Wednesday, April 2, 2008

4-02-2008

The time when things were easily accomplished seem to be in the past for me. The other day I decided it was time to rotate the tires on our car which I do every 7,000 miles. I pulled out the necessary jacks and proceeded to switch the tires. The very first tire I tried to remove had a stubborn lug that would not come loose. Desperate not to break it, I gently increased the pressure trying to pry it loose. Didn’t work! It breaks and, in frustration, I uttered a few curse words, later regretting that I did so, but I must admit at the time they felt really good. I gave up cursing back in the 60’s when my two children were very small. The people I worked with were very profane, and so to fit in, I adopted their manner of expressing themselves. What I found out was that I could not keep the profanity at work, away from the ears of my children. It didn’t take long to conclude that I had to clean up my act. Today, you will very seldom hear me curse, unless of course, I break a lug :)

Tax deadlines are approaching (4/15- Federal & 5/1-state). I prepared ours this year with H&R Block’s Tax Cut. We owe on the federal form and receive a refund on the state form. Now, I know most people enjoy getting money back from Uncle Sam, but me, I prefer not to let him use my money for an entire year without paying interest. My daughter prefers to look at it like a savings account and the biggest smile always comes over her face when she sees the size of her refund. The glee in her face more than makes up for any lost interest on her funds.

I am still struggling with a variety of problems. The infamous weedwhacker still has a leaky gas tank, the hose reel is still not working properly and my pedometer refuses to upload its data to my PC. I have ordered 2 gig of ram for my laptop and it should arrive shortly. I will be leaving these problems behind this Friday when Jerilyn and I head off to PA for a few days vacation. We will spend three days at a resort (Woodloch Pines), and then travel over to NY to visit her brother Wayne and his wife Marion, then up to CT to visit her cousin Jackie. We will leave there and head for the mountains of VA, where we will visit my folks for several days. My Aunt Helen is celebrating her 84th birthday today. Our plans are to be back home by Saturday, April 12th. I will have my laptop with me and hope to stay in touch.

To close, I would like to let you know that I’m still struggling with the presidential thingy. I do not see any good options here and it seems to come down to picking the candidate that will do the least harm. Right now, I’m leaning toward Obama, but Dad would turn over in his grave if he knew I was voting for a democrat. Before, I could keep things from him, but now, he can look down and see everything I do (not a good thing). Hopefully, as we get closer to November, the choice will become easier. I will be visiting some very smart friends this summer and I just know they will be able to enlighten me some. Believe me, I need all the help I can get.

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