Sunday morning!!

Good morning everyone! I only woke up twice during the night last night! Woo-hoo! That's half of what I had been so I REALLY feel rested!  I pretty much got the taxes done yesterday. I have to go by our dentist Monday and get a copy of our out-of-pocket expenses through them for last year so I can be sure all of that is included. So far though, it's 'only' up to $21,400 out-of-pocket! Can you say OUCH!?! We well surpassed the minimum. I have to check out the state one though. For some reason, it has us owing them $200 more this year than last year. With higher deductions, that just doesn't make sense so I'll be checking that out today and see if I can figure out what's up with that. At any rate, I ought to be able to send them all in within the next few days. We'll be going to Cicic's for dinner tonight to celebrate RJ's 2nd birthday. Of all the 4 grandkids, this little guy has me AND Bill wrapped around his little pinky! You'd think it'd be one of the girls but nope. RJ takes after his mother (my daughter, Tiffany) in that he's very short. Although he's 2, 12 month pants are long on him but he needs 18 month shirts.  He seems to think he is 6' tall though! And he also thinks that he's as big as any guy on the Colts Defense! One day, Bill was standing abit closer to his mommy than what he liked so he took a running start and ran right into Bill's leg...trying to shove him away from Tiffany! OMG! It was hilarious! Bill just looked down at him like a mosquito landed on his leg or something! It was so funny! After that, he became Bill's buddy as far as Bill was concerned! I think what did me in was when I saw him gather up all the other kids sippy cups..and then hid them! He was just so sneaky about it!! He's definately going to be the one to keep Tiffany on her toes with him doing that already at 2! Of course, with him being the youngest of 4 kids in the house, he's got to be able to get the advantage over them somehow...and you gotta hand it to him for thinking of their sippy cups as a way to pull one over on them...especially at his young age! LOL! Hope sent me an update on Peter. The biopsy showed that there were still 8% of blast cells so they started a 2nd round of chemo. The drugs in this next mixture are suppose to be more aggresive...with more side effects. Hopefully, this will be the last round so that they can do the bone marrow transplant soon. Please continue to keep Hope, Peter, and their family in your prayers. Brenda called me last night. We had such a good time catching up! They both had returned to work this past week and you know how hectic things are when you return to work after being on vacation (yeah..can you imagine how I'm going to be after being off for 7 months??). Spencer (their dog) is still having back problems. They are checking into different possibilities to hopefully give him some relief. I was told by several people that they liked my summary to Floyd of the highlights of what happened while they were on vacation. It was suggested I do that on a routine basis...especially for those who don't have time to read every thread on the board every day. So...I will keep a notepad by my pc (well..I do that anyway) and jot down things during the week that if I didn't have time to read everything on here, I wouldn't want to miss. You know that I will be missing some things and I apologize for that in advance. We are (thankfully!!) an active board so surgeries, activities, and folks needing prayer will be what is mainly included in the summaries. If people want more than that...then hopefully, they can find the time to read all the threads during the week. On Sundays, I'll put a thread out of these weekly highlights. How does Sherri's Sunday Summary sound? lol.  I hope everyone has a terrific day today! Sherri

Could be those dog gone county taxes...They take an extra 10.00 a week out of my ck for them!!And I already have an extra 10.00 a pay.. I oply got back 30.00. I have employers calling me saying they JUST got the list... and havent been taking out enough... how do they make it up?? I tell them they actually can't without telling the employee they are going to cut their ck more to make up..So people on THEIR payroll will ending up oweing next year... OUCH!! Linda Kay

Thanks Linda, Yeah, it was definately in with the county taxes. I get socked big-time with taxes and I guess now I'm going to have to ask work to take out even more (it would be REAL nice if Bill would ask the electrical union where he gets his retirement disability to take out ANY county taxes at all or to take out the state taxes at the rate they are suppose to! ). Instead, I get the full load of the local ones (of course, if we ever got a state refund, he would be right there wanting half! grrr!!!). Needless to say, I hate income tax time but not because of pay or not pay..but because of it not coming out of his wallet as much as it does mine! It would be nice if the state would allow something for all the medical expenses too...huh? Maybe that is something Jacqui should have talked to Governor Mitch about! lol.  Sherri

Good luck getting anything from HIM!!! My hubby doesnt pay in with his SS and His pension I pay it all and yeppers he is right there telling me how we should spend the refund... whats up with that?? Linda Kay

Since I'm the one who does the taxes, I also have any refund directly deposited into MY checking account (we each have separate ones..no joint one). I subtract out the software cost, the e-file fees, and the state taxes (which we never get a refund for...so I pay it out of my checking account) and then I split the remainder down the middle and cut him a check for his half. I would be best off not having extra taken from my check so that he does end up paying for half at income tax time. Thanks to the write off for the bar, we have at least been getting a Federal refund every year since we got rid of it and it's always enough to cover the state & filing expenses. When it comes to what to do with the refund, every person is for themself in our household. I don't tell him what I do with mine (pay for my credit cards mainly) and he doesn't tell me what he does with his (slap it into his savings until he needs it for his eyes usually)...and we don't ask. This year, my portion will be banked to help make up for the 35% pay cut that I got for being off for so long. So..what was the big county increase for? I thought all the consolidation was suppose to save us money. Sherri

Good idea on the summary, Sherri.  I don't get to get on much anymore after I post early in the mornings, so I would love the summary myself. Hope everyone had a great day yesterday.  I had my "Relay for Life" kick-off meeting yesterday morning, and was nominated to be on the committee this year.........what an exciting moment for me! I have also been asked to be the team captian for the casino this year as well, so that just is so great!  To think, last year was the first year that I had participated in the local Orange county relay.  I was always involved with the RFL when we lived in Illinois, and really enjoyed it.  I am already so excited, I can't wait until June when the actual relay is!!!!  June 13th and 14th!  Keep me in your thoughts up until then, because this is a big undertaking, and I know I can do it!!!  I am also already starting my challenges...........I would love for each of you to get out and find information about your own LOCAL RFL, and try to get involved if you physically can!  It is a wonderful cause and it makes a difference! Ok, now that I have gotten off my soapbox, hope everyone has a great day today.  We are getting ready to go to church in a bit.  After that, the girls are going to eat at the local pizza place, and then to see a movie.  I am headed to Bloomington to make several purchases for the girls Valentines Day party at school.  We have our banquet at church this evening, so I must be back in time for that. That is at 6 pm, so I have to hurry up and get back.  I swear, if it weren't for HAVING to get all the stuff, I wouldn't go, but I have to get it, and get the bags assembled by Tuesday.   Have a wonderful and blessed day!

Good Morning.. I'm feeling a lil better today. Just exhausted. My sister, BIL and two nieces came up to meet for breakfast and we ended up keeping the lil one. I didn't get to bed til after 3 am and have been up since 5:30. I'm just soo sleepy. I'm hoping since shes been up since bout 3:30 am she will take a nap in the very near future so that I can take a nap. For some unknown reason my sister bought the monster a make up kit at Cracker Barrel I wanna knock her out already. We've already been to Wal-Mart too. I got Rich a multi vitamin he really needs it because he has been catching a lot more colds lately and he usually only gets sick once or twice a year if that and it usually isn't bad enough to put him in bed and he stayed home from work today. I also got him some theraflu stuff and Tylenol cold and sinus. I will have to try and get pictures of Marissa later. It's been forever since I've gotten a good shoot with her. I didn't get all the stuff I needed for our out of pocket for medical and I had to file but my prescriptions alone was over 1000 and half my asthma meds were samples last year and I know I made the cut off but I just could not get everything I needed. Oh well. This year I will save my receipts better especially the gas ones to Carmel and stuff. I really wanna make it to church but I don't know yet because the wind is taking my breath away and I've got some kind of a pinched muscle or something I think. I have had a lot of BM issues lately and strained last night and something in my upper back/neck area popped and now when I move certain ways I get pain shooting up my neck/head and down into my lower back. It's just miserable.

I'm glad I went to church last night. This wind sounds horrible! I'm at home all day today with a nasty cold and sore throat. bleck! I've been drinking lots of hot tea and chicken broth. Hope everyone else has a great day!