This morning we got up to Des Moines. First visited with our Aunt Louis, who is 96 and soon to be 97. This woman is sharp as a tack and funny as can be. She even had two magazines waiting for me to, as she put it, make me love Iowa even if I do not have Iowa blood in me! Though she did suggest maybe a blood transfer to replace my Texas blood with good Iowa blood. Told you, she is hilarious! So while I was reading, she and my wife yakked on about family (geesh….talk about a huge extended family, that is my wife’s family…all over not just Iowa, but the world). We left so that she could go to lunch, though she says they never serve what she really likes. That is one reason she enjoys it when we visit, as most times, not today though (and she let my wife know), we bring her homemade ice cream, candy, salads, and other victuals (her word and I only heard it down in Texas, so I mentioned that maybe she is not pureblood Iowan, but a smattering of good Texas blood using that word…she pooh-poohed me and said that was a good Iowa farm stock word).

Then we stopped by a store my wife wanted to check out. Nothing there except for a few items we bought. Then finally we went and had our Valentines Day lunch (did not have a valentines day lunch or dinner on saturday as we stayed home) at a nice barbeque place on Merle Haye. Got to recommend this place, Famous Dave’s Barbeque. I had to say, they actually did brisket they way it should be done, something few other places in Iowa can do. And the ribs! Oh, I had to force myself to eat them slowly and enjoy each bite. Yes, we ate way more than we should have, and wife said we should walk a few miles when we got home. Yeah right!

Then a quick stop at Aldi’s (grocery store) to pick up a few items my wife needed. She did grab a box of corn chex cereal and said, Coco will love these. Coco our dog now has her own cereal next to ours! Can you believe that? And yes, Coco went coocoo over the corn chex! Then a stop at QT to fill up the van and get something to drink. And home we came.

Last night, uploaded Turbo Tax into the computer and did our taxes. Both federal and state of Iowa (still gripes me Iowa taxes my pension!). From the time I started the uploading to the time I exited the program was only 1 hour. Efiled the federal tax forms, one button to push and that was that. No need to print out or sign, or spend time putting the tax return into an envelop. And this morning, got an email that the IRS had received our tax forms. From what I gather, they should direct desposit what our refund is on the 27th of this month. Now the state? Bah….will wait to print that out and send it in.

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A priest at a parochial school, wanted to point out the proper behavior for church. He was trying to elicit from the youngsters, rules that their parents might give before taking them to a nice restaurant.

“Don’t play with your food,” one second grader cited.

“Don’t be loud,” said another, and so on…

“And what rule do your parents give you before you go out to eat?” the priest inquired of one little boy.

Without batting an eye, the child replied, “Order something cheap.”

—–

Jones applied to a collection agency for a job, but he had no experience. He was so intense that the manager gave him a tough account with the promise that if he collected it, he’d get the job.

Two hours later, Jones came back with the entire amount.

“Amazing!” the manager said. “How did you do it?”

“Easy,” Jones replied. “I told him if he didn’t pay up, I’d tell all his other creditors that he paid us.”

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When I get to where I’m going, will somebody
please tell me where I am?

Why do they call it Alcoholics Anonymous if the first
two things you tell everybody is your name and the fact
that you are an alcoholic?

Lastly I have to mention a new blog of mine. Yes, I love blogs and yes I have too many blogs! But I saw the domain and it was available so I regged it. Nice domain name, FoodRecipesBlog.com and was surprised no one had grabbed it. Then found a database of food recipes containing about 10,000 recipes in 53 different categories. So there will be quite a few recipes now on the blog for you to peruse through and find those you want to enjoy. You can print them out. Plus long range at some time, we may put my wife’s cookbook her grandmother and mother wrote out (that is fun every time my wife pulls it out as some of the writing is a bit faint). So do check out the food recipes blog.

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