French Furniture, Cats, Hens and the Killer CPA

Spouse decided, with no nudging from me, that the husband of the
would be buyer of the french sofa was just too big for it and could
not have it. So I put it under the window in my dressing room, one
of only two remaining “girly” spaces in the house, where it will
probably stay. If the dressing room did not also contain the cats’
closet it would be a perfect spot for morning coffee. Maybe I will
have to break my clay litter rule and get some of that expensive
crystal stuff for the box. Maybe Leonard, the baby cat, will one day
start covering his stuff and not just throwing litter every which way.

As for covering it up, the hens have decided, for who knows what
reason, to cover up the daily egg. So every morning I have to go
sift through the bedding in the nest and retrieve the eggs. The hens
take great offense and make assorted alarm noises the entire time.
They aren’t broody this time of year so I don’t know what to make
of this. The hens alarm sounds get the old dog going and he
complains (loudly) about the hens. He thinks the hens are horrid
things and clearly suspects them of wrongdoing. He hopes I will
one day come to my senses and allow him to assassinate them.
Well, they say hope is good for the heart...

Anyway, the rest of the studio will be put back together this
weekend. I look forward to having a permanent place to work.
This will be the first time Spouse and I have, intentionally, shared
creative space. Joining us in the studio will be the large praying
Thai Buddha figure. Neither of us really wants to part with it so, at
least for now, we won’t.

Long ago I worked with a CPA who gave me chest pain and
anxiety. The work didn’t do this, the CPA did. I have been helping
her out a few days a week for the last few months. On the days I
am with her my BP goes up, heart races, head aches and chest pain
comes to roost. Really she is not a totally bad sort and her heart is
not actually black. But every single thing she does is contrary to
good (read profitable) business practice. We use QuickBooks, the
name offends me but the product is generally ok, at least I used to
think so. I have been working to get said CPA’s 2006 books
cleaned up and ready to close. I had the bank reconciled through
November. Since it was late and the December statement was
missing I left the rest off to finish later. When later came and I
went in to do December I thought the beginning balance looked
wrong so I checked the printed report. IT WAS WRONG. How,
why, who, what? Better yet there are now 5 copies of the company
books, none of which is identical to the others, some are on the C
Drive some on the network. YIKES! This happened years ago
when I worked for her before. I am at a loss now, and I was then,
to explain the problem. I use QB on other computers in another
office and have never ever ever had this problem anywhere else.
SO WHAT THE *%@^!. Anyway, the hurry is so she can file her
taxes by the Oct 15 deadline. Fair enough. The problem is that she
wants the QB fixed for 06 first. At this point it is a no can do. I
cannot fix it when I don’t know what is broken. She suggested I
take all the 06 bank records (maybe 1000 entries) and put them in
her personal set of QB on her computer. F— that. So I am doing
an old fashioned here are your deposits and here are your expenses
(broken into accounts) do your schedule C and shut up about the
darned QB. I realize I am ranting here, but it really is getting under
my skin. So instead of having a leisurely weekend with spouse and
pets and home I am going to be in a small windowless office
analyzing expenses and trade accounts.