I replaced Mom's range hood--and broke the new one! :D

[Xist]

It is like you need a small metal shed for the barbecue.

[freebeard]

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/a7/92...4d8a266aaa.jpg
.

[JSH]

Originally Posted by Xist

Well, they don't pay us 63¢ per mile, it is a deduction, and I am in the 22% tax bracket, so for each mile I drive between clients--not between my home and my clients--I owe 13.86¢ less.

When I was seeing clients in Phoenix and driving my 44 MPG Civic I didn't save enough on my taxes to cover my gas.

Now I have clients an hour away, but I try to group them.

Our office keeps talking to me about a mom who rarely responded and the first time she confirmed she didn't answer her door. Then she either claimed she needed to have her hair waxed or just didn't respond until I stopped reaching out.

They told me to e-mail her, sometimes she responds to that.
The other day they told me to try to schedule something during the week and I said that I couldn't drive to the same town an hour away twice a week for just one client.

You're right - the mileage is a deduction. What the state is paying for is your driving time. They have to pay you to drive that 1 hour each way to see a client.

I find it hard believe you are paying 22% federal income tax after deductions. Even making $100K as a single guy and taking only the standard deduction you would only pay 15%

[Xist]

This guy says that when you connect solid wire to stranded you extend the stranded wire further than the solid and you always twist wires together twice after you splice them:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xMqt5AoWPyI

[so, not how the amateur does it there]

Also, apparently beginners twist wires together and wrap them with electrical tape, without using twist caps, butt joints, wagos, or solder!

[redpoint5]

I've got wagos now, but keep forgetting to use them.

Also, newbs push wires into switches instead of using the screws. Apparently those push in connections are junk.

[freebeard]

I was told you fan the strands out, introduce them to each other and then twist them up.

[Xist]

I was trying to apply for another house last night, but I needed the social security numbers for Mom and my brother, but for some reason Mom couldn't find my brother's number, I couldn't stay awake, and I had a thousand things to do this morning, so I went to bed before 01.

Mom walked in, made some annoyed noise, and put down a sticky note with my brother's social security number, and then taped another one to the bathroom mirror.

The site was awesome. I put in his information, everything but that number, and then it logged me out, dumping everything while I tried to find his social security number.

I logged back in, entered everything I could, tried to save, and apparently I needed to enter all information first.

Obviously, I needed to enter Vinnie's social security number:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OBrPsGrvbrY

Steve Martin used to have brown hair!

Or maybe something that obviously isn't his number. I cannot imagine forgetting and trying to submit, but I would rather not having them try to run a made-up number.

I woke up at 0530, tried to go back to sleep, couldn't, finally submitted my brother's information and saved, and now I need to wait for Mom to wake up before I can enter hers.

I grabbed an ice chest, took a picture of some elk, drove to Aliberto's, bought a breakfast burrito and a jamaica for Mom, drove to Home Depot, bought my fourth replacement toilet seat in 5 years, sat down by the bathroom and tried to figure out what the heck else I needed, bought the seat, walked to Walmart, bought some sodas, sparkling water, and $5 worth of ice(!), drove home, dropped off my purchases, drove back half a mile, chased down a dog, posted her picture on Nextdoor, drove to the school, walked home, parked Mom's car on the lawn, hosed off the pollen, hosed off my floor mat, hung it up to dry, dried her windows, parked her car next to the house, finally ate my breakfast, called up the guys from Church, and it rang 9 times and then hung up.

It hung up, right, not one of the guys from Church who said they would come and help?!

One of them just called back and it went far too much like this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rlKHmgc3POo

but he said they would come over.

Anyway, I came to look up how to remove the water pump again, but found the page for Mom's shiny new range hood first, and decided to order that while I remembered.

I should have The fourth-best price I found on-line was actually in-stock [allegedly].

It asked if I wanted to use ID.me for a Veteran's discount.

Sir, yes Sir!

They no longer offer ID.me discounts and then ID.me showed me places that did.

I searched for the range hood to no avail, so I went back.

It asked if I wanted to use Veteran's Advantage for a Veteran's discount.

That actually works, right?

Right?!

After verifying my military service, e-mail address, and phone number, I qualified for 3% off!

That was $5.49!

I also am supposed to receive 3% cash back from Rakutin.

It was $194.25, so my final price will be $!83.27?

Actually, I used my credit card, so I should receive another 1%.

Yay.

I am going to hire a handyman to install it.

[Xist]

I crashed before 01, but couldn't sleep past 0530, got ready to have guys from Church help me clean the garage, but last week 4 of them helped for 90 minutes.
Today two helped for 50 minutes and then I spent over an hour just trying to clear the rest of the stuff out of the garage.
Then I needed to rush off to see my clients in Holbrook. I came straight home just in time to see my brother move the very last thing from the driveway into the garage--in one big pile, that was already falling down.
He felt incredibly proud of himself, but I spent the next 5 hours going through it, and I only stopped because I was out of big black garbage bags, but I took him to buy more.
I should be able to fill up one or two right away, plus there are more things I want to donate.

I told Mom and my sisters that I am not taking Mom to Mesa, she didn't throw away a single thing, and I couldn't even sweep before my brother moved everything back.

Mom claimed that I made the pile of junk.

No, we stacked it in the driveway.

My brother made the pile of junk.

Mom claimed that I "consider expensive Christmas decorations junk."

Why does she make me pay for a locker that she keeps mostly empty?

Why can't she keep decorations there for most of the year?

One sister responded "Unless it's particularly sentimental: if it hasn't been used in two years, it should disappear."
I responded "Stuff hasn't moved in the garage for 20 years."
Mom replied "What if it wasn't used because he hid it?"
My sister asked "Did he hide it with stuff he had been recently using? ��"
Mom answered "No he put them on metal shelves . Then built more metal shelves in front of it so that I could not reach them."

I put in 6 sets of metal shelves, but ran out of room, so I put one set in front of another.

Mom could totally access the one in back, she just needs to remove the stuff in front first.

She could totally access the 5 sets of shelves without anything in front, but hasn't since I assembled them.

The last thing my sister wrote was "Good luck with the junk," so she supported me?

The other sister has driven up with her best friend twice. One time they cleared out her bedroom, which looks trashed again, and the other time they got rid of almost everything in the pantry, which is so empty still that I want to move stuff from elsewhere in the house.

Too bad it is too small to be my new lumber pile!

I just want to know where Mom got all of the junk in her room, since my sister and her friend didn't leave much.

My sister gave Mom a shower head a few years ago and Mom told my brother "This doesn't work, put it in the garage." I wanted to know if I could donate it and she said that it was better than the one she had, so I installed it.

I just wish that I had replaced the toilet seat, too.