Ah, yes, it’s that time of year again—time to start working on the dreaded taxes. :green21

So I thought I’d give you a bit of insight into how I get my taxes ready to take to Mr. Tax Man :green3 :

Day 1 – Find receipts.  Pile them all together wherever I think I’ll be working.  (Hey, it’s something! :green2 )

Day 2 – Go through all receipts to make sure they’re for the proper year.  Weed out any for the current year (i.e. next year’s taxes) or that I may have missed from last year.  (Take a break. Consider what needs to be done next. :green14 )

Day 3 – Sort receipts into piles for each different category/expense.  (Whew. That was a lot for one day. Let’s stop now. :green8 )

Day 4 – Find calculator.  Dust it off, since I probably haven’t used it since this time last year.  Find paper clips, banker’s clasps, stapler, a pencil, a pen, scrap paper…  Begin—slowly—to tally piles of receipts.  Add totals to the Giant Overview page I’ll deliver to Mr. Tax Man.  (So many numbers.  My eyes are crossing & my finger is sore from punching buttons on the calculator.  That’s enough for now. :green22 )

Day 5 – Add up more receipts.  Add totals to Overview page.  (Rest for a minute…preferably with a slice of pizza or some form of chocolate.  Drinking will come later.)

Day 6 – Repeat Day 5. :green29

Day 7 – Repeat Days 5 & 6. :green29

Day 8 – I should be done by now, but there are always stragglers.  Or things I’ve forgotten until the last minute.  Sometimes these last minute items pop into my head while I’m sleeping & I sit bolt upright in bed, then have to get out to make a note so I won’t forget in the morning.

Day 9 – Review overview sheet one more time.  Or maybe two more times.  Three?  Call Mr. Tax Guy, let him know I’m ready & set up an appointment.  Continue to wrack my brain, just in case, until I actually go to see him.

Day 10 (or whatever day I sit down with Mr. Tax Man) – The usual.  He says, “Did you have a good year?”  I make a rude snorting noise & answer various questions while playing with his rescue kitty, Smudge, who’s just adorable & makes the trip moderately less hellish!  He—Mr. Tax Man, not Smudge :green28 —looks over everything, gives me the thumbs-up, & tells me he’ll call when everything’s ready.  I go home & sit down with that post-taxes drink I’ve been craving since mid-December. :green26

Currently, I’m on about Day 5, which means I’ve got a loooong way to go. :green21

As you know, I’m working on a  Top Secret Project.

Top Secret Project #2, actually, since I still can’t say anything about anything.  Shhhh! :green24

And while I’ve got a working title for the story—the museum one I mentioned a couple weeks ago—I’m starting to think I should just call it “Everything I Need to Know about Museums, I Learned from Watching Leverage.” :green13

Who knew my moderately obsessive love of the show would end up paying off? :green1   But by osmosis, I’ve picked up some nifty tips about the inner workings of museums, antiquities, etc.

I think a re-viewing of Night at the Museum & Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian may also be in order.  Those will give me an even more in-depth look at a museum setting.

Nothing comes to life in my Top Secret Project #2 (more’s the pity, right? :green30 ), but I still think they could be helpful.

Can you think of any other great TV shows or movies I should watch as “research” for my museum story?

Sure, I could visit an actual museum or spend hours online taking a virtual tour of The Louvre, but isn’t this way more fun? :green15