A Cause for Pause

Dear Ones,

Forgive me for such a pitifully-poor post today.  No pretty pictures.  Just words. 

I'm pausing from my usual posting because I'm neck-deep in receipts, papers, files, year-end statements, and the general mountain of documentation required to file one's taxes.  An annual event for us all, I know...but that doesn't make it any funner. As Brother J said:  "I'd rather be having a root canal."

Because I once long, long ago...in a land far, far away called Mississippi...worked for the IRS (a great story for another time...:), I draw the chore of  "preparing taxes" every April for our somewhat complicated Fed. and NC joint returns (one sole proprietorship, two home offices, etc.), N/M/E's very simple return, and Missy M's fairly straight-forward filings (albeit with a different state return).  This used to require a couple of weeks of gathering, organizing, completing worksheets, calculating, and transferring the final figures to file the final forms.  Whew!  However, for the past ten years or so, I have used TurboTax...and couldn't be happier.  Happy as one can be at tax time, let's say.

Momma always said that Daddy would wait to start their taxes on his birthday (April 11th...yesterday, as it so happens) and work frantically through her birthday (April 14th) so he could finish by the deadline of April 15th.  Every year of their marriage.  Drove her crazy.  He would have loved this year, 'cause he would have had 3 more whole days to work with!

Me?  I understand that totally.  Since they usually had a balance to pay (probably because of Daddy's "extra" electrician jobs he did...or maybe because of the laundrimat...who knows?), he didn't want to have to deal with the bad news until the last minute...and he certainly wasn't going to write that check a minute earlier than he had to!  He was a do-it-yourself person, so he hated to turn it over to someone else to do...although there were years he did just that.  And, he always got a lot of energy and motivation when he was pushed by a deadline.  I'm so like him...in those, and so many more ways.

Anyway, it's the last minute.  We'll probably have to pay a balance, at least on our Federal taxes, although it appears that NC might just owe us again this year.  [It would be nice if we could just ask NC to pay the USA for us, wouldn't it?  Nah.  That's way too logical.]

Yesterday, being the date of what would have been Daddy's 88th birthday, I commemorated the occasion by getting the last TurboTax Home & Business software package at Office Depot and installing it while I was gathering the documentation.  By suppertime, I'd finished and e-filed both Mom's and Missy M's returns, and had started on the Business portion of ours.  A couple more days, and I should be ready to send it through cyberspace...hooray!!!

Before I get back to the taxes, though, I thought I'd report on Mom.  She had a good weekend while Brother J was here from Nashville. They took a drive around town and stopped to visit AW.  Of course, all that activity left Mom exhausted, but at least she got to see all the dogwoods in bloom in HPNC, which she just loved seeing.  We'll celebrate her 91st birthday quietly on Thursday, when I'll make her favorite:  strawberry cake.  We have two doctor visits scheduled for later on this week, so we are hoping that the weather cooperates.

OK...back to work.  Now, where did I file that receipt for printer ink cartridges from last June...?

The Big Day

This is it.  N/M/E turns 90 today!  She said this morning that it was almost anticlimactic, since she's been celebrating The Big Day for almost a week now.  Still...reaching this milestone is truly something special.

Kith and kin began to arrive last Thursday.  By Friday night, we had a gathering of 22 for pizza at the local Donato's (a fav of Missy M and Mom's since our Ohio days).  The winners of the "longest drive" were the AZ nieces/cousins and their DHs, followed by my own DH's sister and BIL from TX.  Other states represented included KY, IL, TN, and NC.  It was a lively bunch!

N/M/E looked beautiful on Saturday as you can see in that photo (above, left).  She was ready to welcome all who came to help her make a wonderful memory of the weekend.  We had everyone sign the Guest Book, then took their pictures right then and there.  When we get those photos developed, we'll put them in the book beside their signature and well-wishes.  We had seven states represented on Saturday.

AZ Cousin Ann is way ahead of us.  She got all her photos developed, then popped them in an album for N/M/E to begin enjoying the memories right away.  You go, girl!  I'm not there yet, but keep watching over there in the left column...eventually I'll get an online album published.

Since some of the folks stayed in town, we headed to the Crafts Show at the Greensboro Coliseum on Sunday.  Then, we got together for lunch at the Bistro 150 on Monday.  And, had by-special-request pancake brunch and a nice visit here at home on Tuesday.  Today seems so quiet and calm after all the activity!

I'm taking a rest from doing taxes (yes, it's THAT time of the year again...:), so that I can give my brain a break.  And, after tomorrow's 15th deadline, I hope to return to normal, whatever that may be.  In no particular order:

• I want to work in the garden...
• I want to get those photos of the party developed and in the album...
• I want to sit on the deck...or the screened porch...or the front porch...or in the swing...and do absolutely nothing.  No "To Do" List(s).  Just enjoy the flowers in bloom (like that iris over there on the right) and veg out.

Update on the dogs:  Elmo had his 3-week follow-up visit on Monday with his ophthalmologist, Wonderful Dr. Nasisse.  His pressures are down to 8 in both eyes, so that confirms that he's pain-free from the glaucoma.  Remarkable!  Even better...he's adapted to being blind, with very few problems that we've noticed. He's still the skittish one of the bunch, but he seemed to be more comfortable around all the people than he's ever been.  Amazing!!

And, Duchess is doing better, too.  We had a wonderful report from loving, caring Dr. Heidi:  those tissue samples she sent off for testing?  All were benign.  Follicular cysts, I believe she called them.  Common in Golden Retrievers and Basset Hounds.  Joy.  She gets her stitches (of which she has what appears to be thousands...) out on Friday.  Then she can get back to making more cysts.  We should start saving money for the next round of removal, right?

Don't worry.  I haven't stopped knitting completely.  I tried to stay true to my resolution in March:  either finish it or frog it.  I resolved most of my WIP's:  finished the Entwined Shawl for N/M/E's Easter present and the belt for Missy M's Easter basket.  Frogged the Clara baby dress; the cotton cashmere yarn was just too heavy for the delicate patterning.  Worked on the blue baby blanket I've been crocheting for-ev-er...will hopefully finsh it sooner rather than later.  That leaves one other crochet baby blanket and the Handmaiden Sea Cell scarf in the works.  Oh, and the dress for the Bunny I knit for Missy M's basket (right now, the Bunny is in the buff, shall we say?)

The strange thing is that I'm stalled at what I want to start next on the needles!  I've organized all my stash yarn that was moved...and I realized how much fibre I have in the house.  S-c-a-r-y.  But, now that I've resolved several projects, I don't know what I want to work on.  So, I keep going back to what's left:  blue baby blanket and/or the scarf (which may or may not get frogged, since I've found a shawl pattern I like better than what I've got going now).  Sigh.

OK...back to the taxes.  Just 31 more hours to file.  And pay.  Don't forget the "pay" part.  Oh yeah, it's gonna be one of those years unfortunately.  Seems like every time we have a moving year, we have a paying year on the following April 15th.

Maybe I'll just have a cupcake instead...

The Tax Man Cometh...

The birds are singing, the flowers are blooming, the temperatures are rising. Oh yes, it's that time of the year! No, I speak not of Spring...I speak of (dum-da-dum-dum) tax filing season.

As the "designated filer" for our family, I prepare to prepare the returns...starting in January when I typically purchase the software as soon as it hits the shelves at Sam's Club. Because I have a sole proprietorship, I buy the TurboTax Home & Business version, to have access to the forms I need. Then, I start collecting the documention I'll need to file the three returns (ours, Mom's, and Maredith's)...gathering the necessary forms, etc.,...and waiting until the time is right to tackle this annual chore. Well, the sun, moon, and stars were in alignment yesterday, I guess, because I started the ball rolling...working on Mom's return (finished it in the afternoon...it's really a simple thing), followed by Maredith's (a bit more complicated, as she was a student for part of the year, then a full-time employee...and she was a resident of Tennessee for part of the year, then a resident of Kentucky...and she had moving expenses to report...and educational expenses...and she bought a house...you get the picture). Still, I managed to finish hers by bedtime, thanks to our cellphone connection to help clear up some questions I had. Now...that just leaves our return...a bear because of the business expenses, etc.,...so I'm taking a break to blog!

While checking my CNBC.com portofolio (I'm down to under $1 million in value today...bummer), I came across the trailer for the newest Pirates of the Caribbean movie with Johnny Depp as Captain Jack Sparrow...looks to be a rollicking addition to the previous two movies. I attached the link (below the posts), so you can see it, too! Arrgghhh!!

Well, I did my part last night to help Devon Smith make her Great American Dream a reality! I had received an email from Dr. Larry Little at Guardian Angel Basset Rescue, giving us a 'head's up' on this new ABC show. Thomas and I watched it last night, and then I used every phone in the house (two landlines, two cell phones, plus my internet connection) to cast my alloted 25 "votes" (you're allowed 5 votes per phone number or email address) for Devon after she made it to the two finalists on the show. By the way, I do hope she makes it, as her dream is to create a Senior Basset Hound Retreat! Go Devon!! (But, I wouldn't recommend the show...hosted by Donny Osmond, no less...as it is just silly. The guy that "competed" against Devon initially wanted to open "Chicken Heaven," a theme park devoted to chickens...and the guy she's a finalist against wants to have a full head of hair! It was almost too much to watch.)

OK...back to the taxes! (Uggghh!)