Category: life

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Dedicating the Weekend to Taxes and Paperwork

April weekends are lovely and so tempting to get outside and enjoy the nice weather! Alas, I am stuck in in the house all weekend so I can finish up my taxes and get all the paperwork done. I hate filing and paperwork – I would MUCH rather be outside in the sunshine with my dogs or my family.

Although we get an extra two days this year to beat the filing deadline, I don’t like to wait until the very last minute. But I sure did push this out to the last couple of days before they are due. We have until midnight on Tuesday night this year. I hope to get everything done and dropped off Sunday night.

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He’s Home!

Really great news this morning – my cousin made it home safely from Afghanistan! His wife had a custom sign made up and put in their front yard as soon as she heard he was heading home. It took over a week for him to get here, but he’s finally home!

finally home

I don’t think he wanted her to take his picture, but I’m glad she made him do it so she could post it on Facebook. He looks great!

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On His Way Home – For Real This Time

The Army told my cousin in Afghanistan to pack his gear and report to the air field in 4 hours. Of course, he was already mostly packed – he thought he was leaving for home several days ago. Then they told him he can’t leave that quickly. Then they told him the day AFTER he was supposed to leave that he can leave. The Army works in mysterious ways.

So, he and 8 other men were put on an airplane and delivered to a staging area away from the war zone. This place has real restaurants with real food and ice cold beers. He and a couple of his friends spent the first night there eating and drinking beer for the first time in many months. He posted a photo on Facebook so we knew he was really out of there.

outta there

I’m so glad that they made it out of there safely and can’t wait for them to be back on American soil.

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Wait a Little Longer

My cousin in Afghanistan was told this morning that he has to wait a little longer to leave the war zone and head home. No explanation was given and no timetable provided. He is very depressed today.

I can understand not telling the men all the details for safety reasons, but I don’t think it is fair to promise them a day that they are leaving and then pull the rug out from under them. I guess the Army does not really care about morale and how the guys feel. I think they could have handled this a little differently, but why should they care? Who tells the Army they are doing things wrong?

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Come Home Safely, Cuz

My cousin has been in Afghanistan for two years and he is finally about to come home. He has been posting on Facebook that he is counting down the days. I love Facebook for things like this – keeping in touch with loved ones – even when they are halfway across the world you can have instant communication with them.

He posted this morning:

“Packing some more stuff and shipping it out…six days and a wake-up.”

I’m so excited but also worried. I hope they remain vigilante and don’t let their guard down with thoughts of going home more important than paying attention to their surroundings.

Love you, Cuz – come home safely – 6 days and counting!

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Food Lion Made Me Happy Today!

Are you picky about certain brands of food? Like, I prefer Wonder Bread if I am going to make a sandwich. I’m sure the other brands of bread make a good sandwich, but I swear I can tell the difference between the pillow soft Wonder Bread and the other breads if you put a blindfold on me and had me do a taste test. I know I could pick out the sandwich made with Wonder Bread.

Well, I am picky about my peanut butter, too. I like a brand of peanut butter that is very hard to find at the local grocery stores. In fact, the only place I’ve been able to find it on the grocery shelves is at the Publix grocery stores. So when I go to Publix, I stock up on the Reese’s peanut butter jars. Even though they cost about $4 a jar now, I will buy three or four jars at once time, so I don’t have to go all the way back to Publix just for peanut butter in a couple of weeks.

Well, guess what I found on the shelves of my favorite Food Lion store today? That’s right! The Food Lion is stocking the Reese’s brand of peanut butter now! I did a happy dance all the way down the aisle after I found it there! Thank you, Food Lion!

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Beware the Ides

Never took Latin in school but I’m pretty sure that the Ides of March is March 15, that’s today. I know the Ides of March was a bummer for Caesar – his friends turned on him and killed him. I have been betrayed by people who I thought were friends, too. I think of that horrible moment that Caesar actually realized that all his friends had betrayed his trust.

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Oldies But Goodies

Listening to Spotify today I was in the mood for some oldies from the 1960’2 and 1970’s. There were some really great songs back in those days. Even though they were before I was born, my parents would listen to those old songs on the AM radio when we went on our Sunday drives. That was what we did for fun when I was just a kid – take the car and just head out for a long drive. If we were lucky we stopped someplace nice for a picnic or even some fast food at a new McDonald’s or something.

So for some nice memories and good times music, I’m listening to old Beach Boys songs today.

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Rude People

Have you ever been in a situation where you have to deal with rude people? I seem to have to deal with rude people almost every time I go out of my house lately. They are rude shoppers at the grocery store, like those who abuse the quick check out lane. You are only have to supposed to have a certain number of items in your cart but there always seem to be one person in the crowd who thinks their “just 5 or 6” extra items should still give them a free pass in the quick checkout lane.

I don’t know about you but I am going to start calling out these people. I am going to loudly suggest they learn to count and learn to find the right check out lanes in the future. I might even make a fake cell phone call and loudly describe the situation. Maybe make up a story about how I would have been right home to take care of the sick baby or to pick up someone who is going to be late now because of some inconsiderate person abusing the quick check out lane.

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Start of NASCAR Season

It seems that everyone special to me is excited about NASCAR season starting today. The first race of the year is in Daytona tomorrow and there are viewing parties at all the sports bars Sunday.

I guess I will go and pretend to be interested. But frankly, watching a handful of cars run around in circles for a couple of hours, waiting for a wreck, is both morbid and boring.