Wild week

MacKenzie and I having a FaceTime chat with Jackson

Jackson left Monday morning to spend the week in Kansas City participating in a work retreat. Notice I didn't call it "working" because he did things like describe himself in six words, went to a wine and painting class and heard a guy from the FBI speak about his time in Afghanistan. I haven't a clue how any of this relates to his role as a retirement educator so I don't think he was working. He whined as if he was being put through the ringer, though. "Jenn, we have to sit in the same room for a couple of hours each day listening to people speak!" Yeah. Remember last week when Ball State paid big money for me to go to a tax update? That was two 8+ hour days of presentations only on tax. If 1 of the 16 hours had been taught by a guy from the FBI I would have been elated. I still never complained once about my training. I kept telling Jackson I'd look for a tissue for my tears when they finally came for him. Delightful, no?! ;):)

While Jackson was painting and drinking wine, I was finishing my busy season at Ball State. Every information return we prepare (and we prepare a lot of them!) had to be mailed by January 31st and nothing seemed to be running as smoothly as we expected it to for one reason or another. In the end everything went out before the deadline and all was well. Getting there was a battle, though.

I did get good news at work this week when I got word that my promotion and raise finally made it through all of the approvals needed and was officially official! I'm now the "Tax Director of University Tax Compliance." Imagine how shocked people are when they meet the wild woman behind that boring title! It cracks me up when people are like, "you? You're our tax person? But, but, you have a personality!" Don't judge a girl by her profession, folks. Tax is an exciting area to practice in but most people don't realize that. I'm OK with that: job security. :)

MacKenzie chilling with Grandma Deb

My Mom was a lifesaver and took MacKenzie to Upland on Tuesday afternoon to stay until we get home from Florida. I was having a hard time getting home to her in a timely fashion with everything going on at work. (Jackson whines about a retreat and I whine about being a single mother to a dog. We really are weenies!) She loves spending time in the country where she has other puppies to play with and plenty of room to roam. Mom is really good about sending photos of her to me, too, which is the real way to prove to me that you're a wonderful dog-sitter!

I managed to fit in some fun in my quiet evenings by meeting Amber for coffee one evening and hitting the gym to log some mini marathon prep miles. Life at home all by myself is pretty boring, though, and I was glad for the week of loneliness to be over!

We sent Alex a little Valentine's Day package and he was pretty excited!

I also got the adorable photo posted above from Sir Alex. That little guy took after his mom and looooooves candy so he was quite pleased to get some Valentine's Day goodies from us delivered a bit early. We must send our continued thanks to Kathy for running an Evansville courier service from Indy for us! ;):)