Like A Box Of Candy

 Yesterday was definitely NOT a sunny smile kind of day.  The gray clouds came over the land and squashed any ideas other than melancholy.  I love the sun and I love the rain.  The in-between is less than satisfactory!!

This video however, brought a smile to my face.  It's quick ... you may have to play it twice.  Look to the darkness in the back.  This is the exact same time I let Cooper out.  Apparently we spooked Mr. Fox so much that he ran right up the side of the fence like a cat.  Who knew?  I never would have believed they were that agile and athletic.

So it seems dark moody days spark my cooking gene.  You all know what this is!!  No, I didn't make it from scratch.  I do remember my mom using a funny shaped wire whisk for at least 20 minutes, blending in the floor to make angel food cake.  She would dip it in the batter and pull it up a foot above the bowl.  That was to add air to the batter, as well as mix it up.  What a PAIN that was!!

I cheat.  Let's face it, if I can make it easier, I do.  I use the boxed variety, adding 1-1/3 cup water.  At least I never have to go to the store for water.  It magically comes out of the faucet.  Is it huge?  Yes.  Could I eat the entire thing in one sitting?  YES!  But instead, Nancy was a good girl and put all but two pieces in containers, relegated to the freezer for future enjoyment.

With all that baking going on and a little more organizing in between, my back wasn't a happy camper.  It doesn't hurt so to speak, but it gets that burning sensation like a muscle you used WAY too much.  That makes Nancy a cranky girl.

It might not have been so bad except I thought I found the pattern for this already cut material.  Apparently I had cut up pieces for not one, but TWO quilts.  I can't for the life of me figure out what all that OTHER material is for, and there's only enough of this to do a small lap quilt.  From now on I'm going to keep Post-It Notes in business.  I'm pinning instructions on EVERYTHING!

Sadly, this sewing, where my arms are in the air the entire time ... moving back and forth ... caused my back to get worse, not better.  Time for some couch contemplation.

I wrote down all the numbers on the house sale.  Just when you think you have made a little money on this investment, you find out the sad reality.  Here's how it works.  All that depreciation you took as deductions over the last few years on the "rental", will now be added back IN to the total you made, so you can pay Capital Gains tax ... 20%.  Add to that the realtor fees that get sucked out of your portion, about $20,000, AND all the repair costs, and I didn't end up with much at all.  That life box of candy sometimes holds chocolate covered cherries, or even worse, one that glues your teeth together!

And it can get even worse.  Medicare bases your health insurance payment on your income.  They will add all that to my total income and surcharge me to the moon.  The last time it cost me almost $600 a month for a year.  Not this next year, but the year after that, it could be even more.

Yes I could reinvest it in "like" property ... and now I guess it's ANY property ... and not pay capital gains.  That means I would jump from the frying pan into the fire with yet another RENTAL.  Truly, that's not likely since interest rates are way too high right now and property prices through the roof.  It's a lose-lose proposition.  Of course if you are lucky enough to have kids, you can just leave it to THEM to figure out.

Back to reality, it being Sunday and all, I didn't get much done.  I got hooked on an extreme bull riding in Texas while beginning the binding on this quilt.  I really like the pattern on this one ... I'll show you when it's done.

I'd love to blow all that money I'm going to get, what little is left after taxes, but instead I have more honey-dos waiting in line.  My truck tires need rotation, as well as finding out what went wrong with the air bags ... or maybe it's the shocks?  The Jeep needs tires rotated and an oil change, the house gutters need to be sealed at the joints and the RV roof looked at ... not that I could fix it if anything was wrong.  

So it's going to be a busy day!!  A sunny one too, with 95 degree temps all week long!!  Yay for the sun.  My smile is back!!  I'm hoping for chocolate covered CHOCOLATE!!!  Or even peanuts ... I'd settle for chocolate covered peanuts.