Month: October 2018

So far a very slow Sunday. I was awake at 345am and not sleeping. Lovely. Got up at 8, not sure why I stay in bed when I can’t sleep. Habit I guess.

Emily stayed in bed for awhile longer. She is lazy and never reads this.

I was up and doing the usual. Dogs cats coffee food, I think you know the drill. Once I got done I was able to join Emily at the table with the paper. She was online gaming and not reading. I got to read the paper and drink coffee, a favorite hobby of long-standing. Nothing much in the paper.

While reading the paper, our Cocker, on Trazedone, crapped all over the front room. Gotta love the dog yet I don’t. We put him out and he went even more. Would like to kill him. Even on strong meds the dog will not calm down. He just paces and shakes. And drools. Otherwise, a fine 15 year old dog.

So, so far, this day is quite normal. A few minutes ago I got a text from my credit card asking about a series of charges to the same company. About $300 total. I have no idea. I called the CC and they killed the charges and killed the card. Turns out, Emily had made what she thought was a 29$ purchase to a pop up ad. The company now appears unscrupulous. And the charge did not go through. So she put her ATM card in. Now it has to be killed too. Wait, she put in her last, thank god, card and it was frauded and killed and now she has no cards for a week to ten days. I am not picking on her. I lost an ATM card the same way. Once. I had to close the ATM account to stop the charges. Once. So she learned a lesson today. Sadly. The world is not an honest place.

We may go to the movies later. Rather than wash cars or sit around. Probably a bad movie because that’s what’s out right now. But Emily wants to. But, that’s the sum of our plans for now.

Just let the dogs out. Again. Poodle, 16 years old, for a change, did not per on the concrete. She went all the way to he lawn. I usually follow her out because she gets her front feet onto the lawn and hangs her business end on the patio. I have to give her a gentle kick in the rear to straighten that out. Yes, I enjoy doing it. This is the one that likes peeing in the house. Vet has tried antibiotics, now ketaconizole (yeast) next I don’t know. Vet says it may be senility. That makes sense.

So it looks like I’m stuck with A Star is Born when we go to movies. I have less than no desire to see it. Emily, of course, wants to see it. Must be a chick flick.

Just finished washing the two cars. I did not wash Michael’s because, mostly, I doubt he washed mine. It’s possible but not probable. As you may remember, he is driving my car and I am driving his. I took his new used car to the body shop and audio shop for refinishing and repairs. So I will have it for two weeks. We are meeting up this coming weekend at Dad’s/Grandpa’s house to exchange cars. At which point I will have him help me wash it. That’s if Dad has any car wash tools. He is way to old to wash cars. So I might be driving a dirty car home.

We are still planning on going to the movies. We missed A Star is Born cuz Emily wanted her car washed too. I said, go to 7 Flags car wash, you have a monthly subscription. She says she wants it washed. So we missed the start time. Such a shame. If I can ever get her moving we may go to the movies. She always says she wants to go but is never motivated to actually get moving. And then complains about not having gone. She may be crazy.

So I sit. And wait for her to choose. Or run out of time to go. I think she wants to go to the grocery store. That will probably win.

Grocery store wins. That’s where we are headed. I doubt the movies will happen this weekend. Emily seems a matinee only type. I have tried to get her out on a weekday early evening and she always makes an excuse not to go. Not sure what’s up with that. Maybe she just likes the idea of going to the movies and not the act. It’s an excuse to eat popcorn and candy for her too. I don’t participate.

Right now after having said let’s go to the store she is back to Words with Friends. She is addicted. I think we may never go.

Ok. So we went to the grocers. And, as I predicted, no movie. Can’t figure the woman out.

The grocers was same as always but small crowd. We ran into Bert and Liz del Carmen and a couple of progeny. I have not seen him since baseball season in 2009. He was my 3rd base coach on my senior team that season. Long time ago. His hair was black then. Now it’s pure white. We had a nice talk about things. Got semi caught up on ten years worth. Always cool to see old acquaintances. I wonder what he said to Liz about me. Probably said I look younger. And smarter.

We headed straight home after. I should have stopped for gas. Almost out. We drove the kids car. Drive it while I got it.

We got home and I stowed the food. Had to clean out the fridge to do it too. Started the bbq. Spiced the steaks. Got the coals to 200 and threw the meat on. Two hours.

Emily, on the other hand, dumped out the two cat boxes and acrubbed them clean. Sounds like fun! I did not help since I was busy. And I don’t want to help either.

Once we were both done with our chores we sat. I am, obviously, blogging. Emily is playing Words. The fun never changes. It’s 5pm and the day is almost done. My life is exciting.

I did bbq a couple T bones for dinner with sautéed broccoli and a salad. I am a master. Dinner was very good.

Right as we sat down to eat we got a call from Marika. She likes to call when she is on her way home from work. We discussed everything there was to talk about for an hour. Solved all the worlds problems. Had a nice chat too. Her biggest issue currently is the job her company is trying to offer her. She just seems to think it might be some kind of mistake to accept a decent job offer. She really wants to go to New Zealand for a job she was offered that is 2 1/2 months long. And pays less. And would cause her to not get the job here. I think she really wants to go to New Zealand. Rational she is not.

We finished up dinner and a long while later we finished up our phone conversation with Marika. I went off to cruise Zillow. Got to to keep up on new listings.

Now we are watching TV. It’s late. Bedtime is right near us. I was ready for bed an hour ago considering how little sleep I got. I am hoping there is no repeat tonight.

Aloha. Did I mention, I booked a flight to Hawaii (and back) yesterday for the wife and I? Friends have room for two more in the condo and invited us. I have better friends than you. Their generosity extends to lodging but not airfare. 5 days in Maui. I hope I can handle it. The week after Thanksgiving. Looking forward to that.

It’s the season of travel. On the 7th of December, we are flying to Seattle to meet friends, Cissie and Dave for a stay at a lodge in Mt Rainier. Did I say I have better friends than you? Still, airfare on me.

This is a pre Christmas gift for us. From us. And from friends.

Today is Saturday and Emily is working. All the kids who missed school will be there in order for the district to collect the federal money they didn’t get when hey missed. It’s Saturday school. And there is no educating going on. It’s just butts in chairs for money. Stupid. Emily gets paid and it’s only 4 hours and I have never heard her complain. I will be home, doing housework. That will take less than an hour.

Emily left for work. About time. I read the paper with a steadfast thoroughness. I also needed to check my emails for listings. We are still looking. There are five, it turns out, today. In Auburn. Hope to get to all.

While I was in the back room, Latte got up from her bed in the kennel and peed all over the floor. GD poodle. No worries, our Roomba tried to suck it up but only succeeded in spreading it around. GD poodle. She was asleep in the kennel when I found it. GD poodle.

Went out and mowed the lawn. Found all the poop with my shoes or the mower. Fun. But, that seems to end the weekend chores. Not so bad.

Emily got out of school near 1230. I got ahold of her and let her know the open house schedule. We decided to meet at Starbucks in Dixon and head up to Auburn from there.

I had found five open houses to view. Unfortunately, Emily was slow getting moving from Starbucks, and open houses have stayed open hours. So her dragging feet caused us to miss the first one. Too bad. Now have to make an appointment to see it.

The drive to Auburn to the first open house took about an hour and ten minutes. Though we did like the house quite a bit. But too expensive, around 800k. It’s been on the market only a couple weeks so it’s unlikely the seller would reduce his price. We think it’s value is closer to 600k. We left.

Next house confused the GPS and we stopped at the wrong open house. It was a 1M$ plus home and very beautiful. Not happening.

We drove around in circles for a few minutes trying to find the GPS orphan. We finally found the street. And the open house and realized it was a total waste.

He last housebof the day was easy to find but boy was it way out in the middle of nowhere. I admit it was a very special place. The owners had taken exceptionally good care of their house. It was 25 years old but looked brand new. Perfect house. Except for a few things: such as, no master bedroom or master bath, only one two car garage we need two more or at least an outbuilding or two to hold the trailer and other car, and last but not least it’s too far out.

That’s it. We are off to home. Maybe next trip we will find the one we like. Took over an hour to get back to Dixon. Emily dropped me at my car at Starbucks and she headed home. I went to the grocers to pick up food for dinner. I found some thin cut steaks on sale and asparagus also on sale. Voila, dinner.

I headed home. Ten minutes later the asparagus was under the broiler. I put the steaks in the pan right after I pulled the asparagus out. They are thin cut steaks. They pan fry in under two minutes. I fried them in a sauce of teriyaki and bourbon with some evoo tontop it off. Cooked perfectly, and excellent.

After dinner we are watching TV. Saturday night TV is a true wasteland. There is murder porn on every network, two hours worth on abc. I hate that crap.

Fortunately, earlier sports programs caused Jeopardy to be pushed later. Finally, quality programming. So we get to watch Jeopardy.

I am going to bed as soon as Jeopardy is done. I’m to tired to stay up for Wheel.

It’s Friday but it feels like Monday. Why? Because alarm was set for 5am. Yes, on purpose. Emily’s annual event, she has been hosting, at Tremont School. I know you are wondering, what is this Breakfast with Books thing? No, they don’t eat books. Emily, one extra early morning annually, sets up a breakfast for all comers, at school in the gym. All participants bring their favorite book to read while they eat the breakfast she made. Everyone loves it. At least all the students do. But, in order to have a breakfast before the 8am school day begins you must arrive very early to get set up. Hence the 5am call. So I get started early too. Marika has to be out the door by 630 so I would have been up early anyway. No matter.

I do all the usual stuff, just earlier than usual. Like making breakfast for cats, just kibble, very easy. Food for dogs, more difficult cuz each gets different kibble and one gets special canned and each gets a pill (one chronic one temp), breakfast for Emily which is microwave oatmeal. That’s a pain in the ass unless you have a giant bowl. The crap expands when heated and I have to watch it the whole time in order to not have an overflow. And, of course, I make coffee. Made extra cuz kid is home.

Emily was first out the door before Marika and before 630. Em claimed she was late. Marika and I had a quick breakfast and she was off. Had work in Windsor at 9. Did I mention she was offered a full time position after she graduated? Nice.

Now it’s not even 7. House to myself and almost all done. I took my time reading the paper. I have the time. Nothing worthwhile but it was very relaxing. Time for shower and then got ready for battle.

I have to pick up Michaels car at the body shop in Dixon. This would be his new used car. They were just doing a buff out of all the scratches they could improve. If we went any farther it would be a paint job. No. So I Ubered to Dixon and picked up the car and headed to Sacramento for the usual crapola.

I got as far as the parking lot at work. I was texting and talking on the phone for 15 mins in the parking lot. Last call from Kenny. He is my car electronics client. For the last 25 years. I had asked him to do some work on Michael’s car. Remove the janky video screen they installed in the console and put back the storage cubby that was in that spot. Also, yank all the wiring and accouterments that went with it. Anyhow, he called me and said bring the car I now have the parts. So I left work before I got to work. This day is looking up.

To south Sac I go. Not that far, under 10 minutes down the Cap City freeway and hwy 99.

I got there quick. Have not seen Kenny in quite awhile. So, we had a chat. Maybe 30 minutes. He is a favorite client without a doubt. Not sure if he is now the longest tenured client or not. But it’s close. We finally got down to discussing what we were doing to the car. Then Kenny gave me a ride back to the office.

Then I guess my day really began. What did I do? Usual. Nothing I get paid for. Still slogging through paperwork. Prepared my payroll. Saw one client who who came in to pay me for his return. Cash. Nice. At lunch another client came in and brought us Banh Mi. Very nice. She is a sweetheart for sure. Not much of consequence happened, all afternoon.

Kenny came by around 530 to pick me up and go get my car. It was back at the shop. We drove down in rather heavy traffic to his shop. He had done his usual excellent job on the car. He got the console torn all apart and back together. It looks great.

I got on the road. The traffic was horrendous, 2nd day in a row. Lucky me. It took over an hour to get home.

Nothing going on at home. Not even watching the Dodgers lose. They did. Yay. Emily just watching TV. We fixed dinner, usually we go out, but we went out last night. We made Asian chicken salad. Which is what we had last night. Strange. Was very good.

Spent the balance of the evening watching TV and blogging. And celebrating the Dodgers loss. Which made me very happy. I will have sweet dreams tonight.

It’s the day. Finally. It’s the first finish line, there is more than one, on a long trip toward construction and moving.

The day I speak of? Why October 18, 2018. I probably need to re explain for those unfamiliar with my life (new or amateur blog readers) and goings on. About a year ago we made the momentous decision to move. Chose Auburn as the destination (after much gnashing of teeth) and decided to build a house. We looked for open acreage to buy. Bought 5 acres. Hired an architect and engineer which are much needed for building on a slope. Architect determined where we needed to place the building. The site required a variance (permission) from the County. We applied. All hell broke loose. The “neighbors” got together to complain about it. Some “neighbors” are actually over the next hill and can’t hear or see us. Only one home within sight of ours. But NIMBYs are what they are. 3rd public variance meeting is today at 9am. Probably last one. We have already received unanimous County staff approval. But County is overly cautious. Today most likely will have variance granted, knock on wood. But, NIMBY neighbors can appeal two more times. And even sue the county if they desire. Like I said, this is first finish line.

We, lord willing, can take variance to our contractor and get a real estimate of costs. He, of course, has been unwilling to provide solid numbers until this final point. Once I get a real estimate, choices will be made. Number one, shall we build here or sell plot and buy a house? Now that we know what these people are really like I don’t want to live near them. Or talk to them. The value of the property goes up once variance is granted. I lean toward selling. I just want my money out. All the time and energy into this place is gone. No more cutting bait, time to fish.

All that aside, we got up extra early. Emily is going to the meeting. I am not in my happy place in court room settings so she told me to stay home. I agreed. Better her than me, she does not yell at officials. I am known to let all know what I think of them, at volume. Yes, I am one of those. No respect for the process. I do not care to hear comments, our systems used to determine opposing views are unfair and poorly run and need to be completely dumped and replaced. A monkey throwing darts at a chart would be a fine decision process.

I am going to work in a few. Once I finish all the morning duties, that is. I have no appointments or anything pressing. Which is fine with me. I can do what I need to do and may get my desk clean again. Yay.

Off to work. Usual nice drive. Nothing exciting. I got a call from Emily who is at the meeting. Turns out the moron running true meeting continued the process by continuing the process. He kicked it down the road. No finality. No one asked for the continuance. He just did it. Wtf? We can’t realy figure it out. Lots of emails with the douche after the meeting. We are working to get it done. I am confused. After the meeting Emily and I decided to not build, sell the land and just buy a house. Big step. We are looking already.

So onward to the office. Again, more post deadline paperwork. And, I prepared another tax return!! Ok, not so exciting but I did it. The client pays me with coffee. As much as I want. I call and he shows up with bags of coffee. And I do his taxes. It works perfectly. Over twenty years now. I also paid a few bills. I am sure everyone finds this thrilling.

After my day of thrilling paperwork I went home. The drive was weird. I am tooling along about 2 miles out, going at about 10mph. There is a 40’ flat bed in front of me with a load covered by tarps. And about 10000 bees swarming it. And me behind in an open top car. Covered in bees. For the next 4 miles I got to enjoy this. Yes, enjoy. No stings. But weird as hell, I mean really? A very strange trip.

The balance of the trip was comparatively normal and without note. Someone took he extra time to honk at me. I don’t know why. That was strange.

Got home, Marika was already there. She is here to pick up her cat and is spending he night. It’s always nice to see her. We decided to go out to dinner and ended up at the same place Emily and ate at a couple days ago. And we ordered the exact same things as then. Marika also ordered the same thing. It’s like we are related or something. Though I admit we all enjoyed our dinner.

We had discussions about many things during dinner. Mostly centered on food and our current diets. Marika and I are on the same diet. I was complaining because our scale is giving wacky readings. I weigh in on Wednesday’s and when I weighed yesterday I got seven different weights. That infuriated me. Tonight we were talking and Marika said “let’s go look at scales on the way home.” So we did. Well, Bed, Bath and Beyond has about 20 models of scales. Sonthe three of us weighed ourselves silly. And I now realize my scale is screwed up. So I bought a new one. And it was only $30. And I talked them into a discount because it was a floor model. Winner.

Back home. Sitting around. Watching TV. Very exciting. Very. Ate a snack. More TV. Marika doing same. End of day just never changes.

For years, like 20+, I have stayed home on Wednesday’s. No office. Since kids moved out I have less reason to be home on Wednesday. But, Emily seems to prefer I stay home anyway. She always seems upset when I go in on Wednesday. I do not get it. It’s not like she is home.

Today I have two appointments. So in I go. Working midweek does not really bother me, though even my employees are confused. Though I do understand why they don’t want me around. Don’t care. It’s my popsicle stand and I can do what I want.

I managed to arrive by 11am. Mostly because I was thinking my first appointment was at 11. It wasn’t. It took me a few minutes but I got it figured out, it’s at 1. At 1 I found out my appointment did not get the message it was at one. So I called her, and we decided to meet at her place at 130. So Hal and I, Hal is going too, went out to her restaurant. Before I left I called appointment #2 and reset it to 330. No problem.

My client, the 130, owns a restaurant and we are meeting there. This means Hal gets fed and he likes that. We were there to discuss advanced tax planning. Client is an equity investor and sister of majority owner of the place. So we came to get her on board with how this will all work. It will work well. It takes about an hour to explain whet we want to do. And half an hour for questions. She doesn’t pick up on things quickly. She got the idea but it was like feeding a 6 month old.

We left there about 3 and I got back to the office about 325. Just in time to hear my next appointment canceled. Moron. I texted with him a couple times and we reset for end of next week.

The rest of the day was the usual. Just administrative tasks and moving paper. All very exciting. Two hours worth.

I drove home at top speed, top down. It’s starting to get cold, even during the day. So I am thinking of putting the car in mothballs till spring. I stopped briefly in West Sacramento and gassed up. Holds ten gallons, cost $40. Yikes. Been awhile since I put a full tank in.
Continued my drive. Stopped again at pharmacy. I had a conversation today with our vet about the stupid poodle. She has been, the last few months, peeing inappropriately. I don’t mean accidentally. She just squats in he house and goes. Sometimes right in front of us vet thought might be a few things. First thing we are treating is a possible yeast infection. Which is why I went to the pharmacy today and picked up ketaconizole. For the next 28 days I gotta jam a poll down her throat. I hope it works because the next treatment is pills too. After that vet says may be dog is getting senile. That’s easy to believe.

Got home and Emily was away getting dinner. So I sat around. She finally got home and it was time for dinner.

After dinner a little TV. Shocking. Soon to bed. Perchance to sleep.

The day after. I got my first call at 745. People just can’t wait. The last minute late night filings increase the possibility of mistakes and things that aren’t mistakes but cause problems. For instance, I efiled at least 20 returns yesterday through the evening. Some efile were delivered yesterday, mostly by email, and some I created with the returns I prepared. I connect electronically to Treasury and send them. They are received by the IRS, and sometimes rejected for various reasons. There lies the problem. When you file at 8pm with a midnight deadline, you have to wait for a response which is either accept or reject. I had two of those last night. Both rejects. Which leads to late night communication with clients. Sometimes not successful. Hence call first am. No problem. We fix and resend quick and IRS allows some leeway. Which means I have time to do a few errands before I head into work. I can start to have some life back.

This morning I took an hour to pick up the leaves, by hand, off the recently seeded back lawn. The baby lawn sprouts need sun and water and the leaves blown onto it over the last two days block both. Now the lawn,though patchy, is starting to fill in. Lots of little green sprouts all over. My reseeding job is working!! I am so proud of my little green children. They are all so beautiful.

I tore myself away from the lawn because I needed to shower and dress and get ready for work. Yes, I pick up leaves while wearing my robe. Comfy. No one knows, which is too bad.

Off to work. I am not hurrying. There is no deadline today. So no one wants to see me. I like that.

On the day after deadline there is a ton of work to do. It’s all the things I ignored or avoided for the last ten days while I concentrated on tax returns. Because, of course, all I did was prepare tax returns for the last ten days straight. Now I can pay bills, return less important messages, make calls about accounting. The boring stuff. Which I did all day. And I did not do one income tax related task all day. It was beautiful. Nothing momentous but that’s good enough.

I was going to work until 5 and leave. I have a client to see and drop off his tax return. But, I got caught up in posting bank debits. And that trailed into other things and I left at 530. Still not bad. The client I am going to see is special. He called a couple weeks ago to ask for a balance due on his account. He said he wanted to pay up. I applaud that. He had been under the mistaken impression that he did not owe me any money. Fucking moron. Anyhow, I wanted to deliver the return in order to get paid. Actually the only reason I went. Well I delivered and the asshole has another excuse to not pay me. So I say I will take a post dated check. Or credit card. He says two weeks. I say you gonna wait two years like last time? He is gonna pay or so he claims. I have known this guy twenty years. We coached baseball together. That’s how I can be so certain he is a stupid asshole cuz I know him that well. I am perturbed.

I went to the carniceria. It is Tuesday and I need Mexican food. Unfortunately I was given shredded beef when I had ordered costillas with nopales. See, it’s a genuine carniceria, they don’t speak and understand English and screw up orders. What fun we have with them. Right.

Home. Dinner (which is when I opened the box and realized) was served. We split the Adobada and shredded beef (yuck). And no hurry to finish. And no more work for after dinner. I can go to bed at a decent hour.

And since my evening is free I can spend it like usual. Bad TV. Actually not all bad tonight, I am currently being entertained by Last Man Standing. Then it will be bedtime and a little reading in a horizontal position. Things are looking up.

It’s the 15th of October. Again. It’s the last deadline of the year. Thank the lord. It is now 11:33 pm and the day is over. I was so busy I did not bother to log anything. I just, moments ago, emailed my last two timely filed tax returns. I had been waiting for the signed forms. Seems like late filers do all late. I think it’s because they cretinous assholes. Ya, that’s it.

I am gonna paraphrase here in out. It’s bedtime.

This morning I dropped off Michaels new used car at he body shop for some intensive detailing. A spa day for this wheels.

The owner of the shop was kind enough to drive me home. Probably because of all the business I bring him. That’s fine.

Off to work, top down. Still nice outside. Quick trip.

Ok, I arrived. For he next twelve hours I prepared tax returns, took calls and answered emails. At the same time. You know it’s busy when you use the pause in a clients conversation as a chance to work on someone else’s taxes. It’s like that.

On the last day we spend a lot of time getting people to sign efile forms so I can file he crap. You would think it was everyone’s first time. We gotta call al the missing clients who have picked up their returns and basically belittle and cajol them into emailing the forms. Threats of IRS punishment don’t faze people today. Late filers have been through it and hey do not care.

I sorta finish at 1030 and left the office. Top down. Mistake, it’s cold. I pulled over. Top up. Much better. I left even though I was missing one efile form. I was home having dinner when I received a text. The idiots, 3 of them, managed to figure out scan and email. I just sent that one.

Dinner done. Deadline dead. I’m tired. Goodnight.

So, remember how Friday night was so awesome? I got so much sleep I crowed about it? Not so last night. I went to bed around 11. Feeling good. Woke at two with cramps in my toes. Tried all I could. Even tried some special oil of Emily’s. To no avail. I was not able to get back to sleep. And there cramps continued. I finally got up at 8. Just a little ragged and unrested. Amazing how fast a good nights sleep can be erased.

Well, it’s morning. I am able enough to make breakfast for every living being in the house. So I do. Not much of a surprise. Large pot of coffee. As tired as I am, I had only one cup.

Everyone managed a shower before me. I sat and read the paper for quite awhile. That was about all I wanted to do. When I was finally done with the Sunday paper, I took a shower.

The kids went off to visit with one of Michael’s oldest friends. He is in town from Arizona to visit his folks. I am sure they are drinking beer in some brewery somewhere. Lowest form of entertainment.

We, of course, stayed behind. We cleaned the house and washed all linens and remade the bed. Took an hour. This is a very small house. The only good thing about it.

We are now sitting and doing the phone thing. There is a football game on, like I care. Emily likes the noise. We can hear our next door neighbor screaming whenever something happens. He is watching the same game obviously. I really have no desire to watch any football games. It is playoff season in baseball but none of the teams I follow is involved. I usually just follow those in the newspaper. Good enough.

I have a little yard work to do once the wind dies down. Leaves in the wrong places, as usual. But, good news, the grass seeds are sprouting. If this continues I will have a beautiful lawn.

So here I sit, comfortably. Nothing going on. Relaxing. Then what? Call from my brother in law. Has financial aid questions that relate to his son’s aid application. Most people, in my experience, don’t do well with numbers in any situation. That would be my brother in law in this situation. It’s not a deadline (tomorrow) related question even. More of an interruption in my day. It is difficult to stay relaxed when people jump into your day.

While sitting here I got tax info via text from a client. So we texted back and forth a few times to get straight on what I needed. You see, clients never deliver all the info I need. They give what they think I need and then I have to drag everything else out of them. But, I did manage to input all the tax info and get the taxes close to done.

Carly and Michael got home late in the afternoon. First thing he says is we gotta go. So we wait around for them half the day and they take off. Just like a kid to be rude and unappreciative. So we loaded up my car for him to drive home in. That’s because I am keeping his new used car here to get some work done on it. Some body work first and later in he week my long time client and car electronics pro, Kenny, is going to pull out the janky touch screen piece of shit the last owner installed in the center console.

So they took off. And Emily and I went to Target. Halloween candy is on deep discount. This will the first time in sixteen years we can get trick or treaters. We have been so far out in the country we got none. But now, living in town, we will get 100s! It’s an excuse to over buy discount candy. So we did. We got groceries as well. Not just candy. This was our only shopping of the weekend. Which is crazy.

Back home and we dumped our meager items. I got a knock on the door. Daughter of a client dropping off tax info. I hope to have it done tonight. Then we sat down and watched more Sunday TV. We did decide what to have for dinner at least. We are making taco soup. It has all the essential things – it’s fast and all ingredients come out of a can. Ready in thirty minutes. Made just enough to cover dinner and lunch tomorrow. So we made two meals at one time. It’s a win.

So we made taco soup. And it was excellent, as advertised.

Now it’s evening. Time for bad TV. Again. I need to get some sleep tonight.

Congratulate me please. It’s due. I slept in till 8am!!!!! I mean slept. Soundly. If only I could figure out the secret I could bottle it. At the very least, this day had an awesome start.

Kids are here. Michael and GF Carly. They came in last night. We shared a bottle of champagne, vintage French, as a small celebration of Michael’s new job. That was nice. I don’t get enough champagne. Though I have two more bottles chilled. You never know when your day might go to the moon and champagne will become necessary. Maybe having it ready can make the need to celebrate more likely.

It was 10 when they arrived and by 11 Em and I were in bed. The other two stayed up because when you are in your twenties and have no kids it’s what you do. That is a bonus for being old. Early bedtime.

Of course, no matter how late I sleep, I still have the morning ablutions, loosely defined, feed pets, feed us, poopy patrol, coffee (12 cups today), read the paper, shower, made breakfast for the chitlins too. After all this, I was cleansed.

Emily left for Fall Festival. That’s the annual fund raiser at her school. Lots of activities, each kinda cheap, everyone comes and we hope spends money. Usually that’s what happens.

The rest of us stayed behind. I did some leaf pickup. Kids just showered and sat around.

We did clean all three cars. That was nice. Much faster with three people. Though their attention to detail is not up to my standards. I cleaned on the inside too. They did not. No matter, all of them look fabulous.

After that we drove, in separate cars, to our storage unit in Dixon. Seems junior needs his golf clubs. I assume there must be a course near him in SoCal. He hasn’t been much of an avid golfer in the last 10 years so I find it surprising he needs them.

We drove off from storage in different directions. They went to Davis to visit some brewery or other and eat raw fish. A low form of entertainment I think. I went home. I mowed the lawn and destroyed a pop up sprinkler while doing so. Fuc. So I went to the hardware store and blew 10$ on another. While there I remembered I needed to head to the pharmacy for a prescription and an inoculation. I was at my dr’s earlier in the week. They were out of shingles vaccine. She sent me to a pharmacy to get the shot and called in a prescription. The pharmacist said it wasn’t covered by insurance. So I had to pay $190. I could swear right here. Loudly. But I’m not. I will attempt a reimbursement. One can hope.

Got home and installed the sprinkler. It was quite easy. The only difficult part was cutting the riser. Which is not difficult. Sprinkles like a pro. And it sits lower than the last one. Bodes well for mowing day.

Emily just got home as I was turning on the sprinkler controller. We unloaded her haul from the festival. She netted $270 which is sweet. She also won two gift baskets in the raffle. One has a nice bottle of wine, glasses, opener, and rack. Cool. The other is hair products. She is giving them away.

Emily has fallen asleep in the chair next to me. I guess festivals are exhausting. I won’t say anything. We are going out to dinner later so maybe she needs rest. I feel fine esp considering my great nights sleep.

It is the cocktail hour but it appears no one but me qualifies. Two are out on the town and one is just out. I hate to drink alone but I may be forced to do it.

Kids returned and Emily woke up. And she ordered drinks. So I made cocktails for all. It’s a bourbon Aperol juice drink. I like it. Tasty. We are leaving in about 15 minutes for Sacramento. Which is where Empress Tavern is at. We are leaving somewhat early for a 730 reservation but you can’t be to careful.

Marika is driving to meet us at the restaurant. Driving from Petaluma. She was supposed to meet us at home. But her late exit from work doomed that. I have been communicating with her by text all evening. And she is in a very special mood. I can only say, from the tenor of her texts, she is pissed off at the world. Why, I don’t know. But it was painful texting her. She just wanted to be mad. And unhappy. And she succeeded.

The four of us, sans Marika, arrived at the restaurant almost on time. She arrived about two minutes later. She made good time. She has no reason to be so bitchy.

The dinner at Empress Tavern was outstanding. Probably due in large part to our server. She managed every bit of our meal to the end. I am sure the fantastic food helped but the server managed to make all else work timely and well. She suggested things and cajoled us into better choices and had perfect timing on delivery. She made the evening perfect. All the food was perfect as well. A great evening.

We managed to drive home even though some of us were quite drunk. Marika is planning to head home tonight. Carly fell asleep in the car and again when we got back. She has had plenty to drink today. Whatever. We got home by eleven. Marika got packed and for that matter unpacked and headed off to home. The rest of us went to bed. It is midnight.

I woke at 530 and did not get back to sleep. Lovely. Welcome to the weekend. I got up. Emily has the day off. She did not get out of bed. Surprise.

I did the usual, after all I am driven by habit. Fed animals, fed me, made coffee, drank the coffee. Since it’s Friday we got a newspaper. I read it cover to cover. Just because.

Emily finally dragged herself out of bed. She has decided to go workout. Yoga. She did not stick around to help me with the leaves. When she left I finally went out to the backyard and cleaned up all the leaves. Took all week, but now done. Now it’s full time waiting for the seeds to sprout. I may be doing this whole thing again in the spring.

I have an appointment at 11. So I got the yard done and I got to the office before my client showed. Ain’t that amazing? Yes.

Again, if you are looking for excitement in a work day, it’s not me. I finished my appointment then worked till 2 when another client came for his appointment.
Client Phil goes back 15+ years. So when he comes in we always have a great time. We discuss mutual friends, the news, lots of things. And spend 10 minutes discussing taxes. It was the only real fun I get in a dull day.

So after the fun appointment, I had 4 hours of work. Thrilling, edge of the seat work. Right. I got a call at about 610 from another client who wanted to bring her crap in tonight, in 8 minutes. I waited till, 25 minutes later and she showed. Good thing I like her. We had a fun discussion about all things not tax. I am having a great day!

She and I headed out atbhe same time, 7pm. She had to leave cuz I was locking all the doors and going home. I had her help me carry all the crap I was taking home. That way only one trip. She owed me, cu I accepted her crap so close to deadline.

It was dark and cool. Perfect weather to take he top down and race home. So that’s what I did. And it was a blast.

I got home before 8. Emily has already fixed dinner, still cooking. She is making Caesar Pleasers which is seasoned sirloin tips and Caesar salad. A family favorite.

Dinner was fabulous. Emily opened a bottle of wine. I did not have any, instead waiting till son Michael and girlfriend Carly get here. Which they did at about 10 pm. Not sure yet why they are
visiting. It can’t be because they love us.

We opened a bottle of champagne and toasted his new job. Vintage French champagne. Delicious. Something we can all enjoy.

We have all been sitting and chatting and perusing rotten TV for the last hour. Tomorrow we have lots to do. Emily has fall festival at school and the rest of us are looking for things to do.