Accountant In Training

I'm embarrassed to say that it has been yet another two years since I last posted or even looked at my blog. I wish I wasn't so bad at posting. I enjoy reading other people's blogs, and would like to say that I will try to do better at writing, but certainly can't expect anyone to believe me. So all I'll say is hello to anyone who happens to stop by.

Nothing like two years between posts. Well I got a new computer a few days ago, so with it I'm going to attempt to blog more often. I know I don't have a very good track record, so we shall see how I do. I will try to post again soon.

The last week has been very long, but good. I took my finals and finished school last Tuesday night, and began packing promptly after work on Wednesday. Nothing like waiting until three days before you move to start packing. Michael worked hard all week, and I worked in the evenings after work, and we managed to get everything ready for the move on Saturday. Friday we came and signed everything and officially took possession of our new home.

We started moving bright and early Saturday morning, and thanks to all of the people that helped, it went pretty smoothly and quickly. By lunchtime everything was unloaded, and we had the rest of the day to work on making sense of the mess. Luckily, my mom stayed and helped me out with the kitchen and bathroom, and we were able to get all of that unpacked, and get a few boxes out of the way. As of now, pretty much everything has a place, and for the most part, we know where that is. Moving to a smaller place, we had to get rid of a lot of stuff, and are getting rid of even more now that we are here. It feels good, though, to get rid of stuff. It's funny, that you think that you're not attached to your stuff, but when you move, you spend days or weeks packing it, carefully wrapping it lest anything should break or get scratched, and then spend days unpacking it, looking for the perfect place to squeeze everything in. While I don't feel like I'm attached to possessions, there are obviously still a lot of things that I "need." It has been very good for us to move to a smaller place and be forced to get rid of things. When we moved to a four bedroom place we felt the need to fill it up, and now that we're leaving that, we realize all of the money that we have spent over the years filling the space. Anyways, that's what moving does to me. It forces me to think about possessions, and look at my attachment to them a little more closely.

We do love our new place, though. Maybe soon one of us will post some pictures. It's amazing how fast this place has felt like home. We've been here two days, and it already feels that way. I went back to the house after work today to get a few things and clean up a little bit, and it didn't feel like home anymore. I didn't feel any sadness. Moving here seems right and good. Even though we haven't sold the house yet, it already feels like a load has been lifted off just moving out of it. I guess that's step one, step two is to sell it, hopefully soon.

Here I've rambled on. I think that I'm done now. I am going to go sit on the balcony and read a book and watch the sunset.

Look at me...it has only been a month and a half since my last post, and here I am posting again. This may be some sort of record for me. Well for those of you who haven't been in the Stone household to hear the daily count down, I am done with school next Tuesday. That's right, in less than a week I will be graduated, no longer to spend my evenings sitting in class, or every free moment studying. It's a little wierd, that here this thing I have worked for and looked forward to for so long is actually here. School is all I have talked about or thought about for two years now, and many years before that, so it's almost like, despite all the anticipation, it can't really be over. I'll admit that part of me is a little sad. I really do enjoy school, and I enjoy what I'm learning so much. But, I also look forward to all of the other things that I'll have time for now. School has been the excuse, albeit a valid one, that I have used for years now as to why I don't do some things. It has been my excuse for not working out as much as I should, not reading as much, not keeping up with friends as well as I would like, not cooking as much, not keeping up with the cleaning or the laundry as well as I should, and of course, not blogging very much. I suppose that now I will find out if school really kept me from those things or if it was just an easy excuse. I have been a "student" for so long now, that now it's almost like I can redefine myself and figure out who I am apart from the class and books.

So I have now been rambling for quite a while now, and my intent in starting was just to spread my excitement about school being over in seven days. But, unfortunatley, it's not yet, so I must go study. I must learn some more business law before I can be done.

I had no idea that it has been almost six months since I last posted. I realize that probably no one still checks this, so I suppose this post is just for me. It's really probably more of a study avoidance tactic, but it's working for the moment.
It's summertime now. The last couple of months it has rained so much and been wonderful, but it is now starting to get warmer. This is always such a disappointing time of year. I know that soon it's going to be blistering hot. I hate it when it's so hot that I get sweaty just by walking from the car to work. It seems like no matter what we do, it's always a little warm, even in the house. But, I suppose the seasons must change. While I dread summer getting here, I look forward to it being over and fall arriving. This fall will bring a lot of changes. I started my last semester of school last week, and will be graduating in August. (I know, it seemed like I was aimlessly plugging away, but the end is actually close.) Also, as I am sure everyone already knows from Michael's blog, we are selling the house and moving, hopefully in that order. We are very excited about downsizing and moving to a smaller place. We are now just hoping that the house will sell in the right time.
It seems funny to me how I have a different mindset during summer, even though it's no different than any other time of the year. I am still working and going to school, but for some reason everything seems different, almost like nothing is quite as pressing as during the year. I don't know if that's because Michael is out of school, and so his laid back attitude is rubbing off on me, or what. Whatever it is, it helps the summer semester, which is much more fast paced and cram packed, seem not quite as bad. The fact that it's about half as long as a usual semester helps also.
Well, that's all I've got for now. The snow cone stand closes in ten minutes, so I must hurry to get one and then continue with my studying. A good ol' peach snow cone is just what I need to spur on the motivation. I guess check back in December. With my track record, that will probably be the next time that I post.

I hope that everyone had a great Christmas and New Years! Michael and I enjoyed Christmas in Angel Fire with my family. Michael snowboarded, and we all tubed and snow mobiled. It was all a lot of fun. It was nice to be somehwere cold and with snow on the ground. We spent New Years in Ruidoso with Michael's family. It actually snowed quite a bit while we were there. We got to play in the snow a lot. After a few days back at work, I went to Georgia last weekend for Stacy's wedding. It was beautiful and a lot of fun to spend the weekend with her. Now all of my travels are over for a while. School starts next week, which keeps us in town.

To the title: Michael and I have decided to try to read one book together each month this next year. In January, we're going to read Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility. She is one of my favorite authors, and that's the only one of hers I haven't read, and Michael is going to be taking a Jane Austen class this semester, so it seemed like a good one to start with. All that to say, we'd like to invite anyone who wants to to join us in reading Sense and Sensibility. Let us know if you're interested.

I know, I know, I'm not very good at keeping up with this blog. It's been almost two months since I've posted, so I figure it's about time to post an update. Last week the semester ended. While the semester overall was less demanding than others have been, the last month or so ended up being pretty busy. Between term papers and presentations, and then finals, I was glad to see it all end. We'll see in a few days how I did with it all. Now I have about three weeks off before school starts back again. A point of good news: I think I've worked it out to graduate a semester earlier than I originally thought, which means that I'll probably be done at the end of the summer. Only two more semesters! But enough about school, I try not to think about it too much during the breaks.

Christmas is only a week away, and for the holiday we're going to Angel Fire with my family. It's technically a ski trip, but I don't know for sure if you can call it that when only two people will be skiing. I'm looking forward to having a few days off work, and being somewhere that it actually feels like winter.

I hope that everyone has a Merry Christmas!