Our STFU check is here! Our STFU check is here!

[MorningGlow]

$1,500 from the gub'mint!

$1,400 for a contractor to fix the rotting corner of our foundation
$200 for materials for said contractor
$750 for firewood for the woodstove to offset the natural gas bill this fall and winter
$300 balance on the new windows so we don't have a gaping hole in our mudroom above the soon-to-be-fixed rotting corner of our foundation

So...let's see now...not counting filling up at the gas station...that leaves us... um...

- $1,150

Um...woo hoo?

[MrCoffee]

1. You pay for firewood?

Craigslist is your friend. I get all mine free.

[MorningGlow]

4. Mr. MG is VERRRYYY particular about his firewood

Is it clean and uniformly cut etc. etc. etc.? Even the stuff we buy he finds something to gripe about, calling nearly every load we've ever had "junk". I don't see it, but he does. :shrug:

[MrCoffee]

7. MrMG and MrsCoffee should get together and go bowling

My philosophy is that all the ashes will look the same anyway. She doesn't agree with that approach.

[MorningGlow]

12. Hee hee I'm with you

I understand about properly aged wood, but the whole "uniformly cut" stuff? It escapes me.

Anyway, I checked out our local Craigslist, and I realized what else impeded that approach--a lot of it is "you pick up". We have a Jeep Wrangler and a Saab sedan. No trailer. :(

[DS1]

2. You're not doing a very good job of STFUing

[MorningGlow]

5. True.

Why would I do what Georgieboy wants?

:evilgrin:

[mcctatas]

3. If I could afford to...

I would love nothing better than to send them back my check with pictures of the collapsed bridges, still unrepaired portions of New Orleans, devestation in Iowa and homeless vets and the simple message "STIMULATE THIS MOTHERFUCKER!!!"

[MorningGlow]

6. Me too.

It irks me that I'm actually doing what Georgieboy wants--spending it. But at least we're not buying new "toys" with it.

[mnhtnbb]

8. Get this: Our $600 STFU check turned out to be $250.01. What, you say?

It was deposited in our account electronically. I figured we'd get paperwork saying what it was eventually. Last Friday, here comes greetings from the IRS. They didn't apply a substantial
2007 prepayment we sent in, so they disallowed applying our overpayment to 2008, said we owed money, subtracted the $600 from what they said we owed, and gave us $250.01.

F*CK!!!!!!!!

I waited 20 minutes on hold to speak to someone who then told me it was my fault that the check
they hadn't applied to our taxes was applied in my name. But, wait! We file jointly!
It was still my fault for sending them a check with both our social security numbers written on it, plus my name--not hubby's--is first on the check. My fault? WTF??? I've been making payments with those
printed checks (my name first)for 8 years. So it's my fault that whatever idiot applied the check
applied it to my social security number--not hubby's. But if we file jointly (and always have)
why wouldn't the money end up credited to the same taxpayers?

I spent over an hour with the IRS person--most of it on hold--to get them to fix their mistake.

No idea when we'll get the rest of our $600. Plus, the woman told me the IRS might send
a check for the amount we wanted applied to 2008 taxes! If that happens, I have to turn around
and send it back to them!

I think they transferred all the dumbheads that were working for FEMA when Katrina hit to the IRS.

Geesh. What idiots.

[mnhtnbb]

9. And PS. When our house burned down the insurance company gave us $500/tree for removal.

We have just had a quote on the two huge trees that were burned, are rotting, and have to come down.
We're on a hillside lot and access is very difficult. The bid, for two trees? $5300. to take down
and haul away. The tree guy has to hire a guy with special equipment to get in there. My husband
called somebody else to come give a quote and the guy took one look and said "not interested."

So, the cost for tree removal? Over ten times what the insurance company paid us.
That's after we had to pay for demolition of the house out of pocket because the
insurance company wouldn't give us what we were insured for UNLESS we either built or bought
another house worth the same amount! We're ready to retire and who needs to replace a big house
at this stage in our lives?

[latebloomer]

11. I had a similar problem with the state

I was expecting a refund of $803 and instead I got $3!!!

Turns out they said they never received 3 of my 4 estimated quarterly payments. But then it turns out they DID receive and cash them, but gave me no credit because I had written my husband's SS# first on the check. Hard to believe that they couldn't figure that out.

Bureaucracies are a bitch.

[mnhtnbb]

13. This is a function of the Repubs not wanting government to work.

I imagine after 7 years of Bush that a lot of the bureaucracies have been loaded with correct thinking
Repubs who don't give a damn.

[snooper2]

10. well, I got $0

:(