Monday the 13th!
Not that anything horrid has happened, really. Just tired as all hell.
And I have a doctor's appointment this afternoon for my annual exam (yay). On the bright side, it's good timing: last night I had a pain when I took a deep breath. I doubt I have pneumonia, but just in case, I won't have to make a separate appointment for it.
All kinds of colds and flus and shit going around this winter. And pinkeye, too, of all things. So far, so good, except for the eye issues that were not pinkeye and a few sinus headaches because this year is just crazy, weather-wise.
Oh, yeah, the weather. It's stupidly cold here right now (in the 30's) and tomorrow is supposed to be in the 40's with snow (WTF?). Overnight lows are rising, though, and that's a plus that will hopefully usher in springtime. I know it hasn't been a bad winter, but it really has been winter. If you don't think it's been that cold, you can go sit in an unheated tin shop and try to dunk your fingers in a bucket of water. BRRR. (And no, hot water doesn't help much at all.) So anyway, it's frickin' freezing right now, and has been the past few days. We got a touch of snow, but that's no big deal. I did, however, turn the pellet stove up to 4 last night - it's been on 1 most of the winter, and lately we've been cranking it up to 2 and 3. It's been windy, too, which sucks the heat right out of our poorly-insulated house. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I know I need to get caulking on the window frames, but right now it's too damn cold to hang out of a totally open window!!
House-wise, at least we haven't had any more leaking from the large window off the kitchen. Hopefully that was a crazy one-time thing and that the whole side of the house doesn't fall apart because of it.
Other domestic news: finally got a full-sized ironing board. So ironing the curtains will be *much* easier. Now I just need to tidy up the sewing room -- and I can clear a good chunk of space by just working on my "mending" pile. So I guess I'll attack that while I'm waiting for the curtain measurements from my sister-in-law.
Did my taxes and am due a little over $200 from the feds -- I decided to do a really crazy thing and get the bulk of my refund in the form of some Series I savings bonds (they only go in $50 increments). On the flip side, I owed the state $47 because of their stupid effing "Use Tax." Yes, I know I could say I owed less, or even zero, but I'm too ridiculously paranoid about being The One Who Gets Caught that I don't want to go near cheating on my taxes. Even though I think the Use Tax is absolutely ludicrous for people who spend less than a thousand bucks a year out of state. Businesses? Sure, tax them. People who buy cars or other rather large-ticket items? Yes, tax them. But to tax me for 6% on a desk I bought in Maryland (and already paid 5% sales tax on) is just banal. I paid the damned tax, now leave me alone. I don't think it's fair to pay sales tax twice on anything, and I bet the feds would agree with me on that just based on how they run their dog and pony show. Y'know...I think every state should have the same flat sales tax on everything non-essential. Then you wouldn't have this stupid "Use Tax" and PA wouldn't lose businesses and shoppers to Delaware. But they'll never do that, because states like Delaware would bitch because now they're paying something, and states like Tennessee would bitch because they're not getting enough. And don't even get me started on this "city tax" bullshit. At least my local taxes came out right!
After about a week and a half of not watching my diet, I'm back on it again. I forgot to weigh myself this morning, so I can't tell what the damage is... The hard part about dieting in February is Fastnacht day. OMG, donuts. So delicious....sweet and carby and satisfying... They always get these fastnachts at work from some local place. I really shouldn't have one at all, but *whimper* they're so good! And then there's Valentine's Day. I can get chocolate any old time of year, and I don't really celebrate Valentine's Day anyway (among the reasons for which is that I can't abbreviate it as V-Day without thinking of WWII, and I can't abbreviate it as VD without thinking of gonorrhea and syphilis). But my boss brings in these chocolate-covered strawberries for us, and mmmmmm, are they a treat!! In past years I've indulged in several, but this year I will be good and keep myself to one.
If you haven't noticed, I have a special userhead (they're free from LJ! Go get yours!). I wonder how many people are going to be embarrassed to actually hear, "Oh, look! You have a heart on!"
They're also giving away free glass heart v-gifts. ♥ You know I love you all, but I only got five, and I try to rotate who gets my free v-gifts.
Also? Some of you have that Valentinr thingy up. Please don't think that I don't want to contribute - I do - but I don't want to sign up for their service. The last thing my fragile ego needs is to get absolutely nothing in my Valentinr box. So if there's anything you want to tell me, comment here! You can comment anonymously and it'll be screened by default. So there.
Finally, I just want to point out that there are few things more amusing than introducing people to really awful flicks like Hell Comes to Frogtown. ;)
And I have a doctor's appointment this afternoon for my annual exam (yay). On the bright side, it's good timing: last night I had a pain when I took a deep breath. I doubt I have pneumonia, but just in case, I won't have to make a separate appointment for it.
All kinds of colds and flus and shit going around this winter. And pinkeye, too, of all things. So far, so good, except for the eye issues that were not pinkeye and a few sinus headaches because this year is just crazy, weather-wise.
Oh, yeah, the weather. It's stupidly cold here right now (in the 30's) and tomorrow is supposed to be in the 40's with snow (WTF?). Overnight lows are rising, though, and that's a plus that will hopefully usher in springtime. I know it hasn't been a bad winter, but it really has been winter. If you don't think it's been that cold, you can go sit in an unheated tin shop and try to dunk your fingers in a bucket of water. BRRR. (And no, hot water doesn't help much at all.) So anyway, it's frickin' freezing right now, and has been the past few days. We got a touch of snow, but that's no big deal. I did, however, turn the pellet stove up to 4 last night - it's been on 1 most of the winter, and lately we've been cranking it up to 2 and 3. It's been windy, too, which sucks the heat right out of our poorly-insulated house. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I know I need to get caulking on the window frames, but right now it's too damn cold to hang out of a totally open window!!
House-wise, at least we haven't had any more leaking from the large window off the kitchen. Hopefully that was a crazy one-time thing and that the whole side of the house doesn't fall apart because of it.
Other domestic news: finally got a full-sized ironing board. So ironing the curtains will be *much* easier. Now I just need to tidy up the sewing room -- and I can clear a good chunk of space by just working on my "mending" pile. So I guess I'll attack that while I'm waiting for the curtain measurements from my sister-in-law.
Did my taxes and am due a little over $200 from the feds -- I decided to do a really crazy thing and get the bulk of my refund in the form of some Series I savings bonds (they only go in $50 increments). On the flip side, I owed the state $47 because of their stupid effing "Use Tax." Yes, I know I could say I owed less, or even zero, but I'm too ridiculously paranoid about being The One Who Gets Caught that I don't want to go near cheating on my taxes. Even though I think the Use Tax is absolutely ludicrous for people who spend less than a thousand bucks a year out of state. Businesses? Sure, tax them. People who buy cars or other rather large-ticket items? Yes, tax them. But to tax me for 6% on a desk I bought in Maryland (and already paid 5% sales tax on) is just banal. I paid the damned tax, now leave me alone. I don't think it's fair to pay sales tax twice on anything, and I bet the feds would agree with me on that just based on how they run their dog and pony show. Y'know...I think every state should have the same flat sales tax on everything non-essential. Then you wouldn't have this stupid "Use Tax" and PA wouldn't lose businesses and shoppers to Delaware. But they'll never do that, because states like Delaware would bitch because now they're paying something, and states like Tennessee would bitch because they're not getting enough. And don't even get me started on this "city tax" bullshit. At least my local taxes came out right!
After about a week and a half of not watching my diet, I'm back on it again. I forgot to weigh myself this morning, so I can't tell what the damage is... The hard part about dieting in February is Fastnacht day. OMG, donuts. So delicious....sweet and carby and satisfying... They always get these fastnachts at work from some local place. I really shouldn't have one at all, but *whimper* they're so good! And then there's Valentine's Day. I can get chocolate any old time of year, and I don't really celebrate Valentine's Day anyway (among the reasons for which is that I can't abbreviate it as V-Day without thinking of WWII, and I can't abbreviate it as VD without thinking of gonorrhea and syphilis). But my boss brings in these chocolate-covered strawberries for us, and mmmmmm, are they a treat!! In past years I've indulged in several, but this year I will be good and keep myself to one.
If you haven't noticed, I have a special userhead (they're free from LJ! Go get yours!). I wonder how many people are going to be embarrassed to actually hear, "Oh, look! You have a heart on!"
They're also giving away free glass heart v-gifts. ♥ You know I love you all, but I only got five, and I try to rotate who gets my free v-gifts.
Also? Some of you have that Valentinr thingy up. Please don't think that I don't want to contribute - I do - but I don't want to sign up for their service. The last thing my fragile ego needs is to get absolutely nothing in my Valentinr box. So if there's anything you want to tell me, comment here! You can comment anonymously and it'll be screened by default. So there.
Finally, I just want to point out that there are few things more amusing than introducing people to really awful flicks like Hell Comes to Frogtown. ;)