April 15th is Coming soon

Want to guess how I spent my WHOLE day today? Think of tooth aches, ingrown toe nails, hemorrhoids and ear infections and that is about how pleasant my afternoon was. It is that time of the year to pull together all the information I can and spend the week working on our income tax. You would think this would be so simple, now that we are retired, and I guess it is getting easier each year as I get a bit smarter, but OH MY Goodness, a whole day ?
Since we are retired I have this stupid idea that I have TIME to do all the things that we used to have someone else do for us. I bought myself TURBO TAX, saved every receipt and paper and sales slip and donation receipt for the entire year. It took me 2 days to sort through that mess after dumping it out on the dinning room table. Once all that was in order and all the tax forms had come in from our banks and retirement funds we were ready to go. In the past we have taken this mess and dumped it on the desk in front of our TAX GUY. He would whip through it in a matter of seconds, tapping away on his adding machine/computer and within a matter of minutes we would sign the forms, give him a check for a couple of hundred dollars and everyone was happy. Since we retired our tax return isn't enough to cover the tax guy's bill so I figured we would do this ourselves. Ger, being the great guy that he is, agreed because he knew full well that I would be the one doing the taxes, gathering the information and sorting through the mess. He deftly signs his name when the finished product is put in front of him.
But today was different. I sucked him into the mess. There sat my Ger, in command central with me, shuffling through papers and giving me the information needed. We actually did have an almost good time and it really wasn't as painful as years past. To celebrate breaking the $200 mark for a refund, we went out to dinner. And the best part is . . . I don't have to think about this again for another year.

Visiting Kaelin

Greetings from Southern Maryland. Grandma and Papa have taken a week away from sunny but cold Southern Florida to travel to sunny and really cold Southern Maryland for our granddaughter's second birthday. After all, you only turn two once ! Not like forever 29 or 39 or 49 etc. The party is this Saturday and it is a MICKEY PARTY. Kaelin LOVES Mickey and Minnie. Actually Minnie is her favorite but in her world they are both "Mickey". Her love of the mouse all started last October when we all met in Orlando for a wedding. We stayed on Disney property but in a resort that wasn't "In Your Face" Disney. There was a big statue of Mickey in the lobby and that was about it. On the second day we were there grandma and Papa were babysitting Kaelin and grandma was having issues with Kaelin's hair. Kaelin has long CURLY blond hair that flies every which way all over her head and in her eyes. This doesn't bother Kaelin a bit but drives Grandma nuts ! We stopped in the gift shop to find something that I could put in Kaelin's hair to help the mess. All we could find was a little "bingy" (a cloth type rubber band) that had a small Minni Mouse attached to it. We bought it and gave it to Kaelin to check out before I put it in her hair. That was the start of her love for The Mouse. She still has Minnie somewhere but since she still hates anyone combing her hair Minnie doesn't get much use. BUT . . . The Party is all about Mickey. Mickey hats, cake, decorations, cards and wrapping paper. The big gift is MICKEY'S CLUBHOUSE from Mom and Dad. (They are as excited as Kaelin). All you have to say is "party" and Kaelin is off and running. She will tell you, "Mickey Party", "Kaelin", "two". All in the same breath ! Ah! To be so excited about a birthday as this little one is would be wonderful. Do you think I will be as excited come April to celebrate my 65th birthday? Something tells me NOT. Even though I will get the big gift of Medicare I just don't think it is quite as exciting as being TWO and having a Mickey Party.

THE KING OF WIERD

I had some thoughts to share today but I just can't take the time to write. Steven King is calling and I MUST go and read. Every year at Christmas the King publishes another book. This years tome is HUGE, over a thousand pages and I just get all shivery just thinking about melting into the story. The man is a genius and I am always amazed that he can produce story after story. I am a bit more than half finished and just want to sit and read, read, read. But then I don't want the book to end. This is awful. Such a quandary. To read or not to read . . . I gotta go. See you in a hundred or so pages.

Winter

It's just so cold down here. I mean, REALLY! 62 degrees when I get up in the morning. This is ridiculous!
Have I got your attention ? I can just hear Sharon now . . . 60 ! 60 ! " She thinks 60 is COLD?"
I was talking this evening with a friend from Ohio. She was down in FL for the week on business. When she left Ohio it was minus 3 degrees ! NOW THAT IS COLD! And all my NY friends and family have been complaining about the freezing temperatures this winter. Not to mention my darling daughter in Maryland who is buried under 2 feet of snow. What's the story this year? Last year we were on the beach all winter. It was fabulous. This year I have had to turn on the heat for a day or two. (What's that I hear . . . screaming from NY again?) Actually I must say that in spite of all the snow birds who have come to FL this winter to get warm and are complaining left and right about how cold it is, I am loving the weather. It has been a wonderful winter in Florida. Cold nights. (Temps in the 40's at night is COLD for us.) It's been great snuggling under covers rather than pushing them off trying to catch a breeze from the ceiling fan. It's been great weather for working in the garden, walking, playing golf or tennis, (neither of which I do), or just plain going out side. And all this without the chance of snow. It is a shame for those of you who get your one week vacation each year and decide to come to "someplace warm". Surprise! But just think, the sun IS shining, it IS warmer than any place you came from and we don't have to look at your nasty white skin hanging over those Speedos cause it is just too cold to go to the beach. Yep, I like it cold in Florida.

Ger And The Cell Phone

It is better than a Seinfeld comedy routine. My husband and his cell phone are a sight to behold. He really needs 2 tin cans and a string but wants to be "One of the Guys" and have a cell phone. I made the mistake of not having him get the "IDIOT'S DELIGHT" that I bought for myself. It is small, yet large enough for me to find in my purse. The key pad is BIG, as is the screen. so not only can I see the keys I am hitting, I can read messages that are sent. But we got a smaller phone for Ger cause he didn't like it taking up a lot of room in his pocket. (Perhaps if he lost the set of 42 keys that he carries he would have room for a phone.) So now he has a phone that he uses to tell time. He has stopped wearing a watch since we moved to FL (possibly the watch was keeping him from getting skin cancer on his ENTIRE body. That little patch of paler skin on his wrist needed to see the sun?), so without a watch we need to dig in our pockets to find the cell phone to see what time it is. But on the VERY rare occasions that his phone should ring we have a ritual . . . "RING . . . RING . . . RING . . . RING . . . RING . . ."
Cath says, "Ger, your phone is ringing" Ger, "What?" (repeat this 3 or 4 times before he realizes his phone is ringing by which time the person has hung up.) OR Ger says, "Some one's phone is ringing." Cath, "Its yours, answer it." Ger, "What?" (Repeat 2 or 3 times . . . Fumble, fumble, fumble, try to find phone by which time the person has hung up.) Now it really gets interesting. Ger cannot retrieve his voice mail. Cannot, will not, don't know, but if you leave a voice message he isn't going to get it. Text messages are another story. Ger can retrieve text messages, he just can't answer them. It is so sad !
This whole blog got started because we just went through 10 minutes of Ger trying to call his brother Joseph, who seems to be as phone challenged as Ger. Ger dialed, left a voice mail but didn't close his phone so when it rang (Joseph calling back) he was totally unnerved as to how to answer it. Then Joe called again but on my phone. (I refused to answer cause this was just too good to not let it play out.) Ger tried to call Joe again but the line was busy, Joe called Ger but Ger's line was busy. I swear to you, it took the 2 of them 10 minutes to finally get to talk to each other. And it gave me lots to share on my blog.
Husband is definitely technology challenged but this was just too funny! Anybody got some empty soup cans and some string?

Happy Groundhog Day

It's that special time of the year ! My favorite day during the school calendar ! Forget "The King's" BD in January, Forget Valentine's day in mid February along with Presidents Week . . . The day to celebrate is TODAY !! Happy Groundhog Day Everyone !!! Woopie !! This is a holiday I can relate to. Here we have this fuzzy FAT little creature, all snuggled into his warm bed for the winter. Nice and warm, tummy relatively full, curled up and dreaming sweet dreams of what ever groundhogs dream of. (I"m thinking tender green shoots of grass, crystal clear streams and sexy girl/guy groundhogs.) Now along comes some idiot human bent on waking up said GH just to see if he runs back inside when he sees his/her shadow. I figure the GH is reacting either of 2 ways . . .
1. "Someone banging on my door, WTF, get the hell out of here I'm sleeping," stomps to his door, curses them in groundhog speak and goes back to bed. (We idiot humans translate that to mean 6 more weeks of winter)
2. "WTF, what's that noise that won't stop", stumble stumble to the door, look out in a daze momentarily blinded by the sun, crowd and noise, realize that it is just the idiot humans that show up every year around this time and eventually stumble back to bed. (Translation . . . Spring is coming)
Either way I figure the poor GH is still tired, (cause we all know that 2 months of sleep just ain't enough), he doesn't like to be interrupted from his dreams and he really will NEVER understand Human Beings. And that folks is why I do love this day! I am a groundhog at heart.
Happy Spring/Winter, what ever the next 6 weeks have in store for us, just don't call me cause I'll be snug as a GH in a den dreaming sweet dreams.