Mrs. CPA

Insert Picture Here

This is the only picture I have of anything remotely Christmas. We did not take one picture of Santa's haul or the Christmas tree or of one single solitary stocking. It's like Christmas 2009 never happened around here (unless you look in my garage-dear Jesus the boxes.) We had to rearrange the entire house to accommodate Hudson's train table. I used that opportunity to put away all the Christmas decorations too. So this little t shirt is all I have to show you. (It's a long standing joke between Tim and I about airbrushed shirts that people get on vacation. The only way this could have been more perfect was if it had been silhouettes of he and I on a beach in the sunset with Kelly & Tim 4-Ever on it.)(I'm really sorry if you are an airbrushed t-shirt enthusiast. They are funny and I will laugh at you if you wear one seriously.) Apparently our newest holiday tradition involves the stomach virus. For both Thanksgiving and Christmas some or all members of our family have be brought to their knees. But it made for a quiet family Christmas since no one wants to come over and share Christmas cheer when they are likely to start vomiting.

I also managed to score my blogher ticket so as to avoid the rush. (Are you going?) Once tax season is in full swing in a few weeks, I won't be able to think about anything other than 1040's, 1120's, my own personal hygiene, and making sure my children are clothed and fed before I shuttle them off to daycare. And Sleep. I'll be dreaming about SLEEP for the next 4 months. 

I hope you got everything you wished for and that you remembered to actually take some pictures of the chaos at your house. All I have to show for it is an ugly t-shirt and some new silverware.

New York - Lock Up Your Wine and McDonalds Bags

I bought my ticket for Blogher today.

Watch out.

SnapGifts

I wouldn't do this for just anybody! I'm sure some of you know of my long standing blog affair with fellow accountant, Cagey, of Rancid Raves. Her husband is the king of internet entrepreneurship. His latest project is Snapgifts.

This website lets you pick giftcards from national brands like Old Navy, Chili's, Best Buy, Barnes & Noble and local brands. Snapgifts also lets you purchase gift cards that are searchable by city. New York, Cincinnati, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Atlanta, Phoenix and 25 other cities are available to choose from to find your favorite local restaurant or merchant and share it with your friends and family. Whether it's a local bistro, hole in the wall, McDonald's, or Cracker Barrel for your RV'ing parents - if Snapgifts has it, the gift certificate can be mailed to your recipient and they can enjoy a free treat, courtesy of YOU!  (During December, it's free shipping, too.)

When your aunt mentions that she loves a local restaurant, instead of trying to call the establishment and get them to send you or her a gift card, which I've tried to do before and is a mess, Snapgifts can help you out, quickly and easily.  Most local places won't mail the cards to you because they are worried you have stolen someone's credit card. Snapgifts takes the hassle out of the process. You know your information is secure, the restaurant or store gets the gift card to the person who wants it with a minimum amount of work, and your recipient gets what they want!

You can also buy a gift certificate for a gift certificate called a Snapcard. Snapgifts sends an e-mail to your recipient immediately and they can go to the website and pick what they want. What a great idea for a college student!

These are not discounted gift cards where you have to spend $50 to use a $25 gift card. It's an honest to goodness card, just like you would be able to walk in to the store and buy, if only you had the time or were close or if going out into Christmas traffic didn't make you want to bash your head against the wall.

The website is easy to use and even though Little Rock is not a city listed (Boo!!!) there were four pages of national merchants available. Almost all of which are available in the backwoods of Arkansas. The checkout process is pretty standard - you can choose to register to save time in the future. There's also an option to include a gift message if you ship the card directly to the recipient.

From now on, if you need gift cards sent near and far, please go to Snapgifts.

(Cagey gave me a gift card code to purchase something to try out Snapgifts and tell you about it. But I would do it because I love her.)

Notes from a jumpy place in central Georgia

The have computers here! I'm supposed to limit myself to thirty minutes, but considering there are only 3 other people in here and one family stalking their own child with a D400 while I practice some benign neglect, I think I'm ok.

We arrived at the airport after a 4 am wakeup call on Saturday morning. No one was more disgusted to hear the "marimba" going off at the crack of dawn than me. With our $90 (semi-crappy) dinner a faint memory and no shops open in the airport, promises of airplane cookies were made. I upgraded us all to business class. I know those tiny butts didn't need more seat or leg room, but it made me happier, and Hudson practically had a cot for which to take his $300 nap. Until after landing. But I saved him some cookies from the stewardess.

About halfway through the flight I went to look for my camera to have our picture taken on the plane. My black recyclable shopping (extra classy) carry-on was no where to be found. NO WHERE. If I had been Samuel L. Jackson, I would have turned that plane around, but I'm not, so I settled for furious tears and illegal texting. Once we got close enough to the ground and those text messages actually reached their intended recipients, I learned that Air Tran had found my bag, one of the gate attendants had turned the camera on and recognized us enough to put names with the faces, checked my emergency contacts, and called my husband. Who proceeded to have a mini stroke until the person not only identified they were from the airlines, but that they were calling about a camera, not my unexpected death. Haley had done the smart thing and gone back to the hotel before she made the trek home, and she was able to go and get the camera and the children's coats from the airport. So it is safe at home. Which is where it was before I called Tim from Decatur, AL and told him I had forgotten to pack it in the first place.

On another note, but still important, if the business class stewardess who takes the initial drink orders before takeoff hadn't been such a bitch, pretending like we weren't even there, I would have asked her to take our picture before takeoff and realized my camera was out in the gate area and not on the plane. But she skipped over us, barely even acknowledging our existence and taking everyone's orders before my obviously excited and well behaved charges.

My brother and my Dad were waiting on us as we emerged from the dark recesses of Atlanta airport's tram system. We made it to my brother's house after a short stop at McDonald's for breakfast for the hooligans.

This impossibly tiny, cute baby was waiting on us there. My brother braved taking all of the big boys to the grocery store. He is not immune to the powers of persuasion displayed by small evil humans, and came home with more junk than a 7-11.

The testosterone in the house is stifling.

And so, as a treat, I took all the boys to this jumpy place after lunch at Waffle House. And forgot my book. So you get this entry. Their time is running short and there have been no naps. We are vacating the jumpy place. It just happens to coincide with the exact amount of time it took me to write and quasi-edit this entry! How convenient!