Mama Carol

You can thank the oil companies for wanting to recoup some of what they lost when all the government workers were out of work and not needing to drive their monster SUVs to work.

I thought we established a good while back that the "cameras" at all the intersections were there for traffic control and not actual cameras that take pictures. Glad they are just sore. Head on collisions are bad.

When AAA reports that gas prices have fallen, they usually rise or have been rising. When they report that gas prices are rising, they generally have gone lower than in recent weeks. It was just on the news two days ago that prices had fallen. They were up about 10 cents a gallon this morning over Tuesday morning.

Seriously, she did that. She lived to be 105 but I swear she told us *every* Christmas, "this is my last Christmas". After she turned 95 we stopped listening to her. On another note, I can rest easy about the local Kmart here in Milton. I found out last night they just renewed their lease for three years, so I'm

Yep, my boss called it welfare. We did not like it but have to say that some of the clients we had who received EIC really needed the help. Many were struggling to pay the bills for a business and their personal bills, while raising kids on what the business generated in income. Oddly enough, the ONLY time we have ever qualified for and received EIC was last year. We haven't had a kid at home in 13 years. People who get huge refunds file the first week and those who have to pay file extensions.

Prayers for you and your family, too. That's three of this group who have lost a parent in the past week to ten days. Hugs and love to all of you. I've been where y'all are.

My son in law and daughter went to have their tax return done in January 2012, while I was out of town for three weeks. The place they went REFUSED to do a Schedule C because he had not received, or given, a 1099. He was truly self employed but because of the lack of information return from the company he contracted from, they wouldn't do that part of the return. I ended up filing an amended return for them. Made little difference in their return, I think they got back about $300 more, but the point was because the tax prep place refused to do a Schedule C for a self employed person, they

I was very happy that we dealt with the same people year in and year out and many of them were monthly accounting clients. We never had to question (much) how accurate their information was. I'm not sure I could do "retail" tax prep. I might do this once too many times. That said, I'm trying to get a job as a seasonal tax preparer for next year. What you described happens more often than honest taxpayers would think, too.

The same Social Security number can't be used on two returns so while they could split the kids up, but if the IRS ever asked for proof of dependency, which they don't unless there is something that triggers that, they would be in trouble. Then again, you have to actually have income to get EIC.

Knowing three of his kids, I'd say he was a really good guy.

I sent that to a friend. He said it was a good thing he wasn't drinking anything when he read it or else he would be drying off the laptop.

You "get hit" once--that "Universal Connectivity Fee" pays for it. You only have to pay that once a month on your phone bill. Everyone who owns a telephone pays. A few cents is tacked on to every phone bill every month. It’s listed on those bills as the Universal Service Fund. All those pennies are put into a program called LifeLine to bring quality telephone service to every American.

Got you in my prayers. So sorry to hear of Mr A's passing. Hugs and prayers to you and the family.

With the e-file revolution, this had to be reduced. Duplicate SS#s create a reject notice from the IRS. I've seen this happen when people filed using their OWN Social Security numbers or the numbers of their children. I hated reject notices. We got a lot of them the first couple of years we e-filed for people but after that rarely got one. That used to be Jackson Hewitt. I think they moved out and HRB moved in. But I never notice tax prep places.

Yes, you and I paid that fee so that the phones were available. The "free" phone was the only phone available to my daughter and son in law during his 14-15 months of unemployment. It made it possible for him to apply for jobs and have the hope of getting an interview. So what if people get one for free? I expect many of them paid that fee every month when they had landlines. Oh, and the Lifeline program isn't just for cell phones. Not sure about Georgia, but in Florida they offer a discount on landlines as well. I stopped judging people by their looks many years ago.

Our only income is my husband's Social Security disability. He has no cell phone so we applied based on our income (which you are allowed to do even if you receive no government assistant). His SSDI is $211 a year too much to qualify. We did pay cash for a house. And that left us broke. Seriously broke. And then we had to pay almost $10,000 to repair our house up there so we could sell it. Seems as though all the rain almost from the day we left until, what August?, caused problems that had to be fixed before we could sell the house. Had we not gotten my husband's retirement buyout

The funds for this come from phone users themselves--landlines in particular and I think most cell phone users as well (I'm not positive but I don't believe pre-paid cell phone plans charge the fee). It was actually supposed to come from the phone service providers but they were allowed to pass along the cost to their customers.

My question is how did these people know they didn't have a limit on the cards for that day?

Do kids that age really have the concept that dead is forever? I know I didn't at that age. I just knew that the people in my life who had died weren't around any longer but as far as knowing it was "forever", I don't think I did. Yes, bullies bully people they can bully. And that is exactly why a certain Pcommer has me on ignore. They realized that they could not bully me into putting them on ignore nor could they bully me into agreeing with them (which is funny because I share a lot of the same views as them but they want someone they can bully). Word of caution about them, too. Th

I think you're on the right track with this. It all boils down to a sense of value. Some people just don't see themselves as having value if others don't validate them. My sister in law comes to mind. She requires validation and "understanding" for everything she does, particularly her art and writing. I'm like "whatever makes you happy. Don't worry if you're not fulfilling someone else's need if you're fulfilling YOURS". Then again, I have to think that my in-laws did a real number on my sister in law.

I'm sorry someone so young felt they needed to commit suicide to get out of this situation but I just simply don't get online bullying. Has anyone ever heard of "click"? Or "ignore"? Or "block"? Or simply IGNORING the person/persons bullying you? I just don't get this phenomenon.

I wonder how in the world people get these phones when we were turned down because our income was $211 a year too much. Do people just out and out lie about their income and that's how they get them? We had to submit pages 1 and 2 of our tax return (we applied on the basis of income and not assistance). Do others not have to do that? I agree. This won't address fraud. I do have to laugh when I see the choices of plans for the "free" phone. They have an unlimited for the same price you can go to Walmart and get one for.

Prayers for Mr A and all the family.

Now y'all got me worried. I went to the Kmart here a few days ago and found a bunch of stuff on clearance. I thought it was all summer stuff but now I'm worried that they, too, might close. I don't like Walmart at all and the Target is too far from here. I love the Kmart. Five minutes away and believe it or not, it's always pretty busy. Maybe other people around don't like Walmart or Target either.

Not to mention Lowe's. When I interviewed for a job in February 1994, the rumor that Lowe's or Home Depot was coming to the corner of Bill Carruth and 278 (long before it WAS Bill Carruth) was already going around.