Random 5 for March 10, 2024 – Taxes, DST cat-style, Insects, Guests, family

Gallery

Posted on by

Argh! They are done! – I finished up and filed my taxes yesterday. My taxes are complicated for reasons other than excessive wealth or any wealth (which is a problem I’d love to have). After getting caught in a Catch 22 with the tax e-filing system, I did something that worked. (I don’t know what I did so I won’t be able to replicate it next year.) While I’m doing this, I heard the fateful “ack, ack, ack” sound of a cat barfing. My cat Gracie was sitting in the middle of my tax forms gagging up something. I moved fast and everything landed on a towel. Working with vomit-stained forms would be nasty but I share her feelings about taxes.

Sasha’s take on Daylight Savings Time – On Wednesday, Sasha reset her clock for DST. She woke me up at 5:30 a.m. instead of 6:30. I tried to explain “not yet” but it was lost on hungry cat ears. The spring change is easy for them as it moves up the feeding schedule.

Early ants – Insects are early this year. The ants started to invade, one or two at a time, at the end of February. Usually they visit in May. Maybe they decided to travel for spring break? Do ants have a spring break? Wonder what that says about the summer.

House guests –We’ll have a houseguest for a few days this week. We’re planning a seafood lunch on Friday. I’m not a big seafood eater but this will be a treat for me. Fish and chips, here I come!

Speaking of seafood – When I was a kid, we had meatless Fridays. My mom mostly made fried haddock but sometimes grilled cheese sandwiches. One time she convinced my dad, who was not big on seafood, that the shrimp she was serving was chicken. My dad liked the odd tasting chicken. That is a family legend.

So how was your week?

52 thoughts on “Random 5 for March 10, 2024 – Taxes, DST cat-style, Insects, Guests, family”

  1. Our taxes were done in February! I don’t know how that came to be but it was nice to have them done!

    We love fish and chips from Metro Diner. I don’t know if you have one in your area. Cracks me up about your Mom and Dad and the odd tasting chicken!!!

    Liked by 1 person

  2. Oh, Gracie! I feel the same way about taxes. I so hate them.

    Snow squalls all day ruined my sons’ spring break trip. Their flight was delayed enough to cancel their connecting flight. They spent the day on the phone rescheduling hotel, car rentals, a new flight for today and some tickets for a show they would miss. They were not happy. I just hope all my budding trees and flowers don’t die from the late snow and cold. Enjoy your house guests!

    Liked by 1 person

  4. Oh, boy! Taxes and daylight savings time. I haven’t started my taxes yet. I may be sorry. I made it out of bed okay this morning. I’m never sure which clocks, phones, and watches reset themselves, so I reset my old watch and wore it to bed to be sure.

    I love seafood! The trouble is, it’s best when it’s really fresh, and that’s hard to do at home unless you go shopping every day. In a restaurant, I like fancy dishes like scallops, oysters, crab, and cioppino, dishes I seldom choose because of the price. Fish ‘n’ chips, salmon, and fish tacos are good too.

    Liked by 1 person

  5. We had a crummy weather weekend, so I finished my tax stuff to take to the tax guy. I’m glad to have it done, though, unlike you, it required no real brain power on my part. Nice catch for slipping the towel in at the right moment – whew! I never thought of the ants being early this year due to the warm weather, although we had a cold day, withsnow this morning, just enough to slicken up the roads, then whisked away by the 40 mph winds. The ants only go to one side of the house, the three rooms I use the most – great. My mom always made meatless meals during Lent too and when I was a kid it was Mrs. Paul’s fish sticks or salmon croquettes. Neither of my parents liked fish, so the fish sticks and salmon were not their favorite I actually stick with meatless Fridays all year around now.

    Liked by 1 person

    • I do meatless meals but not necessarily on Fridays. When I was a kid, we had a butcher who delivered fresh haddock on Fridays, hence the haddock on Fridays. It was good as I remember but I’m not a big fish person.

      Liked by 1 person

      • We never had fresh fish, but I liked the canned salmon in the croquettes. I eat a lot of the packaged salmon. I went to visit friends of the family in Puerto Rico and they ate mostly fish. She cooked fish one night with the head on – couldn’t eat that.

        Liked by 1 person

        • Yikes! Nope, nope, nope! Some restaurants serve whole fish. I don’t like seeing the carcass of anything. Was at a pig roast once and couldn’t get over seeing a whole roasted pig. Turkey and chicken is different for me. Maybe because I was raised seeing them whole.

          Liked by 1 person

          • It was too strange for me. And this same couple, I went on vacation with them in Spain – she had family there, so we visited, then traveled down the coast. Since she spoke Spanish, we would go to little restaurants to try local specialties. Her husband liked fish as much as she did. They ordered bouillabaisse and it had clam shells and fish heads floating around. I said “no way!” My father was German and when I was younger we went to the Germania Club for Oktoberfest or New Year’s Eve and they always had a whole roasted pig with an apple in its mouth – disgusting. I don’t know if I could stuff a chicken, or even touch it … that clammy skin. I’m a bit squeamish!

            Liked by 1 person

  7. Kuddos to you for getting your taxes done! And catching the vomit before it hit your papers. That is a funny story about your dad. We don’t eat meat on Fridays during Lent. The only fish I think is OK is tuna so we eat a lot of grilled cheese and cheese pizza.

    Liked by 1 person

    • I’m a fan too but either we are in the minority or the opposition is more vocal! The day does get away from you. In the fall, it’s different with the cats because they have to wait longer. I try to adjust over a few days.

      Like

  10. We have a couple more weeks until daylight savings. Sa Maj isn’t quite feeling the joys of it all as yet, but I’m sure he’ll get his spring swing soon!

    Liked by 1 person

  11. Haven’t started my taxes because I know I’ll be writing a check . . . so the incentive to file is LOW.

    Congrats on getting yours done!

    Glad you didn’t have to file cat barf covered forms!

    Liked by 1 person

    • Fortunately when you e-file you don’t have to worry about sending in forms. However, Not a fan of working with them myself. Good luck with your taxes and I hope your check is small.

      Like

  12. I share Gracie’s take on tax prep. DST…no positives in my mind (other than maybe it means we’re an hour closer to happy hour and margaritas but other than that, I can’t think of one good thing about it). I feel like half the day is gone and yet it was dark when we woke up and weren’t able to enjoy it yet.

    Liked by 1 person

  13. Love your family legend!!! One of my sisters would not eat a vegetable unless she thought it was spinach (a fan of Popeye cartoons, she was) when she was wee, so cauliflower became white spinach, carrots became orange spinach etc. Oh, the things our mothers did to get us to try new things! Congrats on getting the taxes done! 🥳

    Liked by 1 person

  14. I don’t know the answer to your question about ants, but it’s a good question. Those little buggers are relentless. I haven’t had any fried fish on Friday in years. You’ve inspire me get some.

    Liked by 1 person

  15. Congrats on getting the taxes done (and avoiding barfy forms!). Nice to have that over with isn’t it. Love the family legend of the seafood disguised as chicken. ”What you don’t know, can’t hurt you” I guess? LOL

    Hugs, Pam

    Liked by 1 person

    • My dad was not adventurous when it came to food although he ate stuff that I won’t like pickled pig’s feet and lamb’s tongue. I can’t get past the words.

      Like

  16. The chicken-shrimp is pretty hilarious. Worthy of familial lore, for sure. And good job with the towel. Spouse does the taxes for us, but it’s irritating because he taxes over my computer to do it. On the other hand, we’re getting a big refund because we got an electric car in December (it comes with tax credits) that he hadn’t planned for with his withholding. The ants are starting early here as well–I’m wondering, with all the rain we’ve had, if they are searching for higher ground.

    Liked by 1 person

  17. Fish and chips used to be a cheap family meal on a Friday and gave me a day off cooking after a hard week. Not so now, a child’s portion of fish and chips here is £9.50, and that does not include a drink. Hubby can;t eat fish unless 100% cod or fishcakes, but the last he had of the latter there was no fish in it at all, the chips were reheated from the day before, my scampi was burnt and the sausage we got for Maggie was swimming in fat when cut it so she none of us had any dinner and it was cheese sandwiches. That was the last time we used our local chippy.

    Liked by 1 person

    • That was discouraging. Locally fish is expensive too. It’s also hard to get good fish and chips. The fish is often greasy and the chips are made from frozen. Fingers crossed I’ll get a good rendition!

      Like

  19. I make so little income that my taxes are extremely easy to do. I am on the fence about whether or not I would consider more income if it made my taxes more difficult.

    I love almost all kinds of seafood except for those things you eat out of the shell. My mom always made what she called “poor man’s lobster“, which was baked haddock sprinkled liberally with old bay seasoning. I still make that now and again, and still enjoy it. Having said that, a batter dipped piece of fish fried to a golden brown is never difficult to jump down on.

    I have never had an issue with ants, but I have read in various sources that if you sprinkle a powdery substance, like baking soda or baking powder or even talcum powder, the ants don’t like that kind of substance on their feet and are unlikely to cross it. Never hurts to try, I guess.

    Liked by 1 person

    • There are a lot of ant remedies but most are very temporary. I also have to consider that the cats may get into it. Right now I have a spray cleaner that’s made with thyme. Pungent smell and it works well with ants. It just doesn’t last more than a few days. Sounds like you are not a fan of shellfish.

      Like

  20. Thank goodness you rescued the tax forms! I love fish and chips too. The meat subscription that we have recently started offering breaded cod that gets baked. It is quite yummy, and I make it with sweet potato tots to pretend to make the meal a bit healthier. Yum.

    Liked by 1 person

  21. Well done on getting your taxes done … it always seems like a heavy task at this time of year. You’ve inspired me to get it down and over with … hopefully without and vomit 🤣

    Liked by 1 person

    • I use TurboTax and they have a new feature this year. They tell you how long it takes for you to do them. For me it was 2 hours last weekend. I like to wait a few days just in case and then review and file. So glad it’s done!

      Like

Comments are closed.