I was born on Tax Day. Yup, my birthday is April 15th. You might think that as a result that I would have a found relationship with the event that shares my special day but you couldn't be more wrong- I hate doing taxes!!!
So you ask me why don't I just take them to the little tax kiosk in Wal-mart and have it done there. Well, the reason is because when you just bring in your W-2's, Mortgage statements and Tithing slips, your refund is next to nothing. But since I'm writing and actually made a little bit of money last year at it, I can add up my bills for the house and deduct a portion of that for my office expense, plus all my postage and other losses. Then there are two days of work on investments. Greg uses a broker who doesn't electronically download so I have mountains of data entry. Finally all the little signed receipts with notes of all the clothes I've donated to DI, Goodwill and Salvation Army get added up. Then we had a move so I have to go through all the same stuff for two different states. I hate it! But when I'm done, our refund is HUGE!
It usually takes me a week of complaining and probably about fifteen hours of real work, but the worst part is if I get interrupted and lose my place, then I never want to pick it up again. That is what happened this year. I started on the taxes, got out all my documentation and then got a rejection for copyright so I had to do a rewrite and send it back in if I hope to keep to my deadline. Meanwhile the kids have messed up all my neat piles and I so DON'T want to start again.
My husband has been bugging me about it for a few weeks now and when I got home from the YW's basketball game this morning he frowned at me and asked if I would get in the car with him. I was prepared to be nagged at but instead he went to the car dealership around the corner. The kids' car is on its last leg (or wheel would be more accurate) and it looked like our tax return might be enough to afford a little used beater car with good gas mileage.
He began by looking at full-size pickups (you can take the boy out of the ranch...) and then went to smaller SUV's that still didn't get that great of gas mileage and cost more than we ever could afford. Finally, I thought if my husband was looking at his dream cars, I'd look at mine. I walked over to the bright red mustang convertible and drooled but they wanted $36K. Near to it was this cute little seebring, white with a tan top. It was adorable but when I looked at the sticker, I was shocked- it was under $10k. After the test drive, I was in love and couldn't believe it when my husband was willing to go along with it. He actually bought the car!
As we were walking out of the dealership with the keys, I was itching to get behind the wheel with the top down and whizz through mountain roads. I couldn't wait. Then my husband turned to me and said seriously, "You can drive this car as soon as taxes are finished." I couldn't believe my ears but he was adamant- and I got to face my desk. So right after I take my daughter to the school dance, I'm going to plunge into the stacks and stacks of paper and drive that cute little convertible to church tomorrow morning- if it takes me all stinking night!
Wish me luck.
2 comments:
Isn't it amazing what you can do with the right motivation! ;-)
I wish you luck. Lousy trick for your husband to pull. Wow, he could have just dug in with you and helped. But then again, he redeemed himself by buying you a car.
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