Idiots Guide to Tax Law

I am sitting in my kitchen on a footstool on a dining room chair using the computer at the counter while shuttling Jack betwist a hastily made supper and his bathroom visits.

What you are missing is that I am bored to death, currently in my fourth hour on the phone with the IRS trying to figure out the math error they made on my 08 return. My phone works best out here and its not worth risking dropping the call by moving anywhere else in the house so my ramshackle office set up will have to work. I already burnt through the battery on my work laptop since I forgot the cord, so I am on laptop #2. It is both my second computer and a turd. The chair I have is not high enough, Sandy is sick and gone to the doctor, so I am in charge of Jack for the evening.

It has not been a great time.

Let me skip all the Tax junk and I will just tell you that they somehow deemed me ineligible for the Earned Income Credit, something that my income puts me WELL within range to receive. Math Error. I am currently to my 8th or 9th person from the IRS today. This is probably my 5th or 17th time having called them, trying to get it figured out and each person, each time has told a somewhat different story. At this point I will be paying all sorts of fees that can't be reimbursed simply because they forgot to subtract a number somewhere.

It has not been a great time.

I am learning a lot about being a positive person. It makes a big difference. When I was freaking out about having to pay in what is, in my world, a large amount of money I was stressed. I was worried. I was angry. I was scared. Kind of like the kids in Red Dawn.

Someone else made the mistake. Someone else was the only one who could resolve it. Endless hours on hold are getting me nowhere. Yet I have hope. I know I made half as much as they think I did and while that sort of realization isn't normally a source of hope - it's all I got.

I am learning little by little that anxiety gets me nothing but heartburn and a major incident of stress-eating. Of course I knew that on an intellectual level, but it takes more than reading about it on a kitten-adorned inspirational poster to really get it.

There's nothing like a long series bad experiences to find out that, hey, it's not as bad as it seems. It can be hard to not take yourself quite so seriously: mostly because when you realize that's the case, you also recognize how much of a tool you've been.

Seriously, the grass is almost never as green as it seems on the other side. Yeah, some day I hope to have a nice, plush yard. I understand, though, that my problems won't disappear. It takes more work to keep up a nice yard and you will always have to clean up the dog poop.