Uncle Sam

This weekend I finally got received my last W-2 and began the process of filing my taxes. I say my last W-2 because I have worked at three different places this year, and will be filing returns in Wisconsin, Montana, and Minnesota. This is my first year of doing my own taxes. My parents have always had my dad's accountant do their taxes. My Dad owns his own business, so they are super complicated. Ever since I've had to file, I've just had their guy do mine, too. Well, I'm all grown up now, and I did my own taxes with Peter's help. I couldn't file yet, because Minnesota doesn't have the form for partial year residents like me available yet. I will say, however, that this year looks to be my biggest refund ever. Up yeah!

And now I will discuss my most interesting state to file in: Wisconsin. Wisconsin wanted to ask me a few questions when it found out that I'd moved away. It wanted to know where I went, it wanted to know if I'd been back to the cheese state since my move. Wisconsin asked if I had registered to vote in Minnesota, and how long I planned to stay there. I loved living in Wisconsin and would move back in a heartbeat. Answering Wisconsin's questions made me feel like I had cheated on it. This is what it sounded like Wisconsin was saying to me: "Where have you been? Minnesota? Oh, that's nice. How long has this been going on? Were you planning to tell me? I suppose you even got a Minnesota Driver's License, didn't you? Did you vote there? What kind of job did you get there? Are you ever coming back? Well, I hope you and Minnesota will be very happy together!" And then Wisconsin got even more fabulous. You know how states ask if you want to donate money to various things on your tax returns? For instance, a campaign fund or a charity. Well, Pete and I about fell off the couch laughing when we saw Wisconsin's donate page. Take particular note of the order in which the causes you can donate to are listed.

www.peteryan.com/multimedia/annewi.jpg

Now those are some sports fans!

Pete Stole My Thunder

I was going to post up some pictures from our weekend, but Peter beat me to it. So, to see pictures of us walking Fredo Potato on frozen Lake Nokomis, check out his blog. I can't wait to get a place there!

It was a pretty laid back weekend. Friday night I was taken violently ill and it was not fun at all. I was super bummed, because I was supposed to go to a lacrosse game with people from work. Saturday I was all better and we went to Pete's uncle's 50th birthday party. We got to see a bunch of his aunts and his Dad and Cheryl, too.

I start one of my classes next week, so my days of leisure in the evenings are almost over. It's been nice, and I'm glad I didn't take the J-term class.

That's all I gots.

Puppies & Houses

I discovered today that I am not good at looking at either of them.

The puppies thing I've known for quite some time. I've gone along to look at dogs three times, and each time my family comes home with a puppy. It doesn't matter if we were planning on thinking things over or just looking. We go to look and pretty soon I'm obsessing about what I will name him. I see puppy, I take puppy home. It's just that simple. Fredo, Huck, and Tom Tompkins can attest to that fact.

It turns out looking at houses is a lot like looking at puppies. I don't have the temperament to stay cool and unattached. I see a house I love and get all excited and start obsessing about decorating. I saw two that fit into that category today during our house hunting. Pete is threatening to stop taking me along.

He goes into houses and looks at how new the furnace is, how old/new the wiring is, if there's hardwood underneath the carpet, and which walls he would knock down. I go and think about paint colors and breakfast nooks. I can't help it! I think it's in my DNA. I just get excited about certain things, and then become determined to make them mine. It just so happens that puppies and houses are two of the main things I like.

Sorry, Pete. Thanks for being the voice of reason in this process. Please don't stop taking me with you. I'll try to be good! Just don't take me to see any puppies, because I can't make any promises about that!

South Dakota On My Mind

My uncle Larry suffered some brain trauma last week from a fall he took (details are sketchy as he was by himself at the time), and I've been thinking about him a lot lately. Thankfully, he seems to be doing really well. I'm sure it will be a long road to recovery, but I'm so glad he's getting better. He's been busy with all sorts of therapy lately and it sounds like he's been working really hard. I know my aunt Sally is dealing with a lot right now, too, with supporting him and dealing with the long-term implications. I'm so glad that things seem to be moving in a positive direction, and wish the best for them. They are two of my very favorite people.

I was looking for a picture from one of our trips to South Dakota to put up with this post, and came across this one. (I stole it from Peter :) Finding it made me feel pretty homesick. That's my dad out hunting. The black blur out in front of him is his Jr. hunting dog, Tom. The Sr. hunting dog, Huck is there too, he just doesn't jump around as much. I miss my dad so much. And my mom, too. And Tom, and Huck. And I don't even have anyone to give me any hugs to help because Pete wussed out on me tonight and went to bed at 9:00 pm. Maybe I'll have to give Fredo some hugs.

Anyhow, tomorrow Pete and I are going to do some more house hunting. We have a few open houses to go to, so that should be fun. We're enjoying having a relaxing three-day weekend :)

Love to South Dakota and Montana!

2007

Peter and I rang in the New Year at Eric James's house on Sunday evening. It was a good time and there was a ton of food. Seriously, if we had been snowed in for a week I think we would have been okay.

That leads me to my next point, which is WE GOT SNOW! It snowed a couple of inches New Year's Eve. Finally, some snow. It was fun watching it snow, and even if it is all melting right now I'm still glad we got it. The snow really jazzed up our Fredo-potato. I took him for a walk last night and he ran and ran and ran. He also likes to rub around in the snow :) It's amazing how something so simple as a bath or some snow can give a dog so much energy.




For his walk, I took the little meatloaf to Lake Nokomis, which I have kind of started to think of as my own personal lake. Up until this year I had spent most of my lake-time at either Lake Harriet or Lake Calhoun. I have found, however, that I much prefer Nokomis. I even like the planes flying overhead and I never feel creeped out by the people there, even when it's after dark. In fact, Fredo and I are planning a little Nokomis outing for later on this afternoon.


The most exciting thing about it being 2007 for me is that Pete and I are going to start looking at houses :) Or as he says, I can start "harassing" him about houses now. I can't help it if I'm goal-oriented and ruthlessly efficient. Anyhow, we've begun doing some preliminary drive-bys in the neighborhood of my lake, and I am so very excited!