sheep

Here we go again...
In my memory it started with the pronunciation of Uranus.
Then it was the word, "harassment".
In the past years we've switched from things "disappearing" to all things "go missing".
And now the media is slowly giving us the British version of closing down stores, banks, you name it. Nothing, according to the media, is closing down anymore. It is all being "shuttered".
It is all so very pretentious.

pretentious.

There's my rant for the day....

Bella Luna

Steamed mussels, gnocchi, olive tapenade, crusty bread, red wine, strong Italian coffee.
Yum.
This was my dinner last night made better only by the company of Anna and Cetta.
Bella Luna of Cambridge.
Try it.

countdown

19 minutes till the work day is through. Quiet, still, peaceful day. A few good sales to ring the till and make the bankers and accountants and taxman happy. I've swept the floor,reaaranged stock and made a timely addition to my window display. I've a sad sense of humor so until I'm scolded a black and white pig standing next to a few packs of tissues which read 'bless you' on them stand boldly on a pink bench. My nod to swine flu.

choas begets order.....

Our ukrainian friend Kolya is taking on Thom's "honey-do" list today. As you can imagine I'm thrilled. Our foyer has had peeling paint from past leaks for years. Today, it will be scraped and prepared for paint. The upstairs bathroom has been being stripped of wallpaper for over a year. A tug here, a pull there. It wasn't even a half-hearted effort. Today, it will be finished, and prepared for painting.
The kids have begged for a dishwasher for years. In this economy, the sales were too great for me to resist. Why, it's practically free! It will be delivered this afternoon. Kolya is preparing the space for it as I write.
So, I've been filling boxes from cupboards and emptying the bathroom for the big scrapdown. My house is now chaos.
My father-in-law will be here for dinner at five o'clock. sigh.....Luckily he's the type of man who comes to see us, not the house. I think he'll be forgiving of the wreck he'll find himself in. It would be more thoughtful, I'm sure to reschedule, but selfish me likes his company. So dinner is on!

Question...

Why is it that when I wake in the morning I feel "sugar-free? No need to rifle through the cupboards looking for a Reese Cup or other form of chocolate to melt in my mouth.
Why is it then that at 7 p.m. each night I feel like I'm going to hurt people if someone doesn't shove that brown gooey substance into my mouth thereby expanding my backside?!
Just wondering...

sun rotates around the earth?

Here is my latest pet peeve. People saying with all sincerity that "we are a democracy".
NO! WE"RE NOT!
Were these people sleeping in history class? We are a Constitutional Republic. For ages I have refrained from correcting people because I didn't want to, well, I don't know what I didn't want to do, maybe embarrass them...

If we still said the Pledge of Allegiance to our American Flag in our schools, perhaps people would have no problem remembering this simply by having the words ingrained in their memories. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands.....

A democracy represents mob rule. MOB RULE! No thanks! I prefer my Republic where the government is meant to protect my rights under the Constitution, not grant me rights. Those rights, according to the wisdom of our founding fathers, have been bestowed upon me by God. The government has no authority to grant me anything. It would seem that they and many people of this nation have forgotten that.

But that really shouldn't be surprising. Last night Thom was sharing a poll with me from a magazine he was reading that did a "man on the street" poll. Apparently 23% of Americans believe the sun rotates around the earth. And 18% didn't know and didn't care. These were people who vote for the people who run our country.
Scary.

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....