spiralngphoenix

Yay tax returns!

Clearly school last year was the Best Plan Ever, even if it didn't end with me having an actual functional career. It was at least useful in procuring me a handy tax return. Which, I am proud to say, I DID MYSELF! (Okay, I used the free online TurboTax to do it, but I typed it all in by myself!) I seriously have not done my own taxes since I was 18 or 19. Math is hard. ;)

Happily, it's timing means I get to go in on some veggie and fruit CSA goodness for the year, which means I can kick this damned carb/protein only diet thing 'cause DAMN are fresh veggies expensive! The intertubes are going to be my new best friend, so I can figure out what on earth to do with a bunch of veggies. (Especially weeks where veggies consist of zucchini and summer squash which I adore, but the boy detests.) YAY FRESH LOCAL FOOD!

This also means that Endgame is definitely a go. *wipes forehead in relief* I was worried about that, but now it is possible. Hooray!

In other news, I'm considering the idea of figuring out if freelance office work is an option, and if so, what I need to do in order to get that actually coherent. Also considering getting myself an EIN and going legit. (Apparently I don't need to start filing business taxes until my net earnings total $400, so that's a big worry out of the way.) We'll see how that goes. Included in this is also wrassling the art stuff into some semblance of functionality, as well, instead of being quite so rambly and disjointed. (My brain hasn't been firing on all synapses lately. I'm working on correcting that.)

Splurged and acquired myself a copy of Machinarium. If nothing else, it'll amuse me for a little while, and help clear the cobwebs in my head by *gasp* actually having to think and do problem-solving!

That's about it, I guess. Everything else is still SS,DD.



Edit: Tomorrow there will be a trip to Providence. I'm remembering my camera this time. :)

I've been thinking lately (as I stare down the maw of a teeny-tiny budget that's gotten smaller recently due to this ridiculous economy we live in) about looking into the feasibility of ye olde "Buy Local" concept. It's something I tend to feel strongly about to start with, and prefer to do anyway, but lately I'm looking into whether or not it's a financial/spatial possibility.

See, the way I see it is this. Part of the problem with the economy is that we're still sitting around, waiting for the big businesses to start hiring/building/doing whatever it is they do, and they're sitting around waiting for us to start buying things again before they do any of that. The problem is that because we're not working, we're not buying, so they're not hiring/building/etc ad nauseum infinitum. Frankly, I'm tired of this concept. I'm also tired of buying things that were made outside the country simply because it's cheap. I'd much rather buy something from my local area, which will mean that they in turn will spend that money locally, building up the local area, and so on out from there. (Ideally, anyway.) Or at very least I'm supporting the farm down the street that I drive by every day, instead of some farm somewhere in Canada or Mexico. (Sorry Canada, I like you, but buying from you doesn't particularly help the guy I see out feeding the calves in the morning.)

There are some issues with actually doing this, however. Most CSA's I know of require far more money up front than I have to spend, and also tend to involve a box of food that is larger than I can adequately consume and/or store in a reasonable amount of time. I'm only feeding me, the cat, and the boy...I don't need enough food to feed a small village. Also, I don't have freezer space. So, CSA's are out. Which leads me to Farmer's Markets, which usually don't get going until around June (though some farms do sell eggs, honey, and other random bits year round. I'm looking into finding these now), and frequently don't offer things like meat, butter, cream, etc. The other issue is finding farms that have prices on their produce that I can afford.

Needless to say, this will take some investigatory work. If anyone knows of anything local to Pepperell, or has ideas feel free to speak up. :)