My budding artist.

My youngest daughter, Sellah has just received the news that a piece of her artwork, modeled after Vincent Van Gogh's Starry Night, has secured a place in the Wisconsin Educational Artwork Awards. Here is a picture of it for you to enjoy, I will be sure to let you know how she does and whether or not it will travel to the Capital of WI and be displayed at the Rotunda.

Smile! It's tax time!

Ten Things You Should Know about the Making Work Pay Tax Credit

Many working taxpayers are eligible for the Making Work Pay Tax Credit, a provision created by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act in early 2009.
Here are 10 things the IRS wants you to know about this tax credit to ensure you receive the entire amount for which you are eligible.

1. In 2009 and 2010, the Making Work Pay provision provides a refundable tax credit of up to $400 for individuals and up to $800 for married taxpayers filing joint returns.

2. For taxpayers who receive a paycheck and are subject to withholding, the credit will typically be handled by their employers through automated withholding changes.

3. Taxpayers receiving less than the full amount of the allowable credit through reduced withholding will be entitled to claim any remaining credit when they file their tax return.

4. The amount of the credit actually received during 2009 in the form of reduced withholding will be reported on your 2009 tax return. Taxpayers who do not have taxes withheld by an employer during the year can claim the credit on their 2009 tax return filed in 2010.

5. Taxpayers who file Form 1040 or 1040A will use Schedule M, Making Work Pay and Government Retiree Credits to figure the Making Work Pay Tax Credit. Completing Schedule M will help taxpayers determine whether they have already received the full credit in their paycheck or are due more money as a result of the credit.

6. Taxpayers who file Form 1040-EZ will use the worksheet for Line 8 on the back of the 1040-EZ to figure their Making Work Pay Tax Credit.

7. In 2010, you may notice that your paychecks are slightly lower than in 2009. The slight decrease may be because of the Making Work Pay Credit. Most of the credit for wage earners is distributed through reduced withholding. The credit – which was spread out over nine months last year – is being spread over 12 months this year. A little less credit in each paycheck means slightly higher withholding. But don’t worry, in the end it all adds up.

8. Certain taxpayers should review their tax withholding to ensure enough tax is being withheld in 2010. Those who should pay particular attention to their withholding include: married couples with two incomes, individuals with multiple jobs, dependents, pensioners, Social Security recipients who also work, and workers without valid Social Security numbers.
Having too little tax withheld could result in potentially smaller refunds or – in limited instances – small balance due rather than an expected refund.

9. To ensure your current withholding is appropriate for your individual situation, you can review Publication 919, How Do I Adjust My Tax Withholding? You can also perform a quick check of your withholding using the interactive IRS Withholding Calculator on IRS.gov.

10. If you find you need to adjust your withholding, submit a revised Form W-4, Employee's Withholding Allowance Certificate to your employer.
Visit IRS.gov for more information about the making Work Pay Tax Credit, Schedule M, Form W-4 or Publication 919. You can also call 800-TAX-FORM (800-829-3676) to order forms and publications.

Family Fun Activity

During my Christmas Break, it is my goal to make some homeade bread. that's right, I mean from scratch, the yeast, the kneading, all of it, I have never done it and its time to learn! Having a little extra time, I feel it will be good to have a project to look forward to. I will try to take photos of how it turns out and post them for you after the new year.

Another family fun activity that was recently shared with me that I enjoyed, is making snow cream. Ice Cream from the snow. The kids really had fun with this and have asked to eat some each night since we made it. Here is the recipe for you to try:

1 gallon of snow
2 cups milk
1 cup sugar
1 Tablespoon vanilla
Mix all together and enjoy!
Have fun! Don't forget to stay away from the yellow snow!

The Best Days of my Life

Every year, my husband and girls use the day after Thanksgiving to drive to a local tree farm

to cut down our family's Christmas tree. This year was no exception. My husbands aunt owns a tree farm in Bear Creek. We took a lazy day drive, enjoying the sun all the way and after a little hiking, we found what was to be the tree lucky enough to go into our living room!

A few swear words later, Jay had cut down the tree and we were off.

Of course, before cutting down the tree, we take a family photo of it for memory. I would have to say these are some of the best days of my life.

The passing of an ERA

Last night my husband and I took our children to the downtown Appleton Christmas parade. While my honey and I enjoyed it, I think our girls have outgrown it. Its sad to say,but I think we are at the end of an era. I just don't understand how they grown up so fast. That used to be a huge deal to them, but instead it was boredom and complaints. I spent most of the parade thinking about Christmases past and wishing I had "cherished" the time more.

Don't get me wrong, I have always been very thankful for my time at home raising my children. My wonderful husband was so supportive of us and never questioned our decision- not even when living on one income got very tight.

Jay, just got a promotion at work. I am so proud of him. He is a very hard worker and incredible at detailed work. He has been capable of this promotion for years, and has been turning it down for years.

For those of you who quit your very busy hectic career to be a more supportive mom- you will understand when I say that I was a little bit jealous of him. I couldn't help but wonder if that would be me had I not quit in September, 1999. I know most of you wont understand what I am talking about, but for the rest of you, you know-Its a tough balance. Knowing you are wonderfully blessed to be called "MOM" and putting their needs ahead of your own, versus choosing your career where you have promotions, raises and measured success. Its a struggle I have contemplated since 1999.

That brings me back to the parade. Those days are gone, my babies are now turning into lovely young women. I am not sure what they will need from me next, but you can bet your bottom dollar that I will put their needs ahead of mine. If that means I need to -I will pass on the fancy job, fancy car, fancy title so that I can simply be "mom". I still feel that is the best job ever.

Flex Spending Accounts

For those of you fortunate enough to have the opportunity to take advantage of your company's Flex Spending Accounts, I would tell you with a Great big YES! Go ahead and do it!

Many companies offer options to help pay for Child-care costs, out of pocket medical, dental, vision expenses as well as over the counter medications and prescription drug expenses.

So, it may seem like a little bit of work to fill out the papers ahead of time and try to estimate for next year how much to put aside. But you work hard for your money- Take advantage of this money saving benefit!

For example: if you make $30,000/ year and contribute $600 per year pre-tax for health care expenses, and $4800 pre-tax for child care expenses, your net spendable income would be $17,798. If you DID NOT contribute money to the pre-tax account and paid for them out of pocket, using the same amounts for expenses, your net spendable income for the year would be $16,305. The difference is the amount of money you save on taxes!

If you want a faster way of looking at projected savings, you can use the rule of thumb that you will save between 27% - 43%. (Its a wide range I know, but tax situations vary widely!)

Now, the trickey part is trying to decide how much money you plan to spend. You will need to figure out your child care expenses seperately from the medical/dental. The first thing I do is add up my prescription costs per month and multiply that by 12, easy enough. Now think about anything specific you know needs to happen this year- new glasses, kids braces, fill a cavity. Once you have a list of items, try to estimate what that will cost you. Dont freak out about getting it perfect, just estimate.
Now, you have a good number, I would be willing to bet it is larger than you expected isn't it? Now, what you do here is up to you, you can round up for those expenses you under-estimated, or you can take the safe route of rounding down to make sure you dont end up at year end with a surplus, because you CANT GET THAT MONEY BACK.
Money left over in your account is EASY to spend. You can buy asprin, NyQuol, band-aides, hearing aid batteries, contact cleaning supplies, allergy medications, or cough syrup. The only stipulation is that you have to spend this money before 12-31 at the end of the year.
I hope that this helps some of you. If you have any questions, feel free to post them and I can try to answer your question.

Tomato Basil Pasta

MMMMM, I am writing this blog as I eat my leftovers, tomato basil pasta. It is one of my favorite meals! It is vegetarian, and delicious very good for a Lenten meal. But, I don't want to wait that long for it!

Saturday night, we had dinner guests, and my husband made Beef Stew. It is one of his signature dishes, he has 2. (love you honey:)) Anyhow, as the guests were in delicious amazement regarding his Beef Stew, my guest and neighbor, told me that she asked another neighbor to borrow a cup of flour. I cannot believe what this woman told her, she doesn't keep those things in her house. Hello......What? How can you live without having flour in your house? Even if you despise baking, what about cooking? Breading, making a Roux, thickening sauces, Beef Stew?? WHAT?

A few years ago when I was a stay at home mom and had time on my hands, I made homemade cookies quite often. I was appalled at how the stores were selling place and bake cookie dough. I remember talking to another SAHM about it and we couldn't believe it! Why would you buy that when the homemade cookies are Light years better?

Well, I have since gone back to work and the night has come when I was in NEED of a hot chocolate chip cookie and have had no choice but to buy the place and bake. So, I succumb, however I still make my own cookies most of the time.

So, my question today is this, do you keep flour in your house? If not, how do you handle those cookie cravings?

Oh yeah, the pasta, is gone. And it was SUPER. I think it was better than many restaurants I go to.