Happy Monday ?

hoya #6?

Sunday lunch .. 

well, the weekend was pretty okay ... as things roll on 3rd St (and Daisy Ln) ... the patient is doing better, the well seems to be working (water is a blessing), caught up on the laundry, the cleaning and at the office, the 1099's and W2's ... 

I even managed a spot of plant shopping on Saturday -- because one never has enough plants ... 

the sun is shining and it's going to be a good week .. 

that goofy groundhog is going to predict an early spring 

I know so

 

the shit show continues

post procedure - the patient is home -- because they don't keep you in the hospital for anything anymore -- had a brief call to the on call physician last night and he did a nice job explaining post procedure "things" and calmed down some issues .. and then the freaking well quit AGAIN.

Got the well pumping -- and filled the bathtub and other things with water -- and called the well dude ( or texted him ) and went to bed.  well dude felt the need to call me at 5:10 AM ... can I come now -- no ..... I had water then -- washed my hair , flushed a toilet and brushed my teeth ... and 30 minutes later .. no WATER  AGAIN ... so they came at 7:30 and re-wired switches yet again ... hopefully it's fixed -- but next week will be pulling well and replacing pump? because a) it's leaking and b) blowing the sand out of it -- got to work at 9:00 and PTL .. it was 71' and warm in the office ... 

I've earned cheese bread.  

just saying

 

crazy bird

I've got that sinking underwater swamped w/crazy feeling happening again.  So, googling frazzled diva got me this crazy bird -- my hair isn't long enough but this could be me.  

Really short hair at -22' wasn't the best plan -- and then there is "hat" hair -- flat, short, grey hair -- 

It was 67' in the office when I went home at 6:00 last night -- 63' when I got here this morning at 6:00 am .. 56' in my office -- space heater running in the fridge room and my office .. and keeping the rugs and window coverings firmly in place .. by the end of the day and the weather warm up in the forecast --  the furnace will catch up -- hopefully.  Will be chatting with the furnace dudes.  

It was -23 on my truck on the inbound commute ... seemed to be a lot of traffic at 5:45am and -23'

The well dudes have not arrived on Daisy Ln to fix whatever happened on Friday -- I get 1/2 thru my shower and the water pressure is gone and no water.  Turn it off and back on in a minute and the pressure is back up -- not the best situation when one of us is prepping for another colonoscopy .. such is life.  Ditto no laundry until it is fixed -- hopefully today -- it could be worse, we could have no water.

 

So, to make my day better -- I popped this up as a background pix 

It will get better -- 

It will get warming -- 

Life will always be entertaining -- 

keep reminding self --

it's short and grey 

more birds

more birds - it was a good 15 minutes of birds

I'm beginning to hate 8:30am -- it's the time the nasty text messages roll in -- the "I've been exposed to COVID and I haven't tested yet" text.  I knew this would be coming -- I just don't have time for it this week .. and frankly, it could have been avoided.  (should have been avoided -- action, reaction, cause and affect) .. I'm kind of irked.  

It's a crazy weird week ahead -- meetings, cold weather, more testing -- and there's always a deadline or two in my world.  I thought I was getting a handle on some of it .. then it blows up.  

whining about it won't change it.  back to the spreadsheets in life.

 

bird woman strikes again

it was another busy afternoon at the feeders ... 100 pix later .. the color detail in the feathers, plumage of the cardinals amazes me -- so much detail

I went to work at 7 .. am .. and was home shortly after lunch .. I thought I had grabbed fleece leggings on my morning commute to the shower -- alas -- it was a pair of polar fleece sweatpants.  I've been cold all day long.  It's time for my jammies and a hot tea.  and my new book ... the latest Patricia Cornwell ... I sprung for it .. and I don't buy books anymore.  I had no patience to wait in line ( virtual or otherwise ) at the library.  It's been so long since I held a book .. a real book ... love my kindle app on the ipad .

the upcoming weeks adventures -- more snow, colder than hell, a spot of surgery and more freaking winter.  I'm tired of winter peeps.  I need warmth.

 

more snow more birds

it was a feeding frenzy at the feeders at 3:30ish 

and finally a cardinal -- I've been missing their time at the feeders ...

Worked today -- work everyday.  I've been pushing to be caught up and get ahead of  the projects -- like really pushing to get ahead of the projects.  At some point the shit storm will hit -- and we need to be ready .. I don't know if we'll be ready .. I'm trying ... it's all about the prep work

Back tomorrow -- shoveling, and projects.  I scored tasty expensive raspberries at HyVee this morning -- I guess $3.99 for a box of berries is healthier than $3.99 for a caramel frappe at McD's ... 

scored a tufted ottoman at Kohls this week -- between the Kohls cash and the 30% discount -- ottoman ordered ... matches the fancy chairs -- of which one is probably going home .. 

next project is to plot out a scrappy charm quilt -- should keep me up for a couple of hours.

 

T G I F

we're all going nuts -- 

cancer, covid, cold weather and dying appliances in my world

pressure tank at the farm -- furnace issues again at the office ....

67' feels much better than 62' .... at least it wasn't 52' this morning

and it's set on 72' ... I did get a giant sheet of plastic on the front window after lunch

farm girl skill # 457 ... 

the sound of space heaters is driving me bonkers ... 

to relieve the stress in life -- I'm going to vacuum .. because cleaning is a productive waste of time

I need to stand and the door and yell 

"I've had enough" .. but it is too freaking cold or it was this morning.

happy friday 

deja poo !!!

 

tortoise and the hare

actually it's evening and I should be working ... or attempting to work .. 

laundry, dishes, laundry dishes

scored a haircut from one of my scissor wizards 

always good to have super short hair when it is forecasted to be super cold

not loving the constant "wind chill warnings" thru noon tomorrow

one thing about WCW days -- fleece lined leggings, warm turtlenecks, heavy sweatshirts and wool socks rule -- it will be above zero on Friday -- I felt the need to look

argh.

 

A welcome sight

the piles along 3rd street are gone -- Dave, from up the street, blew thru on Saturday and plowed a path thru my front sidewalk and I shoveled it to 7/8' wide ... there was still 3' or so left to the curb ... but no where to put the snow ... and piles from the bar and SFarm in the street ...

The first crew came thru at 1:00am and moved snow to street .. no pix of the blower sucking it up and hauling it away ... 

I am grateful to the street crew -- middle of the night, cold and a crappy job -- but they do it well and lately, often.  thanks crew

 

musings

 Last week (January 12, 2022) the National Taxpayer’s Advocate Office released a sad report on the conditions at the IRS and it is worse than most people thought. We professionals already know that the phone is never answered, that letters lie unopened for months and that 90-day and similar notices are being incorrectly issued even though the IRS cashed the check months earlier. The response times to these duplicate letters will double or triple the announced IRS paper backlog and my personal fear is that we are in a state of collapse in the US income tax system. Since the Taxpayer Advocate’s office announced on November 10^th that they would not accept new cases I recommend all IRS issues be routed through the office of your client’s elected Member of Congress. They seem to be ignoring or unaware of the problem, and they are the only solution. Additionally, all automated compliance actions and letters need to be stopped immediately.

 
Here are some reprints of various paragraphs of the Advocate’s report:
 
As of December 18, 2021, the IRS reported it had a backlog of 2.3 million unprocessed Forms 1040-X, Amended U.S. Individual Income Tax Return, and that processing times “can be more than 20 weeks instead of up to 16. Delays in processing Forms 941, Employer’s Quarterly Federal Tax Return, and Forms 941-X, Adjusted Employer’s Quarterly Federal Tax Return or Claim for Refund, have been significant. As of December 15, the IRS reported it had 2.8 million unprocessed Forms 941 and about 427,000 Forms 941-X that cannot be processed until the related Forms 941 are processed.
 
In FY 2021, the IRS received about 282 million telephone calls. Customer service representatives (CSRs) only answered about 32 million, or 11 percent, of those calls.
 
Where the IRS issued compliance notices, the IRS’s automated systems ordinarily move cases to the next step in the compliance process if a taxpayer’s response is not recorded within a specified number of days. For example, failure to respond to a math error notice within 60 days means the tax is assessed and the taxpayer loses the right to contest it in the U.S. Tax Court. Failure to pay an assessed liability means the case is moved to the collection function. To prevent enforcement actions from taking place before the IRS processed taxpayer responses, the IRS generally reprogrammed its systems to allow additional time. But there were gaps. For example, we are aware of cases where taxpayers received notices of intent to levy while their responses requesting abatement of a math error assessment or disputing a proposed examination adjustment were still awaiting processing, or their amended returns had not been processed.
For example, the IRS finished the 2021 filing season with a backlog of 35.3 million returns that required manual processing.

SO THIS LITTLE (NOT SO LITTLE) BLURB CAME IN AN EMAIL FROM MY CPE GURU ... SERIOUSLY THE CHAOS IS REAL AND DANGEROUS ..

Sunday travels

I left the office early and had an attitude adjustment moment.
The happy place is good for the soul.  I would assume that fisherperson in the middle of lake is having an attitude adjustment moment too .. 

green was a good choice

my home office cave -- it's dark down there by design.  I can spin around in my chair and quilt on the long arm and directly to my right is my fabric stash.  Life couldn't get any better.

cabin geranium pots -- I've never tried to winter them over -- so first they went to the porch and then before Thanksgiving to my cabin bedroom .. there's probably too much light in there -- but it doesn't hurt to try .. I've got the office pots in the office basement under grow lights.  Need to check on them tomorrow.

I do a basement check -- every other day ... it's  a dark scary place :) .. just kidding, well it is dark and cobwebby ... I never got it cleaned this fall.  I should have done it this afternoon -- a couple hours with the shop vac can do wonders down there. 

I survived the winter storm warning -- I planned projects for homework and Thursday night had them packed and ready to roll.  After the "virtual" doctor appointment at 11:00 -- I rolled over the phones to my cell phone and headed for the hills -- I got a lot done - when the phone wasn't ringing.  

New week, new projects ahead.  Prepping and planning has begun.  

 

stress buster

when I'm not ranting and raving about something/anything/little things that set me off or am stressing about all of the above 

the best way to relieve steam -- move the freaking furniture 

playing with front room layouts

with limited contact - we don't need to be comfy for the clients 

need room to move  -  room to drop things off 

and our little seating area grew with the addition of another chair -- Target delivers furniture -- and then I found the same stuff on Amazon -- or additional pieces .. on of the chairs will be going home -- eventually -- I was surprised how comfortable they are -- need a footstool and then it will be the perfect reading chair 

and the plant obsession -- these may get moved a bit today ... and the rug needs to be moved out a bit 

I'm trying to get back in the habit of tossing 3 things a day -- and not buying 3 things to replace them

all in a day 

life goes on

 

Covid Shit Show V99.56

 

here we go again -- the newest sign hanging on our doors 

posted this pic on wastebook -- the feedback was positive -- I'm sure the negative feedback is happing elsewhere -- I don't care anymore

 if I get sick - then things do not get done.

and no one can predict the level of "sickness"  

and good grief -- bring if I that shit home to the elders -- it wouldn't be good 

someone wandered in hacking and coughing last week and then called me 3 days later to tell me they tested positive from a home test  - "but, I have no symptoms now" .. WTF -- 

Living in a bubble is not practical either -- but a bit of common sense goes a long way

I've kept up my 6:00am grocery shopping habits -- I have the whole store to myself -- and this morning I had to raise the "shade" covers on the produce to find the lettuce ( insert grin) ... HyVee is looking a little bare around the shelves -- piles of stuff to shelve stacked in the aisles -- this too shall pass

bird action

lots of bird action at the feeders at 4:00pm today 

it was a constant stream of wing bashing and fighting at the feeders

I was up early so I went to the office early.  Like 6:30am.  Sunday.  January 9, 2022 -- the goal was to print, proof and log W2's - well after 2 1/2 hours 255 W2's, W3's were printed, proofed and ready for someone to scan, stuff and get them out of the office -- it went really smooth.

I broke down yesterday and purchased season 1 & 2 of Yellowstone from Amazon ($35 later -- ) -- I'm going at it backwards -- but it streams pretty well on the office firestick gizmo.  It's better than 15 more hours of HGTV ...  and drum roll ......

3 tax returns are done -- 3 others are close ... forms approval must have happened late Friday or yesterday -- no nasty diagnostics about forms ... we're rolling now ... 

(well, corporations, trusts and partnerships with no brokerage info on them are rolling now) ..

Happy January ... 

 

Saturdays in paradise

I thought I needed a fresh air break from work so I came home for a walk on the wild side - the warmth was a nice change of pace ( she's grinning as she types ) .. I did manage to get most of the items on my to do list crossed off -- I may go back after supper and print W2's .. and then again, I may not 

looking north on the field road 

princess and buster -- didn't want to come out of the cat shack ... 

socks on the other hand -- walked me to the front door 

breakfast of champions and at $4.99 a box .. an expensive breakfast -- although much cheaper than fru fru coffee from the drive thru ... this was yesterday's meal -- today I managed to get $75 of gas in the tank and McD's after standing in the cold.  

beautrix, the office house bunny ... she's a lonely rabbit after Harry met his demise on 3rd street

 

1/7/22 TGIF

 or HSIFA ... (holy shit it's Friday already) -- it's been a week -- and since I worked on Sunday -- a full week .. and more to come over the weekend - I won't see a weekend until late April ...

 this week, I started printing and uploading 1099's .. it's a slick web based/cloud hosted program, so I can work on them at home -- we print and mail -- and Kate is caught up to me on the mailing out end.

 all of our year end packets are stuffed and ready for delivery to the post office -- 7 of the large plastic post office bins await the trek .. tomorrow -- when it is warmer .. then I can clean out the disaster of the file room .. lots of cardboard back there for recycling 

 I have 90% of the W2's we prepare for clients ready to print.  print-fest will happen tomorrow -- I've been pushing hard to get caught up, stay caught up and be proactive on getting things done sooner rather than later ... worked at home every night this week -- I've tried to leave by 5:30, eat with the elders, hit the cave and work ( and a spot of laundry ) ... 

 when I arrived at the office this morning it was 60' and falling -- I emailed the hvac peeps and they sent someone over -- really fast -- we aren't as important as others but the speediness is appreciated -- he couldn't find anything - but pulled out the blower fans and turned off the humidifier ... it's now a balmy 67' in the front room .. and 64' in my office .. I will be able to feel my feet next July.

  today was the oncology appointment - I do believe we have the start of a "plan" .. yesterday was orthopedic/fracture/bone dr .. that's on hold until oncology is done.  it's going to be a really long winter - 

back at it .. the projects await me ...

 

Life

this happens when the security camera is pointed at the ceiling - instead of the door ... thankfully the fan wasn't spinning .. gives me the dizzies looking at it 

a spot of dizzies in real life lately -- stress, most likely ... 

I was doing pretty good -- it's been since early fall that I had a brief spot of dizzies -- generally they are only a couple seconds -- enough to throw me off balance -- and generally, they seem to happen when I'm in front of a computer screen -- 

stress, too much screen time and lots of staring at numbers on pieces of paper -- need to force myself to get up and move or look away on a regular basis ...

I attacked my worst client for W2's this afternoon -- 65 employees -- need to edit two and I think they will then be ready to print.  

Board meeting today -- I'm chair for the year .. not sure how that's going to go ... adds to the stress ... 

 

2022 Word of the year

 

purposeful

ya, I wasn't going to do resolutions this year .. too much happening and CSS continues but -- well, word of the year seems more appropriate

and how was my NYE/NYD .. so far 20 hours of yellowstone while working at work and yesterday's projects in the cave ... when I ran of of projects I crochet and became a sloth who watched tv .. will attempt to dvr today's "hours" for winter viewing ( in the cave ) 

managed to upload pix and order a couple of calendars this morning, I'm up, dressed and ready to roll to town -- at -??? below zero.  I thought if I didn't look it wouldn't be cold 

how's that for purposeful?