Have I been in a coma and it's actually April 14th? Or maybe this is something special for furrners?

this is Michigan withholding for businesses

You can judge my fucking bank. I want to file my taxes and get my refund, but I'm waiting on forms that the bastards are required by law to send by January 30th, but every year they come sometime in March. I want my money, bitches!

Well, you could report them.

http://www.irs.gov/help/article/0,,id=96730,00.html

1) Be (indirectly) direct. Something like, "You don't seem that keen. Let us know if it's bad timing..." It gives them an out, so they might be honest if it's a problem. Or they might admit is really is the timing (someone else might be promised their time) or a downturn in finances or something else you can work round. They might worry that you need a tour guide, necessitating time off...

2) Do come! I'm free all August so I can at least meet you in London for one meal! I'd be able to advise you on bus & Tube tickets and decent places to eat and perhaps my insight into things you've planned to see.

I might even be able to hire a car and collect you from Windsor on a quick tour of Aylesbury Vale. There's nothing staggering here, but if you're making the most of your airfare by staying longer for example you might like to see Waddesdon Manor or Claydon House or have a proper afternoon tea at Hartwell House Hotel. I worked there in my late teens/ early twenties and amongst other claims to fame it was the English home of Louis VIII in exile from the French Revolution. Happy to help anyway, as will other Brits, if you want to go slightly off the beaten track.

3) Just come already.

Oh, I'm pretty sure I know why they are being all distant now. They don't have their summer planned yet, and they don't want us to be putting them in a position to make plans now. They want to travel at some point too, and might want to be gone in August. Plus they have one set of parents there now for several weeks, so they are probably sick of house guests right now and can't stand the idea of having more, even though in August they would probably feel differently.

It was bad timing on our part to mention it with them now, but the summer camp deadlines are this week, so that's when it came up for us. We don't need to finalize plans for a while, so we'll let it marinade for a bit.

I appreciate all your offers! If we do go, I'd love to meet you, Sundae.

A very close second choice would be to go up to Maine and go camping with my parents. Our kids are old enough now that I can take them on my favorite hike in the world. Climbing up a mountain with a lake on top for swimming and tons of wild blueberries to feast upon. Here's a picture of me and my younger siblings scrounging for blueberries.

That was then, but now there's a Walmart on that far ridge, next to the McDonald's with the bright plastic patio furniture.

Fuck 'em then Glatt.
In a nice way.
If'n you can save money by doing Maine then do so - you have plenty of time to do Europe as adults - give the kids something they'll love rather than flying them halfway around the world for something that they might not appreciate (not a comment on your children, I know they are smart.)

Put the money saved into their college funds...
Or better yet, renew your vows in London with it :)

And I hope to do this job for years yet, so I might not be able to host anything, but I have all school holidays free and hopefully at least enough for travel/ a meal.

TIL that marinade can be used as a verb.

What's TIL mean? Is that like LOL?

Today I Learned.

Harrumph. That's one of those words that's only a word because enough people were using it wrongly that it's considered evolved. Used to be--in the good old days--when we walked a mile uphill both ways in the snow--that the noun was marinade and the verb was marinate. Next you'll be telling me it's acceptable to spell judgment with an e... rassa frassa kids these days...

Clodfobble's bank is clearly marinading her tax documentation in a cesspool of incompetance brought on by them all being People of Walmart. The situation will only be resolve when People Of Walmart is officialy recognized as an ethnicity which qualifies them for a free goverment brain cell top-up program. In the meanwhile, her bank manager needs to get his lazy ass out of the leather seat of his golf cart that bears his imprint all too clearly, repay the money that he "borrowed" from Ms Fobble's account and get her damn paperwork in order and in the mail stat. And then maybe request a refund from the "university" he bought his banking degree from.

See. That's what I was thinking when I saw that. But I looked it up in the on-line Merriam Webster, and they have marinade as both a noun and a verb.

I meant to type marinate, but I wasn't thinking. I'm pleased to see my mistake is actually correct.