much needed update

It has been a long time since I have posted, in fact I did not know it has been as long as it has until I started typing. There has been so much going on in our house that needs to be updated on.

First things first with Peter. He took his first CPA exam on Monday and he feels things went pretty well. He feels like he knew quite a few of the answers but there are never any guarantees so he feels like the test could have gone either way. We have to wait until sometime in September to find out if he did or not. Now he is starting in on the second part of the exam and he will be taking that portion at the end of August.

There is also one other possibility going on with Peter but there has not been anything set for this at all. Peter was asked by KPMG if he would be interested in starting in the next couple of weeks if they need him to. The catch is that it would be located in Seattle for 8 - 10 weeks. The complication with that would be him trying to find time to study while working long hours (we assume since it is a big project he would be working quite a bit). Plus us trying to find a way to spend some time together with him in Seattle, it would be complicated with one of us having to travel over the weekends to see each other. The pluses of this opportunity would be him getting a jump on his career, and of course the pay increase! There would be a lot of things that need to be figured out for this to be possible especially since it would be happening soon.

Things in my life have been hectic lately. We have been working a lot of overtime lately and today I had enough of it and called in sick. I have been having some issues with my heart racing lately and finally saw my doctor about it and they ran a bunch of tests and nothing has been determined from all that money, err I mean test results. They put me on a medication that has made me very tired this week and with this work week being a possible 56 hour week I couldn't do it and gave up some of my overtime. Work has been very flexible with me and allowed me to rest and take it easy which has been very good.

And the last bit of real exciting news - we will be listing our house this weekend!!! We have been wanting to start the process of looking at homes for sometime now and we are finally at a point where this is a possibility so we have been looking at homes, we have been pre-approved for a loan, and we have been cleaning, packing, and doing minor home improvements to get the house ready and I think it will be ready by the end of the weekend. Now we just hope that it sells quickly and we can find a house that is perfect for us and within our budget :)

Samson

Things have been tough in the Keyser household this past week, but things are getting easier everyday. My first puppy Samson was put to sleep on Friday. Samson did not live with me for the past two years, he stayed at my parents house after I moved out, but he was always still my baby. He just turned 10 at the beginning of this month. On Wednesday of this past week my mom took him to the vet because he was bleeding really bad and they ran a bunch of tests on him and concluded that he had some sort of a virus that was causing his immune system to attack itself. The vet gave him a 50-50 chance at that point and they were going to put him on IV drugs for 3 to 4 days. On Thursday morning he was doing better and eating again but by later that evening he was really sick again. The vet said not to give up hope yet, that most dogs do survive the condition, but early Friday morning the vet said he was suffering and put him to sleep. If he had been able to survive this he would have probably lived another 3-5 years. It caught my whole family off guard and it has been a rough week for everyone in my family. Samson was a great dog to all of us.

Juno must have known that I was sad this weekend because she stayed extra close to me all weekend. She is doing well, she just turned 3 months on Friday and she is eating a lot and growing a lot. She is still getting a lot of hair and we are hopefully on the upside of potty training now. She does not have very many accidents, except when I say how good she has been doing, then she pees in the house again. She knows how to sit and lay down and we just started working on stay. My hope is for her to carry on the tradition of crazy tricks that started with Samson!!!

Peter is doing great studying for the CPA exam. He is feeling more confident and more prepared everyday. Please keep him in your prayers, he is 2 weeks away from his first test date and I know nerves and doubts are going to get to him any day now. We have been discussing what we want to do to celebrate each test that he passes. He wants to go to Benihana's when he passes the first test. The second one he hasn't decided yet. The third reward is a night to the beach and the fourth and final passed test he will go buy a Nikon or Rebel camera!

I am still on 50 hour work weeks. I am looking forward to next week when I only have to work 20 hours!!! I don't know what I am going to do with all my free time next week but I will hopefully get some yard work done! We have gotten the back yard all cleared out now and this weekend hopefully Peter will get the yard leveled and then I can go buy some plants for the yard. I only have one part of the yard planned out and the rest will probably be cheap things that we can find. Then we will bark dust and put a little gravel walkway through the yard and call it good!!! It will be so nice to have that project fully completed!!!

That is all the news in the past week - its been a rough one!

April - the month we've been waiting for!!!

Time continues to fly in the Keyser household. I can't believe that April really is here (or will be here in the next few hours) and that my husband will be done with school forever in less then 30 days!!! In exactly one month Peter and I will be boarding an airplane to paradise and relaxation and we are sooo ready to get out of here for a few days!!

Peter has entered the last hurra for school. He has three weeks of classes yet and a week of finals where he actually only has one class that is requiring him to take the final. Today he is actually completing two of his classes - one his business capstone class and one being a lecture. So two less classes after today. Next week he has his General Education Final Presentation due and then he just has to show up to the remaining classes - The week after next he has his big Business Capstone Final Presentation and then he will be done with that class. Things are really narrowing down here and the end is definitely in sight. I cannot even explain how excited we both are!!!

Peter's job looks to be secure for now which is a huge answer to prayer. The mill sold and today was actually the day that everything went through. They did do a round of layoffs and that had us both a little worried. When I talked to Peter at lunch today he was telling me that they were firing people and he told me that every time someone walked by everyone got a little nervous. I tried calling him at my break later on in the day and he didn't answer his phone and that worried me even more. He was in a meeting and they were letting them know that they had let all of the people go that they were planning on letting go.

He also got his official start date for KPMG - October 6th - still a ways to go, but nice to be able to countdown.

We are starting to make plans and arrangements for graduation announcements and graduation parties and such. This is definitely an exciting time and I definitely want to celebrate it being over :) We are also busily preparing for our vacation that will be here before we know it!!!

Time keeps flying and I need to update more often. The past two weeks were busy with the Chinchilla's First Birthday, my Birthday, Easter Celebration, Spring Break, and getting a terrible cold bug!!! There is the very brief version of March - will definitely have more to talk about the whole month of April!!!

Wow - where is all the time going?!? Has anyone noticed that ticker on the sidebar! Time is going so fast - like we knew it would and we are almost there!!! The weather is getting nicer and everything just seems to be going so well right now. A little sidenote - please be praying for Peter right now. George Fox is being your typical college right now and being difficult with Peter's last 2 credits he needs to be able to sit for the CPA exam (which he is planning on doing this summer). He has enough credits to graduate, but he was told that he was allowed more internship credits then they are letting him have now. If he doesn't get these two credits then we have to sign up for yet another class at Chemeketta for the next term which is just a waste of money out of our pocket (that we definitely could do without). One of his professors was under the same assumption that Peter was under with credits and he is going to try to get Peter the credits - so keeping our fingers crossed. I think we are both so annoyed with all of the little things that the college institute sucks out of you, but it is almost over and we can't wait!!!

Things at work are still up in the air with the security stuff. We have to sign in and out of buildings and wear nametags at all times. I forgot my lunch the other day and Peter dropped it off and left it in the jeep and so I had to sign out of my building at 8:15 and I signed back in at 8:16. We are only allowed to use two entrances to our building and there is someone sitting at those entrances. There are still armed security guards throughout the building and I am not sure if that is a permenant measure or not. They are telling us that these measures will continue until we go to name badges with barcodes to scan to get into the building, but that is going to take some time. They are still trying to figure out who did this and the assumption is that it is someone from our building.

We are starting to get things together for Jamaica. We have made a list of places to eat at and what to order and fun tips about different places and things to do. We definitely live for our vacation days right now!!! We have also booked a few days off for our anniversary again this year. Who knows where we will go - but probably will just go away to the beach for a couple of nights!!! We love just getting away together and spending time together that we don't get during the week. We really don't see a whole lot of each other - in fact most of the time Sunday is our only day together and then once the week begins again, Peter isn't home until later at night. I think this is just preparing us for Peter working in Portland and getting home late :)

This weekend we don't have a whole lot planned. I started 4 tens two weeks ago and am loving my three day weekend - I get so much accomplished before most people's weekends even begin. If the weather permits we may begin some of the work in our yard (still trying to get a yard in - going on 2 years now). Since Peter will be taking prep courses every Saturday for almost 9 months for the CPA exams we will not be able to do much yardwork on the weekends so every little bit we can do when we have time is going to help!!!

Lock me up, then push me out!!!

So I went to work this morning - same old, same old boring stuff. We were sitting there for our first break this morning at 8:15 this morning and we notice an armed security guard walk in. That is unusual, but we still don't think anything of it. We ask the guy why he is here and he said that the company was considering bringing on more security. We get back to work and by 9 our supervisor comes in and tells us that there was a message written on a stall in the mens bathroom in our building that said "I hate this place, I will be bringing a gun to work on February 26th and opening fire at lunchtime in the building 7 lunchroom. Building 7 is the building I work in. They informed us that the city police would be patrolling outside the building and that added armed security (our usual security do not carry guns) would be inside the building. We were welcome to leave if we felt uncomfortable at work. They told us to not leave the building and that if we did need to leave, to leave through one door in the building. All the doors would be locked at work except for one door and that door would have an armed guard by it. If we left the building, we were to sign out with our supervisor.

I felt pretty safe, knowing that it was probably just a dumb threat and that people who actually do things like this - do not advertise what they are planning. We continued through our day. We were a little bit nervous as lunch began to approach. Around a half hour before lunchtime more security began to arrive and our building manager was looking through everything. We have a first aid room right outside of the lunchroom and he was looking under the mattress and everything. He even checked the women's bathroom so I heard! Right before lunch our company President came racing through the building, almost like he was looking for something. I think he just wanted to check and make sure that there wasn't anything happening - but I gained a lot of respect for him today! When lunch approached there were a few policemen outside our lunchroom doors and a few inside our lunchroom. Our company President and one of the VP's came and sat in the lunchroom for lunch. It was a very nice gesture - almost to say that papa bear was looking out for us! Lunch went by pretty uneventfully!

We went on another break at 12:45 and we saw that our building manager had taken his laptop and was working from the lunchroom. It is very comforting knowing that our bosses truly care about us and were willing to make sure that everything was safe.

Around 2:30 we noticed people started darting for the door. We asked them what was going on and they said they were told to go home and that someone would be coming through and telling us the same. Just that time the building manager came in and told us that things had changed and that the situation had escalated and we needed to grab our things and go home. We were told to leave through one door and only that one door. They told us that if things have not been resolved by tomorrow that they will not let us come back to work.

I think they have a suspect and that they hopefully will have it all figured out and that we will feel "safe" tomorrow.

Sick week!

It is nice to see a new week beginning!!! We had a very crazy and disorderly week this past week. Monday I went to work and had my normal "Monday Morning Feeling" as I call it. I always have an upset stomach when I go to work on Monday mornings, I think it is because I don't drink enough water on the weekends so my whole body gets messed up over the course of the weekend. Usually as I drink water at work and eat during breaks my stomach begins to feel better. That was not the case this past week. By my second break at 9:00 I was not able to eat anymore and I decided that if I did not feel better by lunch then I would go home. Everyone kept telling me "are you feeling okay? You look a little pale?" Now I hate how people say this. It is a way of telling me that I look like garbage!!!

So I was feeling worse by lunch. I knew it was time to go home because I knew I was going to be having some trouble. Peter was at home for the day (He had the holiday off work) and I joked with him how I was just desperate to get to spend the day with him so I did what I had to do. To make the story short and not so graphic - I got sick - I got really sick. And because of this I need to take a moment to pause here: I am not pregnant. I cannot tell you how many people have called me or asked me this past week if I am pregnant and I just want to clarify for curiosity's sake that I had the flu - not morning sickness.

I took Tuesday off of work too and I literally spent the whole day sleeping. I slept terrible Monday night. I can say with all of the aches and pains my back has had over the past couple of years, I have never experiences pain like I had Monday night! I couldn't take anything for the pain because I couldn't keep anything in my stomach. Peter was a real lifesaver that night. He got up at 2 with me and rubbed my back when I had tried so many things and nothing would relax my back. I was able to relax eventually and get some sleep.

This week has been a long week of recovery. Today is the first day that I feel 100% again. I am glad this week is in the past!!!

Tomorrow begins 4 tens for me at work!! We have been waiting for about a year to get to do this so it is very exciting. No more work on Friday's for me!!! (At least we hope, overtime will be on Friday's).

So that is it!!! School is still going, work is still going, we're still going. Not a lot to say, but the flu that seems to be hitting everyone has finally hit our house!

Finally, an update

Okay so I know it has been awhile since I have said anything on here and I am sorry :( I do not want to give a report if there is nothing even remotely entertaining to talk about. I feel like I am always repeating the same old things and that will be pretty much what I do now - with a few things worth noting.

As you can see - the preview for Indiana Jones 4 came out this week and I have to say - I have never been this excited for a movie before!!! I love Pirates of the Carribean and was very excited for all of those movies to come out and I get even more excited every time a Harrison Ford movie hits theatre's - but this is the ultimate Harrison Ford experience. So I have posted the trailer on my blog for your viewing pleasure, as well as mine.

I am working like crazy right now. 11 hour days all week this week and all week next week. I am okay with the overtime, I won't lie - we can definitely use the extra money. Monday is bonus day at work so I will be looking forward to going to work on Monday!!! Let's hope it's a good one :)

Peter is getting so close to done with school and we are getting very excited for it!!! He got some information this week on a starte date, and it is about where we anticipated it to be - first two weeks of October. He has dates for his orientation near the end of October too, but does not know where it will be taking place yet. He is getting some work prepared for taking the CPA exam starting this summer. Basically every Saturday from the end of May thru the end of December he will be taking classes to prepare for the exams. It will be all day (8-5) at Portland State University. He will be taking his first exam in July and is already getting very nervous about it - so if you would like to start praying for him now - I KNOW he would appreciate it!

We had a very sweet Valentine's Day. Peter knows me well enough to do things that I really really appreciate! I came home to a CLEAN house on Thursday, when that boy had the time to do it - I do not know. It was a breathe of fresh air for me! He also did the normal flowers and card which even though it is a typical Valentine's gift - I still love receiving them!!! He takes such good care of me and the gifts keep on coming from him. Yesterday he went and bought donuts and juice and wrote "Happy Day After v-day" on them. I love this boy more then anything!!!

So there is your update!!!

18 months!

Today is our 18 month anniversary. I know that some people think it is stupid to be excited about a year and a half anniversary but I think every milestone in marriage should be celebrated. Since we did have to work all day today our "celebration" will consist of going out to a simpe dinner and maybe spending a little bit of time relaxing together.

We have finally been married just as long as we were engaged. It is nice to pass that stupid milestone. The 18 months of marriage have been superb and much better then the engagement phase! I have enjoyed every minute of being married (okay, almost every minute) and have never looked back or wanted anything else in my life.

Anyway, nothing great to report on this end. I got a raise yesterday - which is always nice :) Today I had my 3 year anniversary coffee at work and tonight we will celebrate 18 months of marriage!!! I guess that is a pretty good 2 days right there!!!

Pressing on!!!

Check out the ticker over there - 3 months left and Peter is free! Free from the bondage's of education at last! He will have a few weeks or months to enjoy life a bit before the business world swallows him whole! Although his "freedom" for the summer will consist of working and studying for the CPA exam so I guess that isn't any freedom at all -actually it sounds like the same thing he has been doing for the past 4 years. Oh well!!!

He has heard a little bit from KPMG this week. It sounds like his start date will be early October. That is a bit of a bummer but they want their employees to be well on the way of passing their CPA exam before starting there. Plus he has to attend a national orientation somewhere - we assume in New Jersey - so he really doesn't has a lot of control over start daters. We just have to pray that his current place of employment is willing to keep him around that long. At this point in time it appears that they want to keep him around until he goes to KPMG!

They also sent him some information on the CPA exam process this week. It is such a blessing that they are willing to pay for him to take the best CPA prep courses there are and also pay for the exam. Basically anytime he is ready to take a test he just needs to let them know and they will either provide him with a 6 week online course to study for that particular portion of the exam or he can take a 6 week in class course to prepare. It sounds like he will opt for the 6 week in classroom prep class. I think he will begin this daunting process as soon as we get back from Jamaica and try to get as far along in the CPA exam as he can before beginning at KPMG.

Still just looking to the future around here! We are living day to day and pushing through the different tasks asked of us and keeping our eyes focused ahead. It is getting exciting around here and the anticipation for April is mounting!!!

The Creepy Crud!!!

This week is almost half over and boy are we happy about it! Peter and I have both been working quite a bit. Now that classes are over for Peter he is working a lot more and I am in the heart of the busiest time of year at work. Unfortunately I am also pretty sick right now. I have a pretty bad head cold but to make it worse my back is killing me. For some reason my soreness that accompanies a cold is really affecting my back pain. Throw in a cough and my back is wasted. I am hoping that I am feeling better tomorrow so that I don't call in sick. I am yet to call in sick and I really don't want to start now! Today I was supposed to work late but I was able to ask if I could leave after my 9 hour day instead of staying for the 11 hours I was supposed to work. So now I am trying to relax and hopefully kick this thing before it gets any worse.




This weekend was nice. Our niece's spent the night with us. They are actually a lot of fun to listen to. They have the strangest conversations and say the funniest things. I have a few pictures to share at the end.





We also met Peter's new little brother Edik this week. Edik is ten years old and is from Russia. We have had a lot of emotions building up to his arrival but he is now here and we look to what our future with him holds. We met him this weekend. It was so weird, he was so excited to meet us and when we got up to the house he was jumping around and excited. We went inside and sat down with him. It was heartbreaking to see how he acted around us. You could tell that he wanted to hang out with us but he was afraid to for some reason. He literally sat there with his back to us. Almost like he didn't feel worthy to be our friend. I don't want to read to much into it because I can't speak for how he was feeling, but that is the feeling we got. It broke our hearts. We want to have an influence in his life and more importantly we want him to feel like he is worthy of being part of our family and MOST importantly worthy of God's love. I hope that we are able to show him love and live God's love out for him! I think the language barrier is a huge issue right now and we will be able to build a much better relationship with him after we are able to communicate!





In one week we will be done with work for the Christmas holiday!!! Our way of celebrating Christmas is that we go away to the beach for a couple of nights before Christmas. It is a lot of fun and a great way to relax our way into Christmas! With how I feel right now I am more then ready for the next week to go by.

Cooking Dinner with the niece's!

Peter's attempt at teaching them video games!

Going through the motions..........

Life is just continuing on. There is nothing too exciting to report about but I figured we should update for the sake of updating. Peter is extremely busy right now. He only has two more weeks of classes left and he is on his final semester (yeah!!!!). He had a big final project in Cultural Anthropology that he completed today. He has been working so hard the last few days to get it all done and I am sure he is very relieved to be done with it and he can now relax for the rest of that class. It is amazing to think back to when this whole journey started. Time really has flown by since the beginning of college and so much of our lives have changed since then.

I have had quite a slow down at work this week. It has been a nice relief but next week we are back up to 11 hour days. It has really helped me feel productive and relaxed at home. It is so nice to have a few hours to relax in the evening instead of eat dinner and go to bed. I have been doing some scrap booking and I will hopefully be at a good stopping point with that shortly. We have a big table set up in the living room that I was scrap booking on and I had a goal of being caught up enough to take it down by the time the Christmas tree went. Needless to say it didn't happen. I have some Christmas projects that I want to start working on so I really need to get it all caught up.

hmmm, in other news - we are looking forward to the civil war this week!!! Go Beavers!!! I think we have a great shot of winning, but you never know with the civil war.

I imagine we will probably go to a movie tomorrow night. Last weekend we went and saw August Rush. It was a very good movie and I recommend it. This weekend we may either go see Enchanted or This Christmas.

Okay this was long enough and boring enough but I really don't have anything exciting to report for now. Peter has been very busy with finishing up school and that is about it!!!

TGIF

Well one more week of our lives is over. This week was so great in so many ways and in a few others it was awful. First for all the great things going on in our life. Peter is very excited about the prospect of working at AKT. They really did present a good offer and he has already made friends with some of the employees there. On top of that wonderful news they have also told him that they would allow him to inter with them until he does graduate!!! This is great news as his job at SPNP isn't the best and he is always in jeopardy with the financial situation they are in of losing his job. No he has not accepted the offer yet, he is still waiting to hear from Moss Adams and he still interviews with KPMG next week but it really appears that God is directing us to AKT.

One of Peter's old professors at George Fox met with him this week. Her name is Michelle and he shared with her where he is in the recruiting process and who he has it narrowed down to. She told him that she would recommend the job at AKT - she personally loves the people there and from knowing Peter she thinks that would be the better place for him to work. Her opinion counts for a lot as Peter has a lot of respect for this woman!!!

The KPMG interview is actually going to be a lot of fun. They are putting him up in a hotel in downtown Portland Wednesday night. Actually what they do is just take them to dinner Wednesday night and then in the morning do a brunch and interviews. Peter is allowed to take me, so I am going with him!!! Granted, I will be in the hotel the whole time, but it will be such a nice time and a cool experience!!!

I really need some time off of work. I have two and a half days off next week and I am definitely ready for it. Work gave us in my department some startling news and there are quite a few ruffled feathers!! Basically what it comes down to is this: I have spent the last year and a half training new employees to go to swing shift. I have worked my tail off and dealt with a lot of stress to get them trained. We were informed this week that the people we trained are going to be given our job and we are going to have to go over and do the harder more physical job while they make more to do the easier work (they make 14% more to work on swing). What this means for me personally is that I will have to go do a job that my body will not be able to physically handle and will have to leave the department. I feel like I totally got screwed over in this and as a business decision this actually makes no sense for them to do. Oh well, what do you do??? Keep my job in your prayers, it hasn't happened yet but it is going to happen unless we can change their minds.

So that is what is going on. Tonight my mom and I are taking my niece's to see Disney on Ice. We may have one or maybe two little girls staying with us tonight so we will see what happens there.

A sigh of relief!!!

After a maddening week last week this is just what we needed. Before I get ahead of myself I have a little bit of time to explain just what was going on last week and how things are going now!!! (The good part is at the end, so stick with the reading until the end, don't cheat!!!)

Last week was the final week of first round interviews. Peter was getting some responses from the firms he had interviewed with the week before and unfortunately was not getting the responses we wanted. He got three rejection letters in a row and while these were not the firms that were really important to Peter, it was worrisome and frustrating. Sitting here as his wife I began to wonder just what in the world were these people thinking! Peter is perfect and would be amazing for anybody to have work for them - why didn't they want him??? I kind of became angry and offended that they did not want my husband to work for them!!! So the three rejections came and we both began to wonder if the two remaining firms would respond the same way as the other three. It was scary to think about the possibility that maybe God didn't want us to stay local and maybe we would have to move to find a job. We began to really wonder what God had in store for us. I remember laying in bed Thursday night thinking about the two remaining firms that we hadn't heard from yet. We were both dying to just hear something from them. So I was praying - not so much praying as much as asking God why he couldn't just give us the answers we wanted. I heard God say "patience" ........................ and that was all he said.

Now all my life I have heard the saying, "never ask God for patience" - so I have never asked God for patience. Well, I came to the conclusion that God is in control and whether I liked it or not I was just going to have to wait for the answer. I was going to gain patience one way or another. So I fell asleep. I wasn't asleep long before the phone rang. It was pretty late and we both in a really groggy state kind of ignored the call. Well, they left a message and I groggily made Peter check the message. It was AKT and they said that they were very interested in Peter and wanted to make sure he didn't make any decisions before they were able to meet with him again!!! PRAISE THE LORD!!! I think God knew we don't have a whole lot of patience and so he just had to make us wait a little bit longer then we were willing to try to help build that in us.

Last week was a horrible week. Between the stress of my job which I don't even want to get into to much and all of this job stuff I thought I would be bald by the end of the week. Last week was by far the worst week I have had at my job. I have taken on a lot of responsibility at work and it definitely adds to the stress I encounter. I believe God is constantly trying to build character in me and I don't think I am catching on fast enough!!!

Friday began with more good news. Peter had an interview with Moss Adams. That was just kind of the icing on the cake. We knew he had three second round interviews!!! Whew, big sigh of relief.

Well, we are to Monday; or through Monday I guess. Peter met with AKT today. I say "met" because it wasn't really an interview. It was much more like "meet the people you are going to work with" and "here's your offer"!!! Yes, you read that correct......

Peter got his first offer today!!!!

It was surprisingly better then we expected. It still has its pros and cons but we won't know for sure where the right place is until after the other two interviews; but all we feel right now is relief, joy, excitement!!!!

I am so incredibly proud of Peter - he has worked so hard for us to get to this point and I am thrilled that he has made it. Sure he still has six months of school, but this is it!!! He is an amazing man!!!

The Verdict!!!

So we are 50% for second round interviews. There are three firms that didn't want a second (pwc, dwcc, and Geffin Mescher.) On a more important note he has three firms that he is returning to. On Monday he has another interview with AKT. This firm has been his favorite choice at this point and they called really late one night last week to make sure that Peter hadn't made any decisions without talking to them first. They are very interested in him and really want to talk to him about a job. On Tuesday he has a second round interview with Moss Adams. It is actually going to be four interviews in one it sounds like. Then on the 7th and 8th he has a two day interview with KPMG. He is surprisingly thinking that KPMG may be the best place for him right now. They are big four and will be able to do a lot to help him get off on the right foot with education in the field. He has been talking with a distant relative of mine who works at that firm (yes, I have connections everywhere ;) and they have recommended to him to start at a big four if possible because you can always go to a smaller firm, but you can't go small and then go big. So right now it is going to be a very hard decision between AKT and KPMG if he gets offers from both firms.

I had a killer week with work this week. 11 hour days all week and then my half day today turned into an 8 hour day. Needless to say I am exhausted right now and have a short weekend before starting all over again on Monday. I have been experiencing a lot of shoulder pain this week which is a new thing for me. I have made a doctors appointment as it is hindering my ability to work and have let my bosses know that this is going on as it will be Workman's comp if anything is going on.

We are going to the Oregon State game tomorrow and that should be fun. Hopefully Sunday will be a nice day of recovery and rest for us before another busy and stressful week begins!!!

Waiting...........

Peter has officially turned in all of his resumes and now we just wait. He has done a good job of following up with all of the companies and getting his name out there. It is exciting to have that part of the process all done as that was really a difficult part of it. The ball is pretty well in the accounting firm courts now and there isn't anything else for the most part that Peter can do and if all goes as well as we hope he should be getting some phone calls pretty soon. We will keep everybody updated as all of this happens. I think the waiting COULD be hard but we are both so busy right now that we don't have that much time to think about it. Peter is continuing on with his 29 credits this semester - the boy is nuts but seems to be doing pretty well. I have noticed more of an increase in homework so far this year, I don't know if that is really the truth or if I am just noticing and worrying about it more this year. He definitely has more group projects then ever before and that takes away our evening time together but we will get through this year. Sometimes we just have to count down the days and literally live life one day at a time. If we actually thought about what tomorrow or next week hold for us - I think we would go crazy.

Work is extremely busy right now and I know it won't slow down until the new year. It is both a blessing and a curse as the overtime really helps us out financially but my back is not too happy with 11 hour days. We are right at about a year since this whole mess with my back began and I think the overtime at this time of year is what really bothers it. I am contemplating which would be better financially for us. I can be put to sleep every 3-4 months as needed and get injections in my back for 250 dollars a pop, or I can try out acupuncture and that is about 45 dollars a week. The third option is do what I have been doing - ibuprofen, ice, stretching, topical meds - but I really don't see me doing that for much longer if the pain keeps up. So keep me in your thoughts ;)

They are discussing changing my hours at work. Right now I have been working 5 Am to 4:30 PM. Swing shift has had a huge amount of new employees in the department and I am the only floor person in my area that is "supposed" to be training. There are 5 people in the process of being trained on swing and either they are training each other or a unit specialist has been working with them. Since they are so overwhelmed I suggested that I could help if they would like. So they are discussing the possibility of me working half the day shift and half the swing shift OR working on swing shift for awhile. So we will see what becomes of all this talk. I wouldn't mind sleeping in a little later in the mornings, so I am hoping they allow me to work the split shift idea just for a change of pace for awhile.

That is all that is going on right now. Living day by day - waiting.......................