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Holidays and good health have not coincided for me lately. I wasn't feeling well for a couple of days around Christmas. I felt better just in time to enjoy the excellent last-minute blogger happy hour at Illusions on Friday. Then, it seems staying up much too late on New Year's Eve triggered a return of my cold yesterday and this time in a more severe fashion. Luckily, one friend was kind enough to keep me well stocked in ginger ale and Advil Cold & Sinus (the good stuff with pseudoephedrine), and Zenchick went to the deli and brought me matzoh ball soup, which was delicious and soothing. How nice is that to have soup delivered to your door and with a DVD. Really, I'd say that I should get sick more often, but it sucks and she's always that nice.

Now, I'm hoping that I'm sufficiently recovered by Saturday, as I've been greatly looking forward to the demolition party at the Ancestral Pile.

Speaking of housing...I received my property assessment notice in the mail this morning along with 728,184 other Maryland property owners. I was a bit shocked. The value of my land has miraculously increased by 150% since December 2004. The value of the improvements increased more modestly and probably, realistically. I am looking forward to receiving the assessment worksheet that I requested from the Baltimore City SDAT office in the hopes of preparing an appeal. Although an appeal probably has little chance of success and I understand the phase-in values and the Homestead Tax Credit cap, it still disturbs me to have my house assessed at a value for which I could not sell it. I am really curious as to where they came up with their numbers, and some others have also voiced questions and concerns.