Author Archives: Carrie Ann Alexis

Tax Season

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This year I went back to using my favorite tax program, Turbo Tax www.turbotax.com. They had a couple of new things this year. One thing was the option to get your refund put on a Green Dot Prepaid Debit Card. This is especially helpful for people who don’t have a bank account.   Otherwise, you can have your refund direct deposited into your savings or checking account.  They also still have the option to have the TurboTax fee deducted from your refund. I have done that in times past. There is an additional $29.95 fee for this service. TurboTax has really made doing your taxes easy. I personally find it enjoyable, I look forward to doing my taxes every year. Having TurboTax walk you through the filing is so helpful and beneficial. This year we actually received a new “making work pay” credit just by answering a few questions.

For my state taxes, I usually just file for free on the Illinois Department of Revenue website http://revenue.state.il.us. I recently learned that our state has an Education Credit which anyone, including home schoolers can use. You will be allowed 25% of your student’s qualified education expenses after the first $250. Your total credit may not exceed $500 in any year regardless of the number of qualifying students. Expenses included in this credit are tuition, book fess and lab fees. On the website there are publications that you can review for more information. For Home School review Publication 119, for regular school review Publication 132. Illinois may not be the only state that offers this credit, check with your tax preparer or use TurboTax to file your state taxes and they will let you know if your state is eligible.

One benefit of using TurboTax is that you can go through all the questions before you have to pay for the use of the software. This year I actually went through the state tax filing to see how the education credit worked. When I went to file my taxes TurboTax was going to charge me $29.95 to file the state. But knowing I could do it for free, I went back and deleted the state tax info and then proceeded to file my federal taxes.

I highly recommend using TurboTax, the process is so efficient, quick and easy.

What a Concept!!

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The other day I was talking with the kids about going to the store.  Olivia had received a shirt for her birthday that was the wrong size, so she needed to take it back.  Benji then says, “Yeah, mom, I need to take my shirt back too, I don’t want it anymore.”  If that wasn’t funny in itself, but I looked at the shirt that he was wearing, and I quickly calculated that it was about 12 years old!!  It’s a red polo shirt with a black, grey and white stripe across the middle.  I had to pull out a photo album to see if that was correct, 12 years?  Yes, I have a picture of Joshua wearing it for his 2nd birthday and he wore it until he outgrew it, Elijah wore it, now Benji is wearing it.  It’s still in good shape.  But I had to laugh, wouldn’t it be nice if we could return hand-me-down clothes back to the store because we don’t like them anymore…after 12 years of use?!?!?!

Chuckle of the day

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The other day my oldest son Joshua decided that he was going to start getting up at 6:00 a.m. He was having trouble getting up in the morning to start school at 9:00 a.m. so his solution is to take it to the extreme and get up way before he needs to.  Me, I like to sleep as long as I can, but that’s me.  So he set several clocks to be sure he would get up.  I did inform him to be quiet as to not disturb anyone else.  Well Elijah (8) decided that he was going to join his big brother.  So he got ready for bed and off he went to sleep.  The next morning the clock(s) goes off and they both get up.  While Joshua was in the bathroom, I heard Elijah get up and he knocked on the door and said, “Josh, is it still night time?”  He had never been up that early.  So that was the joke for the day.  Later that day he was having some trouble focusing in school since he was up so early.  So I told Cook what was happening, and Cook said, “Give him a break, you know he just woke up last night.”  We also heard him telling Olivia that him and Josh had so much fun “last night.”  

Well we made it through those first couple of days, and now they get up early every morning with no problem.  We’ll see what happens when we have to set our clocks back!!

Through the Tunnel

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I haven’t blogged in awhile, but hopefully I can get back to it more.  I’ve wanted posts on here to be positive as well as informative, so that is one of the reasons for my absence.  I have been dealing with some health issues in my life, and am finally seeing the light at the end of the tunnel and have some answers for my crisis.

I believe it really started last November.  There wasn’t one particular day, but looking back, that’s where it seems to have started.  I started feeling really down and just worn out and with my desire for sleep all the time, or having trouble staying asleep, I knew I was depressed.  I started dreading going anywhere, so I didn’t go out.  Around the holidays, I stayed home.  On Thanksgiving Day, Cook took the kids to my mom’s while I stayed home by myself.  I knew there was something really wrong.  In my mind I struggled with the thought of being depressed.  I thought I needed to pray more and fight against the enemy.  But I was praying, I just didn’t have the physical strength to fight.  I’m sure a lot of you have heard one time or another in church that Christians (saints) have no business being depressed.  It’s a nice thought, but it doesn’t always apply.  It’s comments like that, that makes the struggle even harder for a person who is physically weak not necessarily spiritually weak.  This is where I found myself and stopped beating myself up and continued to pray, and asked God to give me some answers.  During this time, along with not wanting to go anywhere, I would have such anxiety when I knew I had to go some place.  Cook would grocery shop for me, or he would have to go with me.  I stopped driving anywhere.  I stopped getting my B12 shot because I just couldn’t think about going to get it in spite of knowing it would help me feel better.  I stopped going to church.  Just the typical day to day stresses as well as the new stresses that the recession has added to many families, mine included, made me feel worse.  Each day I just pretty much existed.  I know when people talk about depression, in the worst cases people cannot even do simple tasks.  That was not the case with me, I was able to carry on my daily tasks, so that gave me hope.  But there were days that I would just cry for no reason. 

Finally one Sunday morning as Cook took the kids to church, I watched them pull away and began to cry.  I knew I had to find answers, this was so unlike me.  I got on the Internet, I don’t know what I searched for but I found this site: www.womentowomen.com I found my answers!!  These are the main points that hit home:

  • What many women don’t realize is that the Pill actually has higher amounts of synthetic hormones than HRT (Hormone Replacement Therapy) – up to twice as much, depending on the brand.  Even the low-dose pills have 35 mcg of estrogen combined with a progestin (a synthetic form of progesterone), slightly higher than an average HRT prescription.  Article – “Birth Control Pills in Perimenopause”
  • The Pill also chews up B vitamins, including folic acid, and many other nutrients, leaving the body at serious risk for nutritional deficiency.  Studies have shown (and our own patient monitoring backs this up) that women on the Pill are deficient in B vitamins. Article – “Birth Control Pills in Perimenopause”
  • Symptoms of perimenopause can begin as early as 10-15 years before menses completely stop.  Women in their late 30’s, 40’s and early 50’s may transition in and out of a perimenopausal state many times before they finally enter menopause. Article – “Perimenopause – The Beginning of Hormonal Change”
  • Yet fuzzy thinking and an inability to multitask can definitely be traced to your physical state, as can increased anxiety, fatigue, depression and drastic mood swings.  If you have irregular periods, heavy bleeding, hot flashes, sleep disruption, headaches, dry eyes, vaginal changes, hair loss, weight gain, loss of libido or extreme emotional distress, you may be relieved to know that these are all common signs of perimenopause.  Article – “Perimenopause – The Beginning of Hormonal Change”
  • Birth control pills cause high triglycerides. www.webmd.com

It was probably when I was about 39 that I started asking my Gynecologist about coming off the birth control pill.  She assured me that I could stay on it until menopause.  So being that I was used to the pill, I continued to stay on it.  This site states “A conventional practitioner may simply pick an age (typically 50) and move you then from BCP’s (Birth Control Pills) directly to HRT.  This is a convenient way of keeping your appointment time to a minimum.”  I also researched the pill I was on.  I had switched to the Yaz birth control pill in September the same year I found the B12 deficiency.  In my research, I found that Yaz was just put on the market that year.  I also found many women on a forum talking about the symptoms they were having while on Yaz, including depression, anxiety and fatigue.  After finding this info, Cook and I discussed it and decided to take steps in getting me better.  The first step was to stop taking Yaz.  The doctor’s at www.womentowomen.com state “It is true that just dropping BCP’s “cold turkey” will usually result in some very unpleasant symptoms.”  I was fully aware of this, but I knew I had to get off the pill, nothing could be worse than what I was dealing with.  I haven’t experienced any unpleasant symptoms being off the pill.  One thing I have noticed is that I have more acne break-outs, nothing too major though.

What really bothered me about all this is I was regularly seeing three different doctors: my regular doctor, an Oncology Specialist that my regular doctor referred me to, and my Gynecologist.  All of them knew I was on the pill and getting B12 shots.  The Specialist was the only one that actually said he didn’t like the idea of me being on the pill.  He was seeing me for macrocytosis, which means your red blood cells are enlarged.  After dozens of blood tests and a bone marrow aspiration (ouch!) he found no serious reason for the condition and summed it up as an isolated case.  In doing my research I just wondered why didn’t any of these doctors put 2 and 2 together and make the connection to the B12 deficiency and the birth control pill?

My second step was to begin the B12 again.  I decided to try it in pill form.  I did this in the past and realized now that it wasn’t effective since I was still on the pill, it was kinda like pouring water through a funnel.  So I started with a Sublingual B12 pill from Walgreen’s.  Sublingual means “under the tongue” the B12 is absorbed into the blood stream through the vein under your tongue.  These particular pills seem to dissolve too fast.  They helped me feel a little better.  My original plan was to get the TriVita Sublingual B12.  I recently found that they now have a Super Sublingual B12, and those are the ones that I bought, and they have made a significant difference.  I’m sleeping better, my mind isn’t all fuzzy, and I am actually going places again and driving.  I still have some bad days, but I am taking small steps one at a time to regain my health and get back to the way I used to be.  I haven’t been to the doctor yet (that has to do with the not going places thingy) but when I do, I will discuss all this information with them.  I also plan to have my hormone levels checked as well.  Through this I have found that hormonal imbalance wreaks havoc on our bodies, and it doesn’t have to.

This is my journey.  This blog is not to suggest anything to anyone, but to inform.  As women we are all different and our bodies react differently.  As women we tend to suffer in silence as we try to “keep it all together” and not admit we are overwhelmed or depressed.  I just wanted you to know that if you have been feeling like I have been, you are not alone.  These are starting points for you to talk to your doctor about.  We know when we just don’t feel right, don’t be afraid to ask questions.  Check out the web site I mentioned, it has a lot of good information, and will help you in finding the questions to ask your doctor.  Take time to take care of yourself, so that you can be the healthy wife, mother, sister, and daughter that your family deserves.

www.womentowomen.com

www.trivita.com

The Food Network

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Lately I have enjoyed watching “cake shows”, on the Food Network Channel.  My favorite is Ace of Cakes, which comes on every Thursday night and chronicles the day to day cake creations at Charm City Cakes in Baltimore.  Duff Goldman is the owner and his staff are his friends.  They are a bunch of laid back, somewhat eccentric, very creative people.  It’s not only fun to watch them create the cakes, but to also watch their different personalities and how they interact with each other.  You can learn more about them at their website www.charmcitycakes.com.

The newest show I have been watching is Last Cake Standing.  This was a 4-week Food Network Challenge, where 6 chefs competed for $50,000 and the title of “Best Cake Artist in America”.

The first week they had to tell their life story in cake.  My favorite chefs from the beginning were Bronwen Weber and Mary Maher.  I’ve seen Bronwen in other challenges before and really like her work.  This was the first time I was watching Mary, I paid close attention to her since she is from Chicago.  The first week they both had exceptional designs.  These cakes have to be 3 feet tall, and they have 8 hours to complete the whole cake.  Then they have to move the cake to the judging table.  I don’t know why I like to watch, it is quite nerve-racking just watching it.  This first challenge they knew ahead of time what the challenge was, the twist was they didn’t have the usual time to set-up their kitchens.  They were there for about 15 minutes, and then the 8 hour clock started.  They usually get about an hour and a half to set-up their kitchens.  This first challenge was won by Mary Maher.  Mary and Bronwen both advanced to the next challenge.  Each week one chef is eliminated.

The second weeks challenge was a wedding cake design.  The twist…they had to find out what the bride and groom wanted for their cake while driving around with them in a limo.  When the chefs got enough information, they had to get back to the studio and begin making the cake.  All this was included in the 8 hours.  Mary was the first back to begin her cake design.  I think had she stayed she would of had a better design, it was a risk she took.  Bronwen stayed  a little longer and was one of the last ones back.  As we watched we got a better feel for the couple and what they wanted.  They really didn’t want a traditional wedding cake, and the bride really didn’t like flowers.  The second week my two favorites Bronwen and Mary were not eliminated.

Third week’s challenge was a team effort, where they had to create Super Hero cakes.  Bronwen and Mary were on opposite teams.  Mary’s team won this challenge.  Bronwen and her teammate then had to do a 30-minute bake-off to determine who would be eliminated.  Bronwen moved to the final challenge.

The final challenge was between Mary Maher, Bronwen Weber and Courtney Clark.  I have seen Courtney’s work before, and she is good, but she gets pretty emotional during these challenges.  I can’t blame her, these are stressful competitions.  She’s also known for her topsy-turvey cakes, so a lot of her designs are like that.  Whereas Bronwen and Mary tend to make unique cakes with many different techniques.

This final challenge was a mystery client.  They had to interview the client and find out what they liked and design a cake.  The twist…6 mystery clients.  The Dilley Sextuplets were turning 16, so they had to design a Sweet Sixteen Birthday cake.  This time they had 24-hours to design, create, and deliver the cake to the birthday party.  During the 24-hours they could work straight through, eat, or sleep.

In the end, I actually liked Courtney’s design and idea, and it was done very well.  Bronwen had a really good idea, but was unable to execute it fully.  I do love her personality and attitude and she’s extremely talented.  Mary’s design was very clever.  The sextuplets were getting their drivers licenses as well as turning 16, so the base of her cake was a car.

In the end the winner was Mary Maher of Cakegirls in Chicago.  Her and her sister Brenda competed and they own the Cakegirls bakery.  You can check out their many designs on their website at www.thecakegirls.com.

Also, for those of you in the Dallas area, check out Bronwen at Frosted Art Bakery, and see her many designs on her website at www.frostedart.com.

Keep in mind these are professional chefs as well as artists.  So if the recession isn’t affecting you or you really love cake, their prices won’t shock you.  As for me, I’ll keep rootin’ for them on the different Food Network Challenges they participate in!!