This was a week of getting tiny things done (like mending), Valentine's Day, and of a short trip that ended in a rather blah manner.

The best news was that I finished the taxes, sent the state their $28, and anticipated the refund. James had them charge him the full tax rate when he cashed out his 401K, but we made so little this year he's getting it all back. We'll do what he did with the 401K money, put it toward his credit card, because those individual physiotherapy/Kaiser bills add up fast.

We don't do much for Valentine's Day anymore. It was a nice day, so after physical therapy we stopped at Walmart. We bought yogurt and sugar-free candy, but most of what I wanted I just had to order. Walmart is nowhere near stocked the way it used to be. We also stopped at an Indian grocery store in the same shopping center (we thought it was the one Jerry recommended, but it wasn't). To my surprise, they had jars of lupini beans. Of course I grabbed some; nice to have them on this side of town. For supper we had the shrimp we got at Publix in a scampi sauce with spaghetti, with caramel-center dark chocolate hearts for dessert. His Valentine gift arrived in the mail that evening just in time: I got him a set of accessories for his air fryer. He bought me Ali Hazelwood's Bride.

On Friday we did something we hadn't done for a while: went to the Barnes & Noble in Buckhead. It was a good bookstore trip, but we ended up eating at IHOP on the way home. I don't want to eat here anymore; any meal I'm interested in gives me heartburn, and I won't eat eggs, and I don't want total carbs (like pancakes or French toast) for dinner.

Did more books on Sunday: 2nd and Charles trip, but didn't buy anything. James also went in Hobbytown while I stayed outside and read--I was in the midst of a rather absorbing story. Sunday was also the day we watched Oppenheimer. Interesting filming technique--but "Oppy" seemed like a weird duck. Glad I saw it, but don't ever see myself watching it again.

Labels: books, chores, errands, food, movies, shopping, taxes

----------------------------------------------------------------
. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 11:46:00 PM

(0) COMMENTS

So while we were looking forward to Westminster on Monday and Tuesday, this was only the "Best in Group" and finally "Best in Show" judging. We found out that if we went on Westminster's web site, we could watch everything that's been going on at the two Piers (this is what they do with the old embarkation piers on the Hudson River now, rent them out for events) before the big finale. And, although we watched several breed judging sequences and some obedience trials (when did they start making the handler clench his/her left fist up next to their breast area when doing "heel"? it looks unnatural), what we watched most of on Saturday afternoon and evening was agility (they showed breed judging on National Geographic Wild on Sunday), and boy was it fun. We got the biggest kick out of the little dogs, because the Papillons were like little Ferraris—they just got into gear and ran flat out, some barking, some not, but all having a grand time. In comparison, the few Bichon Frises we saw just kinda ambled through the course, as if saying "I'm doing this because it makes my human happy." The most amazing thing we saw was a bulldog running agility—they are not built for this physically, especially running full-tilt, but Rudy was amazing.

We saw this killer mottled sunset Saturday night coming home from Fried Tomato Buffet. Of course in driving home we were driving away from it, so I got this photo by using the rear view mirror of the truck. The best part is the reflection in the passenger side window.


On Sunday James went in for a spate of mass burrito-preparation while I did the taxes. I went via TurboTax online, per usual as in the past few years, and their obnoxious television commercial advertises "free...free...free." Well, yes, under certain conditions, basically only if you do what used to be called a 1040EZ form (those are all gone; there is just one form). Once you itemize, or do other things, it's no longer "free...free...free." Well, with the married deduction having doubled, none of our itemized deductions would have added up higher: not even having maxed out our deductible at Kaiser last year plus the cost of the biweekly insurance, plus the cost of my yearly exam and four prescription refills, and what prescription refills James got before we maxed out in July, plus what we ended up paying Northside Hospital. (I didn't have receipts for all the extra medical items we've had to buy this year, but we've bought on coupons and sales and that didn't add up, either. Now if we could have added all the wages James lost, maybe...)

However, I had received a 1099 form, and TurboTax would not go on without having me upgrade to "Deluxe" so they could process it. A couple of years ago, the IRS zapped Amazon on all the free items they were sending out to Vine members for review. Because lucky people (trust me, it was not me) did indeed rarely get big-screen television sets, Blu-Ray players, bicycles, and other expensive stuff, the IRS thundered: "This is income! The people who get these things need to pay tax on their income!" Never mind that a lot of times the stuff people got sent was literally junk, electronic and otherwise, and disposed of half of it in the trash. But we did do well on Vine last year: got an air mattress, an air fryer, a chain for my bike and a bike helmet, numerous kitchen gadgets for James, several craft items like watercolor paper and Sharpie brush markers, soft-sided storage containers, a toothbrush holder, and various other stuff including books (books are valued at 99 cents). So having to pay $40 to TurboTax was just the price I paid for having an extra bed for visitors and crispy chicken wings. I didn't really mind it.

Then we got to the state tax, which TurboTax also said was "free...free...free." No, no, no. Only if you make under $30K a year or are active military or getting childcare credits. This was another $40 to do. If we were still using the old Georgia tax form I would have filled it out myself and mailed it. The old Georgia EZ form was a doddle: how much did you make? How much did you pay in Federal tax? How much did you pay in Georgia tax? How much was your refund, if any, last  year? If you paid us more than we're taxing, we owe you. Otherwise, you owe us. Heck, Snowy could have filled out the form. But no, they've gone all complicated again.

Thus another $40.

The absolute nadir was when I went to file. They said "We can take the $80 you paid out of your tax refund!" Sure! Okay, you need to authorize that, and, oh, that costs $40 more dollars! Are you serious? Screw you guys. I'll pay the $80 on my credit card, get the Amazon points, then pay myself back out of the refund, and I won't charge myself a cover charge! Honestly. TurboTax really has gone to the dogs.

Then there was peace. Then there was supper. Then there was Victoria.

[Later: February 12...terriers win again! It was the wire fox terrier for Best in Show. Frankly, I was rooting for the Havanese.]

Labels: books, dogs, food, taxes, weather

----------------------------------------------------------------
. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 10:23:00 PM

(0) COMMENTS

Well, it was just a dandy week. Monday I found out I indeed do have to have a colonoscopy. Not only "Draino" the night before, but a clear liquid diet the whole day before. Oh, great. Not only going to be hungry, but it's a day and a half without milk. I'm the way with milk that some people are with coffee. Grrr.

Tuesday when I started work I found out we are moving buildings. (They probably announced this at the staff meeting I missed when I was sick.) Now, the only people who were supposed to move were the people who were in the building they're remodeling (Colgate). But it's changed again. They want us "all together," so we have to move from Stanford, too. The new building is two buildings further down the road; it's empty now and looks scruffy around the edges. I don't see a lot of shady parking spaces for the summer. And it's back to cubicle land. I knew the office thing would end eventually, but I've done so well in the past 2 1/2 years not being under fluorescent lights. Maybe I can lobby for a dark corner?

With that in mind I finished up as many automatic closeouts as I could this week so I won't have to pack them. Was really dragging and headachy from the sun when I got home on Friday, walked Tucker, and then lay down on the futon with three ibuprofin in me until James got home.

Sadly, dinner was less than inspiring. We usually have a good meal at Fresh2Order but both our soups were overly salty, and for chicken vegetable soup, it had a paucity of chicken. We tried their icebox pies and they came with whipped cream on the top scooped out like ice cream. It had a funny taste and even James didn't eat it. Afterwards we had a better time wandering around Costco, and, among other things, picked up some rice and millet ramen noodles. Those should be yummy.

We went to bed early for a Friday night. There was a funny during the night: I woke up to hear James snoring. He's not supposed to be snoring using a C-PAP. I waited a little bit, then shook him. "Why are you snoring?" "I am?" "Yes!" It turned out he had woken up needing to use the bathroom. He took the C-PAP mask off, then Morpheus kicked in again and he fell back asleep, sans mask.

This morning we had breakfast at the IHOP on the East-West Connector, happily utilizing the senior menu. We just made it in ahead of the mob. Then we drove up to BJs, having intended to buy a three-pack of Flonase there with a newspaper coupon, which BJs takes. However, BJs' price for Flonase is so much higher than Costco that it is cheaper to by them at Costco without a coupon. We can use them on single Flonase units if we like, until mid-March. Did get some Skinny Pop, canned chicken, and "plastic" (American) cheese, and a new "Chicken Soup for the Soul" book of dog stories. We also stopped briefly at the Office Max in the next shopping center to get a new mini-mouse. The one I have died after I used it only one month (new battery does not help); very odd since I always use Logitech mice because they're so reliable. This time I'm keeping the receipt, as Logitech says there's a limited 1-year warranty.

We thought about stopping at Barnes & Noble on the way home, but it started to rain, so we decided to have lunch instead. We were going to eat at Tin Drum on Barrett Parkway, then noticed a restaurant two doors down called Twisted Kitchen. It's kinda like Uncle Maddio's Pizza Joint where you start with a crust and build your own pizza, except in this case you start with pasta (five different kinds) and then add things. They have five different meats and a dozen different vegetables and five sauces. I got linguine topped with bits of steak, onions, garlic, tomato, and mushrooms, with a asian sesame sauce, and they cook it all together for you and then I had them top it with chow mein noodles and sesame seeds. James had twisted pasta with shrimp and an orange sauce and his choice of veggies, also with the noodles and the seeds. We both enjoyed it, although it's hard to spin linguine on a plastic fork!

It was only three o'clock when we got home, so I pulled out all the W-2s and other documentation and did the taxes. Canny TurboTax—we've been filing through their website for a couple of years now since it's stupid to spend $49 for the software when our standard deduction always is more than our itemized. All we've got to deduct anymore is the mortgage; our donations add up to so little lately. But to copy the information from the past year's tax forms, they now charge you! Linda can type for herself, thank you, and doesn't need to pay you $30 to copy information for her; she entered everything manually and checked everything once, twice, and a third time. This time they let you file the state form free, too, which is probably why they were trying to charge us for the copying. So I printed out everything and now we wait for the file.

For supper James took some broth and added miso soup, cooked up one of the cakes of millet/rice ramen, and added a can of chicken. It made a pretty good soup. We watched the last two segments of the This Old House Belmont Victorian home. Looks so spiffy in its new golden color, with its front porch restored, new stained glass windows, and those magnificent hardwood floors. I can't imagine how she's going to keep that big house clean! Later we watched an Aerial America about Washington, DC, and The Incredible Doctor Pol.

I have had the strangest thing going on all day: when I got up this morning, my feet hurt. Not like I've been walking on them all day, but like they are bruised as if someone beat the soles of my feet. Everything from the balls of my feet forward are fine, but both of the heels and the outer sides are sore, not just when I walk, but when I touch them. Plus both my elbows hurt the same way; I can't even put my elbow down on the arm of a chair. Just cupping my hand around the elbow makes it hurt very badly around "the funny bone." On both arms. How bizarre. My elbows are always banging into something, but in this case I haven't banged either of them on anything.

Hmn. Could be bursitis. Mom had it, and it does say you can get it in your heels as well as your elbows.

Labels: books, food, health, shopping, taxes, work

----------------------------------------------------------------
. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 10:15:00 PM

(0) COMMENTS

Yeah, I know. Yuck. Spring has finally arrived. It went up to the high 70s on Saturday, but it was saved by a nice breeze. Slightly cooler today and clouds keeping the glare from our eyes. The Bradford pear trees have seemingly exploded in blooms overnight and form huge snowballs on their stocky trunks.

Anyway, my compressed Friday off was a great relief, as I have been exhausted by all the changes at work. I slept in until nine and would certainly have gone longer had I not wanted to fritter a day off sleeping. Believe me, I was tempted, as I am awakened by creaking knees and hurting hips several times a night.

I spent the day cleaning house and dubbing off a couple of things on the DVR that I'd recorded for James, Toward the Unknown (with William Holden, the story of a disgraced Air Force pilot who was "broken" by the Koreans and now no one thinks he can be trusted, so when he claims there is a structural problem in a new plane, no one believes him) and Thunder Birds, a World War II film with Preston Foster. I discovered that when I record standard ratio films (4:3) off TCM, I need to record off the standard def channel, not the high def one, as the pictures are small when recorded through the DVD recorder (which isn't high def). If he wants a decent copy of Toward the Unknown (lots of military jets), he's going to have to buy it from TCM's shop. I finally vacuumed those damn stairs, cleaned the bathrooms a bit, swept the kitchen, put a bunch of stuff away, and listened to the Cadfael story Monk's Hood on BBC Radio 4, and felt aggravated that I didn't get more done. There's a boxful of books downstairs that needs to be shelved, at least!

James was home a little early after having a doctor's appointment, so we went to Red Lobster since we could make it just in time to order lunch. Never figured out why I can get scallops easily at lunch and for supper it's like pulling teeth. We also stopped at Michael's with a coupon, dropped in at Dollar Tree (stocked up on more Pears' soap), and finally treated ourselves to ice cream at Bruster's.

Oh, yeah, and I gave Willow a bath. She behaved pretty well and didn't squirm as much as usual. It's just hard on my knees and my back to lean over the tub, especially when I'm pretty much rooted to one spot due to the toilet being so close. But she's clean now for Sunday, which is her fifteenth birthday.*

Saturday was the Farmer's Market, and a nice day for it; we had to abandon our jackets by the time we got downtown. We bought cucumbers, tomatoes, a pot roast pot pie for Sunday, and goat cheese. When I got to the Big Daddy dog biscuit booth, I decided to try their new gluten-free cookie, made with garbanzo beans and flavored with several things including banana and cinnamon. When I told the proprietor that Willow was going to be fifteen, she tossed in a big shamrock-shaped dog biscuit for free!

We also did the shopping at Kroger after having breakfast at Chick-Fil-A (yay, oatmeal!). They were waxing the concrete part of the floor and the person doing the waxing had not finished, leaving big glops of brown-stained wax all over the floor. By the time we were picking up our last items, the smell of the stuff was making me queasy, so was very glad to check out and go home. Wish they would have done it earlier, when fewer people were in the store.

James headed off for his club meeting in the afternoon, and I had intended to at least go get gasoline, plus go to the bank to see if my new debit card worked (I accidentally used the old one before going to the Farmer's Market and was soundly told "Card has expired!"). But I ended up doing more chores, including vacuuming the bedrooms, plus working on a wallpaper for James' e-reader. Soon he'd arrived home and we were headed out for a treat: dinner at the Colonnade and then a night out at the Atlanta Radio Theatre Company's performance of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.

The Colonnade was crowded as always, but we had an efficient waiter and were served promptly. I had the turkey as always, but James decided to have the short ribs, a favorite of some of our friends. Alas, the cook was a bit off tonight and James finally asked the waiter to take it away, as it was overcooked in some parts and greasy. Instead he had the turkey, which sat much better.

We arrived at the Academy Theatre early enough to have a nice chat with Daniel and Clair, both who have had colds, and John Campbell, before it was time for the performance. The opening play was Visions of Vampires, a production we had seen the end of during our Sunday at AnachroCon. James was iffy on it, but I enjoyed it, including the running gag about watercolors vs. oils. The part of the play in which a spirit spoke through a living man was quite scary; I saw a few people get up and leave.

20,000 Leagues was excellent! They solved the problem of this being an all-male story by making Professor Arronax's assistant Conseil his niece, Christine, and also cast a woman as the navigator of the Nautilus. David Benedict captured Captain Nemo's suppressed rage well, and Ned Land was just a big, brusque Canadian rather than an over-the-top Kirk Douglas type. (I did joke to Daniel Kiernan that I missed him singing "Whale of a Tale" and he replied with a straight face that the sea lion never showed up—if you've seen the impressive Disney version of this tale, you'll understand.) 20,000 Leagues has a good deal of exposition and scientific theory, and the script balanced this and the human drama well.

[Left to right: Daniel S. Taylor, Clair Kiernan, Daniel Kiernan, Ron Zukowski,  Dave Schroeder]


Afterwards there was a cake served out in the lobby area, an extraordinary piece of work. The main cake part was made to look like a book, and the top had the squid and the nose of the Nautilus bursting from it with a neat effect, the "cover" curled back with pages of print showing! Both squid and Nautilus were edible.



An uneventful ride home and then on chat for about an hour; by the time one o'clock came I was wiped and could have easily fallen into bed without a shower.

This morning came too early, but breakfast was leisurely. We finally headed out about 11:30 to BJ's for a stock-up trip, as we needed Chex, Mandarin oranges, AAA batteries, and Lysol, and also had some good coupons. I squeaked when I saw the final bill, but really, we didn't buy anything we didn't need, plus I found two pairs of Gloria Vanderbilt "Amanda" jeans in my size and length, a nice cafe au lait color as well as in a dark chocolate brown. They had special "spring" colors, too, in eye-popping pink, yellow, and polka dot, but I avoided those. Sadly, they didn't have the pretty grey ones in my size.

We came home by Publix intending just to get money (the new debit card did work), but found several twofers, including cut watermelon, that notched the bill up a bit. I'm very relieved this weekend is over from a spending point of view, especially after needing to buy gasoline as well! (We took Willow with us as a treat, but she only looked anxious. I suppose I can't blame her, as mostly when she goes for a ride in the car she's either going to the vet or on vacation, neither which she likes!)

I figured it was time to do the taxes. I usually do them right after I get both W-2s, but James's never showed up because his company has taken on a new billing service. We discovered why when they gave him a new printout of it: they had our old address on it! Honestly, we have been here seven years! What old records did they get into? I also decided after last year that I was not going to pay for a TurboTax CD anymore. There is no way our deductions, even with the mortgage payments, are adding up to give us a higher total than the standard deduction for a married couple, and it's just not worth the trouble. I just had to decide on which website I wanted to do the tax return; ended up going to TurboTax because they would file both Federal and State. Still had to pay for the State, of course, but it was less than the price of the TurboTax software, even at one of the buying clubs with a coupon! It took about an hour and at the end of it James had supper finished (the pot-roast pot pie and a salad) and we could go on to happier things, watching the final part of the "dollar house" reconstruction we'd started over the weekend on Rehab Addict, a great episode of one of my favorites, Flipping Boston (Peter and Dave redo a house—in the midst of a seemingly endless series of snowstorms—for a friend who lost a leg in a car accident), and finally Lab-mix, Ibizian hound, and the cutest Pomeranian puppies ever on Too Cute.

Willow had wet dog food for her birthday dinner and then was allowed to lick out the bowl the watermelon pieces were in, and then for dessert was given that huge shamrock cookie. She tried valiantly, but couldn't finish it. Ah, well, there's always tomorrow. (Schuyler glared at her so when she saw Willow with the cookie that I gave her a sprig of millet!)




_______________________
* We actually don't know when Willow was whelped. We got her on the last week of May, and they told us she was ten weeks old, so I counted back to a date I could remember. :-)  Schuyler has the same deal: she was just a new baby when I bought her on the Friday of Memorial Day weekend, so I counted back a month and picked out another date I could remember (April 23, St. George's Day and Shakespeare's birthday).

Labels: birds, birthday, chores, clothes, dogs, excursions, food, friends, movies, pets, radio drama, shopping, taxes, television

----------------------------------------------------------------
. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 10:43:00 PM

(0) COMMENTS

 
A chill, drizzly, mizzly, grey, dismal day. Started off the day with breakfast and The Adventures of Rin Tin Tin. More of the awful dubbing again, and the tinny music is annoying. Not sure why they've committed such barbarities against the series. I'm sure the RIAA had something to do with the music. Gits.

Then, since there wasn't much else to do, I finished reading The Garden Intrigue while James surfed online and continued reading Harry Turtledove. Had The Revolutionary War running in the background.

When I'd finished the book we went out to Publix to get a newspaper. Bought something for dessert, and bought some aloe gloves and socks for myself. By the time we got home, our supper, the little pork loin cooking slowly in the crock pot with teriyaki and black sauce, was approaching completion, but still had a bit to go. So I pulled out the envelope that's been collecting all year with tax receipts and started up Turbo Tax and did the taxes. Not much different than last year; we never seem to have itemized deductions that outpace the standard deduction. I'm going to quit buying Turbo Tax and do it all online. Phooey. We owe the state $20, which, of course, I will pay as late as I can. And when I was finished, so was dinner.

We had the luscious pork with teriyaki noodles and watched more Pie in the Sky. Will really be sorry when this series is over.

Labels: books, food, shopping, taxes, television

----------------------------------------------------------------
. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 6:46:00 PM

(0) COMMENTS

It was a nice sunny weekend full of nice ordinary things, including sleeping late.

When I refilled the bird feeders Saturday morning the larger feeder had sprouts growing in it. I figured it was time to get a second of the little squirrel-proof feeders, so we started our afternoon by going to Wild Birds Unlimited—only to find out they were out of them. Ah, well. I asked for a call when they come in. A woman there had beautiful photos of cedar waxwings in her yard.

Then to the hobby shop, where I read Bread and Circuses (Phryne Fisher mystery) as the guys talked, and finally back home until it was time to leave for trivia.

Stopped at Fry's on the way there; just walked around and I picked up a couple of magazines. We hadn't eaten since one o'clock and were starving. Good thing for the trail mix I've stocked under the seat of the truck. This is Planter's "energy mix," all nuts and edamame (sp?) covered in chocolate.

Mulligan's Grill has good food, but our hunger put the sauce on it. It was a fun game, and we won, and then arrived home for a nice evening on chat.

Today was sunnier, warmer—ah, it's back to worrying about getting the milk home fast—busier, with a treat: James made biscuits. He said it was so dry that it was hard to mix them. We did grocery shopping at BJs, Publix, and Kroger, then I put the Valentines Day decorations away and have all the winter decorations down, if not put away, and have the spring decorations up. Very depressing storing away the sparkly winter things. Spring...when a Southerner's thoughts turn to air conditioning, fans, pest control, Sevin dust, Roundup, and surgical masks to keep the pine pollen out of your mouth. LOL.

And finally I pulled out TurboTax and did the taxes. This year TurboTax needs you to download Microslop .NET to work—we've been using TT for at least a decade and the fool thing has never needed .NET. The taxes only took an hour to do, but it took nearly a half hour to download stupid .NET so TurboTax would work. Huh! Next year maybe I will try TaxCut, or whatever they're calling themselves now. I hope it uninstalls stupid .NET when I uninstall TurboTax.

They asked me to review the software when I was done with the process. Guess what I mentioned.

As last year, we are getting a refund from the feds, but owe the state a minor amount. Not sure why; since we've owned a home we've always gotten a state refund, until last year. Odd.

Pork chops and the final two parts of The Tudors (series three), followed by the most recent Sinbad special.

Labels: books, food, shopping, taxes, television

----------------------------------------------------------------
. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 9:59:00 PM

(0) COMMENTS

A cloudy cool morning, just right for sleeping...well, when the dog isn't barking. :-) Sometimes there are advantages to a dog door.

But it was time to get up anyway. I decided that I would take care of the state tax payment today instead of waiting until the 15th. I've no great nostalgia for those days before we bought a house and were paying in $800 in Federal taxes and $600 in state taxes every year, and joined the parade at the post office the evening of April 15 to drop checks in the slot.

It's been so long that we've done anything but file electronically and then get a refund that I kept consulting the printout that TurboTax produced to make sure I had everything! Strange how we got a $400+ refund last year and have to pay in $88 this year. Anyway, copied, stapled, tucked, and stamped, and at last the envelope was ready. We also finally arranged to mail a very late Hanukkah gift—first we had to find a mailing tube, then we kept forgetting it, and then it turned out we didn't have a home address, so we used a work address instead.

Then the shopping portion of our morning. ::snore:: As I guessed, our Publix does not stock the small whole wheat low-carb tortillas that I had seen up in Kennesaw. We are going to try a couple of other Publix stores on the way out to Trader Joe's and can probably hit some different ones on the way home, as there are Publixes everywhere these days. Got some twofers and more of the paper towels because they are such a good deal and we use less with the pick-a-sheet. Also got the usual stuff at Kroger (yogurt, as Publix doesn't carry my flavor, and the bananas) since James had to pick up a couple of prescriptions.

And we did the post awful as well and were finally free.

The clouds continue and there is a nice breeze rather than the wuthering wind of yesterday. Very nice for riding! Unfortunately the rest of the day became a bit tiring. We had to go to three other Publix stores to finally find the right tortillas. In the meantime we went to Trader Joe's and got more of their wonderful three-nut and flake cereal, and various other things we can't get at the supermarket.

Also made brief stops at Michaels and Fuzziwig's, and by the time we were done, we were knackered. Came home to leftovers (me) and some wings (James) and watched another Doctor Who we missed when the satellite box died ("The Sontaran Strategem").

Labels: dogs, shopping, taxes, television, weather

----------------------------------------------------------------
. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 7:01:00 PM

(0) COMMENTS

...taxes are done (not to mention that "Underdog" was here).

Was up late on chat last night—a varied assortment of topics including the examination questions I posted last night, John Bedford Lloyd's exploits during The Abyss, and Revolutionary War battles—and needed the sleep-in. Something odd happened before bed: it was as if my ears were plugged and all I could hear was a car or truck running. There wasn't one outside. I've had this happen before, but usually after I get into bed.

We went to BJs about 11:30 and bought this year's version of TurboTax, which was crammed into a corner between Kellogg's cereal and an HP printer. We would have bought it at Costco, but we had a coupon for it at BJs. Didn't need mandarin oranges, but also bought more of those with a coupon, along with some gravy mix and a big DVD pack of public domain Christmas movies and television shows, including A Christmas Without Snow and the infamous and goofy Santa Claus Conquers the Martians. (I saw this ages ago, back when WSBK-TV38 ran one of their "flop film festivals." It's a very strange film.)

Came home by Kroger and then past Jim Miller Park. There has been some sort of construction going on at the Austell Road side of the park for months. What used to be an empty expanse of grass that was used for overflow North Georgia Fair parking has been cleared, some diseased trees taken out, and they are completely plowing up that side of the park. Friday when I went through there I noticed they were bulldozing up the hill that heads toward County Farm Road (whoops, County Services Parkway...pardon moi). No word on their website on which's going on, but it's definitely some type of expansion. We're wondering if they're going to create a permanent venue for the Fair on that side so that the opposite side can be reserved for parking (or possibly vice versa, since they're not just flattening out the site).

When we got home I popped the TurboTax disk in the computer and did the taxes; we had gotten James' W-2 over a week ago and there was no use putting it off. We have done our taxes using TurboTax for years now, so we don't even have to bother putting in last year's figures—TT does it for us in seconds. As if to prove that our state taxes have gone up, we are getting a refund from the Feds but have to pay the state $88 (we got a $454 refund from the state last year, which shows you just how much our state taxes increased). So I e-filed for the Federal refund and just laughed at them asking me if I wanted to spend $20 to e-File the Georgia return. Hon, you'll get your return and your payment put in the mail on April 15, thank-you-very-much.

At least it's not like before we bought a house, in which we regularly owed the Feds $800 and the state $600. Spring was very expensive back then!

Before supper we watched Underdog, which I DVR'd off Encore a week or so ago. Keeping in mind that this was pretty much made for kids, my comment is "this was cute," of course with the obligatory lesson that every kids' movie has to have these days, although not banged into your head quite as obviously. Had it been meant for adults, my comment to Peter Dinklage and Jim Belushi would have been "Boy, you must be hard up for money." :-) No, really...the dog is cute, the other dog ("sweet Polly purebred") is cute, the kids aren't objectionable, and there aren't any farting jokes. Put your mind in neutral to watch this one.

Salad for supper. Yum!

Labels: movies, shopping, taxes

----------------------------------------------------------------
. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 5:27:00 PM

(1) COMMENTS

Hard to believe it was so warm on Friday that I felt forced to put the air conditioner on and today it has not even climbed out of the 40s, with cloudy skies and raw wind. Of course it feels like about twelve hours from Friday afternoon until now. I'm not sure where all the time goes on the weekends, but it flies like a falcon in the midst of a stoop.

We did finally get the taxes done on Saturday night. Something has come up ever since we bought the software, but of course the deadline is tomorrow and that proverbial balloon was going up. I was quite annoyed with myself when I opened the envelope in which we keep all the tax documents and found I had kept two copies of the receipt for my car taxes instead of one of mine and one for James' truck. Last year his truck was $30 more than mine, so I used that figure to calculate his total. Once that was done and submitted I could concentrate discussing with Mike on chat what kind of a new computer he needs!

James also tried to change out the two HVAC filters on Sunday with little success because what we thought was a four-pack of 16x25x1 filters was actually one 16x25x4 filter! Luckily I still have the receipt. We had less luck that day trying to return the IDE to SATA adapter card and my dead wireless mouse at Fry's since they were over their 30-day return limit. Fry's is over an hour's drive from our house and we don't like to go out there too often. I at least asked if they would dispose of the broken mouse properly and to my surprise, I was told no. Fry's is a California company and so many of them are on the forefront of responsible recycling that I couldn't believe they don't offer this service, especially since I was fresh from the Green Purchasing class on Friday. Of course I shouldn't be so surprised since the only place to safely recycle broken compact fluorescents involves a trip down to Ikea!

In the meantime I spent Friday and Saturday attracting books: not only did I pick up the three volumes at the used bookstore on Clairmont Road, but my Hamilton book shipment came in—four books including Grandmere, the Eleanor Roosevelt bio I've wanted for so long—and Saturday I found one book about web typography at MicroCenter and two books at Borders, including Cesar Millan's (the "dog whisperer"). The latter specifically had instances of helping dogs who are afraid of other dogs, like Willow.

Sunday I also bit the bullet and did a "big cleaning" of Schuyler's cage. Since she's not hand-tame I have been merely doing spot cleaning, but the bottom was looking increasingly grubby and I knew frightening her as minimally as possible was better than risking her health. James helped me and we did it, setting the remainder of her cage on newspaper on the dining room table while I scrubbed out the bottom. She took it quite well, actually. I also replaced the swing she sleeps in with a new one I had bought some weeks ago. When she's bored with playing with her toys or banging the St. Francis token that's fastened to the bottom of the cage, she sits in her "bed" and gnaws upon the wooden portion. (She has a wooden toy that is made for birds to gnaw on in her cage already, but obviously the swing is so much more appealing!) She stared at it suspiciously for a couple of hours, but was sleeping in it by evening, when we were watching The Right Stuff (we followed our marathon viewing of From the Earth to the Moon with Apollo 13 on Saturday night and then TRS last night).

Labels: birds, DVDs, movies, shopping, taxes, weather

----------------------------------------------------------------
. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 2:58:00 PM

(0) COMMENTS

The cold front came through last night, whipping the shades up and sending the dog in a frenzy of barking. When I woke up I was spoiling for a migraine, so I took something for it, went back to bed until seven, then started to work. I checked the traffic report before I left, but there was just the usual problems on I-285 east, nothing on I-75 South/I-85 North, the way I usually go.

However, twenty minutes later when I reached the freeway, there was Trouble in River City. Traffic was already clotting up and I saw a rescue squad in the distance. Must be an accident at Paces Ferry. Nuts. The radio traffic report wasn't saying anything about it. However, I was already abreast the exit for Mt. Paran Road when the next traffic sign reported that the accident was four miles ahead. No one would let me get over, so I inched, in the company of hundreds of fuming commuters, down to the next exit, two miles away. This took a half hour. However, I was able to get off at Paces Ferry and go down Northside Drive, which would eventually intersect with the freeway past the accident. By then the sun was full in my eyes and I couldn't see the southbound exit signs, passed the exit and had to turn around and come back. Gah. (By the time I exited at Paces Ferry, the traffic report had not only picked up the accident, but was saying that the backup went all the way to Wade Green Road, over ten miles away, and that the approximate commute time was seventy minutes. Yow!)

Tonight there was a massive accident on I-285 Eastbound at Chamblee-Dunwoody. Same situation as this morning, three left lanes blocked. I thought about this morning as I made my way westbound, which was clotted as usual at Roswell Road and then at Northside Drive, but nothing unusual.

It took me 35 minutes to get the twenty miles from work to the International Farmer's Market on Spring Road.

It took me 35 more minutes to make it the remainder of the four miles home. Thirty of that was inching up to the intersection on Atlanta Road. From the top of the bridge I could see flashing red lights and some blue lights all the way down Atlanta Road going toward Windy Hill. I have no idea what was wrong, but after I crossed the bridge I distinctly got a quick whiff of natural gas. I wonder if the construction crew digging up the old shopping center for the new Jonquil Plaza broke a gas line? I sat there waiting at the light hoping something wouldn't explode while we were all sitting there trapped.

To top it off, I went downstairs to get the wreath for the front door and plugged it in. Nothing. Will you tell me how a string of lights that worked perfectly for a month last year and which was working perfectly well on January 6 and was then stored in an indoor, climate-controlled closet downstairs suddenly dies when plugged in eleven months later? Okay, so I had this light tester I bought from Michael's...cool! Well, until I discovered you still had to pull the stupid bulbs out to test them. What's the use in that?

It made no difference. According to the tester, we've got at least three bad bulbs and I have one, count 'em, one replacement.

Well, here's something I can do: sit down and renew the car registrations online.

Almost. I renewed James'. I couldn't do mine because I'd forgotten my car is three years old this year. It has to be inspected from now on. So I guess while James is at work on Saturday, I'll be getting the car inspected.

I was even disappointed in a small thing: I was discussing with friends that although James had to work Saturday, it turned out his compensatory day off was Tuesday, my birthday, which I was taking off, and he was taking me out to eat at the Colonnade, which has the absolutely best turkey and dressing in the entire world. (You can keep your prime rib; I'll take the t&d at the Colonnade any day.) Except the Colonnade isn't open for lunch during the week anymore. ::sigh::

Maybe on Sunday? she asked hopefully.

As Robert Hayes says in Airplane... :-)

Labels: commuting, food, taxes

----------------------------------------------------------------
. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 6:55:00 PM

(0) COMMENTS

We did the taxes tonight. Had to work on James' computer because TurboTax no longer works with Windows98. (Snobs.) Went a bit mad having to look through the old house paperwork to get the figures needed for the sale of the house reporting portion of the sequence. We made jokes during the closing on this house last year and sale of the old house, too, about all the paperwork, but compared to the pile of papers we had in 1995, last year's signings were a picnic. We also took our $40 telephone credit for the tax Congress put on telephone service during the Spanish-American War and never removed. [eyes roll] The longest thing was putting all the deductions in, because we had donated bits and pieces to Goodwill after we moved.

By the way, BBC America is running a marathon of the new Robin Hood on April 15 under the sobriquet of "Tax-Free Sunday." I love it.

(If you're happy about having until Tuesday, thank Massachusetts. It's Patriots' Day.)

Labels: taxes

----------------------------------------------------------------
. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 11:40:00 PM

(0) COMMENTS