The Dreaded TAX DATE Approaches

I have NOT won the lottery, but I sure feel like I have!!  I received a phone call late last night from my Accountant.  I was expecting really bad news about my income taxes.  Every year I pay and PAY through the nose.  You see what they have done every year is reduce the amount of federal and state tax they take from your check, making you THINK you have SO much more money ... which of course you spend.

Then they come along in April and bite you in the butt by making you pay the same amount of taxes, and in most cases MORE taxes all at once in the end!!  I never would have figured that out unless I worked as backup in the County Payroll Division.  As a result, I have ALWAYS kept my deductions at Single, giving them the most taxes out of my check.  If you have a retirement paycheck and have trouble making the tax payment at the end of the year, that is EXACTLY why.  It's a racket ... a ruse ... a LIE by the State and Feds to make you THINK you are getting more.

I haven't received a refund in MANY years, since I always had too much income from photography, accounting and my one little rental to make that possible.  Now that I have none of the above, I still figured I'd have to pay.  Wasn't I surprised when I asked the gal to give me the bad news so I could scrounge up the money, and she said the magic word .... REFUND!!!  I jumped up from the couch and screamed YES!!!  I scared the dogs half to death!!

It's already spent so to speak, on closing costs for Arizona, fill dirt for my new RV parking spot, a couch to sit on and maybe even a television!!  I'm so excited I can't stand it!!!

It's hard to think about anything else, but the moon rising this morning ... or setting I suppose ... was just a sliver of light between the trees.  I drug out my camera.  I was pretty surprised when I downloaded this image to find the entire moon actually showed up.  The camera is so light sensitive it picked up the entire planet.

Spring has sprung in California with warm days and cool nights, with just a tad of rain thrown in once a week.  My sprinklers haven't gone off again and thanks to my cranky remark to the gardener about his bad Round-up spraying, I haven't lost any more plants.  

My "carpet" roses are going wild, as are the real thing.  I picked up two small REAL carpet roses and planted them in the back corner.  Even THEY are blooming!!

My lip is much better today.  The swelling has gone down and the immediate pain is gone.  It feels more like a hot coffee burn now.  Hopefully it will heal up enough that I can eat the best hotdog in the country at the Magic Kingdom of Bingo tonight.  There's enough salt in those to make it feel REALLY good!!

Along with spring came pots and pots of orchids and Easter flowers at the grocery store.  The Chance household received a couple of orchids as first place in the Dentist Office's contribution fund last year and they are blooming majestically.  I've never been able to keep orchids alive, but figured I'd give it another shot.  These are Miltonia's ... not only beautiful, but smelling rather like honey.  Anyone want to enter a lottery to see how long I can keep them alive???

After the traumatic three day visit to the Vet for my puppies, they don't get far from my legs.  Miss Jessie is glued to my thigh every second I'm sitting down, even if it means squishing on to the office chair while I type this blog.  She's glued to my butt.  Cooper is on the right, which occasionally results in a lap fight.  Never a dull moment!!

More rain is expected today as I gear up for an evening of entertainment at Bingo.  I'm desperately hoping the Castle Lawyer returns tonight.  I now know what it feels like to her when I'm gone.   There's just nothing better than GOOD HELP!!  Now where's my chain mail shirt and pants ... I have a feeling I'm going to need it tonight.