Sincerest Apologies

Oh, I've been horrible about posting anything to this blog. I apologize to the few of you that continue to check it. My book blog keeps me very busy and now that I'm also wasting time on Facebook and most recently, Twittering...or Tweeting....something I'm doing with Twitter...there's less and less time. Somewhere in there I'm also supposed to be reading so I can write about the books on my blog. Go figure! But, whenever I'm quiet here, you can be sure I'm making noise over there, so stop by!

I'm working on maintaining mostly my resolutions from the beginning of 2008: keep working on decreasing debt, work more on downsizing and organizing the house, finishing up unfinished projects and not starting new ones. I have the 2009 budget worked out, and provided energy prices don't make some big change mid-year, I should be set on that. I started the "scrap yarn project." I have gads and gads of yarn that I've stowed away. There isn't really enough for an entire project in any one of the colors, but there's also not a small enough amount of the yarns for me to justify throwing it all out. So, I'm making granny squares of all these different colored yarns and then I'll put the squares together in however many afghans it will create and they will be the "afghans of many colors." Not sure what I'll do with them. It'll depend on how they turn out, how many there are, etc. They'll find good homes, though.

The job with NACS is going fantastically. The powers that be assure us that we are doing well, but I always remain cautiously optimistic. In an economy like this one, anything can happen at anytime. We are preparing for our big tradeshow in March. I'm presently working on a promotional movie for our online courses that we offer, so we can show that at the tradeshow. Then we also have an online course running right now and another one scheduled to start the first week of February.

And I'm getting more and more excited about my trip to California in April. Looking forward to seeing my sis, Riley, and of course attending the L.A. Times Book Festival. The only thing I'm not looking forward to is leaving my own babies behind for almost two weeks. I've never been away from Nestle, and Hershey never for this long. It'll be an experience for all of us.

Of course the whole inauguration event was wonderful, and I have to mention that I absolutely adore my employer who arranged for both of our buildings to air the inauguration so employees could go down and watch it. Very classy! It so phenomenal to listen to our new president talk about how everything doesn't have to be settled by force and acting like bullies. It also warms my heart to hear the environment is a priority for this administration.

And I couldn't agree more with this op-ed article from the NYTimes. I've said for awhile that we are all to blame for what has happened in this country. Which is not to say I don't think the Bush administration is without accountability, but the greed that has take over this country is just offensive - we bought into that administration's mentality, and for that we should be ashamed. People buying beyond their means, running up ridiculous amounts of credit card debt. It's just obscene. And it's all about "me, me, me." I must have this new car, this bigger house, this fancy gadget, this humongous television, etc. I remember reading an article not too long ago about baby boomers who would probably not be able to retire because they had amassed so much debt and not enough retirement funds, they couldn't afford to retire. One of the biggest values I tried to impress into my students while teaching was accountability/responsibility. I don't know why I was surprised that the students fought that value so hard. They simply watched those around them and wondered, "why should I have to be responsible?" I hope this is the turn in the tide that will encourage us all to be more responsible and set better examples for those coming after us.

The weather I'm not at all happy with. I've had to shovel more this year than any other year since I've lived in my house. I'm ready for summer...NOW! At least someone likes this weather, though:

Had the chance to see Frost/Nixon at the Playhouse Square this month. It's a very good play, but I still tend to favor the musicals. Looking forward to Spring Awakening in March! Also got to see Grand Torino at the theater. Fabulous, fabulous, fabulous! I just love Clint Eastwood. For those wondering, I probably will NOT see Marley and Me. Pretty much for the same reason I won't watch Old Yeller.

And today is Payton's 8th birthday. Headed over to her house for a little party. She had her first "sleep-over" party last night, so this is just the family celebration.

So, that's about it for catching up on the last month. Hope you're all staying as warm as possible!

End of the Year Ramblings

It is the last Saturday of 2008. Just where has the year gone? It seems to have whipped by...time to start working on those resolutions for 2009. Before I get to those, just a few odds and ends to talk about.

Today I posted my 11th and final author interview for 2008 on my book blog. This interview is with Robin Burcell, author of The Face of a Killer. She has had quite a career in law enforcement, and learning about some of those tidbits was very interesting.

Saw a couple movies with the family recently. Last week my mom and I went to see Australia. Oh my...that Hugh Jackman just makes me melt! I don't know what took People magazine so long to get around to acknowledging him as the sexiest man! Then last evening my mom, youngest sister and I went out to see Seven Pounds. I was frustrated because so long at the beginning you just don't know what the heck is going on. At the end I realize why they did what they did, but I'm wondering if there couldn't have been a better approach so the audience didn't feel soooo in the dark. If you haven't seen it and you're planning to, my advice is TAKE TISSUES!! It is a definite tear-jerker!

I'm excited that we are switching over to paperless pay stubs at work. I have all but three of my regular bills sent electronically and boy is that ever nice. I never have to worry about where I put the bill, and even better I don't have to worry about dealing with it after I paid it. It's always available for me online. So much less waste, so much less hassle! Love it! So, now our pay stubs will be exactly the same set up. If we want to see them, we access them online. Don't have to worry about filing them away or remembering to get rid of them after so long. Save the trees! :) Despite having all the bills electronic, I still had to spend a good forty minutes this morning sorting through paper junk that needed to be either shredded or put in the recycle bag. The less I have to deal with there, the better. Less to clutter up my house.

Amongst all that clutter, however, was the newsletter from my credit union. They had this interesting little fact section on stolen IDs. According to this survey of folks who knew how their information was stolen, 38% was due to lost or stolen wallets, checkbooks or credit cards. Second, at 15% was from friends or acquaintances (nice friends!), and tied with 15% was retail purchases or telephone transactions. I found that little tidbit very interesting because online purchases or transactions accounted for only 4% - so all those folks who are afraid to buy things online for fear of their identity being stolen, are actually at greater risk buying in the store or over the phone. Huh! You're also at greater risk from viruses or spyware. That accounted for 8%. The big message was to keep you social security card at home unless you need to use it that day. Don't carry it around in your wallet. Also, don't carry around credit cards you don't actually use.

Sadly, with the economy tanking the way it is, many people are turning their pets over to the animal shelters because they can't afford to care for them. And in turn, less folks are donating to the shelters because they don't have extra money for donations. I'm very thankful every day that I have a job that allows me to provide for my animals. And while I don't have a lot of extra cash to throw their way, I do try to help in other ways that I can. For example, all my aluminum cans go to the Humane Society so they can get the money for recycling them. And my newspapers and junk mail go out to the Lorain County APL so they can recycle them and get the money. I've donated small blankets and towels and toys before. And of course, food donations are always welcomed by the shelters. If you can't do anything else, please click the purple paw on my blog and help feed the animals that way. It costs nothing but helps some of those needy innocent animals that are suffering from our greed and aren't eligible for government bailout plans.

So, I guess that's enough rambling for one Saturday. Let's talk resolutions!

First and foremost, continue working on paying off debt. I did a bang-up job this year, despite Hershey's medical bills and Foundation's efforts to stifle me! I didn't add to credit card debt. I paid more down. I cut out things like my satellite service - wow! has that been an improvement! I'm on the right track. So, I'm going to revise my budget plan and by the end of 2009, I should have another credit card completely paid off - God willing. One more step toward being debt-free by 40!

Next, continue to downsize and declutter! While my library grew this year, I did a decent job of ousting more unnecessary clutter. I also didn't buy more. When I worked on projects for Christmas this year, I only used materials I already had. In 2009 I'm going to continue finishing projects I've started and only use materials I already have. I'll also work on getting rid of more in another garage sale.

Find more ways to decrease my impact on the environment. I try to use recyclable bags now when I go to the store, but I need to get better about remembering them. When I go to the grocery store I'll usually get the bags there because I can then reuse them for my recyclables. They have to be in blue bags for our pick-up program. As a side note here, unless the bag is ripped and unusable, I will not throw it away. The bags are reused for any myriad of things, but they don't just end up in the trash can. This year I got a job closer to home, which cut my driving by over half. I still combine trips for errands and whatnot, so overall I'm driving far less. I'll see if I can improve that even more this year. I'm also seeing my efforts to conserve electricity pay off. I changed all my light bulbs to florescent; I unplug small appliances when they aren't in use; and I definitely turn off lights when I'm not in a room. My electric usage in November of 2008 was significantly lower than that in 2007 - Success! My biggest goal for this year and the environment is to get a personal composter. I'm eyeing one from Sam's Club. That may be my next purchase!

And my last resolution is to get exercise back into my daily routine and eat a little better. When I switched jobs I let my walking fall by the wayside and I need to get back at it. While I gained weight this year, I'm not going to set any specific weight loss goals. I simply want to get back to a point where I feel healthy because I'm active on a daily basis.

Oh wait! I have one last resolution. I plan to find at least one thing to be thankful for each and every day. Keeping a positive attitude is vital, especially with the times being the way they are right now. I tell myself that this recession we are experiencing is nature's way of shaking us up and reminding us of what is important. I think as a whole we've become a bit too greedy - too materialistic...some more than others. This life shouldn't be about "keeping up with the Joneses." Maybe we can get a better focus on what really counts!

O.k., so those are the big resolutions for 2009. A couple little side goals for me. I should finish out 2008 having read somewhere in the vicinity of 110 books. I'm going to shoot for 125 in 2009. My goal for 2008 was 150. Obviously, I fell short of that, but the books I fit in were some of the best ever, so I'm definitely not disappointed!

Also in relation to my book blog, I'm shooting for 25 author interviews for 2009. I had 11 for 2008 and I didn't start them until summer, so I think 25 can be a realistic goal. I'd also like to recruit at least 5 guest bloggers this year. We'll see.

I found a pattern for a basic crochet granny square. I want to use up a lot of my scrap yarn making a bunch of different colored squares and then put them together in afghans. They will be my afghans of many colors. I'd like to do at least two of those in 2009. Again, I'm not buying more supplies. I'm going to use what I have already and quit storing it away like I'm a squirrel waiting for winter. It's silly and it just creates clutter.

So, for right now, that's my plan for 2009. Maybe I'll revisit this in June and see how I'm doing. Have a great weekend! If I don't post again before Thursday - HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

Over at My Books Thoughts....

Just wanted to give you a heads up that over at my book blog I presently have a drawing for a book giveaway going on. You can win a signed copy of the New York Times notable book, Matrimony by Joshua Henkin. Click here to get all the pertinent details for entry in the drawing. Win yourself a Christmas present this year!

Also, I will be posting my 10th author interview for 2008 tomorrow. Stop by and meet an author I've enjoyed reading this year, someone I'd like to hear more folks talking about. Hope you'll join me!

Accountability?

There were two articles in the New York Times this morning that I'd thought I share with you if you haven't read them already. The first is this article about Obama's pending choice for the Secretary of Education. The choice will, according to this article, point the direction that Obama wants to take with the U.S. Education system. The two forks in this road? The first is with school reform - abolish teacher tenure, take power from teachers' unions, make a bunch of standardized tests. The other option in this fork is rewriting the federal law and helping teachers become more qualified. O.k. pause it here.

The next article is actually an Op-Ed piece that is extremely well written and it's in regards to the governor of Illinois and how he's the poster boy for our country's unwillingness to accept accountability for actions.

Now here's me and I'm about to put these two articles together. Why are we surprised that people don't want to be accountable in this country? We raise our children to think exactly that. In this article about what to do with the education system, where is the most important element of all? The students and their families? Education is a three-legged stool, and no matter how sturdy you make two legs, if the other one comes up short, the stool don't work! Education requires the ACTIVE involvement of teachers, administrators, parents, community and most importantly STUDENTS! Their roll needs to start being a part of any plan. There is no such thing as an inactive learner. A HUGE part of the reason other countries have more successful education systems than ours has nothing to do with money, it is that the students and their families value the education their children receive. And because they value it, the students show up to school each day - families don't plan vacations during school sessions and truancy isn't an issue. The students also complete their work. They're excited to have the chance to learn. The students don't use lines like, "I'm not being paid to be here" or "you need to make it fun" or "you need to earn my respect." And never in a million years would parents in those other countries argue with a teacher or administrator in front of their child or allow their child to think anything other than they have the utmost respect for the educators. They don't teach their children to be disrespectful of their teachers and adminstrators.

Do you see how I'm saying that the role of the student and parent can undo all the great things the system could do with teachers and testing and schools and supplies and whatnot? We have a problem at the very foundation. No matter how many times you scrape the top layer off and try to relay it, if you don't fix the foundation, that top layer isn't going to have a chance.

I don't know enough about politics to know what they can do about the foundation layer. But I know that each and every one of us can do something about it. Set an example. Don't let irresponsible behaviour be acceptable in your house, your family, your community. Let the change start with YOU. We're all in this together.

Boy Do I Need to Catch Up!

I've been so neglectful of this blog. I apologize, I apologize, I apologize....to those three of four of you who happen to stop by here! hahaha!

You would probably fall on the ground laughing if you saw this folder I have on my computer that is full of topics to mention on here. I hear about things and say, "oh, I need to mention that on my blog!" But alas, the time has not presented itself. I've been wrapped up in Christmas projects, my new job...warm blankets because this weather is making me grumpy! My book blog has been keeping me very busy. Which I am so delighted about. That must be the first thing I mention. Being able to talk books with folks has just filled a void for me that started the minute I left teaching. And the fact that people have been receptive to my book blog has been absolutely thrilling! Having a blast there.

Also related to books. I joined the book club at work. There are eight ladies from my office who meet once every month or every other month, depending on the length of the book we're reading. I'm in stimulus overdrive at those meetings. Just a great time with great people.

The new job is going fantastic. Better than anything I could have imagined. I'm always busy, never feel like I'm watching the clock...and I haven't woken up one single morning wishing it was Friday. You can't ask for better than that!

A little bit of sad news in that my sister's dog, Riley, had some seizures last weekend. He had a number of tests done during the week and they didn't find anything in his CT scan or the spinal tap, so they believe he is epileptic. (Knocking on wood) he hasn't had another episode since Sunday, and he's on medications now. I send my good thoughts his way every day. I know it's been hard on my sister and I surely wish neither one of them had to go through it, but they're persevering!

I finished up the shopping portion of my Christmas tasks today. I have a few more things that I'm making that I need to finish up, but I think they'll be done in time. Especially since I don't have to go out shopping anymore! I really kept things more low-key this year. I know, it doesn't help the economy that way, but we really don't need a lot of "stuff." I wanted to find things that would be useful or valued. Not just stuff for the sake of giving stuff.

I had to chuckle last week or the week before (lost track now) when I got my updates from the New York Times and USAToday online that read "Breaking News: US officially in a recession." Then the next day the headlines read "US in recession since last December." Well, well, well Washington! Glad you finally noticed what was going on! It's not funny, but if I don't find some element of it to laugh about, I'll cry. I'm simply thanking God every day that I'm still employed and I'm saying prayers for all those unfortunate souls who are not. In November over half a million people lost their jobs. In my lifetime there hasn't been a loss that high. That's scary. I hope that we manage to come out of this better than we went in. And I don't mean that we come out richer...we need to come out with better values. However, as a friend pointed out the other day, Americans seem to have the memory of an ant. In the summer when gas was over $4 a gallon people were clamoring for the hybrid vehicles. The manufacturers couldn't make them fast enough. Now that they're available (and gas prices have gone down), no one is interested. They're back in their honkin' SUVs. My sister was talking to me on the phone the other day when she noticed someone driving Toyota's largest SUV...the license plate said something about loving their forests. Was that supposed to be a sick joke?

I was mentioning on my book blog the other day about a catch-22 that seems to be taking place in higher education. Our country ranks 15th in people with college degrees. And everyone seems to be in agreement that this needs to change. We need to have a better percentage of college graduates. But at the same time, tuition is skyrocketing and with the economy doing what it is doing, colleges aren't able to offer blind acceptance (not taking into consideration one's financial situation). They need the folks in there who can pay their way. So, you're cutting off the people in the lower classes because they simply don't have the money. BUT, then there are the folks like Bill and Melinda Gates. They want to support community colleges through their foundation. It's a great cause to champion, but here's where the idea scares me...they want to give money to the colleges based on their graduation rate. RED LIGHT! RED LIGHT! RED LIGHT! I see standards and expectations going through the basement. I see colleges not caring what the students learn so long as they get that degree so they get their money. I think that would be more detrimental for our country than good. LCCC here near me has a large program for nursing and other medical assistant positions. I don't think I want my medical staff going through sub-standard programs, thank you very much!

I had to laugh reading about folks in Japan who are now beta testing some cell phones that double as wallets. Something about you can use your cell phone to access your bank account or credit card accounts so you don't have to carry the cards, checks or cash with you. Hmmm, that doesn't sound like a band wagon I'll be too willing to jump on anytime too soon. I also was reading about folks reading e-books on their phones. What? That would be just too darned small for me. I may someday invest in an e-reader, but I surely won't be reading books on my phone!

Alright, I've gone a little overboard trying to make up for lost time here. So, I'll wrap this post up with an article that I believe is a MUST READ for everyone! I am often too passionate about this topic to discuss it as articulately as this author did. And I know there are folks out there who simply won't want to read it because they don't want to hear the truth. But, I still recommend everyone take the time to read it and think about what is being said.

Now I'm off to curl up with my book.

So Much To Be Thankful For

I have so, so very much to be thankful for. Our country is weather very tough times. The toughest many of have EVER seen, and yet there is still much that I can give thanks for this year. I'm going to leave you all with my top 10 things to be thankful for this year:

10. Hope for the future
9. Learning to live without television
8. Citizenship in a country that provides me with my many freedoms and opportunities
7. My education and being literate
6. A wonderful roof over my head
5. My health
4. A job I absolutely LOVE and that allows me to pay my bills
3. All of the wonderful folks I'm lucky enough to call "friend"
2. All my four-legged children and my two, four-legged nephews
1. My family

I hope you have a wonderful, blessed holiday. Happy Thanksgiving!!

Veteran's Day

Please honor the veterans today...and everyday. We owe all our wonderful freedoms...including our democratic voting process and right to discuss it...to their service and their sacrifices.

To all the American veterans: we thank you! This day is yours in honor of providing freedom for all of us everyday.

Great Week!

So I hope everyone's week has been as great as mine. Of course, I'm still on Cloud 9 from the election. President-elect Obama's got his hands full now, but he seems raring and ready to start tackling problems. God bless him! I sure don't envy him.

Prop 2 passed in California. Score one for the farm animals! Woo hoo!

And here's my greatest, most wonderful news...Hershey's blood tests came back and the bad levels from a month ago are now all down either to normal level or very close to normal. His liver is still damaged and he still has hepatitis, but it appears that his liver has stopped poisoning itself. Oh happy, happy, joy, joy! He'll still be taking pills for the rest of his life, but if it keeps him healthy and happy longer, we aren't going to complain one iota!

Today I went and opened an IRA. I have to say that Patti Baker at the Lorain County School Employees Credit Union was absolutely fabulous. I had no idea what I was doing, but I had to do something with my 401k money from Foundation Software. I could have rolled it over into my 401k that I'm starting at NACS, but I had read Suze Orman's Women and Money book. She was very adamant about diversifying your retirement investments and she believed every woman should have an IRA. So...I put the money into an IRA. Patti was very happy about that. She said it was one of the best retirement choices I could have made. She said she's always happy when young folks come in and open one up. So, the interest rates aren't great right now, but at least I got the thing started. And hopefully, by the time I retire our economy will be doing better than it is right now. And with any luck, I'll be able to add more money to it in the near future. For right now I'm still pluggin away at my debt and working very hard not to accumulate more. For the past two years working on debt's been on my New Year's Resolution list and it'll be on again this year. I've really cut back on a lot of luxuries that I use to think I couldn't live without. Funny how I'm happier now without those things than I've been in a long, long time...

I do attribute a lot of that happiness to my new job. I was speaking with a woman at work the other day and she said, "I wish it was Friday." You know how they do in that tone that sounds like they just can't go another minute? Anyway, when she said that I realized that this is the first time in a long time I don't think, "I wish it was Friday" when I go to work. Now granted, the weekends are nice, but I don't dread going to work at all. It's such a wonderful feeling!

Alrighty. I have some Christmas projects to work on and I'm in the midst of my book for book club, so I am going to return to those tasks. Enjoy what's left of your weekend!

YES!!

Congratulations to the 44th president of the United States of America, Barack Obama. I am proud to call myself an American today...and I am thrilled to say, "I have HOPE!"

A Couple Links to Check out...

If you wonder how the presidential tax plans would affect you, this is a good layman's article to check out. Essentially, if you aren't extremely wealthy one plan isn't going to benefit you that much over the other - as some would like to make it out to seem...ahem, "Joe the Plumber". But really and truly folks, this country is in a financial mess. If you think we're going to get away with no changes, I think you're living in a dream world.

And this presents a bit of a scary thought. It's amazing how much damage has been done in the past eight years to this country. And the change to improve things isn't going to happen overnight, no matter who is elected to office. But the one surefire truth in all this is that WE as a whole nation are going to have to create the change. We can't sit back and think someone else will take care of it for us. WE created this mess, and WE have to fix it. I'm kind of interested to see what affect this will have on the youths growing up through this....