Month: March 2011

Dear Caesar,

Finally got the taxes in the mail.  Summary of my thoughts for the 2010 season:

  • Gee those forms are getting complicated.  I had all easy ones this year, so no big deal.  But wow, that’s a lot of laws.  I printed off a 1040EZ for my form-loving daughter to play with, remembering the nice simple document the EZ was last time I looked at one, over a decade ago.  Not so.  Even the EZ isn’t EZ anymore.
  • Making work pay?  Mmmn.  Well, I appreciated the discount.  But . . . a) What about our federal debt?  and b) See “complicated forms” above.  Always one more thing.  If we can afford to lower taxes, let’s just lower them, no Schedule M required.  If we can’t afford to, then what’s with the populist pandering?
  • (Yes, I know what’s with the populist pandering.  Yes I do.  Smart Alek.)
  • I kinda missed getting my packet of forms in the mail. I think the move to 100% digital was brilliant, and a necessary cost-saving measure.  In the end I printed out my 1040 instructions and stuck them in a 3-ring binder, which turned out to be much easier to work with then the old newsprint booklet.  But despite all that, I did whine a little . . .
  • Because I like getting stuff in the mail!  Plus that big envelope is handy when you have a lot of forms to send in!  I had to stuff everything into a little office envelope this year, ’cause it was all I had lying around.  Plus, I almost forgot to do my taxes — (I know!) — because there was no 1040 booklet sitting on my desk to remind me.
  • Still, I support the switch.  IRS gets a thumb’s up once again on a useful and well-run website.  Was able to find everything I needed easily.  Well done.  Yay IRS.
  • LOVED the fillable Adobe forms this year.  That was a highlight.
  • Count me in the six remaining people still mailing in paper forms. I was pleased to see there’s now  a free electronic filing option for those of us who do our taxes by hand.  But sorry, not enough info on which company is running the program, and what their reputation is, and all of that.  I would have used the electronic file if the IRS were running it themselves.  I’ll consider outsourced e-file in the future, once I get more info about how it worked this year on the guinea pigs.

In all it was  a pretty good tax year, probably my fastest one in the past ten years.  No weird stuff to monkey with, so the spreadsheet was ready to go as-was from 2009.  Our real federal income tax rate was about 4%.  That’s not counting self-employment taxes, medicare or social security.  Just the amount of income tax  as a percentage of gross income.

Sounds low, but I don’t think it is.  –> Taken as part of the larger tax picture, where you add in state income tax, the various social welfare taxes, property taxes, etc., that percentage seems okay to me.

Which tells me maybe the federal debt equation is better managed by spending less.  Hmmn?

***

If anyone is game for comparing real federal rates, I’m curious.  Please don’t post any income information! Just the ratio of the total federal income tax you owed (roughly, line 55, less any credits from lines 63-71) as compared to your gross income on line 22.

This will be a very individualized number, so kindly refrain from explaining it, since you may end up sharing more personal details than are seemly, even for the internet.  Just the percentage.  That’s what financial policy geeks care about most.

my life.

Prelude: How to get the people to eat lunch.

It’s one o’clock.  The little people have lost momentum and scattered to various activities that are neither school nor chores.  They seem unaware of the checklist.

“Okay, everyone, it’s one o’clock.  Let’s do a clean up.”

“But I haven’t had lunch yet!”

Three more people surface, suddenly starving.

“Okay.  Eat lunch and then we’re cleaning.”

***

Part 2: Purgatory.

I’m making my own lunch. (Well, I had breakfast at 11.  Did I say I was organized?  No I did not.)  Female child squeals “Ow!” in the eating area.  I look over to see what Mr. Usually Guilty is doing this time.

He’s just standing there.  And there is no female child in sight.

I look under the table.  Sure enough, eldest daughter is hidden among the chairs.  Other two girls are down the hall.  “What are you doing under there?” I ask.  Still trying to find out what her brother has done this time.

“We’re hiding from the bomb!”

Ah.  The bomb.  That would be the microwave.  Every time it beeps, it’s a bomb going off.  You have to run down the hall to be safe.  Don’t ask me how this one started.  I have no idea.

Microwave beeps.

“Ahh!  The bomb!  You’re dead mom!  You and Mr. Boy are dead!”

Death looks eerily like my kitchen.  Well, the boy is right here with me. “I’m afraid we’ve died and gone to Purgatory.”

***

Things homeschoolers do. So the Kolbe lady calls me today, because she’s packing up the books I ordered, and everything is single copies except for two copies of the student workbook for Famous Men of Rome.

“Well, both kids are going to do Roman history next year, so I got them both a workbook.”

“Okay.  Well I saw you also got the Greek history . . .”

“Umm.  That was just because my history-nut child wanted to look at it for fun.”

A little more back-and-forth, confirming order is correct.  Friendly lady tells me books will be shipping out this afternoon, should arrive late next week.

I have to tell you: It felt very weird yesterday, buying textbooks.  For one, they’re expensive!  I’m not used to having to by that exact book.  I usually just get the one that someone’s selling real cheap and it looks pretty good.  And then: A whole year (or more) of school in just one book? You mean I won’t have to go to the library? That’s the point, of course.

New experience for me.  I guess it’s the way people feel about sending their child to kindergarten.You know it’s the right thing for right now, and you hope it will work out, and it’s exciting, but it’s . . .  so much.

***

Children are dispersing again.  They seem to have forgotten that whole “clean-up” thing we talked about forty-five minutes ago.  Better strap on my dictator powers and see what we can do.

marriage, murder . . . the theme won’t go away

If you’ve been pregnant in the last decade or so, you’ve already figured it out, I hope.  But here’s a good article at Public Discourse on the prenatal testing industry.   Key point: 99% of babies who test positive for Down Syndrome are aborted.

The antidote is Be Not Afraid.net – support for parents with poor prenatal diagnosis.  Take a look.  Keep in the back of your head.  Easy to remember.  Useful.  Good.

Kolbe – episode 2

So we decided to go ahead and register with Kolbe for next year, for the two big kids.  Here’s the beta, for those who are considering a similar plunge:

Glad we registered silly early. Kolbe lets you send in your registration (and tuition, of course) as early as you like, and then you school year still runs for the 12 months you indicate.  So we mailed forms in March, but that is to cover the year running August 2011-July 2012.  Why bother registering so early?

  • Avoid overwhelming the staff during crunch season.  We had a big box of course plans and parent information on our doorstep within a week.   One item was missing, and it was no problem to whip out an e-mail and the registration guy could just pop it in the mail.  You don’t want to be sweating waiting for materials a week before you need to start.
  • Time to look through the course plans, and get an idea of how the recommended books will be used.  So you know whether ________ supplemental text is something your student will really need, maybe want, or can do without.  Handy.
  • Time to bring the kids up to speed on their weak subjects.  Which is why . . .

The Assessment Tests are Gold.  Get them. These are the tests that measure how much of the current year’s work your student has mastered.   And here’s the secret that nervous, overwhelmed parents need to know: You don’t have to administer the test. If you’ve been teaching your student one-on-one, you can probably just look at them and get a good idea of how your student stacks up to plan.

For example, you might look at the end-of-third-grade grammar test, and say to yourself, “Egads! my 9-year-old has never even heard the word ‘Predicate’!  Somebody, quick, find me a grammar book!”  And so you google “free grammar practice worksheets”, and find this great site, and you spend the rest of the spring introducing your child to the wonders of formal grammar study.

No need to traumatize anyone by actually administering the test.  You can traumatize yourself just by looking at it.  (And, also, be reassured that the idea of a ‘predicate’ is pretty easily explained, once your child learns what nouns and verbs are, which is also pretty easy.  Which is why you weren’t sweating grammar up till now anyway.)

***

So that’s what we’re doing this spring.  Intensive grammar, math, and penmanship; structured unschooling for the rest.

 

***

PS: Funny conversation with the boy:

Mom: I think you’ll find the history next year pretty light.

Mr. Boy: Kolbe must not really care about history.

Mom:  No, actually they care quite a lot about history.  It’s that most kids your age don’t read adult history books for fun.

Mr. Boy: Oh.

(FYI rest assured, not all my children are like this.)

Repeat after me: “Murder is Never the Solution”

UPDATE: Fr. says I had it right:

Actually, you are correct.  If you murder your spouse, you are not free to marry.  You are impeded due to the fact crime and public propriety come into play in this situation.  It does not matter if you murder your spouse or another person’s spouse.
See how much simpler it is to just ask your pastor, instead of the internet?  Ha.  I’m practically a Luddite.  (Have I mentioned my parish gets all the best priests?  We get all the best priests.)
********
Original post:

 

That was us last night in 5th grade.  Because we were learning about Marriage.

–> And it appears I misquoted canon law, just a little.  Request for help at the bottom.

It was all going so nicely.  Marriage as one of the sacraments of service.  Husband and wife, till death do us part, open to children = new eternal souls, responsibility to educate those children, teach them right and wrong, introduce them to the church, teach them their faith . . . we were on it.

Naturally divorce came up, as it ALWAYS does, I don’t care how many times I don’t mention it even once.  But hey, no problem.  Quick explanation of nullity on the one part and separation of bed and board on the other, these kids were sharp.  No worries.  Off we launch into Holy Orders, when I my new favorite student raises her hand, and whispers, “I have one more question about marriage.”

Sure, no problem, go ahead sweetie.

“What if you murder your spouse because you don’t want to be married anymore.  Can you get married again after that?”

I should have just whispered “No,” and gotten back to bishops.   But I am not so smart.  I let the whole class in our little conversation.  Boys start howling, thrusting invisible knives at each other, thinking up little kitchen ‘accidents’ . . .

And hence the chant.  Repeat after me: “Murder is Never the Solution”.  Replace one boisterous activity with another.  It’s loud (I wonder if anyone is listening in the hall), but it’s focused.  Class back on track.  Quick let’s find those bishops again before someone starts the “Is it a mortal sin?” scenarios.

So that was our class last night.  [Great talk on Holy Orders.  Only excitement was another new question: “What if you don’t like your Deacon?” We all agreed: Suck it up, get along.  Disclaimer: Our parish has awesome clergy.  It was a hypothetical question. Nice talk about how every single sermon might not be written especially for you personally, some weeks it’s your turn to sit quietly and pray.  And if you were up there preaching, not everyone would be so excited about you either.  Get over yourself.  The kids *totally* get this.  Love it.]

***

Anyhow, speaking of bishops, I’m not sure I sure I got my murder question quite right. Here is canon 1090, which seems to be the one I had imagined:

Can. 1090 §1. Anyone who with a view to entering marriage with a certain person has brought about the death of that person’s spouse or of one’s own spouse invalidly attempts this marriage.

§2. Those who have brought about the death of a spouse by mutual physical or moral cooperation also invalidly attempt a marriage together.

So this is all about murder in anticipation of a particular future marriage.  Doesn’t say anything about murder just to generally open up your options again.

Someone help me here.  Was I wrong?  (I think so).  Right enough? (For practical purposes, don’t think any little children were led wildly astray of the narrow road.)

Opine, opine.  I’ll ask Father just to be sure.

At the conference . . .

. . . Naturally I didn’t plan on spending very much time at the Online Catholic Writer’s Conference this year.  Trying to keep school moving, clean out the house, get the garden in, all that.  But of course I am there anyway.  If you are, too, you’ll recognize me by my mysterious user-name, “Jennifer_Fitz”.  So say hello if you see me there.

Jen.

Lent.

From a baptist missionary family that has come to love Advent, and is now digging into Lent:

We decided to give the “Lent” thing a whirl.  We were the first to admit that like Christmas, Easter would sort of land on us.  We’d walk into church, our hearts unprepared, and then try and take in within one church service the complexities and rich beauty of the cross and the resurrection.  Impossible.  We left kind of numb.  Perhaps a tad-bit moved.  But mostly overwhelmed and feeling a little let down.  Just as celebrating Advent completely changed Christmas for us, taking the weeks prior to Easter to really savor the story of Jesus’ death and resurrection has been life changing.  The gospel.  God’s great love for this world.  Our sin.  Redemption.  Salvation.  This undeserved gift.  What medicine for the soul.

The more the Lent the more the Easter.  You can read the whole thing here. As they point out (repeating one of my favorite priests), it’s not too late to have a great Lent.

my little blonde Therese icon

The Bun is six, which is never easy, but she seems to be suffering from sixness more than average.  I can’t remember how it all came to a head, but the SuperHusband and I agreed we needed to take drastic action.  Child would be sent to either Piano or Karate.

Piano won for a whole host of reasons.  But wow: Expensive.   (More so because for part of that host of reasons, we opted to go with Not the Cheapest Teacher.  Even though said teacher tells me we are getting a parishioner discount.  I don’t want to know what full retail is.)  Apparently I have been massively spoiled by our super-bargain activities up to now.

So the deal is, and it all fits with the Addressing the Sixness action plan, that the Bun will clean up the trash in our yard once a week, thereby earning $1.  And she will put that money in an envelope and give it to her teacher, and we will pay the balance of her tuition.  Her teacher is thrilled.  (Yay teacher!  This is why we picked you.  Plus you are a good musician, that didn’t hurt either.)  The children have pointed out:

  • It is hardly any money at all.
  • We, the parents, are paying her that money.
  • Which she then gives back to us.
  • So how exactly does that help?

The mother silenced this questioning from the masses with pointed observations about her powers to tax, commandeer, and empress.

But the mother feels this way herself.  Not towards the Bun.  We are extremely happy with the piano plan all around.  Our yard is cleaner (yay!); our six year old has two different fronts on which she is developing confidence, skill, and self-discipline; and she has a sense of ownership over her lessons.  She helped pay for it with her own labor.  It is valuable.

No.  The mother feels this way towards God.

The Bun correctly observes that her contribution is very, very little.  My contribution to the work of Jesus?  Very, very, very little.  (Technically: Even littler than that.)  Plus the other similarities: Everything I do give came from Him anyway.  And He has to hound me even more relentlessly than I have to supervise the piano-player.  And He’s perfectly capable of taking care of the entire universe Himself, so what use am I anyway?

And this is a great consolation.  Our era is awash with talk of greatness.  Jesus isn’t asking me to be great.  He knows I can’t be great.  He knows the size of the problem — our whole fallen world.  He knows that He has to carry the load.  But He’ll let me help him, if I’m willing.  He’ll let me really help, and it will be good for me, and it will be the amount that is the size for me.

So that’s what I’m thinking about lately.   Being more like the Bun.   I like it.

Have a mission for you today:

Good morning, it is Thursday, and with any luck something sorta bad will happen to you.

Not really bad, I hope.  But just some generic rudeness, minor aches and pains, maybe some annoying bureaucratic snafu.  I hope this because I need to borrow it, on behalf of this baby:

http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/joannamaureen

Go ahead, start offering up.  Thank you.

[PS: As an alternate route: Have a perfect perfect perfect day, and use a little bit of your resulting leisure to pray for baby Joanna.  That’d do just as well.  Or have an average, uneventful day, and direct some of your default prayers her way.  That’s good too.  I’ll take ’em anyway I can get ’em.]

–> Please note: the ‘donate’ button on the caringbridge site does NOT cause any financial assistance for the families who set up sites there.  Just pray.  No money.  Just pray.

I am totally ready to beg for funds on behalf of the Scheidels, perhaps to be sent through their parish, but at this time there is nothing set up for that.  Which is fine, because although Jackie and Jason would be perfectly happy to eat and have a house, the only thing they really want is for their baby girl to live.

So please pray for that today.

Thank you.

***

PS: In the event you happen to have said a prayer for the missionary family I quoted Tuesday, FYI Danny Pye is out of jail.  Yay.

other people’s words

Hey, look I’m being like Dorian and outsourcing.  Because I’m teaching tonight, plus I was being responsible today (reduced goofing off), plus Christian LeBlanc e-mailed this link to an article of his on the origins of the French language.

So go read that.  It’s interesting.  And then if you’re still bored, you can come back here and click on the link to the Verb Conjugator (many, many languages offered) and entertain yourself with that for a while.  That’s what he was doing when he had the presence of mind to entertain me.

–> Try not to blush when your boss asks you what you’re doing, and you insist you were just, er, conjugating.  Oh yes, one of THOSE sites.  Sure.