Crazy Daze, Silly Knights

They say 2 things in this life are inevitable...Death and Taxes. Since I am writing this...I'm not dead, but I believe I am being taxed to death. I live in Cook County, Illinois. For those of you who live here, I don't even have to begin to explain what I am talking about regarding taxes. For those of you not familiar with Cook County....they enjoy taxing people to the extreme. In my particular city, on top of the state and county charges...I get to pay a 10% sales tax. It is almost painful to type and even more difficult to say. TEN percent. (By the way, for those of you who are curious, you can look up your own tax rate.... http://www.zip2tax.com/z2t_lookup.asp?inputZip=60513 ) I have lived with this sales tax with little to no complaint until recently. The recent development is the village is now proposing a ENTERTAINMENT tax. Really? For this city? I'm finding very little to be entertained about in this city. Honestly, I just heard through the grapevine there is no bi

So here we are again, another school year almost done. Time no longer just marches by, it is doing wind sprints past. And as it does, it kicks up a lot of dirt. This year is no exception. In fact, seems to be kicking up a lot more dirt than previous years. This year we have "milestone" times for each child. One is graduating high school and the other is leaving grade school and going on to junior high. Now....any parent who experienced these things know it comes with more than just feelings of pride and accomplishment....it also means a lot of check writing. That seems to be the way we mark milestones these days...spending more money. The bigger the milestone, the more zeros we add on the checks. Some graduation events look more like a wedding than a teenager graduating high school. There are linen invitations for high school graduation parties. I have also received rather odd advertisements in the mail letting me know my graduate can have personalized water bottles to pa

Lately I’ve come to dislike looking out my back porch’s window. Out there, framed in all of my old window’s glory, is my stunning revelation I do not have the gardening skills to grow grass. Yes, it’s true, my lack of gardening skills have sunk that low. As I mentioned previously, I do not have a green thumb. In fact, I am the anti-plant person. I shorten the life of any plant on my property. This is a talent I’d give up in a heartbeat, but it seems like it is something I am stuck with. But I thought that growing grass would at least be able to pierce the veil of my anti-plant nature. Alas, I was wrong. And the patch of dirt out in my backyard is proof of it. Let me at least say I did not kill the grass in the backyard. I blame that one on the dogs we’ve had over the years. They dig and make little dens and really created a hell of an interesting terrain in the backyard. It looks a little like tiny bombs went off back there. Or we had underachieving rabbits making dens that infilt

They say 2 things are sure in this life....death and taxes. I am beginning to believe people dread the latter more than the former. For many people, April 15 is a time to practice using every cuss word known to man, and even get creative and make up a few. Now for those of you who finish your taxes the moment you get your information in the mail, you probably don't understand the dreadful day of April 15. You are more than likely sitting back and laughing at the "Midnight Filers" who drive by the post office at 11:59 and fling their package at anyone who looks like they might work there. To your credit (not a tax one though), you have earned that right because you were diligent and did your duty earlier in the year. While I can appreciate you being able to take the time an giggle at people who file last minute....I have to say you are missing out on something. The creativity of last minute tax preparations. I have a theory...the longer the person waits to file their t

Childhood is something you never appreciate when you are experiencing it. Your days are spent having people wake you up, cook for you, clean for you and buy you everything you need. The only thing you have to do is go to school and learn. It was a small price to pay for having all your needs taken care of. Looking back I have no idea why I fought my parents so much, possibly the insanity of my youth. I swore my mom and dad were against me at every turn: buying me clothes, making me learn at school, taking me on vacation, making me play piano and going to church. What was I complaining about? Good grief, in order to do that now I’d have to pay someone a lot of money to get that kind of service, and my parents did it for FREE! They drove me where I wanted to go. And it wasn’t only me, but my friends, too. Try and do that as an adult and you have to pay to have someone drive you places and they are not half as friendly. When my parents would let me out of the car they had something nice

Home projects. It is a phrase that many homeowners dread. Don’t get me wrong, I understand having a "home project" means I have a home. A lot of people who cannot afford a house and actually want one would love to bear the burden of having such a cross as a “home project.” They might envision a couple wearing their flannel shirts and jeans with a bandanna on their heads, working together with a TV sitcom comedic style. Laughing and joking as they delve deeper in their project, growing closer as a couple by the end of the half hour it takes to do the project. And once the project is done and it looks spectacular, like only Hollywood carpentry can portray, they cuddle up on the couch, all the more closer in their relationship for their trials. This is so far from reality it might as well be in another galaxy. I have no idea how any of the writers come up with a fantasy of couples working together on a project and no one is cussing or threat of divorce among them. Because that