Weasel Of Doom

I am reasonably sure that my tax refund cannot be greater than the amount of taxes I actually paid. So, ummm, if I paid $1,400, I should NOT be getting a refund of $4,000, am I right? (Did some looking around online, and apparently, tax credits can indeed result in a refund that’s more than what I paid in taxes. Still, I am going to triple-check everything, because I don’t want to make any mistakes.) Also, how the hell do I end up owing taxes to the state of Wisconsin while getting a sizable refund from the feds? Color me even more confused. Also, color me NOT filing my taxes until I figure this mess out… *sigh*

Probably the best indicator of my mental health state is how much paperwork is sitting around the house. When I am doing well, there is usually at most a week’s worth of stuff waiting to be filed. When I am not doing well, mail starts piling up. I just checked, and the last time I filed a bill was [drum roll, please] April 2009. Not a typo. It’s been a year and three months.

So tonight, I went through five big diaper boxes filled with bills, kids artwork, notes from school and daycare, and junk mail (courtesy of a particularly rough April and May). Kids artwork is now in the pretty IKEA boxes. I put two 5-gallon garbage cans of junk mail into the recycling bin. What’s left is two diaper boxes – one with bills etc which need to be sorted and filed, and one with kid mementos which need to be put in their memory boxes. Guess what I will be doing for the next couple nights :-)

Yesterday I had a late dinner with Shannon, and today I went to her house; great time was had on both occasions, but I did get home on the late side.

I did manage to finish sorting kids’ toys (at least the ones I was able to find – our basement is a scary place, filled with a multitude of mysterious boxes). For some reason, I have absolutely no emotional reaction to the “older” toys – it’s only the infant ones (mr. star, an octopus, the bug, the mirror, mr. banana who disappeared one day (I blame Damien) and is still missed) that make me tear up. Maybe because we have relatively few infant toys, and LOTS of other toys. Maybe because the rest weren’t Baby’s First Toys. Maybe because I really enjoyed my kids during the first year of their lives, before my shortcomings as a parent became evident to the kids. And probably because it’s the hormonal time of the month, too.

Public service announcement: it is not a good idea to sort things with sentimental value while having your period. Stick to brain-numbing things like sorting bills and ironing curtains instead.

I spent the evening sorting kids’ toys. There are lots of toys to go through, and looking at all the baby ones made me so sad, because it is highly unlikely that we will have another baby. And I know that I am barely staying sane with three, that we can’t afford another baby, that it is just not a good idea, and yet… I am typing this and crying.

1. Bill and neighbor Ken took the brush-loaded trailer loaded trailer to the recycling center.
2. I made “patriotic fruit salad” (strawberries and blueberries, with bananas thrown in at the last minute). When shopping for ingredients earlier, I tried to estimate how much I would need, and so bought 4 containers of strawberries and 6 of blueberries. To make fruit salad for 8 people. Apparently, my subconscious mind was planning to feed an army platoon, instead.
3. After we got back from the family gathering, Bill put together the shelving unit and boxes that go into it. I supervised (and put the cardboard boxes into the recycling bin).
4. Made homeless the spiders in the front hallway and the upstairs bathroom.
5. Cleaned the blinds in the upstairs bathroom, and washed the window there. We have windows that tilt for easy washing; this time, I managed to get the lower window to fall out. Fortunately, I caught it right away (so no broken glass) and Bill managed to put it back in (so no need for a replacement window, even though the mechanism that lets the window tilt got a bit wrecked during its involuntary removal). Guess I should not be allowed to clean windows without adult supervision.

And now it’s off to bed to finish reading “The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo,” which is due back at the library tomorrow.

On the seventh day He rested, and since I was not feeling all that great, I decided to follow His example and spent as much time as possible in bed, curled up with a book.

However, no rest for the wicked, and some things did get done:

1. Made pot roast for dinner. Got a whole new level of hate going for our slow cooker (Rival Smart crock pot). Whose bright idea was it to couple power level and timer together? Apparently, Smart means a choice of 4 hours on High, 6 hours on High, 8 hours on Low, or 10 hours on Low. If you want, say, 4 hours on Low, you are SoL. To add insult to injury, the Low temperature is actually pretty high, and if the cover is on tight (which is not as easy to accomplish as you think), whatever it is you are cooking starts bubbling. I felt like I had a cauldron, not a crock pot. The only solution to this is to carefully position the cover so that it is open a sliver, thus letting the extra heat escape. I am amazed the pot roast turned out at all. So, any suggestions for a better slow cooker?
2. Just in case, figured out what I wanted to buy at IKEA, and how to get there from O’Hare (Google maps totally suck at giving good directions to it, we know that from bitter experience, so the figuring out took a while).
3. Drove to Chicago to pick up Bill.
4. Bill was feeling up to it, so we stopped at IKEA on the way back – made it there 15 minutes before the store closed. After some mad dashing around, got all the items we wanted to buy: a shelving unit and some boxes for the entrance, two packs of cups for the kids, hand rings to add to the collection of things which hang from the ceiling in the family room, and two sets of paper boxes to store kids’ artwork and other mementos (in “blue” and “flower”). Good thing we didn’t have a lot of time to spend there, because there is so much stuff in IKEA that we would like to have….
5. Drove back to the Falls.
6. Unpacked Bill’s suitcases and took them to the basement.
7. Decided to do some laundry (not my brightest idea).
8. While waiting for the laundry to get done, wrote another book review, for N.K. Jemisin’s “The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms.”.

And now laundry is all done, and it is time to go snuggle up to my husband and fall asleep :-)

If all goes well, tomorrow evening I will be picking Bill up in Chicago. To celebrate my last day of being on my own, I

1. Mowed the lawn. It’s been dry most of the week, so the grass hasn’t exactly achieved new and exciting heights. Was not so much mowing as walking back and forth and wondering if I already did that spot before. The brush-filled trailer is in the side parking spot now, courtesy of neighbor Ron.
2. Talked to my family for three hours.
3. Annoyed a lot of spiders by destroying their webs in the great room, kitchen, and laundry room.
4. Took down and washed the great room’s curtains. Strongly suspect that they will need to be ironed tomorrow.
5. Gave one last cleaning to the great room windows, and put back the screens.
6. Went to Pick’n'Save and stocked up on dry goods, plus picked up more Diet Coke. Got a new Pick’n'Save card too. Apparently, it comes with fuel perks. Realized that Pick’n'Save and Copps are owned by the same company. No longer have to feel bad about all the deals Erica finds at Copps, since I should be getting very similar ones at Pick’n'Save.
7. Made another attempt at washing the windows on the Jetta. No matter what I do, they seem filmy. As long as I was at it, sprayed more WD40 on the squeaking passenger door. It still squeaks, but in a slightly quieter tone of voice.
8. Cleaned the upstairs guest/kids bathroom. Got ambitious and put down some liner inside the drawers. Then got even more ambitious and cleaned the kids’ step stools, as long as I was in the area.
9. Cleaned the master bathroom (always the dirtiest and the dustiest). Made note to self that it is festooned with spider webs. Must remember to piss off more spiders tomorrow.

And this brings us to 2 am. Considering I need to get up at 7 am, I am feeling slightly doomed :P

Can’t believe it’s been two weeks since the boys left to Russia. Feels like I should have had gotten a lot more done by now :-(

Today

1. Planted the daylilies I picked up yesterday and today. Got some bonus decorative grass, too!
2. Loaded the brush into the trailer. Neighbor Ron is going to help me move it into the side parking spot tomorrow morning.
3. Got gas for the lawn mower.
4. Did some grocery shopping.
5. Paid a couple medical bills.
6. Wrote a book review for “The Poisoner’s Handbook.” Took me over an hour, and still turned out kinda lame.

Time to go to bed. Need to get a lot done tomorrow!

Not what you think (though I suspect the neighbors sometimes wonder about us :-)

Our friend Andrew dropped off his trailer this afternoon, so now we can get rid of all the brush that’s been sitting around. Yay. Also, my iPod cover arrived, so it’s been encased. And I got to go have dinner and a walk with Shannon, which is always a good thing (even if today I almost got into an accident trying to make a “blind” left turn; well, at least we learned that my breaks did indeed work when I slam on them). Other than that, an “off” day today – woke up groggy and out of it, and pretty much stayed that way.

Despite that, a few things did get done:

1. Picked up some free daylilies on Milwaukee’s north side.
2. Went to Target and got some supplies I needed (WD-40 for the squeaky car door, OxyClean spray, scrub sponges, Centrum vitamins, calcium supplements, disposable gloves, Finish dishwasher gel packs, body wash, bath sponge) and a couple things for the kids from the dollar isles (“How to Catch Your Dragon” coloring books and alphabet stickers). It’s amazing how things add up.

Need to go to bed early today, have to plant daylilies tomorrow morning before going to work!

Today turned out to be “one of those days” – no matter what I tried to do, it did not get done. Projects at work – could not finish for one reason or another; projects at home – took forever and still did not get done. I am going to cut my losses and go to bed.

The few things that DID get done:

1. Water utility man did whatever it was that he had to do with the water meter. I felt so bad for him – the previous owner of our house enclosed the water meter in a small closet-like area, and the poor guy had broad shoulders and had the hardest time reaching in to do things. It took him 40 minutes instead of 20 to get everything accomplished.
2. Dropped off the Jetta for timing belt change, water pump replacement, and tire rotation. (As usual, forgot to ask them to spray something on the passenger door to stop the squeaking noise.) Total damage to the wallet – $750. I am spending Bill’s first couple paychecks before he had a chance to earn them.
3. Deposited some checks.
4. Attempted to dig up a flower bed for the free daylilies I am picking up tomorrow on the way to dinner with Shannon. (I *heart* Craigslist.) Time will tell if I did an adequate job on the flower bed. The way today went, strongly suspect that it is not going to be good enough.
5. Cleaned over racks.
6. Washed the glass front door, and windows and sliding door in the great room. Will see how they look in daylight. Expect that I will have to redo them.

On the positive side, we are having gorgeous weather – low 70s and sunny. Of course, it will go back up to 80+ come the weekend. Good thing I have a ton of indoor projects to do!

After yesterday’s happiness, today was a rough mental health day. Too many things to stress out about. I do it to myself all the time. But when I got home, I had a pleasant surprise – our neighbor had pulled out the buck-thorn infestation around the tree by the fence, and cleaned out my front flower/shrub bed, too. And poisoned the ants. We are blessed with good neighbors. And here’s the list of other things that got done:

1. Dropped off the minivan to get the oil changed and the glove compartment latch fixed.
2. Baked tilapia fillets for dinner. Turned out OK. Hard to mess up fish in the oven.
3. In anticipation of Bill’s returned, cleaned the fridge and the microwave.
4. Found instructions for running the oven self-clean cycle. Apparently oven racks should be removed prior to the 3-5 hour process. Ours are soaking in the bathtub upstairs.
5. Washed the kitchen floor.
6. Cleaned the downstairs bathroom.
7. Got a load of dishes started.

Busy Wednesday ahead. Water-meter guy coming at 7:30 am, then I am dropping off the Jetta for a timing belt replacement, then a long day at work. But at the end there is dinner with Shannon, so it’s all good.

Bill got a job offer. Assuming everything goes well, I will pick him up in Chicago on July 4th, and he will start on July 6th. While I am (obviously) ecstatic and very happy for him, a little part of me is going to miss being on my own. Will have to try and get a lot more things done before Sunday!

Today my cousin called me just as I was getting ready to leave work, and we ended up talking for an hour and a half. I took the opportunity to exercise and walked while we talked. So, on the plus side, I got some exercise; on the minus side, I did not head home until 7 pm. Things accomplished:

1. Got an oil change for the Jetta in the morning. Found out I needed to replace the timing belt 10K miles ago. Timing belt costs $700 to replace. Was hoping they were exaggerating on the necessity, but apparently not so – timing belts go quickly and without warning, and take the engine with them. Eeek. Then found out that Bill got a job offer, so now we will have money to do it. Scheduled for Wednesday.
2. Submitted FSA Dependent Care and Health Care reimbursements paperwork.
3. Picked up some more size 4 Pampers at Target. They have a deal this week – if you buy two 100-count packs for $30 each, you get a $10 Target gift card. I also had manufacturer’s coupons for $2 and $3, and a $5 Target gift card from long ago, so I did end up saving some money. Tomorrow, back to Target to get Centrum vitamins and a spray bottle of OxyClean. I spend my gift cards on such exciting things!
4. Picked up two books that I had on hold at the library. One of them is Stieg Larsson’s “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.” Because the books are so popular again, it is due back in a week. I better find some time to read :-)
5. Went to Walgreens and finally got the issue of double-paying for Sergey’s fluoride medication resolved. They refunded one of the charges.
6. Went through Damien’s and Xavier’s clothes that are hanging in the closet. As a result, another load of stuff with stains is enjoying a leisurely soak (and a bunch of dirty winter coats is keeping them company).
7. Packed up kids’ winter coats (big bin), infant warm clothes and Halloween costumes (long bin), and baby gear items like sling, car seat cover, etc (another long bin).
8. Hung up all the fall/spring coats and vests (18 months and up) in the study closet.

I look at the lists of things I got done, and yet the house looks like I had barely done anything. Discouraging.

In other news, I finally finished my hearty bean soup today. Tomorrow, tilapia and rice! Also, must remember to drive minivan to work, since I am dropping it off for an oil change at Gordy’s.

Last night, I finally got all my books organized alphabetically by author at around 3 am. Went to bed, and a little bit later we got hit with some very dramatic thunderstorms. Lightning flashing every few seconds, there were ominous thunder rolls that sounded like they were right over our subdivision, and needless to say sleep was not happening. It calmed down by 5 am, I fell asleep, only to be woken up at 8 am by another round of thunderstorms. Eeep. End result: did not get out of bed until 1 pm, and then it took me another couple hours to start functioning at a normal level.

Things accomplished:

1. Washed windows (both bays, two in the great room, and the garden window) and glass doors (front door, sliding door, back door). That took most of the day. Still need to wash all of those from the inside, but at least on the outside they are cleaner than they were before. Discovered that I cannot figure out how to remove the screens of Stanek windows. Will have to wait for Bill to get back and show me how it is done.
2. Made more brown rice. Go me! White rice is quick to do, but it takes 45 minutes for the brown one, after it starts boiling.
3. Moved the kids furniture back into their room.
4. Two new bins: bedding, blankets, towels, burp clothes that we are not using anymore are now stored under the toddler beds.
5. Washed and put away the kid clothes that were soaking.
6. Did a load of my laundry.
7. Went through Sergey’s side of the closet. Pulled out some stuff that he has outgrown and put aside all the pants with holes in them. When Karen comes, will sit at her feet and ask for mending advice.

Time to go to bed, I have a 7:30 oil change appt for the Jetta!

The adventures in housekeeping continue. Today, I

1. Talked to my family on Skype. Sergey wanted to know when I was coming to pick him up. Told him, “August.” He is the only one who misses me.
2. Cleaned the boys’ bedroom. Washed the windows; dusted the blinds, the fan, the shelves, and the dresser; cleaned up the more obvious dirt spots on the walls. Then I lugged the beds and chair out, and spent the next hour and a half trying to figure out how to use my borrowed (old) Hoover SteamVac. Part of it was my stupidity, part poor design of the vacuum and pathetic instructions (the stupid latches to keep the lower tank in place – what bastard thought of them, and what bastard illustrated the locking process, because those latches (a) were very difficult to attach, (b) refused to stay on, and (c) from the picture in the instructions, it is impossible to figure out how to actually lock them). Eventually, I did get to have a go at the carpet. Some areas got really wet, others didn’t (because apparently I ran out of washing solution but, contrary to what the instructions said, the vacuum cleaner did NOT automatically turned off). Overall, a really frustrating and time-wasting experience. So ix-nay on using the Hoover for carpet washing — my new plan is to rent a Rug Doctor or a steam vac once Karen comes to stay. I am going to need the moral support ;-)
3. Washed the garbage bins which were soaking for the last couple days.
4. Mowed the lawn.
5. Unearthed access to the water meter in the basement in preparation for a visit from the Utilities Dept on Wednesday morning.
6. Washed the screens from the windows in the great room. Yay for a tub with hand-held shower head, very handy for such purposes.
7. Replaced the light bulb in the shower stall. This gets its own mention because it’s a pain in the butt to do.
8. Went through 12 mo, 18 mo, 24 mo, and 2T clothes bins. Clothes with obvious stains earned themselves a trip to the washing machine for a day-long soaking.
9. Washed, dried, and put away the load of 6-9 clothes.

And now I am going to sort through two bookcases of paperbacks (this falls under “fun things I like doing,” sad but true) and go to bed.

That would be because the nice officer who pulled me over for speeding let me go with a written warning instead of a ticket. Mental note to self: in the future, avoid Main Street :-)

Got a couple things accomplished today:

1. Got a bunch of old newspapers from the library at work, to aid in window-washing this weekend.
2. Paid a visit to two Half-Price Books stores (getting busted by police in between) and found three books I was looking for.
3. Went on eBay and ordered an arm band ($2), case cover ($6), and screen protector ($1) for my iPod. Did not realize that the armband is going to be shipped from Hong Kong, so it will take a month or so to arrive. Oh well, lesson learned.
4. Washed, dried, and put away the 0-3 and 3-6 clothes that were soaking all day. Some stains went away, most did not.
5. Went through 6-9 clothes, and got another load soaking. I have LOTS of 6-9 clothes, for some reason.
6. Took down hardcover books and put them back in order.
7. Started a “going to try and re-read these and see if I still like them” pile of paperbacks.

Oh, and my attempt at soup turned out OK, albeit way too spicy. Will definitely have to eat it over bed of rice, as per suggestion in the recipe. Oh, and no idea how it could feed 6-8 people. My guess is it’s more like four servings. We shall see…