People often say that there are two things you can be certain of...death and taxes. Tomorrow is tax day across the country, so if you haven't done your income taxes yet, time to hustle! We owed the State of MN and got a refund from the federal return and it's all been processed. It's always good to have that out of the way for another year. Without a mortgage, we are also responsible for sending in our own real estate taxes as well. Stearns County has this awesome auto-pay program for those that we got set up for 2019, so our taxes get paid by the due date straight out of an account we set up for taxes and insurance. Tax day always makes me think of where that tax money is going. As far as property taxes, I usually feel like we are getting a pretty good bargain. Our local schools are good, the streets are in good general repair (although the city declined to plow or clean the bike paths on the April snow this week) and our police/fire service seems to be very good. On the income taxes, I'm not always sure the government makes good use of their funds, especially when they fail to get budget bills done in a timely manner causing government shut-downs. I don't think many would disagree with me on this. Besides taxes, that other certainty in life is death. Last weekend at Mass, they announced that a longtime professor had passed away. She was a super tough instructor in the English department of which my husband is an alum. She was so tough that the kids took a small play on her name to dub her "Doctor Death." She was an elderly woman who had lived a long full life so we didn't feel too bad getting a small chuckle that Doctor Death had indeed died. My English teacher husband said that "the irony was not lost on me." Doctor Death would have been so proud that he can correctly identify irony. On to my two best purchases! Before quilt camp, we had discussed the probability that there would be a lot of mud at camp and each found some cute rain boots. I have gotten almost too much good wear out of these boots. First, I wore them to the track meet last weekend. It was a pretty chilly meet, so I can't say my feet were particularly warm, but they were dry. Instead of lovely April weather, here is what we got this week. And this photo was taken when it had improved enough to do a late start for school on Friday. I drove my husband's 4-wheel-drive truck and wore my rain boots. I've been wearing my flowery boots everywhere...taking the dog out, work, yoga and even out to lunch. I refuse to get out the Sorels...it's spring and I will wear spring boots. They have definitely been a great purchase! My second awesome purchase was of course the treadmill. When the weather turned nasty on Thursday, I didn't fret a bit. I thought to myself that if it's not suitable outdoors for running, I have a good second option and I'm going to take it. Of course, when I go to the treadmill, I get a visitor. Pretty soon, he wants to hold his stuffed hedgehog over the treadmill belt so I can toss it for him. Since that seems awfully dangerous for me, when it's time to jump on, the toys go here: There are actually three hedgehog toys around the house. The first one was a gift from Mom and Dad who always include Charlie on their holiday gift list. Charlie loved it so much that the toy has required many "surgeries" so I bought a spare. Both of them continued to need repairs so I picked up a third in case one needs to be retired. He really doesn't play much with anything else. I feel like one of those moms who needed to keep two blankies in rotation for their toddlers. None of my kids ever got attached like that to any toy or blanket, and I always kind of wanted them to, so I get it now with a fur baby.
It's a mere six days until the Earth Day Half Marathon. I've completed every long run and done a fair amount of speed work. I am as ready as I can hope to be although always a little uncertain how a race will go after not running one since the Snowflake Shuffle in early December. I've taken a good look at the course map as they decided to change it up for the 20th anniversary of the race. It appears that the grass downhill that nearly everyone detested on the old course has been removed and the hill that formerly climbed into mile 10 will now be a downhill at mile 7. It should be fun! Wish me luck and I'll be sure to update the blog after the race. For last minute registrations, check the website: Earth Day Half Marathon. Happy running! Missee
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorMissee and Stephanie are two Minnesota sisters and moms who love to run. We are not experts in running, parenting or anything else, but we do have years of experiences that may be helpful or entertaining to others. Archives
May 2020
Categories |