“It’s tax time!”

Hey, remember how I’m always tearing my hair out when it’s time to do the taxes? I get on the laptop and find out its been so long since I’ve been on it that I need to do eight hours of work just updating everything. Then, I realize that I didn’t download anything but the first quarter of the year into my financial software so I spend another two or three days downloading and categorizing everything. It’s crazy making! 

Well, this year you’re going to be so proud of me! I had all the financial information downloaded and categorized by the first week in January! And, since I’ve been working on the shop he lat three months, everything is in good working order for the laptop. I gathered all the papers together yesterday afternoon and this morning I’ll sit down and knock those taxes out in record time! 

I was thinking back to when I was a little girl and watching my grandma and mom doing their taxes. They went to the post office and picked up the booklet for Federal and one for state then went home and ciphered a little with a piece of paper and a pencil nub. Then they checked their math a second time and carefully filled in the numbers on the forms. They folded them up, stuffed them in an envelope, licked the seal then licked the stamp, and walked to the mailbox to send them off…the little red flag raised. What a simple time it was back then. Taxes seem so complicated now. Business taxes, a rental house, plus the usual stuff gets overwhelming after a while. 

Speaking of a pencil nub, that reminded me of my Pop-Pop. He always carried a little tiny pocket notebook where he kept track of the odd jobs he did for people and how much he charged them. My grandparents didn’t have much money so extras were few and far between. I don’t ever remember them having a pencil sharpener. Pop-Pop would take out his penknife and go out on the front porch to shave down and sharpen his pencil. And he would use that thing till it wasn’t more than an inch long.  He was good at math and could figure out most anything in his head. I’ve been thinking about him a lot this week. He was born 124 years ago on April Fools Day! I was only seventeen when he died. 

I have a picture of him that I treasure. I stumbled on it when I was writing the book about the farm after it sold. Grandma was what my family called “picture poor.” She may not have had money for much, but she’d starve before she went without film and flashbulbs. I used to buy her postage stamps, film, and flashbulbs for Christmas. But her pictures left a lot to be desired. She always stood about 30’ away from people so she could “get everyone in the picture.” Which was nice, but unless you were there, you would never know who was in it. We always teased her about that. She cut people’s heads off a lot. My mom would cut people in half so you’d only get half the person or persons.

You know…I can’t even remember which eye I used to look through the viewfinder. Kids today wouldn’t have a clue, would they?

?

“Like the moon it shall be established forever, a faithful witness in the skies.” Selah”

Psalm 89:37 ESV

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

*Faith over Fear…a daily reminder.*