Author: Doris

Duplex House, Passport Renewal & Tax Time

My working area is in Picture 1.  A brand new table with a chair.  My sleeping bedroom is in next picture.  I don’t need a bed which causes me a lot of problems with my back.  And my dinning area also with brand new table and two chairs as one can see in the last picture.

Today, I started working on my passport renewal for our upcoming trip to Machu Picchu in October.  Time really goes by quickly.  I have hold my passport for almost ten years.

It is also my tax time.  I need to file our small business tax by 3/15 and, other more familiar one, form 1040 by 4/15.

I was locked out today because the old lock suddenly came back to life – popped open to lock the door inside.  I had to call my landlord and he made a special trip back home.  Really sorry for that.  But, he was pretty excited today and told me he just bought another house nearby.

Time to be landlord.  Hopefully, he can rent all his houses out to those people working in the new nuclear plant.  Besides that, nothing happens here.  No new employment here in Winnsboro, SC.

Coastal Flats

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Clinical for me ended early (surprise!) so I was able to pick Mom up at BWI mid-afternoon.  Vince is off somewhere camping, so the rest of us headed to Coastal Flats, a new eater near the Target in Gaithersburg.  This is a new “neighborhood” that has just sprung up with restaurants, bars, fancy gyms etc, topped with high-end apartments and then condos or single family houses that ring around the center of the “town”.

We thought we’d beat the crowd by getting there at 5:30 pm, but alas, we did not.  We waited about 45 minutes to get seated – I’m not even sure the last time I waited in line for a restaurant!  But I had a lot of fun, I’m not often out in a crowded place having a drink on Saturday night.  Here’s Edda having a sip of my cocktail – I was waiting for her to make yucky face but it didn’t happen.  Yelp told us that the service was excellent and warm and I give props to our waitress for asking Edda directly what sides / drinks she wanted even though we kept answering for her.  Thumbs up!

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Here she is totally drunk.  No that’s not true.  Here she is wiping her greasy lips on my shirt sleeves.

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The Glass Menagerie

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Determined to have a “real” date night last night, Jeremy and I went to see The Glass Menagerie playing at Ford’s Theatre.  I’d never seen or read anything by Tennessee Williams – not A Streetcar Named Desire nor Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.  It was delightful – I wonder why I don’t see plays more often.  I like the exaggerated voices, accents, movements that come with live-action.  (Does live-action refer only to movies – as opposed to animated?)  I also like knowing that the actors do the same performance night after night and that this high drama repeats itself over and over again.  I just finished Life After Life by Kate Atkinson which tells a tale of a woman who lives her life over and over again and small decisions along the way lead to drastically different endings – so I’ve got deja vu on my mind.

It was interesting to go see it at Ford’s Theatre – where Lincoln was shot.  Do you see the American Flag coming out of Jeremy’s nose?

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Our balcony seats were right next to the presidential balcony – you can see it with all the bunting.

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My New Place

Today is my moving day.  Mom helped me to gather all my belongings and moved in this old duplex house. After moving in, we went to the local BI-LO stores to buy grocery to put them into my refrigerator.

At lunch, we went to a local American Buffet place called “Barn Express”.  It was jammed packed.  The lady cashier thought we were from the moon or some strange place.  But, they were extremely polite.  She even handed me her business card and with handwriting on it about their business hours.

I even went to a local Wells Fargo bank to get some cash.  I also found a local Chevy car dealership where I am going to have my air bag recall fixed.

Winnsboro, SC is a world for Donald Trump and Bernie.  Their signs are everywhere.  No sign for other candidates though.

Too bad, Mom is leaving.  But, at least, last Sunday we had a wonderful Valentine’s Day together 🙂 with my budget Valentine’s balloon, flowers and vase.  It costed a total of $5.00.  Not bad either 🙂

MISC

I am going to max out my 401K ($18,000,00) plus catch-up ($6,000.00) as soon as I can.  All is in stock funds. This will provide a lot of flexibility as well as prudent financial planning with less taxable income, upfront.

I am also going to move into a duplex house tomorrow in the country side, less traffic, more room, and, above all less wake-up call noise everywhere in the extended stay hotel.  The land lord is one of our co-workers.  He paid $15,000.00 for the entire house and, yet, rents out a half with $500.00 monthly income. Good deal.  I told him that I am happy for him for his smart investment.  He is looking for the second to buy.

Mom turns my small hotel kitchen to a full blown one.  I am kind of amused what she can do. She also just finished a hand-kitted sweater for me.  And I love and wear it.

Too bad, she is leaving tomorrow (Saturday).  She will stay in China with her relatives about a month and will be back to our west coast home in Mid April.  I guess, there, she needs to take care of our “additional Master bedroom as well as the mud room” without me in the short term.  Hopefully, after my assignment and in the near future, I can join her.  As with respect to building permit, I have requested and got an extension from our City.

I plan to come back to Maryland in early Spring to do the grafting on our persimmon fruit tree.  I have ordered and got all ingredients (a grafting knife, grafting tapes and protective glue) to do the work.