Taken yesterday during a supremely sunny day. Today, on the other hand, is gray and cloudy and we have rain forecast for tomorrow. Oh – the sun just peeked out for a second. What a difference that makes!
We are immersed in Season 3 of Babylon Berlin – to me, the finest series I have even seen. It’s a relief to know that this season is just as good on every level as the first two. I’m just about to finish M Train by Patti Smith. Don read Year of the Monkey all day yesterday and he finished it late in the afternoon. Soon – when I finish – we’ll trade books.
These rocks – rose/pink agate and a geode – have been with me since my childhood. I was always fascinated by rocks and gems, routinely gathering them on family vacations – especially that well known stone from Northern Michigan, the Petoskey Stone.
We had a family friend who lived in Arizona and he collected and polished rocks. I was fascinated by his work. I had visions of him scaling mountains, chipping away at rocks, and then taking them to his workshop to polish. He gave me these. I used to have them on display in my childhood bedroom.
Over the years, as I moved from place to place, they were put in storage – in my red trunk that Don brought back from Detroit last year. I had conflicted feelings about the things in that trunk, if you remember. Too many memories of another time and place. So many, that I asked Don to take it all to our storage facility. But I kept the rocks, hiding them away inside some McCoy Pottery. Occasionally, I would pull them out and hold them.
I pulled them out today. I think it’s time to display them again. I’m not sure where…maybe on my desk? Or in the pink cabinet in the office?
Oh, some good news to share about something I never told you about. When we got back from Paris at the end of October, there was an official letter awaiting us from the State of New York. We were being audited. Neither of us had ever been audited before and I went into a panic. New York and California did not go along with the Federal Government’s tax bill/changes. They still support the deductions that actors and performers and freelancers and artists have always been allowed and that the federal changes took away, resulting in our having to pay several thousand dollars in taxes, far more than we had ever had to pay before. I suspected the return was flagged because Don had to live in NYC for six months during the run of Margaritaville – was required to – which resulted in far more deductions than we’ve taken in the past.
We contacted our tax preparer (she lives in California,) signed over Power of Attorney, and proceeded to gather every bit of documentation we could to support our claim. This took some time, of course, and I don’t mind telling you I was very nervous the whole time. Finally, on New Year’s Day as a matter of fact, we spent 5 hours collating and copying and writing a detailed document explaining everything and we sent it off to California the next day.
I was pretty sure that we’d lose money – maybe all of it; that something, or a lot of things, wouldn’t be allowed. I resigned myself to it. Both of us ended up feeling at peace with the investigation, knowing we had been honest, that everything had been documented, and that if there were any errors, they had been unintentional.
Fast forward to one week ago. I went online to check our bank balance and it was far more than I had expected. I looked at the statement and there was our refund. Plus interest. The entire amount. I yelled to Don, who panicked thinking something had happened to me. No, I said. Good news!
I have to tell you that I didn’t expect it and I was delighted and so, so relieved. We are scrupulously honest and it bothered me that we might be perceived as dishonest. Just the other day, we received the official letter from the State. I feel like framing it (just kidding!) That audit had stayed in our daily consciousness for four months and leaving it behind – officially – is an enormous relief.
Happy Monday.
Well…first off….what a victory! I don’t know if congratulations are in order, but Congratulations! Oh what a relief that must have been for you!
Love your rocks….from one rock collector to another. I have my small collection all over the place indoors…and my larger specimens are outside adding to our landscape. My favorite rock is still back home in Elm Grove…sitting in the same spot it was 60+ years ago. Unfortunately, it went with our house when it was sold. It was a sitting rock…and it had a natural seat in it that was perfect. Now…to find another!
Enjoy your day! ;)
Yes, of course, congratulations ARE in order!
I hope you find that elusive sitting rock, Donnamae. Thank you!
Happy news! Just goes to show good things do happen to good people and our systems can work for honest people. Sometimes this is a thing that seems foreign in our upside down times. A glimmer of hope, thank you!
Yes, it gave me hope in a rather hopeless-feeling time. Kudos to the NY State Div. of Taxation (and to our tax preparer)! Thanks, Janet.
Very Good News.. What a relief for the two of you.
I have rocks all over the place. I started collecting rocks, of any size, that are shaped like eggs. I don’t know what think of myself sometimes..(?)
Take Care,
Kaye
I totally get collecting rocks shaped like eggs. What a neat idea! Thanks, Kaye.
What great news!!!! Take a deep breath & revel in the fact that you’re good people & do the right things!!
We’re very, very relieved, Priscilla. Thank you!
Taxes are so stressful and audits are the worst. My daughter, who was a child actress, was audited at age nine. We ended up owing, but believe me I paid it quickly. Glad it turned out well for you. xo Laura
It’s very tricky when you have to take deductions! Thanks, Laura.
I rejoice in your news! both the rocks and the fact that HONESTY really will always pay!
I love it when hardworking honest and decent people are acknowledged in their efforts!
and that very first picture of the living room in the cottage… well it just blows me away!
sunlight and shadow always gets me. it’s so inviting and beautiful.
life is good! is it not? XO
oh good grief. sorry. too many exclamation points . :)
Never too many exclamation points, Tammy! As you know, I love them, too!
Congrats are certainly in order Claudia. Like most business people I’ve been through
audits and it’s always “hold your breath time” until it’s over. I have never failed by even a hint
of impropriety but during the process a bit of angst definitely lurks in one’s system and the positive ending takes on the feeling of a celebratory occasion.
You have unknowingly solved a mystery for me. My mother was found dead in her home and
as a lone survivor I was left to draw my own conclusions regarding everything. In emptying a remote storage area I happened upon stones. I never knew the purpose and hadn’t anyone to ask. You’ve just told me. We had an earlier generation that owned a great deal of property in Petoskey. Voila ! You are the inspector in my mystery. Thank you.
So glad to be of assistance, R! Yes, Petoskey stones are very well known around the state of Michigan. Thank you!
that is WONDERFUL news and i am very happy for you and don! your honesty and hard work were rewarded. am sure you are very relieved! maybe now you can sleep better?! hope so.
congratulations again!
kathy in iowa
ps: your rocks are pretty. i collect heart-shaped rocks.
Sleeping better depends on all sorts of things, unfortunately! But thank you, Kathy!
of course (and i hope whatever the cause may be gets better)… but i’m glad the tax situation is now in your favor! :)
kathy in iowa
Me too! Thank you, Kathy!
Woo hoo! It’s nice to see people getting money back after an audit instead of having to pay so much more. Well done! that IS good news.
I know what you mean about rocks. I often bring back something from a trip if I can — usually small but I have quite the crystal collection and some agate and raw copper (and Petoskey, of course!) that really matter to me. It’s lovely to see them displayed.
Rocks and sea shells. My favorite little things to collect on trips. Thank you, Jeanie!
Well, congrats on a refund. I’m jealous!
Similar story. When on vacay as kids with Mom & Dad, I forget where we were but it was probably somewhere in the Southwest, maybe Carlsbad Caverns(?), and my brother and I each got to pick out a halved rock like that (whose ‘insides’…I don’t know the terminology…almost looked like a ‘scene’; like a landscape). My brother’s leaned to the desert-y feel but my ‘scene’ looked like a beach horizon. I despair at this over years but, when I was a younger-single gal and I was always scraping money for the next party dress in my quite-social 20s & 30s, all I wanted was cash for the moment (young & broke!). It was one of those times when somebody I worked with was having a yard sale, so I lugged some of my ‘stuff’ to it that I thought I could sell, and my ‘beach’ rock was one of those things. I have my brother’s; but, every time I look at it, all I can still think is that I wish I had the one that, as a kid, I had picked out for ME. I remember in that yard sale that I also sold my aunt’s decorative Dutch wooden shoes. Just a total idiot, t’was Vicki.
The insides make it a geode, I think. Thanks, Vicki.
Since we had to pay over $7000 on our Federal Taxes, we are grateful for any refund.
Happy for you; what a stress relief to have that audit behind you now.
An enormous relief. xo
Good job – congrats! Now if we could only see how “honest” the clown-in-chief is. LOL. Cheater, criminal – lock him up!!!
Yes – how long has his ‘audit’ been going on? Ours was done in 4 months. His has been….what? 10 years?
Thanks, Chris.
I’ve always loved rocks, too. Collected them as a child and even had a rock tumbler. Now I have little dishes around the house with special rocks collected on certain travels. A friend of ours who also collects rocks (he has a beautiful display case of huge rocks in his living room) gave me a few big, pretty rocks (I wish I could remember what they are) from Arizona. I put them in my bird bath last summer for the birds and butterflies to perch on.
Great news on the taxes!
They can be stunningly beautiful, Melanie. Thank you!
So happy for you and Don that this nightmare is over. What a relief to not have that hanging over your heads. Love those rocks you have. They will look nice no matter where you place them.
Marilyn
Thank you, Marilyn!
Great news about your deductions and refund!!
Thank you, Tana!
I am happy your audit was a success. It must have been very stressful. I volunteer for AARP helping people do their taxes so I see the anxiety frequently.
The rocks are pretty. I have several on our bookshelves too.
Very stressful. We are so relieved! Thank you, Kay.