Laddonia, Missouri....this is the town where my mother lived. It's only been five months since my mother passed away and yet it feels like an eternity. I miss her and nobody in this world can fill that void. She was the one I called almost daily to talk about my day...talk about my hopes and dreams...talk about my fears and doubts. I would call her up and tell her some funny jokes to cheer her up and if she didn't need cheering up, just to hear her laugh. I get my quick-witted personality from my mother. I still have her phone number in my cell phone (of course now it rings to my sister's home) but I can't seem to change the word "MOM" to my sister's name. It's too bad the phone number doesn't ring to heaven!

I just wasted a perfectly good Saturday doing nothing but TAXES! I did them with the help of Turbo Tax! Completed! Yeah....now I'm just waiting for pay day, which JUST happens to be the magical day of April 15th so I'll have the money to file my taxes!

I learned a painful lesson today.....the loss on a house is NOT deductible!

What the H%@#? We give millions..no...make that billions to bail out banks, financial insitutions and such but we can't give the average...low income taxpayer a break on his income by letting him deduct the LOSS of a a personal home. Something is VERY wrong with this picture....it SUCKS! But, don't you know that IF you make a profit they sure as H$#@ would make you pay taxes on the income!

Everyone in the nation seems to have such high hopes for Obama....well, I don't, but IF he fixed this problem (and made it retroactive) I'd change my mind!

I'm feeling exhausted, depressed but relieved that my taxes are finished and just waiting for payment to e-file or mail off!

Now...the only two major things on my "to do" list is to make the dress for my great-niece's first holy communion AND finish Preston's quilt!

Okay...I can't fix the tax situation so I will not waste any more energy on it...I'm through talking about taxes!

Tonight I have to go to the same mentioned niece's baptism...it's at St. Marks and since it's a Catholic ceremony....it will last hours...it starts at 8:30 and I'll be surprised if we leave before 10pm....I'm supposed to be ready to walk out the door in exactly 1 hour and 3 minutes so I'd better go tame the wild hair and put on a dress! Don't get me wrong...I adore my niece...I'm just feeling mentally and physically exhausted from a stressful day of tax computations!

I think I will drink a margarita while I get ready to celebrate the end of another year of tax season!

CHEERS!

1. I used to eat a lot of natural foods until I learned that most people
die of natural causes.

2. Gardening Rule: When weeding, the best way to make sure you are removing
a weed and not a valuable plant is to pull on it. If it comes out of the
ground easily, it is a valuable plant.

3. The easiest way to find something lost around the house is to buy a
replacement.

4. Never take life seriously Nobody gets out alive anyway.

5. There are two kinds of pedestrians: the quick and the dead.

6. Life is sexually transmitted.

7. Health is merely the slowest possible rate at which one can die.

8. The only difference between a rut and a grave is the depth.

9. Health nuts are going to feel stupid someday, lying in hospitals dying
of nothing.

10. Have you noticed since everyone has a camcorder these days no one talks
about seeing UFOs like they used to?

11. Whenever I feel blue, I start breathing again

12. All of us could take a lesson from the weather. It pays no attention to
criticism.

13. In the 60's, people took acid to make the world weird. Now the world is
weird and people take Prozac to make it normal

14. How is it one careless match can start a forest fire, but it takes a
whole box to start a campfire?

15. Who was the first person to look at a cow and say, "I think I'll squeeze
these dangly things here, and drink whatever comes out?"

16. "Why is there a light in the fridge and not in the freezer?

17. If life gives you lemons....make lemonade but don't forget to throw in a shot of Bicardi Limon!
18. If quizzes are quizzical, what are tests?

19. Do illiterate people get the full effect of Alphabet Soup?

20. Did you ever notice that when you blow in a dog's face, he gets mad at
you, but when you take him on a car ride, he sticks his head out the
window?

21. Don't take life too seriously....it never lasts! Sing like nobody is listening. Dance like nobody is watching. Cry with gusto over sad movies. Love with all your heart like you've never been hurt!

Have you ever noticed that when people say, "Grow up...act your age" that they are the ones who are always complaining about how BORING life is or how sick they are! Have fun, enjoy life because everyday that you turn out the light to sleep is another day come and gone that you can never redo! I'd rather have a few days that were fun and exciting than a whole year of boring days where I followed all the rules!

Spring Break begins tomorrow at 3:30pm! yeah.....sort of. I don't have any plans mainly because I don't have any money to make any plans! I was talking to my sister the other day and I told her, "I think I have a restless spirit." She looked at me like, "DUH" and said, "Your're telling me? I KNOW that, you drive me crazy sometimes." My reply? "I know, I drive myself crazy sometimes."

Sometimes I just have to get into my car and DRIVE! If the weather is halfway decent, I open up the sun roof, stick on some good old country music (or Jimmy Buffet) and hit the road. I just feel restless....most the time. I have a good job that I enjoy, most of the time but even at work I have to be moving constantly. I have a nice place to live. I have ton's of hobbies to keep me busy, so what is wrong with me? I just feel like there is so much more to life than the small world that I've made for myself. Today I found myself looking through a book on kayaking....I would LOVE to try this out or white water rafting! I'd love to hike the Grand Canyon! I want to travel to Ireland and hike all over the island. I just want to go places, see the world, experience things in life. If I spend an entire weekend at home....not getting out and doing something....I have this depressing sense of wasted time.

I often think about the places I want to visit, the things I want to accomplish in life. If I had the money, I would work on my doctorate degree....but again it's the money issue. If I had the money, I'd travel all over the US and to Europe...but of course, again, it's the money issue. So...more often than not, I end up putting on my tennis shoes and walking, hard and fast to nowhere....just something to keep me busy. Last Sunday, I walked outside and realized it was a beautiful day outside...perfect weather and I had been inside all day cleaning! So, I had a sinking feeling that I had wasted a beautiful day inside when I could have been outside hiking! Well, it was already around 4pm, too late in the day to drive to one of the great hiking spots, so I drove to Andrews Park in Norman and discovered they have put in all these new sidewalks (well, new since I'd been to the park.....a few years ago!). So, I spent an hour and a half at the park. First, I found a bench and sat in the wonderful sunshine and read for a few minutes. Then I walked the perimeters of the park first and then began walking the other paths. Finally I settled back down on a bench and read for another half hour. I felt much happier when I headed back home.

So, my question is, what makes a person so restless? How do I even begin accomplishing the things I want out of life? My mother once told me, "Money isn't everything, but if you are going to get married it's just as easy to marry a rich man as to marry a poor man!" I always loved my mother's sense of humor! But, joking aside......the stark truth is that it takes money to travel and experience great things in life.