savings

I'm not sure what kind of "savings fairy" was created this time of year to make us think that we would be helped - but whoever did think that March and April were to be particularly cruel instead, shame on you.


First off, daylight savings. So I have a little more sunlight guiding me home in the evening. For the time being, it's still an hour ride home, and in fact, it is almost consistently a 60 minute ride any of time my shift ends considering the mass of people that want to get out of work and enjoy the warmth. Who knew? Granted, there isn't much better than driving home with the windows down, music blaring, and just the air between my bare feet and the pedal as my worn shoes from a long day's work are nestled under my seat. Okay, daylight savings has its perks.


And yet, there is still some unforseen forces that occur when the hour "jumps ahead." What about the 10 children in our classroom every day that now have to adjust to a "new" lunch hour or nap time? There behaviors are by no means fluid, they're toddlers. But this lost hour has also skyrocketed this "terrible two" syndrome for the week, causing upturns in eating habits, tantrum throwing and the like. Surely it will be Friday tomorrow, and therefore the day should ideally go by quickly despite the (more?) chaotic week. Maybe parents will even come and pick up early! And by the following week, the kids should feel back to normal, so to speak, and just be back to their usual tantrum-throwing, newly discovered hitting, screaming selves. :)


What else is saved over the course of the spring? Certainly not one's sanity. And all the worse is what's known as the dreaded: tax season. Never have I had to accomplish this on my own. My own mom has been kind enough to cover each of my sister's and my taxes over the years, no major questions asked of us. And as college ended and "real life" began, we started to accumulate our own love-hate relationship with the IRS. Could it be simpler? Yes. But then what would happen to the field of accounting, right? And while there are years when you save a little through a deductible (horray for counting up mileage), the money refunded and the money one has to pay doesn't hardly matter when you examine the actual accumulated time spent on filling out forms and worksheets, and making sure the right copy of the right W2 is sent to federal not state, no which state? Sheesh. Knowing that this pile of procrastination waits for me at my office desk, I've saved hardly any room in this post to complain further about it.


So, be thankful for the extended sun, right? It doesn't save us from tiring our eyes, or feeling like the week's work is too long, and the nights are too short. But it may give us a little more light to ponder among the various neighbors outside, other dogs that are wandering the out in the park. And be thankful for the 15th of April to freaking get here already. Bring on the spring cleaning, and not just the cleaning out of someone's bank account, please.