I took a nap yesterday afternoon and then had trouble sleeping last night. It was a long night of sleeping for a short bit, up for a long bit, rinse and repeat all night.
I was in Emporia to do taxes this morning by 9:00. We had a fairly easy day of it and I was out of there by noon which is early. I sure enjoy my co-workers and the clients that come in. Time goes by quickly. I realized today we are over halfway done with this season. I have done taxes eleven times and only have nine to go.
I pulled up my big girl panties and filed for 501(c)3 nonprofit status today. I had sent a note to my accountant and found out what I had done earlier was the first step but it wasn’t a tax advantageous one. She told me what form to file. I read about it, read the 25 pages of instructions, and then got brave and did the form.
I had trouble signing into the IRS account I needed to use. I had to set up a new email account and even then it took me a bit to figure out how to log in. Man, they don’t make those things user friendly for people like me that are not competent in doing new things on the computer. Stuck with it and got it done. Now I wait to see if I did it correctly and the approval goes through.
Once I know that it goes through and is approved, I will have to file a tax return for last year. I think I can do it on my own now that it is the simplified version for a nonprofit. We shall see if I get approval in time. Not sure what I will do if I don’t.
I also have to figure out what other responsibilities I need to take care of if the status is retroactive to last year. This has been a steep learning curve for me. I only know what I know and sometimes that is not enough.
I told Kathy today it is a good thing I didn’t know what all I was getting into when I started Love in Action as I don’t think I would have had the courage to do so. I kinda figure things out as they come up but some sure stump me for a bit. Now I am going to wait to finish up the Charity PayPal account until I get official notice that I am an IRS certified nonprofit. Things do have an order to them but it is hard to arrange things until one can fully understand the order to do things in.
I got approval to add some self-help books to the Amazon gift registry for the Detainees. I wish they had more of them in different languages but there is a limited selection and I only found Spanish as an alternative. The Center has had Detainees from over 12 different countries and languages in the facility at one time. Spanish is probably the most common but not always. I need to make a post on the Love in Action Facebook page letting people know I added things to the Gift Registry. It was getting pretty low on options of things to purchase.
Things do seem to be coming together though and a path is being shown to me for the near future. It is still hard for me to predict where Love in Action might go in the future. I don’t set goals with it and kinda wait for the next thing to show me what to do. It will be good to get all this paperwork stuff completed. I can’t believe I used to spend most of my time doing that type of stuff. Not as easy for me as it used to be.
It was in the low 80’s today but a cold front is coming through this evening and bringing some chances of heavy thunderstorms and much cooler weather for tomorrow. This weather can give you whiplash the way it changes from day to day.
Tomorrow I have to be in Emporia at 9:00 to get fitted for my CPAP machine and mask. I am meeting a friend for lunch at 12:30 and then am going back to Emporia for a haircut at 3:30. I don’t like two trips to Emporia days but sometimes a girl has to do what a girl has to do to get everything fitted in. Thursday I do taxes again and then I have three rest days.
Have most of the details nailed down for the Singing our Resistance event March 28. It will be here before I know it. I do need to touch base with my song leader and see what her needs are going to be. I also need to get hold of the lady that is allowing me to use some big indoor space in case of inclement weather. I need to know how to get in the building and where the keys are.
Feeling relieved that the paperwork is in progress for Love in Action. I still carry too much responsibility sometimes and I want to do the correct thing for the donors that give to Love in Action. Sometimes it is hard to know what the correct thing to do is. I didn’t think I was ready to take this step but it feels right to do so now. I still have a feeling in the back of my head that the work we are doing will have an end date to it. The way the paperwork is written, I can shift focus if needed.
Grateful for an easy day doing taxes, grateful the form has been filed, and grateful for this beautiful spring day and the blooming spring flowers.