A Glimpse of Tax Season

Here are some pics from the end of last tax season! My friend, Bina, was the department photographer until she moved to Chicago. Her work finished before ours so she had time to take pictures of us stressing out at the last minute!



What STRESSED looks like! Working 80+ hours a week, constantly on the phone answering questions from our temporary assemblers, and waving a giant stapler at partners who get on my nerves (unfortunately no pictures of that!) in between doing my regular work!

Seven Weeks and Counting. . .

Seven weeks from this Tuesday is April 15th! woohoo! For those new to this blog, I work as a tax return assembler at this accounting firm. Unfortunately it will be a lonnnng seven weeks as we've just now started getting busy. I put in 58 hours this week, but it will get worse. I'm taking it one day at a time, especially with being a single mom this time.



My universal card reader is shot, so no pictures for awhile. Yikes :o( Especially since there is little time for shopping.

Emily had her cast removed this past week! Yay! She's in a removable walking boot that she wears outside the house. It will be so nice to have her ride the bus to school once again. She'll go back in three weeks for her final xrays and to be "set free" as the doctor calls it!

The divorce proceedings are going way too slow since the Stranger Who Used to Be My Husband seems to think he's entitled to a lot despite all his "misconduct" over the years. His latest quote is, "But they were only one-night stands!" Did I mention he had TEN of them in three years? Did I also mention that he's STILL with the (unmentionable name) who contributed to the final breakup of our marriage? Yes, they just celebrated their one-year anniversary this month. While I was working all those long tax-season hours last year, Mike was leaving our girls at home alone, out galavanting with her (when she wasn't with her other lovers--no joke).

Ah well, life is stranger than fiction at times, isn't it? I'm focusing on what's ahead because things can only get better!

My brother, the contest winner!

A few months ago, Marty told me about this online contest where you had to come up with a creative slogan for a "do not disturb" sign for Embassy Suites. I couldn't get the website to work, so I forgot about it. He recently found out he was one of five lucky winners! They picked his slogan (above!) and now his DND sign will hang in Embassy Suites around the country and world! How cool is that? And he's heading for Waikiki on spring break to collect his prize: three nights at the Embassy Suites Waikiki. Woohoo! WTG, Mawdy!! I'm proud of you!

Here's the press release:

“Shh! I’m hatching a plan to bust some little soaps out of here.”

This is how Embassy suites’ guests say “Do NOT disturb”
Winning Signs to Be Hung on Doorknobs Nationwide

Memphis, TN (February 15, 2008) – Today Embassy Suites Hotels announces the five winning slogans of the Do Not Disturb contest. These guest-designed door hangers will be displayed in all of the hotel brand’s nearly 200 properties starting March 5th and each winner will receive a three-night stay at select Embassy Suites destinations.

“It was so much fun to be able to create something that will actually appear in hotels all over the country,” said Marty Mintman from St. Louis, Missouri, the winner of the stay at Embassy Suites Waikiki Beach Walk (Honolulu, HI). Marty won with the slogan “Shh! I’m hatching a plan to bust some little soaps out of here.”

The five winners have been awarded a three -night stay at select Embassy Suites locations. The winning signs can be viewed at http://www.embassysuitesdndcontest.com/winners. In addition to Marty, the other grand prize winners are:

“Pillow Fight In Progress.”– Susan Suarez, University City, MO - LaQuinta Resort & Spa (LaQuinta, CA)

“There are days when I wish I could wear this around my neck” Sandra Parcher, Milpitas, CA - The Embassy Suites New York (New York City)

“I’ve built a pillow fort and I am not opening the door for anybody!” Amy Forgette, Streamwood, IL -The Embassy Suites Mexico City Reforma (Mexico City, D.F. Mexico)

“Aww, Mom. Just five more minutes. Please?” Brian White, Chicago, IL - The Embassy Suites Washington D.C. Convention Center (Washington, D.C.)

The contest, which ran online at EmbassySuites.com from August 27th – October 31st , 2007 was judged by John Lee, Vice President of Brand Marketing and Communications at Embassy Suites; Eric Melkent from Embassy Suites advertising agency Carpenter Sullivan Sossaman (CS2); and Jody Smith, Mike McGilligan and Sayed Hassan, general managers at the Austin Embassy Suites, La Jolla Embassy Suites and Chicago Embassy Suites hotels, respectively. Guests chose from online designs, images and templates to customize their very own Do Not Disturb design and slogan. Judges were specifically looking for the cleverest and most original Embassy Suites Do Not Disturb signs.

“It was so refreshing to hear the guests’ ideas,” said Jody Smith. “We sifted through more than 7,100 entries and tried to choose winners that had slogans that fit with Embassy’s playful brand personality. The response was overwhelming.”

To see the winning signs, please log onto http://www.embassysuitesdndcontest.com/winners.

Celebrate!

For Christmas, Unc got all of us Dave & Buster's gift cards so that we could celebrate the January/February birthdays there. It was a rushed day for us as we were busy with church stuff, but it was nice to get together with family nevertheless. We had not all been together since Christmas. I'm not a big fan of D&B's. Everytime I've been there it's either been for a work meeting or to herd around a bunch of birthday kids. It was nice to sit and relax. (Missing from the pics are Brad, Melanie and Aaron who were off in gameland during the photo ops!)

Barb and Marty

Jeneane and Chris (Baby Aly stayed home to watch something on TV, according to Chris!)

Unc and Gram

Katie and Emily

Footprints in the Snow

(I bet you were expecting some creatively mushy poem I wrote, huh?)

I looked out on the deck yesterday and saw this:

Hmm...I wonder which flatfooted daughter went barefoot in the snow! Easy to guess since the other daughter has a cast on her foot!

Katie's comments on her spontaneous walk across the snowy deck:

"It was really cold."

;o)