You know those days where an hour or two into them, you firmly believe you should kick off your shoes, go to bed, pull the covers over your head, and start over tomorrow?

Yeah, it was one of those. Too many things going wrong or weird, and I was running around so much I couldn’t get my first cup of coffee for six hours!

Okay, if I’d timed things better, I could’ve found time to made do with the crappy stuff… but that probably would’ve only made my morning worse.

The big must-do was getting my taxes done, and I learned a few things if you haven’t gotten them done yet. Like if you’ve made ANY charitable contributions, I hope like hell you have the letters indicating the amounts. Usually you gotta donate a lot to have deductions that make it worth it, but because 2020 was such a catastrophuck and lots of people were donating to help others, they took away the minimum amount to make it worth it (for the most part). I mean, I had a few receipts totaling about $200 and it worked out, deducted it.

What kills me is I missed a big one. Because I was pissed off at Dump’s first stimulus and grandstanding over it, I donated the money to the local food bank (felt too much like blood money). Stupid on my part, considering how things have gone now? Probably, but I was pissed off and stubborn and watching the long lines of people out of work, trying to quarantine, and needing money, and me in a relatively comfortable position (definitely not scraping for food or utility bill money), I said “fuck it” and donated it.

I have to admit that since it was actually in my dad’s name (but I had power of attorney because of his illnesses, which is how it got to my account), and he was an avid Dump supporter at the end of his life, my donating “his” stimulus was a bit of an “up yours.” He thought donating to charities was stupid and I needed to save every cent. I was rather angry at some memories that were brought up about dad by his very Dump-supporting friends around the time that amount popped up in my bank account. All the political fights we got into those last years separated us and were so fresh they tainted good memories I had of him. So, I got to thinking how pissed off the man would be if he were alive and knew I donated it all. It helped me feel a little better, dunno why. It’s messed up, I admit.

No judgments here if you kept your stimulus. No judgment from me. The universe knows everybody needs financial help. I just couldn’t stand the bad reminder, I suppose.

Trouble is, I couldn’t find the documentation saying how much I’d donated. So that was a big chunk I could’ve deducted right there… which would make my final bill a LOT more tolerable.

So, if you made any charitable contributions with documentation in 2020, save ’em for the love of the universe and use ’em!

So, that soured my mood a bit. The other was the first stimulus and how it’s treated in taxes. The one meant for me came in the mail later, but I never cashed it because that would’ve been double dipping. There was a procedure for sending it back, voided, but somehow I never got around to it because I kept getting the run-around on how to send it back. They weren’t taking calls and apparently I was hitting the wrong website info. I think I remember where to look and will do it again, but because the IRS would consider me still receiving the money, even if I didn’t cash it, they count it as received and that’s added income (I think that’s how it was explained).

So, that jumped my bill up a little there, too. Of course, maybe the IRS will correct that once I manage to give ’em the check back, or call and check what to do. It would be void by now, anyway, so I couldn’t cash it to compensate. Just a bunch of mixups and stupidities that happened, and a couple occasions where I tried the site but it was busy or kicked me off (guess it didn’t like my VPN those days or something). It definitely didn’t help that I found it under the couch, probably after the dogs knocked my paperwork stack over one day and because it was flat and in a dark corner, I didn’t see it for a few months and forgot about it.

The really dumb things I’m capable of, I guess. The past few months are catching up to me and really showing how mentally burned out and just not-with-the-program I’ve been. And now my bank account gets to feel the pinch.

So, after a quick trip to the store (no way in hell was I gonna go this weekend, even if I was crazy desperate… or bored), I got home, checked on some folks who were waiting by a beat-up car with a shredded tire to see if they needed help or a phone to make a call, and let the dogs out to pee.

A lot of people turn into my street to check on flat tires or vehicles… guess it’s just the most obvious pull-over spot from the main road. Anyway–

It was warming up quick and the inside–still on heater mode, though knocked down to 63–was getting hot, too. So I shut off the heat and opened up all the windows and had some fans going to circulate. I swear, the place smells a LOT better now, because I’m used to airing it out a lot more often.

Once I did that, and changed to go back outside and fill my wheelbarrow and garden beds with soil, the day got a bit better. It improved when I got a call from the solar company asking what I was thinking. So, in between wrangling wayward dogs, shoveling dirt, and jostling paperwork, I signed up to do solar with a battery.

It felt stupid that I’d be making a financial decision like this after the hellish, taxing morning I had (pun totally intended)–

–but when I look at the long-term strategy to be more self-sufficient, environmentally friendly, and just have some overall peace of mind after the debacle proving deregulation’s a bitch in this state… it wasn’t hard to just sign and start the process to get inspections and the like going. And it means it can get started and ready to rock and roll before the summer heat hits. I cringe at the idea of folks on top of my roof, baking while putting those panels up, even if it’s their job.

Despite the craziness and my anger and frustration with a lot of what went on today… I feel oddly satisfied at how things worked out. Got a lot of outdoor exercise (some from shoveling and hauling, most from chasing my dog and bringing her back home… she discovered the neighbor’s chiweenie pups and keeps wanting to go over there to boss them around), time to be sociable, and a few major things knocked off my list.

I just hope the weather holds out in the morning. I have a LOT of seeds that are sprouting and ready to be planted in their proper homes. My peas have shot up over an inch since yesterday and it’s definitely almost time to get ’em out before they fall over.

The weeds will be a great way to get rid of more of my aggression. Considering how the day went, the morning has to be sunshine and rainbows in my coffee in comparison.