Almost There

I've almost got everything done that I needed to do for probate. WOO-HOO!!! All I have left is to finish getting Dad's taxes done. Everything has been turned over to the tax man and I am now waiting on a 1098 from PennyMac. If they sent one it either arrived before dad died and he put it who knows where or it was lost in the mail. I'm actually thinking it may have been an oversight as they are unable to pull that info up in their pc systems and are working on it. Anyway it they should be done by the eleventh.

Today I also received my verification/clearance from the company that processes our credit/debit cards. So I was able to run the past six weeks worth of slips. And with that I was finally able to order some clear rainbow ripple 96 dichroic glass in two colors!!! I have also found some lovely new jewelry boxes that fit my new jewelry color scheme of black and white.

On other fronts I have given away my parent's bedroom set to family members who needed them. As I was cleaning I went through my mother's pictures and other memorabilia stash in her bureau. I found some fun/interesting items-like a love letter from my father to her. They were definitely fooling around before getting married, at least while they were engaged. LOL! My father was quite the romantic young man back then. (1962)

Upon the removal of the bed and bureau I was appalled at how much dust, dirt and crud I found underneath and behind these items. Of course nothing had been really cleaned since my mom died. (2003) As that was my parent's room and I have been taught to respect their privacy and stay out I never thought about going in and giving it a thorough cleaning. And dad never asked me to. He just had me strip, flip and re-make the bed.

After cleaning up that mess my son took his new futon mattress and moved into his new room. Now he has to clean up his old room so I can finish cleaning out his new room-moving some of it into his old room.

I acquired a loveseat yesterday to replace the poor old broken down couch and we got the old couch out and the loveseat in. It is much shabbier than I thought, BUT it is comfortable and still in much better shape than the couch. It was free and will tide me over until I find the "right" loveseat.

As the weather has been improving-well for the most part anyway I have been looking around the place with "fresh" eyes. We are going to be doing a bunch of trash removal out of the yard this weekend. I'm embarrassed at the mess in the yard. I'm not sure when or how it got this bad. I have to get rid of the old couch, the ex's old full size mattress set, old glass packing crates among other miscellaneous stuff.

Well it is time for me to go. I've got to go drop off the matching chest of drawers and one of the nightstands. Now if I could just remember what I did with the other nightstand.....

Minecraft!

IOTD, Pink Ice Gemmies, Dichroic Art Glass Wire Wrapped Earrings.

I've had a nice weekend. My fusing class went fairly well I think. Had fun anyway!

Otherwise I had a fairly relaxing weekend. I still have to play plumber with my toilet. It evidently needs to be "snaked" and of course I can't find mine. Either going to ask the plumbers behind me if I can borrow one or I'll have to buy a new one.

I have to admit to something. I am addicted to the game "Minecraft". My boys got me hooked. I love it-except when my laptop overheats causing me to lose my file-grrrr. I like to think of it as that proverbial cardboard box-for adults! You know you give a child a large cardboard box and it becomes the vehicle for their imagination to take off. It could be a race car, rocket or firetruck! Minecraft, to me, is similar. Your imagination is the limit. One can dig, build and explore. I've always wanted to carve out a mountain and make a house, err castle!

Insurance Money Finally Here!

IOTD, This lovely Pink & Green Dichroic Art Glass Heart Pendant. The bright pink and green remind me of spring!

I finally received the life insurance money. My agent called the company and demanded that they process it immediately AND deliver it using overnight! He hand delivered it to me yesterday evening. Now I can finish paying my father's debts-his Chase credit card! And I can go grocery shopping after all!

Accomplished quite a bit yesterday. Updated some of the supply figures for dad's taxes with the rest of the supply invoices I found since I added everything up and put it on a spreadsheet. Faxes the information my tax guy needed to file our extensions. Faxed W9 form to the credit/debit card processors. I'm trying to get the new account routing number set up so I can call in the past month's worth of debit/credit slips. Worked on getting the glass shop studio cleaned up for the beginning fused glass class I will be teaching tomorrow. We cleaned off two counters and most of a third. I couldn't believe how nice it looked when I went back over there later!

Inventory For Probate Completed!

Today's IOTD is this lovely Adjustable White Opalescent Dichroic Art Glass Wire Wrapped Ring!

I am pleased to announce that I have completed the majority of the work needed for probate. The biggest part was the inventorying of the stained glass shop so I could figure out the value of the business. Of course their was the household value, but it was much simpler! To top it all off I got all the paperwork filed into three different accordion files. One for the Estate, one for Business and one for Personal. Hopefully the paper chase is now under control!

I have a meeting with the probate lawyer later this morning. As for my taxes...my tax man is NOT going to be happy with me. I was supposed to receive a copy of my pay invoice for my paper route for December 2010 this morning. Instead I received a copy of dad's.....argh! He can't file for an extension with out an estimate of how much I made.

Well I have to run and crawl back into bed for a short nap before my appointment. I wasn't going to, but I seem to be coming down with a cold so I'd better rest.

Probate & IOTD

IOTD-"Tear Of The Goddess" Bronze Dichroic Art Glass Necklace. Soon I will be re-pricing my goodies to reflect the rising cost of the metals I use in them.

What can I say? I've been rudely thrust into the world of being a responsible adult and probate sucks. I have to have the majority of the information for probate gathered and ready at the same time as the taxes.

I have inventoried the stained glass shop to figure out what the business is worth. I've had the house and property appraised. I have a household inventory done with an estimate of it's value. Last year's property taxes are paid. The funeral service is paid. One of Dad's credit cards is paid off. Bank accounts are closed and an estate account opened. I am STILL waiting on the blankety-blank life insurance. It will be paying off dad's other credit card-the big one. I will be using this month's grocery budget to make a payment on it courtesy of the life insurance company. I was told that they would process the claim and send the money "today" about three weeks ago. Yesterday when I called to check I was told it hasn't been processed yet, but they will do it "tomorrow". Yeah, right, whatever. Going to take a loooong time to finish probate if I have to pay everything off out of MY pocket. Well I want to keep "my' home and the business. I need the vehicles to do my job of delivering papers. Besides I can't rent for what I'm paying for the mortgage!

Speaking of delivering papers-I took over my father's paper routes along with mine. I am know delivering 470 paper every morning. I get up at one am and get home between five thirty and six am. I am hoping that this will give me enough income to pay all my new bills.

I was so excited to get the paper delivery job. With the income I would be able to pay off an old debt, buy dichroic glass, wire and tools I'd wanted for several years. Not to mention getting my teeth fixed and replacing my poor old laptop. Most of that isn't going to happen anytime soon. That money goes to pay bills instead. I am grateful to have the income though.

My father died before he could show me how to read the pay invoices from my newspaper route. Actually I have my route figured out. It is reading his invoices that is giving me so much trouble. And of course the no one at the paper can show me how to read the dern things. I'm hoping to get a chance to run into my dad's friend so I can ask him for help.

So dad, err his estate, my ex and I are all filing tax extensions. The ex and I have to take extensions because my pay invoice from last December has gone AWOL and I am waiting to see if I will be allowed a copy. (we are NOT supposed to lose these, I'm not sure if I lost it or dad put it somewhere) The tax man will not have time to do file our taxes before the 18th