Slight Detour: Leapin' and Hopin'

We have an entire day of extra time this year.

I suppose we could dole out the extra hours out over the year, but since we have this Feb. 29 date only once every four years, it seems wise to make this day really count.

I didn't think about the extra time allotment until this morning, so the only item cemented into today's "to do" list, besides the usual morning and evening chores, is TAXES.

And, Bill is going to take care of that project this afternoon. When he drops our manilla envelopes off with Kathy, our assigned preparer, that duty will be pretty painless.

After last year's big tax pricetag, I've pretty much given up on my usual process involving my writing business.

In other years, I have keeping receipts in folders over the twelve months,then organized those receipts into separate expense categories and finally tallied up the totals for each.
Since I've all but retired from paid freelance writing, it's seems totally futile to list all iddy biddy details of my business, only to learn that it doesn't do much good anywho.

We still have to pay and pay a lot.

So, if anything, we'll save a pittance on the tax preparing bill itself because the preparer, won't have to worry about dealing with an extra page for Marianne's business.

Today, Bill will take those W2's and a few other items to the tax office, and if we're lucky, we'll have a few weeks to live in a blissful dream world before receiving this year's bad news.

Maybe I should find a psychologist to help me prepare for the day when the tax office calls to let us know how painful this year's bill is gonna be. I don't deal with that news with much grace.

The good news today, though, is that we may be losing money, thanks to that tax preparer appointment, but WE'VE GOT TIME.

And, isn't time more important than money?

With this extra day, which has already provided us one fewer day to worry about tax bills, I'll focus on using the time wisely. Plant more seeds. Clean more flower beds. Maybe go for a bike ride. Take more pictures. Groom horses. Play with dogs.

All sorts of possibilities, and the key to succeeding in using that time wisely might depend on the Advil bottle.

It's one more day for the knees to ache about halfway through the day's projects, so I'll probably go hit the bottle about noon, pop a pill, drink a cup of coffee, grab some chocolate, get revved up for the afternoon session and go at it.

Nice to have this extra time. Speaking of which, I grabbed an hour or so yesterday when Bill came home in between church and church. He did his dinner theater engagement last night solo because someone wanted to stay home and watch the Oscars.

So, while he was home for an hour or two to watch sleeping dogs lie, I drove out to Hope, taking one of my favorite roads with the 15 mph speed limit on the hillside leading into Hope proper.

After the turn off from HWY 200, it's like entering another world, especially in the winter and early spring when the sun beats against those heavily vegetated hillsides, warming things up and enticing growth.

Yesterday's trip was a bit too early to see much growth or color, except for the abundance of moss, but the drive still provided a pleasant break in the afternoon before returning home and succumbing to the couch for all those hours of Hollywood star power.

Almost the minute I returned home, the rain began. Shortly after Bill headed for town, the wind started blowing very briskly. Both elements outside provided a perfect excuse to turn couch potato.

I always love watching the Oscars, even though I rarely see all the nominated movies until years later.

The best part of last night's whole four-hours???? Donald Trump's name was mentioned only once. So, the program offered a wonderful escape from all things Donald as does Hollywood's work in general.

I nodded off a couple of times when the animated figures (not in to animation) showed up on the stage, but kept very much engaged from start to finish.

Bill came home from his dinner theater about an hour before the ending, asking if the Irish girl won anything. I told him that her part hadn't happened yet.

His enthusiasm was pretty apparent within minutes. I looked over to see him fully nodded off, so deep in sleep that when I yelled his way that they were talking about the Irish movie, he just kept on snoozing.

And, so it goes. I do think that I'd really like to watch Brooklyn and the Best Movie Spotlight. Actually, most of them look like some must see's.

For now, I've got a Leap Day to take on. So, that's all, folks. Happy Monday. Happy Birthday to my outlaw buddy, Rose Marie.

An icon in our area, this was known as Hershel's Litehouse when I was growing up. Dining at Hershel's on the shores of Lake Pend Oreille in Hope was truly a happening.

Later the Hawkins family, Bonner County pioneers, bought the Litehouse where their homemade salad dressing recipe turned out to be a big hit among the diners.

The rest is history as Litehouse, Inc. dressings and other products are sold all over the nation.

OOPS!!! P.S. Our daughter Annie went to Minneapolis this weekend, and she has now tainted our good name to all the world on Facebook.

Why would she do such a thing to her beLOVEd parents??? Kidz, these days!!!!