Last week I talked about collecting paperwork for your income for your income tax. This week I am going to talk about collecting paperwork for the deductions (subtractions) from your income tax. While most deductions can be only taken if you itemize (list on Schedule A) your deductions, some can be taken even if you do not. I would also like to explain “deductions” and “credits”. A deduction will decrease your taxable income. A credit will directly decrease the amount of tax you owe.
Paperwork for deductions is harder to collect and organize than that for income because while most of the income papers come to you at the end of the year, the paperwork for deductions is ongoing through out the year. Remember the envelope I suggested you set up? Proof of your deductions should also go into the envelope - if you start the envelope for the year in January you can add in the papers as you go through the year. Even if you were not able to itemize your expenses last year drop the related paperwork in the envelope - you never know.
Again, nothing in this blog is intended to be income tax advice and you should always consult your tax advisor/preparer for what deductions you can take and what documentation you need.
The first type of deduction is medical. This includes medical insurance, doctors, dentists, laboratory fees, prescriptions (generally not over the counter medications), hospitals & other procedures, eyeglasses, hearing aids, dentures, braces (tooth and otherwise) etc. You may have canceled checks, credit card slips, receipts for payments, statements from your medical insurance, etc. Drop them into the envelope as you get them. Get a color ink pen and whenever you pay anything which can be taken as a deduction on your taxes put a mark in your checkbook and/or next to the listing on your bank statement so you can easily find the amounts you spent which are tax deductible at the end of the year. Keep track of your mileage for medical trips or keep receipts from public transportation as you can deduct the cost of the trips. There is a mileage rate set every year by IRS, lower than that for business, specifically for medical trips, so if you know how many miles you traveled during the year for same, you can deduct for same. Medical expenses for “you” includes those for your spouse and anyone from your household you who you claim as a dependant (list) on your tax return.
The next type of deduction is taxes. If you pay state/local income taxes, real estate taxes, depending on your state - personal property taxes, car personal property taxes (different from car registration) and other similar taxes they are deductible. If you buy a large item during the year (such as a car) you want a record of the sales tax you paid on it. Again, copies of checks (or marked items on statements and/or in checkbook), paid bills, etc. should be kept. If your locality allows you to request a paid bill - get it (I know that all I have to do to get same is to check a box on the slip I send with the real estate tax payment).
Next is mortgage interest. There are limits and requirements, but most interest on your home (and a second home) mortgage is deductible. You should receive a form 1098 at the beginning of the next year (around when you get your W2 and 1099s) showing the amount of interest you paid during the year. It may also show the real estate taxes and/or home owners’ insurance your mortgage company/bank paid for you. If you have more than one mortgage you should receive a 1098 from each of them (whether you have multiple mortgages on the same house or you sold your house during the year and had mortgages on the new and old house or there is one on each of several houses you own.) The insurance is not deductible, but the form can be used to show proof of the amount of real estate taxes you paid. If you live in a coop you may receive one of these from your coop showing your share of what the coop paid, as well as a second one from your personal loan on your coop. Guess what? Drop the 1098(s) in your envelope.
Charitable contributions? The government wants us to be generous to what we call charities (they call them not for profit, tax exempt organizations). This includes a large variety of organizations from large (such as the American Cancer Society) to medium size, local (your church or other house of worship) to small (a foundation set up for the family of a firefighter who died for example). One thing that they all have in common is that they have registered with IRS and have been declared to be a not for profit, tax exempt organization. IRS has a list online - https://www.irs.gov/Charities-&-Non-Profits/Exempt-Organizations-Select-Check
If an organization is not on this list you can not deduct contributions to it. This includes the dollar you give the homeless man or woman on the corner. (It is generous of you to do so and I am not telling you not to, but you cannot deduct it.) Again, you need proof of the amount you donated - our old friends the record of the check to them or a credit card record of money donated, etc. These again go into the envelope. Some organizations, such as churches or synagogues or mosques will send you at the end of the year what you have donated during the year - if you are donating cash to your church there is usually an envelope you can put it in with your name or other information so that at the end of the year they can send you a letter with how much you have donated during the year including the cash. (What you pay for items you purchase at the bazaar, rummage sale, etc. during the year are not deductible.)
You can donate other than cash. If you donate items to an organization (you know the stuff you are getting rid of while decluttering and organizing your home) - Goodwill, Salvation Army, and St. Vincent dePaul being the more common ones I know - they should provide you with a receipt for your donations. When I do this I make a list of what I am bringing and how many bags, etc. they are in. They will then give a receipt saying, for example, 3 bags, and I will attach my list to the receipt and drop in the envelope (well in my case it is a file, but for you - your envelope). The organizations are not allowed to provide a value to you for the items donated. When you are doing your taxes or when you get a chance - there are websites, including one from the Salvation Army, which will provide you with a range of values for various common items - remember the value is not what you paid for it, but what the item would sell for in a thrift type store.
In certain cases if an item one is donating is expensive there are special rules for deducting the donation, including the need for appraisal. So, as I say, make sure you check with whoever prepares your taxes as to what information and documentation you need.
If you volunteer your time for a listed organization you can deduct your expenses in doing so. You cannot deduct the cost of your time, but if you need to spend money in volunteering the money spent may be deductible. My husband and I are reenactors. Our unit is an educational not for profit, tax exempt organization. We have to provide our own period clothing - the cost of same is deductible. If I am going to demonstrate something to the public and I need equipment or supplies to do so and I pay for them - the cost is deductible. You can deduct the cost of traveling to and from where you volunteer - again there are IRS special set mileage rates for volunteering so keep records of when you volunteer and where so you can take the mileage and get and keep receipts if you use public transportation.
Well, this is running long. I guess there will be a part 3 continuing with some of the other deductions you can take and should save records for.
Thursday, March 31, 2016
Thursday, March 24, 2016
GATHERING PAPERS FOR INCOME TAXES - PART 1
It is the time of year when one’s thoughts turn to those cute bunnies and chicks and one starts to panic about preparing, filing and paying income taxes (at least in the USA). A few posts back (Thursday, February 25, 2016 BILLS, BILLS, BILLS) I mentioned that I am accountant and mentioned some ideas about how I keep track of our paid and unpaid bills. What follows are some things to perhaps help you to get your income tax info together, if not for right now, than for next year. I again mention that nothing I say should be taken as personal financial or income tax advice, everyone’s situation is different and you should have your tax advisor (even if it is someone at an major chain tax company or an online filing as your personal advisor).
The best idea is to gather information as the year goes along. It can be as simple as an envelope labeled “TAX YEAR xxxx” in which xxxx is the year that the papers relate to (right now you are dealing with tax year 2015, even though you are doing so in 2016) which can be from small to large in size depending on how much information you need to collect. A large manila envelope should be sufficient for most people. Put the envelope in a place where you will know where it is and it will not be accidentally thrown out or lost.
Some of the papers will come to you during the year such as if you work for wages you will receive a pay stub every time you are paid (it is the law, if you do not receive same you should). Or paperwork from matters completed during the year (see my mention below about receiving Form 1099-B during the year or Forms K-1 during the year). Most income papers will come to you at the beginning of the year after the tax year.
To explain it all short and simply - put any papers related to your income from any source in the envelope and also put in the envelope anything which you paid which you can deduct from your income on your tax return.
Today I will talk about income.
While you should also receive a form W-2 to report your wages and withholdings at the end of the year, it is a good idea to keep your weekly pay stubs - you can use them to double check your W-2 at the end of the year and if for some reason you do not receive your W2 the stubs (especially the final one if totals are carried forward week to week) will prove your income and the amounts withheld. In addition to your income for the year - which may show more than one amount as the same income may be calculated differently for different purposes - it will also show how much was withheld from your wages for Social Security, Medicare, Federal income tax withholding, your state income tax withholding, possibly other state’s income tax withholding (if you live in one state and work in another or several others), local income tax withholding and other local income tax withholding (again if you live and work in different localities which have income taxes) and possibly some other deductions or other information you need. If you work for more than one employer during the year - whether working more than one job at once or you switched jobs - you must receive a W2 from each employer. For many people this will be there only tax document needed for their income taxes. Compare it to your last pay stub if the amounts are totaled “to date” to make sure the amounts agree.
Next there are an assortment of what are called 1099 forms - these are forms with the number 1099 and a letter designation on them. They show income paid to you during the year which is not from wages earned as an employee. Among the more common and simple ones are 1099-INT (interest income), 1099-DIV (dividend income), and 1099-G - (certain payments, such as income tax refunds to you from a state). Among the ones that are common, but are more likely to have your require professional help with your income tax return are 1099- R (income from pensions, IRAs, annuities and some other insurance payments),1099-B (information from brokers for capital gains - sales of stock or other physical long term stuff) and 1099-MISC (a variety of types of income including income earned working as an outside contractor for someone). There is also a form SSA-1099 which is for Social Security benefits paid to you and any amounts withheld from same. There are other 1099 forms as well which you may receive which tell you about income you have earned during last year, but they are less common for the average person, but they are still needed for your income taxes if you receive them.
You may also receive forms marked “K-1" which will come from a partnership you are a partner in, a subchapter S corporation, or from an estate or trust which you are a beneficiary of. These will show various types of income you must report as well as possibly some deductions you are entitled to take.
Okay, your eyes are glazing over. But these are the easy things to gather for your income taxes. They all have to be mailed to you, most at the beginning of the year after you earned the money (that means for 2015 earned money they have to be sent to you in early 2016). Some partnerships, corporations, trusts or estates may use a year other than the regular calendar year and therefore will come to you during the year and must be held onto until the following year to file your return - start that envelope to keep them in as soon as you receive them and put it in a definite place you will remember and it will be safe). You might also receive some forms 1099-B during the year if something happened with a stock which you owned if the company did something during the year - say they sold themselves to another company or they bought back all the stock from small shareholders, etc. and then you have to make sure to hold onto the forms until the following year when you file your income taxes.
Most people do not receive lots of different forms. The average person will receive their W2(s) for their wages. Put each form in your envelope when you receive it and you will have it set aside when it is time to do your income taxes. In general unless something new happened during the year you will receive the same forms as you did last year - with the new amounts and date on them, of course, but basically if all you received last year was a W2 and you have the same job and did nothing unusual during the year, chances are that is all you will receive this year. Same one bank account means the same one 1099-INT (or none if your interest income was too low).
The important thing is to put each form received - whether during the year or at the beginning of the following year - together in an envelope which is placed where you know where it is.
A BIT OF A WARNING ABOUT SOME TAX RELATED SCAMS SO YOU DON’T FALL FOR THEM -
IRS and the various states will not contact by telephone or email out of the blue. They will mail to you a notice of any problems or questions. If you receive a telephone call or email from any of them - it is a scam. Hang up. Do not talk to them. (The only time they will call you is when you are already in contact with them and discussing a matter with them and they will not email you.)
Per IRS -
The real IRS will NOT:
* Call you to demand immediate payment. The IRS will not call you if you owe taxes without first sending you a bill in the mail.
* Demand tax payment and not allow you to question or appeal the amount you owe.
* Require that you pay your taxes a certain way. For example, demand that you pay with a prepaid debit card.
* Ask for your credit or debit card numbers over the phone.
* Threaten to bring in local police or other agencies to arrest you without paying.
* Threaten you with a lawsuit.
If you don’t owe taxes or have no reason to think that you do:
* Contact the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration. Use TIGTA’s “IRS Impersonation Scam Reporting” web page to report the incident.
* You should also report it to the Federal Trade Commission. Use the “FTC Complaint Assistant” on FTC.gov. Please add "IRS Telephone Scam" to the comments of your report.
If you think you may owe taxes:
* Ask for a call back number and an employee badge number.
* Call the IRS at 800-829-1040. IRS employees can help you.
Next week unless something more exciting comes up I will write about what papers you might need for your deductions and you should collect over the year for next year’s taxes.
The best idea is to gather information as the year goes along. It can be as simple as an envelope labeled “TAX YEAR xxxx” in which xxxx is the year that the papers relate to (right now you are dealing with tax year 2015, even though you are doing so in 2016) which can be from small to large in size depending on how much information you need to collect. A large manila envelope should be sufficient for most people. Put the envelope in a place where you will know where it is and it will not be accidentally thrown out or lost.
Some of the papers will come to you during the year such as if you work for wages you will receive a pay stub every time you are paid (it is the law, if you do not receive same you should). Or paperwork from matters completed during the year (see my mention below about receiving Form 1099-B during the year or Forms K-1 during the year). Most income papers will come to you at the beginning of the year after the tax year.
To explain it all short and simply - put any papers related to your income from any source in the envelope and also put in the envelope anything which you paid which you can deduct from your income on your tax return.
Today I will talk about income.
While you should also receive a form W-2 to report your wages and withholdings at the end of the year, it is a good idea to keep your weekly pay stubs - you can use them to double check your W-2 at the end of the year and if for some reason you do not receive your W2 the stubs (especially the final one if totals are carried forward week to week) will prove your income and the amounts withheld. In addition to your income for the year - which may show more than one amount as the same income may be calculated differently for different purposes - it will also show how much was withheld from your wages for Social Security, Medicare, Federal income tax withholding, your state income tax withholding, possibly other state’s income tax withholding (if you live in one state and work in another or several others), local income tax withholding and other local income tax withholding (again if you live and work in different localities which have income taxes) and possibly some other deductions or other information you need. If you work for more than one employer during the year - whether working more than one job at once or you switched jobs - you must receive a W2 from each employer. For many people this will be there only tax document needed for their income taxes. Compare it to your last pay stub if the amounts are totaled “to date” to make sure the amounts agree.
Next there are an assortment of what are called 1099 forms - these are forms with the number 1099 and a letter designation on them. They show income paid to you during the year which is not from wages earned as an employee. Among the more common and simple ones are 1099-INT (interest income), 1099-DIV (dividend income), and 1099-G - (certain payments, such as income tax refunds to you from a state). Among the ones that are common, but are more likely to have your require professional help with your income tax return are 1099- R (income from pensions, IRAs, annuities and some other insurance payments),1099-B (information from brokers for capital gains - sales of stock or other physical long term stuff) and 1099-MISC (a variety of types of income including income earned working as an outside contractor for someone). There is also a form SSA-1099 which is for Social Security benefits paid to you and any amounts withheld from same. There are other 1099 forms as well which you may receive which tell you about income you have earned during last year, but they are less common for the average person, but they are still needed for your income taxes if you receive them.
You may also receive forms marked “K-1" which will come from a partnership you are a partner in, a subchapter S corporation, or from an estate or trust which you are a beneficiary of. These will show various types of income you must report as well as possibly some deductions you are entitled to take.
Okay, your eyes are glazing over. But these are the easy things to gather for your income taxes. They all have to be mailed to you, most at the beginning of the year after you earned the money (that means for 2015 earned money they have to be sent to you in early 2016). Some partnerships, corporations, trusts or estates may use a year other than the regular calendar year and therefore will come to you during the year and must be held onto until the following year to file your return - start that envelope to keep them in as soon as you receive them and put it in a definite place you will remember and it will be safe). You might also receive some forms 1099-B during the year if something happened with a stock which you owned if the company did something during the year - say they sold themselves to another company or they bought back all the stock from small shareholders, etc. and then you have to make sure to hold onto the forms until the following year when you file your income taxes.
Most people do not receive lots of different forms. The average person will receive their W2(s) for their wages. Put each form in your envelope when you receive it and you will have it set aside when it is time to do your income taxes. In general unless something new happened during the year you will receive the same forms as you did last year - with the new amounts and date on them, of course, but basically if all you received last year was a W2 and you have the same job and did nothing unusual during the year, chances are that is all you will receive this year. Same one bank account means the same one 1099-INT (or none if your interest income was too low).
The important thing is to put each form received - whether during the year or at the beginning of the following year - together in an envelope which is placed where you know where it is.
A BIT OF A WARNING ABOUT SOME TAX RELATED SCAMS SO YOU DON’T FALL FOR THEM -
IRS and the various states will not contact by telephone or email out of the blue. They will mail to you a notice of any problems or questions. If you receive a telephone call or email from any of them - it is a scam. Hang up. Do not talk to them. (The only time they will call you is when you are already in contact with them and discussing a matter with them and they will not email you.)
Per IRS -
The real IRS will NOT:
* Call you to demand immediate payment. The IRS will not call you if you owe taxes without first sending you a bill in the mail.
* Demand tax payment and not allow you to question or appeal the amount you owe.
* Require that you pay your taxes a certain way. For example, demand that you pay with a prepaid debit card.
* Ask for your credit or debit card numbers over the phone.
* Threaten to bring in local police or other agencies to arrest you without paying.
* Threaten you with a lawsuit.
If you don’t owe taxes or have no reason to think that you do:
* Contact the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration. Use TIGTA’s “IRS Impersonation Scam Reporting” web page to report the incident.
* You should also report it to the Federal Trade Commission. Use the “FTC Complaint Assistant” on FTC.gov. Please add "IRS Telephone Scam" to the comments of your report.
If you think you may owe taxes:
* Ask for a call back number and an employee badge number.
* Call the IRS at 800-829-1040. IRS employees can help you.
Next week unless something more exciting comes up I will write about what papers you might need for your deductions and you should collect over the year for next year’s taxes.
Thursday, March 17, 2016
A REPEAT OF LAST WEEK
This week has not been much better. Things keep going wrong.
People who know me think that I am very organized. If they read this or saw the inside of my house, they would be surprised. It is weeks like last week and this week that make it disorganized. Okay, every week is bad, but these have been particularly problematic and I know it could be much worse with real problems instead of just annoyances..
In the past few weeks we spent 2 days looking for a couple of pieces of small lumber for husband to make something for his loom - I mean really small lumber - 1/4 inch x 6 inches (which means more like 5.5 inches in the world of lumber) x 4 feet. We finally found 2 pieces which were not skewed, warped, broken, split, etc. They were at our house for 3 days - and warped. So more time lost returning them and now he has no wood.
We also spent a different 2 days shopping for white bath towels - needed large ones, but cheap as they are to roll weaving projects in when the projects are washed after they are finished, this is to get the excess water out of them instead of using the spin cycle on the washing machine as that seems to be what made the problem in the last project. We then went out a 3rd day to actually buy the towels, plus the time spent at home heating them in our “suitcase heater” (just in case there are any bedbugs in them, we are crazy about this since we had them) and then washing and drying them. They are awaiting the current project.
I had to prepare a corporation tax extension for a client and so that it was out yesterday (the 15th) to the governments. This is not the return I finished and sent out last week - that one arrived last Friday and the client sent it out after a telephone call to discuss it and make sure she knew what she was doing. For good measure sales taxes are due in this state - not just the regular quarterly ones, but also the annual ones (for companies with very few sales) on the 20th. I have done two of them. I went to the client with last week’s corporation tax return today and calculated her sales taxes. Now I have to do it again online as they are required to be filed on same, and there is no Internet at the client. I prefer to go to her on Thursdays, but had to go today (Wednesday) as I have the sales tax deadline and tomorrow is - St Patrick’s Day in New York City. I learned the hard way by going into Manhattan once - and only once - on St Patrick’s Day - I will never do it again. I was stuck in the parking garage for 45 minutes waiting for enough people to leave so tha the 5 cars ahead of me would get spaces and then one more for me. After I file her sales taxes I can start preparing individual returns for clients.
Husband had a new weaving project to set up on the loom. He went to set up the warp (the long strands that run the length of the piece and he will weave over - think “warp speed ahead” and envision long straight lines pointing ahead, that is how I remember which it is) on Saturday afternoon. The yarn he planned to use we found out is not usable for same as it was too slippery. He pulled an older yarn from the basement to use (this is from decades ago and never intended by us for this future purpose). As he rolled each skein into a ball he found out that it was junk yarn and there were problems - so that’s why the huge bag of yarn was only a dollar? So - off to the store for more yarn. Monday he started setting up the loom with the new yarn - this takes my help - more time lost from what I need to do - and in one spot it has the same problem as the yarn it replaced! He is working around it. The loom was finally set up on Tuesday and I helped him get started on finishing the leading edge of it tonight and now he should not need my help with it for a few days - I hope.
We went to the supermarket on Monday to buy soda on sale. They are out of the soda which is on sale. We went to another store in the chain yesterday to try again - they also had none. Did no one notice they were about to have a sale and make sure that the stores were stocked? Just for good measure husband went back today - still none - and driving home from NYC I stopped at one near the NYC border to see if maybe they had some soda there - no, not there either. The sale ends tomorrow (Thursday), but we did get rain checks - a bottle and a half of soda left for us.
In between all of this I am trying to catch up on what was sitting around waiting to be done from last week. Okay, even further back. I managed to pack most of my Christmas bear figurines in the living room this weekend (these are the ones that rotate monthly, not the bear village upstairs which is now long packed). There are still a bunch of them to pack - but the loom and new weaving project are set up in the room and I don’t want to drop and break the bears skirting around the loom nor do I want to bump the loom and ruin the project.
My cold is much better, but still here. So dealing with meals and dishes is still all off as I try to make meals in which I do not have to touch the actual food with my hands (just the packaging) and then wear plastic gloves to wash the dishes.
Plus of course the wonderfulness that is daylight savings time started last Sunday - throwing me, myself, off schedule. Plus I am not sure that all of the clocks, watches, and other items have been changed - oh wait, that is why the light timers are off and the lights are going on at the wrong time - darn, something else to do!
Again, hopefully, next week will be better and life will be more normal.
Do you have a problem with the time change? I know in other countries it has not happened yet and some places have, intelligently in my opinion, gotten rid of same.
People who know me think that I am very organized. If they read this or saw the inside of my house, they would be surprised. It is weeks like last week and this week that make it disorganized. Okay, every week is bad, but these have been particularly problematic and I know it could be much worse with real problems instead of just annoyances..
In the past few weeks we spent 2 days looking for a couple of pieces of small lumber for husband to make something for his loom - I mean really small lumber - 1/4 inch x 6 inches (which means more like 5.5 inches in the world of lumber) x 4 feet. We finally found 2 pieces which were not skewed, warped, broken, split, etc. They were at our house for 3 days - and warped. So more time lost returning them and now he has no wood.
We also spent a different 2 days shopping for white bath towels - needed large ones, but cheap as they are to roll weaving projects in when the projects are washed after they are finished, this is to get the excess water out of them instead of using the spin cycle on the washing machine as that seems to be what made the problem in the last project. We then went out a 3rd day to actually buy the towels, plus the time spent at home heating them in our “suitcase heater” (just in case there are any bedbugs in them, we are crazy about this since we had them) and then washing and drying them. They are awaiting the current project.
I had to prepare a corporation tax extension for a client and so that it was out yesterday (the 15th) to the governments. This is not the return I finished and sent out last week - that one arrived last Friday and the client sent it out after a telephone call to discuss it and make sure she knew what she was doing. For good measure sales taxes are due in this state - not just the regular quarterly ones, but also the annual ones (for companies with very few sales) on the 20th. I have done two of them. I went to the client with last week’s corporation tax return today and calculated her sales taxes. Now I have to do it again online as they are required to be filed on same, and there is no Internet at the client. I prefer to go to her on Thursdays, but had to go today (Wednesday) as I have the sales tax deadline and tomorrow is - St Patrick’s Day in New York City. I learned the hard way by going into Manhattan once - and only once - on St Patrick’s Day - I will never do it again. I was stuck in the parking garage for 45 minutes waiting for enough people to leave so tha the 5 cars ahead of me would get spaces and then one more for me. After I file her sales taxes I can start preparing individual returns for clients.
Husband had a new weaving project to set up on the loom. He went to set up the warp (the long strands that run the length of the piece and he will weave over - think “warp speed ahead” and envision long straight lines pointing ahead, that is how I remember which it is) on Saturday afternoon. The yarn he planned to use we found out is not usable for same as it was too slippery. He pulled an older yarn from the basement to use (this is from decades ago and never intended by us for this future purpose). As he rolled each skein into a ball he found out that it was junk yarn and there were problems - so that’s why the huge bag of yarn was only a dollar? So - off to the store for more yarn. Monday he started setting up the loom with the new yarn - this takes my help - more time lost from what I need to do - and in one spot it has the same problem as the yarn it replaced! He is working around it. The loom was finally set up on Tuesday and I helped him get started on finishing the leading edge of it tonight and now he should not need my help with it for a few days - I hope.
We went to the supermarket on Monday to buy soda on sale. They are out of the soda which is on sale. We went to another store in the chain yesterday to try again - they also had none. Did no one notice they were about to have a sale and make sure that the stores were stocked? Just for good measure husband went back today - still none - and driving home from NYC I stopped at one near the NYC border to see if maybe they had some soda there - no, not there either. The sale ends tomorrow (Thursday), but we did get rain checks - a bottle and a half of soda left for us.
In between all of this I am trying to catch up on what was sitting around waiting to be done from last week. Okay, even further back. I managed to pack most of my Christmas bear figurines in the living room this weekend (these are the ones that rotate monthly, not the bear village upstairs which is now long packed). There are still a bunch of them to pack - but the loom and new weaving project are set up in the room and I don’t want to drop and break the bears skirting around the loom nor do I want to bump the loom and ruin the project.
My cold is much better, but still here. So dealing with meals and dishes is still all off as I try to make meals in which I do not have to touch the actual food with my hands (just the packaging) and then wear plastic gloves to wash the dishes.
Plus of course the wonderfulness that is daylight savings time started last Sunday - throwing me, myself, off schedule. Plus I am not sure that all of the clocks, watches, and other items have been changed - oh wait, that is why the light timers are off and the lights are going on at the wrong time - darn, something else to do!
Again, hopefully, next week will be better and life will be more normal.
Do you have a problem with the time change? I know in other countries it has not happened yet and some places have, intelligently in my opinion, gotten rid of same.
Thursday, March 10, 2016
WEEK OF FALLING BEHIND AND TROUBLE GETTING THINGS DONE - ACHOO!
Well, it has been one of those weeks - you know them - everything takes longer than you figure it will and it is hard to get anything done and then it all goes along like a ball rolling along and picking up more delays and problems.
I hate when I don’t have time to do something right or time to finish it and I have to set it aside and go back and finish it. When I started today I felt like I had added another 5 days of backup to what I have to do. The pile on my desk was growing.
Last Sunday our reenactment unit had its annual party. While we are no longer involved in the party planning and buying for it, I am still the treasurer and I am chasing down members who have not renewed as I need to send paperwork and payment for our members to our national group - by March 1- over week ago. So the end of last week I had to gather all my paperwork for same and call those who have not responded to emails, of course the phone call is more than just “you must renew now” as we are all friends - “is everyone okay” “what is happening”, etc. Then two of the people who promised to renew at the party still have not done so and did not come to the party and I have to chase them down again. Also the party, while I enjoy going, took up an entire afternoon when I could have been doing other things.
On the other hand a craft related group I belong to was contacted by a stranger in reference to something that was found on ebay related to our chapter and I spent time, also the end of last week, to deal with contact between the person who contacted us and the various members of the group until we resolved it - sort of - we are still discussing the situation.
As an accountant “in real life” I have corporation taxes for clients due out by March 15 and sales taxes for clients by March 20. I spent part of last week getting one corporation return in particular done to the point where I knew it would get finished in time to go to the client this week when I went for the regular monthly trip to do her books and get the return in the mail to the government on time, as well as calculate her sales taxes to then come home and redo same online as required by our state.
So bills I paid last week were paid, but not posted to my computer. Other similar items. I have bills to pay to members of the craft group for items they purchased for same - just sitting in the pile and I really should reimburse them.
Then came this past Monday. What I had hoped was just a dry throat from the furnace heat, had finished developing into a cold. So now I feel rushed and I am coughing and sneezing and my brain feels like it is enveloped in “stupid”. (Actually just stopped to sneeze.) My husband is trying to avoid me to avoid getting sick - but I am still cooking and washing the dishes and doing the laundry. I am using hand sanitizer like crazy. I am using my tv/cable remote from upstairs - downstairs, so we are not both touching the same controller, but the TV is different and has to be worked manually and I like the TV much lower in volume than he does and that has to be changed on the TV itself and it is driving me crazy.
My husband just finished a weaving project on his new loom and is trying hard to deal with the aftersteps alone, but I usually help him and, unrelated to him doing it alone, the piece has creases in it which he cannot get rid of, and with my brain stuck in stupid, I cannot really help - or even hear him half the time. Today we spent the entire afternoon looking for large white bath sheets to buy for him to roll the piece in after wetting it again - after several hours and giving up, we realized that we had towels useable for the purpose in our RV. So time which could have been used to catch up - was gone. He is very excitable and managed not only to use up most of the afternoon, but get himself so dizzy with what he did with soaking the piece and rolling it up in the towels, that he got sick and had to go to bed for a couple of hours. And we never did the grocery shopping we needed to do.
I finished the corporation return for the client on Monday. On Tuesday I decided that there was no way I would be able to deal with going to the client in Manhattan on Thursday as planned, especially if it may rain then, as well as the client is an older woman and I would hate to give her this horrible cold. I called her and explained and that I would mail the returns to her, she would send them out, and I would be in late next week when I was better. She agreed. I then had to finish assembling the returns and write instructions for her - my normal forms would just confuse her. I spent yesterday afternoon and evening doing this. (Which is why I did not write this post last night as I normally would have done.) Just as I was finishing - I was writing the instructions for the last form, a NYC form, I found out that the payment has to be sent separately with a different form - and I could not find that form online as a paper form. After about a half hour of looking I found what must be an example form as it said “company name, company address” etc. A couple of labels to cover the information and a quick scan and fill in her information on the form and that was done. Her return went out to her today. I still have to finish scanning my copy of her return and my paperwork for same and it is sitting in “the pile” in a folder.
We had dinner out last night to save on my cooking and washing the dishes and spreading germs. We planned to go to the chain buffet we normally go to, but the company just closed around 50 or more of their locations and this turned out to be one of them. So we ended up driving to the next county to their other location - an extra 45 minutes between going (during rush hour) and returning.
After we came home today I managed to catch up on my email - I don’t have much, but like to check it every day on weekdays, I then paid 3 bills due out now - will be out in tomorrow’s mail. My husband has said that he will go out and run errands tomorrow so I can catch up (though he did it before he felt ill).
I have been working on setting up information about our bills and paying them for my husband or anyone else who might need to do it - just in case something happened to me. A car accident three years ago started this project and I am now scanning in one of each bill with all the info I fill in on it filled in, as well as a scan of the check that pays the bill and the envelope it is sent in. So I had to stop and do this for each of the 3 bills and add them to a spreadsheet of when bills are due that I also just started to go with the step by step directions written in the past.
I then went to post a bill I paid last week for our business. Quick thing to do - do it all the time. Hah! We had returned something to a store and I had posted the credit “memo” on the computer. The software automatically subtracted same from what needed to be paid, something which should not have been done as the return was done after that statement’s cutoff. By the time I was done I had to delete the entire accounting software file for our business and replaced it with the one from the last backup (yesterday - that’s why I backup a lot) and started over. I had to remove the entry for the return and then after posting the payment, reenter the entry. In the middle of all this my husband came up and told me he was so sick from the weaving that he was going to bed - Oyyyyy!
I did a few other things on the computer and cut the pile down a bit. I then went and checked with my husband about dinner - could he eat? What did he want to eat? And then came downstairs and made dinner, did the dishes, and then started writing this post at 11 pm.
Husband just came down and does not feel well again. I hope I have not given him my cold as he is not good at being ill.
Well, we have a saying “It could be a lot worse, and probably will be” so I will go back to trying to catch up. I hope the week to come lets me catch up and all is better here by next week.
I am sure you all have weeks like this. Hopefully the coming week will be better.
I hate when I don’t have time to do something right or time to finish it and I have to set it aside and go back and finish it. When I started today I felt like I had added another 5 days of backup to what I have to do. The pile on my desk was growing.
Last Sunday our reenactment unit had its annual party. While we are no longer involved in the party planning and buying for it, I am still the treasurer and I am chasing down members who have not renewed as I need to send paperwork and payment for our members to our national group - by March 1- over week ago. So the end of last week I had to gather all my paperwork for same and call those who have not responded to emails, of course the phone call is more than just “you must renew now” as we are all friends - “is everyone okay” “what is happening”, etc. Then two of the people who promised to renew at the party still have not done so and did not come to the party and I have to chase them down again. Also the party, while I enjoy going, took up an entire afternoon when I could have been doing other things.
On the other hand a craft related group I belong to was contacted by a stranger in reference to something that was found on ebay related to our chapter and I spent time, also the end of last week, to deal with contact between the person who contacted us and the various members of the group until we resolved it - sort of - we are still discussing the situation.
As an accountant “in real life” I have corporation taxes for clients due out by March 15 and sales taxes for clients by March 20. I spent part of last week getting one corporation return in particular done to the point where I knew it would get finished in time to go to the client this week when I went for the regular monthly trip to do her books and get the return in the mail to the government on time, as well as calculate her sales taxes to then come home and redo same online as required by our state.
So bills I paid last week were paid, but not posted to my computer. Other similar items. I have bills to pay to members of the craft group for items they purchased for same - just sitting in the pile and I really should reimburse them.
Then came this past Monday. What I had hoped was just a dry throat from the furnace heat, had finished developing into a cold. So now I feel rushed and I am coughing and sneezing and my brain feels like it is enveloped in “stupid”. (Actually just stopped to sneeze.) My husband is trying to avoid me to avoid getting sick - but I am still cooking and washing the dishes and doing the laundry. I am using hand sanitizer like crazy. I am using my tv/cable remote from upstairs - downstairs, so we are not both touching the same controller, but the TV is different and has to be worked manually and I like the TV much lower in volume than he does and that has to be changed on the TV itself and it is driving me crazy.
My husband just finished a weaving project on his new loom and is trying hard to deal with the aftersteps alone, but I usually help him and, unrelated to him doing it alone, the piece has creases in it which he cannot get rid of, and with my brain stuck in stupid, I cannot really help - or even hear him half the time. Today we spent the entire afternoon looking for large white bath sheets to buy for him to roll the piece in after wetting it again - after several hours and giving up, we realized that we had towels useable for the purpose in our RV. So time which could have been used to catch up - was gone. He is very excitable and managed not only to use up most of the afternoon, but get himself so dizzy with what he did with soaking the piece and rolling it up in the towels, that he got sick and had to go to bed for a couple of hours. And we never did the grocery shopping we needed to do.
I finished the corporation return for the client on Monday. On Tuesday I decided that there was no way I would be able to deal with going to the client in Manhattan on Thursday as planned, especially if it may rain then, as well as the client is an older woman and I would hate to give her this horrible cold. I called her and explained and that I would mail the returns to her, she would send them out, and I would be in late next week when I was better. She agreed. I then had to finish assembling the returns and write instructions for her - my normal forms would just confuse her. I spent yesterday afternoon and evening doing this. (Which is why I did not write this post last night as I normally would have done.) Just as I was finishing - I was writing the instructions for the last form, a NYC form, I found out that the payment has to be sent separately with a different form - and I could not find that form online as a paper form. After about a half hour of looking I found what must be an example form as it said “company name, company address” etc. A couple of labels to cover the information and a quick scan and fill in her information on the form and that was done. Her return went out to her today. I still have to finish scanning my copy of her return and my paperwork for same and it is sitting in “the pile” in a folder.
We had dinner out last night to save on my cooking and washing the dishes and spreading germs. We planned to go to the chain buffet we normally go to, but the company just closed around 50 or more of their locations and this turned out to be one of them. So we ended up driving to the next county to their other location - an extra 45 minutes between going (during rush hour) and returning.
After we came home today I managed to catch up on my email - I don’t have much, but like to check it every day on weekdays, I then paid 3 bills due out now - will be out in tomorrow’s mail. My husband has said that he will go out and run errands tomorrow so I can catch up (though he did it before he felt ill).
I have been working on setting up information about our bills and paying them for my husband or anyone else who might need to do it - just in case something happened to me. A car accident three years ago started this project and I am now scanning in one of each bill with all the info I fill in on it filled in, as well as a scan of the check that pays the bill and the envelope it is sent in. So I had to stop and do this for each of the 3 bills and add them to a spreadsheet of when bills are due that I also just started to go with the step by step directions written in the past.
I then went to post a bill I paid last week for our business. Quick thing to do - do it all the time. Hah! We had returned something to a store and I had posted the credit “memo” on the computer. The software automatically subtracted same from what needed to be paid, something which should not have been done as the return was done after that statement’s cutoff. By the time I was done I had to delete the entire accounting software file for our business and replaced it with the one from the last backup (yesterday - that’s why I backup a lot) and started over. I had to remove the entry for the return and then after posting the payment, reenter the entry. In the middle of all this my husband came up and told me he was so sick from the weaving that he was going to bed - Oyyyyy!
I did a few other things on the computer and cut the pile down a bit. I then went and checked with my husband about dinner - could he eat? What did he want to eat? And then came downstairs and made dinner, did the dishes, and then started writing this post at 11 pm.
Husband just came down and does not feel well again. I hope I have not given him my cold as he is not good at being ill.
Well, we have a saying “It could be a lot worse, and probably will be” so I will go back to trying to catch up. I hope the week to come lets me catch up and all is better here by next week.
I am sure you all have weeks like this. Hopefully the coming week will be better.
Thursday, March 3, 2016
CHRISTMAS MOSTLY STORED AWAY
We put up our Christmas decorations in the house late, so we never rush to take them down. It used to sit around and around and finally I would deal with it - sometimes in March (one year in April, but that was because our garage door froze to the ground and we could not get into it until there was a thaw to get out the boxes to pack in - since then the boxes stay in the house after being unpacked). So after years of it being too soon (to us) to take down decorations and then it was much past when they should have been taken down, we set a date. Martin Luther King Jr. is remembered on the 3rd Monday in January - we chose same as when to start taking down the Christmas decorations - the date has no significance to doing so, but it is a fixed time around when we want to do so and the holiday publicity reminds us.
So, that Monday was the day to start. This is for the inside decorations. The outside ones come down based on the weather - it needs to be warm enough to take them down and we are not going to climb through snow to do so. The day before was a COLD day, but snow is expected for the coming weekend, possibly a lot, so we took down the outside lights and put them in the garage (which is also husband’s woodworking shop). We did not wrap them up and pack them as I could not feel 3 of my fingers and needed to warm up. We packed them the next day as it was warmer.
I brought up one of the storage boxes for the inside ornaments - specifically one for ornaments from our main Christmas tree - a few days before. I had planned to bring up the others right away, but I realized that there wasn’t room to bring them up as husband’s loom and related items are spread across the living room and the coffee table moved to accommodate his loom work. I put the box under the coffee table - any place else and we would not be able to walk in the room - until the day after I was suppose to start.
I took out the box, pushed aside the loom items on the sofa (any of this sound like your life?) and opened the box. I started taking ornaments off the tree - not a lot, but a start. The ornaments went right into their storage boxes that were in the box, while I also pulled ones which I have embroidered, off the tree and set them on a chair (which has been decorated for the season an embroidered Christmas throw pillow I made some years ago) to pack later. It is the starting which is hard for me and now it is started.
We used to pack our ornaments in cartons which we had accumulated over the years which originally held reams of paper for the computer, printer, etc. After having bed bugs we wanted them packed in something which sealed better, as well as the fact that corrugated cardboard is something that bed bugs like, so we bought large plastic boxes which lock closed on the ends. We have been storing most of the ornaments in the rafters of our garage. These new boxes had to go through the rafters one end up and then turn. In addition my husband does not like climbing up to get them down - he has to clear off a work table (yes, he is like me and there is disorganization in his workshop) and stand on it and lean over to move the boxes around. The boxes were not all that light, even after I rearranged the contents so lighter and heavier items were more mixed together than before. The need to rearrange the contents was annoying to me as I had the boxes originally packed so that the nicest ornaments came out of one box and I worked my way down to the fill in ornaments in the last of the tree ornament boxes, the general “in the house” decorations were in their own 2 boxes, etc. Now they were all mixed together to distribute the weight. Not at all convenient for unpacking and repacking.
The last 2 winters we had so much snow - continuously (last winter we went through a month or more of major snowstorms every 2-3 days) - that the decorations were packed into their boxes, but by the time we could move the boxes to the (detached) garage for storage it was almost summer and we left them stacked where the main tree had been - which left all of the furniture which gets moved around to fit in the Christmas trees and such also not put where they belonged.
I have come up with a solution. I found a spot where the boxes will fit in our basement. We have a small “closet” with our gas meter in it and there is space between the side of same and the shelves holding bolts of fabric where it looked like the boxes would fit. I cleared out the area - what looks like used plastic drop clothes, and empty bolt cardboard centers (kept in case we ever needed to wrap large cuts of fabric onto them - like we ever would) with the plastic that had been over the original fabric also kept - were all thrown out - the cardboard put in for recycling. I moved the remaining items out of the area. I found not only do the boxes fit the space, but the widest dimension of the boxes fit so they will fit in more compactly then I thought - good if I they do not all fit in one stack (we have low ceilings even in the main part of the house). I also found out that I had more of certain preprinted panel baby quilt fabric - I used to make and sell panel baby quilts) that I thought I had no more of. I am not interested in making a quilt, but I had finished two embroidered teddy bear pieces from a kit and wanted to make 2 other pieces to go with them and had envisioned embroidering the decision two of the bears from the quilt panel - one each - on matching squares to make a 4 square hanging piece, so by cleaning up a bit I now have the teddy bears to copy, which thought I no longer had - a bit of a reward for the cleaning.
Now I am able to store the boxes in the basement. Weather will not affect being able to store them. I will not need husband to be able to access them and he will not need to go climbing up. Weight does not matter as much anymore and I will be able to repack everything as it used to be.
The outside Christmas lights were also stored in the garage and needed, even more dangerously, for him to climb on a ladder and then hand the box down to me while balancing on the ladder. They can now go where the other ornaments used to be, still a climb, but safer. I suggested we split them into 2 smaller boxes to deal with the rafters problem and make them ligher - maybe even switching with 2 smaller boxes I had some decorations in and I would take the large box for the decorations in exchange for the smaller ones. He will also have more room to store wood in his shop. I cleaned the large box from the lights well and this idea worked - 2 smaller, lighter boxes of outdoor Christmas lights - stored in the rafters of the garage - and a nice large box for wool.
Better all around such a simple idea.
Have you taken down your Christmas decorations and tree? Has everything been put away yet?
I have since taken down and stored the rest of the ornaments from the main and studio tree as well as stored the Christmas decorations from the main floor of the house. After finishing this I found a Christmas doll who had evaded me. She will be put into the “soft” decorations box shortly. I also took down and stored the dining room tree and it’s ornaments. It’s ornaments are all collectible brass ones from Colonial Williamsburg so they are being stored upstairs as they were before as I don’t want them in the damp basement.
Why publish this now? Well, missing from the above is putting away my (our?) little village of teddy bear figurines. We both love it so that it is always hard to put it away. This past week I spent 2 days packing up the little bears, their tree and some buildings (every teddy bear town needs a honey store, a church, a first aid office and a fruit store - right?).
I have been asked what a teddy bear village is. I had a large number of teddy bear ornaments and they were taking over our main Christmas tree. So we bought a table top tree and moved some of them to that tree and put it at the top of the stairs so it could also be seen from the main floor of the house. I then added some little bears I had - some on little ladders decorating the tree - and it just kept going. It is amazing how many (cheap) small bear figurines with a Christmas theme there are. Not all of them are specifically Christmas - there is a small band of bears playing at the church while others are singing. There are bears at a phone booth making a call (an inch tall). There is a polar bear helping himself to a certain cola which uses him for ads. There is a “craft” fair of bears with small craft like items. There is a gazebo in the park (as of 2014 it even has lights). There is a parade and bears watching the parade - well I guess you get the idea. Many, if not most people would think we are crazy, but we think it is cute.
Well, that means 95% of my Christmas stuff is stored. The only items left (other than the doll who hid) are some other bears that are displayed in the living room and could not be stored until the village was as they store in the box the village is on the top of.
Well, luckily I do a lot less for Easter. Unless we start doing an Easter teddy village - we are kicking around the idea of making it seasonal...
So, that Monday was the day to start. This is for the inside decorations. The outside ones come down based on the weather - it needs to be warm enough to take them down and we are not going to climb through snow to do so. The day before was a COLD day, but snow is expected for the coming weekend, possibly a lot, so we took down the outside lights and put them in the garage (which is also husband’s woodworking shop). We did not wrap them up and pack them as I could not feel 3 of my fingers and needed to warm up. We packed them the next day as it was warmer.
I brought up one of the storage boxes for the inside ornaments - specifically one for ornaments from our main Christmas tree - a few days before. I had planned to bring up the others right away, but I realized that there wasn’t room to bring them up as husband’s loom and related items are spread across the living room and the coffee table moved to accommodate his loom work. I put the box under the coffee table - any place else and we would not be able to walk in the room - until the day after I was suppose to start.
I took out the box, pushed aside the loom items on the sofa (any of this sound like your life?) and opened the box. I started taking ornaments off the tree - not a lot, but a start. The ornaments went right into their storage boxes that were in the box, while I also pulled ones which I have embroidered, off the tree and set them on a chair (which has been decorated for the season an embroidered Christmas throw pillow I made some years ago) to pack later. It is the starting which is hard for me and now it is started.
We used to pack our ornaments in cartons which we had accumulated over the years which originally held reams of paper for the computer, printer, etc. After having bed bugs we wanted them packed in something which sealed better, as well as the fact that corrugated cardboard is something that bed bugs like, so we bought large plastic boxes which lock closed on the ends. We have been storing most of the ornaments in the rafters of our garage. These new boxes had to go through the rafters one end up and then turn. In addition my husband does not like climbing up to get them down - he has to clear off a work table (yes, he is like me and there is disorganization in his workshop) and stand on it and lean over to move the boxes around. The boxes were not all that light, even after I rearranged the contents so lighter and heavier items were more mixed together than before. The need to rearrange the contents was annoying to me as I had the boxes originally packed so that the nicest ornaments came out of one box and I worked my way down to the fill in ornaments in the last of the tree ornament boxes, the general “in the house” decorations were in their own 2 boxes, etc. Now they were all mixed together to distribute the weight. Not at all convenient for unpacking and repacking.
The last 2 winters we had so much snow - continuously (last winter we went through a month or more of major snowstorms every 2-3 days) - that the decorations were packed into their boxes, but by the time we could move the boxes to the (detached) garage for storage it was almost summer and we left them stacked where the main tree had been - which left all of the furniture which gets moved around to fit in the Christmas trees and such also not put where they belonged.
I have come up with a solution. I found a spot where the boxes will fit in our basement. We have a small “closet” with our gas meter in it and there is space between the side of same and the shelves holding bolts of fabric where it looked like the boxes would fit. I cleared out the area - what looks like used plastic drop clothes, and empty bolt cardboard centers (kept in case we ever needed to wrap large cuts of fabric onto them - like we ever would) with the plastic that had been over the original fabric also kept - were all thrown out - the cardboard put in for recycling. I moved the remaining items out of the area. I found not only do the boxes fit the space, but the widest dimension of the boxes fit so they will fit in more compactly then I thought - good if I they do not all fit in one stack (we have low ceilings even in the main part of the house). I also found out that I had more of certain preprinted panel baby quilt fabric - I used to make and sell panel baby quilts) that I thought I had no more of. I am not interested in making a quilt, but I had finished two embroidered teddy bear pieces from a kit and wanted to make 2 other pieces to go with them and had envisioned embroidering the decision two of the bears from the quilt panel - one each - on matching squares to make a 4 square hanging piece, so by cleaning up a bit I now have the teddy bears to copy, which thought I no longer had - a bit of a reward for the cleaning.
Now I am able to store the boxes in the basement. Weather will not affect being able to store them. I will not need husband to be able to access them and he will not need to go climbing up. Weight does not matter as much anymore and I will be able to repack everything as it used to be.
The outside Christmas lights were also stored in the garage and needed, even more dangerously, for him to climb on a ladder and then hand the box down to me while balancing on the ladder. They can now go where the other ornaments used to be, still a climb, but safer. I suggested we split them into 2 smaller boxes to deal with the rafters problem and make them ligher - maybe even switching with 2 smaller boxes I had some decorations in and I would take the large box for the decorations in exchange for the smaller ones. He will also have more room to store wood in his shop. I cleaned the large box from the lights well and this idea worked - 2 smaller, lighter boxes of outdoor Christmas lights - stored in the rafters of the garage - and a nice large box for wool.
Better all around such a simple idea.
Have you taken down your Christmas decorations and tree? Has everything been put away yet?
I have since taken down and stored the rest of the ornaments from the main and studio tree as well as stored the Christmas decorations from the main floor of the house. After finishing this I found a Christmas doll who had evaded me. She will be put into the “soft” decorations box shortly. I also took down and stored the dining room tree and it’s ornaments. It’s ornaments are all collectible brass ones from Colonial Williamsburg so they are being stored upstairs as they were before as I don’t want them in the damp basement.
Why publish this now? Well, missing from the above is putting away my (our?) little village of teddy bear figurines. We both love it so that it is always hard to put it away. This past week I spent 2 days packing up the little bears, their tree and some buildings (every teddy bear town needs a honey store, a church, a first aid office and a fruit store - right?).
I have been asked what a teddy bear village is. I had a large number of teddy bear ornaments and they were taking over our main Christmas tree. So we bought a table top tree and moved some of them to that tree and put it at the top of the stairs so it could also be seen from the main floor of the house. I then added some little bears I had - some on little ladders decorating the tree - and it just kept going. It is amazing how many (cheap) small bear figurines with a Christmas theme there are. Not all of them are specifically Christmas - there is a small band of bears playing at the church while others are singing. There are bears at a phone booth making a call (an inch tall). There is a polar bear helping himself to a certain cola which uses him for ads. There is a “craft” fair of bears with small craft like items. There is a gazebo in the park (as of 2014 it even has lights). There is a parade and bears watching the parade - well I guess you get the idea. Many, if not most people would think we are crazy, but we think it is cute.
Well, that means 95% of my Christmas stuff is stored. The only items left (other than the doll who hid) are some other bears that are displayed in the living room and could not be stored until the village was as they store in the box the village is on the top of.
Well, luckily I do a lot less for Easter. Unless we start doing an Easter teddy village - we are kicking around the idea of making it seasonal...
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