What a wonderful day to do the taxes!

Last Saturday was my self-appointed day to get our taxes done. Waking up to this knowledge, I cuddled in bed for longer than usual, charging my stamina within the down comforter that warmed my body. Warm fuzzies…the best way to start a stressful day.

Leaping out of bed in a single bound, I made my way to the kitchen to brew a nice, hot, cup of tea. On that day, green tea was not the drink of choice. Needing caffeine, good old Salada, brewed to full strength, graced my cup. When sipping, steam filled my nostrils and it was decided that working on the taxes was not a good idea at that exact point, so on went the television. My brain was soon a flurry of stimulation. Like a person with attention deficit disorder, each new piece of political news distracted me until another, equally compelling tidbit emerged. My head was spinning and it would have been impossible to work on our taxes at that point. So, I decided to clean.

Cleaning is my least favorite activity, but it is mundane and lets my brain rest, and therefore seemed to be the best option at that point. Doing the dishes wasn’t so bad. The warm, soapy water was calming, and as long as I stayed away from the sharp knives, it was a safe activity. After each dish was washed, rinsed and placed in the drainer, I used the sponge to clean the counter. I must not have cleaned the counter for quite a while, and crumbs peeked at me menacingly from underneath both the toast oven and the toaster. Sighing, I unplugged each device, removed it from the counter, and spent a considerable amount of time chasing down the crumbs. Those little buggers slid everywhere, and soon the coffee maker, blender, crock-pot and cookie jar joined the other small appliances on the kitchen table so all of the crumbs could be decimated. At that point, I’m not sure why I thought cleaning was calming and mindless; by now I had worked myself up into a cleaning frenzy. After opening the cupboard doors, the contents of the cabinets soon joined the small appliances on the table and I meticulously sprayed and cleaned each and every shelf. Looking at my handy work when finished, a smile of contentment flashed across my face right up until the point where the massive amount of stuff on the kitchen table glared back at me. Could it have been possible that while I was cleaning, everything multiplied? AGGHH! I remembered why I hated cleaning so much!

After every last small appliance, can of soup, jar of salsa and box of cereal had been put away, I was both exhausted and starving. I needed to regenerate my positive energy and make a hearty lunch. Unfortunately, hearty was unavailable, and I ended up eating three Cutie oranges and a container of yogurt. Fortunately, by drinking two glasses of Diet Coke, the caffeine kick started my work ethic, and I was soon seated at the computer ready to start on the taxes.

My collection of games on the computer lured me away from my original intent, and I decided it wouldn’t do any harm to play a few to get myself in the mood to work. My favorite game is Words With Friends (similar to Scrabble). I relaxingly maintain 50 games going at a time and gave my response to each game board my utmost attention. Some of my favorite words are “ZA,” which is slang for pizza, “FAQIR,” which was an Islamic monk and is one of the few words where a U is not needed after a Q, and “XI,” which can be a high point word that fits into a tiny spot, (it is the 14th letter of the Greek alphabet.) Alas, by the time I finished responding to all 50 games, it was almost 4:30 p.m. and time to get dressed to go out for Prime Rib Night at Dave’s Bar and Grille (otherwise ASL signed as “red meat night” by my daughter who is deaf.) Where did the day go? Doing the taxes was going to have to wait until next Saturday.