Things To Do

Well, for some reason, our power went out this morning for about 2 hours. It was right after J left but before I had gotten anything hot to drink...I was on the computer in fact, when it happened. After I called it in (automated service) I went to get some coffee. The closest coffee shop wasn't open (I guess they don't open until 9am)....weird since they serve the one thing people want in the morning...so I ended up just getting regular joe at the convenience store.

I ended up flipping the breaker on the hottub (the only thing in the house not on a surge protector) so it wouldn't get surged when the power came back on (which is good because it flicked on and off a few times before it came on for good). It was down to 100 degrees in just that amount of time, but that is partially because we are back into one of our cold swings. It was 70 degrees yesterday and today it is 54 with a very chilly wind. I had to put all the faucet covers back on since it is supposed to freeze tonight. I got some maintenance done onthe tub, but I still need to call about the stereo that is not functioning...

While the power was out, I had to find something to amuse myself with that didn't require electricity. I had to hang out at the house in case they needed to call back and since my answering machine needs electricity, there was no one else to answer the phone. Anyhow, I set to working on the birthday cards that I plan to send out in February. I try to do the month's worth near the end of the prior month so I am not trying to pull one off at the drop of a hat. I think I got 5 of them done before the power was back up, so I was able to check that mark off my "task list" on Outlook.

Last night, I was able to get all the receipts for the entire year added up for the sales tax deduction on our tax return (while watching 24 and then Medium). I am trying to determine if it is better for us to keep all the receipts or to just use the automated amount from Turbo Tax. This will be the test year. I am kind of hoping that Turbo Tax is better because keeping and then adding all those receipts up was a bit of a pain the rear. So anyhow, I am pretty much ready to do our taxes...just have to sit down and do them. I am still waiting for the official form from my college for that credit but I know the amount already so I could realistically do them. I am kind of excited to see how much we are going to get from the write-offs on both houses...

Anyhow, we just got paid today, so I need to go so I can get some bills paid and my account balanced before I do anything else. Then it might be tax time...depends on how much time I have left in the day. Might make fried rice with some egg rolls tonight for dinner....that is a hard one to keep in portion control but I'll see if I can do it.