Do Not Know My Own Strength

I have taken a sabbatical from social networking (blogging, facebooking, etc) for a month or so now but I did want to relate something that happened to me yesterday.  I had just received notification that my W2 form was available so I thought I would plug those numbers into the online tax program that I use and see what was in store as far as a refund.  I don’t usually get excited about any refund amount as my life tends to even out quickly.  Any money gained is typically met with money lost (a bonus at work is met with a vehicle expense or a tax refund is met with our license and registration being due).  I seldom think about what we might spend additional money on until a moratorium has passed and I feel safe to fantasize about such things.  My life has always been this way so I am quite used to this mentality (the wife forgets at times though who she is married to and does get excited, when will she learn?).  Anyway, after I found my username and password from last year, I began the task of punching in the numbers.

I did not have my forms from my bank yet (showing mortgage and savings interest) so this would just be a preliminary number but one other piece of information I always forget to have handy are the car’s registrations as some portion of that fee is deductable.  It was for this reason that I braved the cold weather yesterday morning (it was around 5° F) and went outside to get these documents from the glove boxes of the cars.  I found the key fob for our Kia minivan and watched from the house as the lights blinked on the car after I unlocked the doors.  I did the same for the Buick and then headed out to the cold.  I walked around to the passenger side of the Kia and grabbed the handle and pulled…

…and the handle came off in my hand.  I did not think that I pulled overly hard but it broke off nonetheless.  After some silent muttering (or not so silent, I do not recall), I got into the glove box (via the driver’s side door, which I opened very gingerly) and retrieved the registration.  I could not find one for the Buick (par for the course) and so I headed back inside.

When you get to the part of your taxes when you are punching in the minor things like this, you already have an idea of the refund you will be getting.  I remembered (from just moments before heading outside) thinking to myself and wondering what would go wrong in my life that would cause this refund to be eaten up.  Who knew that I would have my answer so quickly?  We do have a bumper to bumper warranty on the Kia so the wife is holding out hope that this will not cost us anything (oh to have the faith of a child) but I know (based on years of experience) what the bill will come to (the approximate amount of my federal tax refund).  Oh well, such is my life.

Jon