Weekly Update

As we begin a new week, it's time for me to take a quick look back to see how I did on my 2012 goals during the previous week.

1. Financial - We were $12 under our discretionary spending budget for the week! Success!! Whoo Hoo!!! The tally sheet is ready to be hung on our wall in the study. Speaking of $12, I finished calculating our Federal Tax Return on Saturday. Knowing that we were losing a tax deduction (our last child was leaving the nest), I had made several changes to our payroll retirement withholding at the beginning of 2011. I was trying to keep us from having any taxes due on April 15th. After finishing the calculation on the Federal tax return, we owe the IRS just $12 for 2011. I was pretty proud of myself and extremely thrilled when I finished the calculation!!! That was some awfully good estimating of our income and tax liability for the year!!! Then, I read the next line on the tax return, "2011 estimated tax payments and amount applied from 2010 return." Oh, oh, oh, I think I paid an estimated amount in 2010 for 2011. I quickly looked at our 2010 Federal Tax Return and was overjoyed to see that we had paid over $200 as an estimate. We don't owe the IRS -- The IRS owes us!!!! YEAH!!! I've decided to not request a refund. I'm going to let the IRS keep our money for another year -- we may need it next year to avoid having to pay on April 15th! (Since I didn't have a Tax Return Form from the State of Michigan, I couldn't calculate our tax liability with them. I went to the Library yesterday to collect a form, and my task this week is to calculate whether we will owe the State on April 15th.)

2. Spiritual -- When one thinks of "Love" passages in the Bible, I doubt a person would think of Galatians 5. Yet, that was the theme that I pulled out of this week's chapter study. As I worked on my blog post on Saturday on the topic of Galatians 5, I was reminded of other "love" verses. I found it an interesting coincidence (or maybe it was providential?) that at the Sweetheart banquet we attended Saturday night, several of the same verses from my blog were used by our Pastor in the devotional time, reinforcing my thinking and learning.

On Sunday, I got all excited when our Pastor used verses from Galatians at the end of his sermon.  "That's my book!" I felt like saying. It's like I've adopted the book of Galatians as my very own.

This week's study is on Chapter 6 -- the last chapter in the book. I've enjoyed working my way through Galatians - one chapter at a time. It's been good to dive deep into the passages and pull out nuggets of truth, examining phrases, comparing Scripture with Scripture. Even though I took my time working through the book, I know that there is so much more to learn. One week per chapter is just not adequate to glean out everything.

3. Personal -- we took a test last Tuesday in my college course. I studied well and felt confident going into class that morning. Then, I started the test....some of the questions surprised me. There were a lot of short answer questions, one worth 25 points. I skipped over some of the questions that I wasn't sure about and concentrated quite a bit of time on the 25-point question. After several of my classmates had turned in their test and left the room, I looked at the clock. The class time was starting to wind down. I thought to myself that there was just about the right amount of time left for me to go back and answer the questions I had skipped. Then, I realized that there was another whole page of the test that I hadn't even started -- and I realized that the clock was now my enemy!!! YIKES!!! Starting to panic, I frantically worked on the last page of the test, hoping that I could finish this section quickly enough that I would still have time to return to the questions I had skipped. Just as the class time was expiring, I finished the last section and quickly wrote answers to the skipped questions. Ten minutes later (yes, after class was supposed to be finished), I turned in my test and left the class, weaving my way through the students in the hallway, who were waiting to enter the classroom for their class that was supposed to be starting. I did not feel confident at all leaving the classroom that I would receive an A on the test. Being rushed to finish it, I definitely didn't have any time to double-check my work. I figured that I would probably get a B+ or A- on the test! So, Friday, I was anxious to get my graded test back. The professor talked about the test, reviewing some of the questions and answers on the test. She had obviously graded them, so why wasn't she passing them back to us? Finally, as class time was almost over, she handed them back. I was stunned to see my grade - 98%! I got my A after all!!

The next challenge in the class is to pick an article subject for our next news story -- due on 2/24. The professor threw me a curve ball when she instructed us that our story would deal with Black History month. In my mind, I had already developed the beginnings of a story on tax returns. Somehow, I don't think Black History month and filing your taxes are related.

Next Blog: Happy Valentine's Day!