Earlier the Better

We are doing the Happy Snoopy Dance here, nose up, feet moving.

This year, i got all the tax stuff to Mr. Tom, our family friend and CPA, in record time.  He then sat on it for a month (grumble, grumble), but we have it all back now, and the news is good.  Nothing owed, except a small amount to the state by #1 Son.

So we will be faxing our signature pages to Mr. Tom's office, and all will be filed electronically.  #1 Son's stuff, of course, will be mailed to him and he will fax it in himself, as well as send in his payment in May.  (Yes, the state of Louisiana gives us an extra month to fret and fume over turning in our taxes.)

The only thing i would have done differently if i could have would have been to have e-filed even earlier.  When you owe money, which we haven't for years thanks to our little tax deductions...uh, that is, children...um, it's not that we don't pay taxes, it's just that with the deductions we end up, by the end of the year, having paid a bit more than we actually owe.  Well, anyway,. if you owe more you don't send it in until the moment it is due.  When you are getting money back, you want to file as early as you possibly can.

Now, we get the best of both.  File as early as possible online, then mail the money in, if any is due, on the due date.

Meanwhile, Happy Snoopy Dance, the chore is over for another year, and we can start planning what to do with the money we get back.  Jalopy, my van, is yelling for a front end alignment, and there's that pesky leaky toilet -- well, we will see.  It won't be instantly available, we have time to plan, and plan we will.


Today is:

Check for Change in Every Coin Return You Pass Day -- because someone has a sense of humor and put it on the internet

Culture and Traditions Day -- Micronesia

Easter Beach Run -- Daytona Beach, FL, US (annual run on "the world's most famous beach)

Doctors Day -- US (begun by Eudora Almond in 1933 because she thought her husband, Dr. Charles B. Almond deserved recognition for his hard work)

Fairies of the First Wand Reunion Dinner -- Fairy Calendar

Feast of Janus and Concordia -- Ancient Roman Calendar

Festival of Bast -- Ancient Egyptian Calendar (cat goddess; date approximate)

Festival of Reality Fabrication  -- internet holiday to celebrate your imagination

Festival of Salus -- Ancient Roman Calendar (god of health)

Guan Shi Yin Pu Sa -- Buddhism (birthday of Guan Yin, the goddess of mercy)

Grass Is Always Browner On The Other Side Of The Fence Day -- remember how good you have it; sponsored by Wellcat Holidays

Holy Saturday -- Christian (a/k/a Black Saturday, Holy Saturday, Easter Saturday, or Easter Eve)

I am in Control Day -- remember Alexander Haig's words on this date in 1981? well today, if you find the phones won't stop ringing, the kids got into the glue again, the coffee maker is on the fritz, and somebody dyed the poodle purple, stand up and declare that you are in control!

Land Day Commemoration -- West Bank/Palestinian remembrance

Limited Liability Day -- because no one can be responsible for everything

Pencil Day -- the pencil with an eraser top was patented this day in 1858 by Hyman Lipman

Runic Half-Month Ewhas (Horse) begins

Spiritual Baptist/Shouter Liberation Day -- Trinidad and Tobago

St. Leonard Murialdo's Day (Patron of apprentices)

Take a Walk in the Park Day -- begun by someone who wanted to get out of the office

Turkey Neck Soup Day

Welcome Home Vietnam Veterans Day whvvd.org


Birthdays Today:

Scott Moffatt, 1983
Norah Jones, 1979
Matt Doran, 1976
Mark Consuelos, 1971
Celine Dion, 1968
Ian Ziering, 1964
M.C. Hammer, 1962
Paul Reiser, 1957
Robbie Cotrane, 1950
Eric Clapton, 1945
Astrud Gilberto, 1940
Warren Beatty, 1937
John Astin, 1930
Rolf Harris, 1930
Peter Marshall, 1930
Frankie Laine, 1913
Anna Sewell, 1820
Vincent Van Gogh, 1853


Today in History:

The first recorded perihelion passage of Halley's Comet, BC240
Ketsugan, Zen teacher, performs exorcisms to free aizoji temple, 1422
Henry VIII divorces Catherine of Aragon, 1533
British and coalition forces march into Paris after the defeat of Napoleon, 1814
Dr. Crawford Long of Georgia, US, performs the first operation with anesthesia (ether), 1842
A pencil with attached eraser is patented by Hyman L Lipman of Philadelphia, 1858
Alaska is purchased from Russia by US Secretary of State William Seward, for $7,200,000 (about 2 cents per acre), 1867
Amelia Earhart becomes the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic, 1932
Einstein announces his revised unified field theory, 1953
The Yonge Street Line, the first subway in Canada, opens in Toronto, 1954
President Ronald Reagan is shot in the chest outside a Washington, D.C., hotel by John Hinckley, Jr., 1981
The oldest copy of Codex Holmiensis, dating from 1280, is returned to Denmark from Sweden after 300 years, and 45,000 Inca artifacts are returned to Peru's Machu Picchu after spending 100 years at Yale University, 2011