High Five Friday

It's High Five Friday!

We made it to another Friday without the kids putting us in the looney bin.

Give yourself a high five.

Jersey Shore's- Snooki's Greatest Moments

What Were They Thinking? Terrible Tattoos

Ahhh, It's Saturday Blog Hop

Ahhh, It's Saturday Blog Hop.

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Have a great weekend!

High Five Friday

It's Friday! We finally made it through the week.

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Where rules do not apply.

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All I ask from you is to have a wonderful Friday.

80's Flash Back- Kool & The Gang "Cherish

Tickle Me Tuesday

Tickle Me Tuesday No Rules Blog Hop.

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Words Of Wisdom

"You are built not to shrink down to less but to blossom into more."

By,

Oprah Winfrey

Silly Sasha Kitty

Sasha Kitty has her language and a her own way of communicating with us. She sits there and stares at the door like she is trying to will the door to open or until someone sees her sitting there staring at the door. If that doesn't work, she meows and points to the door knob. I think she gets aggravated she can't open the doors to go outside, because she can open almost all the doors in the house by either pushing them open by pouncing on them or pulling them open with her paw.

Still Sleepless In Michigan

As I wrote on the Comfort Zone, I am totally sleepless. I recently ran into some problems with hives from and allergic reaction and I was prescribed some medication that causes you to have trouble sleeping. But, at this point I will take sleepless over itching anytime. I can always catch up on my sleep later.

The funny thing about having problems sleeping is that it seems like your mind goes off into places you wouldn't normally go, the thoughts flow seamlessly and you find yourself eating cold fried chicken at three in the morning. The funny thing about eating cold fried chicken is it always reminds me of my mother. It's one of those funny little habits I picked up from her. Along with the crazy little things I say to my kids, biscuits and gravy on Sunday mornings, right down to insisting the family eat dinner together at the table for dinner, big dinners on the holidays and trying to make Christmas and Easter perfect for the children. Both of my parents worked hard to make the holidays fun. My father was always the one who would go outside when the kids were little and ring bells and yell Ho,Ho,Ho Merry Christmas. The tradition got passed on to my husband who now sneaks outside on Christmas Eve to be Santa Clause flying through the air.

Now, my father on the other hand is the prankster of the family, I got that trait from him. I sure my husband and children love that qaulity that got passed onto me as they are walking out of the bathroom or are sitting there quietly watching the television when I jump out and scare them. I even startled the dog once, but I scared the poor thing so bad he peed. The cat would have to be one of my favorite ones to startle, she jumps straight up into the air. But, she always manages to get her revenge on me by pouncing on me in the middle of the night after a bathroom run. The prankster gene got passed onto my son. He spends his money on mints that taste like fish, itching powder and the modern day trinkets that make the same sounds as the whoopee cushions we had when we were children. When he came home with the toy that makes noises that sounds like someone burping or passing gas. I told my husband, "that is something my father would buy."

I also got the love of barbecues and cooking on the grill from my father. Family barbecues are one of my favorite things to do. There is nothing better than getting family and friends together and having a big barbecue with more food than you can eat, a fire going in the fire pit with the kids sitting around the fire roasting marsh mellows and letting off fireworks in the air. I always try to make it fun for the kids, because those are the memories they will always remember and remind them of home.

 Some how those funny little traits gets passed onto our children. It's funny how we can see those traits in our children that are just like our parents or our sisters and brothers. We all get those funny little habbits from our parents that we didn't even realize until we are grown and have children of our own and we find ourselves sitting in the kitchen eating cold chicken thinking of our parents.

The Foreclosure Rate Is Killing Home Owners

The recession has really hit Michigan hard. Almost every neighborhood you drive through there are homes up for forclosure. When I briefly did some work for a real estate agent, I realized that 95% of the homes they had for sale, were foreclosure homes. They had several homes listed for under $20,000. I was shocked to see a home sell for $1,900. During my time there, I found out that the banks get a kick back from the United States government when they foreclose on a home. Making it profitable for them to foreclose on homes. That is one of the reasons some of banks are getting in trouble for foreclosing on homes that shouldn't have been foreclosed on. They are quick to foreclose on homes to get government money. It almost makes you feel betrayed by the government. The put all this talk out there about how they are trying to help Americans get back to work, but it's all a smoke screan. They are making it more difficult for Americans to survive during a recession. They raise our taxes, cut unemployment benefits, give the banks kick backs for foreclosures, the states have cut funding on non-profit organizations helping the needy, cut school funding, and God only knows what else they have done that we don't know about yet.

Melvindale is one of the cities that has been hit really hard. Friday, I was really disappointed when I tried to find  new home owners insurance for my home. I quickly found out that either the insurance companies refused to give me insurance or the insurance was twice as much for my home than it was for my car. My home value had dropped by almost half in the past ten years. When I did a refinance in 2004 my home was valued at $120,000, now it is only valued at 63,500. I know owe more on my home than it is worth.

Not only are home owners being stuck with not being able to sell their home, because their value of their home is less than they owe, they can't even get new home owners insurance because the value of their home is worth less than what they owe on their home. The recession is exhausting, I'm beginning to feel like things are not going to get better anytime soon or in the near future. I am beginning to think this is a new way of life in America.

Sunday's Silly Cats

My Great Find For The Weekend

I am so proud of the great find I found at the local Salvation Army today for $49. I get more excited about finding a old dresser in great shape than going out and buying a new dresser. I was really dreading having to have to go out and buy a new dresser in the store. When ever I buy a new dresser, I always worry about how long it will hold up without falling apart. Even if you buy a new one and pay a lot of money for one, it seems like they don't last very long. I bought an Ikea closet unit with a built in dresser about 3 1/2 years ago and we have had to have the doors fixed already and one of drawers broke and I paid $600 for the closet unit. But, the old dressers stay around for years and years without a worry.

The dresser is in great shape with just a few small marks on it. It's made of real SOLID wood and is very heavy with it's original finish. Who ever had it before took great care of it and it was very clean. When you open the drawers, the smell of wood goes in the air. Two men struggled to get it in and out of the truck and had to slide the dresser through the house on a blanket. It's probably been around for about 30 or 40 years and as heavy as it is, will be around a while longer. I love old furniture, it has character.

Ahhh, It's Saturday! Blog Hop

There's nothing better than a Saturday morning cup of coffee and knowing you don't have to rush to do anything and we made it through another week with our sanity still intact.

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Which Is It?

I really wish the media would get together on this whole recession thing. One source says, we are coming out of the recession and another says, we are falling deeper in a recession. I tend to believe that we are falling deeper in a recession. According to the stock market, we are falling deeper in a recession and I tend to believe that more than we are not. One of the problems with these articles saying, we are coming out of the recession is they use the fact that unemployment is down. The big question is, why is unemployment down? Is it because people are actually back to work or does it have to do with more people are actually out of unemployment benefits and are still unemployed? Those people who are still unemployed and out of benefits are no longer counted as unemployed. Then you have to add in the factor, that some states shortened the length of time a person can collect unemployment. I truly believe that the majority of people on unemployment are collecting unemployment, because they truly can not find a job. Then there are the people out there who had jobs making $50,000 or more a year who are now doing minimum wage jobs or very low paying jobs. Those people are not included in the numbers either. Do you really think it's fair to say some one's economic situation improved if they went from $50,000 or more a year to a minimum wage job. That is worse than being on unemployment. You definitely can not support a family on a minimum wage job.

Not only are the adults affected by the recession, the children of the United States are affected by the recession. It's not about wearing expensive cloths or having material objects. It's about parents not being able to put food on the table for their children. Minimum wage jobs put people in the poverty level. Therefore, our recession hasn't improved. We have more people in the poverty level living in the United States.

The food banks are having a crisis. They don't have enough food to meet the demands, because there is a higher demand and less people to donate. Because, some of the people who used to donate are now standing in their lines getting food to feed their families with.

Schools are closing left and right in the Metro Detroit area. Why are the schools closing left and right in the Metro Detroit area? Because of the city officials stealing the money and more people losing their homes, which means less people to pay property taxes. If there are less people owning homes, then that means there are less money going to the schools, because a portion of your property taxes go to the schools in your district.

To me, the facts point to the recession has not made an improvement. We are forced to make changes in our homes and in society to live with the new way of life. Which is not for the better, but for the worse.

I think the government needs to spend less time trying to blow smoke up our ass and spend more time finding a solution to the problem. Low paying and minimum wage jobs are not putting Americans back to work. The only thing they are accomplishing with that is, starving America's children.

10 Year Old Boy Held At Gun Point At A Local Day Camp



Steven Satovsky, the president of the Beverly Hills Club. 

In Beverly Hills MI yesterday, a 10 year old by was held at gun point by two boys wanting his shoes, the camp counselors allowed recess to continue on and the parents weren't notified about the incident until they picked up their son from the day camp that something had happened. The mother feels the camp should have been put on lock down and the parents should be notified as to what had happened right after the incident had occurred. 

Steven Satovsky, says they did follow the procedure and did everything possible to protect the children. He says, he went out to the play ground and notified the Beverly Hills Police Department and shortly after, him and his staff composed a letter to give to the parents regarding the incident. The boy's mother said, the letter was very vague, only indicating that there was an incident of harassment at the day camp. The letter did not mention, there was an incident of harassment by two non-BHC teenage boys involving a gun.

The camp did not follow school procedures. School procedure is to bring all the children into the building and put the school on lock down even in the event there is a gunman in the area. Not only was there a gunman in the area, but on school grounds. The Beverly Hills Day Camp is held at the Beverly Hills Elementary School, therefore they should be bound by the school's policy. Regardless, if it was teenage boys with a gun. Teenagers nor anyone else that intends on using a gun to commit a crime with for that fact can not be trusted with a gun.

Thankful Thursday Blog Hop

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Is It Time For School Yet????

Other than the school shopping. I am so ready for my children to go back to school. Both of them are wanting their friends to sleep over and my son's friends running in and out of the house during the day is beginning to get tiring. We didn't get to sleep until after midnight last night, because no body wanted to go to bed. My two youngest are only a year a part. The like to aggravate one another even when they don't have friends over! Therefore, they are constantly arguing with one another. My daughter likes to aggravate her brother when he has friends over and my son likes to aggravate my daughter when she has friends over. For our own sanity we have reduced the sleepovers to one night a week for each one. Which is still a challenge to get through. I think they need to get back to school, because they are spending too much time together. It has become almost impossible for them to be in the same room with one another for more than one minute without being at each others throats.

I think some parents just don't understand I have two children who have sleep overs or know what is like to have two children having sleep overs. My son's friend's parents told him Adam couldn't stay there again until he spent the night over here. It's not like I don't allow him to stay. He stayed here twice last week. He stayed here twice last week and my daughter had a sleep over. That makes three nights of the week we had sleep overs here. It's not like he's an only child and is the only child having sleep overs. We have to split it up and make it fair for everyone. I definitely don't want kids here seven days a week. Then my son has one friend who is never allowed to have sleep overs which is totally unfair. They want other people to keep their kid, but they won't allow anyone to stay there. It makes you wander why they do they not allow anyone to sleep over. He had another friend's parents do the same thing. I don't want to be that mean parent who won't allow anyone in there house or have anyone stay there. Thank God, he is no longer allowed to play with him, because of some bad habits he has. I'm getting a little tired of the parents who won't allow anyone in their house or their kids to have sleep overs. Kids need to be kids and be able to play and have fun with other kids, it is all part of growing up and being a child. It's just beginning to be exhausting that us and one other kid's parents are the only ones who allow sleep overs.

There's only four more weeks before school is back in session. Let's see if I can make it without going insane.

Tickle Me Tuesday Blog Hop

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Join In And Help Native Americans Living In The State Of Nevada

Change.org
Start an Online Petition »

 

As most of you know I have designed the website The Comfort Zone to raise awareness and to fight against hate crimes. Too many people turn the other way when brutal hate crimes occur, either thinking "They don't want to get involved" or "What can one person can do?" One person can do a lot. Change happens one person at a time. The idea of change is born one person at a time. Where would the United States be today if all those one persons didn't stand up and fight for all the injustice in the United States? Would voting be open to all races and women? Would the slaves have been freed? They fought for the freedom of their race and gender. Continue the fight they started. It is our God given right to be treated equally. It all began with one person standing up and fighting for their rights and the rights of others. Don't make their fight be in vein. Make a promise to yourself to make a difference one person at a time. The best place to start is with yourself.

 

I am asking that the followers of my site join in a make a difference in the lives of others. Sign the petition above and make a difference in the lives in the Native Americans in the state of Nevada. If you wish to join in and Tweet, FB the petition or get a link to the petition go to the online and you will find all the links.

 

To read about the story go to The FBI Investigates A Brutal Hate Crime Against A Native American Family.