“Death, taxes and childbirth! There's never any convenient time for any of them.” ― Margaret Mitchell, Author, noted for her book, Gone with the Wind

Good morning and welcome. Today is Thursday, November 25, 2021, and, I do hope everyone is up and going in pursuit of today's agenda. Time is moving forward. I know that because yesterday I downloaded the 2020 Federal tax software we use in order to get ready to get ready to file our tax return. I've used the same software for many years. It plays me like I am a captive audience because there are good, alternative software packages for about half the cost, but, I can automatically upload my last year's return as a starting point, and, I am familiar with the programs including the stuff that irritates me, therefore, I weigh all of that versus saving $60 and learning a new package and that leads me to stay with what I am most familiar with. (Accounting for and properly reporting all the Santa Enterprise stuff is enough to challenge anyone.)  That may be even more important this year as I deal with the COVID-induced scrambling of some of my memory storage units. Yes. I do realize this is a crutch that has the potential of being overused as an excuse, but, right now it is my story and I'm sticking to it. 

When I became a little woozy trying to help pull up some carpet, I remembered my grandfather had some colorful ways to describe what he considered to be useless. He was not one to use off-color language but he could get close when he got stirred up. His sayings were never vulgar but they are not appropriate to share on the printed or in this case, the electronic page. I sought out other ways to describe my situation the other day in order to describe my frustration. When I looked up the slang figure of speech, 'you're as useless as', I was surprised to find many of the mainstream dictionaries and other word study materials used the same stuff Paw Paw Mac used to say. I soldiered on and found a few I thought I could use. Foghorn Leghorn is quoted as saying, "You're as useless as a back pocket on a tee shirt." Others included, "Useless as a glass hammer";  "...a concrete parachute"; "screendoor on a submarine"; "color-blind interior decorator"; "graverobber at a crematorium"; and finally one that was a little esoteric, "As useless as a ham sandwich at a Bar mitzvah." I think you get my drift. I was not feeling very useful. 

I do hope you have a very engaging and useful day. Enjoy. And, may God add His blessings. Amen. ....More later.