We've had a huge flurry of invitations lately to parties of all kinds, like graduations, baptisms, birthdays, engagements, weddings, and dinner/dances. Some of them are from friends, but a lot are from family (mostly my husband's because his family is huge).

We can't afford to attend all of them. Some of them say things like, "Dressy/Cocktail Attire Please!" We don't have a wardrobe of dressy shoes and clothes to attend all these, and I don't want to show up in the same outfits every single time (like we have been). And I'd have to buy my son another pair of dressy shoes since he outgrew the old pair.

Then there are the gifts. Can't afford them!

I've also noticed that more and more often the invitations say to bring a dish to share which I used to think was a great idea. But getting a lot of invitations like that stresses me out because that is an added cost of attending the party too.

Then to get really picky, there is the cost of gas to get to and from the event.

We've resorted to saying, "Thanks, but we have other plans" to many of the events, and I can tell some people are feeling that we're just being rude or uncaring by not attending. It's so awkward and makes me feel awful.

Just read about the new law that was sneaked into the health care bill. Now I will have to spend days typing up dozens of 1099 forms each year instead of the usual 1 or 2 forms. What a bookkeeping nightmare for me.

Often employees pick up materials from various suppliers. How do I handle the reimbursements? Do I 1099 the employee for that? How do I handle the charges on the credit card for business expenses? I'm so confused.

Why does the government have to keep on making everything more confusing?! I already resent having to pay somebody else to do my taxes because our situation is too complicated for me to figure it out. This year I had to fork out $375 to a CPA. Business is not good. Savings continues to drain. I'm scared.

Now the government has to pull even more crap to make things worse.