tulips hate me

I've struggled with tulips at my house, but last year I thought I finally got it right.

 They were beautiful.

I even fertilized them.

And this is what I get.

  A single flower, and a mess of foliage.

Tulips, I'm done with you.  Next year I'm trying hyacinths.

tn sales tax holiday

This weekend is the annual sales tax holiday in Tennessee. Last year I wrote about how ridiculous some of the exemptions and inclusions were, and turns out this year the same rules apply.  Get your wedding dresses, but not your bridesmaid's dresses. Rather than re-hash everything, here is a link to the 2012 full list of of exemptions and inclusions, and my post from last year....I double checked, and all of the ridiculousness still applies.

origionaly posted 8/5/11:

When I lived in SC, I always would give the State of South Carolina a hard time for having laws that made no sense. You can't by liquor after 7pm, but you can buy a keg at the grocery store until 2am. You can't get your Bailey's, but here, go binge drink on beer. That makes NO sense.

Well I've got a new one that makes no sense, this time courtesy of the State of Tennessee. This weekend is the back-to-school tax free weekend. It's designed to give families a break when they're making all of the purchases geared towards getting the kids ready for school again. That makes sense. The state requires the kids to have certain school supplies, and it gives them a sales tax break to purchase them. Gottcha. They even discount clothes (items under $100) as well as school supplies. This makes sense too, gotta have clothes to wear to school.

We all take advantage of the tax free holiday. Computers fall in the tax free bracket, and since they don't discriminate if you're in school or not, anyone can take advantage of this 'discount.' Thanks, State of Tennessee.

Here's what doesn't make sense. Some of the NAMED exclusions and inclusions on the tax free list. I'll start with the silly ones, and end with the most outrageous. (full list here)

• Belts are tax free, but belt buckles sold individually are not. This separates a 'fashion' purchase from a necessary one. A little nit picky, but I won't get too upset.
• Computers are tax free, but unbundled software is not. Sorry, you can't get that learn to type program for your kids without paying taxes.
• Remote data storage (CD-R/RW, DVD-R/RW, portable disk drives) is not tax exempt. Sorry kids that paper you wrote last night, can't save & print it out at school, better buy a printer to keep at home. (but that printer is not tax exempt) This REALLY irks me. Do they even understand what the kids need to be successful in school? Or is technology just not a priority?
• BRIDAL GOWNS ARE TAX EXEMPT but bridesmaid dresses & accessories are not. Seriously?!?!

OK Tennessee, if this is where your 'Back-to-School' priorities lay, then we really need to have a sit down talk.

what it means to 'Clemson' yourself

But this one – this one was a monumental fail, even by Clemson’s standards. ~ Heather Dinich, ESPN

Everyone wants to love Clemson.  Everyone wants them to do well. If you've ever been to Clemson, if you've ever  been to a game in Death Valley, you want each team to be as special as the place itself.  There is always so much potential....and there are always so many disappointing, stupid, mistakes.  Great wins, followed by seemingly inexcusable losses.  (I say seemingly inexcusable, bc inevitably I will make excuses by the end of this post.) Clemson is well known for beating the odds, but also loosing the games they are supposed to win.

Last night was no exception.  Clemson was a 3.5 point favorite in it's very first Orange Bowl.  Well, you know what happened.

The most points allowed in a bowl game. Ever. Since the beginning of time.

Roller coaster seasons.  Ups and downs.  I have said it before, being a Clemson fan will take years off your life.  This was so hard to watch because the team gave up.  They stood dumbfounded asking 'how could this happen to me' rather than making a tackle and stopping abuse.  Like most Clemson fans, I blame the coaches.  I blame Defensive Coordinator Kevin Steele for not being able to to do his job in an "x and o" basic sort of way. I also blame him for developing a defensive that was soft on fundamentals, and weak mentally.  I blame Dabo Swinney for not recognizing the problem before the game, and not taking over and rallying his players during the game.  The Bobby Dodd Coach of the Year couldn't get his team to focus and execute. Epic fail does not begin to describe how this game went.

The silver lining, if there is one, is that this Clemson team - even with this horrible, horrible loss - exceeded expectations.  This was a team that most predicted to be 7-5 at best.  This is a young team (both players and coaches).  This is a brand new offensive scheme that only 65% installed, worked wonders.  This is a team that won the ACC for the first time that I can remember.  This is a team that took down the defending SEC & BCS National Champs, as well as the defending Sun Belt, SoCon, & ACC champs.

I have 2 wishes coming out of this game.

1. Dabo Swinney takes a lesson from Chad Morris and becomes a hard ass.  This means firing a few people, enacting a no twitter/cell phones on gameday rule, and putting his team through the toughest spring training known to man.
2. Derek Dooley does NOT hire Kevin Steele.

 It would rock my world for these wishes to come true.

TN Tax Free Holiday

When I lived in SC, I always would give the State of South Carolina a hard time for having laws that made no sense. You can't by liquor after 7pm, but you can buy a keg at the grocery store until 2am. You can't get your bailey's, but here, go binge drink on beer. That makes NO sense.

Well I've got a new one that makes no sense, this time courtesy of the State of Tennessee. This weekend is the back-to-school tax free weekend. It's designed to give families a break when they're making all of the purchases geared towards getting the kids ready for school again. That makes sense. The state requires the kids to have certain school supplies, and it gives them a sales tax break to purchase them. Gottcha. They even discount clothes (items under $100) as well as school supplies. This makes sense too, gotta have clothes to wear to school.

We all take advantage of the tax free holiday. Computers fall in the tax free bracket, and since they don't discriminate if you're in school or not, anyone can take advantage of this 'discount.' Thanks, State of Tennessee.

Here's what doesn't make sense. Some of the NAMED exclusions and inclusions on the tax free list. I'll start with the silly ones, and end with the most outrageous. (full list here)

• Belts are tax free, but belt buckles sold individually are not. This separates a 'fashion' purchase from a necessary one. A little nit picky, but I won't get too upset.
• Computers are tax free, but unbundled software is not. Sorry, you can't get that learn to type program for your kids without paying taxes.
• Remote data storage (CD-R/RW, DVD-R/RW, portable disk drives) is not tax exempt. Sorry kids that paper you wrote last night, can't print it out at school, better buy a printer to keep at home. This REALLY irks me. Do they even understand what the kids need to be successful in school? Or is technology just not a priority?
• BRIDAL GOWNS ARE TAX EXEMPT but bridesmaid dresses & accessories are not. Seriously?!?!
  

OK Tennessee, if this is where your 'Back-to-School' priorities lay, then we really need to have a sit down talk.