We can only hope next week will be better
Published 2:30 am Thursday, February 14, 2008
By Staff
I don't remember a week as bad as last.
Even though I had gotten my flu shot, I was sicker than I remember being in a long time.
All I did was sleep, sleep, sleep. My bones began to ache from all that sleeping.
Hopefully I am on the mend and this lingering couch will someday completely disappear when I am not looking.
I think I drove through some of the most scary conditions last week too. The roads were terrible up north.
I usually take it easy, especially when I pass cars which are over in ditches on the side of the road.
Still, I was passed quite often, almost always by a pick-up. I guess they believe those car ads which show trucks traveling anywhere, over rocks and up mountains.
I am going to continue to drive safely and if you don't like it, you can pass me. I would prefer to stay on the road.
Well the election is really heating up and the number of candidates is dwindling.
I can't help but think of all the money which is being spent on their campaigns this primary.
I talked to my lawyer son this week, who met and worked for Obama when he was attending the University of Chicago Law School.
He is definitely impressed with him and hoping he wins.
He said, "I have shaken Bill Clinton's hand and Obamas. So maybe I will have met two presidents."
My stanch Republican parents might be surprised at a Democrat for a grandson but I am not. Through the years, I have most often voted on whom I thought was the best candidate, instead of a straight party.
The stimulus package which President Bush is expected to sign today has a lot of people hoping for a check in their mailbox.
I am afraid it is going to come way too late and it won't be enough to really help the economy of our country.
To many people are already so far strapped that they have maxed any credit cards out and have borrowed any way they could to try and pay the bills.
With gasoline costing so much more than last year and the cold causing our furnaces to eat up our heating oil, those bills will also be much more than expected this winter.
Just my snow plowing bill for January and now February, is causing sleepless nights.
In my own case, I probably won't even receive a check. Any refund I have coming will continue to go right back into the IRS's pocket, as a mistake was found back on my 2004 return.
It wasn't anyone's fault, but I owed them an additional $1,000, oh and don't forget the penalties and the interest. I might actually finish paying them the extra by the year 2009.
If the program is done the same way as it was done in 2001, those "rebate checks" are also considered income and will need to be declared on your 2008 income tax returns.
I wonder if that means I will have to pay tax on money I never even see?
Stranger things have happened.