Paying Dues ... And Overdues

I flew home Wednesday night.  Immediately Thursday, I began tallying receipts (and mileage logs) for taxes.  Luckily I'd sorted them before I left, because if I hadn't I'd be dead right now instead of just brainless.

But taxes are done.  And they're filed.  And I'm still alive to tell the tale.

Not that there's much to tell, if tale it is.  We'll get some back, mostly because my tutorials are down but we withhold on the Big Lug's paychecks - based on the my numbers two years ago (a lot fewer this year) so I never have to estimate and send quarterly payments.  We won't adjust the current status, even though I don't think it'll get much better, because my mother left me just enough money to scare me about next year's filing.  And the following year the Lug's office moves miles and miles away, so he gets a relocation thing.  Besides, I've been ranting for years that tax cuts and government borrowing go together like gasoline and fire ... and I sometimes hate being right (especially since those cuts are going to expire this year - which shows that lack of foresight is a bipartisan trait).  Let's just say I don't want to get caught with my pants down, and since no one - no one - has any idea what's going to happen next, I'll keep my bloomers where they belong.

And so I continue the fiscal circle of life.

New this month - updating my great finds (see, see, see?), plus I've added a Money Walk counter (no, not like the songs!).  Yep, I decided two days ago that I've been giving lip service to exercise and I'm looooong overdue for a butt-whipping.  So I walked from work to a local Wendy's (chili is good) and found several coins scattered like grain in an empty parking lot.  Today I walked (in the rain!) from home to the store and back, and though I found nothing but a surprising (and disturbing) amount of trash, I got 3 miles under my belt (which, hopefully, will tighten it).  I want to get back to goal weight (or less), so I'll make this a regular thing.  Although I move quickly on my suburban sidewalks (which is fine - who drops stuff there?), I've vowed to budget some time to hunt the lots and the phones and the vending machines and the bleachers (if I walk a different way) and the bus stops.  Who knows what else I'll find?

And (hopefully) how much I'll lose ...