A 74 on REG

Sometimes, I just hate it when I'm right. Especially this time!

After taking my last CPA Exam test last Monday, the 13th, I had very little confidence in the chances of me passing. The whole thing was a blur and they were asking me things that I really wasn't expecting... So my hopes weren't really up when it came to score release day earlier this week... But still, that didn't make it any easier to see my score and see that it just wasn't quite good enough...

To be honest, I had moments where I was hopeful and thought that maybe, just maybe, I would pass and be on to taking my last test... I tried my hardest to keep those thoughts away because I didn't want to be super let down like I was the last two times, but as prepared as I was to not pass, it still stinks!

One thing I learned from not passing my first test was that I should never check my score while at work. After I had passed my first one, the thought of me not passing the next one really didn't cross my mind all that much. But then, when I thought my score might be out there that day, at about 4:00, I checked my score at work. And there it was. A big, fat, non-passing score. I was shocked! How could that be right?!? For the next hour of work, I had to do my best not to break down in tears at my desk. I had to do what I could to keep my mind off of it and went for a walk around the floor below where my desk sits. It wasn't until I got home that I just let it out and cried. That sucked.

The second test that I didn't pass, I should have been a little more prepared, but, again, I didn't think that could happen to me AGAIN. But, sure enough, it did. This time, there was no way I was looking at my score at work, so when I got home, I found out the news. Again, I was just kind of in shock. I was mad, embarrassed, disappointed, all that good stuff.

This time, I was certain there was no way I could pass (but deep down wished for a miracle). As much as I wanted to pass and get this crap over with, I knew that my chances were very slim. I watched the score release boards at Another71.com all day while I was at work and saw that scores were being released starting around 1 or 2 in the afternoon, so I knew that my score was probably sitting out there waiting for me to look at it. After I got home from work, I waited about a half hour before getting the courage to turn on my computer to look. Part of me never wants to look at my score because then the wishful thinking is over, then it's certain, then it's back to reality and back to studying. I was sitting at the kitchen table when I entered in my information. I put my hand over the part of the screen where the score would show up so it wouldn't surprise me and I could reveal it at my own pace. I pushed the "Score" button and slowly moved my hand down to show what it was... And there it was... A 74! Just 1 little itsy bitsy point away from passing!!! I just put my head down on the table and had an "are you kidding me?!" moment before I got up to tell Trent the news.

I really handled this one a lot better than the other two... How sad is it when you get used to failing!?! Even though I could have broken down and just cried, I didn't. I was sad. I was disappointed. But it just wasn't as much of a shock this time.

I was upset because of how close I was. Just thinking about how many multiple choice questions made up that one point that I missed passing by makes me feel the worst. I quite possibly could have passed if I had answered 1, maybe 2, more questions correctly or if I had gotten 2 more numbers correct in my Simulation questions... But I didn't get that upset because a part of me was okay with that score... I had thought that I could have gotten a score in the 50s or something horrible like that. And to be 1 point away means that I had enough base knowledge to get real close. I really don't even know what I would have done differently in my studying last time. Going into the test, I felt confident, I felt like I could handle the questions that they were going to ask me and pass this test. I can't say that I didn't study hard enough, because I did study hard. I spent at least 115 hours studying and I thought that knew what I needed to know... Now I just have to build on what I already know and get more into the detailed information. Hopefully that will help me to answer all those detailed questions correctly that had me thinking "What the heck is this?!" during the test. And hopefully next time passing won't be a problem.

I am planning on retaking the test on the first day of October (which is the first day that I am eligible to retake it in the new testing window). And hopefully that will be the end of it. I will then hopefully retake the other test that I have left in the end of November, but I will see how my studying is going, as I want to be confident about it before I try again. I think part of my problem with these tests has been my lack of ability to focus on my studying with so much other stuff going on around me. I want to be able to enjoy my time in our new house. I want to visit our family and have them come visit us. I want to hang out with my friends. I want to decorate our house and work on projects. I want to pass these freaking tests and just get on with it! I guess you can say that I just want it all... But I've been told that's kind of how I am... So, as much as I want to be done with the tests, I probably need to take my time with studying so I can still try to enjoy all the other things that are going on right now. I guess we'll see how everything goes over the next few months.

I hate how not passing these tests makes me feel. I honestly don't think I've ever failed a test in my life before this and now to have failed 3 times makes me feel horrible. I know that these tests are hard. I know that there's only like a 45% passing rate. But it's hard to not be in that passing group... I know (and hope) that when I do pass them all, it won't matter that I didn't pass them all the first time. Once I have it, they can't take it away from me (unless I commit tax fraud or don't file my taxes or become a criminal or something). I just have to finish what I started and get on with it. Looking at the big picture, this will just be a little portion of my life, even though it feels like I've been working on this FOR.E.VER! I just don't want to miss anything because I had to study for tests that I should have and could have been done with 2 months ago... But anyways... I can do this!

The Weekend: Helping Jared Move

This past weekend, I spent most of Saturday in Ankeny helping my brother get his stuff moved into his new apartment. Jared and my mom left from home bright and early Saturday morning and I made my way from Omaha to Ankeny at about the same time to meeet them.

Trent was busy at work all day, so Mattie got to ride along with me and spend the morning and early afternoon hanging out at Trent's parents' house. I think that the whole trip kind of confused her a little - I'm sure she was wondering where I was taking her, but we made it safely back home and she made a great traveling companion, so it all worked out.



My little travel companion watching
the oncoming traffic for me!

Jared's apartment complex is fairly new and it is really nice. He's living in a 3 bedroom apartment with 3 other people. They've got a nice big kitchen open up to the living room with a fireplace and a balcony. I hope it all works out well for them all, as it looks like a very nice set up.

Their kitchen with laundry to the left.

Living room with balcony door to the left.

We got everything into his room and all set up and he has room to spare, so he has room to collect some stuff over time! After we got everything moved in, Jared, my mom, Jared's friend, Dalton, and I went and had some lunch and then went to Target and Home Depot to pick up a few things that he needed. He found a shelf to put his tv on at Home Depot which worked out perfect to house his speakers and XBox and things of that nature. At Target we picked up a few things including some hangers so he could hang up all his clothes and fill his fairly large closet. When we got back from shopping I hung up all his clothes and organized them by color. That made me happy, so I left feeling pretty good. I think Jared appreciated my efforts too! =)

Can you believe a college-aged boy
has a closet this big!?!

My handy work. (I think he needs some more clothes...)

Putting his shelves together.

The shelves all set up.

All done for the day.

Jared and his friend and roommate

My mom and Jared before my mom
took off to head back home.

When we got everything unpacked and put away, went to pick up Mattie and head back home and leave Jared and his friends alone to do whatever it is that college boys do... (And I didn't think that I wanted to stick around for that!) Jared starts class on Thursday to work towards his degree in building trades. I wish him all the best and know that he can do anything he wants to if he sets his mind to it and commits. I can't wait to see what the future holds for him. =)

Mattie taking a little nap in the car.

P90X - Day 1

Today I did my first day of P90X. I have been wanting to do some exercise program for quite a while, something like Kosama, Farrell's, Insanity, etc... I just didn't think I had the time to commit to it with studying and all that, so I didn't want to spend the money on it. So a while ago my sister and brother-in-law were kind enough to lend me their P90X videos for me to use. They have just been sitting there for a while until I 'got the time' and since I just took my test yesterday and have a little break until I am going to start up with studying again, I figured this was a great time. (I also have my BFFs Bachelorette party in Okoboji in 2 weeks, so I thought I should do some physical activity between now and then so I'm not the girl that got married and then got fat!)

I need to and want to be committed to this so I can see what happens and what I am capable of. I want to be healthy and I want to look good, so I really hope I don't lose any enthusiasm for this... I just need to not let life get in the way and do it!! Trent said he would make encourage me do it every day, so I guess he's my guy to hold me accountable. I told him he just can't be mean about it! =)

Tonight I did the Chest & Back and Ab Ripper X videos. I don't have a resistance band or a pull up bar, so I had to fake those by using my light weights. I think that's okay, though, because I am of the mindset that if I keep doing something it will still make a difference.

I have a little trouble doing push ups because 1) I am a wimp and can't even do very many girl push ups and 2) I have had a problem with my right wrist for a very long time and it gets easily irritated with doing push ups. Trent gave me his 'push up things' (I don't know what they're called - not push up bars, but something) to use after tonight, so hopefully that will help me out next time and help me keep going without further irritation. I also didn't write down how many reps I did of everything tonight, but I will do that in the future. I know I should have done it so I can keep track of my progress accurately... But what can ya do, I guess?!?!

Trent has done a few of the work outs before, including Ab Ripper X, so he warned me that it was a doozy. And he was right... During about the 3rd set I got some nasty cramps in the outsides of my legs, so that was an interesting one, but I just like the way I feel now that I have actually done it. I did it to the best of my abilities at this point, and that's all I can do right now! Hopefully it just keeps getting better throughout the next 90 days and hopefully I can see some results... 

It honestly has been a LONG time since I have done any real physical activity. I obviously was pretty active all through my childhood and high school with sports and then dance in college. After I moved to Omaha I still worked out and ran for the first year or so, but since about a month or two before Trent and I's wedding, I have done diddly squat... It really does feel good to actually do something again and use my muscles for once...I was really beginning to tell that I was becoming a lazy pile and didn't like how it was starting to affect the way I look... I also want to be sure that I am doing what I can to be healthy for my current and future family. (And I want to have a semi-good looking body before I go and ruin it by (God willing) growing a human inside of me sometime (years) down the road.)  I'm sure my heart and cholesterol levels are pretty happy about this change as well. I'm sure it'd prolly help if I toned it down a little with the fried foods, the Dr. Pepper and the ice cream too, then... But we'll see about that one... Baby steps!! =)

Wish me luck and feel free to ask me about it when you see me to keep me accountable, too!!

CPA Exam - REG #1

Well, I just took my 5th CPA test this morning (I've passed 2 out of 4 of the tests so far). And as far as I can tell, it didn't go well....

Out of the 5 I have taken, this is the one that I have felt the worst about by far. With all the ones in the past, I at least had a glimmer of hope of passing in my head... This time, I was praying for the power to go out about half way through the test just so I would have to quit and start over (hopefully with a different version of the test). My dreams almost came true when there was 16 minutes left in the test, my test froze and then was soon followed by one of the staff members saying that their server was down. Unfortunately Fortunately they were able to get everything working again after about 5-10 minutes and everyone's tests started up again right where they left off.

There was just so many things on there that weren't stressed really at all in my studying material... I feel like I got all of the specific stuff and I had spent all my time learning and memorizing the general stuff... I really don't know what I could have or would have done differently in all my hours of studying that would have helped. Either I got a really specific test, I focused on the wrong things to learn, or I just didn't learn it right. Right now I am just so frustrated and exhausted from all of this. The thought of having to study all over again for this makes me very sad. I just want my life back and to be able to put this test stuff behind me!

So I guess my only hope now is that I am totally wrong about being so wrong about so many of the questions... We will find out soon enough.

For now I am just going to enjoy not studying for a while and figure out what my plan will be for taking my next test (probably two!). I am going to spend some time with my husband and do some stuff around the house and make supper every once in a while since it seems like I haven't done that in quite.a.while!! Starting with Crock Pot Honey Sesame Chicken tonight!! Let's hope it's good!

Another Test

Well, Monday's the day when I get to go take another exam for the CPA. This one is the Regulation (REG)test. It is a 3 hour test (one of the shorter ones) that covers ethics and professional responsibility, business law, Federal tax procedures and accounting issues, and Federal taxation of property transactions, individuals and entities. Sounds like fun, right?!

Like always, I am nervous about it, but more than anything, I'm looking forward to that feeling I'll have when I am done with the test on Monday. It's just such a relief... Of course, I then have to go through the agony of waiting to get my score and thinking about not passing AGAIN, but I'll worry about that later. Besides, I HAVE to pass. I am sooo sick and tired of this! Yes, I want to do this and I will be happy when I can say that I am all done, but I can't wait to get my life back and be able to enjoy living in our house and doing random little projects and just relaxing in the evenings (and pushing snooze a million times on my alarm) without feeling bad about it.

I am a little sad that my test is Monday and the Olympics are over on Sunday... Not to say that I haven't gotten to watch any (because I've watched quite a bit of good stuff) but pretty much all of the Olympics I've watched has been done with the computer on my lap while studying or with the TV on mute while I try to study and unmuting when a good part comes on. But like my Grandma Kock said to me last week, "There will be another Olympics." And unless something super crazy happens in the world before then, she's absolutely right! Just last night, I was thinking how it'll be in 4 years when I get to just watch the games rather than have to worry about studying... BUT then I got to thinking about how far off 4 years is and who knows what will be going on in our lives then and what will have changed... I'm sure we'll have something going on that we'll have to devote our attention to that will take precedence over watching TV - so I can't really say with certainty that I'd just be able to watch all the events that I wanted to but I can say I'm pretty certain that I won't be studying for any darn tests at that point! (It was at that moment in my train of thought that my mind wandered to the thought that maybe we'd have a baby by that time... what a crazy thought... it kind of makes me nervous just thinking about it... Wowsers!) But anyways... a little side tangent there!!

I have already passed two tests, and counting this one, I have two more. After this one, I will need to restudy for BEC (Business Environment and Concepts) and retake it. As of right now, I'm thinking I'll take it in November, but we'll see how this one goes and go from there. If I could get it done sooner, that'd be wonderful! If I take the test in November, it will have been one year from when I took my first test. I keep telling myself that's not so bad, but I hate to think that, with my original plan, if I would have passed them all the first time, I would have been done in May. BLAH! But whatever... when it's all done, that won't even matter! Right?!

We have a busy weekend planned (Trent's parents are coming to help us paint! Yay for getting house to-dos checked off the list!), so that makes me a little nervous about getting a lot of studying in, but it will be nice to give my mind a little bit of a break, too. I'm taking Friday off work, so I can spend all day just studying and cramming all that wonderful accounting and tax information into my head!! I can only do what I can and then hope that's enough to pass!

Well, wish me luck and think good thoughts on Monday morning - it'd be greatly appreciated! And hopefully I'll have good news that another test is behind me in a few weeks!!

The Bell Reunion 2012

The first Sunday in August has once again come and gone. It has always been and still is one of my favorite weekends of the summer because of the Bell Reunion, our big family reunion.

The Aylward portion of the Bell family

I left to go 'home home' on Saturday around noon (I had to leave Trent and Mattie at home again because Trent was busy with training at work with the start of the school year coming up). I went straight to my Grandma's and joined my Great Aunt Mimi and cousin Cooper there, as all the guys were over at the shooting range at the annual Bell Shoot. Grandma and Mimi were making some food for the next day. I joined in and made some Oreo Salad and Scotcheroos for the next day as well. When I was done, Cooper got to lick the bowl even! Then, Grandma and Aunt Mimi rested and Cooper and I went to the basement and watched a few Disney Channel shows before my mom and sister showed up.

Cooper cleaning the chocolate out of my bowl

When supper time rolled around, we headed over to Great Aunt Jeanne and Uncle Ted's house where we joined some more family members for supper. Later in the evening, the ladies chatted upstairs while the men played cards downstairs. (Late into the night, of course) Nothing out of the ordinary there!

On Sunday, we all gathered once more (with quite a few more extended family members) in Vail at the Reunion. We all ate plenty of food and caught up with one another throughout the afternoon. There was the usual bean bag and horseshoe tournaments as well.

Cousins Danielle, Jocelyn and Tricia with Uncle Dan

My partner and I lost in our second game, so I just hung out with all the other "losers" and watched the rest of the bags tournament. It was a battle, but, in the end, Bill and Tom won (they just happened to be the tow that beat my team, so I guess I don't feel so bad for losing to the champions!)

Kellsey playing bags - Jared and Uncle Dan playing horseshoes

Bill and Tom - the bags winners

By the time the champions were named, people had started to head back home. We sat around and chatted for a while longer while the guys played another game of cards and then it was time for me to take off for home as well.

My family! (Those in attendance anyways!)

I absolutely love being able to get together with family. The Bell Reunion brings back awesome memories from all the Bell Reunions past! It is always so much fun and we always have a great time. Now I'm just looking forward to Thanksgiving when we get to all get together again!

*Some other pictures from the day*

Jocelyn and I

Kellsey, me and Joce

Cousins!

My mom and I

Cousin Angie and I