Tuesday, December 07, 2010

Hole


Yesterday afternoon, a huge stack of mail was delivered to our mailbox, forwarded by the mail holding service of Australia Post.

All our mail from the past 5 weeks - bills, letters, magazine subscriptions, notice for uncollected parcels, and more bills. :|

The silver lining was a letter from my accountant, containing a cheque of 4 figures from my most recent tax return.

*Does a little victory dance*

You gotta understand. This is the first time in YEARS that I actually received a refund from my tax return (and it was only because I didn't work full 12 months for the last financial year), usually the bloodsucking ATO makes me fork out more money from my very own pocket. Damn you, ATO! You make me wanna quit my job and be an unemployed bum at home just so you will stop taking my hard earned money away from me!

Now I know you finance-savvy people will start telling me it all works out to be the same, the tax brackets blah blah blah, and how paying less tax only means you are earning less too.

BUT. I. DON'T. CARE.

I like getting a cheque in the mail, instead of notice of payment. Bite me. :D

I was already working out in my head what to get myself with this extra sum of money, and I had my heart set on something glossy with interlocking CC. *Winks*

I even went to bed last night and had a little nice dream about patent leather and gold hardware. Ahh the black shiny box with white ribbons!

Until I woke up this morning.

Today, we found out that there might be a small leak in the roof, which is causing some water damage to part of the ceiling in the en-suite bathroom attached to our master bedroom. We suspect that it's been there for quite a while without us realising it, and the problem might have just aggravated with all the rain Melbourne's been getting while we were away on holiday.

In sheer panic, we called a tradesman recommended by our real estate agent. He came over to have a quick look, confirmed the leak and quoted us close to a whooping $2k to patch it up!

We have a feeling that we are being ripped off, though we are not really in the position to bargain or shop around for a cheaper quote as we need the problem to be taken care of ASAP. The weather forecast predicts more wet rainy days ahead and possibly thunderstorms on Wednesday, we wouldn't want the ceiling to give way and collapse upon taking on more moisture!

So we gritted our teeth and told the tradie to start the job tomorrow. That's $2k down the drain. The hole in the roof is burning a hole in our pockets! *Sighs*

Bee is paying for all the repair work, but now I feel bad for blowing my cheque on another bag I'll hardly use. Hmm, maybe I'll just deposit it into my bank account and keep it there for a while?

You know, for rainy days? Literally. :|

It sucks being a grown up sometimes huh?