Columnist Prepares For Coming Year

The last two weeks have included intense shopping for the upcoming year.

A list was made of the activities for 2012 that would need supplies. They fall into three general areas: school, church and the Helena/elaine area of Arkansas.

Before Christmas, I was told of the closing of a local book business. The employees there were so kind and helpful. I hope they will transition to something beneficial for them. The books were so affordable, there will be books to give children at all the activities this year.

Activities for children would be more limited without clearance sales. I have been able to put away stockings and things to put in them, hundreds of items for the school Christmas shop and items for lessons and rewards. I’ve shopped a lot more since Christmas than I did before. Now it’s time to bag and label them for storage.

While looking ahead, it is also time to look back over receipts from the previous year. It’s tax time again. Each year is the year that receipts will be recorded in a timely manner. It would help to at least write on the receipt what those product numbers represent. Thankfully, help was available today to work on them a couple of hours. After I find them all, a couple more hours will be needed to complete the task. The good news is that some years the process doesn’t even get started until February.

Maybe all the tax preparation will be done before snow days. Then maybe that will be the time to get out the sewing machine purchased last January with two gift cards. However, I have told the students not to wish too hard for snow. We hope to be out of school before June this year.