Gonna Have to Start Going to Bed Earlier

I don't know what's been wrong with me this week.  I've been staying up WAY too late every night, and that's causing me to NOT want to get out of bed the next morning.  So, that's the reason for my skipping days here and there.  I'm not getting up early enough to write my blog.

The past few nights, I've been up until at least 11PM... and this gal needs more than 5 1/2 hours of sleep to function.  Which means not getting up until around 5:30 each morning.  Thirty minutes isn't long enough for me to write a decent blog post, so I've just skipped those days.

This week has been CRAZY busy, though.

Tuesday I was at the math training.  Wednesday I started my Minecraft blog and then got all caught up in Twitter, networking with other educational bloggers and Tweeters to get some traffic to the blog.  Yesterday was Butter's birthday.  It's just been pretty hectic both in and out of school.

I wish I could say we did something nice, last night, for Butter's birthday.  But, we didn't.  We've decided to hold off until tomorrow and Sunday to celebrate.  I did manage to sneak away from work and order Butter a plate of chocolatey goodness from the local candy store/bakery.  So even though we didn't actually do a big celebration, he did get to enjoy chocolate chip cookies, Oreo and peanut butter cookie balls, dipped pretzel sticks, and a giant brownie.  Nothing says Happy Birthday like a good chocolate/sugar coma, right?  Hubby and I also bought him a video game he's been wanting, but he got that this past weekend.

It's hard to believe my boy is 13.  He's growing up so fast.  All my kids are.  He's grown up so much over the past couple of years, both literally and emotionally.  And regardless of the rough times we've had over the years, he's pushed through and has become such a sweet, caring, mature young man.

Tomorrow, I'm going to be spending the day PLAYING volleyball.  Yep.  You read that right.  Playing.  Not watching...actually on the court, hitting the ball, a part of a team, playing.  I'm taking Peanut and Butter along with me to help out.  Teachers, staff, and other adults from the county are getting together to have a charity volleyball tournament.  

I'm not sure what I was thinking when I volunteered.  I mean, I'm not exactly a volleyball pro, nor really in shape for an entire day of playing volleyball.  But, then again, maybe it might inspire me to get my big behind off the couch and start taking advantage of the warmer weather to lose weight, once again. Lord knows I've tried SO. MANY. TIMES.  But, now that the weather is getting nicer, I can start going out and walking again.  I'm still planning on participating in the Race for the Cure next month, and even though I won't be jogging or running it, I will still need to be ready to walk 3+ miles.

Which doesn't really go well with the fact that after I spend the day playing volleyball, the kids and I are going to out and eat dinner to have a little birthday celebration for Butter.  Hubby and Jelly are going to have a Daddy/Daughter day tomorrow.  Not really sure what they're going to do, but the other two kids and myself are going to get to spend some time together.

On Sunday, we are all going over to P-Momma's for Butter's actual birthday celebration.  We'll have the cake and candles and singing and all that stuff.  We haven't seen P-Momma in TOO long, so all the kids are excited to go over and see her.  They love going to her house.  They get spoiled rotten while they're there... so why wouldn't they?  And, with the weather being nicer, they'll be able to play outside and stuff while the adults get to catch up and visit.

I am WAY overdue for a P-Momma catch up session.  So much to tell her!

But, with a day of volleyball and a day of P-Momma's house, that won't leave a lot of time for working. So, no doubt I'll have a couple of late nights over the weekend in order to write out all of my lesson plans and enter in all of my grades.  But, by this time of the year, I've managed to figure out how to make that process as simple and quick as I can.  I've actually done pretty well at getting a head start this past week during my plan times... so I shouldn't have to spend TOO much time working over the weekend.

Yesterday, I got blindsided with a letter from the IRS.  Gotta love letters addressed from them, right?  They decided to audit my tax return not from this past year, but from the year before...and I didn't report the bingo winnings I had on my 2012 tax returns, so now I owe them a nice chunk of change.

It's my fault for forgetting to claim them, but it also chaps my behind a little because even though I had a very lucrative bingo year in 2011, I didn't get to keep ALL of that money.  I split the winnings with my Mom.  So, now I have to pay out a couple hundred dollars even though we evenly split that money.  But, not much I can do about it. I have to pay the back taxes and the fine and the interest they've added on.  

Lessons learned.

One, make sure I claim any bingo winnings that need to be claimed, and two make sure that if I win a sum that has to be claimed, I take out money from the amount to pay for taxes BEFORE splitting the money.  So that way I don't end up winning, but losing out on an even share.

Not that I get to play bingo very much these days, but food for thought for if and when I do play and win a couple thousand dollars.  I had completely forgotten about winning that money, yet stuff like that always comes back to bite me in the behind... so it's only right I PAY for the mishap.

OK, time for me to get ready for work.  It's going to be a fun day in the classroom today, and I'm going to enjoy it.

Everyone else enjoy your Friday, m'kay?