which_chick (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
which_chick) wrote2004-12-28 11:13 am
which_chick) wrote2004-12-28 11:13 am
(no subject)
I'm halfway through the last (I really mean it this time!) batch of sand tarts. Since they're fridge-able, I don't have to finish them today, which is good. I don't really feel like finishing them today. Tomorrow, perhaps.
The ones I mailed to Mark and my mom arrived at least partially in pieces. I'm sort of pissed that they broke in transit, but I'm not sure they can be packed to survive the postal service without making them take up way more space than they should. I'd thought about mailing some to![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
not_your_real, but I'll see her at New Year's and it probably wouldn't be any faster to mail 'em. Also, they won't shatter if I drive them out in my car.
For those who have been wondering what happened with the crochet project, I'm taking a break because I'm mad at it. I had to undo a round and a half because I found an error. That sort of thing can take the wind out of anyone's sails. I haven't forgotten about it. I've fixed the error and now I have to rebuild what I undid. The prospect is less than inviting and I've been using cookie-baking as a displacement activity.
On my Altoona visit, I picked up a copy of Johnathan Strange & Mr. Norrell, a novel by Susanna Clarke. It's about british magicians, kinda. Not at all like Harry Potter, but a good read nonetheless. The whole thing has a good flavor. It's in a style, clean throughout, and that made for an effective world-building experience for me. I'll probably go back and reread it in a month or two to see how I really feel about it.
In other news, it's that time of year again! You can contribute to your Roth IRA for 2005 starting January 1, 2005. In order to max your contribution's growth, you do best if you put your contribution in at the start of the year, so get crackin' on that. Now would be a good time to mail off the check. Assuming you don't make some obscene amount of money (over 95K single, over 150K joint), you can just use the regular contribution, which is $4,000.00. (Persons making some obscene amount of money should consult the interweb for the rules that apply to them.) If you're over 50, you can also add $500.00 of catch-up contribution to that amount. Also, if you lamely forgot to contribute to your Roth IRA for 2004, it's still not too late to do that. You can make 2004 contributions until April 15, 2005.
Remember, campers, the government is not going to take care of your asses. If you're in my audience, odds are good you are AFTER the boomers. You do not get care. You are the first of The New Way, no matter what those cutesy Social Security statements mailed to you on or about your birthday every year say. When the system was solvent, they didn't spend time and money mailing people about the solidness and reliability of the expected benefits.
Do you really want to spend your eighties eating canned cat food? No time like the present to plan for the future, Grasshopper.
(Okay, usually I trust that the audience is smart enough to get all the cute things in the prose. You're smart folks and I expect you strip every drop of milk from the teat, as it were. But here we have the Master-Grasshopper thing and also we have a riff on the Aesop fable of the ant and the grasshopper. I just thought that was cool and it'd be a shame if you missed it.)
The ones I mailed to Mark and my mom arrived at least partially in pieces. I'm sort of pissed that they broke in transit, but I'm not sure they can be packed to survive the postal service without making them take up way more space than they should. I'd thought about mailing some to
not_your_real, but I'll see her at New Year's and it probably wouldn't be any faster to mail 'em. Also, they won't shatter if I drive them out in my car.For those who have been wondering what happened with the crochet project, I'm taking a break because I'm mad at it. I had to undo a round and a half because I found an error. That sort of thing can take the wind out of anyone's sails. I haven't forgotten about it. I've fixed the error and now I have to rebuild what I undid. The prospect is less than inviting and I've been using cookie-baking as a displacement activity.
On my Altoona visit, I picked up a copy of Johnathan Strange & Mr. Norrell, a novel by Susanna Clarke. It's about british magicians, kinda. Not at all like Harry Potter, but a good read nonetheless. The whole thing has a good flavor. It's in a style, clean throughout, and that made for an effective world-building experience for me. I'll probably go back and reread it in a month or two to see how I really feel about it.
In other news, it's that time of year again! You can contribute to your Roth IRA for 2005 starting January 1, 2005. In order to max your contribution's growth, you do best if you put your contribution in at the start of the year, so get crackin' on that. Now would be a good time to mail off the check. Assuming you don't make some obscene amount of money (over 95K single, over 150K joint), you can just use the regular contribution, which is $4,000.00. (Persons making some obscene amount of money should consult the interweb for the rules that apply to them.) If you're over 50, you can also add $500.00 of catch-up contribution to that amount. Also, if you lamely forgot to contribute to your Roth IRA for 2004, it's still not too late to do that. You can make 2004 contributions until April 15, 2005.
Remember, campers, the government is not going to take care of your asses. If you're in my audience, odds are good you are AFTER the boomers. You do not get care. You are the first of The New Way, no matter what those cutesy Social Security statements mailed to you on or about your birthday every year say. When the system was solvent, they didn't spend time and money mailing people about the solidness and reliability of the expected benefits.
Do you really want to spend your eighties eating canned cat food? No time like the present to plan for the future, Grasshopper.
(Okay, usually I trust that the audience is smart enough to get all the cute things in the prose. You're smart folks and I expect you strip every drop of milk from the teat, as it were. But here we have the Master-Grasshopper thing and also we have a riff on the Aesop fable of the ant and the grasshopper. I just thought that was cool and it'd be a shame if you missed it.)