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Well, I've decided that my teary-eyed episode the other day is probably a reaction to long term stress.  Maybe designing 100 papers, countless elements, uploading them all to the stores and setting them up, doing tax returns and working part time together with health stuff is just a bit much?  Anyway, I'm dry-eyed today.

Real Life

I've got one of my hardest returns finished and ready to be delivered tomorrow.  Phew!  That's a relief.  I've still got the guts of several more returns piled deep and wide on my desk and more clients scheduled to come in.  In my spare time, it's time to start thinking about extensions.

I am so anxious to be done with tax season and get on with life.  Of course, the money is very helpful.  I'm not sure what we'd have done the last couple of months without it.  But, I want to take care of my house without feeling guilty about not doing tax returns and do tax returns without feeling guilty about not taking care of the house.

Design

I just finished up a mini kit and a full kit.  The mini will be my contribution to the monthly Customer Appreciation Kit at NDISB for April.  My contribution for that is due tomorrow.  Phew!  Just under the wire.  The full kit is for my store.  Of course, we couldn't get all the way through the design process without a crisis..........  Overnight, my computer rebooted.  I lost the major part of my preview and one element.  It took me quite a while to find a replacement for the one element--I had no idea where I'd found it several weeks ago.  Then I redid all the previews.  I've forwarded the previews to the "designer's assistant" who will be doing my advertising for at least the next three months.  I'm uploading it right this minute to the two ladies who are my "whole" creative team right now. 

I am blessed to have two ladies on my creative team who are strong Christians.  In fact, one lady is a pastor's wife.  Nice to have some pray-ers I can call on when I need prayer.  Also nice that we "speak the same language".  Let's face it, to those who have not dedicated their lives to Christ, conversation with a born again Christian can sound a bit like talking with someone who is a bit "off".  Of course, we are called to be "different" so I'm proud to be a bit "off".  But it's nice that we can communicate so well.

Scrapping

Nary a thing!  I am going to stop the design thing for a few days and try to scrap with the pastels.  Two CT ladies can't do much to help promote 10 paper packs and 6 or more element packs!

Okay, I know that's not much of an update, but if I have extra time, I need to spend it vacuuming or dusting something!  Have a good day!  Be blessed!

Bleary-eyed, Teary-eyed

Well, I got up really early this morning.  I greeted the rising of the sun with a headache.  Once I was awake enough to feel the headache, I knew I had to get out of bed and take something.  Perhaps there's a nap in my future........

I've been reading blogs this morning and I'm all teary-eyed and sentimental.  Maybe it's just spill over from not enough sleep?

I know from long experience that moving around when I've got a headache just escalates the pain so I spent some time on two blogs.  They are written by sisters, one a Baptist minister's wife and the other her sister, home decorating DIY person extraordinaire, and mother of four.  Anyway, they both live somewhere in the south and until a few months ago, lived very close to their parents.  Unfortunately, their mother, who was 5 years older than I am, passed away about 6 months ago.  They were very close to her and she was very much a part of their everyday lives.  They talked to her daily by phone, spent time with her in all sorts of family functions, turned to her for advice on many subjects.  She must have been a very special woman as they can't seem to praise her and emulate her enough.  If you promise not to get as maudlin as I am, you can check out their blogs here:  Traci  http://beneathmyheart.blogspot.com and Cyndi's blog  http://lovinlifeasapastorswife-cyndi.blogspot.com/

I wonder sometimes (and I know from whom these thoughts originate, so don't bother telling me) if anyone will miss me when I'm gone.  Reading about the death of a woman just 5 years older than me gets me to thinking.  I live just 4 miles from my daughter, but we seldom talk on the phone just to chat or spend time doing anything together.  She's busy with three kids, a job with crazy hours, etc.  I'm busy with work, designing, etc. though my schedule is much more flexible than hers, and I frequently do not feel well.  I do see my grandchildren fairly often because I get to babysit and they are enough, all by themselves, to make life worth living no matter how tough the going gets.  Joe will miss my cooking.  That seems to be his primary interest in me.  If I ask him why he loves me, invariably, he will bring up my cooking.  And once that is said, he's out of things to say.  Maybe I just don't have that many good qualities........  Yesterday, I took special care styling my hair.  I don't know why; maybe it was in celebration of uploading the last element pack to ACOT (not done at NDISB yet).  Anyway, when I asked him if it looked okay, he just laughed at me.  Guess it looked funny?

I do live my life trying to be the person I believe my Lord and my God would want me to be.  I am not a naturally thoughtful person.  I don't really have "the gift" of hospitality.  I wish I did.  I have all these tax clients who troop into my home every year, who've known me for 20 years, but would they even bother to come to my memorial service?  Matthew and Patty might come, but if they did, it would be as a comfort to Joe, not because I'm anything special in their lives.  I see Matthew at work, but outside the office Joe and I haven't spent any time with them since their wedding.  I was wrong in the conclusion I drew this past week, but I honestly thought Patty had had a baby shower and I was not invited.  Actually, she had gone to a baby shower, but that's not what I got from her one-liner on Facebook.  The sad part was that while I was hurt, thinking she'd had a baby shower and I wasn't invited, I wasn't surprised.  I do think I have the gift of encouragement and I'm a very empathetic person.  Let's face it, a lot of my "friends" are internet friends.  I doubt they'll be showing up for my homegoing!

Ah well, the things I think about.  I think, though Joe has the ability to make me crazy in 5 seconds or less, maybe I am just beginning to feel being alone so much of the time.  Oh, I know I'm not really alone, but sometimes I just miss having someone around with skin on.....  This is probably all just spillover from that.

I actually did talk to Jen on the phone yesterday.  Seems young master Will has a "friend" and his "friend" is a girl.  At 10, he's starting awfully young, but I remember his mother talking about having "boyfriends" in second grade.....  Must come with my ex-husband's gene set.........  I thought she was all done teaching her weekend classes, but she informed me she still has 3 to teach.  That'll put a bit of a crimp on Easter at her house.

The good news for yesterday:  I took a little bit of the tax money and bought Joe and I each a pair of running shoes.  I don't think he's even tried his on yet, but mine were on my feet within minutes of landing at the front door.  They're wonderful.  Like pillows for your feet.  I do hope that new shoes, with shock absorption that isn't all worn out, may be a benefit for my back.  Anyway, I got them here:  www.6pm.com.  I recommend you check them out if you need running shoes, or just a cutesy pair of summer sandals.  They have great prices.  I really think I may have gotten these even more affordably than I could have gotten shoes on e-bay which has been my usual source.  I try always to get New Balance running shoes, so that helps.  I KNOW how New Balance fit, so I can order them with confidence that I won't have to return them! 

Designing

I finally got the last of the element packs into the store yesterday, just before I ran out of here, headed for work.  I guess I should show you some previews:

 

This pack contains 50 color coordinated buttons and 10 color coordinated solid satin bows.  I had a designer friend of mine do this preview as the one I'd made just about turned my stomach!  She made everything look really good.

 

This pack is all about birdies and birdhouses, 10 of each, color coordinated to the spring paper packs.

I did 10 glitter flourishes and 10 page borders in glitter.  This is the one I just finished yesterday.  I HAD to have a little bling....

 

It seemed to me that butterflies were pretty springy.  I did both doodled butterflies and soft silky butterflies so they'd fit with the mood of any layout.

 

Gotta  have a few spring flowers.  This is an UGLY preview, but I think it was somewhere around midnight when I did it, so forgive me.  10 doodled flowers, 10 silk flowers.

I'm not totally thrilled with this preview either, but it is not all that easy to preview 20 frames, you know? 

 

I've been referring to this preview as "Medusa's hair".  If you are familiar with mythology, you know that Medusa's hair was actually snakes wiggling all over her head.  See the resemblance?  There are 10 dotted bows, 10 dotted ribbons, 10 solid curly ribbons and 10 pieces of RicRak.  Though I created these to go with the spring paper pack, I kind of think they would go with almost any spring layout.

I really want to work on something TOTALLY different.  I have had it with spring pastels, and, perhaps now, you can see why!

Okay, I'm once again accumulating a pile of tax returns to do and my house is a shambles.  Got to get movin!  Have a great day!

Raucous Sunday

Worship at church Sunday morning was more raucous than usual.  Sometime ago, the new worship team leader was saved at our church.  Then he went to seminary.  Then he came back to our church and signed on as a worship team leader.  Before all that, he was professionally trained as a singer and performed with the Chippendales.  Yes, THOSE Chippendales.  It's amazing what the Lord can do in a life dedicated to Him!  Of course, worship at my church is pretty raucous anyway, but that worship team sent it over the top.  It's a great thing to experience joy and fun in church!  After all, the Bible says the joy of the Lord is our strength!

We got two of the three completed returns assembled and ready for mailing.  As we were working on the third, I remembered an item that was mentioned in one of the countless e-mails that have passed between my client and I that I'm not sure I dealt with.  So, before we staple that one up and tie a red bow on it, it gets an extra check........  Got a call from a client last night.  She just closed on a house and is now eligible for the first time homebuyer's credit.  I had previously done her return, but she owed so she held the return.  Now it will be a substantial refund.  That's always good news.  I'd rather tell a client she has a good sized refund any day than to break the news that there's a balance due. 

Designing

Well, I worked on element packs Saturday and Sunday, pretty much of the day.  I could almost feel my butt spreading as I sat in this chair working away.  But progress is being made.  I don't think you get to see, though, until tomorrow.  What I can't get done today doesn't get done, so I'll show it all tomorrow.  I have completed and uploaded 5 element packs to the store.  There will be one, maybe two more, and then I quit!  I love the colors, but I'm looking forward to doing something different now.  It seems I've worked on this project forever. 

I've hired a fellow designer to run an advertising program for me.  I've committed to three months for which my beleaguered credit card will pay.  At the end of three months, I either have measurable improvement in sales or I stop the advertising.  This part of scrapbook design is something I have not had the time and/or patience to do.  There are a number of sites that will let you advertise products.  In addition, there are scazillion groups through Yahoo whose main focus is digital scrapbooking.  I have concluded I must be a slow designer as I have never really felt I could sacrifice the design time to do the advertising.  Now I won't have to.  I honestly believe the Lord opened the door on this design thing and I honestly believe He intends for me to succeed.  But, I also believe advertising may be the key to better sales results.  It's not an easy thing to get your name "known".  We'll see.

I have been praying for some design-related items.  First, my photo quality color printer has bitten the dust.  Honestly, it bit the dust about a year and a half ago, but I finally just gave up and chucked it in the trash.  It costs as much or more these days to fix/service a printer than it does to buy a new one.  And, with the quality of prints that were coming from that dear old thing, I knew I was never going to use it again without a big bill for servicing.  So, it's gone and I'm trolling and praying for a new one.  I really liked being able to print out my papers.  It gave me confidence that what I had designed was as good as I could make it.  But, that option no longer exists. 

Most designers use a Photoshop Creative Suite product to design.  It is a dozen times more powerful than Photoshop Elements, which is what I use.  I've been praying for the Lord to deliver the latest and greatest Photoshop Creative Suite product to me.  At this point in time, CS4 is the latest version, but designers are using anything from CS2 on up.  Yesterday I saw a demonstration of what is coming in CS5.  It rocked my world.  Of course, scrapbook designers are but a blip on the screen for Photoshop, so the video I saw showed someone editing a photo in ways that can't be done in 10 times the amount of time now.  And, such amazing quality in the edited version.  I actually watched as a tree was removed from a photo and the edited version was perfection.  Of course, what is currently on the market will also remove a tree, but not the way this new software does it.  It took less than 30 seconds to make that tree disappear from the photo with the new software and, honestly, I think you could use current software and work at it all day and never achieve what they did in so short a time.  I bought some clip art a while back of birdhouses.  And it just so happened I wanted to add a birdhouse design to the element packs for the spring paper series.  The birdhouse unfortunately had some flowers on the front of it which I did not want.  As I began to use the existing tools, I got "ghosts" of other parts of the design all over my birdhouse.  I finally had to go back and "paint" it out which worked in this instance but certainly wouldn't work in all instances.  Then I saw the video for CS5 and I began to drool.  I'll be praying more specifically for CS5 from now on.......

There are other design tools I'd love to have.  For example, there is a little item called a "tablet".  If you've ever signed your name to a credit card purchase on an electronic screen, that's a version of a tablet.  Imagine being able to use a "tablet" and the "pen" that comes with it to draw your own designs!  Most people who own tablets throw their mouse away and use the pen for everything.  But, to me, it is the drawing possibilities that are exciting.  Being able to use a "pen", something my hand is familiar with, instead of a mouse which is so much more difficult to control just sounds wonderful to me.  I don't have a visible shake in my hand, but you'd never believe that if you saw what my efforts to "draw" with a mouse look like!

Beyond the wonderful things Creative Suites lets you accomplish, there is an additional program that does even more wondrous things.  It's called Illustrator.  I understand there's a pretty interesting learning curve with that software, but it allows you to create Vector images (among other things).  Creating traditionally, you sometimes find the outside edges of curved items to be full of jagged edges.  And if you find an item you want to enlarge, it becomes yuckier and yuckier as you try to enlarge it.  A Vector image can be enlarged without ever encountering the jaggies or distorted edges that are part of traditional programs.  You'll see, in my Easter papers, a flower I've enlarged substantially.  I had to dig and dig through my stuff to find a vector image flower in order to be able to successfully enlarge it that big.  You'll recognize it when you see it here as just one example of what Illustrator can do.

So, there's my wish list.  Of course, as technology improves, my wish list (prayer list) will change.  It's amazing what you can get a computer to do with the right software........

Scrapping

SInce the design stuff went much slower than I thought it would, I got less scrapped than I thought I would.  But, though it's simple, I really like what I scrapped.  Friends/clients of mine went to Tanzania  on safari this past year.  In a way I find that amusing; in another I find it admirable.  You see they are an elderly Japanese couple, in their mid 70's.  One doesn't think of folks that age wanting to take off on safari, but that has been his dream for many years.  Of course, they go to the gym every day and work out so they are in great physical condition for their age.  He commented that it was a LONG airplane ride.  Indeed.........They flew from Las Vegas to Minneapolis, from Minneapolis to Amsterdam, and from Amsterdam to Tanzania.  I'm sure that must have taken the better part of two days with nothing more than not-very-restful naps along the way.  It was sad to hear that they never got out of the airport in Holland, but, maybe you only get to realize one dream at a time.......

Anyway, this photo is of a beautiful sunset in the Serengeti.  The kit is by Bella Gypsy Design.  It is actually a mini kit called Partly Cloudy, available at Elemental Scraps today and coming to Gotta Pixel and ACOT later.

 

They didn't have the latest and greatest camera so the photo isn't as crisp as it might otherwise be, but, still, that's one gorgeous sunset, isn't it?

Okay, that's all I have time for today.  I have design work to do and tax work to do and house work to do and I have to go to the office this afternoon.  Have yourself a great day!

I LOVE Charlie Daniels!

Check out this You-Tube video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QdKmc9aBELM

Warning: Image heavy post

Alrighty, I survived yesterday and am ready to grab today by the neck and see what I can wring from it.  I don't look too good yet, but I certainly got a good night's sleep.  I am grateful for that as a good many of my recent nights have been on the short side.

We have three sets of returns to assemble and get ready for mailing today.  These include returns from Nevada, Georgia, New York, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, and Florida.  If I get REALLY lucky, I'll finish up one from Indiana as well.  Checks are coming in by mail and in person.  Yesterday we went through last year's client list and determined that I just might make it til the middle of April after all.  That's worth one great big sigh of relief.  We also decided it's time to start stirring the pot by calling clients and reminding them that it's now less than 3 week til April 15th.

Designing

I am still working on finishing up elements and previews to go with the paper packs.  I want that finished by the end of the weekend.  And, yesterday by working on several things at once I managed to get all the paper packs into the store as well as a couple of element packs.  Let me show them to you.  I love the colors and I honestly think you could scrap most anything spring related with these papers and elements.

Here is the "cardstock"--a series of solid colors that will play with all the patterned paper packs.

 

Of course there are some folks who have perfected the art of using just one background paper and making a very simply designed layout.  Since most of us have not reached that degree of perfection, here are the patterned paper packs.  You will see that each pack uses one of the solid colors combined with subtle prints to create some really pretty papers.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I was going to show you some of the element packs, but my computer is choking up over all this beautiousness and I'm afraid she'll faint dead away if I do any more right now.  I'll give her a break and come back later with the elements.

F-f-f-f-f-Friday!!!!!!!!!!!

Real Life

Not too much new to report.  But, some people.........gee, some people are just too much. 

A few days ago, my stepson threatened again to fire me.  This is the third time in under two years.  What it boiled down to, and this makes no sense, is that I had given him the amount of the March 15th payroll deposit on March 12th.  That according to him was not early enough.  Of course, we had no money in the corporate checking account on March 12th.  Well, that's a slight exaggeration.  If I had made the payroll deposit, the corporate account would have been reduced to a balance of $100, not taking into consideration whatever checks were floating around out in the world that I didn't know about.  (Stepson writes checks and doesn't record them and turns in the documentation sometime later.)  And, we had not made the payroll deposit, due February 15th because there had been nothing but peanuts in the corporate account then and thereafter.  Somehow the fact that the March deposit was not made on time evolved to the point that it was my fault.  My fault for not spending enough time at the office.  Well, I was flat on my back for most of the first two weeks in March and really should not have gone in on the 12th, but I did because, if there had been any money, I would have made that deposit then and there.  So, it's now the end of March or thereabouts.  It's tax season.  He has demanded that I put in more hours at work.  And, now he wants to know what he needs to do about the three prior year returns he hasn't done as well as the 2009 return that's due in 3 weeks.  Yeah......like I have time to be messing with his 2006 return about now????? 

Then there's the guy who has been my client for 21 years.  Every tax season he calls with these questions.  Sometimes they're the same questions he asked last year.  Sometimes they're new and different.  Sometimes, it's just a progress report, like I am holding my breath to know if he's added up all of his power bills for his office in the home deduction yet........  But, somehow it's important that he call at least 3-4 times before he ever shows up at my door with his stuff.  And,  of course, he never has time to stick around when I'm working on his return or schedule an appointment.  This year he is all ramped up because he got married during the year.  Should they file jointly or should they file separately?  What about his this deduction he took last year; can he take it again?  What about his that deduction; can he take that again even though he's married?  What about the fact that he sometimes owes and his wife has always gotten a refund?  What about the fact that he has been paying half the household costs but isn't on the title to the house?  Holy Mary!!!!!!!!  I am ready to strangle myself.  With his last phone call, I basically came right out and told him I don't have a crystal ball and can't give him any advice without a chance to see the numbers.  I've never even MET his wife, much less done a return for her.........  I have no clue whether she earns $5000 a year or $70,000 a year.  I know she has some part-time self-employment income but the relationship of that to how much withholding she has on her full time job is a total mystery.  So, anyway, the last time he called, I tried to explain that I could not answer his questions until he brought me the stuff and gave me time to work with it.  So, what does he do?  He calls again and starts asking the same questions all over again.  I was ready to hit him upside the head with my phone but I couldn't reach him.  Please, have a little consideration for my time!  I am, after all, the lunchtime caterer, the cleaning crew, the receptionist, the "staff", and the tax accountant around here.  Do I really have time to consult my eight-ball about stuff I know nothing about?  I don't even know what questions to ask my cup full of tea leaves til I see the numbers.......  It even seems as though I'm supposed to somehow help them define "marriage".  For example, is it right for her withholding to be used to cover his self employed income?  Well, certainly it's legal.  That's what we do in marriage; we form a union and we do things together for the common good.  But, if you want to do this whole "this is my bean and that one's yours" thing, that has to be your decision; I sure can't advise on that.  

When Joe was doing loans, I often envied the fact that he only had to work with the person once and then he was done and could move on.  I, on the other hand, see the same people year after year.  That is good in that they wouldn't come back if they thought I did a poor job for them, but after 10 years or so, they start to wear on you! 

So, yesterday I started on the surprisingly fat envie that arrived from Indiana.  I found inside two folders, one labeled "Indiana" and one labeled "New York".  I cruised through the Indiana file on overdrive.  Then I opened the "New York" file and came to a screeching halt.  It's a repossession of property along with the related expenses.  So, my task for today, between clients, is to refresh myself on the tax treatment of repossessions (I'll bet you didn't know that for tax purposes you could have a gain result from repossessing property, now did you?).  I'll need to make a list of the information I need and then analyze what's in the file, then call the client and explain the ramifications of what she's done (without consulting me, of course), and get the additional information necessary to complete the federal, Indiana, and New York returns.  All this between my other tax appointments, of course!  Between my other duties as lunchtime caterer to the office staff, my duties as cleaning crew, my duties as receptionist........and like that.  Life is nothing if it isn't an adventure.

Designing

I finally started uploading the paper packs to the store at ACOT.  I've managed to upload about half of them and need to get the rest of them uploaded at ACOT and then the whole group uploaded to NDISB.  I've finished the work I plan to do on the coordinating frames, but I have to do the previews before they can go into the store.  But, bit by bit, I'm going to get these things into the stores.  Once they're all uploaded, I'll come back here and show you some previews.

Scrapping

I will take time off this weekend long enough to scrap two pages.  Bella Gypsy is coming out with a really cute kit and for the first time in forever (or so it seems), Cori Gammon has put out a new kit.  I'm excited to scrap with both and I hope the word "tax" doesn't run through my head even once while I'm working on those two layouts!  I really need a break from "tax"!  Cori's kit has already been released in the store, so I can post that layout here as soon as it's done.  You'll have to wait til Monday for the Bella Gypsy page.......

Well, that's it for now.  This caterer-cleaning crew-receptionist-staff-tax accountant-wife-mother-daughter-corporate accountant-scrapbook designer-creative team member-doggy mommy has to get some work done.  And may no one call YOU and ask YOU questions about their tax return today!  Given my current mood, that's the best wish I can give you for a good day today!

Pinch me!

If you pinch me and I holler, I will know for sure that I survived yesterday.  It is a very long time since this old broad put in a day like yesterday.  My brain was truly reduced to mush by bedtime.  But, a good sleep and a hot bath have worked some magic and I am mostly recuperated.  Shortly I will go into the kitchen and toast some delicious nutritious poptarts and that should complete the recuperation by raising my blood sugar beyond toe level.

I think I spent about 10 hours yesterday on one client.  I had a couple of interruptions.  I don't know how long the interruptions took but I'm figuring, all in all about 3 hours.  I did a corporate return, a federal individual return, a Tax-a-chusetts return and a Rhode Island return.  Beyond all that, the client has actually moved to Rhode Island so there was a constant flurry of e-mails back and forth as I dug for more information on this and that and that and that and.........  well, you get the idea.  In between, there was a LOT of research going on, as it's been a few years since I've done a Tax-a-chusetts return and I don't think I've ever done one for Rhode Island.  Beyond all that, the circumstances were weird.  The client has a Nevada corporation and I started there because the income/loss for that return passes through onto his individual return.  Got that complete, but not without the exchange of a few e-mails.  Started on the federal individual and concluded that I was going to need a rental schedule as well as a moving expense form.  Several more e-mails flying back and forth, explaining, asking questions, asking more questions, asking questions about the answers, and like that.  Finally about 4PM I had that beaten down to where I was satisfied I had found every deduction he could take and it was all technically and legally correct.  At that point, I took my aching back into the bedroom and laid it on the bed for one hour.  Then I was back at it.  Odd situation in that the client moved from Nevada to Rhode Island but received  a w-2 from a Tennessee corporation showing he had worked in Massachusetts.  Just typine that last sentence makes my eyes want to cross!  More e-mails back and forth and lots of research.  Obviously since MA state tax was withheld, we were going to have to file a MA return.  But, what to do about Rhode Island?  The client assured me he didn't have to file in Rhode Island, but after researching I was quite convinced that was not the case.  So, I had to do a Rhode Island return and take credit against the Rhode Island tax for the tax paid to MA.  And, then, since the client was a non-resident of MA, that required further research as to what deductions he could take against the MA income.  And since the client was only a part-year resident of Rhode Island, that required more research and the allocation of certain items based on the period of residency in NV versus the period of residency in Rhode Island. 

In the middle of all that, I had to reboot.  I had not planned on doing MA or RI returns as I didn't know I had any clients who would be needing those returns.  When I downloaded the software for those state returns, somehow the tax software butted heads with Windows Vista 64 bit and I no longer had a printer installed in the tax software and no way to install one.  I tried the customer service number for the tax software but they were closed.  Finally I found the answer in their website's Frequently Asked Questions.  A simple re-boot should do the trick.  Well, it took two re-boots, but sure enough I had a printer available after that.  So, since a re-boot takes about 10 minutes (yes, I HAVE actually timed it) I decided to clean my keyboard while I was waiting.  I unplugged it from my computer.  First, I turned it upside down and shook it.  It's amazing the number of teeny tiny crumbs that come falling out of the thing when you do that.  Then I sprayed Windex on a wad of paper towels and did my best to clean some of the grime off the surface of the keyboard.  Then I plugged it back in.  Unfortunately, the computer refused to recognize that there was a keyboard attached.......ugh.  I found an on-screen keyboard tucked neatly away in the control panel (I knew I'd seen that bugger somewhere in my travels) and managed to get this mass of tax returns started printing.  But, try as I might, I could NOT get the keyboard to work.  I finally finished printing War and Peace or its tax equivalent, and re-booted two more times, hoping that Windows would find the keyboard.  No such luck.  Joe doesn't have a lot of computer skills, but he is definitely more intuitive when it comes to stuff like this.  So, I called him and asked him to please take a look at it when he got home this morning.  Around midnight, I finally crawled under my comfy down comforter and gave up for the day.

It was a very long day, tied to this machine.  And, as I described all that, could you just feel the stress mounting?  Around 5:30AM, Joe woke me to tell me he'd tried repeatedly to get the keyboard to work and had failed.  I felt like crying, but turned over and went back to sleep.  After all, I have a very difficult return facing me today as well and I needed sleep to clear out yesterday's monstrosity. 

Since awakening, I've had the good, the bad, and the ugly.  The ugly was definitely that teeny little keyboard that pops up on screen which can only be operated by clicking on the appropriate letter or number with the mouse.  So grateful that thing exists, but using it is a pain!  Finally, I re-booted two more times.  I guess four re-boots was the key to success; at least, after four re-boots, I have my keyboard back.  That was the good.

I've had problems with Internet Explorer for a while now.  It all started when my computer did an automatic update of some software in the middle of the night while I was innocently sleeping.  I suspect it was a Windows Vista update, but I can't be sure.  Anyway, since then (about 2 month ago), Internet Explorer has locked up this computer way more times than I can count.  Finally, I've come to my senses and switched to Mozilla Firefox.  There are some things about Firefox that I find un-handy, but all in all, it's a top-rated browser and it has worked well.  Until this morning, that is.  Sure enough, this morning Firefox locked up and I have now been through a series of re-boots to get THAT to work. 

Anyway, I'm a little shell shocked today from the March 24-25th wars, but I'm about to launch into that nasty return laying over there to my left.  I'm trying to clear out the backlog of out-of-state returns.  That became a necessity the moment I discovered that overnight mail with UPS has gone up in price since the last time I checked from around $25 to $59.  Yup, that little fact really rearranged my priorities!  

And, I have to go to work today.  Oh, that is a cause for great joy!  Well, anyway, I have to move along.  Too much to do and not enough time to do it in.  Have a peaceful day!

Good morning

I somehow managed to sleep until almost 9AM this morning.  It's gonna be a rushed but rested day!

I was up pretty late last night.  As anyone who reads this blog knows, I've been wrestling with a huge project design-wise.  11 paper packs, and a bunch of element packs.  But, in that it is tax season, my time is SO fragmented.  I really wasn't quite sure what I had done and what I still needed to do.  So, last night I took inventory.  Buttons n Bows, complete but I abhor my preview.  Birdies and Butterflies, done but no preview.  Glitter borders--done but I think I need some flourishes/swirls and I have no preview.  Frames--I thought I was done, but there's a new style of round frame and I've decided I want to include those so I have to make 'em.  No Preview.  Easter Eggs--done, but no preview yet.  Ribbons and Bows--done and I actually have a preview I don't hate.  Doodle flowers and silk flowers--done, but no preview.  Stars and Hearts--haven't done 'em, think I should, ready to puke at the thought..........  I'm paying someone to do a decent preview of the Buttons n Bows.  I think I can do acceptable previews of the Birdies and Butterflies and the Easter Eggs.  The rest I will do one version of a preview and if I hate the preview, I'm farming them out too!  I HAVE to get this monster into the store!  

The person I am paying to do previews, however many she finally gets to do, has promised a 2-day turnaround.  That's wonderful and way better than I could do, given circumstances.  I am also going to try doing some more aggressive advertising through her.  I am hoping with more advertising I'll be able to sell more, pay her, and still have some extra left over. 

So, today I am planning on doing a corporate return and the return for the shareholder.  Then it's on to the frames.  After that, I'm going to start writing product descriptions, adding piracy notices, etc to the files and uploading paper packs to ACOT.  So, hopefully, by tomorrow  I will have made significant progress.  I HAVE to get some out of town returns done.  I found out recently that overnight mail is up to $59.  I sure can't afford to have to send any completed returns out overnight!  Even without taking into consideration the cost of electricity, paper, ink, and toner, there are some returns in which I don't have that much profit!

Joe delivered some returns to clients yesterday on his way to work.  I've got several people scheduled to come and pick theirs up today.  We're moving right along!

Speaking of moving right along, I need to do that.  The road is long between here and bedtime tonight and I've got a LOT to do.  Have a wonderful day! 

Good morning, all!  How's the world treating you today?  I'm stiff and sore, but I've had a decent night's sleep and I'm ready to start the day.

Real Life

I went to work last night.  It really seemed a waste, but, I went.  It took me half an hour to drive there and half an hour to drive home.  I updated the cash transactions from the bank account, logged a few Accounts Payable, did a bit of filing, defragged the computer and came home.  So, I'll get paid for one hour minus the cost of a gallon of gasoline to get there.  Very worthwhile, LOL. 

On the way home I stopped at Walgreen's.  I take a potassium supplement daily and have for about 15 years.  I can't be without it as it is the only thing that keeps the muscle spasms at bay (and it's certainly not failsafe at that as we've seen the last few weeks!).  I take thyroid meds which drain potassium from the system.  And without potassium, you get..........muscle spasms.  I had been telling Joe I was almost out, thinking he'd get some for me.  No, didn't happen.  So I stopped at Walgreen's and found a buy one, get one free deal there on potassium gluconate which is the formula I take.  So, total lockup of my back, arm, shoulder, leg muscles has been avoided.  We're good for 200 days now.  I also found my dinner at Walgreen's.  Do you remember Good & Plenty?  Little candy-coated bits of licorice?  They had the movie sized boxes for 3 for $3.  Yeah!  I ate one box for dinner, no doubt delicious AND nutritious!  They also had a buy one, get one half off deal on lipstick and I found my favorite brand/shade amongst those on sale.  I also grabbed some hand sanitizer which was on sale.  It is SO FILTHY at the office I really hate touching anything.  Once I've been there, I feel like I should start chanting "unclean, unclean".  I thought hand sanitizer might be a good idea in such an environment.  And twice now I've asked Joe for those flushable wipes.  You know the ones.  Like toilet tissue only moist?  Each time, he's brought me baby wipes.  Not quite what I had in mind, but they work in a pinch.  So, I grabbed a huge refill package of those things, the flushable wipes, on sale.  I left Walgreen's a happy camper. 

Designing

I spent yesterday "decorating Easter eggs".  Since the paper packs contain all the best spring colors, I decided to add some Easter type elements as well as a pack of multi-colored papers, including a few special Easter designs.  So, I've created 10 flat colored eggs, 10 pearlescent eggs, and 10 decorated eggs.  I actually did the pearly ones yesterday and the decorated ones as well.  It's as close to decorating Easter eggs as I'll come, so I had fun with it.  I've never been much good at decorating real Easter eggs.  I think it has to do with the fact that I know I'm going to have to crack them open and peel off the nice decoration to make egg salad that does it.  Seems such a waste to spend time making them pretty just to destroy them in a few hours.  But, digital eggs will last a long, long time.  So, I had fun and they turned out really pretty.

I have decided I HAVE to start uploading to the store or give it up.  Spring is here and I need to start the process of uploading NOW! 

That's it for today.  Got a zillion things to do.  Have a good one!

I get to vote on Obamacare in November

UN-REAL Life

Look out Shelley Berkley (D-NV).  I get to vote on Obamacare in November.  It will be a vote, this year, for anybody BUT Berkley and anybody BUT Harry Reid.  I cannot believe the way this program, which so many Americans do not want, has been crammed down our throats.  I am one of many Americans who does not have Health Insurance.  I live 5 hours from the Mexican border and have a very nice doctor down there.  His fee is reasonable, $30, probably no more than I'd pay as co-pay if I did have insurance and went to the doctor here.  And, believe it or not, when I have a question or a problem, I e-mail him and HE E-MAILS ME BACK!  I've been getting my blood tests done down there for several years--$20 per blood test.  And, I've been buying my meds down there.  It's not all that convenient.  It requires a 2-day trip.   But, we enjoy the time away together and have fun walking around the small town in Mexico where we go.  We eat good Mexican food and if I want, I can get new glasses for $170 or get my teeth cleaned for $20.  What more could I ask?  If I have an emergency, I have access to the Emergency Room here.  But, I really believe these people, the evil triumverate, Obama, Pelosi, and Reid, have mortgaged my grandchildren's futures for the sake of their own egos.  Shame on them!  I am sorry, William, Atticus, Elizabeth, and Jonathan.  I fear you will be paying for my insurance long after I am dead and buried.  It was certainly something I did not advocate or want........ 

It has been my opinion for a long time that there was a way to provide health care easily.  Those who rank among the people who do not have health insurance make up a very large group.  With the government at some level (federal/state/county????) as negotiator, I believe that that very large group could have a plan, set up through an insurance company that would be affordable to the individuals to be covered.  For example, I believe the state of Nevada could approach the 5 largest health insurance providers this way:  "We have a group of 400,000 (number I pulled from the air) who have no health insurance.  We believe 150,000 (number I pulled from the air) of them will elect to be covered if given the opportunity for decent coverage at decent rates.  What kind of coverage at what cost can you provide for an additional 150,000 subscribers?"  I believe that would provide necessary coverage at a reasonable rate for many health insurance deprived individuals/families.  I believe that it would be even more in demand if it were portable.  For example, my husband has health coverage through his employer.  He would like to change employers but is hampered because he would have to go another year without coverage or with the high cost of COBRA if he moves from his current employer to another.  If the "group" plan could be maintained until he qualifies at his new place of employment or beyond, that would make it even more attractive to those who need coverage. 

Real Life

Not a whole lot going on around here other than work, tax returns, and more work.  I have a pretty good pile of tax returns to a) finish, b) deliver, c) start--all lying in various places on my desk.  Shortly folks sitting across from me will have to stand up to see me over the piles of paper.  Tomorrow, I am meeting for lunch with a delightful lady who is a prospective new client. 

I was the proud recipient of another threat to fire me from my part time job last week.  The company is between jobs and has been low on funds for a good while now.  As a result, the payroll deposit for January, due February 15, has not been paid.  I was having so much problem with my back in the early part of March that I did not get the amount of the payroll deposit calculated until March 12 because I was unable to get to the office.  Of course, there was still no money for payroll deposits and the deposit due in February should be paid first anyway.  Somehow, though we've not had the money to pay these bills, it is my fault.  It is my fault that I didn't compute the amount we could not pay, due March 15, until March 12.  Of course, it is still not paid.  But, it is my fault.  Oh, well, I'm grateful to have a job and I love being threatened with "necessary alternate arrangements".  Does my heart good, not to mention my blood pressure and my mood. 

We went to Costco yesterday.  We scored some good buys.  We found a huge spinach salad for under $10.  That was more than sufficient for our lunch today and it was yummy.  We scored a beef stroganoff casserole for $9.95.  We divided it in half and had half for the freezer and half for dinner last night.  Can't beat a pre-cooked dinner for 2 for $5, now can you?  And it was delicious.  Joe was pretty much out of everything he uses for his lunches so we bought all that--cheese slices, bread, fruit cocktail, bean salad, and cottage cheese.  We had also consumed about everything we had around here (except oatmeal) for breakfast so we replaced that--Danish, Pop Tarts.  Joe gets crazy at the cost, but honestly, we have to have SOMETHING to eat.  And, I don't believe we can do it any cheaper or even as cheaply as we do there.........  I tried to get him to fill the van's gas tank while we were there.  That didn't work out.  We had cash, but needed a debit card, not cash.  My debit card was at home on my desk and his debit card connects to a bank account with only a few dollars in it.  So, no gasoline.

One of my clients showed up here Friday with three overburdened bags full of food.  She's decided to go gluten free in her diet and says she feels much better.  So she cleaned out everything in her pantry that had gluten.  We were the happy recipients of many cans of soup, chili, corn chips, whole wheat flour, pasta and much more.  That will save us a few bucks in the food department.  This same client is tiny like my daughter and has often blessed us with clothing that fits Jennifer.  She has still more clothing to give away and is just waiting for Jennifer to tell her whether she'd prefer more "work" clothes or casual clothes.  In addition, she has an upright freezer she wants to GIVE to Jennifer.  Jennifer and Jason just bought a used freezer from someone on Craig's List for $50.  However, it is a chest-type freezer and Jennifer really wanted an upright one.  My client was going to call the local power company and pay them $30 just to haul hers away because she no longer uses it.  So, it is there FREE for Jennifer and Jason for the price of loading it onto Jason's truck and driving it home.  They can then turn around and sell the one they bought and still have a freezer that will be just what Jennifer wanted.  This lady has been a real blessing in our lives.  

Designing

My design time is really limited these days.  I keep working and working at it but I don't feel as though I'm making much progress at it.  Right now I'm doing Easter Eggs to go along with the pastel paper packs I've done.  I'll be doing multi colored papers with an emphasis on a few Easter-y papers soon.  I've done 26 Easter Eggs and want to do 4 more and I'm done with those.  I think I will start uploading paper packs this week with elements to follow.  Last week I did a huge bundle of coordinating ribbons and bows, 30 ribbons and 10 matching bows........

A designer I know is in a burn-out period.  SO she is offering her services to advertise and do other services for designers.  I've been trying to talk to her about it but either I am with clients or she is busy and our opportunity to converse by phone has been really limited.  But, I want to try this out for 3 months.  I'm willing to front the extra expense for that long.  If it doesn't pay for itself in increased sales by the end of three months, then I'll have to give it up.  If it really kicks my sales up, maybe I can afford to hand off a few other tasks I don't much like to her.  It would make me more efficient, I know.  We'll see........

Scrapping

Just one page, but it's cute!  Bella Gypsy Design turned out a cute kit in collaboration with Connie Prince called Jelly Beanies.  It was perfect for some Easter morning photos from last year.  I also used a template from their Jelly Beanology template pack.

 

You can see that those Easter eggs were carefully "hidden", right?  And doesn't Atticus look proud of himself and his little basket full of eggs?  Jelly Beanies is available today at Elemental Scraps and coming soon to Gotta Pixel and ACOT.

Anyway, that's all I have time for today.  I have to leave for work in 27 minutes!  Still need to do my hair and a few other things before I run out the door.  You have a good day now, okay?