Friday 2 March 2012

learning and discovering with Martha

i'm doing my tax.*
finally.
Martha is helping.


i'm discovering a lot of things
in the large cardboard carton full of receipts that has prime position in the middle of my room

+ 3 lost postcards acquired at the V&A last year
+ a missing sock [luckily not one of my woollies, the moths would have eaten it]
+ a cone of cream-coloured wool [the moths DID find that]
+ 2 purse-sized Aesop sample packs [yum]
+ a quarter [the American kind]
+ several [well, understatement] dried leaves of assorted provenance
+ some pictures of lovely dresses torn from a magazine
+ a handful of my favourite #5 stitching thread
+ quite a few sewing needles [stuck into various receipts] including my nice Japanese one
and as a bonus from the Dogs Above, $200 in cash tucked into one of those foldy baggie thingies that are such a delight to make
oh
and as an extra bonus, the journal from the West Coast trip that The Precious and i took on the way home in 2010 [i'd been searching for that!]

so virtue is being rather rewarding

still, it's sobering, once the figures are stacked up, to realise that after travel expenses my earnings are less than those of the cleaner at the Mount Pleasant Hospital

on the other hand
i know who's having more fun...

so i had better stop procrastinating. and get back to it.



*sorry there's no embeddable code for this video, but it's WELL worth watching.

19 comments:

  1. love, LOVE your inventory. i pay folks a huge amount to do mine because i did them wrong for so many years i was afraid the irs would strike. and that would cause a total breakdown. glad you found that extra little bit!

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    Replies
    1. found ANOTHER box of receipts that i'd overlooked. but also a bonus $5. once i finish crunching these numbers they'll be shunted to an accountant so he can stick em where they fit [on the endless tax form]

      Delete
  2. I like Martha's attitude.

    I have a friend, a singer/actor who said on Saturday -- I realize I don't earn as much as someone with a nine to five job, the trade-off is... I get to live this life I love, and that's priceless.

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  3. Nice to have such Zen helpers when it comes to taxes, and what a good lot of stuff to uncover! Funny video, but now I'm a little anxious cause I've yet to do mine!

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  4. liking the smart casual jacket idea
    from end of video
    perhaps eco dyed ..?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. and [now i'm blushing] i also just found the hitherto unused [cos i lost it within days of it arriving here] packet of konnyaku paste.

      this could be very useful in strengthening all those receipts which will make the stitching [and dyeing] of that jacket much easier!

      Delete
  5. now that's my idea of 'doing tax'

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  6. oh and as well as the various inserts above, i've found a booklet of 2010 Christmas stamps. their disappearance led to a severe lack of outgoing Christmas mail.
    sorry folks, but i WAS thinking of you. now back to the coalface.

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  7. Ugh taxes... glad you have Martha to help. You will feel so much lighter when its all done.

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  8. Oh, this is so funny - I'm reading your post because I'm avoiding doing my tax returns. Mine is just plain boring, and much more messy than yours because it seems the receits have a kind of teflon surface that makes them slip around and dissapearing. So in order to find them I have to tidy things up - which also turns into avoiding doing my tax returns. Argh, it's so boring. But I have to do it myself - how is it you say in the fairytales; but he should, so he could, so he would. Or something like that. I guess I will too, I just have to .....

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  9. I am happy the heavenly hound is looking after you - mine is too.

    Now I need to teach him how to do My tax...

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  10. and then you put it all in the dyepot............

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  11. and has anyone else noticed how modern receipts just magically bleach to white, even in a dark box? what is the point of keeping them for 7 years or whatever the requirement is.

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  12. They do, don't they? Ink invented no doubt by someone who LOVED the "How to be a Spy" kit they got for Xmas one year.
    The 'Keep for 7 Years' requirement is a mean spirited attempt to bury us under the weight of futility, and a sneaky assault on space that could be used for much more interesting materials and creative endeavors.

    Yes. I am also facing up to the purgatory of doing taxes.

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    Replies
    1. exactly so. and just think of the fun we could have with those receipts that turn black when exposed to excessive daylight [i'm thinking of the ones generated by parking meters in South Australia]
      perhaps i'll lay a stack of them out in the sun, with objects pressed on under glass
      solar printing without the cyano-toxic stuff? [although goodness knows whats impregnated in the paper]

      Delete
  13. I never forget that the 'job' I have is the one I love to be doing.. we as artists are very fortunate in that way.. whether we make any money at it is another topic for another day :-)

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    Replies
    1. when it comes to the crunch

      all we need
      is

      enough.

      Delete
  14. priceless...so needed the laugh. I finished my taxes
    two weeks ago and I broke the desk top pounding me fists. Bravo!

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