a little excited about these.
Still hugging his new pajamas.
I am usually the one taking the pictures, but Patric managed to take a few of me and Josh. My camera still has problems, so this is about as good as its gonna get.

Patric bought Josh a Woody and Buzz ornament for his little tree he had in his room. He LOVES all the Toy Story movies and characters.
Of course I had to take a picture of the tree after Santa made his visit.

This winter has been pretty lame...definitely compared to last year. We have had maybe 4 inches total of snow this year. It kind of sucks.

There probably won't be much for me to write about for the new few months as I will hopefully be working to building my bookkeeping and tax business. Josh will turn four in just two months. That kinda breaks my heart. My little boy is growing up way too fast! I wish I could just freeze time, before I know it, he is going to be graduating from high school and going off to college!

First Snow!

Today it snowed somewhere between 2 and 3 inches. While this is nothing compared to what we got around this time last year with the 20+ inches, but we enjoyed it none the less.

I took some videos of Josh because I didn't feel like getting my camera out so I used my cell phone.




We went over to my mom's house to decorate sugar cookies and then to Target to pick up some last minute Christmas items and then Josh took a nap. When he woke up he was ready to sled. Now I am officially ready for Christmas.

A Car Crash Story-Happy Thanksgiving!

Before Patric went to work on Wednesday, November 24 he was telling me about a coworker of his that got into a car crash that totaled her car. I spoke about how much that sucked...but apparently I forgot to knock on wood.

I missed a call from Patric at 930 that morning. Patric doesn't leave work until about 930 every morning (even though he is supposed to be at work at 930...) but he must have left around 920 that day. I wondered why he had called me and thought, "well maybe he just wanted to tell me he loved me" (cause, yes people, sometimes he calls right after he leaves to tell me he loves me). Unfortunately, that was NOT the case this morning. I actually had plans to hang out with my friend Valerie that morning, so I had a reason to get up and shower since I said I could be at her house between 10 and 1030. I called Patric back and he told me that he was in a car accident but that he couldn't talk because the police had just arrived.

I can tell you I didn't worry about him. Obviously, if he could call me, and he sounded ok, that he was ok. He called me after the police left and told me that was rear ended on Minnieville. He was stopped waiting to turn left (or make a u-turn) and the other driver came speeding up to him and looked down to get her coffee (at least that is her story...) and slammed right into Patric going about 45 mph. Thank the heavens above Patric looked in his rear view mirror and saw that she was not slowing down and decided to try to avoid her. He wasn't successful, but it could have been MUCH worse. She did hit him on the right back side of the car.

Patric came home because the car was making some noise, the muffler was hanging off etc. He had to take my car to work. Can you imagine going to work after that? My husband is so dedicated! I hope his boss understands that!

So, of course, this being the day before Thanksgiving, we didn't have much time to process everything. Poor Patric doesn't complain much of pain, and he said that his back and neck was hurting quite a bit. It wasn't until Saturday that I thought, oh crap, the car could be totaled! It was a 2002 Hyundai Elantra...with 106k miles on it. Not a very valuable car to many, but it was to us because it was paid off and had been paid off for 2.5 years! We were starting to have weird issues with it, like it not starting for some reason every now and then. We were researching what to do with that and he had three belts that needed to be replaced. THANK GOODNESS WE DIDN'T DO IT!

Sunday, a person from the insurance came to see the car and as we suspected, the car was totaled. We had to immediately start thinking about what we were going to do about a car. Would we buy a smaller car again for Patric to commute to and from work? Would we buy a bigger car for our family to grow into? Let me tell you, for me, this was the hardest decision to make in a long time! I was constantly thinking about cars and researching. I had never thought about buying a big car at this point in my life...since I only have one kid. During the olympics, we saw ads for the Kia Sorento (of course they had Muno from Yo Gabba Gabba so Josh loved to watch those commercials) and thought that it could be a possibility. So after poor Patric had a long day of work on Monday, in which he said he felt weird all day and foggy, we went over to the Kia dealership to try it out. The Kia has a lot of cool features. I knew I didn't want to get a 5 seater car. To me, what is the point of getting a bigger one if it is only 5 seats? The Matrix has 5 seats...we could just get another one of those. We would have to get the top of the line Sorento to get the 7 seater.

Tuesday--I went to drive a 2008 Honda Pilot after I did some work. I brought my stepdad Charlie with me. I liked driving the Pilot. Josh just happened to leave his toy horse at the dealership so I had to go back anyway and Patric went with me and test drove it that night.

We weren't rushing into a purchase, so we walked away. Next night, we went to a Miller Toyota and test drove a Highlander. I did like how the Highlander drove, but felt it was kind of small. (Why do I need a big car? The highlander would be VERY suitable for the size of my family right now!)

We walked away from there as well. By Wednesday night I am exhausted from thinking about cars. I spent most of three days researching these cars. Read a MILLION reviews. Surveyed facebook...the works! Then I turned it back on Patric. I said, what if we just go with a small car?? I made Patric make the ultimate decision (which I have been doing a lot lately, I am tired of making all of the decisions and am putting my trust into my husband)...because somewhere in my head I knew we should get the big car...but I didn't want to be the only one thinking that. Patric spent Wednesday night researching small cars (or at least prices.) We know what type of car we would get..so he wanted to see prices.

Thursday night, I woke up and asked him what he thought. Patric said he felt we should go with the 2008 Honda Pilot. I won't go into the details of why he came to this decision, but we were both on the same page, so we did it! I do have to say, I was quite the haggler on this one. I made Patric deal with most of the negotiating...but I was the final STING to the dealership. My mom heard some of my negotiating and was all thumbs up. She even told me she was proud of me! She said the dealership might think that because I am pretty and blond (and then she corrected herself...since I do NOT have blond hair right now...but in her mind I will always have blond hair) that I wouldn't be able to handle myself. I do have to say that the only reason I suddenly got a backbone in this is that the salesman I test drove the car with the second time (not our original sales person) told me that there was probably still room to come down on the price. Little did the manager there know that. He thought everything was set and I was just making the final decision on the car and then we were going to start the paperwork. HA! The second salesman also got me new mats (the other ones were NASTY)...he saw them and was like, ew gross, we will get you some new ones. He also updated the safety inspection, shined up the car and tires, filled up more of the tank, contacted the previous owner of the car for the headrests because they were missing. Seriously, this guy is AWESOME.

We had an overall good experience at Hendrick Honda. I had to be pretty mean to the finance manager initially, so when we went in to sign papers I joked around with him a lot. I said, you got to see my brutal side, now you can see that I can actually be nice. He gave us a few breaks when we finally got it all going and we are happy with our decision.

This morning when I was thinking about the car, it sunk in. I was no longer going to have my baby every day to drive. I have been driving my Toyota Matrix since July of 2004. I NEVER wanted to get rid of the car, and while it isn't gone...Patric gets to take it to work now everyday. I know I should be ecstatic about driving the Pilot, but it is a bit intimidating. I will get used to it (as everyone keeps telling me) and all will be well. The car payment is going to suck. It was nice not to have one for awhile....but alas, we tend to get hit back into debt one way or another. We are just blessed that we are able to pay for the things that come our way...one way or the other.

Here are some pictures -

This picture shows you that the frame of the car was bent...there shouldn't be a space between the black part and the metal.


And the new car, equipped with our Christmas tree we bought tonight.

So there it is...the story of Patric's car accident and our ventures of buying our new(well new to us) car!