Yes, I have certainly and most definitely missed writing you.  However, there are good reasons.

To begin, my insulin pump stopped working for at least eight days.  Not familiar with such a device?  Well, I won’t share a long description or explanation.  Briefly, it is a computerized machine, similar to a human pancreas, that I wear on my waistband.  That’s the simple part.  When it refuses to operate properly and as programmed, sickness occurs.  As an insulin-dependent diabetic for over fifty years now, being without insulin for even a very short period of time turns me into a physical, emotional, and psychological mess!  It’s just plain awful. 

With that said, I contacted my dependable pharmacy for a refill on a box of one hundred syringes and one vial of a long-lasting type of insulin.  Seventy-six dollars later, I was at a teary point.  How many times must a person budget a budget?!  I guess as many times as it takes.  Not easy.

To go on, the scheduled carpet cleaners were expected at 10:00am and did not show until 5:00pm.  Okay, I swallowed my tongue and got over that. 

Then, one of my two dogs had diarrhea.  Yep.  Not a pretty sight.  Again, I took care of that.

Due to something I wrote in my book, an autobiography mind you, insulted a family member.  She has not spoken to me for six days.   Good Lord!

Wait, I’m not done yet!

A member of the charitable organization that is to receive proceeds from the sale of the aforementioned autobiography e-mailed me a request to stop mentioning the book on their newsgroup.  Can you believe that?!  I am beside myself – with a hole in my heart!  How can that even be a possibility?!  

To top it off, my telephone stopped working.  That could actually be a good thing, if you really think about it.  However, I was unable to place outgoing calls for three days.  Ho hum.

With my husband being in La (comic relief for “Los Angeles”), I try my hardest not to complain and put all these conundrums in a humorous light.  After all, there’s nothing he can do.   So, I go on.

So, what’s up in YOUR world?!    I thank you for your ongoing visits to my website.  I look forward to viewing viewers’ views.  Ha ha.

I just wanted to ‘touch base’ and let you know I am still here.  I like you and will be in touch sooner than you can – well, whatever.  Goodnight!  Thank you for listening.  AK.

I

Okay, it is that time of year again.  You know, the infamous and oftimes procrastinated Tax Time.   This essay, so to speak, will discuss and remind you about itemizations.

I first became acquainted with the term “itemization” when having to prepare and calculate business executives’ reimbursements as an Executive Assistant.  Although this procedure was ongoing many, many years ago, what I learned in taking care of them I have since applied to myself.

Once becoming a sole-proprietor, I organized all useful receipts into a labeled accordian file.  Such a file has approximately twelve pockets.  If the already-labeled pocket is useless to me, I cross it off with a black marker/pen and print how I will use it.  For instance, “Rent” has been replaced with the word “Postage” because I do not rent.  Your receipts pertain to your operations, your life, and are all the proof you have if the Internal Revenue Service finds a need to ask you any questions = auditing (scary).  Such a file may be purchased at any office supply store (e.g., Office Depot, Office Max, Sam’s Clubs, Costco’s, college book stores, even some grocery stores).  No, they are not musical.

I do not mind sharing that I am highly organized, considered OCD (http://voices.yahoo.com/what-ocd-6874648.html).

At this juncture, I must tell you that I am not a licensed professioanl accountant by trade.  I am a sole-proprietor that operates her businesses in her home.  Because many of my customers require me to visit their places of residence and/or work, my (1.) automobile’s gasoline usage is one write-off.  My vehicle(s) are write-offs and they have the business painted on them.  When customers visit me in my home office, I am allowed to itemize (write-off) a third of my home: (2.) one third of my mortgage, one third of my car insurance, one third of my toilet paper because they use my restroom, one third of my utility bills (gas, water, electricity, heat, air conditioning), one third of my house phone and cellular phones becasue that is how people contact me.  My advertisments (3.) are write-offs (e.g., business cards, marketing tools such as give-away-pens to possible customers; posters; flyers, etc.  (4.) More write-offs would include the price to attend seminars and conferences pertaining to my professions.  (5.) Educatonal expenses of all kinds, down to the smallest purchase of pencils and erasers – anything of use to operate your business – books needed to update your business or something in your business.  (6.) Postage is a good one.  (7.) Capital Equipment, although it carries a ‘deprication value,’ is still useful (e. g., computer, printer, scanner, all the software you use, etc.).  (8.)  Business Expenses can be a paramount of things such as paper, pens, a flash drive or two, and the stick-in-the-computer-thingy.  This list can be endless!  (8.)  An Entertainment Expenses also has a separate pocket in the accordian file.  Receipts from client breakfast, lunches, dinners, in-betwee-coffee-business-chats are saved and used.  The key word is business.

KEEP AND ORGANIZE YOUR RECEIPTS!

When making a purchase that will benefit a charitable organization, (6.) that is a write-off.  For instance, because the proceeds from the sales of my book called “My Diabetic Soul” will go to the Barton Center for Diabetes Education, that is another write-off for you.   Any and all reading materials (book) to progress your operable knowledge in any field is a write-off!

Other receipts to keep in your ever-so-accommodating-accordian-file would pertain to (7.) medical expenses, and (8.) entertainment expenses (e.g., lunches and dinners for present or soon-to-be customers; food purchased for promotional endeavors; the change you hand out to a wanderer, etc.).

To conclude, I am sure you are fully enlightened and capable of organizing your receipts.  No, it is not always a pretty sight.  Keep in mind that as a United States citizen, you are assisting our government in providing services to the ‘general public.’  If done properly, and with the assistance of a (9.) paid-for-accountant (also a write-off), your State Refund Check will arrive in four weeks; your Federal Government Refund Check will arive in six weeks.

Good Luck!  Persevere!  And Get ‘R Done!

A. K. Buckroth

Well, it’s that time of year again – using the compost pile in the garden.

What is compost?  “It is a mixture (compositon) of decomposing vegatable refuse used to fertilize soil.”  It’s uneaten garbage.  You know, unused or uneaten parts of fruits and vegetables (e.g., orange peels, tomato skins, celery tails, onion skins, garlic skins, egg shells, banana peels avacado skins, and many other roots and peels).  Such things are naturally ‘biodegradeable.  They break down easily, releasing their nutrients for future use, specifically to enhance any and all garden-growing efforts.

Seeds of ANY kind are not allowed.  This includes seeds from tomatoes, avacadoes, grapes, potato ‘eyes,’ apple and pear cores, peach and cherry pits, pineapple tops, etc.  Neither are meat by-products and any kind (e. g. chicken, beef  and pork bones, skin or fatty meat portions that you do not eat).  Those go out in the weekly trash bin for city pick ups.

Containers for such a project are available at local retailers or free when you sit in at a “compost meeting” usually held each Spring at a county meeting where you live.  That is how I first became aware of such a thing.  With such encouragement,  I have been composting for fifteens years.

The large bins I possess are black, round, hard plastic contianers with holes all around the circumference for airation.   Approximately four feet high and three feet in diameter, two such bins have been placed outside, away from my back foor, but easily accessible in order to dump my garbage.  Hidden behind a small oak and fica tree, their unsighlty presence is not in plain view.

Other than my collection of kitchen garbage, two large bags of soil are added twice a year.  Once the soil is mixed with my garbage (using a round-nosed shovel and oftimes a pitchfork), water is added.  As it sits and sits there usually over the course of a year, insects and worms, natural inhabitants, bore their way through this seemingly mucky, but organized, mess.  Their presence further enhances and propagates the decomposing process.

After tilling my already used vegatable and herbal garden areas, the compost is added.  It is heavy and a wheelbarrel and shovel are used to bring it to my desired areas.  Mix, mix and mix some more.  This project has taken me two to three days to prepare before I am satisfied to plant.

All in all, it is worth it.  Hard work usually is.  Satisfaction is guaranteeed year-in and year-out once I see the buds of my labor and its magnificent harvest.  I delight in the opportunity to walk out my back door, gather what fruits I need for a days’ meal, returning the usnused portions to the bins.  It is a continuous cycle.

The following link will shed some different lights on this topic as well.  Hey, it’s all in the soup, haha!  http://backyardgrowers.com/23-ingenious-diy-compost-bin-ideas/.  Until next time, happy gardening!

A. K. Buckroth

Marzenfest

“In the olden days Oktoberfest celebrated the start of the brewing season, Oktober to Marz (March), when the stored Marzenbier was tapped.  The Spring Marzenfest celebrates the end of a successful brewing season when all the fresh beers are released.”

“Music: Die Alpenband California.”

“Beer: Authentic German and Local Handcrafted Brews.”

“German Food: Authentic Fare for a Spring Fest.”

“Saturday, March 20, 2010, 12:00pm to 5:00pm.”

“Howe Park, 2201 Cottage Way, Sacramento, CA.”

“$10.00 Admission; $5.00 Age 6-12; Under 6 Free.”

“Presented by the Arden Arcade Rotary Club.”

“100% Proceeds Benefit Local Children’s Charities.”

“www.marzenfest.com.”

If you are planning to be in or near Sacramento, California, on February 27, 2010, consider attending the “Taking Control of Your Diabetes” conference.

Registration opens at 7:30am in the Sacramento Convention Center.  The morning session (speaker/class) begins at 9:00am.  Yes, there is a break for lunch that is covered with your  $25.00 registration fee.  Sessions continue until 5:00pm, so it is a full day of listening and learning, becoming empowered to care for yourself even better than you already have been.

Guest speakers include enocrinologists, diabetologists, dieticians, a diabetes attorney of all things, and too many more to mention here.  Yes, I will be there.  I am anxious to hear from the diabetologist to prove that at least one really exists as opposed to the usual enocrinologists that seem to have taken over the realm of diabetes care.

Check it out for yourself by telephoning (858) 755-5683.  By internet, google www.tcoyd.org.  “TCOYD” stands for “Taking Care of Your Diabetes.”

Hopefully, I’ll see you there!  A. K. Buckroth