Roosting Day October 15, 2008

The proverbial tax chickens have come home to roost.  The procrastination party is over.  Now I’ve gone and done it.  I’ve filed my taxes.  Not at midnight, as I threatened, but at 4:45 p.m.  I’m not sure if I let myself down, or impressed myself.  I think I learned something, though, doing taxes 6 months later is still just as miserable as doing them earlier.  Does this mean I will file them in April next time?  I’m not sure.  But I will file them online again, because having TurboTax do them is MUCH LESS PAINFUL than using pencil and paper.

Here’s a little trivia about the “roosting chickens”…  I find word and phrase origins interesting, so here’s a little tidbit according to Phrase Finder:

Chickens scratch around in the barnyard, in the fields and woods during the day. But at night they come home to the hen-house to roost. This saying is comparing a person’s evil or foolish deeds to chickens. If a person does wrong, the “payback” might not be immediate. But at some point, at the end of the day, those “chickens” will come home to roost. “

According to this definition it seems I may be admitting that my procrastination is a foolish or evil deed.  I personally think taxes themselves are foolish and evil.  Ok, not really, just painful.

And Jesus answering said unto them, Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s. And they marvelled at him.  -Mark 12:17

I’m a Believer!

Laura

Legalized Procrastination April 14, 2008

I have such a sense of accomplishment today!  You see, I am a procrastinator by nature, and tomorrow is my most dreaded day of the year, April 15, Tax Day (dum, dum dum…).  Last year I finally discovered the procrastinator’s best friend – IRS Form 4868. 

And so, Mr. IRS man, today I celebrate my right to legalized procrastination by E-filing an extension on the last day for filing an extension.  Here’s to you, inventor of Form 4868 – a toast and a sigh of relief.  Don’t think for a moment, though, that I will use my time wisely and spend the next six months diligently searching all my tax records and working on them. No, on the contrary, I will gather all my records beginning on October 10 and begin working up to that last minute deadline, finally e-filing at midnight on October 15.  My mama didn’t call me “Last Minute Laura” for nothin’!  But it’s ok…that’s what procrastinators do (or, as the “cool” kids say, “That’s how I roll”).  🙂