Less Hustle More Coffee

Good morning! Travel time! Tomorrow we head west! Well, not as far west as the picture, but we’ll be headed to see the grandson and Katy and Cody of course. This week has been busy getting prepared to go. Both at work and at home. The house sitter/cat feeder situation is all taken care of, Mom has been taken groceries, we’ve run some errands, and I’ve been trying to get a week’s worth of stuff done at work in three days (it won’t all happen, but I’m trying).

Work Life.

I drew my missing vase with some flowers in it on the board since my real vase is missing and I can’t bring flowers in to enjoy. Well I could but don’t want to lose another vase, lol. I also must add that someone’s glass mug was thrown in the trash (the person dug it out herself after finding it in the trash) and the same person’s food was taken out of the fridge and placed on her desk to spoil. Just bazaar stuff going on.

Oh you know how I told you I was going to count all my reports that I did at month end, quarter end, year end mark – just so it would give you an idea of how panicked I was to get through. I counted roughly 110. That is 110 times to log on to a state’s website and either pay tax, or do a return. It’s probably more than that as I’m not sure I multiplied the weekly x 4 weeks in the month. The break down was like this:

*Weekly I do: 2 fed tax payments and 4 state tax payments

*Bi-weekly: I have one state to pay taxes in that is twice a month

*Monthly: I have 11 states I pay taxes in monthly- some are file the return and pay.

*Quarterly: I have 7 that I pay taxes or do a return and pay.

*Quarterly: I have 23 withholding tax returns to do at quarter end

*Quarterly: I have 25 unemployment returns to do

*Quarterly: I do one fed return for one of our companies

*Year end I do approximately 32 states year end reporting along with also entering the w-2s for all those states.

*Oh and I pay FUTA payments quarterly and didn’t include those in my number.

So we have two companies that I do these for and so some of the state are the same.

Anyway this is why I was freaking out in January because every time I had to be away from work it was stressful. I needed all the time I could get and everything kept trying to keep me away and making it harder.

It’s soon going to be quarter end again and it’s always a struggle to get that in but certainly more feasible than January. Some of these reports or returns take some time. It’s like doing your taxes on line that many times. Well, it’s exactly like that, lol. Maybe not quite as complicated as you have all your data and ducks in a row but it still takes time to go into each website and do these reports – might I add ON TOP OF payroll which usurps about 3 and half days of the week if not more, depending on what is going on.

I’ve also been working on my recommendations for the next “year end” process which I intend on giving to my bosses but I’ll probably have to finish working on it after the next quarter ends.

It’s supposed to rain cats and dogs about the time I head for work today, sadly. But it is what it is I guess. I am going to have to wait til the sun comes up because I’ve discovered recently that I can’t drive at night in the rain as I can’t make out the lines in the road – it all looks the same. Kind of a scary discovery. But I will have to wait to leave til the sun comes up with rain coming. And also the sun has to be up anyway because of the pot holes on the road b/w here and there. They are entire craters from all the recent rain and snow. They can’t be seen to be avoided in the dark and I don’t want any tire problems. My tires are already bad enough. George says they are not but they are cracking. He says all tires do some of that. I really don’t need to be riding in the rain at all with them.

The next video. Finally when I got home, the video had uploaded. Someone asked if maybe my internet is not proper. I think you are right. When I put my cell phone on internet, it often shows one bar now and we get messages when streaming that internet is off and then back on although it rarely impacts the streaming itself, so I suspect that we need a new router or at least need to call Comcast and see what they can do. I’ll be also seeing what George wants to do about our streaming and if we want to keep cable. It’s on the list for this year to address it. He may want to keep paying out the wazooooo but with all the prices going up – I kinda think we need to save a bunch a money here. I think there are ways to see live TV without paying for cable. What all do you all do? We really don’t watch much live TV but he’ll want to see his football, and we need to be able to get local channels for news and weather. Other than that we do mainly Netflix, Discovery Plus, and YouTube.

So the plan is to come home after work and put the video live ASAP and get the word out. I have a lot to do tonight to finish some laundry and packing but what is left to do with the video will not take long – just the thumbnail and prep and make it live. Then it takes about an hour to get it out on all the social media platforms: Here, Instagram and Facebook. You have to take a screen shot – usually have to fix it up on stories etc. Takes a minute to get all that done. That is the part that takes the longest, but if I run behind I can get the word out tomorrow. But tonight is the goal b/c the videos get more traction on YouTube if watched immediately when posted. I’m no where near suggested videos to watch in the SEO ratings for them anyway, but I try, lol. I need a lot more viewings, likes, subscriptions for that anyway.

Then when we get back from Hot Springs I can clear out Final Cut Pro and begin the next one. It’s always exciting to start the next one. I can tell that the next few are going to be more of what I normally do. The flooring one is a little different as all the footage was done at home. Not as fun but the ones after this will be more like my normal ones. I still think you will enjoy it.

Well I need to get ready and go as the sun is coming up – what little we will have today.

I will try to blog some on our trip but the main thing is enjoying family so – only if I get alone time. Sometimes I can blog going down the road on my app, so maybe I’ll be here tomorrow. We’ll see.