Campfire

[SoCalGalcas]

Kathy, sorry to hear that RV didn't work out for you. Keep looking, it will "fall into your lap" one of these times.

Linda, if Rick doesn't want to visit with us, we don't want to visit with him!

Lyn

[BarbaraRose]

Linda, so sorry to hear about Rick. Many times a persons true colors come out when under stressful situations. Good to find that out now, rather than later. Still hard to deal with a broken heart

Hope you can get Myrtle's roof fixed right, and hope Penny rides smoother now. Have fun in Joshua Tree!

[Bethers]

What a wonderful day! A cousin and his wife live in Colorado. They made a 1 1/2 hour drive to spend the day with me today. Although we've both been to family reunions, weddings, funerals, etc, we can't think of any we both were at since their wedding in the early 70's. Luckily the time we spent during our childhoods made it seem like we'd been together recently. Oh, the three of us couldn't shut up! Depending on where I go after SD, I could see another visit in the fall.

I only have one other stop before Keystone and my summer home, which I plan to arrive at, whether cooperating, on Monday. probably head out of here tomorrow and stop two nights at my next stop and just relax.

[JudyJB]

I am about ready to bail out of Florida because of the heat. It is still so muggy and hot I am really uncomfortable. I'm at Sebastian Inlet for 8 days, but may head north to Georgia early. Whew.

[Liz]

It's hot in Georgia too! We're heading for SC, lol.

[JudyJB]

The part of Georgia I am thinking about is in the mountains, so maybe it will be cooler there.

I am very frustrated tonight. When I became an Ohio resident in June 2012 and headed out traveling, I obviously kept my online teaching job in Michigan. When I had to do my 2012 taxes, I used a tax professional my daughter-in-law recommended, but just never felt right about him, so I did my own 2013 taxes using TurboTax. My employer continued to withhold Michigan taxes and not Ohio because they did not want to reset their system just for me. I answered all the TurboTax questions and ended up paying Michigan taxes and then having Ohio crediting a portion of this. It has been a real pain filling out forms for both states. Understand that I HATE doing taxes and try not to think about them any more than necessary.

I started my 2014 taxes last week, but have not submitted anything. Paying taxes to both states started bothering me so I did more research. Turns out my employer should NOT have been withholding Michigan taxes, and should have asked me to submit a form to eliminate withholding!!!! I should not be paying Michigan taxes on ANY of my income!! So I redid my taxes using TurboTax with what I now know, and the total amount is much less than I would have had to pay because Ohio's rate is less.

Grrrr. The miserable part is that I need to resubmit my 2013 Ohio and Michigan taxes, as well, although I can take some time to do that. I probably won't bother with 2012, since that was only a half year, but couldn't that tax guy have told me I don't need to pay Michigan taxes, even if my employer is located there??????

At least the college will stop withholding Michigan taxes, which will mean more income. But what a pain.

[OregonLuvr]

Judy I work in several states sometimes. Last year only CA and Oregon. I have to file in every state I worked in that has state tax. My total income is taxed by my tax home state Oregon no matter where I earned it. My company is in Nebraska but that is irrelevant. I get a credit for any taxes from CA that I had to pay. It is a murky world out there. Check out my tax guys website, he is mainly for travel nurses BUT a lot of this might apply to you also. He is great and a wealth of information. His blog and his website address lots of tax issues especially if you work in different states. Joseph Smith (tax man) used to be a traveler and work in many states and now he is an enrolled agent and knows all the tax laws in all the states. Hope this might help a bit.

traveltax.com

karen

[Bethers]

When I first went full time, I used Alabama as my home state. No matter where I worked, I had to pay taxes in Alabama and fill out returns for all states I worked in (each of which withheld). One reason I changed residency was to save money. As there is no income tax in SD, I don't even need to do a return here, just in the states I work, if they have income tax. And then I get those back, except in KY, I also paid a County tax and no getting that back.

[JudyJB]

Yes, it certainly is a murky world when it comes to taxes!

I worked on it off and on last evening, and think I have finally got it right. But I am still waiting until tomorrow to drive out and get everything printed. I did file my Federal and Michigan forms electronically, however. Still need to send Federal check. Will get a refund from Michigan but pay Ohio because my employer will not take out for Ohio since I am their only employee living there.

I will feel better when April 15 is over!

[JudyJB]

It always bothers me to give my flash drive with my tax forms on it to a clerk at the UPS store, so I decided to go to Best Buy and get a small printer. It was $80 and is quite compact and will do everything I need it to do. (Final cost was higher because I bought a cord, paper, and extra ink cartridges.)

So, after buying it, I got my generator and AC going in the parking lot and printed everything out! Worked great. Also got everything in the right envelopes and mailed it all off at the post office. I also faxed the signed W4 form to the college so they will no longer take out Michigan taxes, which means I will not have to even file in Michigan in 2016. (I need to file in 2015 to get back what they have taken out so far this year.) Whew.

I will no longer need to find a library or UPS store whenever I need to print something.

[bikerchic777]

RI've come to terms with the Rick thing. I'm happy being single and independent, for now, unless God sends me a really great guy I think all will be fine, for the summer. It's only a few months.

I have been having fun, here in CA, with friends. My GF, in Joshua Tree, is going up to Tahoe for a week, to dog sit, so I moved Myrtle over to another GF in 29 Palms. I have a great view, overlooking the base, and a palm tree out my door I decided to stay a bit longer and go to the pot luck that I started, back in the 90's. I think I told you that I had a couple of instances where Penny decided to drag behind Myrtle? I took her to a transmission guy in Yucca Valley. He drained the fluid and he showed me metal pieces on the magnetic plug. Plus, the fluid was a bit burnt. Had him replace the fluid and change the oil. Rather than pay a small fortune to have him take apart the tranny, we decided it would be best to use a tow dolly, rather than tow four down. He thinks the tranny isn't getting lubed enough when towing. I have a tow dolly reserved from U-Haul, for the rest of the drive to Napa. It will be a good way to see if I like doing it that way. If so, I'll look for one to buy, this summer. If not, I'll sell Penny and buy something with manual transmission or a 4x4.

Ken came up on his 5 days off and played handy man I so enjoy his company, too. We make such great friends! I painted my bedroom before he came up and he built a box to cover the heat duct that we exposed when we took out the RV bed. I ordered a regular bed and it came while he was here, so we got it put together in about a half hour. I hung roll blinds and am planning to sew up some curtains from the sari from my DS's wedding. It's such beautiful fabric and this way I could enjoy it. Hoping Rick will help me rip out the carpet and install some type of flooring, this summer. My DD said she would crochet curtains for the living area, so just need to decide what colors. Kind of exciting to have some changes I've had Myrtle for 5 years, now! Hard to believe.

As for taxes....I got mine done and submitted, last week. Yay! I use Turbo Tax. Had to file in 4 states Forgot I have to file in IA, also, now that that's my residency. Didn't have to file in SD, as Beth stated. I didn't owe or have anything coming back from IA, but it still cost me $29.95 to file. I did get to deduct the cost of my vehicle registration in IA, on my Federal, which I couldn't do in SD. Guess that makes up for it. My state refunds will pay for Turbo and I have a nice Federal refund coming. Wish I could have filed before Feb. 15th, so I could have filed my states for free. Had a hard time getting my 1099R from DFAS. What a PITA!

[Bethers]

Ha. I believed the motels manager that the wifi wasn't on yet. Had one of the couples who aren't due to start until the end of the month stop by and were telling them that, yes, I'd talked to him, and yes, we'd have wifi. The one workamper other than me already here was part of the conversation and sent me a message that the motel is showing up on the wifi list. I turned wifi on my phone and computer and automatically connected. How come I can do things easily one time and not the next? I remembered part of the password for her - but it took me 1/2 an hour to find how to see the password on my computer to share it! Such an easy thing, too.

So, right now, I'm running the autoprogram on the tv to see if the cable is or is not working. They don't promise us cable, so even if it's on down there, it doesn't mean we'll get it here. I did last year, though.... got only a few channels when I started, then when the motel opened, they must have turned it all on, and I got about 15, if I remember. TV's at 23% and nothing so far ... nothing ventured, nothing gained, eh?

Weather went from warm and sunny yesterday to cloudy with sprinkles and downright chilly today - pretty much now to what is normal for here. Wish we would get some real rain. Dry as can be. Burn bans everywhere around. May not have to worry about having the ingredients for s'mores in the store- as they won't be able to make them unless things turn around.

Tomorrow the manager from another store is meeting with me to train me on the computerized grocery system. Looking forward to that. And later tomorrow will start working on cleaning the store - would like to have that pretty much done this week - and work on stocking, merchandising, etc the next two weeks.

Linda, a man would have to be Prince Charming in all ways at this point in time for me. I understand you're pretty much coming to terms, but I know it still hurts - you thought you had that someone special. That said ... you do - YOURSELF. You go, girl! Enjoy the summer - and boy, is it a good thing you didn't take a job where you had to share a rig!

[bikerchic777]

OMG, Beth....Isn't that the truth??? I think we will still be good friends and we plan to have a great summer. If so, it will be nice to have someone to do things with. I know there will be new friends, too. I'm planning to leave 29 Palms, next Wed or Thurs, and stop to see some Amazon friends along the way to Napa.

Me and my GF went to Joshua Tree, this morning. Hit a couple of thrift stores. I bought a skirt and top for half off, so all of $2.50 Gotta love a bargain! Had lunch at the Joshua Tree Saloon. Neither one of us have eaten there and we were very pleasantly surprised From there, we went to Yucca Valley to get our hairs cut at Great Clips. Too bad you weren't here to cut our hairs, Barbie Went to Dollar Tree and got a cute solar dancing owl and monkey and some hair do das, since my hair is getting longer. Went to the 99 Cents Only and got some greek yogurt and produce for cheap, then to Walmart for a few other things. Came back and had a glass of wine, then leftovers from lunch, along with some leftover potato soup that I made over the weekend. It was a nice, relaxing day with a great friend!

My GF's daughter is driving up from Yucaipa, in the morning, to pick her up for the weekend. I have a list of things I need to get done before I leave. Thought about driving back over to Apache Junction, AZ to see Ken, but I really need to get this stuff done. I also want to go to the pot luck, at some other friends' house, on Saturday night. I started the pot lucks, back in the 90's, so all of my friends could get to know each other. Most of the attendees have changed, over the years, and they just sit around and talk. We used to play Pictionary, Guesstures, etc. We had so much fun! I'm going to Yucca Valley, tomorrow afternoon, to see another GF. She and her DH invited me over for a late lunch/early dinner. I know her from when we both sold Avon, back in the early 80's. One of the sweetest people I know. Been thinking of maybe going to the Drive-In movies, before I leave, too. It has to be one of the few outdoor theaters left in the country. Great memories of taking the kids there.

[Bethers]

I thought of Barbie also when I went in a Great Clips and asked about getting a perm. Turns out they'd only do a perm with an appointment, even though one person was doing nothing and no one was waiting. So back to Smart Style where they take you in order, whatever you want done. Very happy with who did my hair today even if I temporarily look like I stuck my finger in a light socket. It'll make it easy for the summer.

[BarbaraRose]

They were just opening the GC's in Yucca Valley when I first moved out there and the owner contacted me and wanted me to work there, but I wasn't interested in being in that area.

Great Clips policy is that there has to be two stylists available at all times for haircuts, so they can't do a walk-in perm unless there are three stylists there and it isn't busy. Best to get an appointment. A lot of GC's are phasing out perms all together now too.

Linda, sounds like you are having a great time there! I remember the pot-luck we went to and sitting outside watching the huge orange moon coming up and all the big bright stars! Seems like they are so much bigger and closer when you are out in the desert with no lights around.