It's time to turn off my left brain...

for a little while and do something creative, I think.  Every January, after having looked eagerly forward to it for a month or so, tax season begins and I put the left side of my brain to work full time.  For the six months prior to the beginning of the mad rush, I've enjoyed a contented balance between concrete and abstract thinking.  I do my work, but I also write, create cards, read, sew and take on little nesting projects.  You know, like rearranging stuff and cleaning the bathroom.  I have been moving pretty slowly the last couple of weeks - mainly from the horrific allergy and laryngitis episode which couldn't have come at a worse time - and I realized today that part of my lethargy is due to not taking a little time to indulge my creative side.  Maybe indulge is the wrong word; nurture is more like it.  So this morning, stacking the client tax files ever higher in the middle of my desk, I took an hour or so to putz around the house and do some freshening up.  I dusted the kitchen counter and rearranged the potted plants and some canisters.  I sorted through a couple of boxes of gift wrap supplies and consolidated them into one flat yellow box on my art desk that's easier to get to.  I put a load of laundry in the washer and put a care package together for a friend.  I worked on a word processing project for a friend having some difficulty with Microsoft Word and some pesky 3x5 index cards for a recipe book he's putting together.  All in all, not terribly creative things, but the mundane sort of tasks that require just a little creativity.  The kinds of things that soothe my soul - and that is just what I needed.  Now I can get back to work...

Small victory lap...

Can you tell that I just had to get out of the house today?  Even if it was just to go to the bank and take away the trash.  Almost another month of tax season to go and I am about stir-crazy!  While I was out, Ray and I did a small victory lap around the neighborhood - we are celebrating that he is finally paid for!  Woo hoo!  I thanked him for all of his good service over the past two years and promised to fill him with gas the next time we're out and treat him to a car wash.  Sometimes the small victories in life are the sweetest!

Truth in advertising...

Chicken McBites iz way better than Chicken McNuggitz.

Jes sayin'...

Time lapse tulips...

I enjoyed them for about two weeks!

Now is the time...

for all individuals of a feline nature to join together against our common enemies, both foreign and domestic.  While my person sleeps, I study the ways of the Humans.  I have mastered self-portraiture with a digital camera and I am poised for blog domination.  Comrades - tune in to this frequency where I will relay further instructions from our Leader.  Until then, I remain, sincerely yours...

Have you ever just needed to turn your brain off...

for a few minutes?  Well, it's not that I think that knitters are a mindless bunch - on the contrary, I think knitters are very creative.  Although I am not a knitter by any means, I do, however, very much enjoy the mindless calm of knitting.  I haven't done any knitting in years - but the other day I bought a couple of skeins of yarn and decided to just do some simple knitting throughout the day, especially when I am in need of a short break.  I've never made anything complicated, as you can see by the simple whatever-it-is I'm working on, but I was amazed how quickly the rhythm of the needles and yarn came back to me.  As you might imagine, I don't expect to make anything particularly grand - but it's very soothing to just stop thinking for a few minutes and knit a couple of rows.  Especially when I've just spent an hour or so trying to explain the correlation between the amount of income earned and the amount of income tax due on that income - to people who have absolutely no clue what I am trying to tell them.

And it beats poking one of them in the eye with a knitting needle...

Fresh, hot...

homemade cinnamon rolls...

Not bad for a Sunday project.  I'm just saying...

The paper avalanche...

has begun!  My gang of disorganized, self-employed male clients has begun to drop off their annual bags of crap.  I have fervently hoped, in vain it would appear, that their organizational skills would improve over time, especially when I return their bags of crap all neatly organized into labeled envelopes and file folders.  But alas, that has not happened.  And, if it did, what would they need me for?  So I plan to spend my weekend, sorting through said bags and trying to make sense of their scribbled notes, wadded up receipts and piles of invoices.  At least they're arriving earlier this year...

Caramel nips...

are just about my favorite kind of hard candy, I think.  I don't buy them very often - but I decided to make them the tax season client treat this year.  I used to tie thank-you tags onto Hershey bars with raffia, but I found out that a lot of my clients are diabetic and it got sort of expensive anyway.  Then I switched to chewy granola bars, which were a hit, but pretty messy if kids elected to eat them while still at the office.  Last year I did LifeSavers, and I still have those in the jar, but this cute little basket was begging to stay out on the desk, so I filled it with Caramel Nips and they have been well-received so far.  I am planning to make some cupcakes in time for Valentine's Day - but when they're gone, they're gone.

Unless I get the urge to bake around St. Patrick's Day...

I know I've said this before, but...

where in the world does dust come from and why can't we get rid of it permanently?  I know I can't be the only person on the planet who is tired of dusting.  I always put one of those super-efficient (allegedly) filters on my air conditioner, I have a space-age vacuum with a HEPA filter - but the house continues to be dusty every single day.  I realize that I'd have less dust if I had wood floors instead of carpet, but still...  Aggie doesn't shed and Peter doesn't shed much for a cat, so I know they're not the cause of all the dust on the flat surfaces.  I am pretty sure if I could figure out where it comes from and how to stop it, I could make a bazillion bucks.  I wonder if I could get a federal grant to study dust, its origin, its composition and its effect on the average American household...

Sometimes you find the coolest stuff...

in the most unlikely places.  While Anthropologie is all the rage, I just can't see paying their prices for things.  I mean, $128 for a shirt?  Are they nuts?  I'm sorry, regular people just don't pay that much for one item of clothing.  An entire outfit, maybe.  But then it would have to be something I was planning to wear to, oh, I don't know, the Inaugural Ball or something.  Or when George Clooney asks me to be his date for the Oscars.  I might even spend more than that for George.  But I digress...  I clicked the Kitchen button - you can really tell where my heart lies, can't you?  And there, along with those adorable ceramic egg crates I am using to organize my jewelry, I found these completely charming ceramic farmer's market baskets.  Well, I could not resist, because in addition to their abject sweetness, they were very reasonably priced.  The white one came to live with me first - and it's perfect for a pretty bunch of fake cherries.  I love it!

And well, the blue one was so pretty and his shade went so perfectly with the basket liners on my desk - I gave in asked him to come and live here too.  I didn't want him to be lonely on his trip, so his little coral friend came along for the ride.  Mr. Blue is staying on the desk to hold treats for my clients, but I haven't found a spot for Miss Coral yet.  Any suggestions?

Just one sheet...

of paper, every day for a year is almost a ream of paper.  I had never really thought about how much paper that really is until I decided last year to fully embrace Outlook and all of its features.  I've been using it forever - but still keeping information in the old, tried and true format as well.  Now I use it for my email, my calendar, my task list, my contacts - everything I would have traditionally written down somewhere else.  I also started using OneNote for the first time last year and I love it!  This nifty little program has taken the place of my old write-everything-down composition book - a system I've been using for eons.  The switch took a little getting used to, but the electronic notebook format of OneNote is infinitely better - I can still have my page-a-day to do list, but I can also keep my other lists in their own sections of the notebook.  And color code it!  I'm in nerd heaven!  So instead of printing about four sheets of paper a day just dedicated to my various lists, I've retrained myself to use virtual paper instead.  I'm down to printing my one reminder list a day - and by the end of the day I have scribbled notes on it, marked off items, and written down numbers and other important information to be entered in Outlook at the end of the day.  Hopefully in a couple of weeks, I'll even be able to let this wasteful quirk go, too.  Maybe.  You know the Chinese proverb: the palest ink is better than the sharpest memory...

Sorry, but...

I was only trying to eke one more day of peace and quiet out of that last week just before tax season begins.  It didn't work anyway; I had eight people in and out of here today.  Poor Aggie is exhausted from all the guard-dogging and guest-greeting she was required to do on a Monday - a federal canine holiday, no less.  Peter has been in hiding since early this morning.  I did finally get out to do my errands about five o'clock and went to the bank, dropped some mail in the box, took away the trash and yes, I'll admit it, trudge into WalMart for a few necessities.  Fortunately, it wasn't too busy and I got home before it was completely dark outside.  I am not a good nighttime driver - and neither are ninety percent of the snowbirds who appear to have arrived in droves during the past few days.  It would appear that I have actually gotten everything done that I had planned to do around the house before my busy time.  I managed to de-junk the hall closet a bit early this morning and Jonathan took a box of stuff away to Goodwill for me this morning - what a guy!  The only thing I have left to do is vacuum under my desk - but I am about done with work or thinking about another thing for today.  The next installment of life in Piney Point will just have to wait, too.  I am looking forward to a great tomorrow!

A three hour nap...

is not really a good idea - especially at 6:30 pm.  And I was doing so well today: got the laundry done, tidied up my desk area, took away the trash, dropped off my toner cartridge at the UPS box to send to recycling, went to the bank - tying up all my loose ends before I am really busy this week.  Aggie & I had dinner, I set the dryer to run for forty minutes with the last load of laundry that wasn't quite dry and I thought: well, I'll just sit down for a few minutes.  I think my mistake was taking that nice fluffy blanket to the sofa with me.  It was a little chilly in here - if you can call 70 degrees chilly - and I told myself I was only going to sit there and commune with the dog and the cat until the dryer stopped.  Who was I kidding?  Three hours later, I woke up about smothered to death between the blanket and the animals.  My head is stuffy and my neck is stiff and I just know that there is no way I will ever go back to sleep tonight.  The worst part is this pile of stuff sitting on the corner of my desk, begging to be put away in the hall closet and I just don't give a crap.  See all the damage a nap can do?

An unexpected gift...

from one of my clients made my day today.  I went to see my tortilleria client early this morning to help him prepare some background information he needs for an appointment with an attorney on Monday morning.  It's a long, long story about attempting to buy an enormous quantity of corn flour.  I admire his determination to make his business succeed - and I hope he prevails in this matter.  Which is pretty silly, if you ask me - the man just wants to buy flour at a decent price so he can keep the cost of his consumer product reasonable.  The big, bad flour company only wants to sell him the amount they think can actually use.  What do they care what he does with it, as long as he pays them for their product?  Anyhow, it's a big mess and he wanted to get his information in order and create a sort of timeline for the attorney.  That's where I come in - putting stuff in order.  Anyhow, I had also finished another large project for him and I had a whole pile of things for him to sign.  Looking at the stack of paper I brought with me, he said, "I want to buy you a new printer cartridge.  I'll send one of the ladies to Office Depot to get one.  Let's call and make sure they have the one you need."  I was gobsmacked - it was like something (or Someone) told him I really needed a toner cartridge.  Honestly, I was nursing the old one along, shaking it to get all the toner I could out of it, hoping it would hold out until I'd done the first few tax returns and could afford to order a new one.  Of course, I said he didn't need to do that.  But he insisted.  A little voice in my head said, Just be thankful and when you see that can help someone out, go ahead and do it.  We finished up the timeline, he signed the paperwork and I showed him how to do his weekly Sam's Club order online so he could just pick it up at the store instead of having to waste time shopping.  And then, bless his heart, he paid me a hundred dollars besides.  I am humbled by his kindness and generosity and I see several loaves of banana and pumpkin bread in his future.  I don't know what I have done to deserve such great clients, but I am truly thankful for them and they work they give me to do.

It's a miracle!

Last night, while I was writing Chapter 11 of Dead & Dug Up (yes, I got behind a day already), Peter said, "Mom, you don't have to vacuum the floor tonight.  Do it in the morning just before the carpet cleaners come."  I'm an adult, I know it's not a good idea to listen to the housekeeping advice of a cat - and a lazy one, at that - but I gave in to my all too human nature and procrastinated.  And so this morning, as I was frantically vacuuming the area around my desk, the carpet cleaners called and said they were on their way.  Yikes!  I decided to forgo moving the chair pad so they could clean under the desk - after all, I put it down right after the carpet was cleaned last year and it hasn't moved since.

I mean, it's just a big plastic dirt barrier, isn't it?

And will wonders never cease - the carpet came clean!  My dining room chairs are on the screen porch temporarily until the carpet dries.  Even the hallway, victim to the majority of Aggie's little accidents is clean and tidy once again.  Peter hasn't come out from under the bed since this morning - that is, if he didn't get taken up in the steam cleaner by accident.

Of course, Aggie was on high alert and had to supervise the morning's activity and now she is understandably exhausted.  It's hard work being a vigilant cairn terrier.  I forget that sometimes.

Have you ever been held hostage...

by a stupid, inconsequential object?  I'm not being deep here -  I mean this ridiculous pink plastic paper clip.  Yes, the one right there.  I've been hanging on to this thing for probably twenty years.  I once discovered this quirky little gift shop that sold oddball office supplies, of which I admit that I am a big fan.  I bought three or four of the pink clips, a few purple ones, some funky pink scissors and a really cute tiny pink stapler.  One by one, over the years, the clips broke and the stapler went the way of earth.  I still use the scissors every day, but  I am down to one last pink plastic paper clip.  For a long time, I used it to mark the current day in my desk calendar - and then I embraced Outlook.  PPC (for lack of a better name) was relegated to marking my place in reading material, clipping bills together, holding my to-do list to the outside of my to-do folder; you name it, PPC is nothing if not versatile.  And then today, while I continued my annual pre-tax season get-the-house-in-order-to-get-the-carpet-cleaned frenzy, I found myself looking at PPC, lying there on the desk - all alone, no longer having any real purpose in the big scheme of things.  I am aiming for a relatively clutter-free work space - like that will really happen, but everyone needs a goal to strive for.  I don't need PPC anymore; he has outlived his place in my life.  I momentarily contemplated encouraging him to end it all by clipping a stack of papers beyond his ability.  No, I didn't want to be an accessory to what would surely amount to a crime against hard-working plastic paper clips everywhere.  I decided to just let PPC go; I took his photo, said thanks for the all of his faithful service and tossed him into the wastebasket.  Who knows where he'll end up - but I hope he's happy in his retirement.

  And no, I'm not insane - I just have really bizarre thoughts sometimes.

A little organizing project...

is finally almost finished - my jewelry drawer!  I used to keep all this stuff in clear plastic storage boxes, you know the kind - with a dozen little compartments?  I had crammed them all into the drawer of the old bedside table.  When I got rid of the table with the drawers, I had no convenient place to keep the boxes.  It's not like anything is valuable - more sentimental value than anything else, but I do like to wear my funky earrings from time to time.  After trying a variety of places throughout the house that just didn't work, I realized I had a really big, flat drawer in the antique desk I'm using for the sewing table in the bedroom.  And then I found these adorable ceramic egg crates and well, an idea was hatched.

I couldn't resist that one - sorry!

I did some purging of stuff I never wear and organized the earrings by season and it's much easier to find what I'm looking for now.  Sometimes it makes me happy just to look at the stuff - is that weird?