Arrrgh!!!

This has been an odd morning. This is the last day before the audit, and I'd planned to work in the office all day. I rose around 5:15 or so, and read for a bit, and then threw on my clothes. I did a few chores, and started a load of laundry, and then headed to the office with a cup of tea to make a grocery list. Dear Husband took the garbage out this morning and asked if I was hiding garbage stickers somewhere. Not good.

The rest of the house was still asleep when I headed to the store. It's very odd to be there when they are cleaning the deli, and the baked goods are not yet out, and the fish and meat market is empty and dark. Luckily, I didn't need anything from those areas. I had most of what I needed for the week on hand, and just had to round things out, and pick up some garbage stickers!

I gave Elegante Mother a French cruller, and then headed to the office. I've paid my personal bills, and next up is our smaller company. Then, I'll be back to working on things for our audit. When I was filing, I found the letter from the company who will be doing the audit. I also have a letter from the Union. It's interesting to note that the letters do not agree as to the scope of the audit, nor the dates covered. Basically, the auditor wants every paper that's crossed my desk for a period of three years and four months. We'll see about that.

Doesn't it sound like a witch hunt? I know the union hopes to make more money from us with unpaid benefits and penalties, but I'm confident that our records are correct, and complete. In return for giving me all this grief, I plan to smile in the knowledge that there just aren't any mistakes. *S* (Can you see me stomping my foot and saying "So THERE!!"?)

So....I'll be at my desk for a while, and I might even be here this evening, but most of the pressure will end sometime tomorrow. YEA!! The good part of all of this is that I can see the top of my desk, and I'll be able to do a little Spring Cleaning in the office. Good timing: the CPA will be here to help me with first quarter reports in a couple of weeks, and I'll be ready for her.

We're having Chicken and Ham Tetrazzini for dinner, with roasted asparagus, and maybe a salad. Comfort food at it's best, and perfect for a gray, dreary day. Come on sun.....show your face!

I hope you're all having a good day, and that Spring is finding it's way to you. *S*

My audit is DONE! OVER! FINISHED! KAPUT!

I wish I could tell you that my bookkeeping was perfect, but over the course of three and a half years, I under-reported 17.5 hours. :-(

It could have been so much worse. The auditor had a name on his list to check that he thought hadn't been reported. The man had worked close to 900 hours for us. I was on the verge of apoplexy at the thought of the cost and penalties. I was able to hand the auditor the union report, showing that I had paid the benefits, and that the auditor had made an error.

Those 17.5 hours really bug me, but I should point out that in that time period, I reported that our bricklayers and laborers worked a total of 82,173 hours, plus a little overtime. It puts the 17.5 hours into perspective.

I can tell you that the union spent more to do the audit than they will get back in benefits and penalties! *G*

Now, If only someone would put away all the data that I had to drag out for the audit, I'd be a happy camper!

This morning I had a call at 7:30. I was getting ready to go to exercise. We'd been planning a party for our exercise leader, who turns 60 on Saturday and I wanted to get to class a little early. The call was from our guru, who croaked out..."I'm sick. Can you cover for me at class, or should we cancel?" know the class was disappointed when I arrived and announced that I'd be subbing. We went through an old routine which kept us busy, but didn't really move us forward .

The ladies who were organizing the class party said that they would hold off until Monday to celebrate her birthday. We're each planning to give her sixty of something. I chose marbles, so that should she ever feel that she's lost her marbles, she have some spares on hand!

Our guru has invited us to an open house at her home tomorrow. When she called this morning, I asked if she was canceling her party. She and her husband wanted to make it through today before deciding whether to cancel the party. She just sent an e-mail to let me know that the party is on. Now, I'll need to let Elegante Mother decide whether she wishes to risk catching anything.,although it's probably a moot point, since I plan to go.

It's been a long week. I may sleep in tomorrow, and then do some yard work before we go to the party. I'm looking forward to a little time out of the office.

You know....the WARM, SUNNY, DRY weekend that lets us know that it's not going to be winter forever. I won't be so rash as to say that spring has finally arrived, but the weather this week was exceptional, and I spent part of each day in the gardens, clearing off the spent plants and even pulling up crabgrass and poison ivy stems.

When your nose is within a foot of the ground you see all sort of things that you might otherwise miss. I realized that the dead stems of the purple fountain grass were covering a pod of daffodils and tulips, so I started there on Saturday morning, digging up the dead annual. It was covering some of my favorite daffodils, the Ice Follies, which are usually the first to bloom. This year they will loose the race to the traditional daffodils that are planted along the front of the house.

I saw fever few, sweet woodruff, crocus, the tips of Dutch iris leaves, a volunteer vinca that I should exterminate, and tons of iris. I have one pod of iris that is next to a downspout and I can see that I'll have to move them this year. There are four other HUGE pods of iris that will have to be shifted this year. I meant to get to them last year, and it just didn't get done. If I wait any longer, they'll die off for lack of good soil and overcrowding.

I didn't get everything trimmed, but I made a good start. I can tell that I'm not a kid any more. I can't work for twelve hours on my hands and knees and still get up and walk away. I need to be more careful with mulch to keep weeding down.

Dear Husband, super guy that he is, took a little time away from varnishing the boat to prune the old shrub rose for me. Following information from Bogie, he cut it back severely. This rose blooms on new canes, so we are encouraging it to put up new canes, while we get rid of the brambles. I hope it makes it. This was one of the plants growing on the grounds when we bought the lot 19 years ago.

Each day that is dry, I hope to put a little time into the gardens so that I don't have to devote entire weekends to weeding. I'm SO glad we had warm weather. It felt as though I'd been given a treat after a difficult week, and it was lovely to have some time outside. And, YES.....I wore a hat! *G*