Heat and taxes

This last week has been very hot. 100 degrees every day with a ton of humidity and it's not even August yet. Feedlots across the state are having cows drop dead from the extreme heat and humidty. The local feedlot where Jason grinds hay had 500 die last week alone. Luckily all of our cows are pastured where they have shade and ponds to swim in.

This summer has also been extremely busy. Very rarely am I getting any down time. I have managed to get all of two scrapbooking pages completed since Anna left on the 5th. It’s seems like I’ve been running non-stop since then. What have I been doing? Well…. a lot of work, a little bit of scrapbooking, a little bit of crocheting and taxes.


Yes, I did say taxes. I married into a family that cannot show up on time for anything and so we all filed extensions. In order to do our personal taxes, the Truckline’s taxes and the farm’s taxes have to be done first. Since Grandma Roesner has worked for a local tax preparation service for many years, she has always done ALL of the family’s taxes and by ALL I mean she does the majority of her kids’ taxes and quite a few of her now grown grandkid’s taxes, including the Truckline’s and the farm taxes. Jason and I decided that it was time for someone else to learn how to do the taxes because Grandma is in her 80’s and it really isn’t her responsibility. Sunday, we went out and she showed us how to do the Truckline taxes and the farm taxes. Last night we went out to finish up my in-laws, Ryan’s family and our taxes. The rest of the brother’s are still looking for their information (they are really late to this party).

I now know way too much of my In-laws financial information but at the same time have really enjoyed learning to do the taxes. It’s something so totally different from what I normally do that it requires me to think and actually use my head and not run on autopilot. Next year Jason and I will do the taxes (hopefully before April) and then have Grandma Roesner look over them. After that we are on our own and that really scare me. They are so much more complicated than doing taxes when you have W-2’s to work off of. I also know that by learning how to do them I am taking on a huge responsibility because I know that none of Jason’s brother’s will ever step up and learn how. Nor do I trust anyone else with all my information.

Hopefully after I get the taxes typed up I will get back to scrapbooking and crocheting. I’m really trying to get a baby blanket done before December, though at this point I don’t even know if I’m working on the right gendered color scheme. I’m working on a boy afghan (that’s what I hope it is) but have the yarn and pattern selected if I need to switch. Hopefully next week I’ll have some fun pictures to post.