OUCH!

I called this morning to check on how much that ticket I got a couple of Sunday mornings ago for creeping around that stop sign would cost me and can you believe I have to pay $120??!! Dang! I have until mid-October to pay it. That is a good thing since I don't have it right now...a girl I work with had gotten a ticket for the same thing and hers was like $70 or $75, so that's what I was expecting. When they told me $120 this morning, I was in shock. Oh well. It's only money, right? I must admit though, I have been coming to complete stops since then, most of the time anyway! :-)

Good news...I went and voted this morning! I can't even imagine how crowded the polling places will be on the day of the election, so I decided to get that little, actually BIG, responsiblity out of the way early. My step-mom and sister went with me and we were all through in about 10-15 minutes...Definitely one of my better choices. If you have a chance to do that where you live, I highly recommend it. I'm ashamed to admit that I hadn't changed my voter registration info since I moved about 4 years ago, so I was sort of under the gun hoping my change info would go through in time for me to vote in this election, so I was THRILLED when I found online earlier this week that it had been changed. When I got there today, I filled out the form they had, a woman took it to her computer to verify my info, then came back over and said, sort of loudly on her way back to the counter where I was standing, 'Wow...It's been a while since you've voted, hasn't it??' but THIS is what I heard, 'WOW...IT'S BEEN A WHILE SINCE YOU'VE VOTED, HASN'T IT???' I was like, "Okay...you don't have to say it so loud!!!! :-)" Then she started giggling and cupped her hands over her mouth like she was going to shout it and said it again. It was actually pretty funny. I will definitely be doing better from now on! Isn't it funny how someone can say something and depending on your guilt or innocence in the matter, you can hear it totally differently than how they say it? Although I was guilty, it was sort of funny. :-)

What else?? I went to a surprise party last night for a friend and client from work. She turned 60 yesterday and her husband had called about 3 or 4 weeks ago to invite me, the CPA I work under (Judy) and our boss (Ben). They have been great clients and in the 18 years they have been using our firm, Sue and I have become great friends. Their company is based out of Northern Ireland and they moved here from England to open a branch in the US in 1990, so we were some of the first people they contacted and started using when they came here. Her husband runs the company and she's the main office person and bookkeeper, so with that being the case, not knowing the US rules and requirements when they came here, outside of the basics of tax law, Sue and I have had to learn a lot together over time. We've become friends in the process. Although I was inclined to not go to her party at first because I didn't think I'd know much of anyone there, when Judy and Ben agreed to go, I got excited about it. I called Sue yesterday to wish her a happy birthday and from our conversation, it was obvious that she had no clue what was going to happen that night. It was a lot of fun when she realized I was there. I can't wait to talk to her next week and see what her recollection of the whole night has been. My boss took his camera, so we got a few pictures. If he will e-mail them to me, I may post them here in a few days. We'll see. I was VERY glad that I had changed my mind and decided to go. I could tell it meant a lot to Sue and it was definitely the right thing to do. I love when I make good decisions! :-)

Okay...I'm off to find out what time the debates start tonight. Even though I've already voted, I am eager to see what they have to say. If you have a chance to vote early where you live, definitely take advantage of it!

Hope you've had a great week.