have spent time over the last week gathering and preparing all of the information required to complete my 2023 taxes…
getting the documentation ready always reminds me of how difficult doing this work was for my beloved… he really disliked getting the bits and pieces collected…
for the last few years of his life we had others complete the paperwork, although it was still a problem to put it together…
it still surprises me how simple it is for me now… for the first few years after he died, I would gather up paper bits and courier them to my amazing accountant, who would then process everything…
then she connected me to this great technology where I was able to upload all the information and they complete and submit it all online…
it still takes a bit of work to scan, save, and upload everything, but I am getting better at it each year…
I have been working on the fish condo for weeks now… spent a good portion of a day cleaning the fish tank… lots of scrubbing and emptying…
I researched a second tank and we went out and got the tank and two pumps so that they were on the ends as opposed to the back of the tanks…
after numerous measurements, we set the new tank up on the counter along the North wall of the dining room… then the bottom was filled with rocks and water and the new pump set up… this tank will be for the baby fish as the other tank won’t be able to hold all of the fish…
I worked with my grandson and we were able to move the big tank to the spot beside the small tank… it looks good there and it almost appears like one single very long tank…
after putting river rocks in it, I ran the hose from the outside tap through the house and was able to fill it up in nine minutes… it probably took me that long to fill the small one as I used a pail and walked back and forth to the kitchen sink for that one, lol…
had a bit of an issue with the pump as there wasn’t quite enough room in the large tank for it on the edge, but we were able to remove a piece of plastic and now it fits perfectly…
once the water was in and circulating for a few days we began catching the fish… we have been at it for quite a while… we started on October 22nd and today I think we caught the last one… I had to break ice for the last few collections, lol…
it was quite a process because since about the middle of October the water has been brown as leaves have fallen into it so it has made spotting fish difficult…
we also brought in some of the water lilies, which hopefully will survive until next spring when they can go back into the pond…
the tanks look great and I am pleased with all of our work…
was speaking with a married woman friend about getting her own credit card…
it reminded me of why I started writing my blog and has made me think that I will revisit some of my earliest posts where I shared some of the things I discovered when all of a sudden I was on my own…
every married woman really needs to get her own credit card! I cannot reiterate this enough…
if you’ve been using a credit card that is in your partner’s name, it means you donot have any credit… and if something happens to them, you are in trouble…
while I was waiting at various places today I heard a few different conversations…
a discussion took place on preparing for Thanksgiving… they were discussing the expense incurred to produce the meal for family and friends… one comment was about having to wait until the next payday to purchase some final items for the dinner… everyone was happy to be having the company and looking forward to the time together but commiserating about what a huge chunk of cash is required…
at another location heard about someone not having the funds to provide the meal they were hoping for…
I remember those days, living payday to payday and what a struggle it was…
reminded me of how blessed I am… my beloved left me in pretty good financial shape… I can’t go crazy but I don’t have to worry too much about the cost of my groceries…
later I watched a few older couples walking around the mall holding hands… still one of the things I miss most…
herbiggirlpants 