Sick Days

So far, this week has been a long one... even though it's a super short work week for me... Please, let me explain =)

Last weekend, Trent and I had a great time spending some time with his family. Trent, Mattie and I headed to Ankeny on Saturday morning and had a great lunch with his parents and sister and kids (Russ had to work during the day preparing for the upcoming marching band season). In the afternoon, the girls all hung out at the house while Trent and his dad went to a car show in the area. Saturday evening, we went to Adel for another great meal at Russ and Melodie's house and finished up just in time for the babysitter to arrive to watch the girls while the adults all went out. We went to see the final Harry Potter movie in 3D followed by some ice cream... who would complain about that! =)

The only thing that wasn't so great about that day was that, gradually as the day went on, my throat became sore and really uncomfortable. I tried to make it feel better by drinking a Dr. Pepper during the movie (the carbonation makes it better for a while) and then the ice cream afterward, both which helped for only a very short while. (It wasn't such a bad thing since Dr. Pepper and ice cream are pretty high on my "Favorite Things" list!)

On Sunday morning we went to church with Trent's parents and then after lunch and then headed back home to Omaha. When we got home, we spent the afternoon doing some cleaning at the apartment. And the day was topped of by Trent complimenting my clean shower! =) That made me feel pretty good, even though my throat was still not feeling so great.

Monday morning, my alarm when off, and my sore throat was even worse and it was accompanied by a bit of a headache too. So, I ended up staying home for the day and hung out with Mattie all day. We stayed in bed until around noon and watched some Price is Right (which I haven't done in about a year). Trent came home to check on us at lunch time and then, in the afternoon, we moved our party to the living room and watched some HGTV and Dr. Phil and an Oprah rerun.

Then, on Tuesday morning, even though I was still feeling pretty bad, I got up and got ready for work so I didn't have to miss another day. This really was the worse sore throat I've ever had in my short life, but I figured sore throats really are always the worst in the morning, so I should just tough it out. I brought along my sore throat spray and drops and figured I'd make it through.

When I got to the elevators at work in the morning, I ran into a guy that I work with and he asked if I had been sick the day before. I told him I was and what I was sick with. He immediately said "You probably have strep throat." I kind of laughed, but then I started thinking about it and thought that very well might be a possibility. Then, as we were walking to our desks he said he thought that because he had it the week before and it was going around. So, when I got to my desk, I Googled "strep throat" and looked at the symptoms and matched up how I was feeling to what it said. After about 5 minutes of looking, I called the doctor's office and made an appointment. I got an appointment for about an hour later, and the doctor concluded that I do, indeed, have strep throat. She wrote me a prescription and said that, if at all possible, I should go home for the day since I would still be contagious until about 24 hours after I started taking my antibiotics. When I got back up to my desk, I told my boss what the doctor had said, and she said to go home so I didn't risk giving it to someone else, too. I spent the rest of the day at home once again resting and watching TV.

Here is a picture of Mattie having a sick day with me:



Looks like just a messy bed... Right?

  

Can you find Mattie all snuggled in our bed?
She loves to 'unmake' the beds every day and snuggle in!

Finally, on Wednesday, I was able to spend the whole day at work. I've still got the sore throat today, but haven't had the sore stomach or headaches that came along with it in the beginning. I'm also no longer contagious, so I can be out in the world without having to worry about infecting anyone!

So my week was long because who likes to be sick?! And even though a sick day every once in a while is great, it'd be better to have a sick day without actually feeling sick! =)

And my work week is super short because of the fact that I did pretty much miss two days of work since I was sick and it's even shorter because I'm only going to be at work for a half a day on Friday! I'll be heading to Lincoln in the afternoon for the pre-wedding events for one of my best friends. It seemed like this day was so far away, but just like everything else, it always gets here eventually. I'm excited to be a part of Bailey's special day on Saturday!!

I hope you enjoy the rest of your week and have a great weekend, too!! And stay healthy! No one likes to be sick when it's 100 degrees out =)

Chow! 

My Job!

So as I sit here at 6:15, still at work, patiently waiting to get the word back on whether or not our files that we are filing with the SEC are OK or not (more on that later), I thought I'd write a little post about my job change I had about 2 months ago.

Around the beginning of March, my boss called me into her office and told me that another guy in my group was going to be moving to a different group within the company, and said that if I didn't have any major objections, I would be taking his position within our group. Of course, I didn't, so I began to set my mind on all the things that I had to learn in the 2 months before I would be taking over.

Later that day, my boss called the 4 people in my group into a conference room and let everyone in on the change. She then let us know about ANOTHER change. A different guy in my group was also going to be leaving the group. He was actually going to be leaving the company and going to South Africa for 27 months in the Peace Corps. So, that quickly, I went from being the least experienced person in my group to the 2nd most experienced, right behind a guy who will be retiring within the next year... Ahhh!

The time between March and May, I did some training for my new job with the person who's place I would be taking, mainly focusing on the duties he performed during month-end closes. It was quite an overwhelming experience, looking at all the new stuff that I had to do. I was just finally feeling like I was getting comfortable in my position, and now it was all getting changed up again!

I made the transition and, for a while, had to do my old duties plus my new ones because there was a new hire right out of college coming in and he wouldn't start until 3 weeks after my predecessor was vacating his position but, I'm glad to say I made it through it!

In my old position, I was what I like to call "The General Ledger Police". During close, I closely watched the entries that were going through and made sure that they were being posted in the correct month and that they were all being posted before we closed the books for the month. I also ran checks to be sure that all of the data for our accounts and cost centers were complete and working correctly, made journal entries for various things, and reconciled certain assigned accounts among other things. Throughout the month I also fielded people's questions about why their entries weren't going through or what was wrong with their accounts and cost centers, I created new cost centers and accounts when needed, and helped people out with our general ledger system when they had questions about what transactions to use for certain things or helped them figure out how to make things work. Overall, I liked my job. I especially liked it when I figured out what I was doing and could be the person to answer the questions rather than having to be the person that was asking all the time!

So now, in my new position, a lot of my duties have shifted to be more concentrated during the month and quarter ends. I still make entries and reconcile some accounts, but I take care of a lot more and bigger accounts now. I also take care of our consolidations at the end of every month, which consists of making entries to make our consolidated financials correct and reflect the correct revenue and expenses between all of our subsidiaries so that it isn't overstated for our intercompany transactions. After all of that stuff is taken care of, I put together our cash flow statement each month. There are 4 different reconciliations that I do with the help of information from people from various parts of the company that help to come up with our cash flow statement. That's the most intimidating thing that I do, in my opinion. Hopefully it is something that I can get my head around as I go through each month.

The biggest undertaking of my new position is being a part of putting together our 10Q each quarter to be filed with the SEC. It's crazy how big of a deal it is, and how much of a hand my group and myself have in putting it all together. That is the reason I am still at work now (now 6:51). We are filing our 10Q tomorrow, and so we have to be sure that everything is good and correct. At this point, it's just basically a waiting game between making changes, making sure the changes are OK, and getting the changes made to the version of our report that gets filed with the SEC tomorrow. We went through the same sort of process with the Earnings Release 8K that we filed this morning. We were here last night until about 8 making sure that everything was prepared and final and ready to go to file. Then, I came in the morning at 6:50, so I could send the email to say OK TO FILE at 7:05 right after our press release hit the news wire. That was pretty cool to see and be a part of! I have to admit, I was actually kind of nervous, sitting here hitting refresh on my yahoo.com every few seconds.

As much as I do like my job, it's nights like this that go on for weeks every quarter, that make me realize that I couldn't do this forever. I don't know how my bosses do this with families and kids at home... My husband of 2 months just told me today that he can't wait until our lives can go back to normal next week. And this is only my first quarter in this position! But things will go back to 'normal' starting tomorrow, right after we file. Until the next week, when it's time for a month close again :) Although, they are pretty tame when we're coming right off of a quarter close.

I do really love the job I have and the company I work for. I am so fortunate to have gotten this job and to be where I am. I am so thankful!

On a side note, semi related... I'm finally starting the process of applying for the CPA Exam and taking the tests. I ordered the study material last night and will be officially applying within the next few weeks. I am anticipating taking my first test in November and the second in February, followed by the third and forth in April and May. That is all depending on how things go with taking the tests and my job and everything. It's hard to try to figure out when to take the tests when I know I will be busy the first month of every quarter as well as pretty much the first 4 months of the year with work, preparing 10Qs and 10Ks and R-1s in the beginning of the year... So we'll see how the first few go and we'll see if I'll think I can handle taking a test in April while also preparing the 10Q... But regardless, it's happening!! In 10 months from now, I could be Kendra Fredericksen, C.P.A. :)

P.S. I'm going home now! YAY! Wish me luck tomorrow! I hope nothing blows up and we get everything filed, no problem!!

Chow!

Hello Again!

Hello Everyone and welcome (back) to my blog! As you can see, this isn't my old blog... but I figured since it has been almost two whole months since I've written anything and SO MUCH has changed (including my name!) I'd just start a new one. I also couldn't figure out a way to get my old blog to switch to my new email account, so rather than mess with that too much, it came to this. And why not!?! New name = new blog for me I guess :)

Another reason that it took me so long to start up again is because I couldn't, for the life of me, come up with the perfect name for my blog. And finally, after days of searching and thinking, I found my title. My Lifesong. It came from the title of a song by Casting Crowns, a Contemporary Christian group that I love. And the line in the song that says "May the words I say and the things I do, make my lifesong sing, bring a smile to You" is really what I hope for my life. I hope that my life and the things I do with my time on Earth bring a smile to the people I meet and, more importantly, a smile to God. And hopefully that will shine through in my writings here! I will elaborate more on my blog title in the future, but if you'd like to listen to the song for now, here it is:

So, I've got a lot of catching up to do for all of you. I think when I left you all last, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge had just got hitched. And since then, I had a new baby cousin come into the world, I've switched positions at UP, I had a bachelorette party, I had a cousin graduate from college, finished planning a wedding, had a birthday, our country had a birthday (as well as my husband, sister, cousins, sister-in-law, mother-in-law and grandpas), I celebrated my mother and my father's days, and the biggest event, of course, I GOT MARRIED, to the most amazing and wonderful man ever! Who I am so happy to be able to now call my husband :)

It has been quite a month and a half. I still don't think I'm used to the fact that we are really married. It still gives me a happy feeling inside every time it hits me. I'm still not used to saying my new name either. I think that I'm used to writing it and signing it, but it's the whole saying it out loud thing that gets me every time! I guess that will come!

I feel like there is going to be so much to tell, as the days go on. There's so much new and exciting stuff to do and figure out during the first few months of marriage. It's great! We're now in the process of finding a church to call 'our church' as well as having fun with our friends in Omaha, getting home to see our families, and taking care of Mattie, our dog, who has been Trent's dog for about 6 and a half years but has stayed with his parents for the past few years and now she has come to live with us.

Mattie!

Tomorrow morning, I'm off to Okoboji for one of my best friend's bachelorette parties. I am so excited to be by the lake in hot weather with my friends and celebrate with her! She will be the first of my three best friends getting married in the next year and a half or so. Bailey on July 30, my big sister, Kellsey, on October 1, and my best friend Lauren in a little over a year from now. What an exciting time!