Legal Necessities

Now that Tom and I are a few months into renovations we decided the legal bits and pieces couldn't be ignored any more. In our world things like partnership agreements and financial documents aren't important but since the Cauldron is reality we had some missing i's that needed dotted and t's to cross. This week we had our first and surely not the last meeting with our accountant and attorney. I've worked with Randy Lishawa, the accountant, for years but this was Tom's first time meeting him; also both of us were meeting the recommended attorney, Scott Basinger, for the first time. The condensed version of the experience is that confusion ran rampant LOL While I've run a home business for several years it was small and didn't fall under many government or tax regulations. Not so the Cauldron. Expenses have to be categorized and some are a bit slippery. Take all the work Tom did on the gas lines and furnaces. That falls under the labels of 'repairs' and 'improvements' with the furnace parts going into the repairs column and the bits and pieces of line under improvements. Guess who will be having a ton of fun sorting through those receipts? The system seems a bit illogical to me based on common sense and daily living. Unless you purchase items by category such as all furnace parts separate from all gas line parts you've got a terrible task ahead in separating your purchase into the different parts. And what about the sales tax? LOL Do I divide it up based upon the dollar cost or what? Since the accountant has repeatedly reminded me of his rate per hour and how much it would cost for him to figure all that out I made an investment in Quicken this week and added Bookkeeping 101 to my summer schedule.

Meeting with the attorney was interesting since we were also pretty clueless there. I'd investigated tax ID numbers, apparently called an EIN for us, but found multiple answers. Some sources said we needed one while others said since we didn't have income we weren't eligible. Guess what, income or not the government still wants it's share and we need one LOL We also apparently need protection from each other or at least to quiet those who think we do so we're having a formal partnership agreement drawn up. Then we're forming a LLC which I think stands for Limited Liability Company which seems to be a fancy title for something that keeps our personal stuff safe from our business risks. If something bad happens at the Cauldron only the company is responsible and Tom and I can't loose our personal possessions. I'm thinking that's a pretty good idea LOL It's a bit like knocking over a line of dominoes though as 'progress' in the legal area means lots of changes elsewhere. Once the LLC is formed, filed or whatever we'll need to have changes made to our insurance where btw, we're already having trouble. The insurance company intends to raise our rates since they consider the building vacant and therefore more at risk. That's also lacking a bit on the common sense and logic end LOL I work from 9-ish in the morning to 4 or so at least 5 days a week, usually a half day on the 6th day. Tom is there from 3 or 4'o'clock to 9 or 10 at night every night but two. The dang building is hardly ever alone so how can it be vacant? LOL Luckily that's a battle for Tom to fight. I have enough to deal with setting up the books and dealing with the changes the LLC will bring. One of which, getting a completely separate bank account, will be cause for definite celebration.

The good news in all this is that we are making progress being safe and financially smart, the attorney turned out to be a good choice and - big woo hoo here - my office is set up! While Mr. Basinger seemed a bit too serious for us at first he had the good taste to fall in love with the Cauldron. Remember though, him being too serious for us isn't necessarily bad on his part but more a reflection on us. I've been watching too many Jurassic Park reruns as upon entering the office and greeting Randy Lishawa my first instinct was to turn to the attorney and say 'oh, this must be the blood-sucking attorney' ROFL Luckily my brain was faster than my mouth on this occasion. We also received a great tip from Mr. Basinger regarding our search for the history of the Cauldron. He's on board with our hoping for some historical grants and suggested a specific person here in Findlay who could likely advise us of much of the building's history. We might even find a few surprises but I'll save those for a later post if it's confirmed.

Even with the dull task of bookkeeping ahead of me I'm looking forward to spending warm summer afternoons in the office adding up figures. While the new desk wasn't what I wanted it turned out to be what was needed and it fits perfectly in the space and goes well with the design of the building. I moved a few comfort items in - crystals, a few gifts from bff Amy - set up a bit of an altar and stock one shelf with a basic selection of witch craft books. Just like home! The large windows will let in plenty of air and light and once the walls are painted (a very pale pink) it will look wonderful and even professional. Heck, there's a business card holder even!

Renovations also progressed well this week. The east kitchen walls are primed and Tom is working on replacing the windows there and in the east bath. Once that's done, and if Ohio ever dries out, I can do the needed repairs to the outside of the building where leaks caused the stucco to rot. We got a bit more work done in the back but mostly were hampered by the constant rain this week. Paint stripping started out great and I'd hoped to finish up by the middle of the week but again the rain caused a delay due to the roof leaks there. There's just no space for a ladder among all the buckets catching drips and I'm not thrilled about being soaked while I work. And then, there's my visitor. Some of you know I'm terrified of spiders and given how long the building was empty it was only a matter of time before a few would appear. It did NOT have to be the grand daddy of all spiders though! Here I am, up on the ladder scraping the second coat of goo off and right along the top edge of the wall comes the largest, blackest spider I've seen in my life outside of a pet store! It's a wonder I didn't jump off the ladder and run screaming for the door LOL With a bad case of the shivers I kept one eye on the spider and one eye on the task and dutifully kept working and the spider stomped off. Yes, I mean stomped. This thing was so big it didn't even walk like a normal spider! Unfortunately it came back just as I was trying to finish the last bit near the floor. From that position I couldn't watch the spider and so I'd take a quick swipe with the scraper and then jump back to check on his position. Can't say as I did a very good job of that last bit but at least I tried LOL Of course the spider was gone by the time Tom arrived and hasn't been seen since but that's worse than if he was still about. When last seen he was crouched in the corner directly above the commode so now I either have to wait to pee until I get home or crouch on the potty craning my neck to keep an eye above me in case he jumps out. Guess who bought bug bombs on her last trip to the store?