Be it ever so humble, there's no place like home.

It didn't take Aunty Em or clicking red shoes to get Mom home, but it did take some effort. Dad said getting her INTO the car was a challenge. She had to back into the back seat, with her leg resting on the seat. Once they got home she did better. She was asleep when I called this afternoon, but awake tonight.

Dad told me about several different people who were supposed to come by. I know a nurse went by the house. I think he said a PT went there, too. As of 9 p.m. the machine that moves her knee had not arrived. He called and they said they were waiting til morning. Dad told them, "No, you are supposed to bring it TONIGHT." Hopefully they got there.

We didn't go over there because I started running a low grade fever again today. I really don't like having autoimmune disorders. Natalie also woke up with a nasty sounding cough. She did better once she had some medicine, but with the two of us not feeling up to par, I didn't want to infect Mom. Ruth also sent an e-mail that she started running fever & also felt sick to her stomach, so she didn't make it here for the Spurs game & won't come for the weekend. Hopefully we'll all get over this quickly!

I am VERY slowly starting to step back into my business. As a director for the Pampered Chef, I have minimum requirements to make each month, both for my own sales and my whole group's sales. That means I need to do some Pampered Chef shows! Also, it means I help hold a meeting once a month and keep in touch with my team. It's not a LOT to do, but during times like this, I don't even do the minimums. I've had friends both here and even out of state who have been SO good to me and held shows to keep me going during these past few months, so I could stay at least active as a director.

The reason all this talk of Pampered Chef is on my mind is because I was working on taxes today. For the 18 years that we've been married, we've only had ONE time we had to pay taxes. It was the year I took out my Teacher Retirement Fund (year 1991, but paid in 1992, the same year I ended up in the hospital with a kidney stone & no insurance, and lost both of Phil's grandmothers--late Dec. 91 & April 92; not good years for us!). As I was working on taxes, before I had listed any of my business expenses, we owed over $1200! As I entered the information I had in my hands (expenses listed in my Pampered Chef program and mileage), it dropped to $800. When I entered estimates of a few other expenses, it dropped to $200. I was not good about putting my receipts away immediately last year, so I have some digging to do. While I was not happy that we have to pay, I was SO glad to have expenses to deduct. I know that NOW there are some expenses public school teachers can deduct, but in my days in the classroom, that wasn't so. I also know that I would not get to deduct gas mileage if I had a "regular" job. I won't say "real" job because, as I once heard someone say, the IRS considers this a REAL JOB!

Now my full-time job is calling me. I have one child who thinks she is an owl, and her mother happens to think the same, so she is still awake. Not for long! Good night!