I Love Tax Time

Tax time has always been good for us. Now I won't pretend to understand how taxes work. Even though I'm good at figuring basic math in my head pretty quickly, that is about the extent of my mathematical talents. If you can walk me through the process, I can understand it but it just plain disinterests me. If someone were to start explaining how taxes work I would probably stop listening to the explanation and, in my head, begin writing a letter to the Government asking why they make things needlessly complicated.

* Side note: I write a lot of letters in my head because I intend to send them and make a difference in the world. But usually after I wrote it in my head, I feel like I've already gotten my venting release and thus I never sit down to actually write the letter. So about the only differences I've made in this world with my letter writing are 1) I brought back the sixth grade dance at Blandford Elementary and 2) I got Noggin to stop teasing the kids with the intro to the Music Time shorts and then filling it with a commercial for one of their failing cartoons. Oh and I also got a coupon for a free box of Scar Solution but I forgot to redeem it and it expired.

But I digress...

You know what, I'm so far from my original subject that I'll just wrap it up and tell you that we did our taxes and we'll now be able to pay off our last major credit card. So I'm pretty happy and doing a little happy dance this morning. Just think....a cleared credit card. Now I can DIGI-SHOP!! No just kidding. I'm not that stupid (sometimes I am but I won't be. I WON'T. Stop giving me that look. I won't. Ok just take the card from me. Save me from myself).

Alright, attention Yankee Candle lovers (waving to Amy H.) have you been to YC lately? I love almost every single one of their new scents. Wait. Stop. Rewind. Retract. I think I love almost every single one of their new scents (you never know until you burn it. Just ask Gina about the White Zin fiasco of 05). I bought all but one (maybe two) of their new scents and a few of my favorite springy ones. Here's what I bought:

Already know these are good because I've bought them before:
Plumeria
Sage & Citrus
Cucumber Cantaloupe
Juicy Grapefruit
Granny Smith
Macintosh & Peach

New ones I bought:
Country Linen
Cottage Breeze
Sweet Honeysuckle
Herbs & Blooms
Cherry Lemonade
Pineapple Gardenia
Lemon Lavendar
Peach & Sweet Berries

And then...I saw this. A light from heaven shone down on it and a choir of Angels raised their voises in song. Ok, fine. It wasn't that dramatic. But I do believe my eyes lit up. Something about mosaics make me feel creative when I see them. There's this big mosaic on Haight in San Francisco and maybe that's what set off that creativity spark whenever I see mosaics. But anyway, this was the most soft, serene blue. I haven't even burned a tart in it yet because it's so pretty (I will, I will). But I just feel like sitting in a sun room and painting when I see this. Not that I have any blank canvas. Or a sun room.

What else. Oh! My book! I'm about a third of the way through it and I completely love it. One of my three favorite authors is Alice McDermott and Anne Tyler's writing is very reminscent of her. This isn't a book full of white-knuckle plot twists but it's very, very rich in character development. I can find myself relating to both the husband and the wife in so many ways but also being completely appalled by them in others. Which I'm sure was Anne Tyler's point. This is a book about a couple who feels that they are mismatched but they're really just like any couple that has personality differences. Their marriage faces the challenges that so many other marriages do (although I hope not all marriages will experience some of the deep hurt that this fictional marriage endures). I think she wants us to feel like "This could be me" but at the same time thinking "I would NEVER do that to my spouse." You see the direct and indirect consequences and it's almost like she's forewarning you. So I recommend it (so far) and it's not too long or complicated so it's not a huge committment of a book.

Alright, time to start the day. First I must pick a tart, then pour a second cup of coffee, then wake McKenna. School today. While she's there Erick and I are gonna clean out the car and do laundry (check me out! Doing laundry again while it's still manageable! I'm like a new woman!) I'm hoping to have free time to scrap today since I have a LO idea I've been wanting to do for a while now. Erick is off today (unusual for a Thursday but he had a seminar briefing on the local gangs that was scheduled for his day off so they gave him today off instead). We're hoping to take the girls to the park. We'll see how tired McKenna is after school. She can go all day without a nap but she always seems pretty tired after school so we'll see.

Have a wonderful day!