Uncle Sam scaring me

So I downloaded the 'ol Turbo Tax last night. We have very simple taxes at this point, and the regular "deluxe" version covers us well. We had the W-2's & pretty much mostly everything. I put in Lee's info, and then got started on mine.

There's nothing at all in the Federal withholding box. It's completely blank.

I kind of freaked a bit. I don't recall changing my withholding from last year... How did this happen? How much are we going to have to owe now? Eeeeek!!

Well, it's Saturday night, and there's nothing I can do about it at this point in time, so I just go ahead to see what the damage will be, figuring I'll call the payroll folks on Monday anyway.

Turns out there was some legislation passed in the last year to allow people to keep more of their money if they're within a certain income level. Apparently, we are in that level. So nothing was taken out of my check, because I wasn't going to earn enough to have to pay the Feds.

Don't worry, the state still took a hefty chunk, and all the other FICA, Social Security & everything else. It was just the Fed that was affected.

So, we're still getting a refund. We would have owed on the State, but Connor's disability gives us another child credit, so we get a few bucks back from the State too.

*whew*

I'm not completely done - I have a few questions about Diana's scholarships & whether she's filing & claiming that or we are (she's talking to the scholarship folks at school). There are a couple of other little things - but yeah - *whew*

I hate taxes.

For Byron...

http://www.vancouver2010.com/olympic-photos/

This is the regional manager of Connie's store, either getting his torch lit, or lighting another torch.

The above link is to the Vancouver 2010 website slide show. LOTS of pics of torches all across Canada. It's also traveling by train for a lot of the trip through the wider open places. And you see a lot of those mittens!

Connie & the Torch!!

Here's Connie with her regional manager for the Bay, who got to carry the torch on the route in front of their store. He let Connie hold the torch so she could have the photo - and she's gonna send me those gloves! I'm so excited!!!

I have been counting down the Olympics since November in my classroom. We are getting really close now, with only 15 days left to go.

During this stressful time at school, it always cheers me up to know the games are going to be here soon :) I've been wearing the smaller size Olympic gloves Connie sent at Christmas when I'm out at recess. But these will be extra-extra-EXTRA special because they held the torch!! Wow!!

(okay - I'll tone it down now... maybe... hee hee hee!)

Renee has a baby

Little Robert was born today, sometime between 5:00 & 6:00 pm, I think. I haven't actually heard from her, this is via Mary (another of my scouts) on Facebook.

I expect after almost 24 hours of labor, Renee is sleeping right now :)

I'll update when I get more info.

:)

Renee's having a baby --- NOW

At 8:15ish she posted on her facebook the contractions were 5-10 minutes apart and she was heading to the hospital.

Her parents are visiting and she's only 3 days overdue, so hopefully she'll have a totally uneventful birth and little baby Otto (last name) will be healthy & happy.

I'm glad Renee has family to help her, since her husband is still off on a ship somewhere. Hopefully he can come home to meet his son soon too :)

I'm just wondering if I'm going to get a call at 2:00 announcing a birth :)

My prayers are with you, Renee. You will be a fantastic mommy!! (((Hugs)))

Almost a day off

It's a teacher work day at my school site today. Assistants aren't supposed to work when there are no students. Somehow my calendar didn't reflect this, because I'm not a school employee, I'm a different agency.

In any case, I have the day off. I could either just get dinged for it (unpaid leave) but I'd rather do comp time. I already have a meeting this afternoon for work - so I'll have to be there anyway in the afternoon. And I'm also not getting my 1/2 hour lunch breaks anymore. We typically have some sort of crisis happening in the classroom, and I can't leave.

I guess I'll just note all the 1/2 hours I've worked, add in the meeting today, and it should be good.

Hopefully at the meeting, we'll address the fact I'm not getting a break? The teacher isn't either, but she's salary, whereas I'm hourly & have a union contract that states I get 1/2 hour away from the workplace... I'm also supposed to get 2 10-minute breaks -- Hahahahahha! I'm lucky if I can run away to use the restroom. *sigh*

2010 Olympics

The Vancouver Winter Games start on Feb 12, just 21 days from now! I'm excited to see all the sports as well as the region where my Mom & sister live :) There won't be much about Kelowna, but British Columbia in general is just beautiful.

The Olympic Torch will be making its way through Kelowna next Monday & Tuesday. When I spoke with my mom this morning, she let me know that the fire chief (now retired) from the Okanagan Fire (when my parents had to evacuate) will be honored as a torch bearer for the relay through Kelowna. His name is Zimmerman, I think. My mom met his wife yesterday at lunch & got to tell her it was my dad that had made the stained glass cross for the fire station. It was a thank you for saving most of the neighborhood during the big fire - including my folks' house :)

Anyway - I'm really looking forward to the Games. Apolo Ono, Shaun White and a whole new batch of athletes to follow! Yay!

If you're not a huge fan, don't worry - I'll keep you posted on my blog :)

California check in..

Sounds like the weather is being pretty intense down there.

Let me know how you're doing, since I only use internet for news & won't necessarily see anything other than twisters hitting the coast (wth?).

Thanks much!

You know it's a bad day when....

chocolate & alcohol sounds like a good idea for dinner.

I have a nice, long rant in my head, but you won't read it here because it's confidential.

And no, I won't be having chocolate & alcohol for dinner. Are you kidding? I weigh in tomorrow! (and thus you see how my TOPS club saves me!)

Ah Well

I interviewed for a different position in my company yesterday.

Today I was told I was the "2nd choice" from the top. I didn't get it.

It would have been a cool job tho. Mostly secretarial, but also some event organizing about three times a year. There's a grant for teachers to be able to teach better about American History. So this job would have been setting up three conferences a year, in different parts of the state, and doing all the planning and budgeting associated with that.

While I've done elements of that kind of job before, most of it is as a volunteer in TOPS or Girl Scouts. I didn't have a lot of knowledge of the Visions software (even though I'm sure I could have learned it pretty quickly).

Anyway - I was told I'd interviewed very well, and it would have been me had there not been this other person.

In truth, I think it would be harder to replace me in my current job than hire someone for the one I'd applied to do. So, who knows. I did give it a shot, at least :)

Visit with the Tersignis

Once again, Nancy & Kraig opened their ranch to us to visit - not only them, but our friends from California.
We hadn't seen them in, gosh - I don't know how long! Their daughter, Kat, was excited about the horses.

Little Joshua, Karrie's soon-to-be middle child, has no fear. He also recently buzzed his hair with his dad's shears :)

Kat was a little nervous at first, but Nancy soon got her comfortable & I think she really enjoyed the ride :)

Connor & Joshie both got their own turns, and then took a turn together. They got along great :)
I also took a turn on ol' Snowball. But no one snapped a pic of me (I had the camera in my pocket).

It was really nice seeing Steve & Ellen again. Hopefully they can join in when the gang gets together again? :)

Thanks again Kraig & Nancy! We love you!

New Link

I recently joined a women's bible study group that meets once a month. So far we've met twice, and it's going okay... I'm not sure if I fit with the group yet. I'll give it a while tho, don't worry :)

Lee likes to follow a few priests online, and somewhere in there he discovered this guy, who's blog I've linked on the right. He's going through the New Testament in a year - with almost daily posts (not on weekends).

I've obviously heard the New Testament all through my life (every four years through mass on Sunday), but I don't think I've completed the entire thing, one passage right after the other. I will be following along, and perhaps posting a comment now & then.

If you are so inclined, add it to your favorites :)

Oh - he's also posting art from the masters with every post :)

Visit with Froggy

Here's Joe with his wife, Mary & their little girl, Eliana.

Little girls seem to like Connor quite a bit :) Because we were all new to her, it took Eliana a little while to get used to us. She was laughing with Connor first :)

Lee played peek-a-boo with her :)

Mary already asked if Diana would be up for babysitting. She's got lots of experience!

After this we dropped Diana off at school. She's taking tap dancing this term for PE. I always liked tap - better than ballet, anyway!

Happy New Year 2010!

Whoo hoo! Lee & I actually went out for a bit, so I got to wear my new cool sequined hat & the new sweater I'd gotten from Diana's quad-mate, Ning :) I was wearing it over my new jeans... I didn't have leggings...

I also wore a pendant my dad made, because Carolyn sent me a chain that works very nicely with it :)

We dropped Diana off at her friend's house for their New Year celebration. Diana was spending the night, so she was good from that point.

Lee & I went to an Open House New Year Party thrown by a co-worker. Her house is about as old as ours, and she's taken up the carpeting & revealed the hard wood floor beneath. That's something I'd like to do soon :)

We didn't stay all that long - it was very crowded. I think she got more folks than she expected :) That's good & all, but we barely knew anyone, so we headed out early. We came home & got Connor to bed, and let Trevor play WoW until he came out to ring in the New Year with us in the living room.

A Happy & Prosperous New Year to us all!