Catching Up:

Whew. What headway I've made so far today, lemmetellya.

6 loads of laundry at this moment - with another 72 (conservative approximation) left. I should be able to bang out another 6 by bedtime tonight, thus leaving us buried under a small hill of unwashed clothing, compared to the very large hill I started out with.

Federal taxes. Done! Yippiee! In the spirit of truthfulness, I'd actually roughed them out several weeks ago, just to confirm we were on the 'refund' side and not the 'owing' side. Mike's unemployment was the only thing I was worried about, but we did fine - refund just like I planned. I made $4500 more in income from 2006 and Mike made $5400 less than 2006 (and this inludes his unemployment amount).

See why I can't get ahead?

Lest you all think I've lost my marbles, please rest assured that I am aware the filing deadline is April 15th. What y'all may not realize is that represents the day the government wants their money from you. When a person files 'an extension', it's just an extension of time TO FILE - not an extension of time TO PAY. When a person doesn't owe any money, or is getting a big fat refund, the government could care less if you ever file your taxes! For the last few years, the government automatically grants an extension to anyone that hasn't filed yet (and doesn't owe).

Here's another little fun fact: In order to be eligible for the 'economic stimulus' rebate*, you have to file your 2007 Federal taxes. Now do you see why I'm finally motivated to get that sucker off to them?

(*that money that 'ol Dubya is handing out starting today? It ain't free money. You will have to claim it as income on your 2008 tax return. It's your own money that you'd be getting in next year's refund 'scept he's giving it to you several months early. Keep that in mind as you prepare for 2008's tax preparation.)

Anywho - back to the tax preparation. Overall, it STINKS not having a professional program at my disposal to do my taxes. I could tweak a number on one form, and the rest of the forms would recalculate accordingly. Not so much when it's pencil to paper. That's the reason I'd rough-drafted it earlier. I hand prepared the 1040, Schedule A (itemized deductions) Schedule C (business activity) Depreciation and Loss from Theft (whatever that form is called - from Mike's truck and quad being stolen). That's what years of experience gets ya. The ability to do it 'old school' lol.

So, while I was knocking out the tax return, Mike was cleaning the kitchen from top to bottom. People, WE HAVE A COUNTER UNDER ALL THAT CRAP! I vaguely remember seeing one about fall of '07, but had plumb forgotten it since. He even pulled all the stove burner thingiees off and lifted the top of the stove and scrubbed everywhere and everything! Score.

It cracks me up, but he believes I had the tougher of the two jobs. I might have helped with that belief - given all the deep sighs and loud paper shufflings I was doing. See, he won't appreciate all my work if I let him know what a breeze tax prep is for me. Lord knows we don't want HIM to do it, just like we know we don't want ME doing any plumbing or kitchen cleaning. It ain't my thing.

Right now I'm taking a break while the clothes spin around and the tea brews - a little knitting break of an hour or two or three or . . . ? He got his chores done and he's off to the lake to 'look for fish beds' with a buddy, in anticipation of next weekend's tournament. My dumb ass thought alls you'd need to 'look' for something would be at least one working eyeball. His 'looking' requires a full tackle bag and FOUR fishing poles. FOUR! To 'look' for beds. :eyeroll: Guess my 'break' needs to include 1 pattern, size 9 circs and 5 balls of yarn. Just say'n.

Left to do: Finalize the month-end bookkeeping for my one 'on the side' client. This includes the 1st quarter payroll tax reports.

Unfortunately, you all know that my impending sighs aren't anything to feel sorry about. Shhsshh. Don't tell The Mike. I could get the toilets scrubbed on this one, lol.