Sidetracked Charley

Alone in the field The end of the year always brings about agonizing reappraisal. And a questioning of my assumptions. It is always easier to do this with others but not as easy to do it with ourselves. I have promised myself to do better this year at that. A local business just announced it was closing. They blamed us locals because we didn't shop there enough. But who would want to? I asked myself. And I was one of those that shopped there. They stocked products I wanted, but increasingly I was willing to drive over the mountain to get those products. The economy gets a lot of blame for failure of businesses. I do not have enough money to shop local a lot. I try to eat at least one restaurant meal a week. It is a budget line item. If I had more money I would spend more money. I blame the economy for the low sales at my studio. That and Google Maps had me in the wrong spot. But maybe it is that I am not a good painter. Or I have a toxic personality. Admittedly nobody need...

I hate getting my financial records ready for my tax accountant. And for years I had myself to getting them to her by March 1st. You may notice we are 17 days past that time. I really have to get it done today. I owe no money so no doubt she will file an extension. That is cool because I am getting nothing back. In point of fact I really probably would not have to file this year. But I have a business that made no profit in 2012 and a rental unit that I only got six months of rent for. But hopefully both of those things will change next year. And if they do and I didn't not file this year I will get audited. Point of fact it is probably only 30 minutes for the accountant of plugging in my numbers into the computer. And only a couple hours of me sorting receipts and finding out how much I did not make. That is the truly depressing part. Admittedly 2013 is beginning better already. No, let me amend that. March 2013 has shown an uptick. And I have stopped buying art supplies ev...