My Weblog

Grand Central Station

The phone here has been ringing off the hook.  Two calls from one client, one call from another client, and two calls from Joe.  AND, Punkin keeps barking.  What happened to my nice quiet morning? 

Well, I finaly DID get my paycheck.  I actually had to stay an extra hour and a half and follow Matt to the bank, but I got cash in my grubby little hand which was great.  Matt had to borrow money from his Aunt Anne to make the company payroll......  I have finally finished one month's bank reconciliation and am almost done with the second month.  Only 16 more to go and it'll be up to date!  Then I can start on all the other accounts that are totally whacked out.  This is one tax return I'm very glad I don't do.  I can't imagine what the CPA is doing for a balance sheet since what is on the computer at the office supposedly contains a backup of his work and the balance sheet is laughable.  For example, a company like this has to have equipment, but you'd never know they had any based on their balance sheet.  So, I have my work cut out for me for weeks (months?) to come. 

Signings have been slow the last couple of weeks.  So slow, in fact, that the little stash of checks Joe had waiting to be deposited has all been deposited.....that leaves us with no reserve.  They've brought in two new signers in the last three weeks.  There are many days when Joe has one signing scheduled and others have 3 or 4 scheduled.  We're not sure what that's all about as far as the escrow company is concerned and we're also unsure of why the Lord is allowing it to happen.  The small amount I'm earning is certainly not going to balance it out.  So, if you have time, we'd appreciate your prayers for us in this area. 

I am also concerned about Joe.  I am starting to wonder if there aren't some signs of early Alzheimers......  He forgets everything.  When its conversation he forgets, I figure he is just not paying attention when the conversation occurs.  But........  This morning in our prayer time, I reminded him to pray for my cousin, Margie, who just lost her husband.  We've discussed this at least 3 times before, but I got the blankest stare from him--he had no clue who I was talking about or why she would need prayer.  He's been back and forth on the phone with the head of housekeeping at the Gold Coast several times because they need Bibles for in the rooms (he's a Gideon, president of his local "camp").  He went to Henderson to do a signing and planned to stop at the Gold Coast on his way back and drop off two cases of Bibles.  He called me all confused because he couldn't find the Gold Coast.  I finally figured out he was in the wrong place, down by Bally's.  The Gold Coast is across the strip and about a mile west of where he was.  He'd gotten the Gold Coast and the old Barbary Coast (now called Bill's Gambling Hall or something like that) all confused and gone to the wrong place.  I had to tell him 3 times that the Gold Coast is west of the Rio before he finally got it figured out.  I suppose you could pray about this too.  These are not isolated instances, just the two I've encountered between 8AM and noon today........  And, normally, he has an infallible sense of direction.  If he's ever been somewhere once, he can find his way back there, no problem.

We are in the "monsoon" season here--at least as close to a monsoon as you can come in the desert.  Because of the wind pattern, it is always hot and humid here in July and August.  Now, when I say "humid", don't begin to imagine it is anything like the east coast or the midwest.  Humid here is relative humidity of 30+ per cent.  Anyway, we've had one really good shower where the rain really came down hard for a good 20 minutes or so.  And, we've had thunder on at least one other occasion.  Yesterday, though we didn't get any rain, the cloud cover was so thick it was only about 96 degrees at noon.  Of course, everytime we think we're going to have thunder and lightning, we quickly dose Indiana and Toby with Benedryl.  We figure it's a lot better for them to sleep through the thunder than to have a heart attack and die because they're so afraid.  I haven't been outside today, but on his third call of the morning, Joe reports that it's really "steamy" out there.  I can see a lot of clouds to the northwest of us.  That's fairly unusual for us, except this time of year; most days we have cloudless blue skies. 

So Will and I have decided we're going to have an ice cream party for the "tribe".  We are going to make homemade ice cream and then invite Jason, Jennifer, Atticus, Matt, and Patricia over to enjoy the spoils.  Will has no clue what this is all about, so we'll see how he likes eating ice cream he's helped make.  Fortunately, we have an electric ice cream freezer which cuts down on a lot of the physical labor!  I'll be lucky if I can get Will away from the TV and into the kitchen, LOL.  I think we'll try for a week from Saturday.  Or, maybe I can go pick him up next Thursday and we can make ice cream in the afternoon and spoil everyone's appetites that evening.  Anyway, I hope it will be fun.  Besides, Matt ran into Jennifer in the AT&T store last week and didn't recognize her with her short hair, so I guess the members of this family ought to spend a little bit more time looking at each other. 

I've got another set of Quick Pages in the works.  I managed to plow through 7 out of 8 yesterday and last night.  Then my creative muse went to bed early without me, I guess.  Anyway, the 8th is still sitting there waiting for me to finish it, LOL.  I'm sure there's no rush; LaWanna is heading out on vacation so she won't be ready to post anything for a week or so.  I'm finding that my job is interfering with posting my layouts on the internet which is an essential part of being on creative teams.  I've got to get that scheduling worked out somehow.

I was going to post some pages, but I think I'll come back later this afternoon and do that.  It's getting mighty warm in the office and I want to refugee east to the bedroom!  Have a great day.

Downer

So yesterday was a downer day.  First, I was all excited because I was going to get a paycheck.  Not much of a paycheck, but a paycheck nonetheless, and my first in almost 5 years.  I already had my new checking and savings account all set up, just waiting for that inaugural deposit.  When I got there, I had this idea my paycheck would be sitting on the desk, just waiting for me, but no such luck.  I waited, thinking that sooner or later someone would show up and hand me a paycheck.  Well, eventually, Matt showed up and the news was not good.  Apparently, after I left there Wednesday, they discovered that the previous person doing my job had added another $5000 to his embezzlement.  Greg was checking on the bank balance only to find it $5000 lower than he expected.  Seems Mr. Kevin T &*[email protected]#$% not only inflated expenses for which he reimbursed himself and paid himself a few extra paychecks at exorbitant rates.  He also stole some (at least one and who knows how many more) blank checks.  He left town sometime this week and apparently needed some traveling money, so he wrote himself a check for $5000.  Greg and Matt went to the bank and they froze the bank account which was necessary because no one has any idea how many checks the guy got away with.  In the meantime, there is a good chance we will get the $5000 back as the bank traced it right into Kevin's account at Citibank and of course contacted them to try to recover the funds.  Also, the guys finally reported him to the police. 

So, anyway, I have no idea how the guys came up with the cash for payroll, but apparently they did.  I got a call shortly after I left for the day and was told by Matt that he'd try to deliver my money (cash!) yesterday.  Well, no such luck.  It's pretty anti-climactic to be expecting your first paycheck in 5 years and not receive it.  It's even worse when you don't receive it because some dishonest jerk stole from the company you work for.  This is just a small company and they are out between $35,000 and $40,000 now.  It's partly their fault.  At the ages of 30+, apparently they haven't learned the lesson yet that you can't trust anyone when money is involved.  So, they were busy doing their jobs and didn't watch him.  He was supposed to be taking care of the accounting and their books are a dead on mess.  Accounts Payable has entries in it from 2006.  Accounts Receivable appears to be double booked into income.  The bank account hasn't been reconciled for 18 months and the 12 months of 2006 have only been reconciled by the CPA at great cost and great effort and they've just barely finished that.  The balance sheet is a joke and the income statement is too.  It will take a good long time to get it straightened out.......  And, now the guys can't even get to the money that is in the bank account to pay the rent!  Holey moley!  I may be out of a job before I really accomplish anything.....

I also had some bad news yesterday that upset me. It really makes me feel as though there is a strong possibility that life is not worth living.  But, one way or another, I'm going to get past that.  I don't know how and I have a feeling there will be a lot of tears involved, but..........with the Lord's help, I'll find a way.  I feel as though I've lost so much over the past few years.  Most of it is unrecoverable.  Now, I am threatened with losing some of the most important things in my life.  I'll simply have to find something on which to re-focus but I don't know what......  Perhaps that's a big part of the problem.  My life is pretty empty and I simply don't know what is left in it on which I can focus.......  I know the Lord will undertake, but, at the moment, I don't feel as though there's much to look forward to in my life. 

I did get paid for my Quickpages.  It wasn't much, but will help out with scrapping supplies.  I am trying very hard in that department and it gives me pleasure, but the money is surely under-whelming!  But, I guess it's a good thing when you can get paid anything for doing something you love.  I am praying that when Amanda gets back from vacation, she will put some of the multitude of pages I've done with her stuff in the store.  That would help in the money department, I've no doubt.

I'm pretty sure the third store is going to go away.  I am losing about 15 hours a week to this job so there is less scrapping time.  Actually the hardest part is getting layouts posted around the internet so that people see them and might be encouraged to buy the kits used in creating them.  I haven't posted a page in over a week.  The third store had about 5 designers whose stuff I would use to scrap with.  Two of their designers are ranked very high on my list of favorites.  One other does a decent job, just smaller kits than I'd like.  A fourth had acceptable stuff for a page here and there, though it seemed to me most of her stuff all looked alike--same stuff, just different colors.  A fifth was an up and comer, refining her skills and doing better and better.  Now, all 5 of them have left the store.  What is left for scrapbooking is not, in my opinion, for the kinds of pages I srap, desirable.  So, I think I shall have to resign.

Store number two is iffy as well.  My contract with them expires August 10th.  They have a few designers whose products I really enjoy working with.  But, they have quite a few designers whose stuff just leaves me totally COLD.  I look at it and either think "YUCK!" or "HUH?".  I can probably stay on there, but I'm not at all sure I want to. 

Store number one........well that's a mess too.  It seems in digital scrapbook stores these days, the idea is how many designers can be crammed into the store regardless of the quality of design or the potential for sales.  They've taken on a lot of designers whose stuff I really don't like.  I've been able to keep that store covered with the two designers I DO like, but it's hard.

My individual designers are still doing great work.  Amanda has been on vacation for almost three weeks and is due home soon.  I really miss it when something new from her doesn't pop up every now and then.  Cori does such great kits......I keep haunting the team forum, looking for what kind of gorgeous surprise she has in store for us this week, but so far, not a hint.  Lynn put out a new kit this week, but it was awfully girly.  Lots of pink and florals.  Hard to scrap photos of two little boys with that!  But, I made it work and I kind of like how it turned out.  But, I had to check it out with Joe to make sure I didn't make Atticus look like a girl by using too many flowers.  LaWanna has a new kit out.  It's cute--intended to be a kit to use for photos at the pool.  Of course, I have no pool and I don't go to any pools around here.  Jennifer has a pool where she is staying, and I understand the boys are loving it.  Atticus, she says, is a total daredevil--absolutely no fear.  But, I have no photos of that........  So, I'm kind of scratching my head wondering what to scrap with the new kit.  Maybe I'll just do Quick Pages and call it a day.......  Or, maybe I can find something in my stash and doctor the photo so it looks like it goes with the kit.  We'll see.

Well, I'm supposed to babysit the boys today.  They're due to arrive here in about an hour and a quarter.  In the meantime, I need to get dressed and get some laundry going.  I WILL post some pages here, but after I post them to the net--just a lot easier that way.  Have a great day.

Catchin' Up

It's been about 5 days since I posted here so I've got some catching up to do.  No sooner did we get the lights fixed than Joe discovered that the garbage disposal, which is only 2-3 years old, would not work.  Shortly thereafter, he discovered the dishwasher wasn't working.  He concluded that it was all because they both plug into the same outlet under the sink, so that would mean replacing another outlet in a very un-handy place.  Thankfully, he checked the breaker and found it had been thrown and when turned back on, everything functioned fine.  Thank God!  I was ready to puke!

I had noticed about two weeks ago that one of our cupboard doors in the kitchen was cracked.  Actually, it was a bit more than cracked because the top part of the frame was broken.  I've no idea how that happened.  Anyway, a couple of days ago, Joe asked me if I'd been in the kitchen yet that morning.  No I hadn't.  "Well", he said, "I broke something in there last night".  I had all sorts of visions of broken corning ware or broken dishes or..........  No, nothing that easy.  He'd leaned on the broken door and completely broke it.  So, now we have one cupboard with no door.  He took it off with the idea of fixing it.  I wish I had confidence that he is capable of doing that.......it really has to be matched up perfectly, glued, and then clamped into place til it dries, then braced, but braced in such a way that the screws do not show on the front.  He seldom does "finish" work, even when he tries, so I'm pretty concerned about this.......  And we won't even discuss why a grown man, weighing over 200 pounds, would lean on a broken cupboard door.

Jennifer and her three boys went to Ely, Nevada, for the holiday.  It seems they got the last hotel room in town so, for two nights, the four of them ended up sharing a queen sized bed...cozy!   The third night they stayed in a historic hotel that has been refurbished.  It was built in 1928.  I don't think there's a whole lot to do in this town.  There is an old steam locomotive that pulls a train and you can ride on the train.  There was supposed to be a train museum, but apparently it is not finished.  They did go to the White Pine County Museum, but Jennifer indicated it was quite a disappointment.  And, there are a number of historic homes, built anywhere from the 1880's to the 1920's.  I know there is a walking tour, but I don't know if one is able to see inside of them.  I understand, from researching on the internet, that there are quite a few places to visit if one is into lakes, woods, mountains, etc.  I would have enjoyed that because of the photographic possibilities, but I have no idea how Jennifer and her little troop would have felt about it.  Apparently, Atticus was quite the fan of the train ride.  He kept using his sign language and saying "Mo, mo, mo......"   Will got to ride in the caboose with some other boys his age so he thought that was good.  If I had known she was going, I'd have hooked her up with a scrapping buddy of mine from Ely.  Since Paula has lived there for years and raised kids there, she might have had suggestions for additional ways to entertain the troops.  But, it was a good 20-25 degrees cooler than in Vegas, so that alone should have been refreshing.  The oldest boy was not behaving very well.  Jennifer finally told him she had not planned on bringing him and had no qualms about renting him a car and sending him home if he didn't shape up.  I guess he did as they all returned to Vegas on Sunday afternoon--together.

Will is going to the same day care center that Atticus goes to this summer.  Jennifer has investigated various "camps" for him, but he is happy there.  He really doesn't want to go anywhere else which makes it very convenient for his mom.  I'm just happy he's found someplace where he's comfortable.

We spent the actual day of the 4th sitting around the house.  I worked on scrapbooking stuff--my continual job of unzipping and organizing files--and Joe did whatever he did.  I've no clue..........  The we got ourselves ready and headed out with the camera and tripod, hoping to capture some shots of the fabulous display of fireworks that has happened for so many years from the rooftops of the casinos on the strip.  They've always had this simultaneous fireworks show and it's been over the top.  I haven't seen it since 2000, but I've seen pictures and it's amazing.  Of course, we got lost for a few minutes, trying to get to the place we were headed for, and Joe almost got the van stuck (it's not for 4-wheeling Joe!), but we got the tripod set up and everything ready to go for the display.  Ha!  Things are tough enough in Vegas this year that the casinos opted not to do the fireworks show.  What a disappointment!   I did get some fireworks photos but certainly nothing like what I'd come for.

We had also discussed going down to the conservatory at the Bellagio to see what they had going for the 4th.  However, we decided the day of the 4th was NOT the day to do it.  We held off til Sunday, hoping the Californians would have checked out and headed home, thus reducing the crowds.  Yeah, right........  I've no doubt it was better on Sunday than it would have been on Friday, but it was still really crowded.  The center area was a huge display of red and white azaleas and blue hydrangeas.  The theme this year was somewhere between hot air balloons and trains.  They had built these amazing train tracks, complete with trestles and bridges in several areas and had about 4 electric trains running on them.  They even had a replica of Mount Rushmore and I got a good photo of one of the trains running right past the presidents.  It was very well done, just not what I'd expected.  They had flags and replicas of bright colored hot air balloons suspended from the ceiling.  They even had hot air balloons hanging in the shopping areas.  I had no idea that the display changes from year to year.  I thought about sticking around to watch and try to photograph the fountains in front.  But, it was blisteringly hot and we checked it out and didn't see a single shady place to stand, so I'll photograph the fountains some other (cooler) time!

We had dinner Sunday night at what has become our favorite Mexican restaurant--Don Juan's.  Joe and I even broke down and had a drink.  We were so hot and tired from trooping around the Bellagio and praying for the air conditioner to conquer the heat that neither of us could resist the idea of a frozen Margarita.  It's extremely rare for either of us to drink, and we probably wouldn't have given in this time either but for the heat and the way our butts were dragging.  We were zapped.

I went to work yesterday, mentally prepared to "reconcile" the checking account for however many months I could do.  That is way more complicated for a business than it is for a personal account because there are so many more deposit items and checks to follow up on.  My theory is that, since the checking account has not been reconciled in 18 months, there are hundreds of thousands of dollars in unbooked checks and electronic payments.  I'll also have to try to trace all the deposit items to accounts receivable to see if they are double booked, a distinct possibility given the way they've been operating and the level of "expertise" of their former accountant.  But, of course, I found that they are missing the January, August and December '07 bank statements.  Can't reconcile without those!  Greg had told me he took those over to the accountant's office about two weeks ago, but when I called over there, they denied all knowledge of any bank statements!  I'm starting to wonder about THEM too!  So, I gave up and came home early, stopping on the way at my favorite market to pick up some meat for the next few dinners.  This time we'll be having polish sausage, barbecued chicken, and stuffed beef rolls for dinner, supplemented by whatever I can dig out of the freezer.  I had gotten some corn on the cob my last trip and it was excellent.  I also snagged us some fresh brussel sprouts and Joe loved those.  I'm going to try to deal with some of the frozen veggies for side dishes this week.

On the scrapping scene, I've been unzipping and organizing and unzipping and organizing.  I think if I could just unzip and organize for about two weeks, 18 hours a day, I might catch up.  I didn't do much scrapping.  Both Amanda and Cori didn't put out any new kits for today, so nothing mandatory to post for them.  LaWanna is working on a really cute kit around a pool theme.  I'm excited for that to be complete though I'll be hard put to have photos to scrap with that unless Jennifer takes some.......the place she is staying has a pool and the boys are enjoying it immensely.  Lynn had no new kit for this past Sunday.  So organizing was the way to go.  And now it's time for me to deal with laundry and dinner.  Have a blessed evening.

Let there be light!

Well, Joe and I had a conversation about what to do about the electrical stuff about a week ago.  He figured replacing the breaker would be cheaper than calling an electrician.  BUT, his buddy, Bob, had told him breakers almost never go bad.  Well, it was my opinion that if changing out the breaker was the cheaper option, "almost never" or not, we should try replacing the breaker.  Well, of course, nothing happened.  Then he went to the Escrow company and ran into the guy who is working on their remodel.  He talked to him and he said, "Well, change out the breaker.  If it's the breaker that is messed up, then it will be fixed.  If it's something else that's messed up, then you'll know".  So, yesterday while I was at work, he changed out the breaker and we have light.  It just amazes me, though, that he had to talk to a GUY before he'd do anything; doesn't he know I'm MRS. FIXIT?  And, he replaced the GFI plug in the master bath and I can now blow dry my hair in there again.  Whoopee!!!!!!!!

Well, I still don't know what's going on at store #2 but today, the 4th day that layout has been posted, one person finally broke down and left me a comment.  I was really feeling hurt, and I don't feel wonderful yet, but better.  I'd sure like to know what that was/is all about.

LaWanna put out a gorgeous new kit called "My America".  I got to see a preview of it and begged for her to make the blue and the red brighter and more intense.  She did and I love it.  Here's a preview:

Don't know why that's coming up so small!  Anyway, here's the page I did with it, featuring a photo of the Vegas skyline on July 4th.

At the J-O-B, I got through almost all of the backed up stuff booked today.  I still have a small pile of "mystery" items, but all in all, I made good progress today.  Monday I'll start doing bank reconciliations.  It is my understanding that the business bank account hasn't been reconciled since December, 2006.  No wonder there's more than $500,000 on the books in a bank account with less than $10,000 in real money!
I even got everything I booked filed, so the desk is beginning to look like a desk instead of a trash heap.  Now, if I could just do that with my desk at home! 

Matt and his new girlfriend, Patricia, stopped by last night.  We got rid of one of the 2-drawer file cabinets that are in the garage by giving one to him for the office.  They showed up with a gift bag containing a Hawaiian style shirt for Joe (he loves them!) and a nightgown for me.  That will replace the one Joe didn't take out of the bathroom in Yuma.........  Anyway, she seems like a sweet girl.  Of course, we liked Rochelle too, so who knows?

I stopped at Sunflower Market and bought a few things on the way home.  I actually pass right by there on my commute.  I bought enough stuff for about 3 meals and some extra little things and the total was $46.33.  And, when I told Joe, he checked the bank account and my spending $46.33 on food put us $3 in the hole.  He is not amused.  He says they'll charge us an overdraft fee for that.  Darn!  I thought about having them put the purchase on my credit card, but who wants to use a credit card for a can of peas and a can of tomatoes and stuff like that?  I had no clue he had so little in the account.  So he's gone off to make a deposit.  Meanwhile, I'm going to refugee to the other end of the house--the EAST end--where the sun is not heating things up this time of day.  Have a good afternoon!

My to do list keeps growing

Well, I now have the "guts" of 3 tax returns sitting on my desk awaiting my attention.  I sorted through a shelf of books, picking out just a few to donate and need to pack the rest--I'd say we're about halfway through the books and related items in the office.  Still lots to pack before we can do carpet though.......  Laundry is also waiting.  And there's more.........much more.

It turned out that finding the TSH test was easier than I thought it might be.  I found one, FDA approved on the internet.  I didn't like the price much--$40--but it's ordered and on its way to me.  I comfort myself with the thought that it is still cheaper than $175 for a doctor visit plus whatever awful amount a lab would charge.  So, shortly we'll know what is happening with that. 

Well, I got a surprise yesterday when LaWanna contacted me to request the "Wheels" Quick Pages.  Usually it is I who e-mails her, sometimes more than once, saying "Hey, I've got these Quick Pages ready.  Just let me know when you want them........"  I immediately uploaded them for her and that cleaned me out as to stuff in the pipeline.  That's not a good situation, so I spent this morning creating a set of 4 Quick Pages with one of her smaller kits and part of this afternoon checking them, making sure they are as perfect as I can make them.  That whole process was really slow going.  I'm working on my monthly backup process--copy files to back up External Hard Drive, delete previous backup, defragment External Hard Drive--and it has really slowed down the computer.  But, I started it late last night just before going to bed and we're into it 18 hours now and still not  done for THIS round. 

I'm a little torqued at my team mates at store #2 right now.  I put together what I think is a really beautiful page for a team requirement and posted it Sunday (three days early, not like me these days!).  It's been sitting there in all its beauty for two days now and not a single one of my team mates has left a comment on the layout.  I, on the other hand, have gone through all the layouts from every team mate--a total of about 18--and left feedback for everyone.  Oh, well, I think it's a gorgeous page and I love it, so there.  Pbbbbttt!
See, I told you it was a good one.  I took the photo when we visited the Bellagio last year.  I found the photo of the columns on line and blended them into a background I created by blending several papers together and running a sepia wash over everything. 

Cori has put out two new kits today.  One, the frilly one, is a collaborative kit with Traci Reed.  It's really beautiful, though a bit tough to adapt to boy pictures which is what I have a lot of, LOL.  But, I made it work.
This is a preview of the elements in the kit.

And here is a preview of the papers.  I used a photo of Atticus from when he was two months old and created this:

I had to recolor his shirt from blue to more of a turquoise color to go with the kit, but he's just as cute in turquoise as he was in blue!

I thought that would be it from Cori for today when VERY LATE Sunday night, she put up a 4th of July kit.  Of course, she needed pages for today.  That didn't leave me much time to get something ready for her, but I managed.  She was in a rush to get the papers and elements to us and didn't even have a name for the kit or previews made for us.  But, here's my page:

Joe and I are actually hoping to go to the Bellagio to see this display on Friday (I know, we're nutso--it'll be mobbed).  Meanwhile I grabbed these photos off the internet. 

Store #3 lost my favorite designer.  Or maybe she isn't lost, just decided to go somewhere else.......who knows.  Anyway, I can't get her stuff for free anymore and that was mainly why I agreed to take on this CT.  They do have one other designer whose stuff I adore; they better hang onto her!  In the meantime, I used "Alfazema" by Loreta Labarca to scrap a page.  When we came through California on the way back from Mexico this last time, the jacarandas were in bloom.  Of course, jacarandas don't grow in the desert so I just loved seeing them and their beautiful lavendar flowers.  I managed to get a decent photo and that's what I used here.

Oh, I guess I should talk a bit about the new J-O-B.  It IS a mess.  But it isn't quite as bad a mess as they think it is so that's a good thing.  They brought someone in quite a while back to take care of the books.  I have no idea what his background was, but he was smart enough to figure out they weren't watching him.  So, he managed to cheat them out of $30,000, by their estimate.  They've caught him with his hand in the till and they've got the goods on him.  They seem to be having difficulty getting law enforcement to do anything about it, though.  I found that there are Accounts Payable on the books, looking like they haven't been paid.  Some have been there since February, 2006.  The most recent are from November--meaning he has input not a single bill received by that company since November.  I THINK Accounts Receivable may be more or less right, however, when payments have been received from customers, they've been posted against the receivable, but the deposit was not posted correctly.  So, I'm betting there is a huge amount in "undeposited funds".  The bank balance is so far out of whack it's laughable.  According to their books, the balance in their checking account is $547,000.  I'd be totally shocked if it's really as high as $7,000.  I think he's also been stealing them blind in payroll.  He has them convinced he spent hundreds of hours at their accountant's office, "learning" how it should be done.  I can't buy that at all.  It's just not that difficult to learn.  So, I spent about two hours there yesterday and will head over there for 3 hours tomorrow morning.   There's a sizeable pile of stuff that needs to be input, but again, I was told it was an entire drawer full and it's not THAT bad.  I asked Matt to go through the stuff and make sure it was all business related because I kept running across some personal stuff Monday.  If the personal stuff is out of the way, I should be able to input the bulk of what they have laying around this week.  It's a tiny little office, two desks crammed into a small space and a repair bay type area next door that is also theirs.  Of course, it's furnished with whatever castoffs they could drag in there.  But, as long as there's no heavy duty stress, it's all fine with me.  Well, let me say that may not be all that true--I haven't seen the bathroom yet and I may end up cleaning that before I agree to use it......lots of men hanging around there and I'll bet it's really disgusting.  So, tomorrow, I go back for round two.......wish me luck.

Gotta run.  I want to at least get the laundry into the washer while there's still daylight.  Remember my tunnel!  Oh, and to add to the fun, yesterday morning as I was blow drying my hair, the only plug in the master bathroom ceased to work!  We had a "handyman" who came and repaired an electrical switch for us a while back.  Joe tried to call him, but the phone was disconnected.  So, I guess we're going to have to call a bona fide electrical company and pay them with a check drawn on my Visa card.  I HATE that!  Anyway, I'm outta here!