Thank God

for the Kentucky Assembly, Governor Andy Beshear, and a desire to fall in line with federal guidelines regarding cigarette taxes, as of September 2022.

Student debt won't be taxed as income in Kentucky

Originally it would have been. 

I've been sick

It started the Wednesday after Thanksgiving. I had a low-grade fever and a sore throat. I was off work Thursday, pretty bad off with a nasty respiratory virus (it wasn't the flu, I'm sure, as it was a gradual onset and didn't have a higher fever or really much of a whole-body ache). But it was nasty. I was feeling a little better that Friday with Mucinex and Stahist, and it was a light and short day as we had our company Christmas party that afternoon, so I left by 3 pm. I was careful to handwash or use sanitizer, but I did feel better. By 4 pm, though I was in bed because the sun was going down and that always seems to make a virus disease feel worse, in my experience. I spent the whole weekend in bed. I barely made it into work, but I did go to work Monday through Friday. I did feel better after Tuesday, but Friday (as in two days ago) was the first day I really felt myself again. I even went and had dinner with our friend who has cancer, as we were better and I think we weren't contagious anymore.

Yesterday I did a lot of errands.  I went to the bank and put in some money that was an unexpected gift.  I finally was able to get my taxes from H&R Block.  Lord save me from accountants--it took me almost an hour and a half to pick up and pay for my paperwork, the man there was so meticulous.  Thank goodness I came in when I did.  He was with a client when I came in, so I had to wait a little while, but there were three or four after me who waited the entire time I was here.  But I eventually left with everything I need.  Then I went and got my insulin and some medications for YKWIA at the pharmacy before they closed.  I stopped by Staples and got some ink for the printer, as we hadn't had any since September.  I also got gas and a few groceries.

I was tired when I got home. I'd left at 10 am and it was about 2 pm when I got home.  I did some work around the house and then went to bed for a nap for about 45 minutes.  We were going to work on the floors yesterday and also do the postponed latkes for Hannukah that we missed.  But I was really tired, still, so we put it off till today and cancelled the game.

This morning I woke up clumsy, feeling bad, and full of mucous.  It's better now that I've gotten the Mucinex and Stahist in me, but I am coughing, blowing my nose, sneezing, etc.  So maybe I'm not out of the woods yet.  I thought I'd gone into a sinus infection.  That may be true, but I'm out of breath easily and wheezing.  I think I may be going into bronchitis.  I do have a nebulizer and some medicine for it.  I may see if that helps, and use it at night.  I've swept so far, and the mopping is nigh.  I'm also doing laundry, as I didn't for two weeks and I have one purple pair of pants left (hey, I liked the alliteration), and no other pants or shorts to speak of.  I'm running around in pyjama pants and a t-shirt in the house right now, and those were both leftovers, the shirt from yesterday and the pants from the dirty clothes.

Anyway, I guess I'm mostly back.  The house is better--I did the dishes and bathroom and trash.  Thursday night I took the trash containers to the kerb and did a thorough job on the cat boxes, as they'd gotten bad while we were sick.  I need to get something stronger for the shower, like Kaboom, to take care of some of the stuff on the tile.  But otherwise, things are better,  and I do feel better.

I'm up and

listening to Pandora this morning and getting some caffeine after a fitful night's sleep. This song came on, which I have always loved. Today we're going over to an old friend's house who is very ill and helping him with some things. I think I'm going to consider this an anthem for today, in terms of helping make the world a better place and making a difference in other people's lives.  Since we're going to be there this afternoon, I'm making bread now and then later, when we get back, I need to do laundry.

Yesterday was pretty productive.  First, I went over my next few pay periods to see if there was a chance of taking care of anything I'm behind on financially.  Then I called H&R Block to discover that the Richmond Road office is already closed, but my paperwork should be at the Tates Creek office waiting to be filed as soon as I can pay to do that, and they'll keep it up to a year. I filed for up to six months of an extension with both the state and federal governments.  Then I called a creditor, but they'd closed a few minutes before.

I took the recyclables out, repotted several plants and watered them all, put the strawberry plant Brenda gave me for my birthday back out on the hanger (there was a freeze warning the night before).  I cleaned and dusted two shelves (we're doing that on a rotating basis so the bookshelves aren't too overwhelming.  There are five walls between the library (my bedroom) and the bedroom that are entirely built-in bookshelves.  Next week I'll only do one, as it's a large shelf of magazines on the bottom of a range.

I spoke to our friend on the phone, and then to Brenda's husband to cancel the game since we're going over there today.  Because of that, I didn't work on the game notes.  Instead of that, I went and looked up part-time work (I'd applied to Kroger earlier in the week, as well as a part-time computer associate at the public library), and in the process discovered a job at the University of Kentucky and one a Bluegrass Community and Technical College, and I applied for both.  The first is a temporary, grant-funded position but pays very well and while only lasting two years, pays over twice what I make now.  YKWIA thinks I shouldn't consider it. because it's essentially got an expiration date.  But one thing I've discovered in the lay off is that all jobs do, and at least this one has a set date you know to have everything wrapped up by.  It could also help me with my need for more supervisory experience and consists of digitising a collection, which appeals to the historian and librarian in me, but also would help increase my experience in digital preservation and provide professional academic library experience.  So I went ahead and applied.  The BCTC position is a circulation manager; again, it would help with being pigeon-holed as a solo librarian for all those years.  I have supervised student workers, but I need more real-world experience as a manager.

YKWIA is up and has made coffee.  The cat is very happy as YKWIA does morning feedings and I do evening, and we instituted that from the get-go so the animals wouldn't beg for food and be loud in the morning when I was getting ready for work and YKWIA was asleep.  He's been fed, and the dogs have as well and are outside, although little dog didn't eat (she does that sometimes) and I had to take her food away from the cat, as he's allergic to, we think, chicken and grain, and so he has his own special grain-free fish-based food.

Okay, I'm going to go check the news.  Have a woderful Sunday, and remember, it's Earth Day!

Busy, busy, busy

Today I:

1. Did my laundry (three loads) at YKWIA's.
2. Took YKWIA to an appointment.
3. Discovered that today's mail carrier doesn't understand what the 'outgoing mail' sticky note taped to the outside of my locking apartment mailbox means. This is not normally a problem. But my payment for my librarian certification did not go out today for that reason.
4. Got some food from Captain D's and took it to YKWIA's. They got his order right; I got tilapia instead of salmon. Oh, well, I like tilapia.
5. Watched the season finale of 'Legion' with him on Hulu.
6. Came home and crashed for three hours, and feel like I finally caught up on rest from the weekend.
7. Came out and did some stuff on the computer.

Tomorrow I:

1. Need to go over about 10 am to help YKWIA with a project.
2. Have pulmonary rehabilitation at 1 pm.
3. Need to take YKWIA to an appointment and to his class at the library.
4. Should get YKWIA to go through the books in my trunk so that I can give any rejects to the library and clear out the four copy paper boxes that are in there.
5. Need to pay for and officially file my state taxes. Federal was filed weeks ago, but I have to pay for the state taxes, and they wouldn't let me take it out of my refund. Almost forgot to finish!
6. Should review my cover letter and apply for the job that closes on the 25th.
7. Need to check the various sites for new job openings.
8. Need to water all my plants.
9. Need to give the fish water.

So far there's just one thing on Wednesday, thankfully. Tuesdays and Thursdays are pretty busy due to my rehabilitation, which last an hour and a half, so if anything else is scheduled, it can be hectic. But I'm definitely keeping busy.

Sombre yet uplifting quote of the day...

From the song 'Life's for the Living' by Michael Rosenberg (aka Passenger):

Don't cry for the lost, smile for the living,
Get what you need and give what you're given.
Life's for the living, so live it, or you're better off dead.

So, randomly I did my taxes this morning before work. I had another productive day, boxed up books, had a meeting, did my afternoon data entry, and I listened to Passenger's All the Little Lights while I did that, and this struck me as a little profound, so I'm sharing here.

Live and love life while you have it. Hold on to those you have while you have them. Give back what you're given. Repeat.

By the way

I sent off my taxes today. Yes, it will take awhile to get my refund compared to electronic filing, but it took less time than the frustrating day I had with TurboTax and they don't get $106 of it. Yay!

PS

This library still has tax forms and instructions to pick up so you can do your taxes. Yay! Take that, TurboTax!

Home now

We decided to record 'Grimm' and watch it tomorrow, as they were tired and were all comfy in bed. I came on home. It's supposed to get really cold tonight; my apartment leasing office actually put up a notice on our building door for tips to prevent the pipes from freezing. At least all of our plumbing is on interior walls, so that helps. Which makes me wonder if I left my friends' kitchen faucet dripping when I got some water. I'll call them a little later and remind them to check.

I'm listening to the radio now. Ed Sheeran's 'Thinking Out Loud' is playing. I'm a little tired, a little sleepy, but not as bad as I have been on and off this week. I did a little cleaning up when I got home, and the house doesn't seem quite so bad now. Tomorrow I'm running by the pharmacy, taking a friend to the credit union, taking them shopping for sheets, taking one to the grocery, and then to their Valentine's celebration. So tomorrow will be busy. Our hiatus with the game was slated to end Sunday, but Brenda's got an ill member of her family who needs her to stay home with him until he's back on his feet, so it may be next week. I still have a passage to transcribe from awhile back, but the actual game notes were finished weeks ago. So I'll try to finish that. Also this weekend I hope to get my taxes done. I put my info through an estimator and I'm not getting much back at all this year from the federal and I usually get almost nothing from the state, usually about $25 or so, which is why I usually just donate it to one of the causes you can choose. We'll see. I may wind up doing them on my phone with the Internet down at home; it's probably more secure than going on the library's Wi-Fi network. I wonder if the library is open on Presidents' Day. We've only had that holiday off since last year, so I'm still not used to a February three-day weekend. But it would be nice to go over there and do some blogging. Or I could go to our laundry room, which has a Wi-Fi password hung up on the wall, a couple of chairs, and a small table. :)

I think I may do some reading. I've got several books out from the library, both paper books and e-books. I'd like to get them read. Good night for now.

I am so glad that today is (mostly) over

But:

1. I managed to make it from one side of the city to the other and back, along with various areas between, despite snow and nasty commuting conditions.
2. I didn't get hardly any sleep last night because I was keyed up over the snow and so I'm looking forward to going to bed tonight.
3. Tomorrow is pay day. I can't pay everybody, but I can make a dent in things.
4. Tomorrow I should get my W-2s, and I got my student loan interest tonight, so basically I'm ready to do my taxes.
5. I ache all over, and part of me just wants to take some ibuprofen and head on to bed.
6. At least I got my medicine and A's medicine before the really big snow hits on Friday (somewhere between 6 and 21 inches, depending on which model you look at). My meds were ove $500. That's with insurance. Thank the Gods for flexible spending accounts. I don't know what I'm going to do when the hospital moves to the medical centre next year and I lose my job, and my insurance. I have to find a job before then, and frankly, the chances of getting the solo medical librarian position I interviewed for is looking pretty dim, given the time that has passed since the phone interview, sadly.
7. I did finally get that reimbursement from the Chicago trip. It only took a month and a half. :) It wasn't much, but given that I had less than a dollar between my two accounts, hey, it's grocery money.
8. I checked on my mom today and she was doing pretty well. Yay for that.

Last night was all about managing various digital content. I ripped some CDs from my collection to my computer so I could put it on my phone, took the photos on my phone and backed them up on the computer, deleting them and freeing up a bunch of space on my SD card, and downloaded some free Kindle books. Today I went online and downloaded updates from my Kindle library (that is one nice thing about e-books--they can be corrected easily).

Tomorrow I need to:

1. Pay many bills.
2. Try to get a hold of my allergist (again) and see if I need to start my allergy shots over.
3. Try to get a hold of a friend's doctor as he has an appointment on Friday evening and I really don't think we'll make it due to weather. I tried to call today but apparently had the wrong phone number, so I'll have to look it up. My phone was running out of battery at the time, and I was about to head to the pharmacy, so I put that off.
4. I really want to transcribe a passage from one of the games that didn't get put into the notes.
5. Go to PT. I didn't get to have my session Tuesday because my physical therapist's wife was in labour, and really, I can't fault him on wanting to be there for the birth of his child. But I've been hurting as a result of the missed appointment.
6. Whittle down my to-do list on Habitica.
7. Read!
8. Get my tax info together so I can do it this weekend.

Okay, I've (finally) had dinner, which I practically inhaled, I was so hungry (it was 8 pm after all, and I hadn't eaten since noon). Time to do some quick checking on the computer and then start winding down for the night. Good night!

One bit of good news, though

Appeals court: Ky. library tax is legal

It doesn't look like libraries in Kentucky will have to close after all.

The Kentucky Court of Appeals in a 3-0 decision handed down on Friday reversed two circuit court decisions in Kenton and Campbell counties that declared the library districts in those counties had improperly raised taxes for decades.

The appeals court found the libraries can raise their tax without having to gather a petition—so long as the amount doesn't bring in four percent more revenue than the year before, just like other taxing districts. It means library budgets won't get slashed and library branches won't get closed as some had feared.

The court case garnered national attention, and library associations across the country rejoiced at the news.

"More than just a vital resource, we know that libraries are vital to democracy in the great state of Kentucky and everywhere," American Library Association President Courtney Young and Public Library Association President Larry Neal said in a joint statement on Friday.

If the Tea Party plaintiffs had had their way--

...the lawsuit would have rolled library taxes back to their rates in the 1970s and decimated library revenues, likely causing the closure of branches and other cutbacks. It would have affected more than 80 libraries around the state.

So glad that didn't happen. Technically, they can appeal to the US Supreme Court, though. But hopefully they're satisfied with the unanimous decision, and will drop the cases.

A full day

I managed to catch up on everything I needed to at work, and found out that,  yes,  the woman I've been filling in for is coming back on Monday,  yay!  So I'll be back in the library full-time  (although half as librarian,  half in my revenue cycle job).

I filed my taxes today.  I got both forms I needed yesterday and wasted no time. This year,  since my internet connexion is kaput,  I did it on my phone.  Turbo Tax has changed from charging for the state tax filing to charging to automatically fill in information from last year.  You do have the option to file for free,  but you have to both have and put in that information.  Since I wasn't at home,  I went ahead and had them deduct that amount from my refund, am option which may be new as well. I get a small refund compared to folks with kids or who own houses,  but it should help a great deal.  Here's to a quick turnaround.

We're experiencing our first significant snowfall tonight,  with some sleet earlier. There's over two inches in the ground so far,  a heavy,  wet snow perfect for snowballs and snowmen.  Tomorrow it's supposed to rain,  though,  so that may go away.

Okay,  I'm sleepy.  'Grimm' was great,  I had fun over with my friends,  but I'm glad to be home and warm and snuggy in my bed.  Good night.

Yay, Kentucky Revenue Cabinet!

I just checked my account, and I've already received my somewhat small but better-than-in-the-past refund from the state of Kentucky. I filed the night of January 30th, so it was ready to go when the IRS started accepting the returns the next day, so I hope the federal follows suit soon. Yay!

Looking forward to tax-time, for a change

I received my W-2s today and should be able to get the paperwork from my student loan manager on the 13th, and I'll be ready to file. Which will be very welcome, yes, yes, yes.

All the time I had the job at the gas station I messed up on my W-4s and actually wound up owing money for all that five years. It's nice to get a refund, which isn't as big as if I had a child or a house, but still, like I said, welcome.

Okay, back to what I was doing. This is my to do list the rest of this week:

1. Get gas--yay, at a discount, as mentioned earlier!
2. Go to the library
3. Call YMCA re: cancelling membership and the procedures thereof [Do that tomorrow]
4. Work on finances
5. Find MRI CD of neck
6. Clean house
7. Take out trash and recyclables
8. Sort laundry
9. Work on game notes
10. Record 'The Big Bang Theory'
11. Work on book reviews
12. Check something with T-Mobile [Do Saturday; the store's closed for the night and I'd rather go through them than through a call centre]
13. Make an appointment re: my neck/shoulder/arm problems [Do tomorrow]

Yay!

I finished the game notes and they are in a folder on Dropbox so I can access them remotely on my phone or tablet. I finished evaluating the resources for that project I was doing. I filed my taxes. I am now very tired. I am going over to my friends' house about 6:30 and we're going to watch 'Doctor Who', both last week's and this one. But I feel much better. Still need to work on the house, but I may take a brief nap.

So far today

I have:

1. Woken up and gotten ready
2. Gone to the library and picked up not only a hold but a few more books
3. Texted with a friend
4. Taken a friend to the vet
5. Taken a friend to get a newspaper (and he got me brunch of Lean Pockets and bananas :) )
6. Spent some time watching 'The Cosby Show' with friends
7. Eaten two Lean Pocket pretzel-bread spinach and three cheese pockets and a banana
8. Tried to catch a beautiful black long-haired dog that was running loose on my friends' street, without success, unfortunately
9. Come home to my disaster-struck-looking house with the following to do:
   • Game notes (for tomorrow_
   • Taxes (due Monday)
   • A project where I'm evaluating books for a company (due tomorrow)
   • Housework (must be done to preserve sanity)

Then there's 'Doctor Who' and maybe 'Orphan Black' to watch later today. Whew!

Today was all about visiting health care professionals

My appointment with my surgeon regarding the ankle fracture went well and was straightforward. He was very pleased with my progress and will see me in six weeks. He suggested I continue gait training at physical therapy until I find it is no longer helpful, but he thought that my walking was remarkably good considering. The flexibility of the foot and ankle is pretty good as well.

It was at the regular doctor's I hit a snag. The appointment lasted about four hours. He was running terribly behind. If I'd realised that it would be that bad, I would have taken the day off. As it was, I worked very little of the day. I'm going to try to go in early tomorrow morning to make up some of the time.

Physical therapy, which was scheduled after regular work time, went really well, but I am very sore, especially in my knees and quad muscles. I worked on a reclining step machine, with a squishy round thing that I did lunges on, step work, rolling a balance ball towards me with the backs of my feet (that was really hard, given the shape of the muscles), and bridges of the back.

Once home, I talked with Brandon awhile on the phone and then fell asleep with my feet and knees elevated. I woke up a short while ago and did my monthly libation to Hekate, rekindling my worship after several months of not being able to perform the the ritual. (I waited until true dark of the moon to coincide with my menses).

While waiting at the doctors' offices I made an appointment to get the car checked/get an oil change on Saturday morning, giving them plenty of time should they need to put on new tyres or brake pads. I suspect that will be the case. I skidded in the rain a couple of times today, and the brakes are making a high-pitched brake pad sort of squeal. I don't want to wait on this. I also made an appointment for next Saturday with the optometrist and an appointment for Tuesday for a diabetes check. I tend to have a rash of doctor's appointments in the early part of the year when my flexible spending account is flush again.

There was a little grumbling in the halls this morning about the higher taxes in our paycheques today. Mine was about $25 less than usual, despite adjusting the flexible spending account down $100 this year because of the new cap to contributions, so it was a little more than that in terms of increased taxes. That amounts to $750 annually. I can deal with that, but it amounts to a month's rent, plus electric and car insurance for a month, so it is significant. I was more concerned with my personal time off. The company that does our Family Medical Leave Act leave and short-term disability is still processing my last extension request and so I was paid out of PTO instead of my extended illness bank. Once that goes through, I'll get my PTO back, but as a result I have about five days' worth of PTO instead of 12 right now. Granted, we're finished with holidays for awhile (our next official one isn't until Memorial Day), but my doctor's appointments come out of my PTO too, and I need to keep at least three days in the bank because if I get sick, it comes out of that first before drawing on the EIB.

Okay, if I'm going to go in early, I need to go back to bed. Hopefully the Tylenol is kicking in, because otherwise the soreness is going to keep me awake. Hope you're having a good week. I'm glad tomorrow is Friday, and it's jeans day at work. Yay! [I didn't have any clean jeans on my first Friday back. I only have one pair now that's clean. My other main pair of jeans was cut off of me when I was hit by the car. :(]

Randomly up

It's not my feet, for a change, they feel great, it's that 'monthly visitor' as they used to say and I'm cramping. So what's a sleepless girl supposed to do? Blog, of course.

I had a nice relaxing evening, went to bed a little early but not exceedingly so, and all in all it was a nice ending to a nice day. This whole week so far has been great. The feet feel fine, I'm eating better--and I've lost something like eight pounds in the last week and a half. My blood sugar was only 201 fasting this morning, which is high, but considering it's been running near 300, much better. I'm doing better about taking my meds, especially the Lantus. Tomorrow is supposed to be sunny and warm. I think I'll try to take a walk around the hospital grounds.

Getting the tax refund means I got my rent together on time (yay!). I'll take it by tomorrow. That frees up my next paycheque immensely, as I have just a few smaller bills that come out of it, and that means that I'm 1) going to pay off a debt and 2) put some money in my savings--yes, the savings that has had one cent in it all year. (Someone laughed at that when I told them yesterday; the thing is if you have money in an account and take all of it out, they often close the account if it's on the money; if you leave a bit, they don't. So at some point I had money in there and raided the account (yes, that defeats the purpose of savings, I realise), and left a cent in there). I'm not going to specifically call this a car fund. It's also a 'save up for the loss of job fund' and 'general emergency fund', something I haven't had in awhile.

I'm keeping track of my expenses to better do a budget with as well. I only have two main variable expenses--my electric and food. I think I'm going to see about getting on the budget plan with the electric so that's one less variable. My electric runs between $35-$100 (although this year it's been so warm it's been more like $65). I'm going to try to pay off some old debts and start payments on my student loans (I was in forbearance while paying off the IRS, as I couldn't do both at the same time. That starts back in March or April.) The idea is to try to repair my credit, which has been sucky from years of old debts, some of which go back to my time with my ex, and that was over 20 years ago. I can't be sued for those, but they never really go away unless you take care of them. I have paid off a few, but there are still more, and I'm finally in a position where I might be able to whittle them away very slowly. The student loans will take a big chunk out of things, even with income contingent status, so we'll see. I need to get an updated credit report to figure out who has what debt--they sell the things so it's not like you can easily take care of it.

So the idea is take a month tracking expenses so that I can better allocate them for budgeting. And then I can work out whether I can continue to save and pay off debts, etc.

Okay, I'm back to getting sleepy. I'm supposed to be up early so I can do some things around here, since I didn't do anything last night. Good night again.

Yaaaaaayyyyy!!!

First tax refund in something like seven or eight years, deposited into my account. Which is good, as I was down to $11, had one dollar on me for the bus, and my rent is due today. :) *Does the happy dance*. Okay, time to get up, get going, and go to the bank.

Remarkable

I went to bed last night around midnight after being up for nearly twenty hours on about 2 1/2 hours of sleep, taking my insulin but also the new medicine I got yesterday. This morning I woke up fifteen minutes before my alarm, rested, not groggy (which on Monday, even without medication, I tend to be), having slept through the night without any pain keeping or waking me up. And my feet ache just slightly, even though it's been over 8 hours since I took it.

Now the test is to see how well I can work with it. It throws one of my co-workers for a loop, making her incredibly drowsy, and she has to take it fairly early in the evening to not be groggy in the morning. But I didn't have any grogginess (I was already very tired, so I don't know about the drowsy part, yet.) I'm supposed to take it three times a day. It's not a narcotic or anything like that; it's actually an anti-seizure medicine that helps with nerve pain. Most meds that say they can cause drowsiness with me don't (although there was the Dayquil incident, as I mentioned, but I think that was back when it was basically Nyquil with caffeine.)

On other fronts, I'm still waiting for my tax refund to come in. The IRS says it should be in my account by tomorrow, but of course various factors might affect that. Since they already owe me money, I'm a little concerned that it will somehow get hung up.

Today should be a fairly busy day in the library, and just a little slow in terms of the data entry position. On Friday I unpacked ten or so boxes of children's books (mostly board books) and put them on my book truck and shelves, breaking down the boxes and donating them to a co-worker who's moving. Today I need to put some of those books on the book cart in the clinic so they can be given out to children who come in who are from 6 months old to five years old. I filled several interlibrary loans on Friday, so unless I have some new ones, I'm okay there. I want to do some cataloguing as well. And I have a meeting today and tomorrow regarding the data entry. I also need to modify some guides for how to do the data entry for my backup if I'm sick or on vacation, as some things have changed. Since there are a couple of slow days this week, I'm going to work on that. And I have a monthly audit to do. So I should definitely be on my toes (figuratively) today.

What else? Well, I had a good weekend. It was nice to have a Saturday to myself. And although I did a lot of work yesterday that seemed nearly endless (I even washed a dog in the bathtub and took a bed apart to get behind and under it, with help), plus we had the big grocery run, the Cthulhu game was fun and we learned some information and gained something that should help keep our characters alive and deal with a seriously recurring problem (a supernatural creature that can walk through walls, put her hand through your chest, and kill you by squeezing your heart till you die, all the while feeding on your life force--oh, and did I mention she's pissed at us?) So far we had been doing better at saving the world from tentacled horrors than dealing with this one non-Cthulhoid creature.

This morning, of course, I woke up feeling well. I washed some dishes from some things my co-workers had sent home with me, and I really think if I feel decent when I get home, I'll finish my dishes and do some more on the house. Here's hoping.

Okay, it's sunny, it's supposed to be 56 later today, and it's a new workweek. It's been such a mild winter I'm really waiting for the other shoe to drop and then we'll get an ice storm or heavy snow. Hopefully not, though. But anyway, it's about time I got going and headed on to work. Have a good day.

Well, book #2 for the year is finished

That, of course, is Rebecca Skloot's Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, which was excellent. I liked it so much I'm considering buying it in physical format. I also went ahead and downloaded two more library books: Civilization: the West and the Rest by Niall Ferguson (a history book) and Small Persons with Wings by Ellen Booraem (juvenile fiction). I have them for two weeks.

I got a very nice and prompt reply from the store manager regarding my complaint this morning. Theoretically it should have fallen off of pending and not into posted by Monday, returning the $24.96 to my account. If not, we'll see what can be done about it then. I hope it does before then, as I'm getting a little low on funds. I've got two cheques to put in the bank, which I will do tomorrow, but they won't post until Monday night, since Saturday's not a business day. I've seen estimates for my tax refund anywhere from January 25th through the 31st, so I'm not sure when that will happen. Still, that's pretty speedy, especially as they only started processing filed forms on Tuesday. I just hope that mine doesn't get held up for any reason. According to the IRS, they owe me from the payments I made on my back taxes, but I don't really trust this process completely. We'll see.

I don't have any other plans for tomorrow. Usually when I try to make plans for Saturday they fall through, so I think it's better to play it by ear. I would like to do some honest-to-goodness housework, though. I got a couple of loads of laundry in this morning, but still have a lot of stuff to do around the house.

Okay, that's enough for now. I'm going to check the news. I did see earlier that Etta James died this morning. So here's a little music to remember her by...