All things bloggy

Been quiet on the blog front for the last few weeks... let me catch you up.

1. Picnics.

The weather has been so nice, we've headed out for a picnic or two. We're picnicking kind of people. I suppose we probably had the picnicking spirit inside of us all along, but it seems it didn't really bubble to the surface until we moved to New Zealand. We love a picnic. Got time for that.

2. Taxation frustration.

As a U.S. citizen, I'm supposed to lodge a federal tax return no matter where I live and no matter that I've earned no money in the United States. Although foreign income is subject to U.S. taxation, it won't matter for us because our income does not reach that level that requires sharing with Uncle Sam. That's what I gather from reading the very riveting "Publication 54 (2010)" (link to IRS website). But the information available on the IRS website is incredibly dense and difficult to wade through, so it's entirely possible that I've misunderstood a key point.

Even though we won't owe any tax (I think), I'm obliged to file anyway (I think). As a former green-card-holder, Gareth has no such obligation. He technically abandoned his legal resident status once he was out of the country for 1 year.

Last year we were very keen to file a tax return because we were expecting a big refund. We had worked only the first three months of 2009, and were entitled to refunds of virtually all the tax that had been withheld. So that was nice.

For 2010, I received one late payment from my former employer in the form of a retirement account payout. The feds kept $750 of it, and we think we should be getting that back. So we're kind of keen to file again. It seems like such a pain this time around though. Maybe it seemed easier to me last year because Gareth took care of it. Now I'm in charge (how did this happen?!) and feeling rather daunted by the whole thing. It doesn't help that the IRS website contains so much information that you could just hold your finger on the scroll down button for an hour and not get through it all. And I'm not talking about the whole website; I'm just talking about the page(s) relating to U.S. citizens living abroad. Insane. There is a form I'm supposed to file called TD F 90-22.1 "Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts." Seriously. How many forms does the IRS publish that they have to call one of them TD F 90-22.1?!

You can understand my frustration. This segues nicely to our next topic:

3. Beer.

You know what's really yummy? Three Boys IPA. We wish this stuff did not cost $7.50 a bottle. Because it's delicious. And it's brewed locally. Like really, really locally - less than a kilometre from our house.

Gareth is enjoying one right now. It's his little reward for running 50K this morning. Go Gareth, it's your birthday.

If you would like to do something nice for us, you can send us some of this beer.

4. He's off!

Big news on the parenting front: our little man is crawling! There must be very few things cuter than a little baby bum crab-walking across the grass, or the living room carpet, or anywhere really. So. Freaking. Cute. If it is even possible, we adore him even more.