where did i get this idea that i should work three jobs?

i've been contemplating over the last few weeks why i feel the need to work three jobs...my full-time job at hire quest, accounting work for jon's company, and tax preparation for my former employer. this all came about when i decided to do the tax preparation work when they offered it to me in january. my two jobs (hire quest and jon's company) are just enough to keep me busy (yet still have time for the gym in the afternoons!) and i don't mind the work at all, but then i toss in roughly 10 more hours a week preparing tax returns for the next 7 weeks and it's cutting into my personal (family, play, social, fun, etc.) time!

i've determined, after really thinking about it a lot recently, that this need (more like a want because it's not needed!) for extra money originates from growing up in a single parent home where finances were a struggle. i grew up with the things i needed but not a lot of extras, and i watched my mom struggle to pay the bills and make the monthly income stretch most months. i think that now that i'm married and plan to have a family in the next several years, i have a fear of struggling financially.

jon and i have a comfortable amount of money coming in each month...enough to have the things we want (within reason of course...the 2010 bmw 7-series is definitely out our reach and probably will be for several years!!!), take nice vacations and travel when we want to, and put money in savings each month. i still feel like if there is an option to make some money on the side, i'm definitely going to take it though; however, once we both finally get home at night (usually around 7 or 8 on an early night!), i wonder why in the hell we are working so hard! i must push the fear of financial struggles to the back of my mind at some point to keep my sanity and enjoy life while i'm young, employeed, married, and don't have children (yet!)...there has to be enough time to let go, relax, and enjoy this amazing thing called life!

i guess hard working is definitely a great quality to have, but should it cut into your personal time (if it doesn't necessarily have to) after a certain point? just a thought to comtemplate...

hopefully an answer to my problem...

for the past eight to tenth months, i've slowly noticed strange things going on with my body! it all started with gaining weight (about 15-20 pounds in the last 8-10 months), and not to say that i don't eat my fair share of treats (especially chocolate), but it still seemed strange since i was continuing to work out. then i started noticing that my energy level seemed a lot lower than it had been...i just didn't have the energy to go to the gym after work which was strange. within the last 2-3 months, my appetite has been ravenous...i eat all day (healthy snacks though!) and when i eat a meal, i'm starving 2 hours later. last week i woke up in the middle of the night soaked in sweat and realized that this had been happening for a few months, a couple times a week, but i just hadn't been paying attention to it because i was so tired when i would wake up in the middle of the night.

after deciding that there really should be an explanation for all of this, i finally made a doctor's appointment last week. it was a family doctor that i hadn't been to before, but my friend amy recommended her...and i loved her! she took the time to talk to me about all of my symptoms and go over some different possibilities and options!

yesterday the nurse called me with the results of my lab work, and they discovered that i have a vitamin d (the sunshine vitamin!) deficiency...which the doctor told me is also related to hormones (hence the increased appetite and night sweats). they want me to try some vitamin d therapy for a month and see if that helps. i certainly hope it does because this eating all the time thing is not working out well for my body! the summer is approaching (which will hopefully help the deficiency since i will be out in the sun...i'm ready for the winter to be long gone this year!), and i definitely want to get this problem under control before bathing suit weather (not to mention the 3 weddings we are going to in May and June)! i have so many cute dresses and bathing suits to wear this summer, but as of right now i don't think i could get my hips into any of them! time to hit the gym really hard and keep my fingers crossed that the vitamin d therapy helps!

i know it sounds crazy, but it actually snowed in charleston!

last friday night jon and i were sitting at home watching the news as they continued to talk about charleston getting snow....and finally around 7:00, snowflakes began falling from the sky! it was pretty crazy! the meteorologists had been predicting snow for about a week, but i think most people (including me!) just blew it off and thought "i'll believe it when i see it!" up until friday night, there had not been a recorded snow fall since 1989...21 years! within 30 minutes our yard was covered with snow and it just continued coming down! we watched it from the front door/porch in amazement and took lots of pictures! our cable went out around 7:45, so we decided to play scrabble! the lights flickered most of the night, and we thought for sure that we would end up losing power but it never went off for more than a minute! we woke up to a yard, trees, and house covered in snow! we got around 3 inches, but unfortunately it didn't last long on saturday! here are some pictures to prove IT SNOWED IN CHARLESTON!!!

back to tax season hell...am i crazy?!

today i met with my former boss to discuss preparing tax returns on the side for my former cpa firm during tax season. i know that this time last year all i could think about was getting a new job that did not involve preparing tax returns...but a little extra money (for something that comes easy to me) is always nice! i'm really hoping i can do most of it at home, but i'm going to begin by going to the office 2 nights a week. this gig will be ideal if i can do it at home (especially since i hated the long hours during tax season), but i'll just have to wait and see. it will definitely be fun to see the people i used to work with and catch up with everyone!

this will make 3 jobs for me...1 full time and 2 part time jobs! am i crazy?! well, maybe just a little, but this one is only for 2 months!

dependency on my cell phone...not a good thing

so today i have decided that i am way too dependent on my cell phone! it started doing crazy things last night, and it's not any better this morning. it's like my connection to the outside world has been cut off completely...although i am sitting in front of a computer all day long! of course this happened on a friday when i am leaving to go out of town! verizon store here i come, as soon as i leave work today!

once i get my phone situation straightened out, katherine, abby, and i will be hitting the road for our girls weekend in greenville! there are lots of fun times to be had and great memories to be made this weekend! happy friday!

rain, rain go away!

it's a nasty rainy day in charleston! i wish i could have stayed home today...curled up in bed or on the couch with a book and/or movie! i'm ready for summer...no more cold weather, just sunshine and warm temps!

today is my adorable nephew, Maddox's 4th birthday! he is having a john deere birthday party tomorrow night to celebrate, and his birthday present is a miniature john deere gator! i'm sure he is going to be ecstatic when he sees it...he loves everything john deere!

3 more days until girls' weekend in greenville!