Darned math...

I had really hoped that all my tax number crunching that I was forced to do last year when I discovered that I had such a huge liability for withdrawing retirement funds to pay off the house so that I could better afford my medications would have been more successful.  I have almost the identical amount left in my tax savings account (remember I was greedy and paid quarterly estimates to earn interest), but that means I have nothing for the shortfall in Indiana.  The interesting bit (pun intended) is that, had I not made quarterly payments, I would be a tad short on the Federal.  By that I mean the interest I earned is almost exactly the overage of my original withdrawal for the 2013 and the 2014 tax liabilities.  In fact, by parking all the money I was moving around, by paying each bill at the last possible minute, and by charging everything possible to as to further delay payments (though never carrying a balance from month-to-month), my combined interest earned in 2014 is $258.98.  Sadly, that is taxed income and so really it is folded into the outstanding liability.

Nevertheless, compound interest is such a lovely thing.
Especially the higher rates you get with online banks.
It's like free money!

My fatal miscalculation is failing to understand that I would no longer be able to file an itemized return since I would not have a ginormous chuck of mortgage interest.  The tiniest bit for the first week in January was laughable.  The retirement withdrawal also skews everything, making it look like I was flush with funds instead of handing over every penny to the mortgage company and to the IRS.  Gosh, I had forgotten what an advantage it is to be able to send in an itemized return.  And I did not take into account the egregious perfidy Obamacare committed upon folk with medical expenses, raising the deduction threshold from 7.5% to 10% of your income.  I missed it by mere dollars.

Next year, all this tax worry will end.  But until the Indiana State Form is available (it is still not ready), I will not know just exactly how short I will be.  I am a very, very, very impatient tax filer.  You know, the kind of person who has all their information by the time of their last paycheck stub and has the program filled out as close as possible before the W-2 arrives.

At the moment, I want milk in the most dire of ways, since I have but 3/4 of a gallon left.  I am in milk-rationing mode.  This is especially true since I worry that on Tuesday, when my budget cycle renews, there will be more snow that I care to traverse on the roads and I would need to make my meager supply last even longer.  However, I had my lowest ever grocery bill this month and have beaten the most serve spending goal for the combined budget line item that is my credit card bill by a whopping (to me) $37.  I think of that $37 as help make up the state tax shortfall.  State and county actually.  I am a bit bitter about those county taxes, so I tend to ignore them.

If I knew the shortfall, I could start pouring through the entries in the checking register for 2015 and see where I could shave more pennies, to make up the shortfall by year's end.

In happier news, Firewood Man came by last evening and replaced my dead-as-a-doornail car battery and the brake light that was out.  He made plans for another wood load in a week or so and sat down with me to calculate the cost for him to do the mulching.  Happily, it will be much cheaper than getting the bags from Lowe's.  I hit him upside the head with a pillow and asked why he didn't mulch this year.  He said he tried to explain the savings I would have, but that I didn't understand.  This year, he better understands about my not understanding and so used different words.  Thus, the budget line for mulch will be less ... more to add to the state tax shortfall.

While he was here, I showed Tim how I taught Amos a new word, a new game really.  Amos blogged about it.  Basically, I had the most brilliant idea of teaching Amos how to play Hide-And-Seek, creatively disguised as "Where's Momma?"  Playing hide and seek with Amos means he does all this racing around and I just lallygag about.  Lallygag and laugh until my sides hurt.  Even Tim laughed.  Then he twitted me about still not treating Amos like a dog.

I'm a flawed dog owner.
Sue me.

When I had the hood up on my Highlander, Tim tugged and pulled on my belts and hoses.  He thinks they still have good life in them.  I told my Highlander that I would be most grateful if it could put off that expense until I build up my car savings account more, say the second half of 2016.  It was good to be able to transfer the money from that account and write the check for Tim, but it was also a tad ... disappointing ... to see that the bill was a bit more than half what I'd saved.  Yes, that is churlish of me.  I should be grateful that the money was available.  A near pain-free unexpected car repair is almost miraculous, eh?

I was telling Tim that this is, essentially, only my third vehicle.  I had a fourth, but only for the tiniest while.  You see, shortly after I bought my first car, I got in the way of a man who had robbed a liquor store.  I was going through the GREEN light when he was intent on making his escape by running a red light.  I loved that car, a Toyota Corolla in their old champagne color that was this opalescent creamy bronze that glowed in the sunlight.  I have bought, insured, and maintained all my vehicles all by myself.

What I term as my first vehicle was an ugly white Corolla, that I had to get as quickly as possible since I was working after school and on weekends to pay for my first car.  The second was a grievous disappointment because Toyota discontinued the black emerald GREEN color the year I was able to afford my first new car.  I never really bonded with either of those Corollas.  My Highlander?  Well, it is the most beautiful of GREEN, again the opalescent that Toyota sometimes uses instead of a flat color.

Being always a tad parsimonious, I've driven my three vehicles 11 years, 10 years, and 11 years respectively.  In all that time, I believe, the only real repair I had to make was an ignition switch.  All my other vehicle expenses have been regular maintenance and the things that age (oil, filters, batteries, tires, and brakes—only twice have I replaced the latter).  Telling Tim that made me realize how blessed I have been with such low cost of vehicle ownership.

Shame on me for grousing over the check I forked over.
Silly Myrtle.

I will say that a young boy who was in my car last year scoffed at the fact that I do not have heated seats.  Yes, well, I am still oh so thankful for automatic windows.  My third vehicle was the first one I splurged on such luxury!  My one true covetous vehicle luxury I never got was one of those compasses that told you what direction you were driving.  Even before Dysautonomia, I was severely directionally challenged.

Realizing that I should have anticipated the need for a battery, I am worried there is another no-brainer vehicle maintenance expense that I am missing.  After all, the key to successful budgeting is understanding the funds you will need.

Such gaping holes there are in that once fine mind of mine.  SIGH.

Whilst I fear I may be jinxing it, I will say that I am distinctly better, though still germy.  I am coughing only at night (no longer after talking or doing other things too long).  My throat is itchy, not sore.  My ears are infinitesimally better, though the right remains worse than the left and they still seem as if I am listening to the world through cotton.  Having a hair less pain and itching in them is most welcome.  I am sniffing and dripping less.  I also have been working on chewing only on the left side of my mouth so that where my jaw hurts on the right might get better. Today, awaking, I thought that I could definitely pronounce that I have turned the proverbial corner.

About my ears, my first thought upon waking today was that someone reading this prayed for my ails after reading my wails about them.  That God had heard how very weary I was of them on top of everything else and gave me a measure of relief.

I still wonder, is it possible to have a cold in your ears? I mean, clearly I did not have an ear infection and I am almost certainly sure that I did not have a sinus infection.  You know those old cartoons where a character would run a bandana in one ear and out the other? I sort of wish that were truly possible and I could stick the sprayer in the sink on one side to flush out whatever germs are hanging out in there.

A final note: Would you not agree that it is both irresponsible and inconsiderate to both fail to give advanced notice and then to conduct non-emergency repairs to power poles on a day that it is a mere 28 degrees outside, leaving a large swath of a neighborhood with many elderly residents without heat (no power) for several hours?

Shame on Indiana Michigan Power.

Amos did his best to keep me warm in my ice-box of a house, but he is a rather little thing that simply cannot generate enough body heat to share.  I sure do adore my sheepgoatcatRatBastard fluff ball of a puppy dog.

He does need a bath.
Any takers?