So a member of the Bishopric came by this afternoon and left Dave and I with a calling. We knew it was coming (The Bishop dropped a big hint during Tithing Settlement like "We need to get you a calling!"). Anyway...
So today Dave and I found out we are going to be teaching primary for 6 or 7 year olds. WOW! Dave hasn't taught anything for a long time and as for me... I'd been praying I wouldn't end up with a teaching calling. To be honest I am a bit intimidated. I've never been to a single primary class and I don't even know any primary songs. I don't feel that confident in my ability to teach ANYTHING let alone to KIDS, let alone something as important as Church Stuff.
Oh boy. Wish us luck. Our first lesson is next week.
Sunday, January 31, 2010
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Sales Tax
Okay, I almost feel lame about posting about this, but it is something that I ran into just this month...
You should know your area's sales tax. Hopefully you can recite off the top of your mind, if you don't- take the time to look it up. And this second part is a little more complex... you should know what is taxable and what is not.
Here in Utah there's a sales tax rate for Food is 2.75%. And depending on where you live the general sales tax rate averages around 7% (in North Salt Lake it is 6.5%). And if that weren't enough, there's another tax rate for restaurants.
The tricky part is that Utah doesn't tax services, but it does tax products. That's kind of a "duh" statement right? It's a SALES tax. Anyway, Dave and I had to replace our tires the other day and we were over charged on our sales tax. The company we went through charged us a sales tax on the untaxable services they performed. LAME! I know it's sounds pretty anal to get all crazy about it, but considering the fact that they overcharged us, they're probably overcharging every customer and then we're talking LOTS of money.
Anyway, just be aware.
You should know your area's sales tax. Hopefully you can recite off the top of your mind, if you don't- take the time to look it up. And this second part is a little more complex... you should know what is taxable and what is not.
Here in Utah there's a sales tax rate for Food is 2.75%. And depending on where you live the general sales tax rate averages around 7% (in North Salt Lake it is 6.5%). And if that weren't enough, there's another tax rate for restaurants.
The tricky part is that Utah doesn't tax services, but it does tax products. That's kind of a "duh" statement right? It's a SALES tax. Anyway, Dave and I had to replace our tires the other day and we were over charged on our sales tax. The company we went through charged us a sales tax on the untaxable services they performed. LAME! I know it's sounds pretty anal to get all crazy about it, but considering the fact that they overcharged us, they're probably overcharging every customer and then we're talking LOTS of money.
Anyway, just be aware.
Saturday, January 23, 2010
Ethan is 6 Months Old!
Ethan's 6 month check up was on Wednesday! Our big boy weighed in at 21 pounds 11 ounces and 27.5 inches long. It was also time for more immunizations. I swear those are harder for me than they are for him- Ethan recovered from them faster than I did. Maybe I'll make Dave take Ethan to his next appointment so I don't have to hold his little hands next time he gets his shots. :)
Ethan has been sitting up on his own for quite a while now. Now Ethan is to the point where he's comfortable leaning forward a good distance and to the sides- putting his weight on his arms to reach for toys. I love it! :) I keep saying that I am not excited for the crawling stage, but I am- babies look so darned cute when they crawl around. :)
The other day I managed to capture some pictures of Ethan sucking on his bottom lip. This is one of my favorite faces that he makes. It just cracks me up. :) 
Ethan has been sitting up on his own for quite a while now. Now Ethan is to the point where he's comfortable leaning forward a good distance and to the sides- putting his weight on his arms to reach for toys. I love it! :) I keep saying that I am not excited for the crawling stage, but I am- babies look so darned cute when they crawl around. :)
The other day I managed to capture some pictures of Ethan sucking on his bottom lip. This is one of my favorite faces that he makes. It just cracks me up. :)
It's been a while
Well, I've been busy out of my mind lately... between work, Ethan, and trying to keep the house clean, I don't have a moment to myself. Sometimes it feels like the days pass so quickly, but we're still here in the middle of January.
Thigns are going well over all. Today we're doing house projects (another item on the to do list that is my life). Dave is hammering in the last of the base boards right now... next up is caulking them into place and ultimately painting. We're trying hard to break all of our projects into small pieces or we're going to get overwhelmed too quickly. There's lots we want to do with the house and we have a plan, but it's hard to pace ourselves. :) Luckily, the projects we do tend to wear us out so we have to take a few weeks off.
Last weekend Dave, Ethan, and I went to Wendover, Nevada. Wendover is this little town on the Utah/Nevada border with like 10 casinos. We had received a free night and a free dinner at one of the casinos so we went for it (free mini-vacation!). It was fun, but I did feel bad the first moment we walked into the casino and the noises (and smoke) hit us- and Ethan. We got checked in as quickly as possible and took Ethan up the room. That night Dave and I took turns going down the casino. We both played a little roulette and won! :) So we got a free night, a free meal, and $100 bucks! :) It was a good vacation. :)
As for things now... well, back to the day to day stuff. Sometimes I feel like my life is just one big to-do list. Sometimes it doesn't feel so much like I am living my live as much as I am trying to navigate a giant "To Do" jungle. There's a certain satisfaction at the end of the day knowing I got stuff done, but the down side is when I finally have a moment to sit down, I just thinking of checking off "relaxing" as another item done. It takes the fun out things.
Thigns are going well over all. Today we're doing house projects (another item on the to do list that is my life). Dave is hammering in the last of the base boards right now... next up is caulking them into place and ultimately painting. We're trying hard to break all of our projects into small pieces or we're going to get overwhelmed too quickly. There's lots we want to do with the house and we have a plan, but it's hard to pace ourselves. :) Luckily, the projects we do tend to wear us out so we have to take a few weeks off.
Last weekend Dave, Ethan, and I went to Wendover, Nevada. Wendover is this little town on the Utah/Nevada border with like 10 casinos. We had received a free night and a free dinner at one of the casinos so we went for it (free mini-vacation!). It was fun, but I did feel bad the first moment we walked into the casino and the noises (and smoke) hit us- and Ethan. We got checked in as quickly as possible and took Ethan up the room. That night Dave and I took turns going down the casino. We both played a little roulette and won! :) So we got a free night, a free meal, and $100 bucks! :) It was a good vacation. :)
As for things now... well, back to the day to day stuff. Sometimes I feel like my life is just one big to-do list. Sometimes it doesn't feel so much like I am living my live as much as I am trying to navigate a giant "To Do" jungle. There's a certain satisfaction at the end of the day knowing I got stuff done, but the down side is when I finally have a moment to sit down, I just thinking of checking off "relaxing" as another item done. It takes the fun out things.
Sunday, January 3, 2010
Handy Husband
On Friday I got the urge to do some house projects... you know, just little things to get organized for the new year. Well, Dave and I really went for it! Lowe's had a great deal on some wood laminate and we had been talking about doing that for a while... so we did it! Talk about spur of the moment.
My husband is so wonderful... we woke up early on Saturday morning and started ripping up the carpet and the mat below it. Then we had clean up the dust, dirt, and staples. Then we had to take the floorboards/molding out (I wanted new boards). Our "little" project kept growing... Our "one day" project turned out to take two (which isn't bad considering we replaced our floor!), required the help of various family members at different times, and Dave and I only snapped at each other a few times. :)
Anyway... the before and after pictures...
Apparently I suck at before pictures, because this is the only one.
Let me describe our carpet to you... It's one of those things where once you replace it you wonder how you could have lived like that for so long (another example would be our bathroom).
Our carpet wasn't bad, just really really old. And dirty. I kept meaning to get it cleaned, but time just got away from me...
The New Floor! It has made the room seem so much brighter, more comfortable, and warmer. We also took the chance to rearrange. I quite like how we rearranged- it's different. Not all of the furniture is just pushed against the wall anymore. And the room feels bigger!
The new molding.
Dave learned how to cut and install this himself- and believe me, it's pretty tricky! I'm so proud of him!
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