Tuesday, April 15, 2025 - Tax Day

119 - it really feels like the scale is stuck. Will be interesting to see what the one at home says tomorrow morning.

Massachusetts already sucked their small tax payment (due because of the sale of the house) from my account this morning. Our federal refund is taking time... At least the taxes are done. DS is panicked because something seems wrong with one of his W2's which he just noticed yesterday. That's what happens when you wait until last minute to do taxes ;)

Time to shower so towels and sheets can be washed before we leave here this morning. We leave in about 3 hours. Home in Florida by 3 pm hopefully.

Have a tidy Tuesday!

I am one of those wait until the last minute tax people, too, Liz. Just the way some of us are wired, I think. In the old days when I was far less busy I used to get my taxes done well ahead of the deadline. The past decade (maybe 2) I have gotten them done on the 14th or 15th. One year I sat in my trailer late at night at the dog show working on them. LOL! But I have yet to file late! The exception was 2020 when I had all kinds of time on my hands during the shut in.

204.8 - up 1.3 overnight, but I'm still under 205, so I'm not complaining. I saw some photos taken over the weekend. I'm looking good in a suit, but in my street clothes I can see that I still need to lose a few more pounds. I really think another 15-20 off will get me to the perfect weight.

I'm feeling indulgent using up my sick days, but I don't feel one bit guilty! LOL! I could use the day of rest anyhow.

Poor Lucky fell off the bed last night at 12:18 having a grand mal that came on in his sleep. It lasted a long time, too! He was down for several minutes this time and when he was back on his feet, I could tell he was still having involuntary muscle issues and his brain wasn't working right. The older he gets the more the seizures take out of him when he has them. Poor boy. But this morning he is his usual chipper goofy self. I'm glad they never seem to have a lasting effect. I do wonder if they will shorten his life eventually. No clear data on that.

After several beautiful days - yesterday was sunny and in the 80s - today it's overcast and cool. Boooooo! It's supposed to only get to about 65 degrees today. At least that's not cold!

Started moving food from one freezer to the other last night. Oh, dear, what one can lose in a chest freezer! So glad we have the upright now!

Tidy Tuesday, indeed! A goal my first year of retirement is to become more tidy in all areas of my life - physical, emotional, organizational, etc...

Use the sick days in place of all the days you came in sick earlier in your career! My bank is now really low, so I'm saving a couple in case I actually get sick between now and June 13.

Absolutely use those sick days if you don't get $ for them when you leave. We had a combined bank of days off including sick time, so we did get equivalent funds when we left. In my last years I used most of mine every year (even though I was getting something like 8 weeks a year) so I didn't get a lot but the check was a nice little retirement gift.

I sent in all my tax stuff to the accountants in mid-March. I got them back a few days ago and noticed they left out some AZ specific state deductions for my new solar and this qualified charity deduction thing they do here that lowers your taxes dollar for dollar up to an annual maximum (I even wrote up a summary of what they were and the forms needed!). But fixing it saved me nearly $2k, so yay me for reading through before I signed. I also overpaid my federal ones slightly, so that lowered my first quarter estimated taxes a little. It's not nearly as fun getting money back when you still have to write checks for the first quarter!

Kirby pulled more irrigation line up when I wasn't looking. Literally 20 seconds I wasn't paying attention and he pulled a bunch out and broke a manifold in the process. Landscapers are coming this afternoon. Honestly, some days murder feels like the appropriate response. Good thing he's cute and sweet to go along with his mayhem.

The two pest companies were out today. One guy does bugs, the other does gophers with some added bat treatment. Diane S, I think you were right and that was a bat in the picture on FB. I knew the hummingbirds were buzzing me (they sound like Jetson's cars), but a bat was likely joining in the fun.

Not much else going on here. I'm watching The Residence on Netflix. It's cute. And blessedly lacking in Shonda character monologues.

Cooler weather headed this way. Yay! After missing winter, I was bummed we were missing spring as well.

Take care all!

Sorry that I am chuckling again at Kirby's antics. It must be so frustrating. But someday when he slows down you will look back and chuckle at what a devil he was too.

Greetings all

Cloudy today. Scrabble was kind of a bust as I got beat all three games but still fun. I claim visual impairment. After that I stopped at the studio and did some glazing and clean up work. Not much new there.

I got my taxes extended due to lack of one item. I have it now but no need to rush. probably should get the stuff in before I lose it. CC I can't believe your accountants missed those deductions. What do they get paid for?

Liz if your scale is stuck that is a good number to be stuck at. I am afraid of mine. Hope you are home safe as I write this.

Peps poor Lucky. So sorry he has this issue. Old Chip had seizures but that was at age 16 near the end of his life. Not fun to deal with. And hell yeah take the sick days. Define "sick". Sick of ........

Yeah CC hummingbirds are loud and not shy about buzzing people. I can't wait for those nice days to sit out and see and hear them. Do you have feeders? We don't but maybe should. The fuchsia bush is pretty popular with them. And I really don't know a bat from a humming bird but that looked bat-ish to me. Cripes I can't believe Kirby dug up irrigation. How does he know where to find it?

Feeling nap-ish as I often do on Scrabble day after my drive to the big city.

So far the ho****er deal is great. Love it.

DH is having trouble getting a prescription from our primary care doctor. He needs some special attention because he gets it from a Canadian pharmacy due to expense. Doctor has to take a couple of extra steps but not much. Makes me wonder what is going on there. So he is getting it from the cardiologist. It is eloquis which is stupid expensive here. One of the drugs supposed to be on the negotiated price list in a galaxy long ago and far away.....

Diane S

Yes, Eloquis, which seems to be very effective shouldn't cost so much with Medicare. And it was one medication I was taking that had very few side effects. I didn't even notice much of an increase in bruising. I was on it for 2.5 years, and I kept reminding my doctor I needed to be off it before I turned 65. I was actually able to stop taking it in March.

I keep a feeder out all year. We have over-winterers! You?ll even see them feeding in the snow. Natural plants I think are always best, but not much is blooming yet here.

The irrigation lines are that 1/4" drip line. It's under the rock mulch, so he either digs it out, or gets it at the emitters and yanks it up out of the rock. Then swings it around like a lasso and chews it up! Such a jerk.

When deceased DH was working we used to extend every year because DH was never ready to get his stuff together (self-employed) and the partner in his building who did them for us was an accountant so doing everyone else's last minute stuff. We would pay a bunch of money in April by estimating based on the prior year. Half the time we paid too much and the other half we ended up with a penalty for not paying enough. And we always almost forgot the later date to file so still scrambled at the last minute.