February 5, 2008

Is THAT your baby?

On Friday, we hung out with my friend R and her daughter K, who will be 3 in June. For much of the visit, K would jab a finger in the direction of Anjali and ask "Is THAT your baby?" I was tempted to reply "What baby? I don't see no baby!", but I suspected that R would not appreciate me messing with her kid's head, so I resisted.

The weekend was good - I got quite a few things done and even began our taxes. The situation is interesting - Little Income with Many Deductions equals Big Refund. Who knew? Furthermore, if there was ever a year to have a baby, 2007 was THE year. Normally, I would be dismayed with such a Big Refund, but since last year was an odd year, I could not have planned for it. I really prefer to pay or receive $500. I loathe Big Refunds - lending the government our money interest-free is not my thing at all. It blows my mind when folks purposely set up their W4 to ensure a Big Refund. Hello! Pay yourself that money and earn some interest!!

The Super Bowl was good, but mostly in that Average Jane and Surrender Dorothy descended upon my house like a pack of rabid locusts. The game was meh and the commercials were boring. But there was wine and food, which always seems to make a situation brighter, no? Jane brought her pomegranate salsa and Oh.My.Lord. It was so good - it is indescribable. Was it the mandarin oranges? The fresh cilantro? The pomegranate seeds? The sprinkling of crack cocaine dust? Get thyself directly over to her site and copy the recipe. You need it. Trust me on this.

The other day reminded me of something I have been meaning to post. It is my Organization Tip #437829 and it is one by which I absolutely swear:



I used to have a complicated system for filing bills and receipts. Now? After bills are paid, I staple them all together - every few months, I shred the earlier months. No biggie. Receipts? A little more stressful because I am a complete bitch when it comes to dissatisfaction with products. If it breaks or does not deliver as promised, I want my money back. My solution for keeping receipts is simple and it works quite well - I have been doing this for nearly 4 years now. About once a week or so, I empty my wallet of receipts and simply put them in the letter holder thingie you see above. This keeps them in a general chronological order. Every so often, I pull out the oldest receipts and shred them. It takes less than 5 minutes. To find a receipt generally takes less than 5 minutes. Easy to maintain and I feel good knowing that if I ever need a receipt it is there.

3 comments:

Average Jane said...

I'm glad you liked the salsa. I've probably make it five or six times since pomegranates came into season (and their season is *this* close to being over).

Dooneybug said...

I agree with you on the taxes...why should the government get an interest free loan from me? My SIL makes it so they get a big refund every year because she doesn't feel disciplined enough to use her money wisely during the year. Uh, ok. However, this year we are getting a big 'ol check back. Not quite sure how that happened but I'm already envisioning my shiny new vacuum. :) I like your receipt tip. I have so many of them since we use our credit card to earn points (and then pay it off every month) and I have to keep track of those darn receipts.

Mamma Sarah said...

That salsa sounds oh so yummy and something I will try out. Thanks. :-)

My hubby manages the recipts (dumps them into a desk drawer) which is fine with me. He goes through them every so often, but who knows how often that actually is....