Carbomb Cupcakes

Do you know what's delicious?

These:
















Warmed up.

Topped with this ice cream:











Topped with a little bit of this:

















I call them Carbomb Cupcakes. They're awesome and perfect for St. Patrick's Day. Give them a try! :)

My Funny Valentine

I didn't really do a Valentines post- primarily because I thought I really needed photographic evidence of my Valentine's Day gift. So, on to the recap. The night of Valentine's Day, we decided to stay in because a. dining out on Valentine's Day is a hectic mess and b. Lost was on.

Brief aside: Dude, what the hell is up with that show? It's so FRUSTRATING! You never know what the heck is going on, and I have a hard time caring since I have no idea what's real and what's manufactured. (Yes, I know, none of it's real- it's television, but you know what I mean.) One second you're rooting for someone, the next minute you find out they're some kind of psycho killer...you think someone wants off the island, then they don't. Oh my God just make up your minds! The raft thing wasn't unsuccessful except for the whole kidnapping thing- they should try that again. And Ben. WTF Ben. Who is this guy? Really the longer they drag it out, the less I care because I worry it's not going to pay off in the end. I don't want to set myself up for disappointment. Okay...that's enough.

So, Valentine's Day we get to my house and I immediately pounce on the box that Tom brought. I peel open the top and am greeted with this:














And I promptly scream a little bit because when the light hits it right, that thing's eye looks pretty scary. Tom began to explain that because he got me a giant teddy bear last year, he thought he would continue with that theme. But since last year's bear was the size of an adolescent, he thought that purchasing larger and larger bears would soon lead to him buying me a house shaped like a bear and really, where do you go from there? So, he decided to go with the next logical choice.














A giant octopus. For Valentine's Day I got a giant octopus.

And on one of his arms was a purse containing "Wordplay" on DVD and a novella by one of the writers of the Simpsons. Tom's sister said it would've been better if instead of a purse there had been a ring on one of those arms- but what am I going to do with an engaged octopus? It was the best Valentine's Day gift ever. My boyfriend is totally weird. But let's face it- that just makes me look cooler. ;)

Taxes

This past year has been pretty eventful- a big move, a new climate, a new job, a whole new understanding of how much time Tom spends playing videogames- it's a lot to take in. It's also a lot to lay out. In tax forms. This year I have expenses to claim- I spent over a thousand dollars just getting all my crap up to this freakin' ice cap, then I had to buy a GPS to figure out how to get to work on a daily basis. This year I have two different employers to add up and unfortunately and most painful of all- I have two states in which I owe taxes. It also doesn't help that the part of Alabama I came from collects taxes on three different levels- state taxes, county taxes, AND city taxes. No wonder most people try to stay the hell out of Birmingham city limits.

This has lead me to seriously consider professional tax preparation. I've done this in the past- but by a "professional" who was actually just my Dad's friend and in no way certified to do this stuff professionally. I'm not even sure if he was good at it, but when it turned out I owed money he wouldn't take it from me. He would make my Dad pay it. And that's the kind of tax prep I can get behind.

Unfortunately I'm no longer able to use the services of my Dad's friend. I'm sure his limited knowledge of Alabama tax forms would not translate well to the bajillion deductions allowed by the Massachusetts tax forms. So, I called H&R Block. It would cost me at least $80 to get my taxes done- probably a lot more since I have to file in two states. Someone told me that it's a lot of work just getting your documents in order to drop off to the tax prep people. If I'm paying for this, what do they expect me to do? I'm not trying to expend effort here- that's what I'm paying to get out of. Cripes. I figure I'll wander over to H&R Block with a couple of W-2s, a Penske truck receipt, and say "peace out."

I hate taxes.