Good news, I finally got through the tax forms. Well, the federal taxes anyway. I have them figured out, but have not done the final draft that gets sent in. Holy Cow! The one little act of selling 12 feet of property added 4 additional pages to our taxes! So confusing. I am glad I am not a tax accountant. I am not in a hurry to finish them now that I know we are going to owe a little bit. I will finish them this weekend and then wait to send them in until April. I do need to get the computer room cleaned up and re-organized though. Lauren is in 4-H now and she wants me to help her do a sewing project for the fair. We are going to do a pillowcase. She has the fabric picked out and so far we have learned how to press the fabric flat so that when you cut with a rotary cutter, it doesn't get lumpy and lose the straight of grain. Next will be learning to use the rotary cutter and acrylic ruler. She is so excited. It was Denver's birthday recently so we (Leon and I and both kids and their families)all met at Brau Brothers in Marshall Saturday night. It was so fun. The food was delicious and the beer was great. Even the kids had fun! I just love it when we can all get together. I also think I found my next car. After weeks of searching I think we have it. I will know for sure on Thursday. I have to get the financing in place and the dealership is checking out the car, then it is ours. I am excited!

Well, I had a very nice 4 day weekend. I took last Friday off. I painted the dining room. It has been several years since it had been painted so I decided it was time. when I was done, the dining room looked good, but I should have done the ceiling. Now, it is going to be hard to do the ceiling. I am probably going to have to do major touch ups on the walls when I am done with the ceiling. then Monday was Presidents Day so the bank was closed. Deb and I decided to shopping. I needed some new clothes as I cleaned out my closet and gave a bunch to Goodwill. Penney's had some really good sales. We had a great time. Then it was back to reality today - work. Okay, yes, I have started on our taxes. It would be so simple if we had not sold part of our lot. We sold the neighbors 12 feet of the south part of our lot. That one act has created havoc with our taxes. It may take me several weeks to finish all the forms. Either that or I am going to have to take them to someone to be done. It gives me a headache just thinking about it. Tonight I started a "Full Body Bootcamp". It was only 30 minutes, but quite a workout! Looking forward our next one on Thursday (twice a week for 8 weeks. I am hoping I can lose a few pounds doing this Bootcamp. Last time I did this, I rationalized that because I was working out, I could eat more. Ya, that isn't a good idea. It doesn't work that way.

What a great weekend! Saturday Denver and his family came for a visit. That was so nice. I haven't seen them for a month or so. The baby is growing so fast! He will be crawling by the next time we see him. He is such a happy baby!!!! then yesterday we had some icey weather. We slipped and slid to church. Then we had our annual baked potato dinner at church. I helped with the first shift so I could sit and eat with the rest of the family! That was nice. Then I was pretty much a slug the rest of the day. It was very nice and relaxing! A good way to prepare for a busy week at work. I should have been working on tazes, but I opted not to. Tonight we are supposed to get more freezing rain. Yuck! Tonight I am grateful live in the same time that I work!

A pretty ordinary week so far. We did not find a different car last Saturday, so I am still driving the old Impala. No big deal as I usually just drive it to work (8 blocks) and back. If I were driving it a lot further every day it might be a bigger worry for me. We will keep looking. when we have free time (and that doesn't happen very often) we will drive thru some car lots and looking at their websites on the internet. It is February now, so I guess it is time to get going on the taxes. I really need to start getting organized with that. It may be a little more complicated this year as we sold a little bit of the south part of our lot to the neighbors so they could build on to their house. Because of that we have to file a "schedule D" I believe and that is not something I am familiar with. I am so glad we are just a few weeks from Spring arriving. We have had a nice winter for the most part, but I am ready for warm weather and sunshine. I am anxious to start planning the garden. This winter we have enjoyed lots of garden produce that we froze or canned last fall. We sill have a lot left so that will hopefully carry us through the summer until we harvest again in this fall. It is a lot of work to can all of the veggies, but so nice to have during the winter. Today I am grateful for all the canned produce from last fall! Well, off to work!

Another week has come and gone. I did get a lot accomplished though. Thursday - the day I dreaded - is past! It went better than I expected though. I had to travel 3 hours each way to one of our other offices, but the weather was good and it was a good experience. Now I need to catch up on things at work after being out for a whole day. It always takes me a week to catch up on things. You know, nobody does my work for me when I am out of the office, I just have to fit it in and catch up when I get back. today might be a fun day. We are going to go car shopping. My 2005 Impala is starting to have problems. We will see what we can find!

The tears are flowing as I write this tonight. Yes, part of it is because I just watched a sappy Halmark movie. And yes, part of it is because I am a little over tired. We kept the 3 grandchildren overnight last night. They were very good, but sometimes I get a little wore out. The 2 year old threw up after supper so I was a little worried about her. But I believe the biggest reason the tears are flowing is because it is Sunday night. I am sad that the weekend is over, and I am sad that I have to go to work tomorrow. Some weeks are better than others, and this week is going to be a hard one. I know, I know I should not wish my life away, but I will be happy when Thursday is over. Back to the weekend - it was such as nice weekend. The weather was fabulous, I got a lot done around the house, and it was great to have the kids around. I don't have a lot of weekends that I get to spend time at home. I must be weird, but I crave my time at home. I feel warm and safe and comforted at home. Am I agoraphobic? Well, maybe a little. Tonight I am grateful for my cozy little house.

I am moving a little slow today. I spent Sunday afternoon painting our master bath. We got the shower door replaced (it was leaking) and the adjoining wall has been replaced. so now it needed to be painted. It took me 30 minutes to unload all the stuff in bathroom. Get the stuff off the wall etc. It took 2 hours to do all the "cutting in". Then it took an hour to actually get the roller going and finish painting. That wasn't so bad. Yesterday, Monday was a holiday so I didn't have to work. I spent the entire day painting our bedroom. Again it took an hour move furniture, get stuff off the wall, etc. Then it took almost 3 hours to do the cutting in and another 2 hours to do the rolling. I was exhausted last night, but it was a good feeling to get it done! I guess I am just getting to old to do this stuff. Even worse, I was so stiff this morning! I had a hard time getting out of bed. Now today was the day after a Monday holiday. Those days are always crazy busy! And today was no exception. It was wild!!! A lot of off the wall stuff. Tonight my brain hurts. I have a feeling I won't sleep well. All of the events of the day will continue to go through my head all night long. That happens so often. If I have a really stressful day, I don't sleep very well. Anyway, today I am thankful for a clean freshly painted bathroom and bedroom. Next will be the dining room!