Had a rough night of sleep last night. Slept hard for two or three hours and that was it. Woke up around 4:00 with a bite of some sort on my arm. It caused a quarter sized welt and itched like crazy. Got up and put some lavender oil on it as that was the only oil I have with me in Stillwater. Calmed it down some but than I couldn’t go back to sleep. Finally got up at 5:30 and took a hot bath. My bite felt better but I didn’t get any more sleep.
I stayed up and worked on my taxes. Got the rental properties information entered into my tax worksheets. Still need to do the Airbnb information.
At 9:00 I was at the library for my first tax preparation class. The guy teaching it didn’t know I was coming. It was a helpful class and one that I would have really appreciated if this was my first year. In addition to the six new people there were six experienced people there so each of us had a tutor to help us through as needed. We only worked one tax problem but it was more than we had done my first year.
I thought the guy that taught the class could have done things a bit differently to help teach the class better but with the tutors there I think everyone got through it. One return almost wasn’t enough practice though but it was better than nothing.
Found out that if I turn the answer key into him instead of entering the information myself I will get help on the answers I miss before the test gets graded. In Emporia they taught to the test. Here they don’t do that. I will see what is covered in the classes next week and decide how to proceed. You get two chances to take it so I may give it a go by myself and than get help if needed for the second test.
The guy also offered to hold another test prep class if we decided we wanted it. I’ll see if they offer that. My problem with the test is it asks questions that we don’t have to really know the answer to as the computer figures it for us. It does give me experience using the tax manual to look things up but I struggle with why I need to know the information and it is hard to give it much of my energy.
I have several more returns to practice on from a book they gave me. They are going to send us the correct return information so we will know if we are doing them correctly. That will be very helpful to me. I never did find out last year if I was doing them right or not.
The first couple of days they have a tutor sitting besides the new people to help them through the process. That will be nice too!
Several people came up to me afterwards and introduced themselves to me. They go to Jim’s church and recognized me from attending the church with Jim. That was sweet of them. I don’t remember names unless I see them written down so couldn’t tell Jim who they were. I looked one person up in his church directory that has pictures of the members of the church. The directory is several years old but I recognized the lady that introduced herself to me. Couldn’t find a picture of the man.
The people that I met today look like interesting people. Lots of men volunteer. Most are retired professors from OSU. It will be nice to get to know some locals.
We worked outside cleaning out the garage. We threw stuff away, tore down and recycled old shelving units, and cleared most of the stuff off the back porch and got it in the garage. Jim still has a bunch of sorting to do and a bunch more stuff to throw out but at least it is out of the way now.
I came in at 2:30 and laid down for a minute. Had a headache again and wanted to see if I could get rid of it. Fell asleep and slept until 6:15! When I woke up my headache was gone. Jim kept working while I slept. He put in a long day of work outside today. I wish I could help more but I have no idea what can be thrown away and what he wants to keep.
Fixed an instant pot recipe of chicken pot pie that is cooking now. Trusting that it will be a good dinner. It doesn’t have flour or sugar in it and has lots of vegetables. I have been slacking eating my vegetables. I sneak them in dinners like this.
Tomorrow I am going back up to the library to do some more tax returns for practice. The lady that runs the site said she would be there and we were welcome to come in and practice. They are hard for me to do on my iPad and I didn’t bring my laptop with me.
Grateful for a long nap that compensated for little sleep last night, grateful for my first tax class and the nice people I met today, and grateful for the wonderful smells coming out of the kitchen right now.