Time for Some Fun

I have been slaving away at the piles and mounds of receipts I have in my "office" for the farm taxes. It really took a lot of effort to get it done. I even got a head start on 2009's taxes. Last year I bought a gadget and program called Neat Receipts, which scans and categorizes your document. I finally put it to good use and learned how to make the categories fit my needs. I also went through all the receipts for 2008's Medical bills and prescriptions and got that all in order. I started putting this years stuff together too!.
So where does that leave me? I have 5 brown grocery bags full of unneeded paperwork, envelopes from bills( I pay online) and various other things that get dumped in my office. I filled a whole new file box with everything else and you can actually walk into the room. Saturday is the appointment with the accountant and I will be so relieved.
So here comes the fun stuff.
I sat down tonight and went through some of the blogs I follow and I am going to copy one of the blogs here because it looked like fun. Thanks Angie

My ABC's
A - Age: The big 50, but I mentally do not feel "old" but the body and joints tell a different story.
B - Bed Size: KING! After 22 years in a waterbed, It was time to give it up....we went to the King size...I can't even reach Dave on the other side, it is hell in the morning when he leaves his alarm on, it is so far to reach to shut it off. The only bad thing about a regular mattress vs. a waterbed...it is cold, but I fixed that with heated mattress pads!
C - Chore You Hate: House cleaning, any part of it. I would rather clean barns than the house.
D - Dad's Name: Frank
E - Essential Start Your Day Item: Tea, hot, cold,sweet, flavored, it doesn't matter.
F - Favorite TV Show: Anything CSI
G - Gold or Silver: Gold
H - Height: 5'4" Wish I was taller
I - Instruments You Play(ed): Nothing, nada, zip.....I have the talent of a flea. I can't sing either!
J - Job Title: Package Handler,UPS, evenings, 5/10pm, that is the paid job.... Mom, Chicken farmer, Domestic goddess are the freebies
K - Kid(s): 2 children, actually grown men now, 26 and 23 But I have been known to share my home with whoever the boys brought home, many of their friends call me mom
L - Living Arrangement: 3 Bedroom ranch on 4 acres.....semi rural, easy access to shopping, freeways and plenty of room for quiet
M - Mom's Name: Jeannette, I always loved my mothers name
N - Nicknames: My real name is Bernadine, (after a Pat Boone movie my father loved)but in the 5th grade, Miss Norris thought my name was too long, so she shortened it to Berni, My nieces and Nephews call me Aunt Bummy
O - Overnight Hospital Stays Other Than Birth: Several Minor surgeries....nothing longer than overnight!
P - Pet Peeve: Bad drivers, slow drivers, drivers talking on the cell phone, drivers in the fast lane, going slow, drivers not using there turn signals, and the worst one is drivers who don't even give you a wave when you let them out in front of you!
Q - Quotes You Like: Scars are tattoos with better stories!
R - Right or Left-Handed: Right.
S - Siblings: 2 brothers, 2 sisters, I am the oldest
T - Time You Wake Up: 5:30a.m. I get everyone up and off to work, then I can go back to bed, unless it is a day that is full of activities.
U- The Ultimate Dessert: Chocolate Brownie, or Brownie Sundae
V - Vegetable You Dislike: Can't think of one I don't like
W - Ways You Run Late: I don't like to be late. But there are days when I am fiddling around here or on line....and time gets away from me....but my cell phone has a calendar reminder and I set that often for special things.
X - X-rays You've Had: Teeth, shoulder, knee,hands,breasts
Y - Yummy Food You Make: Chicken fingers, my boys can't get enough of them
Z - Zoo Animal: Polar Bears.....I love the white fur!

So if you are so inclined try thinking of your ABC's and have some fun!

So What Have I Been Doing?

As I sit down to take a break, I realized I haven't updated my blog in 4 weeks.... can you even imagine that? It is not that I haven't sat in front of the computer, or read any of my fellow bloggers' posts, it is just that I didn't seem to have the time or the subject matter to fill the space.

It has been cold and dreary here and there weren't too many decent opportunities for an interesting photo, so I was at a loss for subject matter.

So what have I been doing with all my time, you ask?

Well I am struggling with the Income Taxes.... I hate doing them, they involve a lot of bookkeeping and most of it is farm related and Dave does not help at all! Oh, he keeps the receipts in a folder on the counter top, sometimes, and I usually have to chase him down for the ones he leaves on the dash of his truck. I tried giving him a folder in the truck to keep them in, but that didn't work.

So I am just like every other American and I resort to boxes!

I was doing really good this year and had everything posted through April....and then I do not know what happened! I even bought this gadget called a Neat Receipt that scans and categorizes your receipts......

I never got past April 2008!!!!

So I finally sat down today, realizing I only had a few weeks to Tax Day and I still have not made my appointment with the Accountant!

I sorted through many of the receipts I had, and now I have to tally and total them up and hand the sheet to the accountant so he can do his depreciation magic and sit back and see what we owe or what we get refunded.

Piles of paper work!

Then I realized that some of my time was taken up by the boys....

They found themselves on Unemployment as of 3/6/2009

Their positions were eliminated.... which was just a line that employers are using to downsize and remove higher paid employees and rehiring employees at a lower wage.

Can I prove it? Probably not, but it is happening in more places than you think.

So they are home, and they are trying to keep busy and waiting for the weather to break, and hoping there will be some job openings.

Mick Loves Green.....Even his Motorcycles are Green!

So Mick took some time to work on his motorcycle and took a small trip one weekend.

He came home early from the trip. It was a rainy, wet, muddy weekend.

He slipped and fell in the mud.....he also re injured his knee.

So off to the Orthopedic Dr. on Monday, wait a week for a MRI, and then a return visit to the Dr.

Torn Meniscus, bone chips, and a possible partial tear to the ACL graft! So we have to wait until April for the surgeon, he is in Arizona for Spring training with the Indians!

Mick will have to have an arthroscope procedure again!

And then there is Spring!!!

I have been waiting months for Spring. I am not sure about everyone else, but this seemed like the longest winter we have had in a long time.

Dave bought me a new rototiller and he was so kind this morning to get it out and till the garden... Mick put several loads on cow manure on it and Dave worked it into the garden. The rototiller worked marvelously!

I went right out and planted my onions. The soil still feels a little cool, but onions are one of the crops that can be started early, before the last frost.

I am not sure when they are predicting the last frost, but in Northern Ohio, my mother in law always swears by a June 1st planting date for any tender crops.

now that the weather is nicer, I can get out do more.

I am excited because Spring means I can order Chicks! The new peeps arrive May 5th!