PBJ Saturday

Posted on April 2, 2022 by vanbraman

Did you know that today is National Peanut Butter and Jelly Day?

home pride wheat, pbj, peanut butter, jam, jellyOf course a PBJ starts out with the right bread. For me that is Home Pride Butter Top Wheat bread.

jif peanut butter, pbj, breadThen you need to make sure you have the right peanut butter. I always have a jar of JIF Creamy Peanut Butter on my counter. It is the best peanut butter for a good PBJ.

Smucker's Strawberry Jam, Family Jam, SmuckerI am going to cheat a little bit here and have jam instead of jelly.

Of course that means some Smucker’s Strawberry Jam.

There is a very good reason to choose Smucker’s. My great great grandfather Jeremiah Yoder was a second cousin of Ella Yoder the wife of the founder Jerome Monroe Smucker. I am also related to J.M. Smucker, but only a 4th cousin.

Since JIF is also a Smucker’s brand it makes for a good combination.

pbj, sandwich, peanut butter, jam, smuckersHere are the two pieces of bread spread with the sandwich fillings.

pbj, sandwich, peanut butter, jam, smuckersOf course the two halves must go together and my PBJ is ready to eat.

Of course the first bite was delicious. Memories of childhood PBJ’s came to mind as I enjoyed my sandwich.

Did you have a PBJ today?

Steven

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A Taxing Friday

Posted on April 1, 2022 by vanbraman

Today I decided it was time to do my taxes.

I have not thought too much about the tax return deadline as the past couple years it has been pushed back. I have also been very busy getting caught up on things that have not been taken care of in the last two years at home and work.

However, I have been reminded in the last couple weeks with all the commercials during the NCAA Basketball tournament and also my boss mentioning that he was doing his taxes this weekend.

Frank Andrea Miller - Easier Taxes - Editorial Cartoon - Cartoonist - Frank Miller - Des Moines RegisterThis evening I am remembering a post that I wrote  years ago.

See: Simpler Taxes?

Did you know that the 1040 form was first used for the 1913 tax year?

The first tax returns using the 1040 form were due on March 15, 1914. At least now we have an extra month to get our taxes done.

At least today taxes are much simpler to do. I have used the same tax software for years now and much of the process is automated.

The hardest part of doing taxes is always rounding up all the documents. This part was mostly done and the documents were sitting in a pile by my computer. The software just needed to be downloaded and installed and I was ready to go.

Then the easy part of plugging in numbers began, and the questions as to how much I needed to pay or not was soon answered.

Due to tax law changes that penalize people who live in states with high income taxes I now usually have to pay some additional taxes for Federal but get a small refund from the State.

I did have to pay more than normal additional taxes for Federal this year, but it was mostly because of good returns on a mutual fund, so I shouldn’t complain too much.

Steven

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