Watcha doing today?

[Jeepers]

I need to get my taxes done too. HR Block keeps making appointments for me without my knowledge. I keep getting emails that they set another one up. Two days ago I got one that said I had an appointment at 8:45PM. Today I got one that said I have an appointment today at 11:03AM. It was already noon when I saw it. The nerve.

 

It's gonna hurt this year because one of my stocks had a sell off and I'm going to have to pay capital gains on it. I've got everything ready. I'll make an appointment when I'm ready. 

 

I got a message from my doctor today. My creatinine level has elevated again. Guess my kidneys aren't doing so well. He mentioned seeing a nephrolgist. I'm not doing that yet. I need to get the cardiologist taken care of first. Sheesh. Go see a kidney doctor with a heart monitor on. They'll think I'm a hypochondriac. 

 

I looked up how to lower the levels. It said among other things to avoid protein especially fish and beef and to cut back on alcohol and smoking. I don't drink and I don't smoke and I don't eat fish and only have a burger about twice a month. It said to eat blueberries and strawberries but last week I read where they are some of the dirtiest (chemical) foods there is. I bought some anyway. Thanks to the new icemaker, I am drinking more. If I was a horse they would have done shot me by now.  

[Littlesister]

Jeepers, that is how the IRS got me. For one I didn't realize that SS was not taking taxes out of my SS checks each month. So, my tax lady gave me a paper to get that done. 12% will be coming out of my SS checks each month. I also moved money around and my financial planner didn't take any taxes out after I told him to. So, I got caught on that one. But I will have to deal with it. Got the SS part taken care of and just need to get the rest I need to check on what is what. Next year I should be ok. I didn't realize I made that much money either for the year. I just have all kinds of surprises sneaking up on me. Then I went to mailbox to get the mail and got what I thought was a charge card bill. Nope, I have a small credit on my charge card. Not a lot but will pay for the garden soil I need. 

 

Jeepers, I hope all goes well with both the heart issues and the kidneys.  for a good outcome. 

[Jeepers]

That's odd about your SS tax. If you are in Virginia, you shouldn't have to pay any tax on your social security. 

 

Granted, I don't know a lot about how it works but social security benefits in Indiana and Ohio are tax free. 

[Littlesister]

Jeepers, it depends on how much you make from my understanding. Over a certain income you pay taxes on it. This is on my DH's SS. They were not taking Federal taxes out. I do not pay state taxes on it. Just the Federal. My yearly income is way up there so that disqualifies me from paying taxes on SS. 

[Jeepers]

Gotcha. That stinks.  

Rob from the seniors who actually paid in to it.  

[Littlesister]

GS helped me get the second rain barrel set up the right way before going to work. The guy had that up right against the gutter. It was supposed to be 2 inches below the gutter. So got that set up right now. Supposed to start raining tonight so will find out how they will do. I like these as they have a tube that goes from the top down to the bottom for overflow. I can connect another one to these and the overflow will pour into the second rain barrel. Something I may or may not do later. 

 

Sat down and balanced check book and paid off all bills. So, I no longer have charge card bills and I have put those away in a safe place. Cutting way back more so than what I have done to get the gutters paid off. That shouldn't take me too long to do. I am wanting to get down to where I only have the house payment, utilities, and insurances. Going to keep it down to that as long as possible. As to doing anything else on the house I am taking a break for the rest of this year and concentrate on garden and downsizing. 

 

Jeepers, they will do anything to go after seniors as they think we are stupid and don't know anything. Little do they know. 

[euphrasyne]

My taxes have been done and received.  I usually advise taking the most amount of contributions available to still get a bit back and then doing them on 2/1 after all paperwork is in house.  I see no point in waiting every year, so I do them early.   I do them myself because math and logic is not that bad.  Sometimes it seems convoluted, but just follow the logic and math and everything turns out fine. If you cant, hire an accountant to do it early for you.  If you pre-plan what the next year will be it is a non=issue.  I say this for at least 20 years of doing my own.   preplan and then it is super easy.  

Edited March 22 by euphrasyne

[Littlesister]

euphrasyne, that is a good idea, but I had a lot of changes to make with my retirement and on the house, I had to threaten them to get the paperwork for the taxes. I just got that this past Saturday. Usually, I would have had mine done much earlier than this, but the house held that up. I had to threaten them with the IRS and the BBB. 

I have a tax lady that does mine. She doesn't charge much so I am happy with her, and I don't have to deal with it. She offered me a job today also. It is so tempting but don't think I want to work. Next year I won't have to go through all this mess. I am getting things set up now, so I won't be paying like this year. Yeah, I got caught off guard. Too much going on this past year. 

My tax lady and I went over some options and they are good ones so getting everything in place. 

[Jeepers]

The stock companies have until the end of February to send out their reports, so I usually can't get mine done until March. No choice. 

 

My taxes are complicated. This year will be even more so with a stock sell off. And some years there are spin offs. And some years there are buys. This year there was a sell off. It's hard to preplan when your financial portfolio changes every year. 

 

[Littlesister]

Jeepers, that is sort of what happened to me. I had 2 things that came due and had to be changed around. They were not stocks but an IRA retirement. It happens to me about every 5 years or so and 2023 was the year for 2 of them. So, that is when I take money out for personal use and then the rest is reinvested. It does make doing your taxes much more complicated.  I just got caught off guard because taxes were supposed to be taken out and my financial planner didn't do it. He will be hearing about it for sure as I am not talking a small amount to pay to IRS it is a good sum plus having to pay the state as well. I have the SS taken care of now as soon as they get the paperwork and will be calling about the retirement stuff to straighten that out next week. 

[Jeepers]

My D-ex has to do similar thing at the end of every year. If he doesn't take so much out, he gets heavily taxed on it. So he is gifting it every year to G-son in a college fund. 

 

You really have to know what you are doing to capitalize on your money. And the laws keep changing too. My D-ex has a Masters in business from Case Western so he's a good advisor. And free.  

[Mt_Rider]

I get to RIDE tomorrow.  Total surprise cuz I thot the mountain would be snow-packed yet.  Maybe it is and we're going on an adventure.  Dunno but after all the dealing with snow and DH's heart acting up, I NEED a ride....or two...or three.  Seriously.  I did walk the road with dog tonite.  Just did the ducks too so DH didn't have to move.  He was on the floor with "SOT" blocks.  Chiro term but it's two wedges that he puts in strategic places to shift spine while laying on back on floor.  Self adjustment.  Glad he can still do that.  His heart hasn't completely calmed down yet so he's still trying to rest. 

 

And the forecast for Sun - Mon = ..........drum roll.......more snow!  The weather guys/gals are waffling on the amounts.  Meanwhile on one of those Neighborhood Gab sites, someone posted a lot of stuff to get done BEFORE the storm hits again.  Great.  And I'm not sure if our guy is up and running or what!  THOUGHT we had a snowplow guy.  Heard one of them broke a leg; another had engine trouble; others had different problems during this last blast.  Hope the broken leg wasn't our guy!!!  It's hard to switch to a new person mid-winter.  You need to be established with one.   They know the oddities of this driveway in winter.     

Weather person said it would be up to one foot.  That's gonna need plowing. 

 

Are we done with March yet?  April or even May doesn't mean it will be better.  El Nino year is wetter for this region than La nina.  But..... (almost unhappy about it...almost)  we haven't lost power.  Want to try out the battery station.    Just lost our plow guy....which is worse. 

 

Can't believe they're going out on a ride tomorrow.  Need to go to bed and sleep.  {last nite was in bed/ lights off by 11:30pm.      .........     Didn't get to sleep until 3am ....kept getting overheated and such.  Changed what I was wearing and took 1/2 Unisom.  Then went to sleep.  Had my Unisom for tonite so .....

 

MtRider  ....  

[euphrasyne]

If you guess what you will do and that guess is close.. your budget will be more accurate.  The more you do this, the more accurate you will get.   I've guessed for the next 100 years and I refine it yearly.  Each year it becomes closer.  No lies.   Make a budget and adjust for inflation and raises and whatever you invest in.  Adjust it.

 

 

[Midnightmom]

20 hours ago, Jeepers said:

Darn you Midnightmom. I had to touch the screen to scroll up away from it. I almost had to touch that fish. The struggle is real girlfriend. The struggle is real. 

 

See. That there is why I used to lie and say I was allergic to fish. And yes I remember that terrifying commercial.

Thanks for the reminder.  

 

Moving on....

 

At least I didn't post a vid of the fish singing!

[Ambergris]

Taxation of Social Security started in 1983 as part of Reagan's plan to save it after robbing it for years to fund other projects.  The plan was flawed as it did not adjust for inflation. In his day, the thought of benefits being taxable for people bringing in a total of $25k a year meant the same thing as benefits being taxed for people bringing in a total of $78k a year for our times, according to Amortization.org.  So while they planned to tax only the richest, now they tax right at half the people who get Social Security.

[Jeepers]

You have really had it with the snow this year Mt. Rider. It has snowed for the past 3 days here but it was the really fine stuff. Then it rained just enough to melt it. So far my snow plow guy has only plowed twice this year. I don't think we've had any zero days/ nights yet either. Maybe one or two nights in the teens. 

 

Our weather has been so mild the past year or two. Last summer we didn't get any 90 degree days and struggled to get into the 80's most of the time. This winter we've only got a couple of inches of snow accumulated at one time. I'm not complaining. It has been very nice and easy on the pocketbook. Especially for northeast Ohio. 

 

Come to think of it, our mild temps last summer might have had to do with the fires in Canada. We had weeks of smoke filled overcast days?

 

Have a good ride and hope your hubby feels better soon!. 

[Necie]

Yesterday was kinda slow. 
 

Crocheted in the morning.

Was gonna make DSIL that banana cream cheesecake, but I guess I don’t have a springform pan... or can’t find it.  Decided to use my big pulman bread pan and started digging through the freezers looking for mashed banana... Nope. I know they’re in there somewhere. This is why my freezers need used up and cleaned out. I did find 5 more bags of fish in the stand up and took them out to the garage. So no banana cheesecake today. Told him I have a chocolate cream pie and a whipped cheesecake pie in the freezer for today and I’ll do the banana later... maybe his b’day in June. 

Took 3 boxes of jars (full and empties) to the fruit cellar. I hate stairs!! I have 4 boxes of home canned dog food that I’d made for our last lgd. I need to give them to DS2 for his dog/chickens/pigs... but he’s gonna have to haul them upstairs. 
Made dinner, then sat down and crocheted some more. 
 

Kids and Mom are coming down today. DD is bringing pizza!! 

[Littlesister]

Going through more stuff and was going to the shed to pull out the raised bed boxes but it's raining today. So that won't get done today.  Knee was hurting all night, so put an ice pack on it but it really doesn't help much. Seems the heating pad does a much better job. Can't get into the Orthro doctor till April 24th. So will deal with it till then. Shoulder right now isn't hurting and I'm not going to push it. 

GD wanted me to keep the baby so she and her DH can go do somethings but haven't heard a word. Maybe with the rain they are staying home and not bringing the baby out in it. But they should let me know something one way or the other. 

 

 

[snapshotmiki]

Already walked, this morning.
Was dropped off at Verizon to switch my phone data to new phone, while DH and GS went to Lowes for a couple of poles to replace our carport poles that were rotting.
Home and am cooking lima beans w/ sausage.
Still need to walk Aninja around yard.
Also have to make garlic bread with cheese to go with beans.

[Littlesister]

Just getting a few things put away where they belong. More boxes of stuff to go to Goodwill. Now I am to the point where I can move the things in my office to the places they need to go. So, getting there but it is slow. Still have those interruptions and the rain as far as getting to the sheds go doesn't help.

I did go outside to check the rain barrels. It was still a slight drizzle. Rain barrels are already full, and the overflow tubes are working on one but not the other one. So, need to check on that one. It might be twisted or something but an easy fix. So that is 100 gals of water I have for watering pots and garden. Will use the well only when the barrels are about emptied for watering the garden. 

[Mt_Rider]

Had a WONDERFUL ride today.  Sunny and actually, warm.  I was dressed for it and took off my coat during part of the ride.  Snow in a lot of places but no ice.   

 

Brought home a pizza....starving.  The sun is being covered with clouds right now.  The weather maps show a big storm system falling out of western Canada onto Montana, Dakotas, Minnesota....  Wyoming and CO are getting a batch too...soon.  There's some snow showing up in the high country of eastern CA. 

 

I'd rather not get more snow right away but, can't control the weather.  Today was very nice. 

 

Miki...is "A ninja" one of your dogs or your relatives' dog or....I don't think you'd be walking a cat.    Hope you're having a great time with your family. 

 

Little Sister....kinda gives me an ache when you describe your knee or shoulder.  Ow!  don't over do it!  Keep it at a level where it is still possible to heal it.....when you can get to the ortho.  Water barrels sound like a success!

 

Necie....I'm beginning to hate stairs too.  Too easy to miss or trip or just the exertion.     One level living ..... My idea is all on one floor but dug into a hillside so you'd still have a "basement - cool" area.  Without stairs! 

 

I'm tired.  Fresh air and sunshine. 

 

Did I mention my mom's in the hospital again.  She can't drink or eat enough.  Cognitively, she thinks she's drinking/eating.  Not.  So she's in for rehydration and encouraged to EAT!  Old taste buds aren't working so nothing much is tasty to her.  And....she's just tired.  In her 90's and functions pretty well but ...just worn out.   

 

MtRider    

[Necie]

Good day today. Kids and Mom came down. 
DS2 & DDIL got here first— no kids. 🤨 DDIL wants to learn to make bread... asked if I have *a book*...  We found her a good beginner book. She was laughing cuz it’s the same one she was thinking about ordering online. She also now knows that I have *more advanced books*.  I also gave her a bread machine (with guide book and extra *bread machine book*) that I had in the basement and have never used. She was looking through the beginner book and said “hmmm.... I don’t have a wooden spoon”. I 😂 and said “I think we can fix that!!”— I’m a utensil freak... specializing in wooden!! 😂 

DS2 brought his trailer and we loaded him up with hog panels to add on to his pig pens. 🐷 10 total. 4 were down and 6 we had to take down. Good working outside even for just a little bit. Gave him 4 boxes of dog food for dog/pigs/chickens and also 20# of the Pontiac red seed potatoes that I got at RK.

Gave Mom and DS1 3 qts of green beans and a pint of sauerkraut. Hopefully she likes the sauerkraut and wants more. 
DD & DSIL brought pizza. They got it from the little tavern right here in town. It’s new on their menu. We were all really impressed. DH and I said that’s where we’ll get pizza from now on!

 

@Mt_Rider sounds like you had a GREAT ride!! I can’t even imagine what getting on a horse would do to me. 🤕 It’s been ages since I rode. 

 @Littlesister, sounds like you’re making good progress on sorting and clearing things out!  There are areas where I need to work on that. 🥴

Also, good job on the rain barrels. Options are always good. I should probably store more water, but it just seems one of those things that I really don’t worry about much. We have a shallow well and hand pump if the house well goes out. Both BO locations also do. There are also alternate water sources (lakes/ponds/streams) at all 3 locations. If we know there’s a weather event coming, we fill buckets and jugs. And I also have water canned.

 

Going to mom’s tomorrow for Sunday dinner. We used to do every Sunday, but last year we started doing once a month (sometimes more). DSIS6 is bringing pulled pork for sandwiches, DSIS4 is bringing chips/dip, I’m taking the leftover chili and dessert— leftover pies from today. It’s been difficult getting grandkids to go.. they’re all in their 20s and 30s— most with kids, and all so busy. We’ll see how many we have tomorrow. 

 

and 

Necie

[Annarchy]

Home safely, with MIL…

 

 And 

 

She’s watching TV, DH is surfing the net & I was sitting outside in fresh air, looking at the bright, almost full moon, shining through & around the clouds.  (Except for coming in to post an update.)   Praise God, we only had 1/2 the trip with heavy, hard winds in our face. East winds as we were going west. (Mpg dropped from 25.9 to 24.1) Tomorrow’s forecast for TX, was 60-70 mph winds, in NM into TX, with massive dust storms predicted, so, we left today instead of tomorrow.  
 

I’m going back outside, sit on my porch swing, and meditate on thanking God  for bringing us home safely…………………….

 

 

[Jeepers]

Glad you all made it home safe and sound. Smart move heading out before the storm!

 

Is your MIL house well secured? I've been seeing where squatters have become a real problem recently. Once they get in it's hard to get them out even legally. 

[Mt_Rider]

2 hours ago, Jeepers said:

I've been seeing where squatters have become a real problem recently. Once they get in it's hard to get them out even legally. 

 

That's one of the current ILLOGICAL ISSUES that gets me crazy in 3.5 seconds. 

 

Jeepers, I see our Late Nite Club is meeting again.....     I'm really tired and it makes it harder to get up and get into bed! 

 

MtRider  ..yeah, yeah.....