There is a new Ace Hardware store that opened up down the road. The flyer said that they were giving away free buckets and 25% off whatever you can fit inside it. I was going to wait until 5:00 but my stomach was telling me I should go sooner so I could get the soda and hotdog for a buck. Luckily, there was a break in the rain and I took the opportunity to walk Pluto and Morella. On the way back we ran into a neighbor of mine who likes to collect junk and then have garage sales. Anyway, his name is Bear.

Bear was sitting on one of the benches in front of his house enjoying a beer. He's retired you know, and when I commented on the beer at this time of the day he said "I have to get my vitamins!"

So he pointed out two ducks that had taken to living in his yard. He said he feeds them in the morning and then in the afternoon they like to come and sit near him while he sits in his garage and watches the world go by. He then pointed out a huge bird's nest two blocks down and said that two hawks were building it. Cool. I told him that Ace was having their grand opening and our plans of going there at 5:00 and he said he was already there! Huh?

"I went this morning. Go and get your bucket. Buy something and then get the hotdog and soda," he ordered.

"Yes sir!"

Off Morella and I went to to Ace and true enough, the 5:00 start time was discarded. I decided to carry Morella around with me since she has just spent an hour in the stroller and you know she isn't that heavy yet and it's still pretty easy to do. Besides she's so much more interactive then and looks around and everyone loves to talk to her then. :) I got a bucket, a leveler, some seeds, 25 cent paper towels and some twine. I am looking forward to dinner tonight -- I am going to order in something delicious. I don't know what yet...

In other news, so we got our stimulus check direct deposited today and it was only $1200. We should have gotten $1500 because of the 300 dollar credit for Morella. I decided it wouldn't hurt to call and see what I could do about it. You see, I did our taxes wrong one aspect this year -- I entered Morella's social security number wrong...two numbers were inverted. Oops. It was enough for them to say that she wasn't real and they "fixed" it for us and gave us $510 less. I called them, figured out the problem and they fixed it and two weeks later they deposited the remainder.

WELL...the stimulus check is based on the first tax return --- regardless of any changes later on. One check. We might have a chance of getting that money on next year's return.

I said "So we are SOL?" and the lady said "Yep."
"That isn't fair!" I cried.
"Well, if it makes you feel any better there are tons of people who have more than one kid missing from their return," she offered.

It did make me feel better, that is until I told Tim and he said "That was a costly mistake."