Sunday, January 30, 2011

Tax Refunds

Well... it's 12:21am and of course my brain is running with thoughts and so I must jump out of bed to write them down before I forget them... Funny how that always seems to happen even though I'm so comfy in bed! I was going to start this blog by apologizing for yet another long absence... but I guess it really hasn't been that long since my last blog... but I'm not even sure who - if anyone reads this - but I do like it for my mindless ramblings. :)

So AJ and I decided to try filing our taxes this evening - we had finally gotten all of our paperwork in the mail and we were looking forward to some extra money to help pay off some bills and whatnot. Well as these things tend to go, we end up getting frustrated with the tax system and the filing system and not understanding anything of what we're doing. Sound familiar? And in the end, we have a significantly smaller federal refund than the previous year and we have to pay Iowa more than what we had to the previous year.

Not a great outcome for people who hate dealing with finances. haha But, as we were told, it could be much worse. We could be paying both federal and state and I could still be without a job. But none of that is where my thoughts lead me to tonight.

I started to wonder... is it possible for your tax refunds (or lack of refunds) to reflect not only the past financial year, but the year overall? Is there a connection to the events in your life and the amount of money the government owes you - or you owe the government? I know, I know... you're thinking - "Ha! Liz - of course not! That's just silly!" But just amuse me for a minute...

Last year when we filed our taxes for 2009, we had a great federal refund. Awesome. And looking back over 2009, it was a great year! Awesome! AJ and I moved in together. We got married. AJ graduated. We vacationed in Jamaica. Awesome.

This year, when filing taxes for 2010, we have not much of a federal refund and a crappy situation of owing Iowa money. Boo. Looking back over 2010, AJ and I had to spend some time apart. We dealt with a lot of personal events. I was unemployed for a while. Boo.

Okay, okay - so 2010 really wasn't all bad - I mean AJ did start his amazing teaching job/career. And I'm sure 2009 wasn't all good either - there always has to be those ups and downs. Maybe the refund just reflects how the last couple months of the year goes... haha

Anyway... those were the thoughts tonight keeping me up. In general, life has been good. Last weekend we decided to head back to Tipton to see the family and we picked up Matt and Amber in Des Moines on our way. It was great to be back with the Zaruba's again! It had been since Thanksgiving since we had seen them all! And it was a great weekend full of sledding, video games and laughs! This past week has also been good - although AJ and I did both come down with some 24 hour bug that kept us each away from work on a couple of days, but overall it was good. My second week at UNO has started to pick up and hopefully I'm learning the ropes. Soon it will take off and I'll be so busy I won't know what to do with myself! :)

This weekend, AJ and I are planning on relaxing and just enjoying each other's company (as long as we keep the taxes off our minds... ;-) haha). This is one thing we never get tired of doing - the keeping each other company - not the taxes. Just being able to sit on the couch watching TV or playing LittleBig Planet and having that special someone next to you... just that simple act can make you feel so giddy with joy. Or the goofy lame jokes we tell each other that make us laugh so much we cry. Or just being able to reach across, touch their arm and know that no matter what, they will love you and be with you. Those are the things I love about our laid back weekends.

So as you get ready to file your taxes this year... think about the past year. Or at least the past couple of months. Were they good? Were they average? Were they just flat out terrible? When you find your answer, you might just find your tax refund. ;-)

Friday, January 21, 2011

A week off and a new job!

The past two weeks have come and gone in a blur for AJ and I! But I definitely not complaining in any sort of way. Life has really picked up a lot and I think AJ and I are both enjoying this new ride!

The weekend after I accepted the position at UNO, AJ and I pretty much did nothing all weekend. And it was great! :) We were able to just spend some quality time together, watching movies, playing video games and just hanging out.

Last week was my last week of unemployment and it was very relaxing! It was nice to be able to have a week off not having to worry about finding a job still! Knowing that I had one and would be starting soon made it seem much more like a vacation! I was even lucky enough to be able to spend some of those days with AJ! We decided that God thought it was time to "give us a break" or something. AJ had his first snow days - yes, days! - of the year that week! He was home with me on Monday, Tuesday and a two-hour late start on Wednesday! That was definitely an added bonus for my last week off. :)

Last weekend, my sister Megan drove down from Minnesota to spend some time with us! We had a great weekend! We had a pizza and movie night on Friday just like we use to do when we were kids! On Saturday we drove into Omaha and went to the Durham Museum where they were having a special exhibit for the bicentennial of Abraham Lincoln's birth! It was an exhibit from the Library of Congress that was only going to be featured in five cities across the US! It was very cool - we saw some new artifacts, letters and the coolest item (in my opinion) was that they had the Bible that Lincoln used when he was sworn into presidency AND it was the same Bible that President Obama used when he was sworn in! How cool is that?! After the exhibit we ate at Spaghetti Works and did some shopping. We enjoyed another relaxing evening of movies. Sunday we took Meg to church and then out for brunch at the Village Inn. All in all, I would say a very successful weekend!

Monday was MLK Day so the campus of UNO was closed so I was able to have one last day off. AJ didn't have school, but he did have a professional development day so he unfortunately was not able to enjoy it with me. And on Tuesday, I had my first day at UNO. I could tell even after the first day that I was really going to enjoy this job and the people I work with!

This past week has been somewhat slow because it's taking a while to get all the paperwork processed and an email address but things are starting to fall into place. It's also been a fairly quiet week because prospective student visits don't start until next week. But I'm really okay with all of this because it's giving me time to study up on UNO and learn everything I need to know - or at least as much as I can! And my calendar is already full of a number of college fairs I'll be going to and soon I'll be adding some high school visits as well. March is definitely going to be one of my busiest months! But I'm excited for it all to start!

So overall, a very good past two weeks! AJ and I are getting use to this new routine - I'm actually up and out of bed before he is now! And he's told me it's going to take him a while to get use to coming home to an empty house now. But I'm loving being out of the house again and actually having something to do. So, things are great and we're excited to see where life is going to lead us next!

Friday, January 7, 2011

A New Year with a fresh start

Happy New Year everyone! I realize I've been slacking quite a bit when it comes to our blog, but I'll do my best to get back into the routine of writing. It's been a long time since my last blog - last year actually! And so there's a lot to catch up on!

AJ's last day of school before break was Dec. 22nd and the next day we headed up to Minnesota to spend the holiday with my side of the family. We spend Christmas Eve up in the cities with my dad's side of the family and exchanged gifts that started with the first letter of our middle names. Always a fun time with that side of the family and this year was no different! Although we were all entertained by my cousin's daughter Lilly who was just too cute and very helpful in opening all of our presents! :)

Christmas day was spent with just my immediate family since everyone else on my mom's side were off celebrating Christmas either in Ohio or Arizona. So we had a very relaxing day filled with gifts, hot chocolate, falling snow, Christmas movies and snacking all day long. It was perfect. My mom even managed to find the Muppet Family Christmas video - which is a classic and very hard to find! We all enjoyed watching it again, but agreed it wasn't quite the same without the old school TV commercials like our VHS recording once had! :)

On Sunday, my parents left for a Caribbean cruise and left the house to us kids. AJ and I spent our week up in Minnesota hanging out with a lot of my high school friends and spending a lot of quality time with my siblings. I honestly can't remember the last time the four of us were able to spend so much time together and have so much fun!! It was very nice that Minnesota had so much snow as well because that just added to our fun! We were able to build snowmen, build a tunnel and even go sledding! We also managed to get our car stuck in the driveway but luckily we got unstuck.

After an epic week in Minnesota, we headed back down to Council Bluffs where we were met with 60 degree weather! It was quite the change and a very welcomed one at that! For New Year's AJ's sister Amber and her husband Matt drove out to see us and spend the night in Omaha. We had gotten hotel rooms in downtown so that we wouldn't be out on the roads. We spend the day/night eating a lot of fun, playing some fun games at Dave & Buster's and bar hopping in the Old Market. We tried to stay inside as much as possible because it was freezing outside! But all in all, it was a very successful New Year's! We were even lucky enough to meet up with my cousin Courtney and her fiance Matt as they were in Omaha for a wedding that Saturday!

So that was our holiday and a great start to the New Year! And fortunately, things just keep getting better for us!

I had a phone interview the Thursday morning before AJ and I drove up to Minnesota right before Christmas with the University of Nebraska Omaha for an Admissions Counselor position. While we were driving up to Minnesota that same day, I got a call back from UNO asking me to come in to do another interview! So this past Tuesday I was on campus for my interview which included doing a 15 minute presentation on the college. After I left, I was feeling pretty good about how things went and was hoping to hear back from them within the next week. Well yesterday, Thursday, I got a call back from UNO asking if I could come in that day to meet with their Associate Vice Chancellor who oversees all Admissions. So yesterday afternoon I was back on campus and while I only thought I'd be there for about a half hour, I was actually there about two hours having some great conversations about this position and what they're hoping to see happen within the next year. Again, I left feeling really good about things.

Then this morning, I got another phone call from UNO offering me the position! I was ecstatic and accepted pretty much right away! :) I start on Monday, Jan. 18th and I couldn't be more happy and excited about this possibility. I will be focusing on two programs at UNO one of which is offered to some western Iowa counties and the other  will involve some travel the Twin Cities and the Kansas City area. This is obviously a lot different from what I was doing at Kruger, but I believe that I'm going to be able to bring a lot of my experience from Kruger into my new position at UNO. I'm also just super excited to be back in higher education admissions. Back in college, I worked as a student work study in the Admissions office and did Student Ambassadors. Both of those experiences taught me that this was something I could really do with my life. Now I have that opportunity. I'm excited to start working with students and helping them make some big life changing decisions! This is a new chapter for me and I can't wait to start!

Looking back, I wasn't unemployed for that long of time, but I can mostly say that now knowing I have a job! :) In the past month or so, I was taught a lot about patience - as was AJ I'm sure! We were so ready for something to fall in place, we just had to wait for the right timing - God's timing. AJ and I are finally going to be able to get back into a great routine of things and I know we're both way excited to have dual incomes again! :)

So, for this Zaruba clan, the first week of 2011 is off to a fantastic start! And I know that the next 51 weeks are going to be just as great, if not better!

I hope God blessed each one of you with a great start to the new year and also an awesome rest of the year! We look forward to seeing what will happen in our lives and in yours. :)

Wednesday, January 5, 2011

A routine

*Just a note: I wrote this blog up a while ago but forgot to post it... so I figured I'd do it now before I get another one written.

Dec. 22nd, 2010

Things are starting to become 'normal' for us again. I say 'normal' because really, what is 'normal'? But we're falling back into a routine again as husband and wife. It's strange, having to figure out how to co-exist with someone again. AJ, I know, much prefers his old bachelor pad rather than my constant nagging. :) 

It's not the same routine we once had as husband and wife. There was actually only a short period of time that we were both working full time jobs and living together and that was last spring. So I guess the whole only having one income thing isn't that difficult... it's just strange because it's flipped now. AJ is the one working and I'm the one staying home. But the important thing is that we're together again. And that is how it is supposed to be. 

I've started to notice the little changes that tell me we're getting back into the swing of things. The fact that we've had a couple weekends now where we didn't have to drive 4 hours to see the other person, or go anywhere for that matter. We were able to fully enjoy the entire weekend just with ourselves. It was during that time, as we cuddled on the mattress we pulled out into the living room, with the fireplace on, watching Christmas movies, that some of our normalcy started to return. Being able to relax and act like our goofy selves that no one else would ever understand. Being able to spend the day doing nothing at all, but knowing we wouldn't want to be anywhere else. 
Or when we can spend an entire car ride listening to choral music and getting goose-bumps from the chords like a bunch of nerds and then suddenly switch over to rock out to Miley Cyrus' Party in the USA.  Or when AJ starts acting like his crazy silly goofy self that I can't even begin to describe with words because it's just so Austin. :)

These are good feelings to have. They tell me things are starting to look up. They tell me things are starting to improve. Starting to get better. Not that things were ever that bad, but I've definitely learned a few things about life in the past couple of months.