Reading Instructions

So, there's a little paragraph that has a very important third sentence in the instructions for federal tax form 1040-A:


Scholarship and fellowship grants.
Scholarship and fellowship grants not reported on Form W-2 must be included in the total on line 7. Also, enter “SCH” and the amount in the space to the left of line 7. However, if you were a degree candidate, include on line 7 only the amounts you used for expenses other than tuition and course-related expenses. For example, amounts used for room, board, and travel must be reported on line 7.

While filling out our returns (one federal and three state forms, gleaning information from three W-2's and two 1098-T's), I remembered the first half of that paragraph, but not the second. So, all the numbers seemed high and we owed everyone something. As we were writing out the checks I was double checking to see if we needed to write in the SCH thing or not and re-read the paragraph. Whoa....that changed everything. We re-figured all of the numbers and we only owed two states and the other state and federal owed us refunds. It made for a total difference of over $1400 in our favor! That's a lot nicer than paying so much.

The papers are all being slid into envelopes now and will be mailed in the morning. I sure hope we filled them all out correctly...

A good book

Most of you probably know what I'm about to tell you. A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens is a wonderful and must-read book.

I started a recent plunge into Dickens with a book of his Christmas stories that I found at a near-by used book store on their outside one-dollar-a-book shelf. I ended up reading The Cricket on the Hearth, and literally sobbing over the events in the Peerybingles' life (and tears of rejoicing). I convinced Joel to let me read it to him; again I cried and his eyes were not particularly dry either. I wanted more Dickens--I think his only work I had read previously was A Christmas Carol. What we had on our shelves was Pickwick Papers so I started to read it. It probably wasn't the best to follow with. I will finish it at some point, I'm sure (I really don't like not finishing books), but it wandered a bit much for me.

I read a few other things in the meantime (including Do Butlers Burgle Banks?, which was wonderful!), but soon found myself looking for a book again. Joel suggested A Tale of Two Cities and checked it out of the library next visit. I had no knowledge of the story of this book other than having heard it was a good book(on a similar level I had heard that Grapes of Wrath was good and I had heard other sources tell me that that one was quite overrated). Also, having just been wandering about with the reknowned (and quite annoying) Mr. Pickwick I was not terribly inclined to pick up another Dickens (having so quickly forgotten the joy of reading The Cricket on the Hearth).

About a week after we had checked it out, I still hadn't cracked the cover. An occasion presented itself where I was washing dishes and Joel offered to read to me (it makes them go so much faster...well...sometimes slower, but much more smoothly either way). I think we had read two or three of Grimm's fairy tales the night before, so he didn't want to read another of those. And we were both currently reading in Numbers which isn't particularly suited to reading aloud. So, he asked if I had started A Tale of Two Cities, I said no, and he read the first chapter. It was definitely an intriguing chapter, if a bit confusing (especially amidst the sounds of splashing water and clanking dishes). So, I was caught. We continued to read when we had spaces of time (and especially when there were dishes to be washed).

Last night around maybe nine or ten o'clock we started where Mr. Lorry is first proposing to go to Paris to help stabilize Tellson's accounts amidst the mass confusion of the times (about a hundred pages from the end). We finished at three o'clock this morning.

Such a good book. At times I wanted it to stop where it was. I didn't want Charles to go to France. At that point I closed the book and half-filled a bowl with M&Ms and refused to go on for awhile. When I first started to realize Sydney's plans I started making up the story as I went for a little bit (it involved an invisibilty cloak and lots of happily ever after). Joel started to read the next chapter and then couldn't anymore so he handed it over for me to read. There were a few moments I couldn't read, but I wouldn't let Joel take back over.

I wanted to fight the ending, just as sometimes I want to fight Jesus going to the cross. Why did He have to do that? He didn't deserve it and it made for a very, unimaginably so, black day. But oh, what a sunrise on Sunday, and oh, the joyous repercussions for a sinner like me.

That's why A Tale of Two Cities is a good book. It pushes me to the cross.