30 years ...

 yep, 30 years ....

a couple floods
a tornado
a lot of snow shoveling
a move (best move ever)
a lot of road construction
a couple of elections 
a pandemic

a lot of wonderful crew members
the best clients
several zillion reams of paper
the internet 
cell phones 

without the support of family, friends and clients - none of it would be possible

I am blessed
I am grateful
I am humbled

I tried to think of 30 ways to celebrate and decided that taking some time off to refresh, recharge and reflect was the healthy choice ..

thank you all 

I went public this afteroon on social media with my summer plans -- our end of year blurb also went out to clients with the same message ...

I've tried to leave early for the last couple of years and it seldom happens -- but this gives me some flexibility to leave early and not fret about it .. 

I'll fret about it .. I live in a world of deadlines so .. I'll be there more than the posted hours .. at certain times of the month ..

Here's the link to 10 years ago .. 

so much change from even 10 years ago ... there's been a lot of good people along the way that made everything possible .. everything ..... I'm not in this goofy game alone.  

I vividly remember the very first week .. I had $1,000 after paying the first months rent and little or no income (it was after tax season) .. no idea how many clients would come and go .. I was clueless -- I was afraid to turn on the a/c .. light bill would get to high ...

And during the first tax season, Mom, Grandma, Cathy and I went to Las Vegas for 4 days .. what the hell was I thinking ... we had fun ... Firing the first employee ...the tornado ... The purchase of the house and the remodeling .. still remodeling .. always remodeling ..

shit, I was 33 years old ... 

the important people who are gone -- most of all today, I miss my Dad .. this week I really miss my Dad .. so many memories, he wasn't the touchy feely guy -- but he always encouraged me to try new things and helped along the way .. the elected gig may have surprised him ( and the rest of us ) .. 

so, I'm celebrating 30 years by working at home tonight .. projects ya know ...

greeters

when I got home this evening ... the kids were waiting for me

seriously -- eyeing me

oh -- you're taking my picture .. this is "bright eyes" .. she has white circles around her eyes -- she's been around a while .. 

I just spent the night preparing 2018 - 2023 tax returns for a client -- sometimes I can't believe I do shit like this for a living -- it was a giant rush - because if 2020 isn't filed by 5/17 -- they lose out on stimulus payments -- seriously -- I can't make this up ... 

 

ya - it is life

this is the "right" side of my home office desk ... what a mess

note the pile of used staples -- at least they aren't stuck in the carpet and in my feet ...

the best plans never happen do they -- life is all about change .. I was going to get oodles of projects done this weekend -- no software would force me to do "other" things ... so far

1. I slept in 2 days in a row -- is 6:00 sleeping in?

2.  I went to work and finished "things" -- scanned things, tossed things

3.  I think I'm laundry load #6

        (bedding, pillows, winter coats, etc)

4.  finally took the 4 bags to the thrift store .. finally

5.  took $89 of returns to Kohls .. ya .. it was a bag full

 

6.  had lunch out -- Chinese at the Mkto Hy Vee .. 

      (going downhill also)

      went to Office Depot next door to HyVee 

      $200 later it fit in two bags ...

7.  ordered $900 - 40 hours of continuing education

        (and committed to 16 hours so far)

7.5 I shopped for Mom, jeans, t shirts, underwear -- Kohls was kinda sparse so I

        ordered on line from home

8.  I still need to plot out the week (projects, clothing, populate the calendar)

9.  The office project pile I brought home needs a bit of work

10.  The porch needs to be vac'd/recycling needs to come to town.

and the left side -- equally messy ... 

I did price a spiffy dual monitor today .. thinking about it .. thinking, the key phrase 

I've kept my home office down in the basement -- I seem to be quite productive down here -- hence the 32,000 pages the printer has printed so far this year - no wonder it squeals -- (138,000 images on it) 

so my next move is cleaning the desk and life planning

 

late April musings

rain drops on the windshield on an inbound commute ..

ruby was the wheels this week ... until Friday's road trip to New Ulm 

the wind and driving rain -- drove the truck instead

first pass on the lawnmower .. did the front yard and knocked down some weeds along the driveway .. the weekly mowing has begun

i whip around like I know what I'm doing 

an illusion peeps, an illusion

this lone jake was gobbling thru the yard at 5:45 this morning, strutting and gobbling -- I know there's a song about "looking for love in all the wrong places" ...apt

I have no software this weekend - no tax software or VPN software - in my twisted mind I planned a zillion "non office" things to do .. and so far .. the only thing I've accomplished is loosing my temper and having a pity party 

lately everything in my life is scripted by something or someone else -- all . the . time.   the endless project lists at the office and even longer ones at home tend to get overwhelming -- and then I get home and that list seems to grow exponentially .. I printed out the doctor appointment list on Thursday - 11 pages of appointments thru the end of July--and that doesn't include the latest gig with the eye doctor.  11 pages.  I was attempting to coordinate life -- all of life and it wasn't going very well.  

I did manage to start my book and finish up 3 loads of laundry -- and today will book summer continuing education schedule -- the license gig requires education ... 

So in the endless rain and no software for the next 48 hours .. I will work on learning to roll with the flow -- I don't roll very well -- I have to learn to roll ...

Someday I'll get a life with no responsibilities - no commitments - a maid, a butler, a cook and a gardner -- it's okay to wish for it all 

 

eye candy

I loaded up Mom, food and stuff on Sunday morning and we went to the happy place for a spell.  Stopped for gas and food at kwik trip (kinda liking their new pizzas) and off we went -- it is peaceful ... even with the constant gale force winds  .... 

I turned up the heat, flipped the breaker on the water heater, got the TV running .. Mom in the recliner -- and I started to scrub and vacuum.  Moved the geraniums to the porch ... and cleaned up the mess they made in the bedroom ( they were in a large plastic tub but...) .. once the water was hot -- scrubbed out half the kitchen cupboards and my deck chair.  Picked up sticks and piled for a future fire .. lots of sticks ... dang wind.

Sat in said chair and planned out life .. or attempted to plan out life and then it got cold.  Wind off the lake ... by 3:00 it was time to return home to the "home" projects 

the view from the deck chair 

driving Ruby today -- Lee charged the battery ... she and I came to town, grocery store, office and then off to the goverment center for today's meeting .. then back for the daily drama of 3rd street

our web based software will go down on Friday night and hopefully come back on Monday morning .. and the forecast is for rain .. sounds like a good weekend for non computer projects .. hello -- move me furniture and "summerize" the office .. cleaning at the farm, and maybe a spot of sewing (or two) ...

 

Sunday sunrise

my sunday morning view -- I slept in ...6:00am .. wandered to the living room and am enjoying the early morning light .. with technology and kleenex

since I gave up print subscriptions to the newspaper a year ago .. it's digital reading in the morning - I find I'm spending less time reading --- I only read the articles that catch my eye -- at least in the Star Tribune .. it's different.  The laptop I bought for home has a bigger screen than my traveling laptop.

The chills returned yesterday -- I just couldn't warm up .. and this morning the stuffy head and sneezing has returned -- lots of budding "things" out there - and that damn wind of April .. hoping for a calmer day with less crap blowing around.  I brought home a ton of projects -- not sure where and when I'm going to work today.  

There is endless cleaning around here and starting some yard work would be good too -- Mom has a zillion projects on a list for me - more than I can possible accomplish in a year let along Spring.  I should go slap a battery charger on Ruby and at least get her running and moved to a better location .. next weeks project is to get oil changes scheduled for all of the wheels .. there is never enough hours in a day for all the things in life ...

Next up is making a project list and prioritizing said projects.  It's the only way I get anywhere in this crazy life.  Will be scheduling down time when the wind stops blowing and the weather warms up.  It is only April -- not sure why we think it needs to be 75 and sunny all the time :) ... 

 

she left town ..

    yeppers, I left St Peter for 2 1/2 hours today -- TDS meeting at their new offices ( in the Madison East Mall -- weird, just weird) . and then I went to Menards ... 

    what the hell -- in 20 minutes I spent -- $120 ... light bulbs, door rugs (indoor/outdoor), toilet paper, bath scrunchies, tea bags, beef jerky, gummy bears, chocolate, coffee m/m's (the bomb)  there was more -- I can't remember ... and I sat on patio furniture.  

    we're in the market for a corner sectional unit for the cabin ... I might have found one .. seriously -- a store ... it was filled with old people, older than me people ...

    mind you, I left St Peter at 8:30 and I was back at the office by 11:00 .. where I promptly accomplished nothing -- absolutely nothing.  

    somedays are like that 

     our year end wrap up letters are at the printer .. 

and the aftermath

the kiss jar is running low (lower) these days 

after my doctor appointment yesterday -- Jan and I shared a small bottle of wine, I had a chocolate treat and a hunk of cheese -- food was good -- fasting for blood work left me a bit starved 

the "tax season is done" and the rest of the undone work has become a little overwhelming -- I don't think I realized how tired I was (am) .. I've been on the go for months .. and I'm wore out.  I did leave the office at 5:00 pm today (with homework) and got home to credit card drama -- Mom had an issue with her card ( she tried to remove Dad from the card and they cancelled it) .. and a kind soul paid for her groceries when the card got rejected .. blessings are everywhere  ... we have a lot of blessings and good fortunes to share 

the credit card got straightened out -- supper got baked and I moved to the cave for homework and laundry .. it is now time to go to bed.  sleep is needed

 

signs of the times

the only pix from the happy place

( and yes, the water was turned on inside too -- flushing!! )

early start on Sunday -- I had a project to finish ... it was good to be done with it without the clutter of background noise and the inevitable plethora of interruptions -- that is my life ...yo yo yo yo 

sunrise on the inbound this morning ... projects were done, 2 loads of laundry, showered, dressed and on the road by 5:45 am .. it's damn good to be me these days 

 

Monday ---

not this weekend

but an accurate representation

normal

I'm sitting here in the cave this morning -- since 3:30ish .. projects, lots of projects -- 

headed to the shower  - first I need to find a pair of suitable pants for the office -- the leggings and ripped sweatpants are the only pants in the basement this morning -- 

today promises to be dramatic .. the last official Monday of work in my world .. I'm going to own it like the tired cpa that I am ... 

worked all weekend -- the pitter patter of rain yesterday was nice -- made me sleepy .. came home, lost Mom -- she was wandering the yard .. not the best move

issues with the foot again last night -- we're thinking the "stimulator" might not be working ... that yard wandering might have had something to do with it .. she's wearing me out .. as bad as this sounds .. I really don't have time for health issues this week ... it sounds bad .. I know ... I really wish they would have delayed this trial by a couple of weeks 

the dock is out!  

hello -- lake

 

4/06/24 dang

dang, I'm really close to fried.

We always set a "hard" deadline for drop off returns of April 1st .. so far 100, yes, 100 clients have dropped their shit off after April 1st.  

I'm just trying to get the timely clients done first.

trying.

Mom's procedure was Wednesday .. the "stimulater leads" were inserted and hooked to an external gizmo and it has a remote controller ... 

Thursday, she and Rachael met with the Medtronic peeps on how to run it all

Thursday night into Friday she had issues .. sharp pains, swelling, pain ... so I spent most of Friday working at home .. finally phone calls got returned and life went on .. Robyn/Jan/Regis attempted to contain the office chaos.  They did well.

I finally got back to the office and stressed out by vacuuming .. nothing like cleaning to work off tension. 

This morning seems to be going better -- I stayed home until she got out of bed ... our schedules are vastly different -- I get up in the morning and she doesn't .. I finally woke her up at 8:00 and left for town.  

And now, I'm chaining my ass to the chair and going to get shit done. 

I have to -- I must do