The Daily Grind -- Everyday Living

I talked to my sister yesterday, then I talked to my other sister yesterday afternoon. I'm supposed to call Mom and tell her "blah, blah, blah, blah, blah". What do you think? Should I?

I love my family more than anything in this world. I am thankful for them, and feel very, very blessed that I have one. I must admit there are some days that I put my foot in my mouth with one of them. Then, I stew about it all day and feel bad. I think I am more insensitive with them because I pretty much know that no matter what I say or do, they will always love me. I may not be invited to the next event, but I know they love me.

I grew up with two sisters and a brother, mom and dad. Once I graduated from high school, though, my mom left my dad and following my graduation from college, they were finally divorced. Divorce is tough at any age, but this hit me very hard because it changed everything I knew to be true about relationships and life, but I digress. As you can imagine, since there are three of us sisters we each have an opinion about everything, and they do not always jive with each other. As a matter of fact, I'm not sure I can understand how all three of us can look at the same exact situation and completely DISAGREE about it.

Is your family close? Are they loving? Or, do you fight almost all the time? Is there a clear place where you feel you belong? Are you the blacksheep or the golden child? Are you the "big brother/sister" or the "baby" of the family. As I get older I believe more and more that it really doesn't matter as long as you have a place in the family. Some days I get off the phone with one of them in tears, and other days I get off the phone laughing and so very happy to have them. I guess I call that life, but my son as an only child will never experience those joys and pains of a large family. Maybe that will be an incentive for him to go out and find a loving wife, and grow his own big family. I certainly hope so, but in the meantime he adores his cousins and absolutely loves going to "grandma's", "grandpas" and "Aunt Nora's" for family dinners. Maybe I should take a lesson from that.

Be the most loving and caring family member you can be, because in the end, they are the ones who will be there through everything. Love and blessings. K

Bad days. Hate 'em. No, I mean really. I realize they are a part of life, but they just slap you up the side of the face, and then you feel bad and grumpy the rest of the day. The problem with this is that like the "bad apple" syndrome, you end up passing the bad day onto others. Usually this is someone very near to you, mostly your family members and children. But you can also pass them along to your co-workers and friends.

There the vicious circle continues. You may in fact transfer that bad attitude to them, who in turn passes it right along to another. Judith Viorst wrote a phenomenal book entitled "Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day". If you get a chance, read it! Even though its a kid's book, it pertains to all of us. In the book, Alexander proceeds to tell us all about his horrible day beginning at breakfast all the way through until he has to wear his "railroad train pajamas" and he "hates his railroad train pajamas". All the way through it, he wants to move to Australia to get away from his bad day.

You know what, Alexander? I feel your pain. We would all love to go through life having wonderful days, being happy and careful, but unfortunately life is not like that and sometimes we just have to have those bad days. I know, I know, it doesn't help telling you that because you're still in a bad mood having a horrible day. But doesn't it help just a little to know that there are others that have bad days as well?

I've heard it over and over from numerous places that "if it weren't for the bad days, we wouldn't appreciate the good ones so much." That's true, and I've also heard others say that "at least your life isn't as bad as....(fill in the blank here)." Well pooh! I'm having a bad day, so just let me wallow in it a while....ok?!

One thing I do know about life is that the sun rises every morning, and it can all look differently at that point. BUT, and here's the real kicker, we are who we are and our change in personalities does not happen over night. If we're bound and determined to screw up our day, we will. Or at least I know I will.

SO! Just be patient, throw your fit, be mad, then calm down and have a nice long hot bath. You'll feel so much better.

When you are a child, you think you'll be a child forever since that is all you have known. When you get in your twenties you are very sure that this is all there is. Then, you turn thirty, and that birthday throws you off quite a bit. Suddenly you are truly considered an adult.

People at work start treating you like an adult. Your sisters, brothers and parents look at you like you know what you are saying. All of the sudden you are taken seriously for a change. This is totally new!

Then you hit your forties. Whoops! What? Where did those little gray hairs poking up at my part come from? Where are my reading glasses? I can't see anything without a LOT of light on the subject. And, oh those fresh sags at my chin I mean really. Not to mention that little extra 10-20 pounds I picked up around the waist that used to take me about 3 days of not eating that would simply go away, now they are just stuck there.

Then there is that one thing you really never thought about having to be an issue, you seem to be going to a lot of funerals. Your aunts, uncles, grandparents are all leaving you. You wake up one day and realize that your grandmother, whom has always been in your life is gone and you become very, very sad and nostalgic. This is when you come to realization that you are not immortal and that you will be that grandma or grandpa some day that your grandchildren are missing. Chin up! It hasn't happened yet!

Not having hit those dreaded fifties yet, I won't be able to speak from experience. I just offer one tip...knowing how short life is, spend your time wisely, with reverence, purposeful, loving, kind, generous and with all the happiness you deserve. Cheers!

Headaches! Commuting to work downtown every day, and working in the high powered business world of commercial real estate, I was stressed! Newly single, small child to raise, new job turned out to be a lot to handle.

I could always handle anything and everything life threw my way. I have always been mentally strong with a positive outlook on life. So, when the first headache arrived, I didn't know what was happening to me. It hit, excuse the cliché', "like a freight train". I stumbled through the day scared that I had a brain tumor or something. I didn't know what could cause a headache so horrible. I had always been reasonably healthy with no major issues. Yes, Excedrin and aspirin were needed from time to time, but this thing was a migraine.

I was off work for a day and a half, but went back to work, even though I still had the headache. I would take 3-4 Excedrin at a time thinking that I was going to make that headache go away. That would then give me an upset stomach, so I switched to aspirin, then to Ibuprofen, just hoping something would work. The headaches continued for weeks at a time, and sometimes I'd have to leave work. This went on for almost a year. I went to see my doctor to see if there was something really wrong with me. He told me I was stressed and to go home and relax. I thought "well thanks a lot!"

I started looking on Amazon for a book about stress because I suspected that was the cause, but I didn't feel stressed. My job was fun, but the traffic was horrible. I have to take a bridge into the city, and it would usually be backed up. Anyway, I found a book by Dale Carnegie called "How to Stop Worrying and Start Living". It was amazing. I started relaxing through the traffic, and noticed how my shoulders were always scrunched up, so I'd relax them. I laid off the coffee, even switched to icky decaf (for a while). No more café mochas (for a while anyway).

One day I was talking to my sister. She said, I'll get you an appointment this afternoon to my salon. You go and get a head, neck and shoulders massage. That was the ultimate. I started getting massages at least once a month, and living by the Carnegie book, which was highlighted everywhere, religiously. Now! No more headaches.

Since then, I have talked to several people who have told me that they have had stress related symptoms in other ways. Stomach cramps, back sores, rashes, but the headaches seem to be the main symptom of stress.

So, go see your masseuse, buy some bubble bath, yes...guys, too!, light a stress-free candle, relax in a nice hot bath with Epsom salt in it. Tell the kids and spouse to leave you alone, this is your time, and just be. Leave the lights off, let the candlelight consume you, shut your eyes and relax. Life is good.
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I love going to concerts. It's NOT just the music, I can listen to CDs, the radio, my mp3 player all day long. No, it is more than that. Part of it is that I get to be around a whole bunch of people who like the same music as me and we share a common bond, but more importantly, the actual being there puts me inside the music. It is such a wonderful feeling.

I love pure rock and roll. I have been the biggest Bon Jovi fan, ever, for as long as I remember. All the members of the Bon Jovi band have more talent in their "little finger" (excuse the cliché') than I have in my whole body, and I do play piano fairly well. Can you name one single band who have consistently had hits for the last 20+ years without being interrupted with huge break-ups, drugs, women, or whatever other problem bands tend to get into? Yes, there have been a year or two here and there that they have not produced a song, and yes, they broke up for a short while to make music on their own, but they very soon realized they are much better as a group than as an individual.

I must mention that along with Bon Jovi, I've been a fan of Styx, Bob Seger, Boston, Meatloaf, Damn Yankees (Tommy Shaw again), Europe from way back, AND I ahve seen all of them in concert, as well as many others. I am really enjoying Nickelback these days. I went to the Nickelback concert a couple of weeks ago, and these guys rock! They are totally awesome and will go far if they can just stick together. They play songs that make us feel good and that make us think. The drummer played a 10-15 minute skit, and wow, so much talent there! Truly amazing. They really seem to know what they are doing.

I have to digress, I love Country as well as rock and there is one performer who has had hits for that 20+ years...you already know who I am talking about...George Strait. Wow. From "The Chair" to "How About Them Cowgirls", that boy is an artist...and have seen him and a few country bands in concert, too.

But, since this blog is about rock, I'll stay with Rock and Roll. Let's "Enter Sandman" with Metallica, and turn UP the music. The louder the better...I must say it is the best stress reliever out there. "Girl Don't Go Away Mad" with the Crue and "You Shook Me All Night Long" with the ever lovable AC/DC oh and can't forget "Rebel Yell"... go Billy Idol. Love you guys. Yes, those are old songs, and we have a few new ones that are coming on strong like Nickelback, but the big thing is metal but not so much that it is over powering, and you have got to have a message.

This message could go on and on and on mentioned the kings of Rock (The Boss, Bruce Springstein), but I must stop here. Add your favorite to the list if you like, but remember Bon Jovi rules!

As background, my son's father was killed in an accident almost 5 years ago. It was a rough patch, and we went to live with my sister and her family for about 9 months. After a while, I bought a house and moved back to the city. Since it was only a month before school was out, I decided to leave my son with my sister to let him finish the school year. I would pick him up on weekends, take him back on Sunday evening, and go up on Wednesday night to see him. This was more difficult for him than I had anticipated as that is the story he wanted to tell even though it happened 5 years ago.

This post was written by my 11-year-old son. He wants to be a writer when he grows up and wanted me to post it. It is about his homecoming following the last day of school that spring 5 years ago.

Jake writes...

It was a cold drafty day on my arrival to Kansas City. Pretty boring but once I smelled that barbecue smoke, I knew I was home for good. You see I lived at my aunt's house with a lot of people running around so now I knew it was my time to be at our own home and settle in.

Later in that week, I was introduced to my new school (...for Adventure Club Daycare...). My mom was selling land at the time so I got to go to a lot of inner city places, but my real experience was going to Gates BBQ for the first time. Mmmmmm good. I see why we are one of the best BBQ citiies in the world.

Another experience I had going to the inner city was seeing the tall buildings and all the history behind Kansas City, especially its baseball team. That's some cool stuff. And after doing all these things, and meeting my neighbors I knew I was home for good.

Captain Richard is finally free and gets to come home. Three cheers! Hip Hip Hooray! Hip Hip Hooray! Hip Hip Hooray! This heroic gentleman agreed to be taken hostage so that his crew could go free, which started a 5-day, granted 5 endless days of terror, and horrible ordeal. I can only imagine how his wife and family have lived in fear for these days. I'll be honest, I really didn't see how there was any way he was going to make it out alive. There's that negative thinking, but the longer it went on, the less hope there seemed to be.

I can only imagine how scary it is for Captain Phillips to even be a ship's captain, as well as the many crews that we have in these dangerous waters off the coast of Cape Horn. The ship was on a rescue mission to send food aid to people in need in Rwanda...already new meaning to "pay it forward". The captain and his crew are to be commended for bravery beyond belief.

Is it my imagination or are we seeing more and more heroes in today's world? Chesley Sullenberger III worked diligently to set the plane down in the Hudson River in New York to save all the passengers on board after it had hit a group of birds and disabled the engine. How about all our many, many soldiers fighting this war on terrorism? How can they be so brave. How can they get on that plane and leave their families knowing that they might not ever come home? There are many, many heroes that affect our lives each and every day.

Many people are too ready to say how terrible society is today. This is definitely not true. Yes, you will run across evil people. This has been around since the inception of time, but you will more likely run into our everyday heroes. People that spend their time as an average person, but once in a while, run out to save someone in whatever crisis they are going through, whether it is a child playing in the street with a car coming, someone so depressed that they are thinking of taking their own life, or a ship being ambushed by pirates. Yes, we have everyday heroes.
If we would just stop and look around a bit, we might notice them more often. Think about it. Do you know an everyday hero. I can name several as I write this. A couple are just heros to me, but several remind me of how wonderful life is and what we can all accomplish if we just believe.

I see in the news where the pirates are now "declaring war", so to speak, and will be better prepared the next time. I say, give up. Where will you be when YOUR family needs you? On a ship holding a gun, in a body bag? Is it worth it? Peace is the answer, indeed the only answer. Stay home and take care of your family. There is a better way. Always, a better way.

Do you ever stop and wonder if the things you do are having a positive contribution on society? After all since we are all part of society, we surely are having some type of contribution to it.

There are days when what I do really doesn't make an impact, and then there are days that I made too big of an impact in the wrong way, and then there are those days, when I really, truly feel good about myself and the things I have helped others with. I must admit the latter seems fewer and farther between the others. This probably comes from believing in oneself, and the fact that for many, it always seems easier to believe the bad stuff.

"Life is what we make it." How many times have you heard this? You have probably heard it more than you realize, and yet, it is not the type of things we conscientiously address in our own minds. After all, if you find yourself being positive, making positive comments to others, and really stressing your positive thoughts, what do you suppose would happen? Like anything, it would become habit; something we take for granted.

Your words of wisdom for today are the following: Be positive, Believe in yourself and your ability to contribute positively to society, then go out and Do Something Positive to add to society. Essentially, "Pay It Forward", remember that movie? Wonderful. When we focus on the betterment of other, our lives become more positive by default. Let's do it...let's focus on the betterment of others today, and do something positive for all of us.

She wasn't a saint, but close in many ways. Her giggle was contagious...a real belly laugh. Her belly was round, but not overly so. Her smile came easily, unless you were trying to get away with something. She never wore a bun on her head. She didn't talk much, unless you asked the right question. She never complained, if she would have, we might have known she only had a few days left. She was wise, calming and fun to be around. She was Grandma.

Mom says that when she was little, they lived on a farm outside of Hopkins, Missouri. Now I know you've never heard of this town, but it is in the Northwest part of Missouri with a population of about 220. Mom says she remembers her Daddy (Grandpa) hunting squirrel and rabbit so they'd have food to eat. Back in those days of the depression, food was scarce. I imagine the rabbit and squirrel population probably got scarce, too. I don't know about any of that, but what I do know is that Grandma could bake bread like nobody else. I suppose it comes from all those years having to make your own bread.

Grandma baked us all bread as Christmas gifts every year. When I was little, there were only us and my Aunt's family. So, she'd send about 4 loaves home with us. As we all grew up and got married, she would bake us all 2 loaves to take home. This was a treat. We fought over that bread to make sure we all got our 2 loaves, and if Grandma ever miscounted...watch out! It was war. With Mom having 4 children and Aunt Lois having 5, once we were all married, it amounted to 18 loaves plus Mom and Aunt Lois...that's 20 loaves of bread she baked every year for Christmas.

Now, the next thing happened, our kids all started growing up and getting married (except me, I'm the youngest and my boy is 10). I believe the last year Grandma made bread, she made somewhere in the neighborhood of 36 loaves. Folks, that's a LOT of loaves of bread to make. I made one loaf last night, and my hands got so tired from kneading that they hurt. How did she do it? Yes, she was tough, and yes she was used to it, but she loved us for sure, or she never would have undertaken that.

Grandma stopped making us all bread at the age of 94 when she had some sort of stomach cancer, lost a bunch of weight and couldn't do it anymore. She moved in with Mom, and still cooked fried potatoes for her husband (my grandpa passed away when my mom was in high school, along with Grandma's son...a huge loss to be sure). She was still fairly spry and did as much as she could, but in February she passed peacefully at the age of 98. We mourned her passing, but she had told me a while back that she wanted to see her husband, the love of her life, and that she missed him every day. He's been gone for more than 50 years I suppose now. I guess we never get over that old love. My bread is in the oven baking, and I can only hope it is half as good as Grandma's.

Forever in peace, forever with her loved ones in heaven, putting in a good word for all of us...Grandma we love you.

Are any of you blessed with planning your annual family reunion? I am! I'm looking for good ideas if you have any. It will by our 100th Lyle Family Reunion for the descendents of Hugh and Nancy Lyle (or I think that is correct anyway). Since it is our 100th, we want to make it special.

The other day, I was at "Power Play"...a kids game place, and there was a lady standing there with a T shirt on advertising her family reunion in Texas and the dates. I thought that was a great idea. We're already in process on getting one designed for the reunion. Now, historically, it has been one of those reunions where we all show up with a covered dish, talk and eat, kids play in the pool a little while, and basically we're all gone by 3:30 at the latest. It would be great to see this one go down a little different.

Family reunions are great because they are the only way to actually see some people. Usually, it s our "5th cousin" that lives 5 states away. Or, it is a first cousin who lives in the same town, but is 5 years older. OR, it is that cousin that is my same age, that I didn't really like anyway. OR, the best...getting to see that one cousin who lives in Georgia that I dearly love and want to spend way more time with. But, its still cool to get together, see all the new wrinkles (or lack of), and new "around the middle" spread...does that really have to happen?

This year will be bittersweet. My grandfather passed away in October 2008 at the age of 105. We were all rooting for him to be at this, our 100th reunion, but it was not to be. There are so many people that have dropped of f our list, and a few that somehow never got on there. I am sure I have cousins from my dad's mother's side that really got wiped out because their last name was not Lyle.

Let's all plan a wonderful family reunion this year and make it very special. We are going to do a slide presentation and burn it to DVD...see how here... www.ninepiecesof8.com

Do you have enough time during the day to get everything accomplished that you set out to accomplish? Or, do you find yourself at 11:00 at night, just when you should be winding down getting ready for bed, doing last minute things you promised yourself you'd get done. I don't know about you, but I just can't seem to get everything done that I want to each day. There is always one more task (or 100 more tasks depending on how you see it.)

I have to ask myself, is this because I'm scared of being bored that I make myself such an impossible task, or is this really society? Is this what we've done to ourselves? There are so many things out there to distract us now, that I find myself starting one task, getting into the middle of it, suddenly thinking of another, then racing to it, leaving the first task undone.

Oh, and here's my newest one...Irace to keep my email inbox cleaned out, otherwise I find myself with more than 500+ emails in there. And, of course, they are all important (aren't they?). I literally race to the computer when I hear the little ringy "announcement" tone. I'll hear it from the kitchen and come running. What is wrong with me? I used to just leave it alone, and when I had time, check them. It would get away from me, and I'd find a very old email in there from a friend, that I totally missed responding to. So now...the race is on! Run, run, run, check the email...don't let it get too full.

Sometimes I think I just get bored too easy. Staying on task for any length of time is boring. If I'm right, and there are a lot of us out there, we're all in "a whole heap of trouble". (a cliché? From me? Yep!)

Good luck and a very productive day to you!

Daily Grind Be gone!

Karen

Do you live in a subdivision or condo with a Homeowners Association? Then this blog's for you. I just received a lengthy email from a friend who lives in a condo that has become all kinds of crazy. I managed high rise condos/lofts and luxury townhomes for a while. I made some friends (and some enemies I suppose) but learned a lot about people and their homes. I was completely amazed at some of the things I saw. Did you ever see the movie "Over The Hedge"? It's a cartoon movie that came out a couple of years ago, and is actually pretty entertaining...even for an adult. There's a lady in the movie who is the President of the HOA. She tried to totally annihilate the little wild animals stealing her food, but ended up "nuking" herself in the meantime.

Granted, this is an extreme case and is a cartoon, but gives you the feel of some of the things that go on in an HOA. They are not all this bad of course. As a matter of fact, I worked with some totally awesome boards that are truly amazing in their work. One committee of the board put together an "adopt a family" program for Christmas that is straight out of a movie. When the family with 10 kids saw all those presents when they don't have anything themselves, and didn't think they'd be getting any presents at all because of lack of funds, well, it really made my heart warm up about 10 degrees. But, there were other boards that I would just stop and stare at with no words to communicate, because they were being so crazy I just couldn't imagine any way to respond to them.

Homeowners Associations were put into place to help manage the funds and the common areas of the condo or subdivision. They are to keep a uniform exterior appearance and governance for the area. They are to provide for the landscaping, pool maintenance, snow removal, etc. They were never designed to be a kingdom that rules over the non-board members telling everyone what to do. One would hope that the board members would govern as fairly as possible, but as is the case with politicians (these boards are elected), many will take advantage of their authority to set up a little "fiefdom" of their own. They just can't seem to help it.

If you are reading this and you are a member of an HOA board, please be fair to everyone. Please stop being antagonistic and let go of your pushy, scary, bully ways. People don't like it, and you will not be re-elected. Calm down, take it easy, and work for the good of your home. If you are in an HOA membership and you agree, please run for the board and clean house of the weirdo's.

I couldn't believe it when I heard Natasha Richardson died. All I could think of was that beautiful lady who played the Lindsay Lohan twin's mom who was in love with Dennis Quaid in "The Parent Trap 2". What a classy, beautiful lady. And then I thought of her family, her children and her husband. They have to be in total shock, dismay and mourning.

Every time that movie comes on, my 10-year-old son watches it. I watch it right along with him. I've always thought she played that part so well. I wanted it to be me of course. I didn't tell my son she had passed. I didn't want to spoil the movie for him. I know what it is like to have someone ripped from your life like that. My son's father was killed in an accident almost 5 years ago. It takes several years to feel like you can begin to live again. It starts one to thinking about everything. It changed the way we looked at life, and forever changed my son's life.

Tragedy can strike in so many different ways, but the ultimate is with the loss of a cherished life. And such a strange way to go...beginning skiing lessons. I've taken beginning skiing lessons...many of us have.

The blog is a tribute to all of us who have lost someone we love, Liam Neesom and his children and the hope that we will all see each other again someday...in a much better place.

"Perhaps they are not the stars, but rather openings in heaven where the love of our lost ones pours through and shines down upon us to let us know they are happy." -Inspired by an Eskimo Legend -Chicken Soup For the Grieving Soul

Forever in peace, Natasha....you touched our hearts....you will be missed.

Your daily commute can be an absolute stress-filled time. Is it my imagination or are people paying less and less attention to driving and more attention on other tasks they find more important? I saw a lady today driving down the freeway with a newspaper on her steering wheel. She was seriously reading the paper while driving.

I noticed this because she was in the fast lane plodding along and I ended up having to pass her on the right, which I don't like doing, but what is the alternative? As I passed I looked to see if she was talking on the phone. Nope. No phone, but a newspaper instead. I have noticed numerous mini vans and SUV's with TV's just above the rear-view mirror. Not only that, they are putting on makeup...not just lipstick, but mascara and doing many other things affecting the eyes.

One thing that I do is I pass the time reading every sign along the road I can. What's wrong with us? Can't we just be comfortable having a relaxing drive? I would get so stressed leaving downtown for home because people really like to "clump". Ok, so this is when two drivers driving the same speed take up both (or all three) lanes, and people behind ride their butts as best they can hoping that someone will please move. Typically both drivers are going between 5 and 10 miles BELOW the speed limit. This happens about 80% of the time now. The cars are "clumped". Does anyone have a suggestion on how to fix this? For someone like me, this is high stress because I am typically running as close to right on time as possible, and this just adds to my stress by making me feel that I am will be late. Drivers need to move over, pass quickly, then get back into the right lane.

The daily grind. Day in and day out dealing with clumps of drivers...makes me feel like putting in on my own kind of road rage. Oh, and the one that really gets me...drivers going slow up the entrance ramp to merge into traffic. People you are supposed to be accelerating to ease into traffic, not going 30 mph, trying to get into traffic going 65. What are you thinking? Then, you hit your brake and park at the end of the ramp waiting for enough of a gap that you can go from zero to 60 in about 3 seconds. I really need someone to explain to me why they do that. It makes no sense, and it is not the way it is designed. If you get to the end of the ramp, and you are going the speed limit, there will be room for you to slip it. Really. It's ok.

Stop the madness! Let's stop the road rage. These simple maneuvers will save many middle fingers.

What do you think? Do you want more government or less government? Do we have too much "government" or do more things need to be setting more boundaries. Smoking. Should we allow individual business owners to decide whether or not they will allow smoking or not at their establishment? Or should the cities just automatically say no smoking anywhere in this city. Does that include your own home? How about your condo?

Driving while talking on your cell phone. Is that something that the government needs to tell us what we can or can't do? Smoking. Let government tell the smokers' proprietor whether he can or cannot allow smoking in his own establishment. This is private property. If a business owner wants to cater to only smokers, why not let him? I as a non-smoker would probably just choose not to go there, but the smokers could go. Why isn't that his right? It is his property. Insurance. If you own a car, you must have insurance.

Do you realize that every time we pass one of these ordinances or laws that it cost you and I the taxpayers more money to police them. I have a question. Why is there a Department of Education at the federal level? What does it do? Our schools are governed locally by our Board of Education, and then at the State level the money is divvied up by the State Department of Education. Tell me exactly why we spend billions on a federal department or education?

How about we just let the government tell us what job we are going to have, where we will live and how much money we should make, too. Then, all our money could just go directly to taxes and governing us. Oh wait, is that another form of government that we are all too familiar with?

If you can't tell, I am fundamentally opposed to any law or ordinance that makes criminals out of non-criminals. And, I believe we continue to ADD laws to the books, but maybe we should be taking a look at them, and SUBTRACTING a few. What do you think? Or, maybe for every ordinance a city passes, they have to delete one. Oooohhh I like that idea.

What's your best guess? When's this economy going to turn around? Do you hear that every day? How horrible the economy is? Do you believe it? How is your economy personally? Is it bad, or maybe it is very, very good. Do you get tired of the media telling you how the economy is doing? I'll tell you the answer to my economy. It is wonderful. I can finally afford to buy groceries and gas and more importantly a house.

The costs of everything you and I use were just too darn high. There is no way we could ever sustain the rapid rate of rising gas and grocery prices. And the housing market, my goodness. We definitely created that mess. Every "Tom, Dick & Harry" (pardon my cliché while I make a point) was out there building houses. Exactly how many houses did we need? Not that many. We've proven that. And retail stores with niche markets? How many of those do we need? Do we really need just a tie store, or can we buy our ties when we buy our suits? And shoes, ladies? Please. I know women that have upwards of 75 pair of shoes, and they have a completely justifiable reason for owning so many.

Now I'm not telling not to buy shoes, or that you have way too many ties, I am telling you that we created all this and we should probably take responsibility for our part in it. Do think all the builders out there would have been building so many houses, if we were buying them to keep up with our neighbors, and stay hip on the trendy new homes? I mean really, it s just not cool to live in a 40 year old house without a walk-in closet and a Jacuzzi bathtub.

The key is "more stuff". It is important to own as much "stuff" as we can get our hands on. My mother quilts and sews. She is retired and awesome at it and makes a little extra money on the side to pay expenses. She used to have a bumper sticker in her sewing room that says it all: "The one who dies with the most fabric wins". I love that. How true that is! Isn't that what it's all about? I certainly hope not, because if it is, we have all arrived in a very sad place.

No, this economy isn't "bad" as they say. This economy is "righting" itself. We over-built our houses. We've got way too much oil in reserves; we were charging too much for our groceries, we have too many specialty "niche" retail stores. And the one I am most guilty of...we have way too many clothes! My closets are bursting.

I believe it is ok to spend a little money (yes even in "this economy") and enjoy ourselves. It's the only way it is going to get better. You just have to believe.
Oh, and my best guess for total bottoming out, and a very slow return of profitability for us? Third quarter 2009 will be the absolute worst bottoming. Fourth quarter we'll begin a very cautious upswing toward brighter days.
So enjoy yourself, and enjoy life...there's always brighter days ahead.

Karen

Karen Salsbury is an experienced writer who has 20 years experience in economic development, real estate asset management, property management and commercial real estate sales.

I care. I want to see all of us rising to the occasion of our life. I want to make new online friends to share support with. There's a saying that goes something like this: "no one cares what you know until they know that you care". From this blog you will begin to see that I do truly care. I want to make a difference in this small way, and hopefully someday it will grow to be a world-wide blog with input from all over.