zenkitty,

you might want to tweak your business idea. someone comes to me with comfort food and the right kind of demeanor, they might have to sit in my home for 4 hours and listen to ALL the problems.

Aims, I am sorry your mother-in-law is driving you crazy. FWIW, I often boggle at the comments she leaves on your posts.

Things I want to accomplish today:

1. Go to the farmers' market.

2. Sweep kitchen and bathroom, and sniffer the stairs, living room and dining room.

3. Actually read some fanfic and review it. (since taking a pledge to leave a comment on every fic I read, I have not read any because I didn't feel I had the energy.)

4. Nap.

5. Maybe try out the Italian restaurant around the block that has been there for a year.

Rassen frassen. Came home on Friday to find a letter from the government. Apparently we've been overpaid child tax benefit and childcare benefit to the tune of $9,000, and they'd like it back now please. (Actually $11,000, but they already took back $2,000 from our tax return.)

Next week I predict a call to see if they're amenable to setting up a (re)payment plan.

Ugh, billytea, WTF? That's a pretty serious mistake on the government's part.

Ugh, billytea, WTF? That's a pretty serious mistake on the government's part.

No, it's not really their fault. It was the financial year where I'd just gone back to work after getting laid off during the GFC. We estimated at year start how much we were likely to earn over the year, based on the days per week my work was saying they'd need me for; and our entitlements were assessed on that basis. In the event, my work hours got ramped up quickly and drastically, so our income was higher than anticipated. (I'm guessing we crossed some cut-off threshold.)

That's all fine, I don't mind having to pay it back. (I very much support government assistance being better targetted to those most in need.) But it's still a pretty hefty and unexpected bill to have to deal with.

Zen, If you decide to modify the business plan to le nubian's specifications, I'd like a job as the trainer for local counselors.

Kozmo was an on-line convenience store/delivery service founded by two Wall Street whiz kids in the early Zeros.

You could get pretty much anything delivered in an hour. I vividly remember being super-hormonal and unhappy (major breakup had just occurred) and ordering a delicious salmon dinner, a new heating pad and two Farscape dvds. It was bliss.

Sadly, the kids lacked a viable business plan, despite garnering 250 million in capital.

There is an absolutely fascinating documentary of their cautionary tale entitled e-Dreams. I highly recommend it.

Zen, If you decide to modify the business plan to le nubian's specifications, I'd like a job as the trainer for local counselors.

I could totally do this job. Additional services I could offer include cleaning up pet messes clients do not have the physical/emotional wherewithal to deal with (no judgment, only empathy) and I could bring Harvey along to snuggle with and purr for clients.

billytea, you are an excellent citizen. Having to pay back nine grand couldn't have happened to a better guy.

Okay, that's not precisely what I mean. But it's great that you're totally philosophically okay with it. It fucking bites that you have to do it. Paying back money that already got integrated (and therefore spent) is no mean task.

Finding out you owe a bunch of money to the government is kind of scary and discouraging. I do hope you are able to work something out, billy tea.