We are geeking out

Well it's Sunday morning and we're in Austin.

You don't know the results of our Geek Bowl performance last night.

Actually, at the time I'm writing this......I don't know them either.

In fact, it's still two days away and I'm not a psychic.

But come back tomorrow and hopefully I can tell you that we are the Geek Champions of the World!



One thing I do want to say.....we're probably really enjoying this 24 hour period of not working .... we haven't had a day off in a very long time! And I don't even have to be a psychic to figure this one out.

Why are they tempting me?

Why is it that I get these little postcards in the mail?



The ones that say I can have all these free room nights.

The ones that are located in a fun gambling town.

The ones that know how desperately we need a vacation.

Why do they keep torturing me like this?

Another thing to add to the "One of the things I Love" list

I love to eat at unique restaurants.

You know the kind of places that are different, quirky, unique?

Well the other day Paul and I ate at Wunsche Brothers in Old Town Spring.

The place is awesome.

Unfortunately, the food didn't live up to our expectations.

Disappointed......it was a really cool place to eat. Maybe we'll try again some other day.

Just because......

.......he loves me and for no other reason.

I love him too!

Multitasking 101

Multi-tasking is the only way I can get things done. My theory is don't waste a single second when you can fill it doing something else.

Here's what I'm currently doing:

1. Printing boxtoppers
2. Doing laundry
3. Listening to a webinar about restaurant marketing
4. Cleaning the kitchen
5. Writing in my blog

Well actually, I couldn't clean the kitchen and write in the blog......so I am stopping the writing now and going back to cleaning the kitchen!

Today I painted a sign

Sometimes you have to have lots of skills to be a small business owner.

Today's project: refurbish this broken down sign that was given to us



I sanded it down and put a fresh coat of paint on it. We bought some reflectors for the circles on the top and Paul will put those on tomorrow.



It's going to look brand new when we're finished!

Just a coat of paint really helped it.



I'll feature the totally finished project on a Wordless Wednesday.

Catch Up -- Clean Up Weekend

I was on a mission this weekend to get some things caught up and cleaned up.

This is what our excercise room/office/game room/junk room looked like when I started.



This is what it looked like when I quit. Luckily my eldest son stopped by last night and gave me a few hours of his time to help get this room a little more organized. Lots more to do.....but I had to stop because I needed to work on some other things.



This is what my shredding pile looks like. It is somewhat better. I keep shredding until the shredder overheats and won't let me go any longer!



The catch up part of my weekend is spent on trying to get the Quick Books entries caught up so that I can start thinking about getting the taxes done. Unfortunately, that's going to take more than one weekend to get done......but I'm working on it. In fact, I'm even taking the laptop with me to Austin this weekend so I can use the 6 hours drive time (there and back) to get some of the data entry done.

My life is full of multi-tasking. I just don't have enough hours in my day to get it all done.

Does being blessed mean you're lucky?

I was driving home from work tonight.

Yes......I sometimes do actually have to go to work in the stores.

Not often......but every once in awhile.

But I was thinking about how lucky I was....or maybe it's how blessed I am.

I have an amazing and wonderful husband who makes me feel like I am loved and special every single day of the year (I love you Paul!).

I have kids....that although they are not perfect....I have a really good relationship and feel extremely fortunate that they have turned out half way decent.

I have a business.....while it keeps us busy all the time and doesn't offer us much in the way of "down time"....how lucky we are that people love our food and keep coming back day after day and giving us their money

I really feel like I have a perfect life. I have a house, a nice car, a great family, a thriving business, funny friends that I love hanging out with, and a mediocre social life.

Yes....there is so much more that I want or that I wish we could be doing.

But when I look at what you have compared to what others have......I have a FANTASTIC life that I love.

So......does that mean I'm blessed

OR.......does that mean I'm lucky?

I think it's BOTH!

New vs. Old

The lightbulbs burned out on the microwave last week.

The last time we replaced them, they were like $14.00 each. (or something outrageous)

My microwave is really sad. The handle is broken. It's cracked in about 3 places. I really need a new one.

I thought my opportunity came when I said "well the lightbulbs have burned out and they are really expensive. Guess it's time to get a new microwave."

But that was not in the plan.

Husband found cheap lightbulbs for only $3.00 each.

So guess what?

No new microwave.

Yet.

P.S. Disregard the dirt and grease on the microwave. I didn't realize how dirty it was until after the picture was taken.

YAY for my accomplishments......BOO for my failures

The Accomplishments:
I've really buckled down the last two days and got some things done:

• W2's


• Payroll


• Calling the Appraisal District to get that whole mess straightened out


• Paperwork caught up (very close)


• Paperwork entered into Quick Books (close)


• All those little things laying on my desk that only take 2 minutes each to do, but they really pile up and are annoyance when you have MAJOR big things to do


• Laundry for PZ


• Quickbooks installed on my laptop. (This was because I want to work on the laptop on the 3 hour drive to Austin next weekend. I have some little mindless data entering changie things that I need to have done to start preparing for taxes......so dead time=productive time)


• Our laundry

The Failures:

• The house is dirty.......I mean really dirty


• I have not been on the treadmill in a long, long time and I really need to get some of this fat off me


• I still have months and months worth of paperwork to get entered into Quickbooks, Bank reconciliations, inventory......yada yada yada


• This month's payroll reports......gotta have them done before the end of the month

These lists also include just too many little tiny things that I don't have the time to list right now.
Because.......if I don't get busy and get some of those failures tackled.....that list is going to get a lot longer before my very eyes!

Wordless Wednesday: Yummy Broccoli Impossible Pie

Family Dinner Night - December 2011

Well I finally downloaded some of the pictures on my camera the other day and have been trying to get them edited so I could post them........but forget it -- there's no time.

So instead I'll just post them now the way they are. They are here for your enjoyment.

There was lots of presents to open



Lots of laughs to share

And there was always a crowd to help you open your presents!

There was LOTS of food and we feasted on Scalloped Potatoes and Ham, Cranberry Sauce, and bread.

But most of all we were together surrounded by family and friends!

I just have to stop for a minute

.....from all the craziness

Yes this day, this week, this month has been OUT OF CONTROL crazy.

But that is because we are so busy at work and there just isn't enough hours in the day to get everything done that I need to because I'm getting pulled in 42 different directions and have 649 things on my to-do list and I so wish I could be on vacation with my hubby.

BUT.....the reality is.......

thank goodness we have a business that is successful
that we are employed and able to pay our bills and make a fairly decent living
that we can take vacations (well sorta now and then)
that we have a roof over our head
that we have a wonderful marriage and a wonderful life together

Yes....it is stressful and it is busy, but the alternative could be worse.

I am so blessed to have all of this and these people around me that love me......no matter what

Wordless Wednesday: No words

It's Wordless Wednesday.

I don't have time to write any words, so you won't see any here.

But I will share this unusual picture I saw the other day!

A day full of calamities

This is how dictionary.com defined the word:

ca·lam·i·ty   [kuh-lam-i-tee] noun, plural -ties.
1. a great misfortune or disaster, as a flood or serious injury.
2. grievous affliction; adversity; misery: the calamity of war.

This is how we defined the word yesterday:

1. Breakfast meeting with the Pizza Zone executives in the morning 10am.
Nope. We were exhuasted and had late start. Got there at 10:10 in the pouring rain.

2. Leave meeting to go all the way across town to pick up wings.
Nope. Mustang wouldn't start. Had to push it uphill to get jumpstart in pouring rain.

3. Make quick dash across town to pick up wings -- 30-45 minutes round trip.
Nope. Got struck in traffic jam on the loop. Exited the loop and sat in another group of cars for over 20 minutes while everyone decided whether they should go through it or not. Listened to husband saying "you can make it" "you can make it". Watched the 3 cars in front of me get stalled and stuck in water up to their doors. Went up exit ramp and merged onto freeway and got off next exit. Found another route that was flooded, but drove carefully and slowly to reach our destination. Of course, I had to sit in car with engine running while Paul loaded up the car in the pouring rain. Then on our way back to the PZ, we weren't allowed on the freeway that was a short cut. Had to take the LONG way around in the pouring rain. Total trip time: over 2 hours

4. Get new battery for Mustang. Mechanic is on alert so we can pull in and leave.
Nope. There was two different kinds of batteries for the Mustang and he needed to see which one I had so he could order it. Was going to take 30 minutes just to get it delivered to shop. So.....it was off to Grant Rd. to drop off the wings and can of apples to PZ. Oops, Paul and I forget to include the apples! 60 minutes later I was back at the mechanic waiting to get battery and new windshielp wiper blades. Thank goodness the pouring rain finally stopped.

The rest of the day (ha ha......what was left of it) was spent getting new employee packets for the employees that were starting that day and trying to get a couple of the necessary tasks done that need taken care of on Monday.

It's a good thing that I have a good attitude or I would have gone bonkers yesterday! Although, it was extremely stressful trying to drive in all that pouring rain and crazy drivers!!!

P.S. Aaron was on his way out of town yesterday and needed to take that "short-cut" freeway that they wouldn't let us on. He got stuck in a MAJOR MAJOR MAJOR freeway traffic jam and when he got on that freeway -- they made them exit. He followed the freeway on the feeder road and told us that it was majorly flooded and that there were cars stuck all over it with water up to their windows. Whew.......glad I wasn't stuck in that mess!

Where have you been?

Haven't seen you for awhile and was wondering where you've been.

Ha.....Ha.....actually it's me who hasn't been here for awhile. I'm assuming that you have been checking in regularly to see what I've been up to. Sorry for the disappointment......but I have been up to LOTS of stuff.

I've actually had to work in the store lately (alot). Hard to juggle running a house, running a family, running a store during a busy rush, and running my own job of running the business.......there's just been too much going on.

But I gave my husband some advice this week that I probably need to adhere to myself:

"If you let it, this job will consume every minute of every day. Sometimes you just have to stop and do something else, otherwise the opportunity to do that something else will never come."

So true.

Unfortunately these last 2-3 weeks, circumstances have made it difficult for us to do anything but work........and we're exhausted.

So, here I am trying to take back some of my precious time. I have 2-3 blogs started that never got finished and I've got tons of pictures in my camera that needs to be downloaded.

But one day at a time.

Today, I told you where I'm at in my life.

Tomorrow, I'll show you where we've been.

Wordless Wednesday: Congratulations!

I am very proud of this kid and his new position.

His hard work and dedication to his job shines through!