A taxing month

I have prepared twice as many tax returns in the past six weeks than I had by this time last year. Everyone was desperate for their refunds and came in early.

The 500 count box of Kleenex on my desk has been used and replaced once this month. There were the usual clients with colds, but most of the tissues were used by people discussing job losses, debilitating health problems, and deaths of loved ones. I admit to using some myself during these heart-wrenching discussions.

I've answered countless phone calls from people wondering when they would get their 2009 stimulus check and disappointed them.

Because I'm too busy to write original thoughts

Here’s a meme that’s been going around. It’s called the bucket list. You have to review all 100 items and put in bold the ones you’ve already achieved in life. So, here — with my annotations — is my bucket list:

I HAVE…
1. Started my own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band
4. Visited Hawaii .
5.Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than I can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland/world (-land once, -world 4 times)
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sung a solo
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris.
13.Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Taught myself an art from scratch.
15.Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown my own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitchhiked
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset (many times each month)
31. Hit a home run (You have to be able to hit a ball to do that)
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of my ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught myself a new language (Just enough to order & get directions)
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied (I don't need much to be happy)
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had my portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling (I think you must be able to swim to do this)
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie (But I've been TO a movie many times)
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business (several)
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen (I've served free meals, but not in soup kitchens)
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi concentration camp
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy (every doll since I was 5)
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job (laid-off but never fired)
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had my picture in the newspaper
85. Read the entire Bible (I was bored as a teenager)
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating (just fish; no mammals yet)
88. Had chickenpox (and measles, mumps, whooping cough)
89. Saved someone’s life
90. Sat on a jury (grand jury - an 18 month sentence for the jurors)
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee
100. Ridden an elephant

Thanks to Rhea for the inspiration.

She was right.

Zsa Zsa Gabor once said that you can either be thin or look young. Now apparently science is proving that.

Beautiful music

Central Illinois native Alison Krauss keeps reaping those awards, this time with Robert Plant. I remember her fantastic fiddle playing when she was a young girl playing local gigs. A very talented musician and singer, indeed!

Snow mowing update

Here's video of the previously mentioned event, just in case you didn't believe it:

Not so creative genius

The other day, after several inches of snow, a new resident of our little community (formerly of a warm western state) was seen using his push lawn mower as a snow blower. It successfully blew some of the snow onto the lawn mower and the mowee while still leaving several inches on the sidewalk and the rest of us rolling in it laughing. Apparently there are others who are also not so smart:

Instant Replay - Valentine Story (from 2007 post)

When I was 40ish, I had been divorced for a year and thought it time to enjoy some male company in the little spare time I had. I wasn't lonely, desperate, or horny. I was financially independent and self-employed and had two young children, good friends, and several packs of batteries. I was never self-conscious going to restaurants or movies alone. I even took ballroom dance lessons. It was a satisfying life, but sometimes you need to jump out of your comfort zone.

I wasn't interested in getting married again; I just wanted some non-business adult conversation. Besides, I needed something to restrain all the married men that kept hounding me for dates.Since this was the time before the on-line dating surge, a good friend,who was a professor at the local university, urged me to post a personal ad in the local newspaper. She had had excellent luck in finding interesting datable men from personal ads, and she emphasized the confidentiality of the process. Since I didn't want my children exposed to temporary male visitors, I thought this was a great way to screen potential suitors.

It was a short, simple ad, but the letters began pouring in. Apparently there were a lot of desperate men out there. A majority of the letters had the same return address - a State of Illinois correctional center. Was this part of an adult education English class? They wanted "to see me naked, walking along a beach" and do things to me I would never repeat here. It did offer some interesting reading but these really weren't the type of guys I was looking to spend some quality time with. It was too long a drive to the prison.

After tossing out those and other notes that were from obviously married men looking for a toy, the few remaining letters were heartfelt and sincere from a teacher, a lawyer, a businessman. But another letter really stood out.There was a return address on the envelope that was from my own small town and I immediately recognized the address. The man who wrote the letter was also taking dancing lessons. I saw him twice a week as I was leaving my class and he was going to his. We always spoke because we had gone to high school together and had been good friends. He had even asked me to prom our senior year, but I went with a football player instead. (I really didn't want to go to prom with a friend.) We both went to the same university and saw each other occasionally there. He was also now a customer at my business.

His letter was short and sweet. He said it was refreshing to see a woman speak of herself in the negative, instead of self-absorbed adjectives like "beautiful" and "intelligent." He had been divorced about a year and was interested in meeting me. He had no clue to whom he had written and this was too much of a coincidence for me to pass up.

Using business stationery, I replied that after over 20 years I owed him a past due prom date and signed the letter with a quote from my ad. I put it in a business envelope and placed it in his car at his office, hoping he would think it a bill.

Sure enough, that evening he called me and we laughed about the situation and decided to meet for dinner out of town (so the local gossip mongers wouldn't jump to conclusions), and we would catch up with each other's lives. Then we did it again, and again, and again. After weeks of covert meetings outside the community, we finally went public to friends and family. His mother had been trying to get us together in high school. She was ecstatic and so was everyone else. We were married in January the following year - 17 years ago.