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Mid-April, or the deadline for filing 2008 taxes, is swiftly approaching. Americans can be divided into three distinct groups at this juncture: those who did their taxes early and already received their refund; those who did their taxes early and are waiting until 11:59 p.m., on April 15 before dropping what they owe in the slot at the post office; and the rest of us who haven't yet begun.

I would have had our taxes taken care of months ago, but life is simply more hectic than usual this year. Normally, we don't throw each other birthday parties, but this year was different. Hubby threw me a party -- something about me hitting a big, round number -- and then when his birthday crept up, I decided to reciprocate.

Instead of going through files and matching receipts with acceptable categories, we sat around creating invitations, developing menus and deciding where to hang balloons. It was a blast to celebrate like kids, especially since our kids are getting too old to celebrate their birthdays with character cakes and streamers.

Part of the problem this year was technology. No, we did not have issues getting tax prep software to work. None of our computers crashed and we didn't lose the memory stick on which all our financial data was saved.

The problem was actually a good one. Remember that game console I wrote about earlier in the year? The one that allowed us to virtually bowl and initially made our arms and legs sore for days? Well, on countless nights that we could have spent reconciling our records, we chose instead to move the furniture out of the way and work on our bowling averages.

We did have a free Saturday a few weekends ago. Unfortunately, it didn't rain. The weather was mild and the sun was shining. After a trip to the garden store, we spent much of the day out in the yard cleaning, arranging and planting in anticipation of spring.

Realizing that a full, thick, lush, green lawn is a ridiculous goal while raising three active boys who hang out at our house with much of the young-male-dominant neighborhood, I decided to plant a row of berry bushes in the bald spot. It felt great to get dirty and sweaty after the long, cold winter.

The kiwi, blueberry, blackberry and raspberry bushes that looked like dried twigs when I planted them on that mild almost-spring day are now budding! Meanwhile, I have no idea if we owe Uncle Sam money or if we have a shot at a vacation this year.

Every time I pass one of those poor souls standing on the side of the road dressed as the Statue of Liberty, waving and smiling with all the enthusiasm of a preschooler hoping to catch the eye of a monkey at the zoo, I mentally smack my forehead and remember that I'm running out of time.

Had Lady Liberty knocked on my door and handed me a flyer, I might have been motivated to head straight to the desk and work on taxes. But the only time I see the animated reminder, I'm on the road on my way to drop off this child or pick up that child. Or I'm headed to the grocery store because we ran out of milk again.

By the time I've rounded up the kids and the milk is in the refrigerator, tax preparation is the furthest thought from my mind. Until, that is, that moment at the end of the day when I enter the grocery store receipts in the checkbook and figure up our balance. That's when I think, "Boy, I sure hope we're getting a refund this year."

Then I make big mental plans to work on taxes the next day. From the vantage point of 10 o'clock at night, there is always plenty of time the next day to accomplish all of the tasks on my mental list. Twenty-two hours later, as I'm making my way through traffic and I see yet another costumed advertisement at the crossroads, I once again give myself the mental forehead slap. Then I assure myself that I will get to the tax work tomorrow.

For some reason, tomorrow -- the day I will get my taxes done -- is the one day that has not yet arrived. We've enjoyed New Year's, Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday, the inauguration, Ground Hog Day, Valentine's Day, President's Day, the Ides of March and St. Patrick's Day and April Fools. But nowhere on my 2009 calendar have I been able to locate one good, solid tomorrow fit for tackling tax work.

If perchance I do get our tax information to our accountant in time to file our taxes before the deadline, I will need just one more tomorrow. The extra tomorrow is just what I need to organize the pile of 2009 receipts and other household financial papers stacked on the corner of the desk.

Micki Bare is a columnist for the Arkansas News Bureau and the Courier-Tribune in Asheboro, N.C., and author of the book, "Relative Expressions." She lives in Asheboro with her husband and three children. Her e-mail address is mickibare@ inspiredscribe.com.