Yesterday I had to do something about the convergence of due dates. Since it is in the best interests of all taxpayers that I continue to work, I was able to gain an extra 3 days to finish the forms due on Friday. Now I'll have the weekend to complete them. Yes!
So only the software monkey is on my back today. No time to blog about anything else. It's crunchtime! Focus, focus focus!
Thursday, January 31, 2008
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
Earth Mother is Ruthless
Back to pragmatism. Today I'm working diligently on sifting my mounds of paperwork, trying to find the nuggets that will declare that I owe little to nothing for the years 2005 and 2006. That should hopefully put the IRS monster to rest for awhile. At this point, I don't much care. Working for food and scraping up a little extra to have for emergencies on the road is all I'm up for now. I'm going to plow through as much of the bulk of the work now, then pick up my roommate from work. I'll clean up the mess I'm sure to make, then make it an early night. Tomorrow I'll work on my software project until later in the day. When I'm satisfied with my progress, then I'll do a finer sifting to see where I'm at. The forms are due on 2/1. Maybe they'll let me fax them in, which would buy me another day. Maybe they'll let me overnight them on Saturday, to arrive Monday. That would give me an extra three days! Heck, I'll drive them to Jeff City! Wah! I need more time!
Sunday, January 20, 2008
Clear Your Clutter
After a few days of the diligent shifting of bags and boxes, the UHaul full of clutter is now decreased in volume by 50%. Clutter is a visual symptom of postponed decisions. That's why half of my clutter consists of 20 years of paperwork. Things like my kids schoolwork, cards and letters, pictures, and everything else. Calendars, scraps of notes, and other detritus of a life misspent on the little things. One of the tasks today is to obtain a good photo and negative scanner to put the most memorable keepsakes into an electronic form. Then I'll mail each of my son's stuff to them to keep if they wish. I no longer need to be the keeper of the clutter.
The other half of the clutter consists of several bins of craft supplies for things I want to do and can make me money, a huge collection of sellable fashion doll accessories, loads of jewelry making supplies, and boxes in which to sell said jewelry. Then there are a few boxes of personal items and clothing. There's a bag of holiday decorations, and a few boxes of books. The books are sellable. Before I can tackle the clutter I have to finish part of my current software project, Then I have to sort, file, and purge the paperwork in order to make the tax people happy. Then I can seriously clean up the rest of the stuff.
I think that the threads of my life will converge at a point that meets sometime in April, May, or June. Yeah, try and plan around THAT! The lawsuit, the taxes, the clutter, and the job. You see, all I want to do is live and work out of a camper van, with a jewelry making business in progress to supplement my income. But I can't realistically do that without finishing the lawsuit, the taxes, and the clutter. Catch 22 all the way around. I suppose I can once again mortgage my life to a job in order to get a few years closer to my preferred lifestyle. This sucks!
Jest in time to take my mind off my troubles, here comes Brock, home from prison! Yeah! His mom drove to Farmington to pick him up. She'll call me when she is on the way back with him, which will give me two hours to finish my chores and run some errands on the way to say hi to him. After that I'm back to the RV to work on my software project. Brock will be going to visit his girlfriend at her Section 8 apartment, where she has her three children and his four children. Yes, you can laugh out loud. His mom and I always get a good chuckle out of it when we think about it.
So I've learned my lesson. I'm not going to be available for loans, babysitting, or anything else. He is expecting a good sized tax refund of which $2500 is due to me for the bail money. Then his mother will borrow $1000 of that to buy a $2000 trailer far enough away that he can't disturb her peace either. In the meantime we will be roommates again. I have my next six days set aside for 3 days of work and 3 days of paperwork, taxes, correspondence, bills, more downsizing, organizing, and cleaning. I'd love to sell more crap on Ebay but may have to hold that thought for a few more months. I'm simply too busy to Ebay these days.
The other half of the clutter consists of several bins of craft supplies for things I want to do and can make me money, a huge collection of sellable fashion doll accessories, loads of jewelry making supplies, and boxes in which to sell said jewelry. Then there are a few boxes of personal items and clothing. There's a bag of holiday decorations, and a few boxes of books. The books are sellable. Before I can tackle the clutter I have to finish part of my current software project, Then I have to sort, file, and purge the paperwork in order to make the tax people happy. Then I can seriously clean up the rest of the stuff.
I think that the threads of my life will converge at a point that meets sometime in April, May, or June. Yeah, try and plan around THAT! The lawsuit, the taxes, the clutter, and the job. You see, all I want to do is live and work out of a camper van, with a jewelry making business in progress to supplement my income. But I can't realistically do that without finishing the lawsuit, the taxes, and the clutter. Catch 22 all the way around. I suppose I can once again mortgage my life to a job in order to get a few years closer to my preferred lifestyle. This sucks!
Jest in time to take my mind off my troubles, here comes Brock, home from prison! Yeah! His mom drove to Farmington to pick him up. She'll call me when she is on the way back with him, which will give me two hours to finish my chores and run some errands on the way to say hi to him. After that I'm back to the RV to work on my software project. Brock will be going to visit his girlfriend at her Section 8 apartment, where she has her three children and his four children. Yes, you can laugh out loud. His mom and I always get a good chuckle out of it when we think about it.
So I've learned my lesson. I'm not going to be available for loans, babysitting, or anything else. He is expecting a good sized tax refund of which $2500 is due to me for the bail money. Then his mother will borrow $1000 of that to buy a $2000 trailer far enough away that he can't disturb her peace either. In the meantime we will be roommates again. I have my next six days set aside for 3 days of work and 3 days of paperwork, taxes, correspondence, bills, more downsizing, organizing, and cleaning. I'd love to sell more crap on Ebay but may have to hold that thought for a few more months. I'm simply too busy to Ebay these days.
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
Emptying
No matter how much I try to empty my life it seems I'm determined to fill it up in spite of myself. Emptying the stuff, the to do list, the chores, the pets, the junk of life. Trying to find the peace that doesn't include everything we perceive as necessary. Curiousity continues to drive this need to find out what is absolutely needed to sustain me.
Long ago I learned that a house in the suburbs and an Expedition in the driveway wouldn't sustain me. So I traveled the highway to another place with as little as possible. It sustained me for six months. Then a driving need to see my son for Christmas and grab the rest of my junk out of storage compelled me to travel 2000 miles from here to there. Once I went through that process I ended up looking at a Uhaul full of crap.
Sheesh!
Long ago I learned that a house in the suburbs and an Expedition in the driveway wouldn't sustain me. So I traveled the highway to another place with as little as possible. It sustained me for six months. Then a driving need to see my son for Christmas and grab the rest of my junk out of storage compelled me to travel 2000 miles from here to there. Once I went through that process I ended up looking at a Uhaul full of crap.
Sheesh!
Sunday, January 13, 2008
Home Stretch
Yeah, it's been awhile. With nothing earth shattering to mention on the lawsuit, the job, the van, or anything else, it's been a time of maintaining direction and handling old business. I'm still working as an hourly contractor on a contract, trying to get on my feet for the home stretch of the accident case. After a trip back home to Pennsylvania, all my stuff is stored in the RV for sorting and purging. A lifetime's accumulation of paperwork is waiting for a final cleansing before I file old tax forms and clean up that bit of the disaster of my life.
Yeah, about three days after I returned home with the papwerwork and junk there was a knock on the door from the infernal revenue service. Something about the form that kicks out when you lose your house to foreclosure. They are looking for the lost years' forms and possibly some money, but it will be up to me to show that I didn't make a dime on that deal, or many others. I didn't even claim a "home office". I'll probably need legal advice on this one. In any case, homeless people do have a low rate of tax compliance--duh!
The van is set and I'm currently processing things so that I can be mobile and gone by the end of February if necessary. The lawsuit is coming up on the pre-trial conference date, so I have that emotional roller coaster to look forward to. And, I have three of the boys whose father is in prison--all in a tiny "RV" with no room. My nerves are truly shot at this point. In about two weeks I should know how the lawsuit will play out. How does one survive chaos and uncontrollable change? I think you do it by putting one foot in front of the other, one day at a time. That's all we can do.
Yeah, about three days after I returned home with the papwerwork and junk there was a knock on the door from the infernal revenue service. Something about the form that kicks out when you lose your house to foreclosure. They are looking for the lost years' forms and possibly some money, but it will be up to me to show that I didn't make a dime on that deal, or many others. I didn't even claim a "home office". I'll probably need legal advice on this one. In any case, homeless people do have a low rate of tax compliance--duh!
The van is set and I'm currently processing things so that I can be mobile and gone by the end of February if necessary. The lawsuit is coming up on the pre-trial conference date, so I have that emotional roller coaster to look forward to. And, I have three of the boys whose father is in prison--all in a tiny "RV" with no room. My nerves are truly shot at this point. In about two weeks I should know how the lawsuit will play out. How does one survive chaos and uncontrollable change? I think you do it by putting one foot in front of the other, one day at a time. That's all we can do.
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