TPA, Mopping, Taxes, and a Jogging Stroller

For the past 10 days or so, Ben has been working like a crazy man to complete his TPA project for student teaching.  I have no idea what TPA stands for.

(Possibly:

The
Punishment
Assignment

Tough
Plodding
Again

Turn
Parties
Away

Twelve
Pages
And more to go.

But I'm not sure.  Incidentally, he was teaching a poetry unit involving acrostics.)

So Victor and I have tried to busy ourselves without interrupting, and afternoons, evenings, and weekends have been dedicated to the project.

This morning Ben took a little break to attend the men's Pure Pleasure event at church--but it was a very little break, because he manned a table before and after the event but actually worked upstairs on his computer during the sessions.  (He's planning to listen to them later though!).  The project is due on Monday, so there's very little wiggle room.

So, Victor and I decided we should tackle some long-awaited projects as well.  I guess actually, I decided that, and Victor made the effort more interesting!

First, I tackled state taxes.  We sent in our federal return earlier this week (we got an extension because tax season = Victor's sick season).  I could have just paid $15 to finish the state taxes from TaxACT, but (being kind of a skinflint and finally having a working printer) I decided to try pounding them out on my own. 

According to TaxAct, I should end up with a $106 return.  But maybe they missed something that would give a little extra boost, you never know...

After poring over it for several hours, I worked my "tax magic" and ... voila! ... now we owed $1.

Ugh.

Called my father, paid the $15 to TaxACT, scratched my head a little more, and decided to leave it for another day.

Victor woke up, and we decided to tackle the tile floors.  They were something awful.  With the variety of chairs, rugs, toys, shelves, and buckets, it has not proven very simple to sweep and mop of late, so this became our next endeavor.

Wrangling the chairs, rugs, toys, shelves, buckets, broom, mop, and little boy gave me a good aerobic workout, and within several more hours, the task was done.  Well, except for the bathroom.  I was pooped, and Victor was ready for a nap too.

Ben got home and went back to work on the TPA.  I mopped the bathroom.

Then I got a call from my sister Lori, and within about 30 seconds she had solved the conundrum on the taxes.  I felt so rejuvenated that when Victor got up, I vacuumed, and then Victor and I decided to go for a little jog! 

I would like to think that the combination of pushing a hearty 20+ pounder in a jogging stroller up our hill is what gave me the weak-kneed exhaustion, but I should probably just own up to the fact that I haven't run since Thanksgiving, and it's just going to be a brutal re-entry.

But the sun was shining, the breeze was brisk, and I was going home to clean floors, so it was a refreshing afternoon nonetheless.

I think I'll sleep well tonight.  And so will Ben, whenever his TPA lets him come to bed.