The Administration did WHAT?!?!

Did you know that the Obama administration has included the Arizona law in its UPR (Universal Periodic Review ) to the United Nations? My question is why?
I am going to include a portion of the article here but you are more than welcome to research this further on your own, in fact I encourage you to do just that.

 "A recent Arizona law, S.B. 1070, has generated significant attention and debate at home and around the world," the report says. "The issue is being addressed in a court action that argues that the federal government has the authority to set and enforce immigration law. That action is ongoing; parts of the law are currently enjoined."



Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer on Friday demanded that a reference to the law be removed from the State Department report on ways the federal government is protecting human rights.


It is "downright offensive" that a state law would be included in the report, Brewer, a Republican nearly guaranteed re-election as a result of the legal dispute, wrote to Clinton.


"The idea of our own American government submitting the duly enacted laws of a state of the United States to 'review' by the United Nations is internationalism run amok and unconstitutional," she said.


Arizona Republican state Sen. Frank Antenorri told Fox News on Monday that he thinks it is an insult to the American people, who overwhelmingly support the state's right to enforce the law, to include Arizona in the report.


He added that nothing in the lawsuit makes any mention of human rights or the 14th Amendment guaranteeing equal justice. The Justice Department argued the 10th Amendment in its suit, claiming that the state does not have the authority to enforce federal laws.


"Name a human rights violation. Name it," Antenorri demanded of the Obama administration.


"Tell the people of this country where in this U.N. report you are defining a human rights
violation occurring in the state of Arizona. It's garbage," he said, adding, "I find it comical to kowtow to dictators in this global effort to demonize the United States.


"The federal government, the president should be ashamed of himself for putting this on an international stage with a commission that is put together by countries that commit actual genocide and atrocities," he added.

So are we now going to answer to the World on how we are dealing with ILLEGAL immigrants? 
This is so asinine! We already have these laws in place, but the Federal Government does not want to enforce them, which is why individual states are doing something about it.  

I am just waiting for the day when the American citizens are going to be retro fitted with some kind of device that will be read by a barcode scanner or something of the like to be able to anything in this country.  Tell us what jobs we can do, what cars to drive, how we can dress, who we can socialize with and so on.  We are not going to be the land of the free any longer not when the UNITED NATIONS can start to sanction what we can or cannot do.  I am so wanting this administration to end!

In other news...

Chris, Jeff and Katie have made it through their third day of school with no incidences.  Well with the exception of new policies at Katie's school.  This is the third day that I have had to track down my daughter when picking her up, because she was not at the designated spot that I was told she would be at and in the middle of a torrential downpour to boot.  I was not a happy camper by no means.

My stepdaughter and her boyfriend are still having communication problems.  Strictly her fault of course.  She doesn't want to fully admit that she was in the wrong and actually though that by taking him out to dinner was a good enough remedy to the solution.  He kind of made a joke saying that she would go broke by having to buy him dinner every time she lies to him.  She didn't find it funny.  She has not officially apologized either. I think that she thinks that in two weeks or so he is going to forget about all this. 

I have been doing a lot of eye rolling when it comes to her.  It is really starting to wear thin on me. Her boyfriend has been calling her out on a lot of stuff and unfortunately he has been the only to ever to do this.  Her father, mother and grandparents have always tiptoed around upsetting her because they all thought she was fragile.  Since her teen years anyway.  When she was Katie's age she was a normal child. 

She goes to live with her mom and  she totally changed.  Chris has accepted that he needs to start calling her out as well.  Her grandparents are just defending her by saying "she's just a little mixed up right now"  and her mother won't do anything because she is exactly the same way.  She won't even look at me anymore and I believe it is the guilt and/or shame she feels because she knows that I know everything she has done.  Of course I am just assuming that and I could be wrong.

City of Brotherly Love indeed!

I cannot believe what I have been reading lately.  Philadelphia is now wanting bloggers in their city to pay a $300.00 for a business license.  To me that is just insanity.  The economy is already in the dumps and people are doing what is absolutely necessary to survive. 

This is just so stupid. I mean it is not like there are tons of money to be made in this genre.  Running Google ads or accepting paid assignments here and there doesn't justify paying for a business license.  Most bloggers don't even make $300.00 in one year.  So now they are forced to find other ways of making money and hoping that the greedy county government don't catch onto the next "big" money maker. 

I don't personally know any Philadelphia bloggers but I know a lot of bloggers that do strictly reviews and make a decent living but that is all they do. I don't even think you would be able to any type of reviews not even cell phone, business phone or cordless phone reviews without waving a red flag. So what if this goes country wide?  Bloggers that are supporting their families by blogging for a living are going to get screwed.  A lot of us are struggling as it is and I am sure there may be some that will take on any type of work.  

I am so glad that I don't live there.

Germany bound hopefully.

It is a good thing that my mom retired in May of this year and started to collect her social security benefits.  She wouldn't have been able to take the time off at the start of Florida's season.  My dad is scheduled for knee replacement surgery on September 2nd, and with the rehab and the need for my mom's help, there would have been no way her boss or the condo association that she worked for would have allowed time off.

My dad is a little nervous and apprehensive about the surgery but there have been many friends of my parents that have gone thought it themselves.  Surgery isn't what it used to be. Recovery is a lot faster now then it was even ten years ago.  My own surgery recovery was a complete surprise to me.  I remember the difficulty that I had when I had a cesarean section back in 1991.  It took months before the pain and discomfort went away completely. When I had surgery last November, I was so shocked at the minimal pain that I had and how fast I healed.  It was like night and day.

My dad almost cancelled his trip with my mom and the church choir in December to Germany because he thought he wouldn't be up to par.  His surgeon assured him that he would be a new man and walking without pain at least a month prior to the trip. 

 I am hoping that it all goes well and in December my parents are able to go to Germany.  My dad has relatives in Munich that he hasn't seen since he was stationed there back in 1967 while he served time in the Army. He would visit the family on the weekends. He has so many fond memories of hanging out with our relatives and he would like to be able to go back and visit and also show my mom around. 

Knowledge is the Key

I don't talk much about my political beliefs or issues on this blog.  I am thinking that maybe I should start voicing my concerns.  After all, I have that right.

I am a Republican.  Whether you want to call me a conservatist, right winger, Grand Old Party participant or what have you, I stand by what my party fights and stands for. 

Preserving the integrity of our country by upholding the Constitution. 
Our fore fathers painstakingly worked through what would be considered now our mission statement.  What America stands for.  What we will and will not tolerate and what is most important above all is that Americans have the right to have a government that will do the WILL of the people. 

Do you honestly think that our government is doing its job right now?  I have heard so many people complain that WE THE PEOPLE are getting ignored.  Well it's because WE THE PEOPLE put the wrong politicians in office. Plain and simple as that.

We Americans need to get our country back on the right track.  Which means we need to do our research and get to know and understand the politicians that are running for offices this November.

Take for example my state. 
We have a new batch of politicians and non politicians running for Governor. 
Rick Scott is a businessman. 
Bill McCollum is a career politician.
Both are republican but both have different ideas and views on how they want to deal with things and get Florida on the right track.

Who am I voting for?  Bill McCollum.  He closely relates to my expectations of a governor.
I agree with most of his views and his plans and to me it makes him a legitimate contender.

Rick Scott is a business man.  With questionable integrity.  He was a CEO of a company that was convicted of fraud against the government.  He claims to not have known what his own company was doing and he may have accepted responsibility and resigned but even that does not sit well with me. 
I look at this with one of two scenarios playing out:
He really didn't know what was happening which therefore deems him incompetent and therefore does not deserve the right to represent me or he did know all along which makes him a criminal  and therefore does not deserve the right to represent me.

Regardless of the mud slinging that both campaigns are doing.  I took the initiative to find out more about these men.  It wasn't hard.  Just a little research and voila I know who I am voting for. 

We Americans must do our part to insure that our country gets back on the right track period. 

What can be done?

There is never ending drama in this household lately.  Just when I think I can take a deep breath, I get punched in the gut.  For privacy reasons I can't go much into detail because this isn't my personal battle.  But I would really like input as how to approach this sensitive issue.

What can one do when they are being blackmailed?  Do you go directly to the authorities? Get an attorney? Do you take care of the matter yourself?  What is one supposed to do?  

I wish I could divulge more information but I just can't right now.  Maybe once this ordeal is over, but not now.                

In the business mind frame today.

Normally I am swamped on Thursdays with bi-weekly cleanings, however, today both my clients are out of town.  So I am going to take advantage of this to work on things that have been neglected and dire need of my full attention.

I have been balancing my business check book and although I am making enough money to sustain the business and myself, I am need to add to my equipment inventory.  When I work at the condominiums there are two of us.  Usually one does the vacuuming and steam cleaning of the floors while the other does the more detailed dusting and wiping down of all the furniture, laundry rooms, baseboards etc... Normally it works out but like yesterday, the vacuum belt popped off.  No problem, I got it working again but then it got me thinking.  I need backups in case something fails and I can't fix it.  I can't leave a job unfinished. So I tried brainstorming on how I can acquire enough cash to be able to do this. 

I can't rely on a purchase order finance method or a line of credit.  My business is too young to qualify.  I don't have large sums of cash in reserves in the business but I am starting to save up for such purchases.  I was just hoping that my equipment would last until it was feasible to go out and buy backups or replacements.  I do not want to ask for a loan from either parents but if it came down to that, I probably would be forced to.  They would not let me go without, if it meant the business would cease because I no longer can provide the service.  Right now, the condos have their own vacuums and I can use them if need be.  Although I much rather prefer to use my own because they work a lot better.  So I am finger crossing here.  The season for snowbirds will be here before I know it and I will have a lot of my customers back on a regular basis.  Hopefully I can start stock piling the cash to be able to restock on equipment and have a few backups. 

Another thing that will need to be considered is a purchase of a new/newer to me vehicle.  I own a Chevy Malibu.  It is 9 years old.  Although it has low mileage, it is definitely starting to show its age.  It has been a challenge to use it to cart around all my supplies and cleaning equipment.  I really need a minivan or a SUV. I am not sure if I want to have the company own it or just purchase it myself.  My dad is really wanting me to look into the Ford Escape.  It's a nice SUV but I am not sure if I could afford the payments.  I think my company needs to get a little bigger for that to happen.  Eventually, my vision for the company is to have a small fleet of company vehicles.  That won't be happening anytime soon.  Probably not for at least another five years or so.

Since I am the bigger bread winner in the family, all my decisions are bounced off my husband, who has been extremely helpful and is more willing than I am to just do what needs to be done.  The economy isn't bouncing back and actually we may be headed for a double dip recession.  Working for the condo association and the clients that I have are not going anywhere, but I would be hard pressed to acquire more clients.  I am just looking to get through another year with my head above water.

Step daughter Dilemna

I don't know how many of you know the history behind my stepdaugther, but she is something else.  The last time she lived with us was back in 2007.  She was supposed to get her GED and then start community college. On her 18th birthday she up'd and left with her boyfriend of 2 months. 

It is now 2010 and she came back to live with her grandparents (because she knows she would not get away with shit here) while her fiance completed his basic training in Kentucky.  Within one week of coming here she turned around and went back to finish moving their belongings and to clean the apartment.  She was supposed to come back two days later.  That two days turned into six weeks.  All of a sudden she has broken off with her fiance because she claims he cheated on her when they separated a few months back and without telling him it was over she just stopped communicating with him and his family. She had the nerve to be pissed at the fiance and his family because they wanted to take the car back.  It may have been bought for her to use but the parents were still making payments and it was still in his name.  So she had no choice but to come back to the grandparents.  And on top of that while she was away she had been living with her friend and her family and sleeping with her friends brother, who by the way is her boyfriend now. 

Now, I happen to like her boyfriend.  Smart kid and very responsible and very, very sensitive.  The sad thing is he is starting to realize that the girl he fell in love with is a fake. Chris invited him to come live with us because 1. He thought it would give his daughter a reason to stay instead of flip flopping and 2. There are no jobs in the area where his family lives.  I have had him help me several times with the condos and he works at the same place as Jeff.  We have told him numerous times that he is welcomed to stay with us as long as he needs to and even if they break up we will not kick him out. He has become like family.

She is the most irresponsible and self centered person I have come across in a very long time.  She is registered to start college next Monday.  Chris and Jeff have already gotten their books, i.d. and parking decals. She was supposed to go with them but she cancelled because she had a stomach ache.  I really don't think she is even going to start college.  I don't even think she will be staying here through the weekend.  I have a feeling that she will be leaving town as of this weekend.  Why?

She has been communicating with her ex and now that the grandparents have co-signed for a brand new Chevy Cobalt, she thinks it is her ticket to do whatever it is that she wants.  I won't be surprised in the least if she tells her boyfriend that she has decided to go back without any regards to his feelings.  He will be stuck here.  Sure he could go back home but there is nothing else to go back to but his family.  I am hoping like hell that the grandparents step up and take that car away from her because I guarantee you she will not be able to pay for it and they can't afford it either.  She has a job here.  She can't get a job there. 

I want so much to step in and make her see what an ass she is.  Chris on the other hand feels that she needs to fall flat on her face first.  The boyfriend has already told her that if he catches her in one more lie than they are over and to be honest I don't think she cares about him.  It is so frustrating to see all this going down and not knowing what to do.

Could it be finally coming off?

Starting to feel like normal.  Still have some swelling issues with the ear but nowhere near the severity it was.  I noticed today that I have dropped a few pounds.  Nothing visually noticeable but my pants fit a little looser.  I think I am finally starting to lose weight the right way.  I was contemplating on whether or not to buy diet pills to help start the process. I don't want to have to rely on anything other than regular exercise and sensible eating but I have been this size for far too long now.  I know that my thyroid has been compromised but it shouldn't make it totally impossible to lose weight.  After all, I have noticed a difference and I hope it continues. 
One of these days, I will be brave and post a before and after picture, once I have lost the weight that I am comfortable with.  But as of right now, I just don't like myself and I am so self conscious.