Hmmmm, I am remembering why we keep Christmas so low key.

The last few days have been totally crazy (nothing to do with the Holidays!).

Work is crazy. I came in Sunday because I had to renew my CPA license and apply for a PTIN with the IRS. (They now charge me $60+ a year for the pleasure to prepare tax returns).

Firday, my boss asked me to get a new client all set up by Tuesday. Oy vey. So was able to get started on that. I am crunching numbers and figuring taxes/bonuses, etc., for every single business client I have in the meantime.

Today we got the tax law changes in our software. Some numbers I did not expect to change, changed. I have a headache just thinking about it. Went back and checked everything I already did - lots of changes. I am annoyed at Congress still, obviously for taking so long for last minute tax changes that affect 2010. I will praise our tax software company for the super fast update. Didn't expect that would be ready today!

On top of all this, we have a big audit coming up. When my boss hired me, he told me that his audit rate (IRS) was very low. HE did not exaggerate. We have only had a handful of audits over the years. Either clients that came to us to help with the audit (not our client before that) or the magic "3 years of losses." 3 years of losses will get you an audit, 100%.

As such, I have been a tax professional for over a decade, and have never been involved in an IRS audit. (Knock on wood!!!)

Just one more thing I have to work on, for the moment. Should be an easy peasy audit, but they asked for a ton of documents. Oy vey! I have to laugh a little because we are 99% sure a disgruntled former partner initiated the audit, somehow. But they are examining all of the partners' tax returns for the last year she was still a partner. So I have to giggle a little knowing that she will be scrutinized by the IRS too. Classic! KArma karma karma.

------------------------------------------------

I also came into the office Sunday to work on my asset allocation. I had my spreadsheet at work and couldn't find it at home.

I am consolidating dh's ROTH from 3 funds down to 2. I had him in Vanguard STAR, and the Total Stock Market & Total Int'l Fund. Simple, for dh. Investing and mutual funds is greek to him.

SO, I moved it all over to a Retirement Target fund. That said, I really like the STAR fund (balanced) and so kept some of that to keep it a tad more on the conservative side. (Not a lot, but a little bit).

The reason for all this hoo ha is that my boss terminated our retirement plan. It was a type plan where I had no control over (& he contributed 100% to it), so now I suddenly have control of the other half of our retirement. Had to figure out what to do with it - it is a chunk of change!

I was going to invest some in Wellington or Wellesly fund, but when researching it I saw one or the other (same management company) was under examination by the FBI. !!

So, yeah, a good reminder to keep up on the news. I decided to stick with STAR until that shakes out. For now, I just went with dh's old "3 fund allocation." I will probably re-examine later. As our portfolio nears six figures, I have a lot more room to diversify, etc. I am not sure if I just want to keep it simple at this point, or diversify more.

I have quite a few managed funds and a couple of bond fuds, as well as some cash, in my other ROTHs. I usually do asset allocations across all of our accounts, but I have a Target date retirement fund that has performed pretty well (T Rowe). So, I think I just want us to both have our Target date funds (on their own, for the most part) and maybe do a simple allocation for my work retirement money. I suppose I am moving the bulk of our investments towards simplicity, while still dabbling in diversification of managed funds for a smaller portion.

That said, when I figured out my assets allocations yesterday, I entered it all into the Morning Star X-Ray just to make sure there was no surprises. There weren't, so, phew! About 30% cash/bonds, 25% international stocks, and the rest to domestic stocks. Sometimes it is hard to estimate the actual holdings/percentages of certain funds. That is why I check the X-Ray.

---------------------------------------------------

Dh and I are *slow* and forgot about the focus group I miraculously qualified for. I saw it on the calendar yesterday and was pretty upset about it since work is so crazy. Couldn't imagine how I could go, when dh told me that BM won't even be in town (Was staying with MIL). I probably could have worked it out, but appreciated the excuse.

Not sure they will ever call me again though! I canceled this morning - about 2 days notice. I know they plan for the cancellations best they can, but felt bad.

----------------------------------------------------

The weekend was awesome! We finally made it to the Aerospace museum and the Star Trek exhibit.

The Star Trek exhibit was slightly dissapointing in that all the talk of it being "original sets" was greatly exaggerated on their website. Also, no cameras allowed. Pictures cost an arm and a leg.

So, you'll just have to take my word for it - I was there! I don't play the expensibe picture game - it's my pet peeve!!!

Other than that, the museum was pretty cool. The Star Trek exhibit was pretty neat. The kids' favorite part was the transporter room of course. They had the ship bridge, and parts of the ship set (those were maybe original - not the bridge or the transporter room though).

They also had a simulator with the exhibit. It was like this little pod they lock you in and swing you around in - with visual and sound of course. The kids really wanted to go. The rules were so extensive that no adult could go with LM, so we initially said no. I knew BM would be fine, but thought LM might FREAK. Finally, we overheard that they had a "mild" setting that did not go upside down. For the best, since the harnesses were for adults. I didn't think it was a good idea for LM to go upside down in that thing, under any circumstances. The kids LOVED it (mild setting) and BM weighed enough that dh could go on the wild setting with him. So they did that. Dh said LM would have been tossed all around, so worked out. BM was probably tossed around too, but he could hold his own.

Dh's GRandDad sent us about $100 for Christmas, and since we went to lunch and the museum with dh's dad and aunt, it seemed appropriate to use that money for it. I can write a nice Thank You note how we had the most awesome day with his son and daughter. IT really was a blast! IT was a rare time I could care less about the money. (The ride thing ended up costing us about $30. We spent about $60 on lunch, and they paid for our admission). The day was just so priceless and fun.

-------------------------------------------------

On top of all that, I found a piano teacher. I told dh I wasn't really picky. I was a student teacher for many years, and don't have extensive music training. Well, nothing extraordinary on my resume - took lessons for 20 years, voice lessons for a few years, and marching band and all that stuff - I do know music! But no formal degree and never took it overly-serious. I know you don't have to be an expert to teach the basics!

But, I did prefer to find someone local/close. Was really my main criteria.

Lucked out and found a private teacher in our community. I really liked her on paper, and she used to be an elementary teacher at the kids' school. I asked for references and even told dh, "I doubt I will call - it's probably just a friend or something." I am just always suspicious of random references from strangers. The references ended up being people I know (one of them a teacher at the school). See what I mean? I googled this teacher and found she was a school teacher before, and she said on her sales pitch. I just wouldn't have realized it was at our school, otherwise.

LM is wary, and younger, and everything is so up in the air with my surgery, that I think I will just get BM started with lessons. I think it would be good for LM, but financially, I am happy to wait a few months. If this works out, I will add LM by summer.

I know group lessons would maybe be cheaper, but haven't found any yet. Will keep my ears open - I learned in a group setting - I think there were a lot of pluses to that. The student teachers did mini private lessons - was a real affordable set up. I need to find something like that for the long haul!

That said, $20/half hour is probably about as cheap as it gets. Dh said, "That sounds expensive!" I laughed and told him I used to charge more like $30 or $35 last I taught (1999???). I will take $20 from a pro teacher. Sounds like she quit teaching school in recent years (trying to build business) and I suppose in this economy prices would be lower. This is also a much lower cost area than where I taught before.

I think $15-$20/week is what we used to do with the group lessons. So I suppose I am sold on location and price, for now. Depends if the kids mesh with her teaching style.

---------------------------------------------------

No wonder why I feel like I am going in 10 different directions!!!!!!!

Tomorrow I am meeting with my surgeon to grill him a little more about my surgery and decide if I want him to do the surgery. I like his personality, but we haven't discussed any of this in person yet, and I would like to know about his experience with this procedure. Just one more thing on my plate!

-----------------------------------------------------

Oh yeah, and there is all the crazy storms to contend with.

This is a park (soccer field):



Just how the whole neighborhood looks today. We usually worry about catastrophic flooding (failing levies) but this is the first time we've worried about a smaller flood. Ugh!