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Wednesday, June 5, 2013

Taxes, Rainy Day & Movies

Yesterday was a taxing day here. Our county property and personal property taxes are due semi-annually in June and Dec (town taxes annually in Dec). There’s NO benefit to paying early as in NO discount. But, there is a surcharge for those who pay with a credit card. There IS the choice to pay the entire year’s taxes at once – again NO discount. 

So NO benefits (or discounts) for early payment, means we procrastinated on purpose and paid at the tax office a day ahead of the due date. There are penalties for being late, so we avoided those.
Shortly after leaving the tax office and heading to the county library, the rain started and soon turned into downpours that consumed most of the day. This was the first rain we've had in a couple of weeks, so it was not unwelcome. Sadly, many areas of the U.S. have TOO much rain and we hope they do not get more. 

Our county library is near the tax office. A rainy day was a great time to select some films. The library only had a VHS collection until recently but s-l-o-w-l-y acquired some DVD movies. There's now has a drop box where folks can donate them. I found some favorites to re-watch. We didn't get to ALL of these in 1 day, but will the next couple of evenings.

Maybe you've seen some of these films too?

Bridget Jones, The Edge of Reason is a 2004 comedy sequel to the 2001, Bridget Jones's Diary with Renee Zellweger again in the title role  and with romantic interest provided by co-stars Colin Firth and Hugh Grant. The plot isn't the best, but it's lightweight fun.

Calendar Girls is a 2003 comedy based (true) story of how a group of Yorkshire women become nude calendar pin-ups in 1999 to raise money for Leukemia Research. Veteran actress Helen Mirren heads the ensemble cast, so what’s not to like.
The Thomas Crown Affair is a 1999 heist film and (thankfully) not  the Steve McQueen version, but a steamy remake with Pierce Brosnan and Rene Russo that is nothing like the 1968 version. This sexy crime caper/seduction film just happens to include pricey artwork theft. Favorite scene is the seduction on the steps ... (you'll have to see it to know WHY).

Chariots of Fire this 1981 British historical drama tells the fact-based story of two athletes in the 1924 Olympics. Eric Liddell, a devout Scottish Christian, runs for the glory of God, and Harold Abrahams, a Jew, runs to overcome prejudice. Nominated for seven Academy Awards, it won for Best Picture and Best Original Score by Greek composer Vangelis. (If you have not seen the 2006 film,The Holiday where Jack Black hums the theme to Kate Winslet in a video store, do yourself a favor and watch this one too, if you enjoy romantic comedies, as we do.)

Tax paying and rainy days don’t usually go together. Rainy days are OK, but the tax ones can stay away, at least for another 6 months.

12 comments:

Anvilcloud said...

Chariots of Fire and Calendar girls: two good British movies.

john bain said...

Good choices I would say.

Triumph said...

My day wasn't good, either. My Volvo was rear-ended while I was driving to my bowling league. Nobody hurt but both cars had to be towed. I was slowing down for cars that were stopped to turn ahead of me. I'm glad I wasn't stopped because the car hit pretty hard. The other driver doesn't have insurance, of course.

Triumph said...

About 1,000 runners go past our house every Independence Day for what is called the Butte-to-Butte Race. After Chariots of Fire came out I played the title theme during the race (and also played the Rocky theme). It got a lot of laughs. I don't know if they'd still recognize its significance today. Humming it to myself now.

MadSnapper said...

our library has a really extensive dvd section, with all the new movies to. we don't own a DVD player so have not used that service. but there is always a line of people getting them 7 at a time... lots of young moms with little kids, it is a great thing they have it available.

Cheryl @ TFD said...

I loved Thomas Crown Affair. And I loved the music from Chariots of Fire more than the movie. Calendar Girls sounds interesting, I like Helen Mirren.

Anonymous said...

Our taxes are paid by the employer here and every month but we have our day at May 2 to send in all papers.

I payed my taxes every month when I had my own business too but didn't have to send in all papers unti later in summer.

Sunshine with a few clouds here and it will continue like that for a while, there's no lack of water when living by a bog :-)

Have a great day!
Christer.

Unknown said...

We pay or property taxes twice a year too because no discounts and sometimes there is an adjustment mid year. All our taxes including school bonds come on one consolidated tax bill, which we pay in 2 semi annual installments.no early pay discounts but plenty of penalty for late payers. When I had my late uncle's house in PA there were 3 tax bills, county, local and school. I made a mistake once and paid the county but not the local because I did not realize it was separate..however I was not late because they do give discounts for early payment which I was doing. The school bill is separate and later in the year. Yikes. I much prefer one consolidated tax bill. VHS movies! No kidding? I have dumped most of our collection of thse, donated to Goodwill, etc. I don't even know if we have the VHS player portion working on one old machine anymore. Old movies like old books, lots to see there and sometimes they are better than the new things. We have been having rain and cooler weather here for a couple weeks now.

Rebecca said...

So you salvaged a crummy day. Great!

Doris said...

Most of the movies I watch are movies Aidan and Zoe want to see....I'm usually ok with that! I did see Chariots of Fire a very long time ago. Loved it! Rain is heading our way tomorrow. We can use some. I'm enjoying the cooler days this week. Open windows and light breezes =)

jp@A Green Ridge said...

We're getting rain soon...Friday and it will be sweet...everything is so green now that we've been getting it regularly! We should donate our DVDs to the local library...and as for taxes, those are a done deal early in the year! I think I figured out the link in Blogsy!!!...:)JP

Connie said...

Watching movies seems like a great way to spend a rainy day to me. Those are good choices too.