Oh, right, it`s in the media closet attached to the sound system to test the installation. Dur.

Spent the last 3 hours doing my taxes. They are now efiled. I saved myself some money doing it this way, and comparing to last year's, pretty certain I didn't muck it up at all. Itemizing, aieeeee! But pretty much just from owning a home and a couple charity things.

My head hurts.

And I'm annoyed at TBI dude who stopped with his husky as I was trying to shepherd Loki inside (I saw them coming, and I don't trust his judgement, so we booked it back to the house. ) Of course he let the the dog see Loki as I was unlocking the door and it started straining and Loki freaked (he was between the screen door and the door - I was prepared to shut him in there in case just this happened and that's exactly what I had to do. ) Dude then tries to chat and I'm all GO AWAY I NEED TO GET THE CAT INSIDE HE'S FREAKED OUT AND DON'T YOU EVER DO THAT AGAIN. He goes off muttering to himself, all injured. I swear, I know he's got a TBI, I know you have to really enforce boundaries with him, but jesus.

Loki calmed right down and we were able to go back out later. If I see him walking his dog when I'm out, stuffing Loki into my shirt and bolting into the nearest house, even if it isn't mine.

I had an epic fail this morning. I was supposed to take the twins and go to the Senior Breakfast at Hard Rock Cafe (paying $11 for parking to boot). And I just couldn't face it. Instead, with my friend who was in town and crashing our place for the night, we went and had a breakfast at a small cafe. Mine was crunchy french toast with strawberries and nutella.

NOM NOM NOM.

Sara, I've had neighbors come over with their dogs to chat while the cats were out, and they're always like, "Oh, he doesn't bother cats." But the cats are bothered by HIM, dumbass.

I think that's a secret win.

Oh, hey, my buckling down saved me $20 on turbotax. If I'd waited another week (Mar 25) fed filing would have cost $49.95. Just in case anyone else is procrastinating!

Yesterday the DH was walking our dogs and a kid came over walking a pit mix and the dog lunged at our big poodle so hard he snapped his leash. The DH had to break them up, and alsmot got bit. Turns out the poor kid was just walking the dog for his neighbor who was sick and was petrified. Very scary.

Sue, this guy has very iffy judgement. He's well known in the neighborhood (lives a block over) because he'll talk you to death. And tell you all about his problems because of the TBI. And his truck. And medical visits. And work he needs done on the house (hoping you'll volunteer.) I've noticed that I'm better than most of dealing with him, but this was a hell no situation, so I basically yelled at him. Normally, I don't mind talking to him, but ...yeah.

It fascinates me how people enforce boundaries. I got him to move on with a minimum of fuss the first time I met him, and that seems to have stuck. "Your dog needs to finish his walk, and I need to focus on the leaves, so I can't talk anymore. Bye! Have a nice walk!" and then ignoring him. So many others got way too sucked in and practically flee when they see him coming because they have a hard time just cutting him off. Maybe I'm just meaner...

"Your dog needs to finish his walk, and I need to focus on the leaves, so I can't talk anymore. Bye! Have a nice walk!"

I do this with the similar character in my neighborhood. He really bothers pretty much everyone, but I don't have as bad a time with him as most. I do have to confess that I have, at times, done my best to avoid him, but mostly I just keep good boundaries.

The only time I truly lost it on him was when he banged on my door at 7:30 on a Saturday morning to give me 'news' he was excited about. The banging sounded like someone was alerting my that the house was on fire, no exaggeration. I felt terrible saying 'don't ever come to my door...ever.' but that seemed to work.

I wonder if every neighborhood has one.

Kat, I'm not computing the epic fail in that scenario. I mean, there's Nutella. My today was supposed to have Nutella.

I wonder if every neighborhood has one.

Reasons like this I hide from my neighbourhood. Most of the people I recognise have gone from my building. I certainly don't know anyone at all outside my building. Hidey hide hide.

I hope my yelling tonight means we never have a repeat.

So, I just did the math, and the tax returns totally offset what I was paying in mortgage vs rent, even taking in what my renting tax return would be. That's eye-opening. And makes me feel better about my suckass financials this year. I actually saved a little. Not like what I was, with home improvement projects eating most of it, but still. I was being hard on myself lately even though I'd given myself permission for a lean 5 years (and in the red 2.) But I'm doing lean at 2. That's good.