The Incredible Ridiculousness of it

~ JodiLea ~ Leave a comment

Today, I was shopping online for a watch – a pretty and girly one that would fit my dainty wrist. The band of my current watch did not clasp right, and it pinched me a lot. There was a big selection, but none of them appealed to me. I double-checked that I was looking in the women’s section.

I found an oversized black and gold watch with several dials and gauges. Because the clock’s hands were gold and blended with the gold face, it was difficult to see what time it was. Why would a person, a woman especially, purchase such a watch? I suppose some would buy it just because of the brand name Rolex. A crown was embossed, centered over the word ‘Rolex.’

WhoopDeeDoo. I am SO NOT impressed. The cost of this ugly, monstrous watch? This is where I lost reality. The thing cost MORE than my fully loaded, brand new Subaru.

No one needs (or deserves) such a watch. Your cell phone tells you the time whenever you pick it up. It’s an ego thing, I guess. I have an ego like everyone else on the planet, but mine seems to be more practical in nature. It would never allow me to spend that kind of money on an ugly watch.

For this, I am truly grateful.

Tax Day

~ JodiLea ~ Leave a comment

April 15th.
Whenever friends or family inquire about our tax refund, we give them a dead-pan look and ask, “What’s that?” Asking that always stops them in their tracks. Normally, we are jokers; however, the lack of facial expressions makes it clear we are seriously asking the question.
We honestly do not remember when we last got a refund. When we retired, our income was considerably less, so we figured we might get refunds now. Our non-refundable situation got worse instead of better. It was always something. Something that caused us to owe more and more to the IRS. One year, they played with the tax brackets, and the pressure was less, but we still owed a few thousand bucks. Our pensions paid us after the government got theirs. Automatic distributions had taxes grabbed from them before we got the check. We changed our W-2 information so they would take a bigger % of taxes out of our pay and the few investments I inherited. But alas, at the end of the year, we were looking at paying a couple thousand again.

Last year, one of my hubby’s required distribution checks did not have taxes removed. Sigh. This means we send more (than we already paid for) to the Feds and the State.

I wish that y’all get oodles of $$ refunded to you.