Demon Seed, Divorce, and Taxes

A few days ago (October 17th to be exact) at the eleventh hour, Hubby and I finally filed our 2010 taxes.  We had filed an extension because Hubby -- having a business and always being busy -- is NEVER ready on time.  Since we've been married, 5 years, he's always been the lagging end.  And each year since we've been married, he's always suggested that I just do my taxes and file separately from him to keep his business and me separate.  I'm usually cool with the suggestion because for the most part all our finances are separate anyway, and I have a property with my sister that I'd like to keep separate too.

"Are you sure? You know you will lose some tax credits by filing separately?" asks my tax professional each year.

"Married filing separately is usually just used by people getting a divorce," said one of my tax professionals one year.

But this filing year, we had Diego and we felt we should try to file together for the very first time.  So I patiently waited, knowing my husband would wait until the last possible minute to file our taxes.  And I sort of procrastinated too.  Taxes always make me feel so stooooopid.

"Did you know that I sort of got a raise today?  It was called an adjustment," I say to my husband as we wait to be called in for our appointment.  

"It's weird too because my palms didn't even itch to warn me that I was coming into some money soon."

They call us in and begin working on our taxes.  We still go back and forth on whether or not we've truly made up our minds to file together, and we finally just decide to do it!  Don't we sound like commitment phobes after being married 5 years with a toddler, a house, and a baby on the way.  LOL!  Then the drama unfolds surrounding Diego's social security number, which this rookie mom completely forgot to note to claim him for our taxes.  I'm such a newbie.  The crisis gets averted thanks to Hubby's all-knowing black leather planner.

Next crisis?  We can't e-file because we don't have Diego's first babysitter's Tax ID number.

"We should just call her," Hubby says.

"I'm not calling her.  You can call her.  Too much bad blood." I respond and my tax professional, who unfortunately has Sponge Bob's eyes and nose and is a woman, looks surprised.

You may recall, Diego basically got kicked out of her daycare after about 5 months for being too much to handle, aka: a demon seed.  I don't know what she was talking about, my Diego is an Angel!

Hubby calls her, turns on his charm, and gets the Tax ID from her.  I see him struggle to hang up with her.  His charm really works on the ladies.  He finally hangs up.

"She said she knows we're expecting and offered to take care of the baby."

I gasp, roll my eyes, and have a temporary heart attack all at once.  If I were drinking water I would've choked.

The moment of truth comes and I just about faint!  That much back, you say?  That's really going to help us with our house remodel finances!  Why didn't anyone tell us it was better to file together?  Oh yeah that's right, they did....

But my palms didn't itch to warn me about this money...  Probably because after the house remodel is complete, we'll still be in the hole.  But I'll take it either way!

Relieved of last year's taxes - Shirley