Quick Tax Day Tip

Are you rushing around to make sure you file your tax return by midnight tonight? If you owe, yes you had better get that thing postmarked today. If you owe but you can't pay right now, you need to file the return anyway. If you don't, the IRS will hit you with failure to file penalties. The interest and failure to pay penalty are bad enough, don't make it worse!

But, if you are getting a refund, relax. Yes, you want to get your refund as quickly as possible and quit loaning it to the government. But if you are getting a refund, you will not get any penalties for filing late. You must file within 3 years or lose your refund -- why in the world would you wait that long??? However, you don't have to fight the traffic at the post office today if you are due a refund. Just put it in the mail tomorrow or the next day. Take it from a former Revenue Officer (yes, I'm ashamed to admit I used to be a tax collector). And unfortunately this year, I owed....

Zucchini Time!

My friend Joyce was over yesterday and mentioned that she had made a great zucchini dish. I happened to have some good-looking zucchini in the refrigerator, so, I tried it that very night, and it WAS delicious. Dear Hubby thought it was great. I had some of the leftovers for lunch today, and I must say it was even better after a night in the fridge. Here's how to do it - I'm not putting any amounts in, just play it by ear:

• Chopped onion
• Chopped celery

Brown onion and celery in small amount of good fat - I used coconut oil.

• Zucchini, diced (I used 2 medium and it made at least 4 servings)
• Canned, diced tomatoes (I used the kind with chipotle peppers added, and that made it just spicy enough)

Add zucchini and diced tomatoes, cover and simmer for about 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.

You could use tomato sauce or fresh tomatoes. You could sprinkle fresh parmesan cheese on top. Now you have something else to do with those never-ending zucchinis that come out of your garden or someone else's.

Cliphanger Discount Code!

I always like to alert you when I hear of a good deal on one of the products I love.

From now until the end of April, you can get a 10% discount on your entire purchase from www.cliphanger.com. Use the promotion code "screen" during checkout.

They have some new products - thin-film protective screens for the display of your portable electronic device. Cliphanger Lights are also now available in black.

Coming soon: Left-handed Cliphanger Sticks in smoke and black colors. Now, that's something I can get behind! Both hubby and I are lefties. Amazingly, all three boys are righties.

Bad news/Good news

This year's been a doozy. So far this year:

My mother's spent 16 days in the hospital, and quite a few more days than that in poor condition (with us attending to her as well as we could). The good news: she's stabilized now and mostly functional. My siblings and I worked together in a beautiful partnership to support our mom and each other.

My computer croaked in January due to a power outage. The good news is - APC - the people who make the power backup I had it plugged into - paid for the new computer.

Then the hard drive in my new computer croaked in March. The good news - I replaced it and reloaded almost everything. The very good news - at the beginning of the year I purchased an external hard drive and set it up to automatically backup my documents and pictures at the end of every day. Wow - what a great thing that is!!

Then our 15-year-old washer and dryer set began acting weird. The good news - Conn's had a good sale.

Our water heater went out, but my handy Dear Hubby was able to fix it for $10.

The icemaker started throwing debris into the ice, but Dear Hubby got a discount on the parts and replaced it himself.

Dear Hubby was laid off from his job about three weeks ago, for the third time in a little over a year. Unemployed pilots are a dime a dozen out there, and he's turning 60 this year. BUT the good news is - we're in better shape than most. We won't go hungry or lose anything we own. Thank the Lord! And my hubby is a very resourceful, energetic, intelligent almost-60-year-old. I want him to find something to do that makes him excited to get up every morning, but doesn't tie us down to a rigid schedule. We love to travel too much!

My life is busier than ever, but I'm happy and peaceful and content. I get to help people everyday. What a blessing.

So you can see why I haven't been posting on the blog for the last few weeks. The creative side of me went AWOL for a while, but it's coming back.

Happy Resurrection Day! (The REAL Good News)