How I Spent My Tax Return

It's the most wonderful time of the year, for poor folks. FUCK ME I LOVE TAX TIME! But it's come and gone, POOF. And this is almost the last year of the big returns. I think I get one more next year, and then Kid is too old for me to get the Earned Income Tax Credit. As it is, he is too old (at 17) for me to get the Child Tax Credit (because on some planet somewhere Congress in all it's wisdom decided that in this one instance 17 year-olds were not children. OK?)

Since I am unemployed and without health insurance (yeah Obamacare does nothing for me until 2014 at the earliest) and COBRA would cost over 1000 a month while I only get about 1200 from Unemployment- I spent about 300 on my prescriptions. Hopefully that will keep me functional until I get a job with insurance. I paid 3 months worth of all my bills but rent and cell phones. Hopefully I will have a job before they come due again. I bought interview and work clothes because I have none. My good clothes keep getting stolen from the apartment's shared laundry rooms plus my weight keeps fluctuating so things don't fit anymore. Hopefully having the clothes in my closet will make me feel a little more confident about sending out my resume and little less "what is the fucking point". I bought some makeup for the same reason. I bought Kid a new cellphone. His old one was very very old. He's been doing really good at being motivated to start taking classes, etc and it's an early birthday present. Hopefully having a kickass little piece of tech makes him feel a little better about venturing out into the world of the adulthood.

You might have noticed a reoccurring word in there. Hopefully. I spent my whole damn tax return on hope. Hopefully things will get better. Hopefully.

I have certainly been in worse places, with much less. I have so many people who love me here. I have the ever awesome Boyfriend, and all my lovely friends near and far, old and new. I have some really bad days but they are nothing compared to how bad it has been in the past. So yes, I am hopeful.

Also the sun is shinning like a motherfucker IN FEBRUARY IN SEATTLE. That never happens. I may just be experiencing some kind of vitamin D induced euphoria. But wevs, I'll take a little happy however I can get it.