No Vacation

We talked extensively about going to Doug's parents to spend a few days this week. It always turns into such a hassle, so now... we aren't going. For many reasons, but chief among them is money.

Doug's parents haven't updated their house to accommodate visitors since both their kids moved out, not sure why... but there is nowhere really for all four of us to stay in their house. We'd have to stay at a hotel, which turns into a 100 buck a night slam.

Luckily Dan was willing to dogsit, otherwise that'd be another 25 bucks a day for Kinger to be looked after. Thank God for him.

We did our taxes, and it looks like we owe a pantload... and as of March 18th I won't be collecting a paycheck as fat as I have been, and God only knows what KIND of a paycheck I'll be collecting after that date... so we talked about it and decided that if they couldn't house us, we couldn't go.

So we are here.

Doug is pissed, because he misses his family. He rarely gets to see anyone there hardly but twice a year, and it just makes him a cranky bear. Especially his grandmothers. Neither of them can travel, so it is our duty to go visit.

And he just wanted to get away for a few days, and unlike most of our friends who think that getting away means getting AWAY from FAMILY, he looks upon our time off as a chance to go be with. My family lives a lot closer, and I know we can pick up the phone and say "hey, we're coming to visit," and it ain't no thang. We're in. But it seems like when we want to go visit there, not only is it a 12 hour drive, but it's a big DEAL and an inconvenience to all parties involved.

He secluded himself in the bedroom for a few hours this afternoon, and is not his usual easy to get along with self, so I'm trying to stay out of his way.

I really can't write further about what I think or feel in regards to our not going, because it isn't only financial. There are other elements in the decision. And I promised myself I wouldn't make it a habit to use the journal to bitch about family relationships, so I won't.

Doug will be back to his normal self sometime in the next 24 hours, and I'm sure we'll find fun things to do with this week upcoming. I just hate having to deal with how he feels, and how I feel, and fucking MONEY will have to not be part of the equation.

Taxes suck major ass this year. We finally got to a place last year where both of us were making decent money. I got a couple raises, which shoved us up a tax bracket, and now we owe a lot more than we ever have. Like 2000 clams. Finally making a little money to feel like we were getting ahead and we are taken to the carpet for our successes.

We have it set up so that we always owe... there's a reason for that. It's our money, we'll pay it in April. Getting a refund is the worst thing you can DO to yourself. You WANT to owe, because that means that your money stayed in your pocket longer, not the governments. In years past, we've always owed about 800 bucks. Never more than a thousand.

When I see people celebrating that they are getting money back, I would love to smack them. Dude, that isn't a gift to you. That is money that you overpaid, that THEY earned interest on, and now they are giving it back to you. The government LOVES to hand you a refund. They profit off your money. You should.

We don't mind paying the taxes, but this year, seeing as I'm not getting paid anything in the future, now we have to scramble to make the change. We have to bank as much out of the next four weeks of big paychecks that I get, slamming as much of it aside as possible, and then we will figure out from March 18th to April 15th how we're going to make the difference.

My happy life.

Anyway.

It is snowing and raining out right now. Mixed bag of precipitation as it were. We're supposed to get about four inches of wet heavy snow overnight. I was looking forward to getting away. Don't want to have to be cooped up here with the kids and the cold and the claustrophobia of the Way Out Inn in wintertime.

Sigh.

Alright, so I officially sound down as hell. And I am to some extent. I was looking forward to seeing my niece, and sister and brother in law, whom I adore. And I love having the time with my inlaws, I love my father in law greatly, and Jessica adores him. Having the kids have some time with their grands, and great grands is very important... But whatever.

Geoff and I went to the market. I was deliberately NOT visiting the market this past week because I wanted to use up all the stuff we had in fridge so nothing would go to waste. So today we literally had next to nothing. I had stuff to make tuna casserole for dinner tonight, and then we were going to light out first thing. So seeing as we're here, I made the trip to market to brave the elements and what I thought was going to be a snowdriven insane mad crowd, but there weren't that many people here. No one seems to be panicking for this 4 inches of snow we may get. What a relief.

Doug is making dinner, and I think he's swigging down some rum-n-cokes... I may just join him in that. Why not. When bummed, pick up a good book, drink a stiff one, and mellow out.

Seeing as I'll be here next week, I will be fighting for PC time with the family. Geoff and his phonics CD rom, Jessica and her Presidential history puzzle game... they are playing nicely together right now, and have been for the past few days. She's been willing to be with him and play the games he wants to play... not sure what her angle is, but they have been getting along swimmingly.

Okay. I'm outta here. More perhaps tomorrow. We shall see.