Mike's Tawdry Tales

Quick Update

In my last post I talked about M's newly painted house. I've changed my mind about it. It looks Ok, actually it looks pretty good... He kept asking me what I thought so I was honest and told him at first I didn't like it, but upon seeing the finished product I changed my mind. I think a lot of my reaction was that it was such a drastic change, it was a shock to the eyes to see... even though I think it looks good, I still wouldn't have chosen the mustard yellow for the doors or black for the shutters.

Earlier this afternoon, we were treated to a fashion show by one of my clothing salesmen. It's always more fun to see the clothes in person, instead of a picture in a cataloge. It doesn't hurt that the salesman is handsome... he even took me to lunch. Anyway, I placed my orders for my winter & holiday clothing. See all the fun you're missing Bubbles.

Is there...

a tactful way to tell a friend that his once cute house now looks like a HUGE pile of dog shit in his yard?

My friend M had his house painted over the weekend. He had it painted brown, actually it is shit brown. That is the only way to describe the shade of brown he chose. The whole outside of his house is painted that color with bright white trim and mustard yellow doors, the spindles on his balcony are painted mustard yellow and the handrails are painted black. He has the most beautiful yard and it is totally lost because all you see is this huge brown turd... He loves it and thinks it looks wonderful... it's not.

He keeps asking all of us what we think... we just say something like "It's a big change, it'll take some getting used to..."

If I can get a pic I'll post it.

Meet Riley...

I only had to take care of him this weekend. It seems to be turning into a weekend job. He's really sweet and well behaved with me, but he's not like that wih Mr. D, they seem to have a personality conflict.

I also kept my ten month old neice, Brooklyn, for the first time on Saturday. I started keeping her older brother when he was two weeks old, so he and I always got along. However, with her it didn't go well, I only had her for 30 minutes and she cried for the first 20 minutes. I was about ready to cry too...

Presenting...

a small tour of my store...

The wood on the outside of the dressing rooms came from an old barn - that I had to help tear down. The horseshoes above the doors came from Mr. D's horses.

How to push an accountant over the edge.

Yesterday was the last day of income tax season - THANK GOD!. This was my 25th year of doing income taxes, it was also without a doubt my most chaotic and stressful.

I know most of it was my fault - I picked up new bookkeeping clients, trained a new employee (who I must say did pretty good), started the new business, and only took a day or two off here and there during the last eighteen months. Based on that I know I let things and people get to me where before I would have blown 90% of it off. I've finally reached a point where all that can change now. All the remodeling is finished except for the carpet in the office area and some painting outside - I'll be paying someone to do those things. My store is open and holding it's own. I'm also going to be making some changes in how my accounting office operates to stop a lot of the interuptions, etc.

Now regarding the title to this post. How do you do it? You have an oilfield worker 100 miles away cut a major fiber optic cable shutting down landline and cell phones, and DSL internet services on April 15. We are talking stress levels of major proportions, not just for me but for every accountant in the area... a fitting end to a "Tax Season From Hell", don't you think?