(OLD) It's Tax Time in the MMP!

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
21

I didn’t wait until the very last second to do mine. I did them after work Friday. I’m glad mine are straightforward because I apparently spent most of what remained of my brain power by Friday afternoon after 4 hours sleep trying to make sure I impressed upon a coworker that continuing to try to circumvent a system designed to keep them from doing something stupid by allowing proprietary video content to be freely downloaded could get them fired - because I spent 10 minutes frantically trying to find last year’s return by searching for 2022. It was only long after I gave up and saved a copy of this return did it occur to me I should have been looking for a file named 2021. Doh

No, it’s one of those US lobbyists are much more successful in the US things. The IRS knows how much we owe, pretty much, and it’s been proposed more than once that they send us forms to approve or correct, but lobbyists from H&R Block, TurboTax, TaxAct etc have managed to fuss enough that it hasn’t happened. Either Salon or Fortune had a pretty good write up a while back.

22

Called my state today wondering why it has taken 2 1/2 months and I’m nowhere close to getting my refund. Some dumbass (me) forgot to attach the W2s. Worst part was telling Mrs Cad that I think I did the same thing mailing hers in.

23

I called the credit union and paid off the last two dollars on the roof loan. Then I applied for a loan for four kilobucks for the concrete. I should be getting a call from the loan department today. According to one of my credit card issuers, my FICO score is 869. I hope that’s enough.

24

It’s pretty easy to find contractors that use a third party lender if you need it. They usually have a 12 month-no interest plan, so as long as you pay the loan back by then, you have no charges. We did that with our 25K sewer disaster. They’re betting that you’ll default, of course.

25

Congrats to everybody who got their taxes done early. I finally bit the bullet and did my yesterday morning. All in all, a wash. I have to pay the IRS some money, but the Franchise Tax Board is sending me a refund of about $80 more than that, so is all balances out.

My hands look like raw meat this morning. Had dinner at some friend’s house last night and discovered they have a new puppy. Friendly critter that likes to gnaw on anything and everything, as puppies are wont to do. Including new people’s fingers. Kiera has very sharp teeth, I found out. Oh well. It was worth it for the fun of playing with her all evening.

On a happy note (puppies are their own category) I managed to score tickets to the B-52s in Vegas in August and my travel companion got us a very nice suite at Vdara for that weekend. Traffic is going to be a bitch because I hear they are resurfacing a number of streets before the Formula One race in November. We’ll allocate more money for cabs because I am surely not going to try to insert myself into that chaos.

School is getting stressful (for others) now that Graduation is in sight and many are finding out the cost of slacking. I might be merciful about final grades but not so much about signing off on Prom, which you can’t attend without the requisite GPA. Oops!

Fly low, stay loose and remember: Today (April 17) is the day Apollo 13 returned to Earth safely. If they can make it through, so can you!

26

My goal is to be +/- $100 at tax time, but it never seems to work out. I modified our withholdings last month - we’ll see how things look next year.

No teak, I see… lucky duck!

Well, the hull is all waxed - it looks better. Not like new but better than it was. Plus FCD took the boom off - we have no intention of using the sail anyway, so one less thing aboard. I’m not entirely sure why trawlers have sails - I think it’s supposed to make them more stable in high winds or something. Dunno, don’t care.

I won’t be doing any more boat work till Firday - I’ve got Tobias for the next 3 days. My wax on/wax off muscles will have a chance to recover. We need to win the lottery so we can hire people to do all this grunt work!

27

I was balancing my check book yesterday, and I saw that my checks to the U.S. Treasury and the California Franchise Tax Board had both cleared.

28

We got our taxes done back in February as well. Once we have all the paperwork, we always figure there’s no point in putting it off, and who needs that deadline hanging over your head two months later anyway? We got modest refunds from both Federal and State.

Mrs W is, as I type, jetting her way to beautiful Louisville, KY, where she’ll spend the next three days, which I plan to fill with alternating periods of furniture construction and sloth.

29

Cheffy, isn’t that always the way it goes? You finally think that the AC will be needed consistently and then Mother Nature throws you some snow. I hope you and Mrs Cheffy are able to stay warm.

metal mouse, here’s hoping the plumbers come at the right time, the fence people give you an answer you can live with re the side-fence and that the shop finds that the key fob issue is an easy one to fix.

BooFae, I know the double edged sword that being self-employed with little enough income to not have to pay taxes on that. Hubby does tutoring on the side of his main job and there have been a few years where he didn’t make enough. And while that part was nice, the income coming in throughout the year would have been nicer.

Niner, I think you may have sent your winds to Nashville. It’s been horribly windy down here. Glad that you got a chance to widen your wardrobe. And have fun at the symposium!

doggio, I wish I had the option to not participate in Monday. Life would be sooooo much nicer.

hippie, that is some nice balancing. Even not knowing how it worked out, it’s still incredibly cool that you get enough back to take care of the other big bills for the year.

Hey! We weren’t raised in a barn! We were raised in the woods like all good savages. Or maybe the desert. I get confused which one is more savage-like.

shoe, I can imagine! I have a friend that moved north from OK recently and she had the same kind of reaction. I’m starting to have no reaction to weather at all any more. I just know that it’s going to be weird. I’m glad that you have a chance to be relieved and take advantage of your snow day. hugs

elfkin, straightforward taxes are always the best. Mine are relatively straightforward - we take standard deductions, very little changes except the numbers from year to year. The only thing that made it more annoying is when Hubby started tutoring and we had to put it in as other income. It’s worth it for me to pay TaxAct to do them yearly just to make sure that I’ve crossed all my i’s and dotted all my t’s.

Regarding the lobbyists, they really are the bane of most of the problems with the US Government. There are a lot of things that would be so much better for all Americans if the lobbyists would just sit down and shut up.

Saint_Cad, ouch! That’s another reason I go through TaxAct. I don’t have to send anything in through the mail! (Well, I wouldn’t have had to for state anyway because TN doesn’t have state income tax, but the point is still there… somewhere.)

Flyboy, I’ll be keeping my fingers crossed on that the loan department swings your way. With that score, I’d guess that they probably will.

silenus, at least the reason for the state of your hands was a cute and good one. The trip to Vegas for the concert sounds fantastic! I don’t blame you for not wanting to drive through that. I don’t think we drove when we were there 17 years ago either because looking at the traffic made me long for NYC traffic.

FCM, I’m with you on winning the lottery! I just want to win enough to regularly have a cleaner come in and clean my apartment. :smiley:

Wheelz, sounds like you’re going to have an enjoyable three days. I hope Mrs W has fun in Louisville. It’s one of the places I keep saying I’m going to visit (since it’s only a couple hours drive) but haven’t yet.

Storytime was a lot of fun today. We had a smaller group than usual - about 1/2 capacity - which meant we could do some more fun things with the kids that are more difficult with the bigger group. We focused on Earth Day and let the kids color plant markers and plant their own sunflower seeds. They were all incredibly excited.

I got a call from Dad this morning when I was on my way in. He’s been talking with the dialysis people about his at home peri-dialysis and it looks like he’ll be going into the rehab center Monday through Friday, learning how to use the at home machine and getting up to speed. We were worried about him getting a ride there today because the care company didn’t think they had any openings, but low and behold, someone showed up so he didn’t have to drive himself (though I offered to come out to pick him up if I needed to.) Things are smoothing out a bit there, so that makes me happy.

When I was on my way home from the library, I got a call from Hubby. CtE had called them, having vomited at school. Which is an immediate “Yes, come home” but they didn’t want to take the bus. I couldn’t really blame them, so I drove into town to pick them up from school. They were very subdued on the way home. Right now, they’re napping. They also asked if they could stay home tomorrow because all of the juniors will be in either the auditorium or the gym working independently while the seniors are taking their end of course tests before graduation. Since the seniors will be all on the internet for their tests, the school internet will be wonky. They want to work from home instead of school in part for the more reliable internet and in part because the number of kids around them like that tweaks their social anxiety. Hubby and I are talking about it. Of course, if their still sick to their stomach, they won’t be going in. They also won’t be joining us for Chinese food tonight either.

Now that I’m home, I’m going to settle in to some reading and some writing. Maybe a little cleaning. Above all, I’m going to try to avoid stressing about anything. Because stress is one thing I don’t need more of! Happy Monday, all!

30

She works for a liquor distributor, and she and several colleagues will be visiting a few of their bourbon partners (including tastings). I think she’ll enjoy the trip!

31

Howdy Y’all! Must sloth has ensured today. We did accomplish nappage, however. In a little while we shall head over to the church house to setup. Meanwhile steaks are marinatin’ and beer is chillin’.

32

Grumble, grumble…took three-four phone calls and fours hours, but the fence people committed to Friday…so of course the neighbors (who don’t live there anymore and are trying to lease it out) had a guy come in and put the old fence back up today. So they’ll have a little extra work taking it down…which doesn’t hurt my feelings at all. Plumbers are set for tomorrow and the earliest appointment I could get at the dealership was 5 May (could have been a week earlier but it would have interfered with soccer). So may do some goggling on the topic of key fobs and battery replacements…

To late to get my swimming and sauna in and then get out and coach soccer, so will do some extra running around with the kids to keep the pounds off. Will do the shopping and sammich routine, but keep the sammich for tonight.

Yanker, nice boat.

God Bod, glad she’s back for you.

Niner, hope the tax discussion is civil and not to stressful.

Real Fish, enjoy the good food and good company. And good news on the Dad front!

Hippie, now that’s advance planning!!

shoe, good on ya for beating the rap (well, at least getting it downgraded).

flyboy, that’s a strong FICO score; don’t think you’ll have a problem.

quietly, concur, a puppy-bite is worth the play time. Enjoy the Vegas getaway.

OK, need to put on a shirt that goes with my blue jeans (in other words, the first one I reach for) and get the Moanday shopping done and stop by Jersey Mike’s (they’ve probably wondered what happened to me, I’m usually there at 10-10:15am every Monday).

Take care all.

33

That’s my kind of on-the-job training!

Swiss taxes are done, and I gave the go ahead for them to be filed. Now the US taxes will start. By being a bona fide reside of another country I get an automatic extension to June something, but still have to pay interest.

Work is getting more and more annoying - hard to believe that one person can wreck so many things. I’m still hoping that the pendulum will start swinging the other way, but maybe it’s just a wrecking ball.

And it’s clear that it’s Monday. Last two days were all-day rain. Today? Beautiful blue sky, which turned into a rather nice sunset.

34

Turns out that there was a busted pipe in the heating system that affected our “stack” of apartments. Of course, nobody bothered to tell us; I had to go ask about it. Retrieved the portable heater from the storage room.

As for taxes: those of you who are getting a refund, however small, are way ahead of us. We just shelled out $11,000 and will still be making payments throughout the year. No deductions, don’t you know. As long as the IRS is happy, I’m happy.

35

Handyman scheduled for today, mirror hanging. Just finished. There was furniture moving, and cleaning where the furniture was, much measuring, a splash of pondering.

My aunt’s mirror is on the wall. It is more of a decoration and light reflecting placement. If you are 6 plus feet you could see yourself in it (I am 5’2 and a tad”). It looks really good on the wall.

My mother’s mirror is on a piece of furniture by the door. That one is for checking you look presentable on the way out. The mirror works really well on the cabinet by the door.

Now to buy some trash bags and put furniture back in place.

36

I meant to mention, the boatyard where we’re hauled out used to be a Navy Amphib Base in WWII. On the map, the buildings labeled “Shop Buildings” are still there - our boat is sitting just to the left of them. And the part labeled “Marine Railway” is where the current travel lift slip is. Many of the slabs where quonset huts sat are still there. We kept one of our boats at this marina once, ages ago. But the piers aren’t the originals, for all that they’re kinda crappy. They may be in the same places, tho.

Just wanted to share.

37

Is the capital of Kentucky pronounced ‘Lewis-ville’, or ‘Looey-ville’?

It’s pronounced ‘Frank-fort’. :stuck_out_tongue:

38

Well, there’s a [*cough*] headline you don’t read every day.

39

Howdy from the church house! Setup is done and N.O.T. and snausages are cookin’. Also beer is good!

40

Here in California, Newsom has given almost everyone in the state until October to file their taxes. Because we were socked by storms, don’t ya know. We didn’t suffer any damage, but we’ll take it.

Yipes, Johnny L.A. I’ll read that after my stomach settles a bit. I’ve been telling HR and my bosses that I’m retiring in a few weeks, and it has been an emotional morning.