Tax Man

As an addendum to yesterday’s entry, Bob and I didn’t just move our money from that ministry because of the apparent moral downfall of its founder.  We feel that we are stewards of our money and we don’t know the founder’s new husband.  We don’t know how he handles money.  We don’t know, as the new director, how he will allocate funds or run the ministry now.  We would like to have more information before we proceed to give more money to this ministry.  Maybe after a year, we will revisit our contribution plans and see how things are being run there.  If they are in the black, still growing, and still in the business of helping orphans around the world, then maybe we can resume our donations to them.  We just feel that as good stewards, we can’t knowingly continue to give to this ministry in light of the change of leadership…as well as in light of the apparent moral decline of its leader.

Bob met with the tax guy he knows yesterday.  Our taxes are done and we are getting quite a good refund this year.  Everything has been filed, so we could be getting our refund as soon as next week.  This is the earliest we have ever had our taxes done.  Usually we complete them in February or March.  The guy who did them is a paraplegic Bob met while working at the store.  He said he would do our taxes for $60 and then after he did them, he only charged Bob $30.  He also looked over last year’s and the year before’s taxes and said that they were done perfectly.  That was a relief to me as I did them using tax software. Last year, if you remember, I thought the software had cheated us because of a glitch.  It turns out that everything was right and correct.  Whew!  We are using most of our tax return to pay bills, but a small portion will be put aside for next year’s vacation and another small portion will be used to buy Bob a juicer since the Magic Bullet juicer isn’t really doing the job in that sense.

Robyn at www.bitchypoo.com had RNY Gastric Bypass surgery yesterday.  Go and wish her well on her journey.  I sent her a card and bought her a couple of books off her wish list because she will certainly have some time to read.  This is a slow healing surgery.  Not so much on the outside, but she will be on liquids only and purees for at least a month if not more.  When I had my surgery, I read a lot because watching TV was almost torture because of all the food featured in commercials and such.  Although I do remember watching a lot of the Food Network for some reason.  I think I was torturing myself, apparently. Anyway, go say hi to Robyn.

I had my first night of school in 3 weeks last night.  It was good to be back and good to see my classmates.  It’s a pretty easy class.  Mostly it is how to use Photoshop. It’s about time I had a cake class after last semester.  Our assignment for next week is to format 3 photos for web and 3 photos for print.  CAKE I tell you!

Oh, I found out something yesterday.  You see, it pays to pay attention and ask questions. I emailed our local MDA office to ask for more information about Bob’s nomination for the MDA Goodwill Ambassador.  It turns out the nomination is not for him to be NATIONAL Ambassador, but to be the Minnesota/State Ambassador.  Oh! There you go.  Still, quite an honor and he is still quite flattered.  We still don’t know much more than that though.

So, next Saturday, February 11 is the Walk for Wheels.  We are walking to raise money for a handicapped accessible van for Bob.  Do any of you want to sponsor me on this walk?  If so, please email me at amiebea@msn.com and I will get you a copy of the sponsor sheet.  We will be walking for 2 hour, from 1-3 at local area malls.  Please join us if you are in the Minnetonka area.  Also, we are having a potluck at work tomorrow to raise money for the van.  People bring food and then pay $6 to partake.  What’s funny is these are the people I work with, but we are no longer a part of them as far as the corporate structure is concerned.  When my boss contacted the department that we are a part of, corporately speaking, they said they couldn’t do anything.  Nice.  However, my boss’s boss is giving a rather large donation from her own pocket, so that’s nice.  I think we are about a third of the way there.  Won’t you consider helping us?  We will still be collecting funds until April.  We HAVE to have the money in the seller’s hand by April 15^th.  Donations ARE tax deductible.  Please contact me if you want to help.