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Good morning gals!

Yesterday I went to H&R Block with that income tax bill I got last week. She called the CA office to find out what was going on. It turns out that I reinstated my cosmetology license in October of 2016, so the state just "assumed" that I worked that year and taxed me what they decided I "probably" owed ($990 worth of taxes for 3 months??) , even tho there was no W4 or W2 to prove it. Very unethical if you ask me! After talking to the woman in Sacramento, she cleared the bill for me. The woman at H&R Block told me she had two other people bring in letters like that yesterday too. Sounds like a bit of a scam going on in the CA tax office!

The guy I bought my wash machine from just came back to find the leak on the drain hose. It is just a plastic hose and water was spraying from about 4 pinholes in it! He taped it for now and will bring a new hose next weekend for me. He is a really nice guy and apologized about 4 times.

I found a ton of ants on my outside porch this morning so put a couple of ant baits out there after killing the ones that were there. Hopefully will get that nest wiped out with the baits.

Hope everyone has a good day and those out east stay high and dry!

Terro has come out with the little plastic ant baits that seem to work better than the Raid ones. They also have the poison in a bottle with some little cardboard squares to put it on. I have put it in a couple of places where the cats can't get to.

My hair is wet from going in and out loading things in the camper. It's already 95 and the heat index is suppose to be 105 today. I can't find my Tom Tom GPS. What could I have done with that? I have an old Garmin but I doubt I could update it. Got my cake and candy made. Clothes are loaded. I still need to go to town again.

Martha

Saw Beth's posting about cutting back on expenses. I have been doing pretty much the same, but also cleaning out a lot of drawers and stuff. I have discovered that over the months and years, I have been accumulating a lot of things like extra bars of soap, small bottles of new kinds of shampoo, and even food items like self-rising flour for a recipe I had planned to make but never made. Anyway, I decided as part of my cost-cutting to not buy any of those things until I used up every last bit of shampoo, soap, and toothpaste I already own. I did throw out one partial bottle of shampoo because it dried my hair, but it is amazing how much extra stuff I had accumulated. Also, since I have lost 20 pounds in last year, I have been sorting out old shirts that are too big. They are nice and comfy, but when I look in the mirror, they are baggy and make me look as heavy as I was!! So, off they go to Goodwill!

Those of you who only travel a few weeks a year probably don't have that problem, but I seem to forget that I already bought something and buy it again. Same problem with muffin tins, for example. I found two full 12-muffin tins--one under my bed and one in an underneath storage area!

Beautiful, cool but sunny day today, so I am headed off to Maryhill Art Museum today. Might stop at LePage Dam along the Columbia also.

Those of you who only travel a few weeks a year probably don't have that problem, but I seem to forget that I already bought something and buy it again.

Judy, I do this all the time at home! I forget I have something already and buy it again, especially food! I end up with 4 of the same item in my cupboard! When I was going thru my tools and hardware stuff last week, I found 4 brand new slim X-Acto knives still in their packages that I didn't even know I had!. I also need to use up things I already have. Now that I am done with remodeling around here, I should be able to save some money. I will eventually buy some plants for outside but my roommate has brought over a lot of her plants so I won't need too much of that either. I need to cut back financially too now.

Martha, I agree. Terro is the only one I use now. Seems to be the only product the ants really go for and it works well to get rid of them. I have both the plastic traps and the ones with the cardboard pieces.

We are having our semi-annual carport sale in November at the park here, so it will be a good opportunity to unload a lot of things I have that I no longer need/want. I have started a large box with things for the sale already. Need to go thru my clothes soon too. I have about 50 t-shirts and really don't need that many! I had two cute t-shirts that shrunk so much that I gave them to my roommate to give to her grandkids!

And both of the muffin tins were brand new so it is lucky I did buy a third!!

Judy, one of my ways of saving is not buying any food item that I might have in a cabinet unless I check first. Same for checking the freezer and using any meats I have before buying others. I'm betting I'll go a couple months (or longer) before I need anything but fresh fruits and veggies... Oh I'll use up the freezer stuff in the first month.

I got up this morning with no problem... Mainly because I kept waking up out of fear I'd oversleep lol. I did miss checking here and emails, etc from bed. I like being able to do that and not have to jump out of bed. Oh well.. In a couple weeks I'll have nothing stopping me from sleeping as long as I want!

Judy, I couldn't believe how much stuff I had in my old motorhome. It had 12 years of mostly junk. Things that I might need. I have lost my GPS in all the moving.

The electricity went out on the old carport this afternoon. Good thing I have 200 ft of extension cords because I am trying to cool down my refrigerator. When I get back from Texas I will have to get an electrician to come see about that. I tried to get one to replace the old box last year. I bet that old box is at least 50 years old. It came from one of the places I worked when they were taking out some trailers. It has those old brass fuses.

Martha

Beth, you have hit on one of my bad habits. If I buy something, and it does not immediately fit in a logical place, like a muffin tin in one of the kitchen cabinets, I stuff it into the nearest handy spot. One muffin tin was under my bed underneath some bathroom rugs and the other was in an outside bin where I usually put tools and such.

I absolutely have to stop putting stuff in the nearest handy spot and put it in a more logical spot! Then, I would be able to check that I have one before I go out and buy another.

Motorhomes are like gigantic purses with too many pockets.

The good news is that I have been going through drawers and cabinets and sorting stuff. I still have about a third of drawers and cabinets to go through.

My worst habit is saying "I'll just put this here for now..." It never gets moved and I end up forgetting where I put things.

Exactly!

Yep!