April 11, 2013

• Thursday Thid-bits

  • Don’t ask.  Thometimes I get a little thilly… and I needed thomething that went with ‘Thursday’.  Bethides, now you’re laughing, and you know you needed a grin thith morning.  And I was going to write the thecond part of yetherday’s posth, but… it can happen tomorrow, insthead.

  • We got our income tax return!  I have to admit, when you have five child credits, it’s a nice return.  But then, we *need* the nice return… it takes care of a lot of things for us.  Brian needs new tires on his truck, and we always hold off on big car things until the return comes.  I always take our summer (2013) and winter (2014) taxes from the return and set it aside, so when the tax bills come, I have the money to pay them… and that’s kind of like Peter paying Paul, isn’t it?  Still… it works for me.  We pay for our yearly dental check-ups/cleanings for the family from the tax return.  So it’s a good thing.  I always sit down and allocate everything out, and within thirty minutes of getting the return, it’s pretty much spent.  But at least it squares us away for the year!

  • This year, Brian sat down and did it WITH me, which was… really nice.  Because not only did we allocate funds, but we figured out when he would be taking his vacations (he gets FOUR weeks, this year).  We decided on three ‘week’ vacations, and then we’ll split the last week into vacation ‘days’ that we can use on Fridays or Mondays, so we have a few 3 or 4 day weekends.  He was even able to put in for two of the weeks at work, as a result.  So that’s NICE.  And I’m thrilled to have it all taken care of.
  • We also got out the map (and six books I got from the library on things to see/do in Michigan), and we plotted out our big state trip.  I feel SO much better, having all of it written down, when/where and how much, y’know?  We’re pretty excited – the goal is to do the east side of the state, from the tip of the mitten down around the thumb, and down to Port Huron (north of Detroit).  I’m looking forward to seeing lighthouses, going in a few ships, hiking Iargo Springs, stopping at a few fun touristy places… we should have a good time.  I’d love to see if I can get us to Turnip Rock (Yeah.  That’ll happen.)… it might have to wait until the kids are older.
  • Sugarbush is done!  We lost about gallon (boiled it down too far and burned it – homiGAWSH you should’ve seen the smoke in the house.  I’ve seen pictures of Hiroshima that looked like my kitchen!), but we still got seven pints of syrup, which… considering it was our first try ever, and we had NO idea what we were doing, I figure that’s pretty good.  We told Brian’s grandparents about our sugaring adventure, and his grandma got all teary eyed… apparently her family used to stay out at a cook-pot all night for two weeks, and they took a wagon of syrup downtown – they had a circuit of stores they sold Syrup and maple candy cakes to.  It brought back some memories for her.  Personally, I love hearing their stories.  And they have one, for each of our endeavors, too.  When we got our hive, we got to hear all about how Brian’s great-great uncle kept bees IN TOWN in the attic of his house – he put the hive in the attic and drilled a hole in the side of the house for them to come in/out of, and nobody knew!  Just fun stories, like that.  Things Brian said he never heard as a kid, we get to hear about, now.
  • It has come to my attention that there are two grooves in my head, now… because I wear my glasses all day, every day, and they’re pressing into my skull.  I had NO idea!  Is that weird, or what?  So… I’m going to have to make a conscious effort to put in my contacts.  Used to be that I only wore glasses to get me from the bed to the contact case… but somewhere along the motherhood trail, I kinda got lazy and stopped with the contacts (I wear them whenever I leave the house).  But I’d really like my head un-grooved, thankyouverymuch.  So it’s back to contacts, I go!
  • Did you see the Astronomy picture of the day?  It’s GORGEOUS today!  It’s the Milky Way over Shanghai, China.  Other things (that I shared on FB, but you might like, if you’re over this’a'way) include a REALLY well done Disney parody (LINK), an artist’s pen drawn 3-D superhero renditions (LINK)… they’re great.  And then there’s the view of Korea from outer space (LINK).  You’ve got to feel for the poor people of that country.  But how about the full moon from last month in time lapse?  (LINK)
  • My kids are so deprived… LoL!  Last night at dance class, some kid had a happy meal box, and it had Om-Nom on it… and I was *GEEKED*… so I took the kids to Burger King for supper.  I thought they’d like happy meal boxes with Om-Nom puzzles on it, and an Om-Nom toy.  But we never order happy meals, so they had NO idea what to do when I handed them the boxes.  Aaron actually started crying… he asked dolefully why we didn’t get him food.  I had to laugh… it’s in the box, buddy, open it up!  He was. Absolutely. Amazed.  Our first adventure in happy meals.  And the Om-Noms are the perfect size to be used with Little People, so they’ve got the ENTIRE kingdom of Little People (we’re talking amusement park, zoo, castle, arks, the WORKS) all over the living room, today!
  • We got the quote back from our builder friend on how much the addition will cost.  It’s been quoted at $20K, which… I think is high, considering we’re only adding 10 feet to the end of the house, and I paid $35K for the ENTIRE house.  ((Brian reminded me that we got the house used, and it would’ve been $75K new, and that $20K is probably about right.))  So we’re going down to the bank on Saturday together to talk about a installment/building loan.  I. Hate. Loans.  I hate them.  I don’t want any.  Right now we have one for the truck, and I hate it.  Adding another will have me grinding my teeth for the next five years, straight.  HATE loans.  But… we aren’t fitting.  REALLY aren’t fitting.
  • When Brian had him over, he said he wanted one of the two rooms to be ‘open’ to the parlor – meaning connected but without a door/walls separating it.  I hadn’t thought of that!  It’s a great idea, though… and man, do we need the room – have I mentioned that?  I look at the school that’s vurped all over the parlor, living room, and dining room… the LEGOs that are spread across every walkable surface, the books stacked on books stacked on books… we need ROOM!  So in spite of my desperate hatred of loans, I’m thinking we’re going to probably try very hard to do this.  It’s just necessary, at this point.  There’s too many of us, LoL!!  That means seven of EVERYTHING, and that takes some space!  And an extra boy’s room means that instead of FOUR boys in one room, we’ll have two per room, and space for a LEGO center that’s not in the dining room.  We’ll have room to set out the Little People stuff.  We’ll have more wall space for bookshelves.  We’ll have counter space.  ((Do I sound gung-ho, or what?))
  • It. Is. POURING, here.  Everything is just a soggy, soppy, slogged-thru MESS.  I wonder what this summer will be like?  Last summer was a dought, maybe this summer will be a deluge?  I don’t know, but it’s made a major mess of Critter Corner.  On the other hand, April showers bring May flowers, right?  And it’s washing the winter off everything.  So we have to ac-cent-u-ate the positive.  ((Oh, crap, now I have a song in my head…))
  • I’ve decided NOT to contact Mr. Ed.  It feels stalker-ish.  Besides, if I really wanted to bump into him, I know where to go – to the local thespie production.  Mr. Ed has been 15 years involved with the players in my little town (which… yes, I’m a thespian, but NO, I would NEVER join this group.  It’s… five steps below BDT, for friends who know what I’m saying.  But if I really wanted to see him, I could do that.  It’s just… too weird, otherwise.  I’m squeamish about stuff like that.
  • Anyhow, I’d best scoot.  There’s stuff to do, and kids to do it with, and… oi, my HOUSE…!!  ((Justh kidding.  But I sthill should go…))

  • 10:58 am
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