Allergies, Taxes, and Waiting (these are a few of my least favorite things)

:Ran drags her sneezy self to her computer to write this post:

Being that this is our second spring here in Northern California, I feel like I should already know about the times of the year when the pollen is a flyin'. Apparently, I wasn't ready for my allergies to hit me like a ton of bricks when I woke up a couple days ago to the worst pounding headache I've ever had. And it continued alllllllll day long. Silly me, I thought I was getting the flu! So after rearranging my entire day's schedule to accommodate my sickness (I love my new job for this very reason) and taking Advil faithfully every four hours to no avail, my lovely husband pointed out that the so-called flu might actually just be allergies instead. So I turned on the news and listened to report after report of how bad the tree pollen is, popped a daytime allergy pill, and BAM, no more headache!! Much thanks to my wonderful hubbs for his suggestion, he really knows me better than I know myself sometimes!

Onto other news, we recently completed the arduous task of filing our taxes. Well, that's not completely true. We recently met with our tax guy, who we paid to complete the arduous task of filing our taxes for us. When he called me yesterday to report back the results, we were less than thrilled. Even though our income was significantly higher than it was last year, our refund is about 1/3 of what we were expecting. My CA friends who have heard this have given us a couple helpful suggestions for decreasing our tax liability: have a child or buy a house. My older brother, however, recommends against the latter (and for good reason). We are still not convinced that real estate is a worthwhile investment in this state for the short amount of time that we plan on staying here.

Still no word on my grad school application. I work with quite a few graduates of the MSW program at Sac State, and they've all told me the same thing. The Social Work office moves at a snail's pace and will wait until the last possible day to inform applicants of their decision. And that decision might not be a concrete answer, at that. There still is the possibility of getting wait-listed, which would mean another 2 months of waiting before I would have a for-sure answer. Better put on my patience hat!

And with that, I will sign off. I am constantly reminded by the news media of how fortunate we are to have what we have in this shaky economy. We have college degrees, stable jobs, and great health insurance. God is good.

CA with the MT Folks

We had an absolutely wonderful weekend with my family! It's always amazing to me how long I spend looking forward to visits from friends and family compared to how fast those visits fly by. I love the anticipation of knowing people are coming to see us, but I cannot express in words how much I hate the feeling I get when our visitors leave. And even more so with my immediate family. Watching my family drive away in the suburban with those oh-so-familiar Montana license plates was heart-wrenching. Not knowing when we will see my family again seemed to make the pain multiply.
On a brighter note, we had so much fun showing my family around the area. On Saturday, we did a lot of shopping and driving around. T & T (the younger bros) were in hog heaven after visiting an all-baseball store nearby, and there is no doubt in my mind that they could have spent hours cruising through every sports store in the greater Sac area (even being the non-shoppers that they are). On Sunday, our plans to visit the Hearst Castle in San Simeon were quickly derailed when we realized that it was going to take six hours in the car to get there. My loving hubby came up with a great idea of where to go instead, so we made the trek down to San Jose to tour
the Winchester House.

I can't even begin to describe how creepy and eery this place felt. This really is a unique house with a very interesting story. Here's the website: http://www.winchestermysteryhouse.com/

Otherwise, things around here are going quite well. I'm starting to get into the swing of things with my new job. There are so many things that make this job so much more enjoyable and fulfilling than any other job I've ever had (and the pay doesn't hurt either). I'm still on edge, waiting to hear back from Sac State about the status of my MSW application for grad school. I should be finding out before April 1st, so the countdown is on. Talk about waiting until the last possible minute! I have an upcoming procedure on April 1st to remove a lump that has formed on my left shoulder blade and is growing at a rapid pace. The surgeon seems largely unconcerned about it, so that's a huge relief.

Pat is doing well, his company has been telling him for quite some time that they have "big plans" for his future. If only we could pull out of this dang economic recession, maybe we would finally see those "plans" come to fruition.

In the meantime, we're just enjoying this beautiful weather and eagerly awaiting springtime in California. I think my parents would agree, after their visit last weekend, that it really is a beautiful time of the year here. We are truly enjoying our time here and can't wait to have more friends and family come to visit. I hear there are some killer deals on airfare right now! (hint hint).

Roll Out the Red Carpet, the Family is in Town!!!

:SSSQQQQQUUEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAALLLLLLL!!!!!!:

That's the sound of my excitement about the fact that my family is coming to visit this weekend!

So, in honor of that, I decided to post some pics of them from our wedding:

I can't wait to finally be able to show them all around Sac! However they are only going to be here for a long weekend, so I'm not quite sure how much we're going to be able to cram in. Regardless, I could not be happier about their visit! I'll post again after our exciting weekend!

The Great Groff Furniture Extravaganza!!!!!

Hello to my loyal fanbase (all 3 of you)!!!

Happy Friday morning to everyone! Today is going to be a wonderful, perfect, absolutely amazing day! Why, you ask??

Because today we will finally be getting our new couch that was purchased over 2 weeks ago!

Yes, that's right, we have been couchless for 2 whole weeks! I now understand the meaning of the phrase, "You never know what you have until it's gone." That quote has never rang truer for me than in these last couple weeks. This may seem silly to some, but you never realize how much you actually do use your couch until it's no longer there for your tv-viewing pleasure. We have endured countless hours of sitting on the hard, cold floor, watching hours of tv and finding no comfort whatsoever. Ok, I suppose I should correct myself. "We" haven't been suffering on the floor; Pat has been suffering on the floor. Randi gets too aggravated after about 10 minutes and usually ends up enjoying these mindless hours of tv watching in the comfort of her own bed. This has made for some very early bedtimes in the last couple weeks (I always associate bed with sleep, so if I'm in bed, I get tired). But I am pleased to report that, starting today, we will no longer take such seemingly silly things as living room furniture for granted. For today, we have seen the light. Here's the pics of the couch and area rug that we purchased:







In other, non-furniture related news, I have officially completed my first full week of work. It's been slightly overwhelming and very busy, but overall I can breathe one huge sigh of relief because I can honestly (and finally) say that I love my job. It is such a breath of fresh air to be in a supportive environment, doing something I love, and making pretty good money doing it.

Have a fantastic weekend, all. Hubbs and I will be relaxing on our brand new couches for the majority of the weekend. Be jealous.

IT'S OFFICIAL!!!

I just received a call from the Placer County Office of Education and I am happy to report that I am officially a permanent employee!!! I have an orientation tomorrow to go over benefits, and I'll be starting on Wednesday morning! I've known for a couple weeks now that I would be receiving the job offer, but was waiting for the paperwork to clear with HR. I am ecstatic!!! For all of you who have been with me throughout this difficult journey over the last 9 months and who have listened to endless hours of venting about how much I detest my job, THANK YOU!!! I am so blessed to have such patient family and friends. :) From this day forward, I promise to be a more optimistic and overall pleasant person to be around. I'll post again after my first day.

Here's the link to the county's website, if anyone wants to check it out:
http://www.placercoe.k12.ca.us/Pages/default.aspx