Day 39: No Snow Today !

 

Here we go ! It's a new year. Time to get back on track with diet and exercise. The goal is 100 pounds by 12-31-25. Can I do it ? At this point, probably not but I'm going to keep trying. My original Day 39 blog can be found here. It was an unremarkable day at work.

Today I was awake just after 7. I seem to wake up at 7:17 am a lot. I wonder why that is ? I got up around 7:30 and trudged downstairs to face another day being surrounded by snow. Fortunately there was no new accumulation to deal with, for a change. However, I noticed the snow piled against my dining room windows was really pushing in on the screens. I opened the windows and pushed the screens up so they don't get destroyed. The one in the living room and by the basement were already up. I guess pushing the screens up will now be part of my winter task list ! I spent the morning watching YouTube and catching up my online slot games. All of a sudden they are all letting me win so I can't spend as much time on Jackpot World, which is my favorite. I'm sure it won't last, so I'll enjoy it while I can. I decided I needed to go to Walmart today since the weather was good and snow is in the forecast every day right through Sunday. I looked outside to ensure the driveway was clear and I could see the plow had left me a present at the end of the driveway. From the garage it didn't look like much, but once I got out there I realized there was a lot of snow and it was wet and heavy. I went out about 12:49 and came back in at 1:15, after shoveling the little bit that was on the front steps. i got a lot done in 25 minutes ! Not 10 minutes after I got done Doug came along ! He texted me to let me know I owe him $140 to bring my plowing up to date. I was expecting a lot more, so I guess he "cleans up" the driveway a lot without charging me. I appreciate him so much ! I headed out to Walmart about 2:15 and got back about 3:40. I stopped and got the mail too. I had NO trouble getting the car out since I had parked it at an angle, but I wasn't happy with the angle pulling in when I got home, so I parked it the way I usually do. I will try again next time I go out. The mail brought an unexpected W2 form ! It has something to do with the value of the group life insurance the company carried on me. Apparently my original W2 only included the portion for Jan-May 2024 and the additional one is the portion for Jun-Dec. I hopped on my tax filer site and did a quick amended return. Cost me $16 to file and I have to pay the Feds $170 and NYS $35. I was going to hold off on filing it until I receive my NYS refund but then I checked my account and my refund was there ! The money I owe will be direct debited from my checking account, so I don't have to worry about receiving a bill from the IRS. I will make sure to keep this crazy W2 and copies of the amended return forever ! I thought about just ignoring it, but the IRS will always find you. This way it's taken care of and I don't have to worry about it.

When I went to Walmart I also had getting chinese in my head, but I decided to get the stuff to make pizza instead. I've been missing it and that will be my treat over the next few days. I also bought some Cool Whip instead of the whipped cream in the can. One giant tub of it costs the same as one can of whipped cream and it will last much longer. I decided I need to break the whipped cream habit and this will save me money and hopefully result in my using less of it ! I also decided spending $25 on chinese made no sense. The ingredients for 9 pizzas cost $36.20 but I know I have sauce & pepperoni for more than 9 pizzas. Even if it was only enough for 9, that is $4.02 per pizza. I don't think I could eat chinese for 9 days on that budget. I bought myself one other treat at the store: they had cherry pie ! I thought to look because I saw cherry turnovers in the frozen case when I was getting the Cool Whip. Since they had them, I bought one and that will be my treat. I also bought a couple more cucumbers so I can start having those with my lunch again starting tomorrow. They're only 96 cents at Walmart, while a 3 pack at Wegman's is $4.99 or $1.66 each. I guess I'll buy them at Walmart going forward. Oops, I forgot another "treat". I bought 2 boxes of coffee cake mix. You bake it yourself by adding oil, water and an egg.

Despite having to fight the snow yesterday, I'm glad to have the metal roof. The kid next door was shoveling off the roof over the garage before I went out. I felt his pain after what I went through yesterday. I also saw plenty of shoveled roofs along Route 69 and in Parish the DPW was cutting back the snow banks and hauling the snow away. Hopefully the village will come through soon and do that again. The snowbanks are so tall it's hard to see around corners or if anyone is trying to back out of their driveway. I won't need to go out again for a while ! I bought more canned food for Minnie and another bag of dry food for the strays. It'll take a while to use over 60 pounds of dry food. I also have 79 cans of food for the strays and about 130-140 cans for Minnie. I also bought a new tub of treats for Minnie, so she is all set for a while ! It feels good to have everything cared for. I can see out the kitchen window again. My screens are safe. My driveway and front steps are clear. My mail has been collected and the IRS issue addressed. And I have plenty of food for myself and the cats. I also have plenty of money in the bank to keep my bills paid ! In an unexpected surprise, I got a $37.95 refund from ATT for canceling my cell phone account. I didn't expect to get a penny back. They sent a stupid prepaid Mastercard that you have to activate. Fortunately it has the option to transfer the money to your bank account, so that is what I did.