contortion can be good

Until yesterday, I hadn't taken a yoga class in 6 or 7 years. I looked for every excuse not to go yesterday morning, but my body kept screaming to be quiet and just go. I'm achy too often and much too young to be so. Excercise is needed.
So I pulled on my now very tight excercise wear and walked into the 9 a.m. class across the street from my shop.

I bended and contorted my body into positions it hadn't seen in quite a while. Some of them used to be normal and now seemed torturous( like sitting on the floor cross-legged, which used to be the simplest).
At the end of the first hour and 15 minutes the instructor strapped us up by tying belts from around our hips through our thighs and around our folded calves. Then pillows were put under our outstretched arms and a very large block was put under our backs. It sounds strange I know, but it was so incredibly comfortable. I remember thinking that the sleep number bed company should figure a way to make all these bumps and lumps built into their system so a bed could be pumped up to these strange dimensions.
I slept deep last night for the first time in along time. I know me. Thursday morning I'll be complaining about going again...but I'm going!

M3

I've been hearing about the M3 the past few days and its dissapearance from the public view by the Fed. I had no idea what the M3 is, but apparently it's the anniversary of the day they(the federal reserve) decided to save 1.5 million dollars by calling to a halt public disclosure of it. I think I read $1.5m would be the equivalent of less than .065 % of the annual income of the Fed so that seems a bit of a story.
Anyway, if you should stumble upon this story here is the M3 explanation from Fund My Mutual Fund.....

First what is M3?

So what is M3? To understand what M3 is one needs to know what M1 and M2 are as well.

M1 - Money supply that includes all coins, currency held by the public, traveler's checks, checking account balances, NOW accounts, automatic transfer service accounts, and balances in credit unions.

M2 - Money supply that includes M1, plus savings and small time deposits of depository institutions, overnight repos at commercial banks, and retail mutual fund money market accounts.

M3 - Money supply that includes M2, plus large time deposits, repos of maturity greater than one day at commercial banks, institutional money market accounts and Eurodollar deposits of US banks held at foreign branches and at all offices in the UK and Canada.

**********************


More interesting - why is M3 suddenly gone?

Some of the reasons we have seen floated around are as follows:
History has shown that only failing economies e.g. Soviet Union keep data secret (Financial Sense - Toni Straka - Unpleasant M3 Trend, November 12, 2005). An interesting premise and a theme we saw woven amongst a number of writers is that they have something to hide. The claim is that the Fed should be transparent and by not publishing the number the Fed now lacks transparency.
The end of publishing of M3 in March 2006 coincides with the start of the Iranian Oil Bourse. The premise here is that the with the oil bourse trading in Euros there will be a rush out of US$ into Euros and that M3 could drop sharply. A sharp drop in M3 would of course presage a recession as falling M3 is a characteristic of weak economic periods.
M3 is a measure of inflation in the economy. A somewhat unproven rule of thumb is GDP + inflation = M3. Will be able to properly measure inflation going forward if we don't know what M3 really is.
We are about to enter a period of hyperinflation and by eliminating M3 we will not know how much liquidity the Fed is pumping into the system. Remember the Fed doesn't really print money it is the banking system that expands money supply. But the Fed influences it through open market operations. We will have to watch daily Fed repo action very carefully irrespective of whether they are going to publish Repos (RPs) as noted in the bulletin above. The Fed doing repos puts money into the system and the Fed doing reverse repos takes money out of the system. Of course as well this is the exact opposite of the collapse in M3 premised with the oil bourse above.
Further on the theme above a period of hyperinflation would occur as the Fed tries to save us from a collapsing housing market and softer consumer demand. The Fed adds more and more liquidity to the system to stave off a sharp economic decline. By not publishing Repos (RPs) as noticed in their bulletin above the Fed again is hiding what they do on a day to day basis. This will make it difficult for both currency traders and equity traders to know what the Fed is up to.
The conclusion is that the Federal Reserve will be hiding a debasement of the US$.

Just thought I'd share!

wonder

I rather feel that Mark Twain put my own curiosity quite nicely;

“Sometimes I wonder whether the world is being run by smart people who are putting us on….or by imbeciles who really mean it.”
Mark Twain

Amelie

I'm standing in the shop right now with the 'Amelie" soundtrack playing. It is so sweet and whimsical and happy with mists of melancholy running through here and there. Well, that just makes sense, since it's from the movie beloved by my daughters and myself for those very traits.
If you've not seen the movie or listened to the soundtrack by Yann Tierson, may I suggest that you make it a priority in your life this month?
Truly, it will make you smile....

a golden birthday

March 13 is Jedd's golden birthday.

13 on the 13th.

We have strands of golden beads and golden streamers and golden plates and in my opinion we are redeeming friday the 13th to an un-superstitious day.
As usual, the lad doesn't want a big party. Just family. He's requested the usual giant chocolate chip cookie baked on a pizza stone in leiu of a traditional cake.
Annie is picking him up from homeschool co-op and taking him to Salisbury to pick up Chick-Fil-A nuggets for his special dinner.
Thankyou Lord. We treasure this boy and are grateful that you've trusted him with us in our family.
Happy Birthday Jedd!

red wine

This is my brain at 2a.m. after red wine with dinner...
Staring out my second floor bedroom window, sleepless, listening to the whistling wind, and thinking how barren it looks with no leaves on the tree tops, I ponder that the night is brooding and cold.
hmmm....barren...and broody. Odd. One can relate to a childless woman, while another can relate to a woman deeply desiring children. And they can certainly be both at the same time.
A cold, empty night...barren and broody.
An empty woman...barren and broody.
There you have my brain in the middle of the night.
At 2 a.m. this seemed somehow noteworthy and important. Not so much in the light of the day.
I am exhausted today.
Is it any wonder?
No wine tonight.

sceptical

Just call me a skeptic or even a conspiracy theorist. But when the curators of the Smithsonian opened Lincoln's pocketwatch yesterday for the first time ever, on rumor that the jeweler in the mid-1800's had inscribed a secret message, and found "Thank God we have a government!" in it....well, sorry, I'm not buying it. I would have believed, "thank God you're our president!" But Government? Nope!
In this time of economic turmoil when so much of America is starting to feel angst and anger against this stimulus package, and towards our politicians double standards on taxation, and taxation without representation,and further stripping of rights for the unborn, the list goes on and on and on.....The government is stripping us of our rights to the pursuit of Life, Liberty and Happiness on a daily basis....How very convenient to have Obama's hero president's watch opened with a loving message about "government"...
Like I said, just call me a skeptic....

pressie hints

I'm a bit like a jellyfish right now in this chair. I couldn't be more relaxed. You see I've just returned from the Stillwater Spa where I was massaged and oiled and steamed and cleaned and dried and buffed and sent on my merry way.
I've booked another session for May, so if anyone would like to inform my husband that a gift certificate to the spa would make a perfect Mother's Day present for the woman who birthed all three of his progeny....please feel free to do so.

Slumdog Millionaire

The girls and I saw Slumdog Millionaire today after church. I wasn't expecting too much or too little. I was going to take it at face value.
It was wonderful! I had read so many reviews that had said it was extremely depressing. Yes, depressing, true. But it was balanced with perfect hits of humor as well. And for all those who said it was an "unbelieveable" storyline, as a Christian I saw nothing unbelieveable in it. God has worked out many stories more "unbelieveable" than this one, that are in fact, amazingly true. I could see this happening with no problem at all. (with the small exception of the wonderful scene at the very, very end. That just brings to film, my love of a good Bollywood movie. That's it. No juicy review today. Just a suggestion that you go decide for yourself while it's still out on the big screen.

forget cash cow, try cash dog. they're opposites

Over the Valentine weekend, Eli, our 130 pound chocolate lab (he lost 10 lbs.!) attached himself to a little white teddy bear. He would carry it around like a mother cat would her kitten. He would lick it clean incessantly and care for it. Very sweet right? Then, a few days ago, we found that little bear with no head. NO HEAD! Eli loved it to death, so to speak. Then Eli started showing uncomfortable symptoms, no details necessary I'm sure.
This morning Jedd and I took the beast to the vet for a checkup on the situation. They took him for x-rays. Minutes passed. More minutes passed. Jedd and I paced the small room we were in, waiting. On a shelf was a glass jar containing a heart in whatever that type of specimen is preserved in. Riddled with worms. I kept finding myself sickly drawn back to it, and I really didn't want to be. I resolved to go home and give him his heartworm pill which should have been given on the first of the month.
Looking through the door window I can see across the hall through another window to where the doctor and his assistant are slipping x-rays onto a lightboard hanging from the wall. I can see Eli's x-ray. It doesn't look good.. There is a large black mass that the doctor keeps pointing to. I cracked the door a bit so i could hear what was being said. I heard "heart disease" and my own heart sunk. It shouldn't have been a surprise really, the dog is huge. It must be a burden on his heart carrying all that weight.
We kept waiting and I kept trying to hear more.
Finally, we see two nurses gearing up to heft Eli off the x-ray table two rooms over through open doors and windows. Even with the news we heard, we had to chuckle at the sight of them lifting him down.
He was so happy to see us again. I think he thought we were kenneling him there for a while.
The doctor came in and put the x-rays on our lightbox. There was the black mass and there were the blocked bowels. He raised his authoratative finger up to the mass and starts with the news there. " This black spot seen here is normal and as it should be" What!!! Then he points to a tiny white spot. "This is an unknown." But he's not terribly concerned there either. Basically, he thinks at best Eli is blocked up and needs a good bowel movement. So we've started him on high fiber( expensive) dog food and an antibiotic for infection.
On the way out the door I hand over my credit card and say goodbye to $160.00. I don't even like dogs....in general. I'd never felt the urge to own one. But ours is special in his own smelly, lumbering, loveable way. I'm trying hard not to think of the money but to think of Eli....I'm trying, but I am a sinner after all and its not easy......

catsup or ketchup?

Today Emma had another snow day from school. In Jedd's mind that automatically means he has a snow day as well. I wouldn't dream of arguing this point with him. Our dear friend Henley came over and, along with Annie, we all decided to go to Salisbury (highways are perfectly clear). I figured with that many hands along I could do a mega shopping trip with multiple shopping carts. But, one must feed the mighty belly of the beast first so we started out at Chick-Fil-A. No debate; all in agreement. Five of us, five orders of 12 piece chicken nugget boxes. Mine always comes with cole slaw. I then cut each nugget in half and hide them under the slaw to soak up the juices. Jedd says it's like I'm planning a treasure hunt for my nuggets. Henley put catsup/ketchup on her nuggets! What!? Ewwww..... my kids say that they always do this when I make homemade nuggets. (these are known in our home as "Mrs. Tina Chicken" and that's how the kids request it. Named so after Tina Maddox's utterly divine homemade nuggets that I don't even pretend to come close to re-creating!) I have never witnessed this destruction of chicken before. No matter what my children say. Annie is the queen of the red stuff, and I've never seen her do this. In our home it's honey mustard on nuggets all the way. Except for Jedd, who eats all food dry. No mayo or mustard on ham sandwiches no condiments on hot dogs or hamburgers for this boy. But, today, my daughters tell me I am wrong. That catsup/ketchup is always squirted into deep dipping piles for those tasty gems. Has anyone ever witnessed this on my kids' plates before. I'm really wanting to know. What else have I missed it on? Waffles?

After that odd little lunch, Henley's not mine, we headed over to Super Walmart where I designated Henley's cart the healthy cart, and Jedd's cart the junk food cart. We filled them both. I tried to put oatmeal into Jedd's cart but he rebelled and insisted they go over to the other trolley. Henley was disgusted with him in a loving manner. He wouldn't give in. Spaghettios were allowed into his. (Don't anyone even try to shame me about feeding my children Spaghettios, please. I've loved them since I was 5 years old and will hear nothing against them). I also picked up a new rice steamer which we tried out tonight. It was the fluffiest rice I've ever eaten. I am thrilled with my new purchase! I've always secretly wanted one. Kate Howard once called me a gadget junkie or something to that effect. At first I was mildly offended. But, as I froth my coffee or chop apples into french fry shapes, I'll proudly wear that badge. I AM A GADGET JUNKIE...... (let's amend that to kitchen gadgets though, all other gadgets would belong to my husband.)