My Weblog

Breaking my promise......

Yes, I know I promised photos from the car show.  But, I'm breaking my promise.  I lost about 4 hours yesterday to a very special activity so editing photos just didn't make it to the "done" list.  Will's Cub Scout troop went on a field trip.  Jennifer and Jason couldn't get away from work so Grandma chaperoned.  They toured the facilities of "Sounds of the Spirit", radio station 90.5, KILA, in Las Vegas.  They got to see the broadcast room and talk extensively to the DJ who had an obvious affection for kids.  They marveled at the collection of CD's--there were built to size shelves on the longest wall of the room, FILLED with CD's.  They even got interviewed on the radio.  They got to say the Cub Scout Pledge on the air and answer questions about what troop they were from and what church sponsors them.  Then they got to see the production room and the computer room.  They were amazed to learn that KILA broadcasts, via satelite to 9 different states, with 5.5 million listeners.  Their website and music can also be accessed via the internet, so they have listeners from all over the world.  These facts really impressed the boys.  Several of the boys wanted to see the satelite dishes, but we were told that that area of the property was something of a construction site and not safe.  So, we obliged and stayed away from there.  The folks at the radio station treated the boys VERY well--and how could they not?  They were so cute in their cub scout uniforms.  When the tour was over, I drove Will back to the daycare, stopping along the way for some chicken mcnuggets at his favorite gourmet restaurant--McDonalds.  I stopped in to see Atticus.  What a sweetie that little boy is.  As soon as he saw me he stopped playing and toddled over and waited to be picked up.  I sat down and held him for a while and then began wondering how in the world I was going to get out of there without taking him with me or bringing on a cry because I was leaving him.  At the perfect time, his caregiver pulled Icy Pops out of the freezer and he took off for outside for his treat.  I quietly slipped out the door........

Things are changing with regard to signings.  Yesterday, I think Joe did 6.  He was booked back to back from 12 to 6, not making it home until almost 8PM.  Under normal circumstances, he would have asked me to cover one or two of the 6, but because of Will's field trip, he had to do them all himself.  The big problem with all that comes when someone comes late or there's a problem with the docs.  It IS possible to do a signing in an hour, but it really throws off the whole day when you're booked back to back and someone throws a monkey wrench in the schedule.  Joe has been going over to the building and walking around the property each morning.  He's doing a "Jericho march".  On the 7th day, he plans to walk it 7 times.  (I hope the walls do not fall down because then we wouldn't have a place to work!  Well, maybe he can just skip the mighty shout part....).  Anyway, it seems that Les, the most recent signer to crash OUR party has been making mistakes on the files he's been working on--missing signature lines, etc.  So his star is falling a bit.  And, we've been mumbling about "escrow officer adultery" a lot lately--our most faithful EOs have been using other signers.  We found out yesterday that, with the crush of the foreclosure business, the EOs are not scheduling their own signings.  This task has been delegated to their assistants.  And, it is their assistants who have been calling what seems like everyone but us.  One of the "adulterers" finally noticed that the two newbies were getting scheduled for lots of signings and Joe and I were oddly missing from the schedule.  She apparently went after her assistant and told her she was to call us FIRST!  Yippee!!!!!  Doesn't the Bible say the last shall be first?  And aren't King's Kids supposed to be the "head and not the tail"?  Well, with this EO, the battle is won.  Now to win a few more battles!  Earlier this month, we treated all the EOs to Starbuck's gift cards.  Our hope was to influence who they would call for their signings.  Now it looks like we're going to have to do the same thing with their assistants!

I hurried home after my time with the boys last night and made curried chicken salad for dinner.  Yup, another chicken meal from that same chicken.  It's the third "official" meal from one chicken, but that doesn't count leftovers.  Joe has had a couple of extra meals from the Mexican chicken recipe I made and has raved about it each time.  I was a little unsure as to how he'd feel about curry, but it was a hit.  I am hoping to eat the leftovers for lunch--yummy!

Well, I've gotten several beautiful kits to scrap with from my designers lately.  I thought I'd try something a bit different here.  I want to show off their beautiful work.   I thought it might be interesting to show off the "raw materials"--the kits I get from the designers--and the pages I've made with them!  Just a little something to change up my boring old blog.....

Here's a paper pack designed by LaWanna Desjardin.  No elements with this one, just papers.  She's named it Kaleidoscope and it's available at Scrapbook-Bytes.

And here is the page I created:

And here is a new kit by Deb Fisher called "Ever and Always".  It was designed as a wedding kit, but I used it a bit differently as you'll see below.  Sorry, Typepad is not cooperating and I can't seem to get the paper pack part of this posted.

Such excitement!

Well, Saturday wasn't much to talk about.  Just some tax work and some r&r.  But, Sunday--now that's another story!

Nineteen years ago, in September, 1989, Jennifer and I went to Reno.  We were to be there for 4 days and my master plan to entertain her was to take her to the pool.  Much to my surprise, a) it was quite cold when we arrived, and b) we were staying at possibly the only Hilton without a pool!  I filled the first day shopping--we had to have some warm clothes to get us through the weekend versus the shorts and tee shirts we'd brought with us.  Then came the second day.....what to do?   I found out there was a classic car museum within walking distance of the Hotel.  I didn't think either of us would be all that entertained but it was better than sitting in our hotel room watching daytime TV!  Much to my surprise, we both enjoyed it a lot.  We spent HOURS in there, viewing autos from the 1890's to the 1950's.  Yesterday, I got to relive the experience!

I got the idea I wanted to go see the classic cars at the Imperial Palace.  Joe was up for it and without any prompting from me got on the phone with Jennifer to see if we could take Will with us.  She said yes.  So early Sunday afternoon, we met Jason, Atticus, and Will at a deli in Green Valley.  After lovin' on Atticus for a little while, we got in the van and took off for the Strip.  Will was excited and when the traffic got slow began asking "how long til we get there?"  Joe teased him, telling him it would be about two hours.  A few minutes later, the mini-traffic-jam broke and within 10 minutes we were parking the van.  Will was really excited by the whole thing.  We had to walk through the entire casino from front to back and then take an elevator to the 5th floor of the parking garage.  He was nearly dancing with excitement and willingly held my hand--there was a mob of people around us and I wasn't about to let go of him for an instant!  The ticket cost was minimal--$6.95 for the adults and I really don't know how much for Will.  While Grandpa was buying the tickets, Will was already exclaiming over the "Herbie VW" in the ticket area and peering in at the long rows of cars.  Most of all, he wanted to see a Ferrari.  Well, we did indeed see a Ferrari!  And we saw cars Joe had never heard of--a Horsch and a Frascini.  We saw cars made as early as 1925 and cars as recent as Dusters and Barracudas and the original Mustangs.  We saw race cars and cars made expressly for chaufferred driving.  We saw the car used on the original Starsky and Hutch show and the police car from Car 54 Where are You.  We saw French cars, Italian cars, German cars, British cars, and American cars.  The lowest valued car was $18500 (I wanted to buy that one since it cost less than a new Toyota but Joe said we could never take it out of the garage).  The highest was a car from 1925 which was not for sale, but valued at $12 Million Dollars.  Will loved the sports cars and racing cars.  Joe got off on the cars from the 60's and 70's, and I loved the cars I'd only read about in books--the Dusenberg, and the Stutz Bearcat, and the Pierce Arrow.  I got a lot of photos which I just love and we all had fun.  Of course, Will begged us for a souvenir so we bought him a little model Woodie.  I wanted to get him a green one or a brown one like those we'd seen, but he opted for a shiny black one with a tiny plastic surfboard mounted on top.  Then we filled him up on popcorn, rocky road ice cream and root beer and took him home.  Isn't that what grandparents are supposed to do--get them all wound up with some exciting activity, fill them full of sugar, and then give them back to Mom?  Well, if that's part of the grandparent job description, we fulfilled our mission. 

And, a good time was had by all. 

I will try to edit some of the photos and post them here in the next day or so.  Guess I'll post a page or two just to tide you over while you're waiting for the car photos.....

In May, 2004, Jennifer and Will returned to Reno to visit friends. That explains the flowers--flowers like that don't grow in the desert! I used the new Amanda Rockwell-Traci Murphy collaborative kit, Sunny Afternoon, for this page. The beaded flowers and the stars are by Annie Manning (Paint the Moon). The doodle is by Lori Wiley, with a Flergs glitter style added. The frame (recolored) is by Amanda from the Love kit from her My New Beginnings collection. The alpha is by Gina Miller and the dragonfly is from LaWanna Desjardin's Painted Spring (retired). DH, my in-house critic, requested the white border on the photo--claimed he couldn't see it because of all the "stuff". Used one by Sharon Kenealy.

We love to go prowl around on Mt. Charleston. I couldn't resist snapping this photo--so "country", such great colors. I used Shabby Rose from the Shabby Papiere Collection by Amanda Rockwell and Gina Miller. The chicken wire is from Farm Fresh by Emily Merritt and Chere Kaye. The rose colored button is by Amy Clegg. The metal brad is by Amanda Heimann. The twig is by Natali Design. The alpha is from Amanda Rockwell's new Your Basic Alpha 2. I also used a swirl by Lori Wiley and a glitter style by Flergs. You can find Amanda's designs at Scrapbook Artist. I printed my inspiration layout out but my computer shut down on me before I could get credits.

We bought these scale models of all the planets for Will for Christmas. He loves the ceiling and he and his dad had a good time hanging them all just so, with the proper proportionate distance from the "sun". I used LaWanna Desjardin's Astronomical kit for this. The graphics in this kit are just too darned cute. Check it out at Scrapbook Bytes. I also used spilled sequins by Rachel Young, and a glitter style by Flergs. The bead alpha is by Kimberly Giarusso. The green alpha, slightly recolored, is by Loreta Labarca and is at NDISB. The "Dirty" alpha (used for "men") is by Peggy Brutcher and is available at A Cherry on Top.

Time to give this another update

It's not like I've got a lot of amazing things happening in my life.  So, not a lot of news to share.  Mostly it's scrapping and signing and that's about it.  I haven't even had the joy of spending time with Will and Atticus lately. 

So, signing.....  We have been asking ourselves a lot of questions.  We have now been signing at "our" escrow office for a good 3-3 1/2 years.  We seldom make an error; we seldom have a deal not sign; we are actually darn good at what we do, particularly Joe, who has been doing it for 20 years.  Well, actually, I think he's better with the documents and I'm better with the people, but he'd disagree with that.  Yet, they just brought in two notaries, one about a month ago, one in the last couple of weeks.  And, for reasons we have not been able to comprehend, the lady they brought in about a month ago is getting tons of signings every day.  We're getting a fair number as well, but the big difference lies in the scheduling.  She is scheduled in advance.  Once she is scheduled, we get scheduled.  We've tried asking one of our favorite escrow officers what's up.  Her indication to me was that it was more or less political, and that the escrow officers were being pressured to use the other lady.  We are starting to wonder if there's something more than "politics" involved.  Could there be kickbacks?  We don't know.  But, it is a mystery we need to solve soon.  It is really disturbing to see all this money being paid to a newbie and at the moment I am signing maybe only one or two a week.  Worst of all is that this is the time we thought we'd be REALLY busy because the one lady who has been signing at this office for years is off on maternity leave.  When she comes back, we could be going hungry, literally........

Oh, I guess I should update you on Mr. Cup-Half-Empty and the meeting last week.  Monday he came home with the rumor that on Saturday there was going to be a big auction of foreclosed properties.  Supposedly they needed notaries.  They were going to line people up and have them pay the notaries $100 each for notarizing the documents on the spot.  He got this rumor from the new notary who is SO popular all of a sudden.  When we tried to find out how to get in on it, it dried up.  We don't know if it was just some crazy idea that came from goodness knows where or whether the princess is the only notary they are planning on favoring and the rest of us are not supposed to be in on the secret.  In any case, the meeting consisted of a very boring presentation on how the processing for repossessed property differs from the way properties are ordinarily processed. The short version of that is that everything takes longer and none of the real estate agents understand that so all of us--escrow officers, escrow assistants, receptionists and signers are being yelled at because of it.  And, they are now requiring us to "stack" the documents.  Now, that's a challenge!  The way we get these files, sometimes it's really hard to discern what they want us to get signed and what they don't.  The files are a mess.  We are now being required to put the documents into a particular order, grouping them, clipping them in their groups, etc.  It adds 5-10 minutes per package to our time.  Truthfully, there is no way to get it done in the time we are allotted for signings, so now we're putting in extra time for the same pay.  Oh well........

We went to a funeral Monday evening.  It was one of the most upbeat funerals I've ever been to.  One of our escrow officers lost her husband.  Freak thing--he went in for knee surgery.  He developed an infection at the surgical site and they went back in to try to clean it up.  A blood clot formed and he died, quite unexpectedly.  Upon arriving at the church, we had difficulty finding a place to park.  Joe commented that he must have been quite a popular fellow.  Well, it turns out he was a retired firefighter.  I saw 7 uniformed Las Vegas Fire Department guys sitting there.  Additionally, they had the honor guard, complete with drums and bagpipes.  Then we found out that he had been President of his church body.  It was he, for example, who ramrodded the construction of the very church where his funeral was held.  The funeral was indeed a celebration of his life and accomplishments.  We feel really bad for his wife, however.  We know she is heartbroken.  JoAnne--we love you.

As to scrapping, I've been hard at it again.  I have to redeem myself with my creative teams or my supply of new products to scrap with will dry up.  Right now I am on Creative Teams for A Cherry on Top, Amanda Rockwell, Cori Gammon, LaWanna Desjardin, Deb Fisher, NinaScraps, and Natural Designs in  Scrapbooking.  I'm also a member of a "secret" CT.  The designer had a CT and I was on it.  Then she started selling at a site that has it's own Creative Team and does not appreciate its artists having their own CTs.  All that comes to about 27 layouts a month.  So, I've been trying to get everything back on track.  One of the big challenges is that A Cherry On Top just took on 22 new designers.  All of them are posting kit after kit to be downloaded and used by the CT.  I feel like I am spending most of my spare time downloading, unzipping, and organizing scrapbook kits.   One of the big problems with this is that much of what I'm being given is just not my taste.

I just contacted my paper and ink supplier.  I was really hoping maybe I could work a better deal than my already good deal on photo paper and ink.  Instead, I apparently need to thank my lucky stars to be able to get the same deal I got 6 months ago.  First, as to ink, there's been some sort of law suit that prohibits them from selling generic Epson inks.  So, they are selling off their current supply and after that no more generic inks.  And the price of paper hasn't gone up, but the shipping has.  So, if I can lay in another stash at the same prices, it will be a good thing.  The big question is where I'll get the money to pay for a stash.........

Well, I've decided that it's a VERY LONG time from one scrap designing payday to the next.  Or, maybe it wouldn't seem like such a long time if the last payday had been more than $2.50!  Mostly it's the curiosity that's killing me.  I still have 5 sets of quick pages up.  Working with Jan Hosford, a designer, I've completed my portion of a bracket album.  I've uploaded for LaWanna two more sets of quick pages and have just finished another which I will upload in a few days.  I've learned with her it's best to upload a new set only after she's gotten everything she's received into the store.  She is SO busy and sometimes things just kind of get lost in the shuffle........  Anyway, I'm having fun with those and hoping the revenue will at least help to pay for my ink and paper.......I'm also learning a lot from LaWanna so that's good.

I haven't been doing much cooking.  It gets a bit discouraging.  Our budget is very limited.  I know a zillion ways to make pasta but 1) I shouldn't be eating it and 2) if Joe sees pasta, he's just not happy unless there's a red sauce on it.  But, I am becoming the soul of a very CHEAP cook.  I have about half a chicken in the fridge.  I've already made two meals with that chicken and figure he's good for at least two more.  I used part of it for the chicken pot pie.  Then the other night, I cut up some chicken meat and added it to black beans, Mexican corn, green chilies, and taco-type seasonings and served it on warm flour tortillas.   Now, what more can I do with that chicken?  Guess I'll have to scout the internet for ideas/recipes.  Perhaps I'll make a game of it and see how many meals I can get out of that little ole chicken!  I did make some hummus the other night.  I don't know why, but I've been thinking about hummus a lot lately.  It turned out yummy, but, to tell the truth, it also turned out like a legalized way to eat garlic.  Yummy!

Speaking of food, is anyone else gagging on the prices at the grocery store these days.  For as long as we've been together, Joe's been buying the same size of the same brand of coffee.  He came home from a quickie grocery store run the other day, muttering that the price is now up to $13.50 from somewhere around $4.50.  I thought surely it was an error in pricing, but he seems to think the prices of other brands of coffee sold in the same size have risen similarly.  I heard an interesting comment the other day on the price of grains and meats that feed on grain.  First, China and India are importing a lot of grains from us.  And, if we're feeding hungry people, I guess that's good.  But here's a fun statistic.  In our effort to save the environment, we've turned to adding ethynol to our gasoline.  One tank of gasoline containing ethynol uses enough corn to feed a family of four for a year!  Now, I'm not so sure that's a good exchange........  And, our clients who are in the trucking industry are on the verge of bankruptcy.  As the cost of gasoline has risen, so has the cost of diesel fuel.  But they are not getting paid any more for hauling their loads.  I find it remarkable that we, as consumers, are being told that prices are going up on food and other products because of the rising costs of transportation when those who are doing the transporting are not being paid any more!

Well, how about some scrapbooking pages for a change.  It's been a while since I've had the time to post those.

Love this photo of DGS#2 on the night he was born. I used Fresh Air, one of the kits from the new Gina Miller and Amanda Rockwell collection called Shabby Papers. The papers are from the kit as is the ribbon wrap. The dark flower is from another kit in the collection. The light flower is from Beauty, an Amanda Rockwell kit from the My New Beginning collection. The paper swirl is from Humble, another kit from the My New Beginning collection. The notebook paper behind the photo is from an old kit by Gina Miller called Note This. Traci Sims did the paper tear. The spray of stars is from Red Dye #3 by Chere Kaye. The alpha, recolored, is by Andrea Burns. Fonts are Arial and Brody. Amanda Rockwell's designs are available at Scrap Artist; Gina Miller's designs are available at Gina Miller Designs.

As I was looking through my photos, I ran across this one. It's possible that with post processing I could have improved it, but it looked so darn good straight out of the camera, I couldn't bear to touch it. I'm particularly shocked because it was talken with my old Fuji....... I used a new kit, Sparkling Fountain, by Amanda Rockwell and Gina Miller from their new collection. The ribbon is by Shabby Princess (from a Christmas kit) and has been recolored. The stitched border is by Gina Miller from her Fall Flower kit. The glitter swirls are from the Amanda Rockwell/Sherry Ferguson collab kit called Time After Time (slightly recolored). The alpha is by Meredith Fenwick and was originally bright green but I recolored so it would work better with the page.

So what do you get when you combine Amanda Rockwell and Melissa Bennett together, doin' a boy kit? One wonderful kit! I've had this photo of Atticus on my hard drive for 5 months waiting for the "perfect" kit. I think I found it. I used "Got Boys" from Amanda and Melissa, available at ScrapArtist. The alpha is by Weeds and Wildflowers.

Many times I post photos taken by this man, my son-in-law's uncle. He has a good eye for a beautiful photo and the camera to make it happen. I used Lynn Grieveson's new kit, Betty, for this page. Lynn's products are available exclusively at Designer Digitals. (Note: I recolored the solid paper a bit (made it bluer) to go better with her jacket.)

My daughter grabbed this photo in her backyard as her DH and sons worked on planting a tree. Atticus had a good time playing in the sunshine and dabbling his fingers in the dirt. I used Peach Blossom, one of the new kits from the Shabby Papiere collection by Gina Miller and Amanda Rockwell. The collection is available at Gina Miller Designs. Amanda's products are available at ScrapArtist. This layout is based on a template by Ronna Penner. I also used Flerg's Glitter Gel on the swirl.

Jason, WIll and Atticus went out to plant a tree. Will got quite a lesson on growing things during the process. I used the Little Boy Blue kit by Kim Hill which is available at ACOT. The glitter stamp behind the photo is by Micheline Martin. The sun sticker and the alpha are by Kate Hadfield. I also used a curled edge by Kim Hill from her All Rolled Up Element pack, also available at ACOT.

We were up all night the night of December 16, 2006, awaiting the arrival of DGS#2, Atticus. The next day, though we were exhausted, we went down to the hospital to check on DD and DGS. Grandpa took the baby and sat down in the rocking chair and this is what happened. I used Lynn Grieveson's new kit, Barcelona, for this page. You can find Barcelona exclusively at Designer Digitals.

So, you may have thought I didn't understand.....

but, I do.  Things around here are not so great right now.  Seems I committed a major sin.  I sent Joe to the grocery store for puff pastry.  I really wanted to make a good old fashioned chicken pot pie.  Not the dumpling kind my mother makes but the kind with a crust, except I planned to use the puffed pastry for the crust because puffed pastry is so yummy.  Anyway, for whatever reason, he wrote it down as pastry puffs.  Of course, he couldn't find pastry puffs in the grocery store.  He asked several ladies and none of them had any idea what he was looking for.  So, he called me on the phone and cussed me up one side and down the other.  He finally found it and brought it home.  I spent the afternoon, cooking a chicken, chopping veggies, making the sauce and assembling and baking what was honestly a scrumptious dinner.  But, I'm really fed up with his outbursts.  Wouldn't you think that kind of effort would be rewarded with thanks instead of curses?  Guess not, in his world.  I quit going to the grocery store years ago because of his constant criticism; I'm about to give up on cooking too.

Well, I am more or less recovered from whatever hit me one week before tax season ended.  I literally had no voice Saturday- Monday, which made it really difficult to communicate with clients.  Joe had to handle all the phone calls because I just couldn't be heard all that well.  I'm still coughing some, and my voice is still raspy, but I actually made it through two signings today which is pretty much two hours of talking.  I was actually grateful to have a loan agent in the second signing with me.  I was losing my voice and having a hard time and he was able to explain a few of the documents to the buyer's satisfaction.  We're not sure what's up but there's a "mandatory" meeting for all signers on Tuesday the 22nd.  Of course, Mr. "The Cup is Half Empty" assumes it means they want to cut our fees.  That's a possibility, but there are a bunch of other things it could be.  Maybe the County Recorder has announced some new policies.  Maybe they want to talk about our E&O Insurance.  Who knows....

So, my "career" designing Quick Pages is going well, at least I think it is.  I only get paid once a month.  For March, I made a big $2.50.  But I only had one set of QuickPages up for a few days of that month.  I now have 5 sets up and another ready to go.  I'm also collaborating with a designer on a "brag book".  So, I expect I'll make more this month.  Plus my designer had a rare sale this week which should boost revenue some too.  But, I won't see any money til the first week of May, darn it all.

I haven't done much scrapping the last little while.  Just no time with housework, taxes, and Quick Pages.  But, I've got to get back into it or I'll be booted off some Creative Teams for not doing my job.  Since I can't afford to buy anything to scrap with, I can't afford to lose a creative team.  I'd better get with it. 

Jen called to tell me a cute Atticus story.  I think I've mentioned that he's been wandering around asking for "mo".  What we don't always know is "mo" what.  Is it "mo" food, "mo" juice, or "mo" something else.  Well it seems he's become enamored of "Row, Row, Row Your Boat".  So, now he goes around asking for "mo ro ro".  What fun it is to have that little guy around!  He and Toby and Punkin have an interesting relationship.  Toby loves kids so he wants to hang around Atticus or Will all the time.  Punkin just can't decide.  I think she desperately wants to be friends with Atticus, but she doesn't know much about people that small.  And, she's always afraid of strangers and takes a LONG time to warm up.  For example, we have a lady who comes to the house for about 4 hours one day every two weeks.  Punkin is still afraid of her.  So, with Atticus, she sneaks up and gives him a kiss.  Then she backs up and barks at him.  On his good days, he thinks it's great fun and wants to chase her, which I don't really let him do.  On his bad days, he wipes the kisses off and makes unhappy noises about it. 

Well, I don't have much else to say.  I'll try to add more in the next few days.

Sick? No!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

How can it be?  I have one week to finish up work on all the stuff stacked up around me and I'm sick.  I have an "infected sinus" about 99.9% of the time because the inside of my nose is malformed and stuff doesn't drain properly.  But every now and then the "infected sinus" turns into a "sinus infection" and that is most unpleasant.  I noticed yesterday that I had drainage down the back of my throat and my throat was sore.  By last night, my eyes were watering almost constantly.  We found some high blood pressure decongestant in the drawer where we keep such things and I took a dose before bedtime.  This morning I've had another dose.  And I'm back on Mexican antibiotics and blowing a rainbow from my nose.  This is so NOT what I needed right now. 

So, things are not as "bad" or as "good" as I make out in the tax area.  Yes I do have some stuff stacked up around me, but it is mostly just one client.  I have two completed returns to double check.  One of the completed returns is the most complex I've done this tax season.  It is also the highest priced return I've done this season.  The problem is that we know this couple well and they are about as broke as we are.  I will, of course, lower the bill some as I do for almost all of my clients (I charge those who are really well off a bit more).  But, I know the return was a lot of hours and a lot of hard work.  A lot of pretty sophisticated knowledge went into it.  Probably 97% of tax preparers would have gotten it wrong.  I'd bet 70% of CPA's would have gotten it wrong as well, but would have charged $1500-$2500 for the work.  So, what am I to do?   The other completed return is for a couple who have been my clients for years.  He has been in the hospital since January.  I'm actually wondering if he'll be coming out of there, having been there so long.  He managed to pull everything together and I am familiar enough with his stuff to think I've pretty well figured it out just as he intended.  But today, after I doublecheck it, I get to call him and tell him he owes around $5000.  That will send his wife (who has many physical as well as emotional problems) into a tailspin.  I really don't like this job sometimes. 

I know (without looking) I have at least two more to do because I have appointments scheduled.  Then I can finally start work on extensions and there's a bunch of those this year.  I'll be glad when it's over.

As to signings, that is looking up.  That is good news as, within a week, it is the only  income stream we will have left, more or less.  Starting today, the primary signer at the office we've been working out of  for forever is on maternity leave for a month.  We see the schedule and we know the billing rate so we know that by herself, she makes what we need to make to survive.  So, if we keep our share of the business and pick up some of her share, we just might get through the next 30 days unscathed.  That is our hope.  Unfortunately we have not been able to talk her into a longer maternity leave!  But, we've sure wanted to!  And, one of the Escrow Officers from the office located at the far south of the valley has basically decided Joe is her "go to" guy for all outside signings.  Those are great because they pay a lot more.  They are a problem because of traffic and because they are mostly located a good distance from us costing us a lot more in gasoline than the 3 miles we usually travel to our local office.  Joe did one out in Henderson yesterday and got caught in the evening traffic.  It was a LONG commute home.  Reminded him of his days in southern California traffic.  While he is out driving around the far reaches of the valley, I am trying to take up the slack at the local office as well as do the laundry, figure out something for dinner and get it cooked, and keep the tax stuff moving.  It's a challenge which will be a bigger challenge with me not feeling well.  In fact, I was supposed to do a signing at 12 noon today at the main office.  I think I could get through it, though it would be immediately obvious to the clients I would be meeting with.  I'll bet they would have a real problem touching pens and papers I've touched with me sounding so bad.  He's going to see if someone else can take it so I can continue popping antibiotics and maybe get some rest.  Sorry to lose the money, but if I were in the customer's shoes, I'd sure hate to be closed up in a small room with me today!

We had to break down and buy a new blood pressure cuff for me.  The old one had gotten to the point that no matter how long or how hard or how many times you pushed the button, it simply wouldn't turn on.  So Joe went to Walgreens and picked up a new one.  The new one turns on at the drop of an eyelash!  These days my purse contents are pretty pared down.  I have a mini-wallet and a camera in there and not much else.  I put the new blood pressure cuff in there the other night before going to Jen's to babysit and it turned on.  I lay it down "wrong" on my desk and it turns on.  I expect we'll be replacing batteries fairly frequently in this one due to the placement of that on/off switch.

Okay, that's it for today.  I'm going to go lie down for a while and see if maybe I feel better when I get up.  Have a blessed day.