Yay Me!

I just needed to share a personal, yet major, accomplishment with all of you. I have been doing my own taxes (with the help of some software) since I was 18. In the past it only took a short amount of time to fill them out, submit them and then rack in the refunds. Last year was a tiny bit more difficult with the addition of the wedding business, but since we didn't make much money, taxes weren't really much of an issue.

This time around, however, I am pleased to announce that Elegantly Expressed had a great year in 2009 and we surprisingly made some money. I did not wish to pay more in taxes than I actually made though. Therefore, I spent upwards of 14 hours (2 whole Saturdays!) working on paper work, sorting receipts, adding up utility bills, calculating miles, etc. I then spent a couple more hours putting all the data into itemized deductions. In the end, I am pleased that my efforts paid off and I am actually receiving a small refund.

When I hit the submit button I was so proud of myself! I couldn't believe that I had waded through the financial wording and 30,000 documents to really succeed in doing my own taxes! I felt like this was a major big deal for the girl who nearly flunked pre-calculus in high school. Plus, it gave me hope that I might actually be capable of owning my own business.

I now understand what I am up against and have started a system to make it easier on myself next year. I am organizing my expenses differently and starting a new spreadsheet before the crazy summer hits and hopefully next year things will work out even better!

I don't usually pat myself on the back, but this time I can't help it. YAY ME!

Silly Anna

Alexander always says, "Silly Anna, Trix are for kids". Despite this or maybe because of it, I had Fruity Swirl Trix for breakfast yesterday.

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Just last week we got TV back in our house again after it had been absent for about 6 months and already I have a confession to make.

I stay up late to watch............. PBS Sprout. That's right, I watch TV for toddlers. Some of you may be thinking that it isn't so weird, that you watch it too. However, I am willing to wager that 100% of you are moms of toddlers.

Last night I had every intention to go to bed early. However, my husband turned on the TV and I ended up watching "The Goodnight Show" with singing muppets and British cartoons. I was enthralled. Apparently, when I am tired, I have the same mentality as a three year-old (coincidentally, Alexander has been teasing me about this for years). Anyway, my new favorite cartoons are Kipper (I love the baby pig, "Ahnold") and Noddy (I would love it more if the British accents hadn't been dubbed over by dumb American accents).

I think the moral of the story is that when you are buying me a birthday present this year but don't know what I would like, just ask yourself if a three year old would like it. If the answer is yes, then you can be pretty certain that I will probably adore it :)

A Little Too Eager

This morning I woke up and looked at the clock, saw that it was 7:30 and freaked out that my alarm didn't go off. I jumped out of bed and rushed to the bathroom to get ready for work. After getting half ready and as I was just finishing up my hair, I remembered that I was supposed to wake Alexander up so that the cable guy could come at 8:00 to fix our TV (we haven't had TV for 6 months). So I ran in the bedroom and yelled "Wake up! You have to get up and shower!"

"What? Not right now!"

I looked at the clock so I could tell him exactly how many minutes he didn't have to shower and saw that it was still the middle of the night. What? I was stumped. I guess I was just a little too eager to get up for work today. I just stood there in shock for a moment before I decided that I didn't want to be up that early and I got back in bed.

Seriously, I can't figure out how my eyes and brain did not communicate with each other. I could swear the clock said 7:30 when I woke up. I was happy for the "extra" sleep, but I did not appreciate fixing my hair twice this morning.

Deborah

Last Saturday I broke all my own rules and expectations and went with some of my co-workers to participate in the Rex Lee Run. This is a 5k/10k run/walk fundraiser that raises money for cancer research. Participants are also welcome to contribute extra in the name of a cancer victim or survivor and wear their name in the race.

I have never participated in a 5k before, not even walking. It goes against my most firmly held belief that other people don't want to see me exercise. However, since I have broken this rule quite consistently lately by attending my aerobic classes I figured I could walk a couple miles. No sweat, right? Well...mostly. I forgot my ankle brace and thus ended up slowing my very nice friends down. I did surprising well without the brace, but I was sore later.

My real motivation in doing the race was for my husband and honoring his mother in the race. I know a lot of wonderful people that I could have honored instead, but I felt they would understand.

Alexander's mother was Deborah Alvord Strub. She was an extremely accomplished classically trained operatic soprano and had a double master's from ASU in music and pedagogy.

After finishing at ASU, she traveled to England for four years to study voice under a very famous instructor. One night she preformed at the Hyde Park Chapel and was so outstanding that a certain young man, Peter, in the audience couldn't leave without speaking to her. Peter courted her the rest of the time she was in England but she was forced to leave when her visa expired. Distraught that he hadn't proposed while she was still there, Peter proposed to Deborah in a letter and mailed it to Arizona where she was staying with her family. When the letter arrived her family tried to convince her not to open it (they were afraid he would break her heart again). However, she did open it and accepted his proposal. He then came to the US to marry her.

Soon after they were married they had Alexander and then 6 years after that, Sebastian. Deborah was a devoted mother who magnified her talents as a voice instructor in the community as well as an organist and choir director in her church for many years.

When Alexander was a teenager she was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, an incredibly painful and incurable disease. It starts as a tumor with no symptoms and by the time symptoms have developed enough for it to be found, it is usually too late for survival. Because of this, 95% of individuals diagnosed with pancreatic cancer will die within 5 years.

Deborah fought a brave battle, undergoing all sorts of treatments to stave off the inevitable. Regardless of her illness, she encouraged Alexander to go on a mission and so he left in October 2001. He was blessed to be serving in the Salt Lake City mission under Pres. Richard Hinckley (son of Gordon B. Hinckley). When his mother was very close to the end of her life, Alexander was given the special option to spend a few days with her living or to attend her funeral. He chose to see her and was quickly sent down to spend a few days with his family. His mother was so proud of her missionary and only lamented that she hadn't had time to teach him how to be a good husband.

What Deborah may not have realized is that with her entire life she taught her sons how to be great men. She infused Alexander with her love of music and family and taught him kindness, sincerity, humility, and compassion. She also encouraged him to go after his dreams and to take advantage of the wonderful things life has to offer. She taught him true forgiveness and repentance as she spent many months praying so that she would be ready to face the next step in her progression after death. Of course, with all of these wonderful traits, Alexander didn't need to be taught how to be a good husband, he was already great.

Deborah passed away on February 4, 2002 after battling cancer for more than 2 years. She left this earth too early for me to ever meet her, but I imagine that we would have been wonderful friends and that she would have helped me continue my own pursuits by teaching me voice and piano. I think the best compliment Alexander has ever given me is, "My mother would have really liked you". The first time I met Alexander's grandmother she played a recording of Deborah singing "O Divine Redeemer". I've never heard it's equal and it brought tears to my eyes.

So Deborah, in the time between now and when I meet you face to face, I promise to take care of your boy, Alexander, and to love him as much as you would have wished. The best way for me to honor your memory is to love those that you loved and to take care of them when you can't. I pray I can live up to the task.

Why I Need Breakfast in the Morning

Today I started out the day in a great mood, however, now at the late hour of 9:00am, I am ornery.

To be very frank, I hate lazy idiots! Sadly, there is nearly an entire team of arrogant, idiotic salesmen in my company who don't know how to use their brains effectively. For instance, this morning I get an email from a sales rep who wants to know the venue information of an upcoming training. That information is on our website, but whatever, so I tell him the name. I get a response back asking for the address, phone and website of said venue. HELLO!?! Do you not have the internet? In the time it took him to write the response he could have Googled it and found it himself (which is what I had to do to find the info).

I was very close to asking him if I needed to send an IT guy down to fix his internet. Instead I restrained myself and said "Everything is online and very easy to find, however, here it is:" Hopefully he read between the lines and saw that HE IS AN IDIOT, but because he is an idiot, he probably didn't see anything wrong with what he did.

Ugh. As a warning to you all: if you have a really stupid question to ask me that you could easily find the answer to yourself, do not even think of wasting my time, especially before I've eaten breakfast.

To Kiss and Tell

There has been quite a bit activity in my family regarding boyfriends, girlfriends, and dating in general. The biggest gossip concerns my youngest sister who has a new "boyfriend-ish guy" and had her first kiss this week.

When I talked with Nattie about her first kiss, I asked her how it was, did he have bad breath, were his lips chapped, was he sloppy? It was immediately obvious that I had kissed some losers in the past. I loved her answer though, so typical of the first kiss la-la land, "It was really good. I didn't notice anything else."

I have had some first kiss drama myself. On high school graduation day, we had a big party, like most schools do. A boy I had been friends with and with whom I had gone on several dates was there. We spent a good hour just talking on the grass. As the night waned on, I was getting more tired, but also more giddy/crazy (think: teenager). My friends were watching us from a distance and this guy thought it would be funny to stage kiss and then pretend we had really kissed. I personally thought it would be funnier to actually kiss, but I didn't say that. So, because I was silly and wanted him to like me, I agreed. He made me promise not to tell my friends it was a fake. Looking back, I totally don't get why we did it. The next morning my friends were all gabbing about our kiss when my friend Mel pulled me aside, looked me in the eye, and said, "You are a liar." And because I'm not a very good liar, my secret was out.

My actual first kiss was when I was a sophomore in college. I was 19 and completely flattered by a guy I had been dating for about 2 weeks. After one of those long days at school, he walked me to my car and kissed me. I thought it was good at the time, but 2 weeks later I wished I had never kissed him.

I like the story of my husband's first kiss best. We were on our first date and had spent the entire afternoon and evening together. We had taken a walk around campus and had ended up sitting on the bench by the bell tower. Alexander was sharing his heartache about his mom and family and I was overwhelmed at some of the things I felt comfortable enough to share with him. At one point we grew quiet, his arm around me as he stared off into the valley of lights. Suddenly, he turned and kissed me right on the lips. I was surprised and I distinctly remember the thought crossing my mind, "Do I want to be kissing him? Yes, yes, I do!" When we pulled apart, he got a shy grin on his face and said, "Well, I've never done that before".

"What?" I asked, "Never kissed someone on a first date before?"

"No, I mean, I've never kissed a girl at all before". Frankly, I was flabbergasted because his kiss was really nice. Not sloppy, not too long or too short, no chapped lips or bad breath, just really nice. I think that's why I married him. ;)

I think I would like again to experience that rush of adrenaline, of surprise, glee, adoration, joy, and giddiness that comes to a girl the first time she kisses a man she really likes. While I love every single kiss my darling husband gives me, it doesn't carry the same feeling of miraculous anxiety that our first kiss together did.

This quote brings that feeling to life again:

I ran up the door, opened the stairs, said my pajamas and put on my prayers - turned off my bed, tumbled into my light, and all because he kissed me good-night! ~Author Unknown

Merry Christmas!

Yes, I know I am a bit late. It still counts though, right?

Christmas was wonderful, as usual. We got the tree up soon after Thanksgiving and I decided that I must be getting better at my decorating job, as it only took me less than 2 hours to transform my house into a winter wonderland, tree and all.



We were unusually busy this month, with something going on every weekend. We were asked to decorate the ward Christmas party, which shouldn't have been hard, but it was. Alexander was also the guest of honor that night as he was transformed into Santa Claus. I made the suit and was actually quite surprised at how good he looked! Oh, and most of the kids loved him. ;)






On Tuesday, Dec 22, we decided to keep one of the puppies from my parent's dog. Alexander must really love me a lot, because he wasn't too thrilled about the idea. The puppy adds quite a bit of excitement to our quiet home and it will take a some time to get used to her. Alexander named her Lady Godiva and she has been a pretty good pup, all things considering. Right now we are working on teaching her to do her business outside, don't nip or bite, and not to chew on cords, shoes, etc. She is learning fairly quickly and with a little bit of time she will be a very good dog.





We spent Christmas Eve visiting my grandparents and singing carols together. I think this is a nice tradition that we should continue. Plus, they loved the puppy, who was so good, she slept the whole time.

Christmas morning we slept late and took our time getting ready. I made a nice breakfast and we opened presents, letting Godiva have the wrapping paper. That afternoon we went down to my parent's house for dinner and games.




All around it was a wonderful holiday, and a great relief from work.