I forgot to mention that I mailed off our tax refund papers on the 2/12/07 so we should be seeing a refund within 5 to 6 weeks. DH makes too much for us to qualify for free online filing, our taxes are too simple (we don't deduct, we check but standard has come out better every year so far) to purchase tax software to efile for free. So we deal with having to mail it in and wait. We do have it direct deposited each year so that makes the wait about one week less.

We are getting back a little over $500 more than we expected, when DH figured stuff out based on last years forms. I like this years forms much better! We will use the extra to either fix the dryer or buy a new one and anything leftover goes into the summer sports camp fund.

Our property tax bill came in the mail. First half is not due until the end of April. I was really excited as the taxes have dropped by over $100. The school bond on our elementary school expired, so ten years later it is now paid for. That's kind of an exciting thing, too. I'm sure the school district will be putting up a bond for either a new elementary or a second junior high within the next year or so.

The population is exploding out here, probably because it is one of the few places in western Washington where you can still buy a house for less than $100,000. Of course, the developers are working on changing that, building really out of character for the neighborhood, fancy shmancy two story houses with double garages that dominate the 3/8 acre lots. That type of house needs at least 2/3 of an acre to look right.

Most of the houses out here are simple one story 2 and 3 bedroom houses, though ours is a 4, and most people do not have garages. You can really tell which houses were built before the last 4 years because they blend in well with the rest of the houses out here. There were no two story houses in our division before 4 years ago. But neighborhoods evolve, even it it doesn't mean getting better. Not that it is really getting worse, just out of character. Property values are up according to the realtors and banks, but not the assessors, so far.