Still my weight is in the 90s, so when I stopped by my locked-up, smelly apartment this morning, to pick up mail & check for messages, I rummaged in a box till I found a screwdriver. I think if I tighten up the footpads on the scale, I may get a correct reading again, as I believe it's off balance.

Some progress yesterday. The insurance adjuster for the co-op finally released his report. The insurance company is supposed to disburse a payment to the co-op for repairs, minus their deductible. That means they can hire the contractor. At work, I have a few more urgent tasks to complete to create collateral for the new product testing.

Finally, some forward motion, Saef. I find your scale readings fairly hilarious. Maybe it's karma telling you not to worry about your weight.

Birchie-- good luck!! Family stuff is sooooo hard! I'm wondering why the pie has to be HOT. You mean temperature or spicy?

Allison--- that is beyond absurd. And it looks like you have no recourse. I'd be furious. I'm currently still fuming about the IRS. They decided we owed a ton more money for our taxes from two years ago. You would think there would be a limit for them to go back and relook at things, but I guess not. We studied the changes, decided they were probably right the best we could tell, and we paid them. That was a couple of months ago. Last week I got two official letters from the IRS, one addressed to me and one dh. I was about to go to the gym when I checked the mail. It was very telling to my emotions that as soon as I saw the letters, my heart started pounding, my hands shaking and I was almost in tears. I immediately thought-- I won't go to the gym and I'll eat something bad. I shakily opened the letters and found they were just letters showing the payments/changes made and that we owed $0 more. Of course, that made me happy but I was furious that they have that control over me and that I am so quick to jump off the cliff healthy wise if something goes wrong. I've been thinking about my reaction since because I know future bad things will happen in general, and I can't mentally jump off the ship.... or cliff or whatever....

Had to be Very Hot in case it had been in the freezer a bit too long. Didn't want food poisoning.

In the event, the meal was terrible - we both agreed. I filled up on raspberries and my mum filled up on strawberries. See how sensible it was to have a double breakfast ...

Onward. Poached salmon salad for tea.

And tomorrow? I'll have to pull my finger out.

saef, good - some movement at last.

Finally! I checked the contractor's board this morning and we finally had the suspension lifted. Six weeks of this nonsense.

And the IRS--yeah, they've messed things up for us as well. We had to pay a small amount on our taxes this year, and I mailed in the check as directed by my CPA (he efiled the return). A few weeks later, I get a letter stating that I had not paid and now I have to pay the amount, the penalty and the interest. So I send it to my CPA (after verifying that my original check has been cashed) and he said it'd be better to pay it and he'll take care of it on the next year's return. I did, but it made me mad.

I think I find the idea of shepherd's pie more appealing than fish pie. Very Hot definitely, especially from a food safety standpoint.

I'm doing okay food wise the last couple of weeks. I've done much better than expected with the stress. We'll see how the weekend goes.

As of right now we don't have to cancel the vacation, but coworker just put in notice Monday so we'll see.

For individual taxes, IRS can go back 3 years. If some kinds of property are involved, they can go back 7 years or 10 years. And, in cases where fraud is suspected, there is no limit on how far back they can go.

It's good to keep this in mind. Several of my clients in the past got surprises just before the 3-year date had passed.

And I believe they can put you in jail? Our CRA (Canada Revenue Agency) does not do that as they want their money. They tend to go after people who owe serious money and they mostly do an audit first. My mother worked for them for years but she was in appeals and tried to give money back whenever she could. Nice lady! :lol:

Dagmar :dizzy:

You don't go to jail because you owe IRS money. You go to jail if you have committed tax evasion or fraud, and that's why you owe IRS money.

Someone who just messed up on their return and didn't do it right is unlikely to end up in jail.

However, if you don't pay them what you owe, and you stop responding to their letters, they can take all the money out of your bank accounts, put garnishment on your wages, and put liens on your house and car. They are not fooling around.

Thank you for the clarification JayEll.

Dagmar :D

Up and out early to go shopping and get petrol without getting entangled in traffic or queues.

Back for double breakfast. I am glad I've come up with this idea for when I'm at my mum's. It worked well yesterday, coasting me through some difficult situations and meaning I had enough in the tank to sort out food for us both when necessary.

We're on for cottage pie in a moment (made by my sister who is good at cooking). We discovered it in the freezer yesterday. Mum told me to get some nice veg when I went shopping so I got some nice looking leeks and some peas. Mum has shucked them. Fingers crossed for an OK meal. I have raspberries in reserve.

Today's projects include preliminary enquiries about getting a flat roof mended, and buying something for a baby (this is a very long-winded process and it may involve a journey out in the sunshine along the coast). It's a full-time job with overtime here.

As part of my job, I have to enforce IRS liens. If you are single, paid weekly, and only have yourself as a dependent they can take everything that you earn over $195.19 to repay a lien. You can keep more of your income if you are married, have kids, etc, but they can still pull a lot. A tax lien can be more than the typical no more than 25% of disposable income rule. I have some people who have had liens on their payroll for years at a time.

No idea what I weigh, as I was working on my laptop up to bedtime, and did not have time to sit down with the scale in my lap and a screwdriver at hand to tinker with it. That's a weekend project. I'll have more time than I thought, since my day-long Saturday class on design thinking was canceled due to low enrollment.

When I checked on my apartment this morning, the screen door on the patio entrance was retracted. I always extend it and lock it when I visit. So the superintendent probably brought in someone through the patio door yesterday. Maybe that means work is going to start? The superintendent is an epic procrastinator and I will follow up today.

I was driving into work this morning thinking, "Why is this all so hard?"

I have employees who play with the system when it comes to payroll taxes. Two (who are no longer with us) would change their withholding several times a year--adding dependents or subtracting dependents--so they could take home more money. It caught up to one of them and he had his wages garnished. At that point, we told him no more--fill out the form correctly so you don't get in trouble again. A couple more will from time to time state "no taxes" on their weekly time sheets. I've already warned them that if they get a garnishment, they'll no longer be allowed to ask for "no taxes." So far, they're not in trouble with the IRS. Meanwhile, we've told our employees that if they need a little extra cash that we will do employee loans (where they pay back weekly via payroll deduction). That seems to work well and I think it's a much better way to deal with needing money because you don't mess with the IRS (and we're super nice and don't charge interest).

That is super nice of you, Allison. I can't believe people mess around with the IRS on purpose. We try our darndest to do everything correctly. The error this time came when we reported what we had on our forms, but apparently some of the items hadn't been reported, so we didn't report. I hope making errors doesn't make us more likely to be audited because I certainly don't want to deal with that.

Crossing fingers for you, Shannon, on your trip.

And for you, Saef, on work getting started.

Dh came home yesterday. I always try to get my weight down when he's gone and I can control my meals and portions better. It was creeping downwards but it's just gone way up the past few days. Sigh....

My sister has been audited twice. The first time, she was quite afraid of the situation, but in the end she said it was very educational and they learned a lot from the auditor AND it ended up they got money back!