Afternoon, mumpers! It’s allegedly 21C/68F today, and partly sunny. It’s been raining on and off today, and there are some ominous grey clouds at the back of the house while the front has blue sky. We still have a weather warning for thunderstorms until tomorrow morning but so far, no sign of any thunderboomers.
Busy irk day today, sorted out the Russians who aren’t actually Russian but that’s where they’re going and they need letters to get their visa applications completed. That means they need very specific information which isn’t covered by any of the standard documents our student hub is able to produce. We have very few staff, nobody seems to know what’s going on, so I have done the letters and sent them out to students…and set the reply option to a mailbox that I can’t see. So, did my bit, and the rest becomes somebody else’s problem.
{{{Everyone having Covid woes}}}}}
nellie I hope the tax people can get themselves sorted out, sounds like you have done everything right and they’re the ones making a mess of it all. I hope it’s an easy fix for you, once you can get to speak to a real person.
I should be logging out of work soon, then I plan a bit of intertoobz faffing, and a workout. My turn to make dinner, which will be chicken curry, then probably a film before bed. Gym in the morning, errands on the way home and then an outdoor music festival thing in the park near home. I’m looking forward to it, and don’t really care if it rains 'cos I’m going home to a hot cup of tea and a nice dry bed.
Why can’t I find a picture of a guy in a bear suit, carrying a flag? (Haven’t looked for a video, but that would be better.)
Not that I need a picture of a flag bear, but there should be one out there. (The news just said they Olympic organisers were going to choose a flag bear for the closing ceremonies. )
I’m so sorry for your loss, nellie. My heart goes out to you. And I’m sure the taxes were the icing on the cake. The IRS is truly awful at recordkeeping. My mom experienced the same thing and provided a copy of her returns and a written dispute, which was successful.
Bumba, I hope the wife feels better very soon - stay safe, both of you!
Overlygirl had a good appointment this morning - nothing new is broken and the old break is healing well. Overlyboy is still passed out. Work today is meh. The big reveal was a shock to everyone and given the politics, it’s probably time to dust off my resume. Bummer. I haven’t been given any indication I’m leaving by any means, but it seems like a possibility though not imminent. Who knows, though? Got a meeting with the boss lady this morning. Anything could happen. My brain hurts.
Three loads of laundry drying on the lines. I rode the bike for half an hour - it was more of a workout than I expected! Then I boiled some eggs which will be deviled for supper, and I cut up a cantaloupe into nice chunks. I had a bowl of chunks, plus some yogurt, for lunch.
FCD came home early - he got his 40 hours by late morning. He’s napping now, I have the ice maker going, and I’m about to plop in the recliner and read.
Thanks for the calming advice, all. I called TurboTax this morning. Yeesh. The agent asked me for info so he could pull up my tax form, but as soon as he heard about the IRS notification, he said he couldn’t access my form. I’m supposed to submit an “accuracy guarantee claim,” and if they decide they were at fault (Hah. Like that’d happen.), they’ll pay the penalty. Oh, and he had no idea how long it takes such claims to be processed.
I called a WY friend who’s financially savvy. He said to get a CPA. The office of the CPA I found (on Yelp) opens at 9, so I’m waiting for that. They close at noon, so what do you want to bet I have to sit with this over the weekend?
I’ve only used TT once before, and that was years ago when my taxes were even simpler than they are now. All the other years I had a CPA do them. Three years ago, my Wyoming CPA got seriously injured (not doing taxes), and I couldn’t find anyone here: all my friends either did their own taxes or got a family member to do them. I went to H&R Block, but they screwed up my taxes–I overpaid. Hence, my turning to TurboTax. How I regret it!
So that’s my story.
wordy, glad overlygirl got a good report from the ortho doc.
Whot a revoltin developemet this is. I have a sore throat this morning. Wifey wanted me to take Vinnie and go to the Central Orygun house and isolate myself over there.
As long as I felt okay, that was fine with me.
I’m not so sure I want to be on my own with a geriatric dog if I’m gonna be sick.
Decisions, decisions.
Nellie, it’s a known thing that ‘illegal aliens’ will sometimes lie up a social security number to get employment, and then their employer will deduct SS taxes from their pay and credit it to that number. The innocent person who owns that number legitimately gets credited with those extra wages. Or something like that. It happened to a friend of ours, but my memory of the exact mechanism is blurry.
Anyway, that’s one explanation.
It’s smoky and yucky here. It smells, my eyes are burning and I regret deciding to go to the beach tomorrow instead of today.
nellie you have reminded me that I need to get a CPA. I’m trying very hard not to worry about the IRS now. I hope your situation gets resolved soon.
My mom keeps texting me about equestrian events. I know she means well. I competed for years, I had horses, etc, etc. But I gave up my horse after an unrelated injury kept me sidelined, and I don’t know if I ever will be able to ride again. It’s like getting poked repeatedly in a painful spot. Oh well.
Today’s agenda - try to decide which disaster movie to watch next.
I’m planning to watch “Threads” on Tubi later. DH isn’t interested in that one, but does want to watch “Chernobyl” (via Amazon Prime, and yes, I had to pay for that one) over the weekend.
The air is a questionable color and expected to get worse in the Sacramento valley, between the Dixie fire (that accelerated horrifyingly in the last 24 hours) and the River Fire.
40 feet of the top of a cedar came crashing down in a windstorm this past Winter. I cut it into logs.
Two weeks ago I rented a log splitter and split the logs (as well as some from a tree we had cut down a couple/three years ago) into firewood.
There was a lot of termite damage, so I stacked the ‘clean’ wood and put the termite damaged/infested wood out on the street as camp wood. It was all taken within a couple of hours.
Due to other projects, it’s going to be some time before I can rent the log splitter again. Once I do, there’s going to be a lot of infested wood that I don’t want. I’ll salvage what I can, but it looks like about half of it will be put out onto the street.
Was it in the last MMP that the comment was made about Polish women being named Anna? Well, one of my cousins had dug up a lot about my father’s side of the family, back to about 1800, and a lot of those women were named Anna. There were also lots more consonants than vowel in many of the names! Plus, I thought our common grandfather (my dad’s father) only had one brother. Turns out he was third from the youngest of NINE!!! And here I thought for years it was just him and Uncle George (who died before I was born.)
I also found out my dad’s oldest sister was divorced - I’d been led to believe that she had my cousin out of wedlock, but she actually had her with her first husband, and her son with her second. No clue why that was such a dark secret…
It’s a basic straight stitch, so not much to make it expensive. Compared to embroidery machines or even the home machines that do zigzag, buttonholes, etc, the machine is utterly rudimentary.
Meanwhile, my mother is in hospital again for another cardioversion and ankle draining with lasix. Think I mentioned that earlier this week, and that someone screwed up and brought her breakfast when they shouldn’t have. She had the procedure yesterday and I’m told it went OK. Not sure if that’s a good OK, or “it’s as OK as it’ll get for an 85 year old woman.”
IRS: Here’s a nice, deep rabbit hole with lots of confusing branches! |kicks nellie down hole|
nellie: Aaaaaaaaaagh! Heeeelllllp!
IRS: Due to extremely high volume, we are not taking calls. Try again in 2025.
A friend suggested I call the IRS to see if they could walk me through whatever the heck is going on. I tried two numbers and got the above message (without the last sentence.). I have an appointment with a tax CPA Tuesday afternoon. He suggested I log onto irs.gov and look at my actual transcript between now and then. I went online to do so. The IRS said my phone # is unverifiable and booted me off. See if I care. I didn’t want to play with you anyway, ya big bullies.
Then I called the savvier of my sisters. She went through things with me and said there’s no way I can owe that much in taxes. I felt better. Now bumba has planted the seeds of anxiety re: social security theft shenanigans, so there’s that. I should just start drinking. I think I’ll go to the gym instead. Or at least first.
bumba, I hope that sore throat turns out to be nothing much and that you and geriatric dog are OK!
sunny and nettie, I hate that you’re in smoky situations. I hope the fires are out soon. I’ve called August Hell Month for years now because of the heat and forest fires, both WY and here. And sunny, I’m sorry your well-intentioned mom keeps poking at that sore spot.
Mom, I can’t imagine 9 kids. I could barely keep track of the 2 I had. I’ve found there wasn’t much variety in names in past centuries. I wonder what they’d think about today’s trend of “unique” names or spellings.
flyboy, dang, those termites really infested that tree! Glad the bumper is on the flymobile.
The good thing is that if person X is having their wages credited to your SSN, it mostly can only make your eventual monthly benefit bigger if it doesn’t get straightened out (which it will). I agree with the rest, IRS is rife with oops! the past 18 months or so and also impossible to either get on the phone (it’s late over in Mumbai) or to get through to successfully online. This spring they denied my existence every which way, said I hadn’t submitted any taxes for 3 years+. Not.
Is looking for an ‘enrolled agent’ a possibility for you? Vs. a CPA. Somebody else will have to take it from here, that is the sum total of what I know.
For you from afar (the only saving grace is we’re not literally on fire here yet)
My father’s mother was one of 9 kids. I tell people I’m related to half the state of Iowa, and I don’t think I’m far off. I really enjoyed my visits when I was a kid. I got to drive tractors, learned to fish, rode horses. My dad’s visits, when he was a boy, usually involved more chores, such as milking cows, moving the herd, checking the fence. I think I got the better deal.
I’m trying to start eating better now vs waiting until my surgery, and lunch is pretty easy but dinner is a pain in the ass because I’m not yet at the point of being willing to cook anything. I’m becoming very aware of how much unhealthy food is out there, including unhealthy food that gets all gussied up and tries to pass as healthy. Tonight’s dinner was a bowl of Cheerios (with 2% milk) and some low-sugar lemon greek yogurt, and dessert will be some sugar-free pudding. I might have a protein shake, too.
In other news, my nail-less toe is infected. {sigh} I finally sent a pic to my podiatrist, and her nurse practitioner was like “yeaaahhhh…I’m sending an antibiotic prescription to your pharmacy right now.” I picked it up at lunchtime, and took the first two doses today (it’s one pill four times a day for the next five days). The toe has been kinda sore all day. I’m hoping this clears up quickly.
That was me - I mentioned my mother’s Name Day (celebrated on the feast of St. Ann) along with, like, millions of other elderly Polish women. Apparently a hugely popular name for that generation - along with the variants, Hannah, Ania, Anka, Hanka, etc.
As for the consonants .. were most of them “z” LOL? Polish uses “z” in not one, not two, but three different ways.
My late Other Shoe said my emails to my mother looked like a cat fell asleep on the keyboard.
)
I should just start drinking. I think I’ll go to the gym instead. Or at least first.
