AtomicMrX

I got my W2 from work on Friday and also got TurboTax Home & Business 2007 in the mail the same day. So Friday night I dug deep into the tax information and completed it by 10:00 PM. I got all my SadlerDesign stuff organized and all the tax stuff together so I’m good for another year now.

I thought that doing my taxes myself rather than using a “tax guy” like I have in the past three years I would save money. Well I think it cost the same amount! I was very disappointed! I think next year I will do the TurboTax Online version rather than the desktop CD version that I did this year. I think they give you a discount on the e-filing which is were I got burned since I have to do two States and one Federal (I work in Kansas but live in Missouri - makes tax time a little confusing).

I took Jaki to get her toe nails trimmed on Wednesday and on the way home I stopped for some fast food and in the drive through she decided it would be cute to do a flip while in the front seat (and I was trying to restrain her from the food). So later that night when Shannon got off work and she stepped out from her heated kennel/bed she yelped three times in a half hour. Luckily I have some of her back pain pills left over from the last occurrence (which was back in October of 2006). She is doing fine now. Luckily we got her the pain pills quickly before too much inflammation caused more pain and a longer healing time. Poor little thing! She just doesn’t understand she can’t go crazy and stuff like she did when she was young and without a back injury.

I got my Tags in the mail today so I will have legal plates to drive with before they expire in February. I was kind of cutting it close to the deadline with mailing them to me and all. Whew!

I cleaned up the office this morning and it feels so much better. It was becoming a cluster of piles. Pile here, pile there. Another pile on top of another pile, etc. I guess doing the taxes kind of brought out the cleaning spree. I had to dig to find things and that is just not cool!

I finally got my Birthday present from Shannon - The Wii Zapper! It actually came last Friday but I just was too tired all week to post a blog article so I’m just getting to it now. It is really cool and fun. I think I’ll go play some right now!

“Merry Christmas!” 5.8 MB (00:38)

I tried to make this into a Flash movie so it would be a little more cross platform friendly but it kept crashing my Flash application for some reason. Go figure. So it is in a Quicktime format and hopefully no one has a problem viewing it.

In the picture (and movie) Shannon is on the left, I am in the center and Jaki is on the right (our Toy Fox Terrier).

Here’s the link to make your own! ElfYourself!

Happy Holidays everyone!

Jaki and I made the trip up to Omaha on Thursday morning. I got up like I was going to work (so that would be getting up at 4:30 AM) and then left the house at 6:00 AM so we would arrive in Omaha at 9:00 AM. It was a nice ride up although most of it was in the dark. Jaki behaved the entire way up. Shannon stayed in Raytown and didn’t go home to see his folks. He actually had to go into work on Friday. The drive back from Omaha, Jaki slept the entire way!

I took some pictures and was gonna upload them to the blog but my camera card (brand new) is acting up. I get a camera card error when I turn the camera on. So the pictures sit on the “maybe” damaged camera card in the camera. I’m gonna let it sit a bit and try again. I didn’t take many pictures but still — some of them where pretty good. The camera card is a Polaroid brand so it isn’t some knock off cheappy thing. Maybe the trip back in the car shook it up a bit. I may give my card to someone with a card reader to see if they get the same message or not. It could be the camera or the card I have to figure out which.

I finally found a new phone from Verizon that I liked. Shannon and I actually spontaneously stopped in a Verizon store in Lee’s Summit the weekend before Thanksgiving and saw phones we both liked. Shannon is getting the Samsung Juke and I am getting the LG Chocolate (new updated version). I thought I would like the Juke as well but once I got to the store and held it in my hands — it was great except for the text on that little screen was so small I couldn’t read it easily with these old eyes. So I had to start looking around to see what other phones were new. That’s when I saw the new version of the LG Chocolate. They changed up the interface and added a dial (just like on the Juke) to scroll through selections and it is very much like the iPod interface actually. The LG Chocolate has nice big text on its display for my tired ol’ eyes! Shannon and I decided to wait and get them the weekend after Thanksgiving because they just might go on sale and we weren’t in any hurry since they would cost a lot of money if we got them right then. Mine would have been an extra $30 and Shannon’s would have been $100. I have a new every two plan and as long as the phone is $99, I get it free and the LG Chocolate was $129 — so I would have to pay the extra amount over the $99. Shannon doesn’t have the new every two so the Juke was just the price of the phone.

On Thanksgiving night after my relatives left, Mom and I were in the kitchen waiting for the turkey carcass to cool so we could pick the meat off to use in Turkey Noodle Soup. We were looking through the Friday Sale Ads and that’s when I saw the ad for Verizon and both Shannon’s and my phones were on sale. My LG Chocolate was on sale for $99 (which makes it free for me) and Shannon’s Juke was on sale for $79! So I got online Friday morning and bought them through the Verizon Wireless web site, because the sale was only good through the 26 of November and I wasn’t about to battle the stores to get the darn phones! Their web site was getting hit hard — it was very slow on Friday morning. I guess a lot of other people had the same plan! The phones will ship in 2 business days so I should see them on Monday or Tuesday. It is scheduled to arrive on Tuesday by 7:00 PM.

I took my Wii up to Omaha so my folks could check it out. My Dad could not figure out how the thing works and didn’t know they made such a thing. He is 87 going on 88 so it’s a little beyond his comprehension right now. Mom thought it was pretty fun. She played 27 holes of Golf and played several games of Bowling. I just watched her play Golf because she is much better than me and it was more fun to watch. We played each other in Bowling. I think we tied in the end. My nephews played a little with it but not much. I have determined I don’t like Super Mario Party for Wii. The mini games a kind of fun but the game play (going through the board game style part) is just plain boring. You just watch the game play itself most of the time waiting to hit A button and read a bunch of crap. The most fun was the free games that came with the Wii. Boxing was fun with my nephew Joe. I was getting pounded in the beginning then in the end he was getting pounded!

Since I don’t like Super Mario Party I’m leery about getting “Rayman: Raving Rabbids 2” since I think it has turned more into a Party game then a platform game. I think it will be a rent before I buy. At least I’m enjoying Super Mario Galaxy! I don’t have a lot of time to play it but when I do it is fantastic to watch and fun to play.

Over all it was a great Thanksgiving. The food was fantastic and I still have plenty of leftovers. I will be making Turkey Noodle Soup today with my Mom’s home made egg noodles and the broth and turkey meat we got off the carcass. It has become a tradition for Mom and me to sit on Thanksgiving evening and pick the bones for meat after boiling them for an hour. Its fun and I enjoy it a lot. We talk, pick meat and get our hands all greasy! In a couple weeks I’ll be driving back up for Xmas. I have a few more gifts to buy and then I’m done.

Well, I have been lazy with the blog posts. That’s very evident. I also have not painted on the house since the last post. We are experiencing a heat wave now, so painting the house is not a good idea. Before our heat wave it was rain, rain, and more rain. Oh, and guess what we are to get tonight and the rest of the week? Rain. Yep this is not going well.

I am also trying to get out of a Budget hell. I am living paycheck to paycheck and just barely making it. I am tired of this and researching how to get out of it. I have found some software called Budget that offers a free trial (yea, free!) so I can see if it will do the job before forking over $20. It’s based on the “envelope” theory which is similar to how I use to budget myself when on Consumer Credit Counciling years ago. I think I need to drop some of my bills if possible. Look for ways to cut back on the spending. All sounds fine and dandy till you try and implement it. It would really help if I got a “Cost of Living” increase at work. We haven’t gotten one ever and the piddly little “raises” in our pay just get ate up by our increased medical insurance costs… which means no increase to the pocket book. I think I’ve figured it correctly and if so I get a .73 cent raise each year (what I make now minus what I started at divided by 15 years of work).

Jaki got her rabies shot last weekend and I got her licensed with Raytown for $5.00 on Thursday. I will have to do that every year now, they just put it into law. Before they didn’t require dogs and cats to be licensed - she always got her rabies shot - just not licensed with the city.

Shannon may get a promotion at work. They want him to apply for it but he doesn’t want to - because it will be a pay DECREASE but more responsibility. That’s Walmart for ya!

Our tomato plants are big but none of the blooms are producing. They just drop off before they produce. What is wrong with that! Our sweat corn is only about a couple feet high and looks more like grass blades. We are learning what works in the garden this year I guess! The herbs are doing great though!

Well just thought I should make a blog post to fill everyone in on a bunch of nothing! LOL I will try to be more current with the blog posts in the future.

Here are the pictures that compare the yard when I bought the house to what is is currently. I bought the house in 2003. Click on image to view larger.

Here is a comparison shot of the front yard bushes; before on the left, after on the right.

Here is a comparison shot of the back yard; before on the left, after on the right.

Here is a comparison shot of the yard to the side of the garage; before on the left, after on the right.

Here is a comparison shot of the yard to the side of the house next to the street; before on the left, after on the right.

Here are just some more shots of our current yard around the house.

Well, that is a lot of photos! A lot of progress has been made in the short time here. Shannon is the main reason the grass looks so nice and green. He did a lot of work on the yard last Summer and Fall. Shannon also bought all the flowers and plants for the gardens. He has put several weekends into getting it to this point. It looks great!