Hope, Hope, Hope

Just got off the phone with my Mom.  She spent the day zipping (in as much as her almost 80 year old self "zips") from place to place trying to figure out the taxes.  They were NOT filed.  Deep breath.  Keep calm.  Yeah.  Anyway, so she wound up at H&R Block.  Dropped $140 to have them do her taxes.  She owes nothing, but is out 140 bucks.  I told her to keep Christmas to herself, no sending checks for us.  She'd better listen, too.  140 dollars may not sound like much, but to her it's a couple weeks worth of groceries. 

From there, she hit the attorney's office.  They faxed the tax forms to the Trustee, and, according to them, all is well.  Ohhh, I do hope that's the case.  I'll keep an eye out for her this next tax season, get her set up with the free tax preparation.   What a mess.  Let's hope the disaster has been averted!

Just julienned one of the gigantic farmer's market carrots to go with pasta tonight.  ONE carrot made enough for everyone!  A shout out to Romanza Italian restaurant in Wendover, Nevada's Montego Bay Resort--had we not eaten there, we'd never have thought to julienne veggies and mix them with our pasta.  Never would have thought to course-grind Parmesan and asiago and then bake it into amazing little crisps, either.  Of course, we've added our own spin (via herbs and the like), but the ideas came from you.  So thank you, Romanza! 

Our mega-carrot, all cut up for pasta.  That's a half-gallon of apple cider for scale.  Whole lotta carrot goin' on!