Retreating to bed cause it’s fucking freezing. Fortunately got the electric blanket on in preparation so beds nice and warm at least. Reckon I’ll leave the electric towel rail on tonight too just so don’t freeze my junk off when I get up at 6am.
Done the last of the repotting and prepared 3 big pots for jalapeno seedlings. Sewed up the outdoor toy penguin and put it out. Done daiso shopping, bought gloves, no one had fingerless gloves so imma just cut the fingers off myself. Got all the sewing haberdashery I need to do some french embroidery on my jumper. All the tapestry fabric for recovering the chairs is cut out and ready. Pizza is being done. Cats are brushed and fed.
I refuse to listen to the news, the whining from the dems is driving me crazy. Just fricking use power and do something.
Lodged my tax return this morning. Took like 5 minutes
That’s how you know I’m poor
I has a quick look and plugged in some travel expenses since I started travelling off site at work and some other deductions.
This year thankfully is looking better than last year’s estimate.
The last time I did my tax that quickly I realised later I missed something and had to do an amendment. Turns out it meant the tax refund I had already received was higher than it should have been, so I had to repay the ATO 8c.
When they’re like “you got any investments bro? What about income from dividends? Don’t know what a dividend is? Oh, just put down “no” then, you poor fuck”
On the other hand when you have to answer “yes” it starts opening up a bunch of complicated questions to wade through. I put a small amount of money into some investment funds a couple of years ago and now I get to wade through a whole bunch of extra questions, all over tiny amounts of money. It’s all stuff like $20 of franking credits, $2.31 in foreign investment offsets and $6 of capital gains. I’m looking forward to hitting the age I can access Super and can just shove money in there and take it out tax free without all the hassle.
I’ve always loved the question to the effect of, “have you received any tips?” 🤣
I took an old mattress to the tip; does that count? 😂
Modern tax return stuff is so good how it already knows about all of my dividend and interest payments etc. Most things are auto-filled but I just need to crack open my google doc I keep with my expenses I put in and keep track of purchases I can claim, whack that stuff in there, get briefly mad at how much tax I pay every year and then hit submit. Probably takes me about 10 minutes. 15 with a double-check of everything.
Before I came to Australia I had this impression that tax was Awful and Complicated and A Nightmare - primarily from American media - and this was before I was old enough to have needed to file a tax return.
Only to find out it’s a total breeze here.
I think USA has the additional complication of having both State and Federal income taxes. There also seem to be a lot of things that can be deductable there that don’t apply here - like mortgage payments on your own home and the value of donations given to charity (not just money, but stuff like old clothes you drop off at the op shop!). Plus they have the option to file a joint tax return as a couple instead of being treated as two individuals, which is beneficial in some circumstances but not others.
Operative phrase there is ‘american media’.
It’s certainly a massive improvement on the old paper forms. The early electronic lodgements were also basically just the paper form online, all of this automatic stuff makes it so much easier.
bit cool next morning
Holy crap. It’s going to get down to 0?
It’s already 5.5c here
my forecast says -1
Wonder if my car will be iced over in the morning.
⚒️
i should stay warm in the fridge
Holy fuck that’s cold.
Wish I could explain to the cat that she’s allowed under the doona:
put doona over her
I usually do and she accepts it but then the doona is covering my head 🙁
Lie on side - raise top arm and possibly knee to create cat tent with doona - she may go under and then you can possibly slowly lower the doona down over the lower half of her body.
It might be more effective with a heat source to tempt her in.
Maybe Melbcat is unusually cuddly for a cat though
I better put the chili pots in the warm part of the garden
This is the way. I never met a cat that could resist the call of the “cat tent” and it’s emanating warmth. Especially being claustrophiles as they often are.
One cat really didn’t like being confined and would lash out (a neglected runaway I eventually got back to his owner) but with patience he started to spoon with me over the covers on his own. He would allow me to pick him up.
If he’d crashed for longer than a few months I might have built enough trust for the cat tent
Poor thing. I’m glad you were able to soften him up a bit.
He was so happy to come inside and sleep on the bed. I had to give him back but still wonder if he’s doing ok
Thank you! Will give it a go tonight.
I do not like that forecast. I looked at the predications for the next week and the coldest mornings are all the ones I’m working (which means 4am wakeup). Two days -1, one day 0, and a pleasantly warm 2 degrees for the other. There should be an extra penalty rate or allowance for early starts in below zero temperatures.
Miniest wants me to wake her up so she can experience that temperature. She likes it 😆
Hi all. If you pay for Parcel Post online but don’t have a printer, can you go to the PO and get them to print it out for you?
Gratitude thread!
Booked in for five hours of karaoke last night. I think in the last hour, I sang one song. But it was really nice to spend time with friends who I can be myself around and have fun with :) they accept my weirdness!
(Is that not the point of friendship? Some people I feel like I have to mask around more than others)
I’m also grateful for reading the responses to these threads! :)
I am grateful for salt, making life delicious. Some lovely sunshine, learning new things, and my bossy cat.
What did you sing?
We sang all kinds of things! Mostly pop, rock and a hint of musical theatre. Friend also added the Star Spangled Banner and made it scream-o.
Grateful I got WFH approved tomorrow to take the edge off everything I gotta do this week! And grateful to weekend me for meal prepping enough to last me til Thursday 👍
Grateful to have been paid and can take the cat to the vet this week for his vaccinations and a checkup for his bile vomit.
Grateful for the cat, he’s the best thing to have happened to me.
Grateful for my partner supporting me and Mickey, for all our faults.
Victorian public service executives have now been awarded a pay increase between 3.5% and 4.3%.
Less than inflation.
More than the 3% that government policy caps the offer for all their other workers at. But the politicians themselves and the executives get to have different rules.
Got done by a lemon tree thorn a few days ago. Tiny little prick but it’s really puffed up. Headed over to Dr. google and learnt a new word:
Phytophotodermatitis, where when you get done, then expose it to UVA it flares up. Most common from lemon trees apparently.
Little fucker packs a punch. I had no idea.
I will wear gloves next time.
Wait until you get a rose thorn stabbing, and end up going to the doc for a penicillin injection. Which they administer with a sharpened hose pipe into your gluteus maximus. Rose thorns do gangrene really really well apparently. Learned my lesson from that experience and now wear gloves when I’m anywhere near roses. Never knew that lemons were particularly hazardous - thanks for the info!
TIL
and hugs
If you change your password, but your password manager fails to capture it did you really even change your password? According to the system? Yes, you very much did.
A password manager that doesn’t capture a password is about as useful as an indicator on a BMW.
Last pass?
At least LastPass asks you if you want to update your password after you’ve changed it.
I’m using 1password and much prefer it. But it asks when the password is generated. What if the password field has a bunch of rules I need to follow and have to make edits after?
Check out Bitwarden. Free and pretty decent.
yep! Rubbish until the end hey.
Didn’t they have a massive data breach 2 years ago? I swear it was them.
Yes, I believe so. I CERTAINLY wouldnt use it personally. But its more a point to my security team: Either block it, or endorse a corporate solution. Till then im not *technically * doing anything wrong.
Possible job offer.
Reference check being conducted.
If they require a police check, which they probably will, it’s 50/50 that they withdraw the offer.
Fingers crossed, 🤞🏾🤞🏾🤞🏾
Crossing everything for you!
Thank you! If there is a police check, I’m going to request a meeting with the general manager who I interviewed with and see what she’ll say.
Got your back on this no matter what happens
You’re an absolute legend man. Seriously ❤️
You guys said Octonauts was good but they referred to a pufferfish as poisonous instead of venomous
As far as kids are concerned, the fish is poisonous. There’s no way I’d want a kid to think they can fry up and eat a pufferfish.
🐡😱
Are they eating it or touching it?
In that episode the pufferfish got eaten, but it was by a whaleshark
I’ve been listening to Chappell Roans album The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess and I’m in love.
lovey mushy goo goo shite
My partner came home from work last night and started playing Stellaris while listening to the album as well. He said we should go see her if she comes to Aus. He says one of the reasons he loves me is that I never judge him for liking Pop music, and I sing along with him to Call Me Maybe lol. He knows the lyrics better than I do.
I love my Pop Boi.
Casual lives rent free in my head running endless loops around pink pony and i love it
Knee deep in the passenger seat, and you’re eating me out
Is it casual now?Those lines are virulent, so damn catchy. Naked in Manhattan and My Kink is my Karma are my favs so far I think, but it’s hard because every song is great!
Hungry Jack is dead to me. How dare he.
Let me try one, then I’ll decide
Oh no. What gave they done?
That’s sacrilegious!
😱💀
Looks good though. It’s only when you receive it do you realise it’s been slam dunked into the bag from the other side of the room. I’d still call it a parma if I ordered it.
Welp, time to grab the pitchforks and drive Jack to the border.
I know they get a lot of hate, but I actually like the new short Coles paper bags. They have about the same effective carrying capacity (unless you are buying something really light like a bulk purchase of marshmallows) but are much less likely to end up torn. They also seem more stable, things don’t end up rolling around inside the bag as much. The larger bags almost always ended up torn during delivery when they had cans of cat food and similar in them, it hasn’t happened once with the shorter ones.
I have not had the same experience. I find they all rip in no time. The plastic ones lasted 10-15 uses. The paper ones are lucky to last 2.
it’s sunny here so it’s off to the park to catch some rays
