....and Tax Freedom Day was April 9th, I believe. Those who work outside the home and earn a paycheck with tax obligations withheld, the first 99 days of the calendar year were worked to pay your tax bill for 2010, on average. The days after April 9th are yours, enjoy!
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Well, I can now proudly show off my toes to the kids in the kindergarten classroom as I was able to get a pedicure yesterday afternoon, at long last. I had been meaning to go since before Arno's funeral at the end of February and now, finally, they are lovely. I describe them as brats with ketchup on them! Lisa had to work a bit harder on them than when I come in regularly as she had to shape the nails, do a bit of digging around, trimming of hunks of skin, etc. She was able to make the great toe on the left foot look decent despite the fact that it had broken about half-way down in early February before Lynn and Linda came, when I stubbed it against the trundle bed. Yikes!
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My tax deposit for the first quarter of 2010 is in the mail for a couple days now so it should certainly arrive, or at least be postmarked, prior to today's deadline. Last year I was able to go without making quarterly estimated deposits because I had a refund which my CPA rolled into 2009's obligation for me. Normally I do not have refunds but since my income was reduced so substantially in 2008 which my deposits did not reflect, I had paid ahead, so to speak. I would sooner write a check if my deposits are short than to have the gov't. hold my money interest free.
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Yesterday morning my first call of the morning came from Justin. He thought he woke me up but I just sounded all scratchy from not talking for a few hours. Justin wanted to know if I was listening to Neal but I was instead listening to the podcast of Glenn's program from the day before. He was telling me that Neal was talking about an illness that Justin thinks I have---Williams' Syndrome. Before you go look it up, let me tell you what Justin told me: the person with this disease has no social qualms, talks to anyone, described as a 'cocktail party personality'; makes little or no negative differentiation between races; takes people at face value; looks people in the eyes when talking with them...He said he was listening to this and thought, "That's my mom!!", and I am complimented by that. Of course, as we talked, I looked up the Syndrome and most of the other characteristics are not at all flattering, like the lower intelligence, sunken chest, wide spaced teeth, etc. But I loved it that Justin heard those other traits mentioned and thought of me. I am so glad Neal was not listing off 'short-tempered, foul-mouthed, rude, and insensitive' and then have Justin think, "That's my mom!" So, yes, I was tickled by this phone call!
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Another very bright spot of my day was catching up on some of the mail (I actually did decide to complete, somewhat, my Census form, begrudgingly) and found a lovely "Thank You" card from Ron's grammy. She had high praise for my home and all its colors and fun stuff to look at, how she felt right at home with us here and with my friends "around the table" for Easter, and, the icing on the cake, what a nice young man Justin is! He even checks in on her when he comes to visit "Ronnie". Moms like to hear favorable reports about their kids! Grammy S. also said she hopes we get to do something together again soon, and believe me, I'm in!!!
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The big news of the day is the search being resumed in Putnam County for the missing child, Hailey Cummings, missing a year at this point. It sort of sickens me as the police and investigators are searching a portion of the St. Johns near where she lived, based upon a 'tip' they received. Both the father of the child and his now ex-wife (yet in her teens) are already in jail for drug trafficking. He married the babysitter, then age 17, within a month of the child's disappearance. Just something else to give this part of the world a bad reputation, to say nothing of the sure death of this little child. If the investigators thought she was alive, would they be diving and searching the river? My heart...
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Last night I sat in the family room and watched TV all night! Of course, I had my laptop with me as I listened to the box but I absolutely did not want to go to bed too early, trying to regulate my resting, somewhat. Originally I had made plans with Ellen to go to Happy Hour at The Club where a prix fixe menu is also offered. Unfortunately, Ellen's dogs were not quite ready for pick-up from the groomer's in Avondale so she had to be standing at the ready for them to come home. No worries----I have foam boxes and a cardboard box in the fridge for my own prix fixe dinner. Normally I do not have Wednesdays at home but since there is no church service or choir rehearsal this week, I had off!
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My bed is sort of cleaned off, sort of, I say again, but my desk is piled full. Some filing needs to be done and shredding as well. Still my sliding doors are open and wind has been active all week. There was a brief rain storm on Tuesday but it did not warrant closing the doors. Nor did the rain wash away the yellow film from the concrete and tiles outside. Yesterday three more of the arms of my wind chime in the river room fell off. Two actually hit the floor and I heard a third one drop but could not find it at first. Then, I peeked into a lovely jug I have on the floor and there it was, right in the jug! I could not do that again if I tried. My Facebook friends suggest replacing the rotting strings with fish line or similar but some of the glass 'icicles' do not survive the fall to the floor so even if I did restring it, the balance would be thrown off. I have saved the ones which did not shatter and will offer them to someone with the skills to make something out of them. Linda M., that might be you! Linda J. and I got that particular sun catcher chime at Joann's Etc. at St. Johns Town Center Mall a couple years ago. Little did I realize the sun would take its toll on the strings!
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