I finally finished my taxes and got everything mailed or efiled out.  We will get a modest refund this year - quite modest, my estimating was almost too good.  Unfortunately when I prepared for next year my eyeballs nearly popped out of my head as I discovered a very unpleasant reality.  Whether I did something wrong when originally filling out my W-4 to sub, or whether I filled it out that way on purpose assuming I wouldn't be making much, I have just realized that the school district has not been taking out ANY federal taxes for me.  Now, for the past 2 years that hasn't been a problem because I made next to nothing. This year, however, I am pulling in a nice sum for 5 months.  So, when I had good old Turbo Tax figure out my estimated taxes for this year, the amount - 4 times a year, is basically one month's paycheck for me! Ouch!!!  Of course that includes dh as well, but I cannot tell you how much it hurt to write out a check for almost my entire paycheck this month.  I am going to personnel this morning to rectify that little error, but sigh, it is really depressing!  And of course, my Sept. and Dec. installments will just be pulled out of dh's salary since I won't be working full time again.  Double ouch!  It makes me wonder why I am working - and I am really hoping that I have made a mistake somewhere!

On other fronts - my husband finally reinstalled the antenna last week so we could get our 3 HDTV channels on the tv - admidst lots of grumbling and "I hate tv" talk.  We haven't had tv in almost 2 months because dh  bought 2 signal boosters trying to improve our signal and neither worked so he got disgusted and just never hooked the original antenna back up - because it involved going into the attic which is not pleasant for a 6'6" man.  Well, 2 days after he reinstalled our antenna he tried just one more thing and ... fried the tv completely.  We now have a 27" paperweight. Sigh!  So of course it doesn't make any sense to buy a non-HDTV - but those suckers are expensive, and so much wider than the old tvs that one won't fit into our 3 piece entertainment center.  Thankfully a friend from church gave us an old tv he wasn't using, so we have dodged the bullet for now, but I think dh is hooked on getting a new one after doing all the research.  You know the man and his toys thing.

And to add insult to injury, our son's bike was stolen out of our garage.  They were off last Thursday and Friday but I had to work and I am sure they left the garage door open after they finished playing outside - they always do - and someone just walked off with it.  It makes me so sad about our neighborhood.  We have no plans to replace it - although I do feel a bit guilty about it because I am pretty sure that the one who left the door open was not the one whose bike was stolen.  Life is just frustrating sometimes!

On a positive note - my mom is doing much better!  Her strength is better, and finally after 4 weeks her low grade fever is gone!  The walker is banished to the basement and she even took a walk around the yard with the PT yesterday.  It is all good!