Thursday, August 16, 2007

The Stupid Tax

This week I've been paying the "stupid tax". This is a random amount of money paid to various people or organizations as a result of a stupid decision. Jim and I coined the phrase after he unknowingly tripped a safety valve on a furnace, causing it to go out in the middle of January. Stupid tax: $74. Lesson learned: don't try to save money on gas by turning down the pilot light on the heater.

Last Friday I bought a blow-up pool for the boys. I figured it was $18 and would buy me lots of kid entertainment. Plus, hey, I could always dry it and put it away and use it next year! First installment of stupid tax: $18 on a blow-up pool plus 3 hours of work in blowing the dang thing up. A moment of panic when I noticed the cats eying the pool...nope. They have not managed to pop it yet. Toby bit a hole in one of the three sections, so it doesn't go quite as deep, but that isn't the point here. We got a second installment of the stupid tax last night when I paid a doctor $45 to diagnose Aidan with swimmers' ear. Then another stupid tax bill arrived at the pharmacy when I had to pay $35 for ear drops for said swimmers' ear. So, I'm up to $98 on a blow up pool, 3 hours to blow the dang thing up, 2 hours at the doctor's office with four kids thank-you-very-much and 2 wakings up in the night to administer ibuprofen before I relented and took Aidan in to the doc. All for a couple of days of them splashing around and causing me extra laundry in clothes (not just swimming trunks, but entire sets of clothes) and towels. Next time, I'm spending $5 on a sprinkler and telling them to run through it in their unders!

Oh, and just so you feel more sorry for me, I've smashed at least a dozen crickets in my house today. And they're just the brave ones who are venturing out, that doesn't include the several I hear hiding in the walls. Weenies. They make a crunchy sound when you squish them, but it's better than their "crick-ey" sound when they crick!

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Oh, Tara! ;-) You truly are super-mom. Wish I could have been there to watch the kids when you took Aidan in. Miss ya oodles...

Anonymous said...

This cracks me up! I've been known to charge "nuisance tax" to my more demanding freelance clients but I've never thought of stupid taxes at home. I'm sure if I start listing I'll have a page full in no time. Thanks for the new way of looking at things... could help our vacation fund grow a little faster...

SAHMmy Says said...

Too funny! I spent last summer 8 months pregnant inflating our dang kiddie pool every morning with a foot pump--it had a hole I never could find right out of the box! This year I bought an electric pump--best $20 I ever spent!