50% Certified Bean Counter

Congratulations to Mike!!! He found out yesterday that he passed the second part of the California CPA exam. 2 down and 2 more to go. He takes test number 3 tomorrow and then waits a few months for the results. We will all be happy when all this studying is over. I'm so proud of him. He doesn't need the CPA license for his current job but he is doing it just to be prepared for the future. ( Unfortunately I am much more lazy than he is, as I never got the LCSW license in my field because I didn't want to study for it. Lame I know) What a great hard working motivated husband I have. Cheers to him!!!

Now, for a little treat I decided to make him a chocolate lava cake. The picture on the recipe in my magazine made it look so beautiful with luscious chocolaty goo spilling out of the miniature cakes topped with plump raspberries. Well, so it didn't exactly turn out very pretty but at least it tasted good. Why does nothing I make every look as beautiful as it does in the picture? Are they using fake food? I mean we've all heard that they use glue instead of milk to get those cereal box pictures. If they photoshop models why not every food too? Is nothing real??

[up]Chuck-A-Rama

We spent Thanksgiving in St. George of all random places. My brother Jim and his wife Kristina who live in D.C. were down visiting her parents and sealed their sweet baby to their family in the St. George temple. It was a great weekend filled with good food, fun times at the sand dunes, shopping, and lots of laughs, but I have to say that my favorite part was the sight I saw on Thanksgiving morning. At 11:00am we were headed over to the Thanksgiving feast and we just happened to drive past a Chuck-A-Rama Restaurant. Now, I don't know about the rest of you but the only times I have been sighted in that restaurant has been when I have been forced to go with my 98 year old grandma who absolutely raves about how good it is. I find it about on par with BYU dorm food-ughhh. Anyway, not only was Chuck-A-Rama open for business, but there were about 50 people waiting in line outside to get in. Most were very nicely dressed in their Thanksgiving best. Oh yeah, and did I mention that a significant portion of these eager clients were in the "blue hair" genre. What is it about old people and gross buffet restaurants. Do they like them because they have no more taste buds? Somebody please explain. I just feel sorry for their family members who were forced to join them. Happy Thanksgiving to them, and stay away from Grandma's next year or you just might end up at one of these establishments.

Purses purses purses

As a general rule, I like shopping for clothes. However there are 2 items that I really don't like buying, purses and shoes. I can't even remember the last time I purchased a purse, unless you count the one I got 4 years ago at a garage sale for 25 cents. My purses have mainly come from two sources, Alyssa and my Mom. I appreciate that others are willing to help me out in this matter. My real estate agent also gave me a purse once. Apparently, however, there are others who live in far away places that are also concerned about my lack of purse buying skills. About 3 years ago, Mike and I traveled to Brasil. While we were there I acquired a most unusual purse from a friend of one of my missionary companions. It is a purse made from one continuous zipper. Very odd, but a great conversation piece as well as very useful. See exhibit A below. (sorry I have no idea how to flip it)

As I wrote in my first post, we recently returned from another trip to Brasil. On this trip we were visiting with a friend who decided to show me her collection of homemade purses. Now these aren't any purses mind you. These happen to be purses made from recycled materials that are crocheted together such as plastic bottles and soda can tabs. And wouldn't you know it, she gave me one of these gems. I now have my own soda can tab purse. Please note that I was instructed to use this purse at high class affairs such as weddings and parties because it has fake pearls sewn on it. I don't know, soda tabs and high class parties- do they mix???? Please see exhibit B.

I can't wait to see what kind of purse I get next time we go to Brasil. And for all of you who have ever given me a purse, thanks.

Welcome to Blogville

Here is my attempt at blogging. I am very lame at understanding all this new-fangled technology but I will give it a try. So, to start out on a funny note, I am including the following picture from our recent trip to Brasil. First of all, I hate dogs, and Brasil has a large quantity of street dogs. I hate everything about them but on this particular day they provided us with some good entertainment. We had arrived at the beach with high hopes, only to find it pouring rain. As we were deciding what to do, we noticed a pack of about 10 dogs chasing after 1 dog. (need I say more) This amusing mating dance kept us occupied while we stood under some shelter in the pouring rain trying to come up with plan b. By the way, we didn't stay long enough to see which dog won the prize.

This is what beautiful Florianopolis looks like when it is not raining.