Consolation prizes [projects, status, food]

[rebeccmeister]

My consolation prizes for failing to get the car started this morning include:

1. Fixing my umbrella (again). The little bits of wire I used to replace some of the popped rivets does seem to be working pretty well! It's just that yet another rivet had popped.

2. (not shown) Organizing the tea drawer. I am more likely to drink tea if the experience of selecting the tea is at least somewhat aesthetically pleasing. The result in this instance wasn't particularly photogenic, but at least I now have a better handle on what's in there.

3. Organizing my fabric stash. I wasn't sure how this project would go, but then I had a great idea: do like I did for the tshirts in my dresser drawer:



Now it's easy to see what I have! Amazing. All the little scraps are now loose in a bag, easy to toss around.

4. Carrying out a small clothes alteration project on a tank top acquired from a rowing lost and found bin a year or two ago:





Puff paint, working its magic. This had been sitting in the mending pile for far too long. The mending pile is actually getting physically smaller, at long last. Speaking of which,

5. Jeans mending.



I swear, I cannot get any of those fabric marking pencils to work nicely for me. The tailor's chalk works all right, but I was glad to find the washable fabric marker.

The challenge with this jeans mending project is that I don't have any scrap denim to match (having now organized my fabric and scraps), and my sashiko thread doesn't match, either. But technically, the jeans are now mended.



I'm not sure they look "professional" enough anymore (lol) to pass muster at work, though, unless I add all kinds of interesting stitching and patches all over them, to disguise what I did to the crotch. So...I think they might just be at-home jeans for the near future.

It's good to have a pair of jeans like this to experiment on. I did also wind up ordering a brand-new pair of jeans, but I need to take in the waistline on those due to the perpetual issue of people not manufacturing clothing for women with functional quadriceps muscles. I need to study up on how to do that. That's what the internet is supposed to be for!

I also ordered some coveralls, finally, to wear while sanding and painting.



6. Random items: vacuuming, baking of coffeecake for breakfasts for the week plus cornbread as a lunch and dinner item.

7. In case you don't go back to reread my previous post, I did go outside in the heat of the day (a whopping 10°F) to try starting up the car again, and it started. I also brought in the backup battery and put it on the charger, because it had run out of juice, too. I am sure there will be more thrilling updates on that whole project in the near future.

and...(drumroll, please)...

...

8. I filed my taxes!!!! With the demise of Free File Fillable Forms, I am going fully analog, and paper filing. I REFUSE to interact with any of the predatory tax software companies. That was making me nervous about the annual tax deadline, which I have lately been running up against, so I am very relieved to have that project DONE. Well, once I drop the envelopes in the mail.

George even helped. He got that pencil out of my purse all by himself, and as you can see he's sitting on the instructions for the state IT2 form. Good George.



Since I'm mailing things in, it seemed like a good idea to decorate the envelopes.



Hopefully the decorations give the poor sap with the job of opening the mail at least a little something to smile about.

Comments

[twoeleven]

I REFUSE to interact with any of the predatory tax software companies.

Good move. Other than people who have complicated taxes (multiple sources of income, especially from different states, for example) there's really no reason to anyway.

[rebeccmeister]

It was interesting, I had been using Free File Fillable Forms, but one of the annoying steps with that is having to retype all of the information in my W2. I think it was actually faster and more pleasant to just type things directly into the paper form and not have to click "do the math" 30 times, although then I wasn't sure about the whole "Attach the W2 here to the front of the form" aspect, so whoever opens my federal return can have fun dealing with what I did with the staples. In contrast, the state of New York is very clear about, "Put your documents in EXACTLY this order and DON'T YOU DARE put any fasteners anywhere!!!!" Heh.

[twoeleven]

:)

I wonder if New York is using something automated to take the packets apart and scan them... or maybe they're just using barely-trained temporary workers to do the same thing.

[bluepapercup]

I LOVE the feeling of getting a list of lingering small chores done, especially with visible signs of accomplishment at the end!! The NBIKE shirt is cracking me up because I cannot resist pronouncing it Bike-y. :D

Hurrah on the taxes. I feel you on not wanting to pay a predatory software company! I simply don't want to deal with it at all so we've been using our local independent tax preparer since 2012, when it was just one woman in her living room. Now she has an office and a small staff. They're great and we do the whole thing through secure portal, no more on-site visit.

[rebeccmeister]

Hehe, maybe it will become known as my Bikey shirt!

That's great, that you have a local human being who is fantastic. I will look for that if/when my taxes become more complicated in the future.

[bluepapercup]

Yes highly recommended. I first started using a CPA in 2010 when I got a letter saying I'd failed to file the previous year and owed money (that was true, my life was rough with my health in those years and I had forgotten to file) and a friend recommended the guy she used next door to her hair salon. I took him my pile of sadness, he said, "oh we can get you fixed up right away" and we did, and he helped me get on a payment plan, and that was that.

[threemeninaboat]

HORRAY!