Every year I walk around with a feeling of dread until I have our taxes done. My first task after the new year is to gather all the necessary information for our accountant for our business so he can get started on our business taxes.
Before I can begin on the taxes I have to finish all the 4th quarter payroll reports and pay the quarter taxes for the business and get all the W-2’s out in the mail before the end of January. “Happy New Year to Me” for the past 26 years between my former job as city clerk for ten years and now the bookkeeping for our business.
This past week I finished giving the accountant the rest of the information on the phone that he needed to finish up the business taxes. When we finished discussing the business taxes he asked me “By the way have you sent me your personal taxes yet?” This was on Tuesday afternoon. I promised him that I would indeed mail them to him before the end of the day on Wednesday.
I already had everything gathered for the supporting information for our forms but hadn’t filled out our tax organizer that he emails me each year about any changes in our status since the previous year and predictions for possible changes for the next tax year. The organizer is 28 pages long. On Wednesday of this week I spent my lunch hour filling out the organizer and getting everything packaged for mailing to our accountant. I was definitely walking lighter as I left that load at the local post office. Yay! Something else off my to-do list.
The taxes are done and now I realized we have arrived at the end of the first quarter and it’s time to do quarterly reports again. Only nine more months until it is tax time again. Each year I vow I will do things differently and get things done sooner but the reality is that when you work in a small business such as ours you still have all your regular work to do and have to somehow manage to fit all the tax stuff into an already full schedule.
This afternoon after work my husband and I bought our fishing licenses for the year. It has been three years since we went fishing. When we got home we put on our boots, jackets and gathered our supplies and walked out on the lake for some ice fishing. It has been about twelve years since we last went ice fishing. Our luck has not changed but we were able to enjoy a beautiful afternoon on the lake.
This summer I’m looking forward to more time on the lake and less time at work. Perhaps that will happen since we made the effort to buy the licenses today. I can always read a book while fishing if the fish aren’t biting.
Flying Gma's Blog 
Thomas Stazyk
April 2, 2011 at 10:44 pm
Congratulations! And good luck with the fishing this year. I’
flyinggma
April 2, 2011 at 11:21 pm
Thanks Thomas. How goes the Cue Haven project?
Thomas Stazyk
April 2, 2011 at 11:53 pm
Doing great, thanks for asking! I’m about to post a little update about what’s going on.
flyinggma
April 3, 2011 at 12:28 am
Looking forward to an update and how your bird situation has turned out after all your hard work.
nrhatch
April 2, 2011 at 11:24 pm
Wow! I can’t believe you went ice fishing in April.
Congrats on the taxes. I love crossing that off my to do list every year.
flyinggma
April 3, 2011 at 12:27 am
We took a pole along to measure the ice today and it was a foot. Last year at this time the ice was off the lake but it usually goes off around April 15th.
It is such a relief to cross taxes off my list for sure.
planejaner
April 3, 2011 at 10:04 am
Jeanne–
I am happy you are done with that monkey (even though the first quarter taxes beckon….)
and I love that you and your hubby are out fishing…
blessings
jane
flyinggma
April 3, 2011 at 4:59 pm
We had a great afternoon outside. Today we spent the afternoon after church cutting down a dead tree in our yard.
Todd Pack
April 3, 2011 at 12:02 pm
Spending money on a license is a great incentive, because you don’t want that money to go to waste! Besides, if you go fishing, you get to have a fish fry, and who doesn’t like a fish fry!
flyinggma
April 3, 2011 at 5:01 pm
We used to have a Sunday fish fry with my parents each week before they would head back to the Cities before my dad retired. Lots of great memories.
Carol Ann Hoel
April 3, 2011 at 1:13 pm
I never could find clothing warm enough to make me comfortable in weather cold enough to sustain ice. We used to go fishing, but in warm waters in the summertime. I used to read when the fish weren’t biting, too. Fishing is very relaxing. I hope the fish are biting for you. Catching fish is fun. Blessings…
flyinggma
April 3, 2011 at 5:02 pm
Didn’t catch anything but it was great to be outside.
writerwoman61
April 3, 2011 at 4:59 pm
Love fishing…our ice is mostly gone here finally…
Glad your taxes are done…we have a bit of extra time in Canada…ours aren’t due until April 30th.
Hugs,
Wendy
flyinggma
April 3, 2011 at 5:03 pm
I think that our ice will be gone within a week from the look of it today. I can’t wait to see waves on blue waters once again. So relaxing….