So it's my birthday...

And the first thing I'm doing today, on my birthday, is laundry. Because I haven't actually gone to sleep and woken up on my birthday--I've stayed up past midnight until it's my birthday. Why? Well, because my older son left his clean school uniform at school and so the uniform I thought would be in his closet ready for him to wear to school tomorrow (well, actually, that would now be today, wouldn't it?) is sitting in his school locker.

What a way to spend the first few minutes of your birthday, you say? Well, the truth is I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world. Sure, I wish the uniform were in his closet at home, rather than in his locker at school. But the truth is I'm glad to have a kid who needs laundry done. As banal as it may sound, it just reminds me how fortunate I am to have a wonderful family who needs me and whom I need. What better birthday present could I ask for?

It's not always about complaining, is it?

I've hesitated about writing in this blog the last few days because I've really had nothing major about which to complain and no earth-shattering revelations to make. Now, isn't that silly? Blogs are not just about complaining, right? Blogs are for whatever you care to write about.

So, to borrow from Captain Picard, I will make it so--I will write whenever the spirit moves me, no matter how mundane the topic. After all, I'm not making anyone read this. If it's boring, just move along. That's fine. I won't be offended.

By the same token, if you have comments to make, no matter how mundane, go ahead and make them. If they're rude, though, I will be offended and I'll probably delete them.

There has to be a better way

I am going to be spending the better part of this day doing paperwork. That means keeping track of income and expenses for my business and my husband's so that we can have the privilege of paying the government taxes--income taxes, goods and services taxes and deductions at source--the same taxes that our government then misspends (for more on that, you can read relevant posts from the blogs I follow: Slavery is not dead and How to waste money).

To add insult to injury, I also have to pay an accountant (who, fortunately, is really a very nice person and makes our meetings rather enjoyable, mainly because we get complain to each other about government ineptitude) to prepare tax returns and make sure I'm doing everything just right, i.e. paying the right amount of taxes, not too much, but, more importantly, not too little.

Yes, I probably would do some kind of accounting work to make sure our businesses are profitable, but I wouldn't have to be so paranoid about minute details and keeping every scrap of paper if I were just doing this for myself.

There has to be a better way.

Why this blog?

Why this blog? Well, because everyone else has one. Or so it seems. My husband has one. Some of the nicest people I know have one. So, I might as well have one, too.

Will anyone read it? Maybe. Does it matter? Not really. I figure it'll be the place where I get to vent when I'm frustrated, as well as express myself when I'm feeling good about the world around me. If you care to follow along, please be my guest. Welcome....