I’ve been completely underwhelmed with the whole “Samulski Family Website” header that was at the top of the blog but completely overwhelmed with figuring out how to create something better.
That is, until pregnancy insomnia set in and I became completely incapable of sleeping past 5am.
Do you know how much there is to do at 5am in the morning while the rest of the world sleeps? Not a hell of a lot……
So, I decided to see if I could figure out how the heck one goes about pretty-fying their blog banner. 🙂
With the help of a few websites, my Photoshop Elements book, a picture I took in Hawaii and lots experimentation, I managed to create the new look.
Hope you like it!
(….don’t be surprised if the look changes a few times…I’m testing out a few of the blog templates. I like the black blackground as it shows off my picture but I’m not sure I’m digging it overall….)
My weight, blood pressure, urine- all good!
The baby’s heartbeat sounded good.
I’m still measuring big…not sure how big but the nurse said “Oh my! You sure are big!”. Its a good thing I’m not sensitive about that because I think I hear it about 100x each day….that, and “you’re still here?!??!”.
Anyway….
I tested negative on the Group B strep test.
The internal exam showed that I’m 2cm dialated but the head is still high and my cervix is still thick. Basically, I’ve dialated a smidge but the baby doesn’t appear to be movin’ on down.
I asked when they’d discuss the possibility of an induction based on the baby’s size. She said they wouldn’t do one until the baby was 10lbs and I was 39 weeks…unless I had a csection.
I didn’t really pursue the csection discussion as I don’t want to have one unless medically necessary. At this point, the baby is head down and there hasn’t been any indication I’d need a csection so I’m going to assume its going to be unnecessary.
I didn’t really pursue the induction discussion either as I’d really like nature to take its own course. Once the baby is 10lbs or I’m a week overdue, I’ll prob be more interested but right now I feel like I have time before thats really something that I need to seriously think about. I guess a part of me is in complete denial and thinks this baby is coming out sooner than later (before my due date) so the induction discussion is kinda not necessary.
She mentioned that they might have me do an ultrasound at my next visit to get another ballpark on the weight but they’d just play it by ear. When I scheduled my next appointment, we didn’t schedule an appointment with the ultrasound tech so we shall see….
I’ve shown a little progress since my last appointment when I was only a fingertip/1cm dialated. She said you really just never know when the baby is going to arrive.
She did my 37w exam with Ian and told me I was very likely to go a week overdue. And then 2 days later, at 37w2d, my water broke starting the ball rolling. I had only been 2cm dialated at my 37w appt then too so you really just never know…..
My next appt is next Friday (6/20)….I’ll be 38w3d at that point.
Here’s to hoping I never make it to the office for that appointment!
As I indicated in my prior post, I was kind of stuck between a rock and a hard place. After thinknig about it some more and doing additional research, I came up with a better solution.
I’m going to do some self-study CPE classes. Essentially, you download a course (including an exam) and you can get your credit hours in on your own time. I found a company that specializes in self-study CPE that the New York State Society of CPAs approves.
I think this works out to be the best solution:
-I will be taking 2- 8 hour and 1- 4 hour self-study classes online
-I will be going to the Buffalo session of the 4 hour Ethics course offered in August…hopefully I’m back from leave at that point! 🙂
-I don’t have to go to Rochester
-I don’t have to worry about when I go into labor or when I’ll be back to work (for the most part)
-I won’t have to worry about missing work and it having to conflict with month end close
-and I’ll have until the end of August to complete my CPE
The kicker to all of this? The self-study CPE classes are more than HALF THE COST of the other courses. Work pays for my classes but still, its going to be a lot cheaper for me to get my CPE in this way.
Woo hoo!!!
Let’s just hope I can find 20 hours of time to get these classes done in the next month or two. 🙂
So, as part of the requirements to maintain my CPA license, I’m required to take continuing professional education (CPE) classes. As is typical of ANYTHING developed and maintained by the State of New York, the manditory continuing education requirements are unnecessarily confusing. I think they may darn near require a legal degree to understand.
After spending hours trying to figure this out, I’ve managed to determine the following.
You have to take:
-40 hours in a year over 5 different fields of interest, OR
-24 hours in a year in the areas of auditing, accounting or taxation.
AND:
-in your “triennial registration period”, you must complete 4 hours of ethics training
-if you do the concentrated 24 hours CPE route, the ethics course has to be in one of the 3 areas (auditing, accounting or taxation)
Since this baby is on the cusp of being born, I’m in a tough spot:
-Due to the timing of my “triennial registration period”, the ethics course I took less than 3 years ago isn’t going to cut it and I need to retake it. My regististration period runs 11/05-10/08 and the damn class I took was in August 2005. How bad does that stink?
-The classes that would work best to effectively and efficiently get me my 24 hours of education are either (1) on/near my due date, (2) during the July close or dangerously close to the August close and/or (3) are in Rochester. This is lovely on so many levels….
-My CPE requirements must be fullfilled by the end of the CPE period which runs 9/1/07-8/31/08. So no matter what, by the end of August, I need to either get 40 hours or 24 hours of classes in…..
When you consider the fact that I have no idea when this baby is going to arrive, when I’m going to be out of work, or when I’m going to be back to work, you can clearly see my dilemma. I don’t want to plan CPE during my maternity leave for obvious reasons. I don’t want to schedule a class the second I’m back to work. I don’t want to schedule classes that are going to conflict with close. And I sure as hell don’t want to schedule classes in Rochester when gas is quickly approaching $4.50 a gallon.
What to do? What to do?
The answer, unfortunately, is that I’m going to be scheduling the classes in August. Hopefully I’ll be done with my maternity leave at that point but I’m pretty much going to HAVE to have the baby very soon for that to happen. AND I’m going to have to take 28 hour of CPE because I can’t get a 4 hour class to work with my ethics class (24 hours of CPE classes + 4 hours of ethics). AND I have to drive to Rochester for 3 full days of CPE. AND I’m going to have 2 full days in Rochester the last week of fiscal August which is going to be a major pain in the rump for me when preparing for the August close.
Lovely, huh?
Hopefully I can get my boss to buy off on this….I’m afraid they’re going to wig out at the suggestion of me missing 28 hours of work in August. 🙂
The good news is, I received the paperwork to renew my registration. Guess who’s planning to mark the form as being exempt from the CPE requirements as a result of “will not be in public practice in NYS”????? This will relieve me from the CPE requirements going forward……
Mom took this picture Friday night….me and Ian hanging out at the table at their house. Sharing some food.