CAN WE GO HOME NOW????

I have mentioned on previous posts that I have been working on Hubby's tax info. As background for some of you, he has his own small construction company. His original plan, when we came to Arkansas 7 1/2 years ago (eeep) was to start a construction company, build it up, sell it and we would return HOME to Alaska. At that time he figured it would take about 2 years. So, we packed up all his tools and equipment on his flat bed truck, loaded the motorhome and headed for Arkansas in August of 2003. {side note....Morg@n Stanley had lost most of our retirement funds for us and this was his "fix" for that)

He did really well, but things took a bit of a different turn than I expected. Anyways, after a year and a half of living in the motorhome I finally told him that he had to "shit or get off the pot". It was my hope that he would 'get off the pot' and we would just go home! But NoOoOoO.......He decided to take a dump! Told me to start looking for a house. The one time in allllll these years I stand up to him and it back fired!

After searching and searching and spending all my spare time driving around the country side looking at houses (wish I'd had my iPhone with the GPS then!)I finally found this one and it was perfect!Out of town, but not too far. 5 acres, with lots of room for the horses he has always wanted. And a nice, well built, well laid out home......so. Here we are. Sold our dream home in Alaska (that we planned and waited so many years to build....sigh) and bought this place. Am I happy? Not usually, but most days I try to make the best of it. I miss my Terri and the kids SOOOO much! And I miss Alaska and the unique and awesome lifestyle. And I miss my friends. {Don't even need to get into missing the 70 degree summers and how I hate 100 plus with dripping humidity} Don't get me wrong. Chuck misses Terri and the kids, too. A lot. Alaska, not so much (the dork), but he calls himself a "realist" and this is the way it has to be. What he thinks is the right thing for us. OK.

Anyway, Hubby is happy. Doing what he loves and he is very successful and has a great business and a terrific reputation. He's all hands on but has 2 people working full time and a couple of part timers come and go. We are surviving nicely, in these bad economic times and are VERY fortunate!

So, back to our tax info. I was totaling up everything and when I was done, I turned to him and said, "OMG! You grossed over $237,000. last year!!" He said, "Holy crap! That's almost a 1/4 of a million dollars!". I got up, walked over to him, put my arms around his neck, looked into his eyes and quietly asked........."can we go home now?". The SOB laughed. But only until I wapped him upside the head!

I tried. What can I say? Never hurts to ask.

I do have to say that he is pretty amazing. He is 70, going on 50, I'd say. High energy,{pain in the ass}, hard working,{superior attitude} ambitious,{BIG ego}, healthy, generous {show off}......we are very fortunate, indeed. Gotta take the bad with the good and just let it go.........LOL

But seriously. 1/4 of a million dollars! The 1st year {2004} he did about $89,000. I think. It's been growing ever since, but then so does the overhead. Hell, just his materials this year came to almost $100,000., sub-contractors were $80,000, payroll, equipment, maintenance, vehicles, hay and horse feed! There's no end to it! So, yes....while we are pretty comfortable, his gross is NOT what we live on! I wish!! I'd be flying to Alaska every month!!

We've had some rough times since coming here. Things that put a huge wedge between us, when for over 30 years we had what I thought was the "perfect relationship". Things that made me resent him.....that I may or may not be 'over'. My Mom died in a damn Assisted Living home before I could get her down here (if she could have even made the trip). He put me in a precarious situation that turned around and bit him squarely in the ass, but I'm the one that suffered for it. Went thru the whole I filed for divorce thing and survived that, but the aftermath has been rough. I think my surgery was a big turning point for us and although our relationship is very different than it was, it's pretty darn good right now! Guess that's a story for another day......maybe.

A Whole Week!

My, how time does fly! Can't believe it's been a week since my last post, and I was doing so good!

I have been quite busy and actually productive this week, however. I found a very user friendly bookkeeping program to use and have been setting that up and entering all the payroll data for 2010 in it so that I could have accurate reports to give the Accountant for the W-2s. And since Data Entry is my middle name, I enjoyed putting it all in and it went very quickly. You see, I do everything 'by hand', or have up until now. Payroll was no sweat when he just had one employee, but this year he had several, because some didn't work out and because he has needed more than one man to keep up with all the work he's had.

Luckily, he uses his checking account for EVERYthing and in the past I could just upload his bank statements to Quicken, go thru and categorize everything and be done with it. But what with my surgery and all, I fell off the wagon with that so I am now going thru the check registers and making lists. I don't mind. I'm just really excited that I have something in place for 2011 that I will enjoy doing, rather than dreading it {thereby grossly procrastinating!} As soon as I get my PC back, I'll get started importing our bank info and get that puppy rolling!

And speaking of my PC, the Geek Squad called yesterday. Told me that my problem was that my Operating System was corrupt. So, #1, my warranty doesn't cover it and #2 it'll be $130 to repair, but it's like a $1200 unit that I've only had 1 1/2 years, so that's worth it. So....most likely a virus got thru somehow, and I'm pretty sure it was one that was in a message that I opened in FaceBook. Even the best anti-virus program can't catch everything. In fact this happened to me about 9 or 10 years ago and apparently that virus was sophisticated enough to turn off my anti-virus and let itself right in! Anyway, it's ready and I'll get that back tomorrow. One good thing about taking it in is that at least it got a good cleaning and a thorough diagnostic check on everything. Of course I DO still have the daunting task of spending hours re-installing software and restoring all my backed up data. hours and days..........groan.....

My most recent "Murphy Report" is not a good one. I sat right here and watched as the crazy critter tried to leap over top of a 4' tall plant stand, which is home to 4 African Violets, in an attempt to get to the upper window sill right behind it! 2 replacement pots and 4 repottings later, she is still on my shitlist! For all of her crazy antics, she really hasn't done much damage...yet....and although my Violets are not looking very chipper, I'm sure they'll survive.

I guess that's all the excitement I have to report for today. Maybe I'll do better tomorrow :)

What'll She Get Into Next???

Okay.....so Murphy likes to carry stuff around. I first noticed it when I saw her jump down from my sewing machine table and a minute later heard a 'clunk' from the dining room. Upon investigation, I found that she had picked up and carried off a small pair of scissors. Since then, she has graduated to my big sewing scissors, plucked a ring off my dresser, carried off post it notes and memo pads, as well as envelopes (the kind with important stuff inside!). She dragged a tote bag (with candles in it) from the sewing room, down the steps to the living room! She even managed to turn on the faucet at the kitchen sink one day. I rather suspect that was an 'accident', as it hasn't happened since and considering how much she loves water, she would do it again if she truly knew how.

So, I ask you......how does one 'cat proof' such items?? Yes, yes, Chuck! I know!! Put my scissors away, jewelry in my jewelry boxes, etc, etc. But what's next? Can't put everything away! This cat just gets more interesting {and challenging} every day. But her entertainment value is priceless!!

My PC is finally in the hands of the Geek Squad. I sure hope it's an easy fix and doesn't take them too long! Actually, I don't care what the problem is, as long as it's covered by my warranty :).

It was really hard to walk into Best Buy with it today and leave without looking around. So many toys and toy accessories! Too much fun stuff under one roof. I didn't dare avert my eyes from the front door as I was making my way back out.

Well, that's about it for today. I AM feeling some better today, which means I've had to start working on Chuck's paperwork for the business to get to the Accountant. I hate this stuff and if any of you knew what sort of bookkeeping system I have (as in NONE) you would groan at the stupidity of it all. Once I get my PC back, all that will change, because there has to be an easy peasy way to do all of this that even I can do, with out the aid of megabucks software!