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DAY 19: It's the roller coaster ride of life!

One of my favorite movies ever is, Parenthood with Steve Martin. There is a scene where he is stressed out and upset. His granny is staying with them for a visit. In the middle of the chaos she says, "ya know when I was 19 grandpa took me on a roller coaster". 
Steve Martin's character, Gill says "oh?" 
She says with enthusiasm, "up, down, up, down. Oh, what a ride!"
"What a great story",  Gil rolls his eyes sarcastically.
 Finally she says, "I always wanted to go again. You know, it was just so interesting to me that a ride could make me so frightened, so scared, so sick, so excited, and so thrilled all together! Some didn't like it. They went on the merry-go-round. That just goes around. Nothing. I like the roller coaster. You get more out of it".
She was trying to teach Gill a life lesson but he didn't want to hear it.
Later, still stressed out, talking with his wife Karen, they start to argue. She says, "I happen to LIKE the roller coaster, okay? As far as I'm concerned, your grandmother is brilliant".
Gil's retort: "Yeah if she's so brilliant why is she sitting in our NEIGHBOR'S CAR?"

And so it goes as I ride the roller coaster of life.
This week I got some great news. I qualified for a waiver to cover my college fees at Delta. I was surprised, I didn't think I would get anything. As a matter of fact, I already paid my fees for Fall 2013 and Spring 2014 so I am actually going to be reimbursed the money. Around $1400. Plus, I qualified for a small Pell Grant. Another $1600.  I am trying to avoid going into debt for my education. At least, for as long as I can. That extra money was a great surprise! That was on Wednesday.

On Thursday I got an email from our CPA. We owe $1383 to federal and $472 to state for our 2013 taxes.One day your up, the next day your down....Roller Coaster. This is the first year in a long time that we owed. I am not surprised though. And we made an adjustment right away on Joel's W-4, reducing his deductions so we don't have the same problem again next year.

It's actually a net gain. So, I am looking on the bright side :-)




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