IRS

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I hadn't been home in a few days and almost got stuck in the combination of icebergs and slush pulling into my driveway yesterday afternoon. Thankfully, my neighbors had at least shoveled out my mailbox so I had still been getting my mail....

A letter from the IRS? It's close to tax time. That seems reasonable. It's pretty thick though— a bill for $38, 255. I don't think I can put into words the number of double, triple and quadruple takes I did. 

Come to find out, I forgot to report the $84,000 a local newspaper had paid me for freelance reporting. That makes sense. That would mean I wrote 2,100 stories, or just under six stories a day for the entire year, at my current rate of $40 per story. Either that or someone at the Revenue Service forgot to key in a decimal point on the $840.00 I actually made. 

Fast forward to this morning. The propane heater in my apartment wont turn on. The electronic lighter doesn't want to lighter. Eventually, I go downstairs to turn up the heat in the main house (Pete's area). It's set on 54 since he is in California, but I figure bumping it up a few degrees will get a little more heat into my place. 

Good thing I checked. His place was 40 degrees. Out of oil. 

Now what am I going to burn for heat?

Note: Yes Mom, I am taking care of the IRS bill. I didn't burn all of it...