Month: April 2014

Daily Prompt: If I Had a Hammer and I Do!

I would love to take some carpentry classes so I can finally build the dry sink I have had the plans for since the 1970’s.

I have owned a couple of homes in my life and we have redone wallpaper and layed floor tiles and carpet ourselves, my husband doing most of the work.  I have actually managed to change my plumbing fixtures and replaced a garbage disposal all on my own as well as other odd repair jobs through the years.

Approximately five years ago I was financially forced to tile my tub surround rather than pay the proposed $3000 to $4000 quoted to me by a reputable kitchen & bath company in my area.  I took a class from my local home depot and along with my previous floor tiling experience and one of their “how-to” DVDs, I was able to tear off the loose wall board and very slowly replace all the backer board (cement board).  I used WonderBoard Lite because they are in 3′ x 5′ sheets and regular cement boards were far too heavy for me to work with by myself.  Once they were installed, I proceeded to spread on tile adhesive, setting the tiles in place with spacers.  After I got used to placement using the spacers I no longer needed them.  Once it dried, I applied the grout with my trowel, sponging off the excess before it dried.  Once cleaned, the grout was allowed to cure for a few days before I placed a grout sealant that has really done it’s job over the years.  I dry the tub once used, but I have never had virtually no mold or mildew grow in all these years.

Thankfully I thought to take a few pictures.  If I would have taken more shots I would have put the instructions on instructables.com.  Please see the following slide show for an idea on how this project went.

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Another Good Friday: John 15:13

Jesus the Christ

This scripture is still true to this day.  All over the world there are people who lay down their lives for the sake of others.  Some do it to save lives, some do it in an attempt to help others live in freedom or some other principle they hold dear.  Christ gave His life over 2000 years ago to save the world and to this day many mock him and his followers just as they mocked him before his brutal murder.  Blessedly God’s people will have the last laugh.  Evil thought that it had won that day but thankfully love never dies and instead His sacrifice has been life saving to billions throughout all these years.  There has never been anyone like Him and never will be again.  I’m talking about Jesus.  Being obedient even unto death He was able to live again in paradise like his people will someday.

Don’t be afraid to take up your cross and follow him.  Dare to be a hero to somebody.  Evil is weak but love is strong, selfless and endless.

John15-13
I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality.  This is why right, temporarily defeated, is stronger than evil triumphant.       Martin Luther King Jr

Weekly Photo Challenge: Monument

I never think of things like “monuments” which is probably due to the family I come from.  You can tell by the lack of almost all monuments in our family cemetery plots.  It’s not like our family has been destitute but most would rather drink away the money than “waste” it on a cemetery stone.

My Great Aunt Ruth, who didn’t drink, bought a stone for her husband after he passed and that was after he left everything to his brother.  My Aunt was one of the few righteous people I have ever met in my life.  Every so often I would travel the 30 miles or so to visit the family cemetery and see that lone gray stone in the midst of it.  On a visit in 2012 I was shocked to see two new large stones marking 4 graves.  Shocking since I was not aware of any living relatives on the Wagner side.  My Aunt and her husband were the last of the family I knew of and my Aunt passed in 1958.  It had to be a relative of her husbands because they replaced his stone with a double stone that included my Aunt and a double stone for his parents as well that both passed in 1928.  It states they brought their family over in 1900, I think from Germany.

MonumentCollageWagners

T-Day Information

Tax Day!!!

This is the day that everyone who owes tax hates.  Really hates.

Some will chose to ignore it completely and those are the ones that will really benefit from my book “Don’t Mess With The IRS“.

For the time being, I can only offer “Don’t Mess With The IRS An Unauthorized Customer Service Guide to Resolving Your ACS Collection Issues” by sending a postal money order or cashiers check to:

Please send $14.95 + 3.50 for shipping and handling to: Po’ Girl Publications, PO Box 2464, Dearborn Mi 48123.  Michigan residents please include 90 cents additional for sales tax.

This realistic self-help book explains how to file late returns and take care of any back tax issues to your benefit.  Do not believe all the hype those so-called tax resolution experts advertise for getting pennies on the dollar.  If it was that easy, who would ever pay their taxes when due?  There are times when an Offer in Compromise is a realistic and acceptable option but you would be able to verify this for yourself by going to the official irs.gov website to see if you even qualify.  You can write up the offer yourself with a little work.  The workbook the IRS sends you to do this is pretty self-explanatory.  Sure beats paying someone thousands of dollars that you could be using towards your tax obligation.

Please be aware of the many unscrupulous people there are out there advertising that they can help you with any tax issue or get you a bigger refund, especially since the IRS offers all kinds of free filing help for qualified individuals.  Do not pay unless you have to.  Please refer to the irs.gov site to verify if you qualify.  If not, be aware of anyone you select to help you file no matter what their title is.  I have seen all kinds of cons and scams regarding tax reporting.  Sometimes the taxpayer is in on it.  If anyone asks you to fudge something or tells you that you don’t need documentation for your deductibles don’t use them.  It will always come back to bite you and your accountants or preparers are not liable for these returns no matter how poorly or fraudulently they are prepared.  You the taxpayer are accountable.  If you sign the return, you better know what you are signing.

I worked with some individuals years ago that told me there were fraudulent tax preparers that asked them to pretend to be self-employed so they could file false returns and split the refund generated from the fake return.  Just remember yours in the only neck that will be on that chopping block when the IRS finally realizes the return was falsified and you signed it.  By that time, the preparer is long gone.  Since crooks like this usually have a number of people they do this with, it does not take long for that preparer to be linked to a number of fraudulent returns and quicker still to verify the other returns they signed as a preparer on.  Computers are great for this purpose.

Please refer to my previous posts for more filing information as needed as well as the official IRS website irs.gov.

currently unavailable

DntMsWIRS5

 

Daily Prompt: Wasted Days and Wasted Nights

Oh, if only I had some secret or technique to focus, I would have a much more successful blog.

If anyone out there has any good ideas, send them my way.

I used to be so focused and hard working and now I coast by each day, not really caring what gets done.  It’s not depression, it’s decompressing from over 40 years of working non-stop.

The only way I get things accomplished is to quit all distractions, and just keep moving like I have blinders on.  It helps when I’m in a manic stage.

PinkLilly