No SOS from the IRS

That's right! Snowing like crazy in the Cascades!

Little wonder why I woke so tired. Didn't fall asleep until well after 11pm, and even then I didn't sleep too soundly. Very strange dreams as well. I finally coaxed myself from bed around 610am. By then Jacob was already up and in the shower. Downstairs I quickly peeked outside to check the weather. Completely cloudy sky and it looked like a sprinkle or two fell during the overnight. Warm - 63 degrees.

Completed exercises, which included 50 push-ups. And I am happy to report that so far there were no lingering effects from tossing the football so much the day before. Already 630am, I took Mindy a cup of coffee then poured one for myself. In the back of my mind I already knew that I wouldn't be running until after seeing Bella onto the school bus. Not enough time.

Mindy was downstairs a few minutes later and confirmed my plans to delay the run. More often than not, she doesn't make my breakfast when I don't run early. As a result, she left a little early for school. Bella and I headed out at 755am. Still cloudy and warm. Expected it to remain that way for most of the day, but with clearing skies coming later that evening and then warmer temps over the next few days.

Kenny was at the bus stop with Makayla. Said he's feeling a little better but now Chrissy wasn't feeling so well. The bus showed up around 805am. I headed back to the house and readied for a run. I had a 9am meeting on my calendar and didn't want to miss it. I left the house near 820am and ran the full 4.1 miles. Felt really good. No aches whatsoever. Back at the house by 855am. Fast run! Quickly grabbed the shed keys from their keeping spot then headed out back to stow the cornhole boards. Joined my 9am call with only seconds to spare. Perfect!

Relatively quick call. Lasted about 20 minutes. I was hungry, so rather than scurry off to the shower, I took a few minutes to fry the pug and I a few eggs. After a quick but nutritious breakfast, I was off to the shower by 940am. Was ready to leave for work by 10am. I was feeling quite stressed on a few fronts. One, I have a whole lot going on at work all of the sudden, and that alone is enough to stress me out. Two, I've got this '11 SS tax issue hanging over my head. And while I am confident that my filing was correct, that doesn't change the fact that I am being forced to prove it. Ugh! Lastly, I have the ash tree removal thing going on. They're supposed to show up Tuesday to do the work. It's just one of those things I want done and off the worry list.

Arrived at the office around 1015am. Crap! Forgot my badge. That rarely happens since it is always in the exact same place along with my keys. I guess that further proves that I am stressed. Too much whirling around in my brain. I double-checked my car then went to the front desk to request a temp badge. No questions. Cool!

Where to being. Sometimes when the list is long it's hard to dig in and focus on one thing. I forced myself to get busy on this comprehensive ops review I've been asked to put together. I worked on that for the first half hour without interruption. Had to stop temporarily and join our standing Monday call at 11am

With so much going on I opted to skip taking a formal lunch break. Made significant progress on the ops review, further than I anticipated, which is always good. During the afternoon I heard back from the college that is sponsoring the Cisco certification program I plan to take and complete yet this year. Had to navigate our tuition assistance website to complete all the proper forms and such too. That can be painful, if not simply time consuming.

Stayed focused on my to-do list until 510pm. Was in my car and headed for home by 520pm. Called Mindy soon after hitting the road. She shared that we were having steak for dinner and that neither kids needed to be anywhere. She asked if I minded grilling steaks. Not exactly what I want to think about or do after a long wok day, but I agreed. Something about the work switch makes it difficult for me to switch gears so quickly.

Arrived home by 545pm. Jacob was off playing with friends. Bella was inside watching crap TV. When Mindy offered to fire up the grill I let her know that I hadn't yet read the response we received on Friday from the IRS. The reason being, I didn't want it to ruin my weekend. I studied her eyes carefully for body language then asked if the news was bad. I decided to read it for myself after she gave me a not so pleasant gaze. As expected, they didn't agree with my response and were asking that I sign and agree to pay back almost $1000. Uh, no. This time the documentation included a number and a person I could speak with. I planned to call them but not until after dinner.

I headed out to grill the steaks near 6pm. Once again employing the grilling tips I learned from Yahoo Food! I have a little trouble getting our grill temperature down to the recommended range but was able to improvise. 12 minutes later the filets were grilled to near perfection. I think if can get the temp a little lower they'll turn out even better. Still, Mindy and the kids raved about the steak.

Mindy baked potatoes, prepped a garden salad, then nuked Brussels sprouts. Been a while since we've had those. They were delicious. In fact, everything was delicious. Jacob was in a rush to finish his dinner and head back outside to play football with neighborhoodies. Mindy & Bella planned to make an apple pie with fruit the kids picked at the apple orchard with their dad last weekend. I believe the variety they picked was Jonagold. I ate one for lunch. Very good - crisp and tart! They started the prep just as I finished cleaning up dinner.

While they toiled with the apple pie, I gathered my '11 tax documents then called the IRS number and agent listed in the most recent response. Frustrating is the word that comes quickly to mind. The number, while it lists an actual person to ask for, takes you through a maze of automated responses. It was 15 minutes before I figured out how to get in line to speak with a real person. I think you just have to wait out the menu options.

Once I got through, I was greeted by Rubi, who sounded as though she was from another country. Oh boy! I began to wonder if the whole thing might actually be a scam. She requested lots of very personal information to which I shared my apprehension. While somewhat understanding, she also shared that she couldn't help without it. I hemmed and hawed and finally agreed. After all, from the correspondence, they already had access to much of my information. She was more than a little curt at times, too. But I guess that's the position the IRS takes. Through our half hour conversation, it was clear to me that she did not have accurate information. Kept saying I provided incorrect numbers on my return. Of course I had my return right in front of me, which had the exact numbers. Duh!

At one point she put me on hold citing the need to research the issue more in depth and said that it might be up to an hour before she returned. She also threw in that she was off the clock in an hour as well, and if it went that long I'd have to call back another time. Nice! As it was, she returned about 5 minutes later sharing more inaccurate info, which angered me. Kept referring to 'my errant numbers and filing process'. I eventually was the one that shared what I thought was the actual hook-up, which was that I changed roles within the same company in '11 thus had two W2s because in reality, it was two separate operating companies. I even advised that I had a letter from our tax department sharing that this would be the case. She insisted that my company was incorrect and that no matter what else I said wouldn't matter.

Once I agreed to get back in touch with my internal folks for more clarity, she somewhat backed off. She even became almost pleasant assuring me that we'd get it straightened out even if that meant that they had to sort it out with my company. She also advised that despite the tone of the letter, we had at least 90 days to get this resolved. We terminated our call with me agreeing to contact my internal folks and then call back another day with the results of that conversation.

As soon as I was off the phone I eagerly logged onto my work email and found the letter corresponding to that year's SS tax issue and the need to file for a refund of an overage paid. The letter went as far as warning that the IRS may try to refute the filing but to cite this letter. I felt good having that letter in hand. Figured I would call back the following day and ask if they'd like for me to send, fax, or email a copy.

Now about 8pm, I was finally able to relax after a tumultuous day dealing with a host of major stressors. I still hadn't received a heads-up call promised by the tree guy. After changing into my comfy clothes and then pouring a glass of ice water, I plopped down in front of the TV to enjoy a little MNF Dolphins/Saints. At 830pm Frank called and shared his plans to be on site Tuesday morning around 9am to begin taking down the 6 ash trees. I thanked him for calling. Now I could really relax. Mindy came downstairs a few minutes later to share that she was going to bed early. Couldn't have been later than 845pm.

I watched football until I fell asleep. Didn't fight it. I think it was 7-3, Saints when I dosed off. I woke around 930p and turned off the TV and headed for bed. Best guess, it took about 10 minutes to fall asleep.