(Raining again--is that 3 days or 4 of cold, rain, and heavy overcast? It's still dark out, but I can hear it dripping.)

Alison, our Minister, challenged us, rather than giving something up for Lent, to live more consciously. This is to take the form of jotting down something every night, about acts of goodness witnessed during the day. I have yet to remember it once, although last night I found the piece of paper describing the challenge, and this morning I was attempting to think of the good things I saw yesterday.

First I was grateful for my good husband, who went to the grocery store after work. This is not just generous and responsible for me, but he did it as an environmentalist. If I had done the shopping, I would have had to drive an extra mile or more round trip, while he was close to Earth Fare.

As an employee of H&R Block, preparing people's taxes, I observe lots of goodness daily. The tax pros help their clients sincerely. Some of them are older and challenge their patience, but they diligently take the time and explain everything they need to do. Others are poor and in need of as much refund as they can get, as soon as possible.

Yesterday, I had a client come back to me again. Her tax return was singled out by the IRS because she cared for her grandchildren last year, after their mother became sick. Now she has to prove that 1) they are her grandchildren; 2) they lived with her; and 3) she paid the bills. This is not as easy as you would think. We sent some information in, but she has heard nothing in almost a month. She came in once before and I called the IRS, but was on hold for more than 30 minutes and finally hung up. This time we were able to get through after about 10 minutes (a goodness). The person was spoke to was helpful and seemed to be caring, although she told us that it would be 3 or 4 months before they even looked at her paperwork. She did urge us to send in more documentation to confirm the 3 points above. The birth certificates for mother and grandchildren satisfy the first point, no problem. We had sent one doctor's statement to prove that they lived at her address, but this IRS person suggested getting a detailed printout from the doctor's office to cover the whole year. (Fortunately, they went to the doctor several times and it did show her address. She was able to get that and bring it back the same day for me to fax). She needed to send in bills to prove she paid the rent and utilities and other costs. She said everything was included in her rent and she had no receipts for groceries or other expense. The letter she had gotten from the apartment manager was not enough. She had to go back to that office and get a statement proving she had paid the rent every month. So, I faxed those additional things and hope she will hear something positive soon. The goodness, surprisingly, was the IRS agent who took the time to go over the details with us and make sure we had submitted enough to support the case. Otherwise, they might have denied and we would have tried again several months later. She will get several thousand dollars from them, if she can hold out that long.

A neighbor, who is an attorney, gave me advice about my situation.

Grand opening; most of "my" staff (yes we are next to the pawn shop; you'd be surprised how much business they do)

Christmas tree lights from the garden

Busy and complicated

Woke up thinking it was the middle of the night. Dry mouth, headache. Lately, the moon has woken me up often. Yesterday morning, it was about 3...but looking at the clock, it was almost 5:30, an acceptable time to get up.

We had survived a difficult day yesterday. I worked several hours in the morning--I couldn't seem to leave as early as I had intended--and then went back 5-9. We made no money yesterday. Three people were scheduled. One did not like the bottom line on his return. He was getting a much smaller refund than last year and refused to sign (or pay). One will come back, hopefully. One was a no-show, who may reschedule. We were definitely over-staffed.

I got home about 2:30 or so. The garage door was open. "That's funny," I thought. "Maybe Ray thought he closed it, but the remote didn't work and he didn't notice." I pushed the button, but nothing happened. I continued making the chili I had started that morning, sauteing the onion and garlic I had chopped, adding a hot pepper left in my fridge from when the girls were home at Christmas time, now seeming so long ago, but less than a month.

My Dad pulled in, ready to finalize our seed order. We usually have seeds in hand by now, but my schedule has been busy and the weather has been COLD. I mentioned the garage door, which he could see was not closed, and he went downstairs to check the circuit breakers. He was able to turn that one back on, but he came back up puzzled. "There were a lot of breakers tripped," he said. "And some of them won't reset." I noticed the clocks were wrong, a sign of a power outage. It was a clear but windy day, so no lightning, but maybe some power line down somewhere. That wouldn't trip the breakers though. One of them "popped" at him, making us both nervous. I went down and unplugged the vacuum cleaner. All the lights on the modem and router were off and the surge protector didn't seem to work any more, which meant no internet for the foreseeable future.

I was making chili and talking to my Dad, trying to order seeds on my phone (which still had internet access, of course). There was a high-pitched whine coming from somewhere. My phone rang. It was the State Farm agent, returning my call. I have had a time with a claim for an accident in October. "I can't talk," I told her. "There's a smell of burning in my house." "Call me back," she said. The surge protector in the study was the source of the annoying and worrisome sound (and smell). I turned it off and felt better.

When I went upstairs to check my computer, of course there was no internet, but the auxiliary things plugged into the surge protector didn't work (my external keyboard, for instance). That surge protector was dead, too. Pretty strange--what would flip all the circuit breakers and knock out three surge protectors?

I had started some cookies while I was on one of the many phone calls. They were not quite right, too much sugar, not enough flour...and I had to leave. My Dad had gone, somewhat satisfied about the seed order, which I had ended up placing by phone. I ate two small bowls of chili--it was good, not spicy at all, with sour cream! I took the cookies I had baked out of the oven, but couldn't get them off the pans--sticky and not holding together well.

I called Ray to fill him in on the electrical mystery. "I think you should call an electrician," I told him. "Don't try to do anything yourself. I don't want a dead husband or a burned-down house!" He was arriving as I was leaving. I was 5 minutes late, not a good example for the people in my office.

It was a quiet evening. I called about 50 prior clients to try to get them scheduled. The other person in the office was M., a quiet and intelligent young man. I'm fond of him, but his English is very difficult to understand. I made calls for a couple hours, then let him make some. Needless to say, he was less effective. Some people hung up on him. He said he felt like he was working in a call center, which amused him. I scheduled a few appointments, but it did not seem practical to have the office open. It was bitter cold and windy out, and the parking lot was empty. We started the closing process, bringing in the signs, rinsing the coffee pots, etc. We left about 10 minutes early. I doubt anyone called or came by then.

Meanwhile, Ray had called a neighbor, B., and gotten information from him. There was an electrical surge from the power company, about 300 volts, in the late morning. One neighbor had called an electrician and been charged $75 to be told it was a power company issue. I think they will reimburse us for our surge protectors. I'm glad we had them!

Rain, steady on the roof. It's a comforting sound, but a little melancholy. And I know it will last all day. Fortunately, it's not as cold as it was yesterday and the day before. Otherwise, we would have snow. Although it can be fun, I do not wish for snow today. Yesterday, it was 30 when I came back from my walk. It was about 26 when I left.

It was a busy day. I worked for a couple hours. I helped 3 clients. One did not qualify for the line of credit, but did not seem surprised. It was probably her credit rating. She did make an appointment to have her taxes done with me in January. The second qualified, but for less than she got last year. She was a little disappointed, but also made an appointment. And the third was pre-approved and got the money he wanted. He will come in to have his taxes done too. I did not have to do any "selling." These were all people who came to the office to get the loan and knew what they were doing. I told them all what the costs were. I felt pretty good about it.

I went to the chiropractor. I hurried home for the small group meeting at my house. I didn't have time to finish my lunch before they started arriving...early. There were 9 of us, a good number. I  had to use the folding chairs. We had a good discussion about gratitude. There was a range of people, from 26 to 92, two of them men. They ate cookies and rice pudding and pear custard squares.

After they left, I had a big salad, with hard-boiled egg and bacon and buttermilk and Purple Haze goat cheese. It was pretty darn good. I watched TV. Then I headed to the community center to spend a couple hours knitting. There were 10 women, if I remember right. I was astonished there was that much interest. At least four of them were just talking. They don't even knit. I brought the pear squares and helped Tanya with a project she was working on. I lent Gere a set of needles and she knit up a square, even though she hadn't knit since high school! It was fun and I didn't come home until 10. Walking in the dark woods was beautiful and I slept well.

My life as an environmental activist

As we headed out for our walk this morning, bundled up against the cold--45 or so, not really cold--I could hear something. "Is that rain?" "I believe that is rain," said Ray. Never mind that the forecast was for 0% chance of rain! It was light. The dog didn't care. Ray carried a small bag of trash, lightweight and about the size of a basketball (mostly kleenex from his recent cold). Today is trash day and we hadn't put it out last night. We walked to a neighbor's to leave it in the bin. We share trash pickup, since we both have little waste. We try to make most of what we eat, and/or buy in bulk. When we do have containers (cans of beans, wine bottles, etc.), Ray washes them thoroughly for recycling. We thought about turning back and driving it over, but it seemed like almost more trouble than walking. Of course, it would not be as good for the environment--or us. We enjoyed the gray sky and colorful trees. When we got to Nancy's, she happened to be at the top of the drive and we had a chance to chat with her for a minute. Ray said he was heading back, but I was going on. "No," I said. "Yes," he said. Nancy was admiring of our bravery. And I continued on my walk, while Ray turned back to work on his notes for class. I am pretty steadfast in my commitment to walk a mile every morning. It is not very much, but seems to make a difference in my health--mental and physical. Sometimes I think of my mother and how she pushed herself to walk just this mile many times. I know it was much harder for her, and I can do it easily, so I do. It had pretty much stopped raining by the time we got home. 

self-portrait with hat and scarf

Andropogon!

Pinwheel cookies were a big success. Of course, they have chocolate.

Alpacas at the Science Museum in Durham

Dinosaur Trail

Bears at the Science Museum

spider web season

The chickens are getting their  feathers back after molting

Back to work

It's a beautiful sunny morning here in Georgia, although it was well below freezing at dawn.

Friday was my first day of training for my new job, as office manager for a small local office of a large corporation. I was one of 16 people there, most of whom were coming back for another tax preparation season. I was honored to be one of two new office managers not promoted from within. Two others worked for the company previously, but not in that capacity.

Corporate culture is entertaining and frustrating. We are "client service leaders." Receptionists are "client service professionals," but of course, they are referred to by abbreviations: CSL and CSP. There are many more abbreviations and code words. We talked about setting goals and motivating employees in our offices with clever bulletin boards and rewards of $7.

Yesterday, I worked 8 1/2 hours, with no break. It was fun. Yes, I said fun. I have very mixed feelings about taking this job. If I were going to "sell out" and work for a corporation, I would like to get more than $10/hour! On the other hand, working is way better than not working, most of the time. One of the good things is that I will only have to work until April 17, unless they like me enough to ask me to stay on and do some off-season work. I would probably be able to come back next year and do it again, if all goes well, so I have a fall-back plan and time to look for something I like better. In the meantime, from early January, I will be working full-time, for the first time in many years of un- and under-employment. I will have to work some nights and weekends, something I have always resisted.

Starting a new job, it is impossible to know which people will become friends I will miss a few months from now and which will be a huge pain in the neck. But, they seem pleasant; they seem to like me and appreciate me. I was busy, but not stressed most of the day.

The tax preparers were notified (only a few days ahead) to come by the biggest Athens office, the one that is open before the season. There was a list of things they were supposed to do: renew their tax preparer ID, sign up for the company credit card, order business cards, commit to their hours for 2014, verify their citizenship (I-9), and sign up for "Skills" times.

It was a bit chaotic when I arrived. L. was supposed to be in charge. She had brought an assistant, K. There were several office managers from previous years, assigned to help the TP (tax preparers). Since I did not know much about anything, I was assigned to greet people and send them to the first station, the training room that had plenty of computers.

After a bit, L. developed a checklist she wanted them to fill out. They were supposed to do the steps in order. Then she gave me a sign-in sheet and asked me to make sure to get everyone's name on it. It was pretty busy early on. L. and K. were supposed to verify the documents to prove citizenship: either a passport or a driver's license AND a social security card. I had to go to my safe deposit box on Friday before training to get my passport. I haven't seen my social security card in years. (It's probably around somewhere). Then L. would sign them up for skills training. She was trying to do other things as well, so a bottleneck developed. I felt bad for the people waiting. It shouldn't have taken very long.

Eventually, I was given the task of verifying documents as well, and then, signing people up for training. In between times, I ate food I had brought with me. I hoped it wasn't against company policy to eat at the desk. I had access to the on-line training I needed to do for my tax classes. The exam is next Wednesday, and I have two more classes before then. I am a little behind, due to working! The other CSL's helped me with getting clocked in and doing the things I needed to do and didn't know how.

By the time I left, after 7:30, I had eaten 2 small Snickers bars (from Halloween) and three cookies. My neighbor, Nancy M., had fallen and broken her collarbone. She needed me to pick up her medication at the hospital, so I went there before I went home. Ray had dinner ready (chicken tagine from the freezer, but still great). He was starving waiting for me.

After that, there wasn't much left of the evening. Wheel and the Daily Show and a chapter or so before I fell asleep, for at least 8 hours.