Are you worried about our economy?

• Are you worried about our economy? - Sara
  • It doesn't look good! - Me
  • more than a little worried - CJ
  • Has me worried too. - :(
  • Yep. - jss

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1. I went to buy a toaster oven and they gave me a bank.

2. I got a pre-declined credit card in the mail.

3. CEO's are now playing miniature golf.

4. Hotwheels and Matchbox cars are now trading higher than GM.

5. Obama met with small businesses - GE, Pfizer, Chrysler, Citigroup and
GM, to discuss the Stimulus Package.

6. McDonalds is selling the 1/4 ouncer.

7. People in Beverly Hills fired their nannies and learned their
children's names.

8. The most highly-paid job is now jury duty.

9. People in Africa are donating money to Americans. Mothers in Ethiopia
are telling their kids, "finish your plate; do you know how many kids are
starving in the US?"

10. Motel Six won't leave the lights on.

11. The Mafia is laying off judges.

12. If the bank returns your check marked "insufficient funds," you have
to call them and ask if they meant you or them.

All those people on TV are talking about a 400.00 or more increse in their mortgages. They spent over 600.00 a month on extras. This was on Operah. I can't believe that these people don't have a clue.

Between the 400.00 and the 600.00 on extras...that is what I get in one month.

I have cut back as much as I thin is possible and it is still difficult to make ends meet. I even have went so far as to unplup everything that I am not using.

How do you cope?

How about using the economy as an excuse?   You could phrase it that you don't want her to spend her money or something like that.  She may seem to enjoy it, but she might jump at the chance to cut one thing out of a crazy shopping season.

Good luck.  My family and I stopped exchanging gifts years ago.  None of my brothers or sisters have kids and we all decided that we were broke and stressed and just didn't need to do it.  It's made Chrismtas much more relaxing.  We just get together for a nice dinner and have a good time.

You obviously do not understand how the medical economy works (smiles and winks).  Docs love seeing patients once a year when they already know whats wrong (usually not much).  It's easy money just like it is when we get a standard dictation.  Since insurance will pay for it, they order all kinds of lab tests and maybe some imaging - you know, screening just in case - so they don't actually have to take the time to ask you if something is bothering you or listen to what you tell them.  That takes too much time, and time is money.  This also keeps the labs and imaging services in business (some of which the docs have invested in).  When it comes to drugs, they do not want you using the old tried and true.  That sucker is off patent and can be bought cheap and sometimes OTC with no prescription and office visit required.  No, they want to give you the latest thing that is still on patent and costs a bundle.  That's medical planned obsolescence, maybe because the docs invest in the drug companies, too.

If you remember the names of the other creams that have worked, you could try running them past a pharmacist.  He/She should be able to tell you if any are available OTC.

I still haven't gotten mine, and will believe it when I have it in my hand.  Worse, I just got one of those "Return Information Notices" in the mail.  Well, guess what?  The state of Calif. did a little number-rearranging, (or should I maybe call it "fuzzy math"?), and my state income tax refund has been changed from over $300 down to ZERO.  When you call the number on the website, and finally get a live person to help, they very helpfully refer you to "someone who can go over it with you", and then the system tells you it's too busy, and hangs up on you! 

And get THIS:  The actually had a LOWER taxable income than I had calculated.  So how do they figure I am suddenly owed NO refund?  It sure sounds like that's how the gov't. is funding those economic stimulus checks.  Like I'm really sure that gypping us like that is going to create an economic stimulus. 

Looks like once again, this Calif. taxpayer has been Californicated. 

So, whatever.  Who cares if I get a reply.  But then I started thinking, wow, they REALLY just don't care.  It's not like I'm suprised, of course, but still, when something like this happens it really just make you feel bad .    I'm just trying to console myself thinking that maybe they are just too busy or both of them didn't get my 2 separate emails. 

Hey everyone, I was just hoping someone with experience in autism can either confirm or shoot down some fears for me.  My mother says that she is 90% sure my son has autism, and although we have had concerns before she mentioned anything, the doc said a couple of months ago to wait until he is 2.  He is 22 months now and his next appointment is next month. This has really been worrying my spouse and I recently and I was just hoping for some input.

My son shows some definite red flags, but at the same time seems perfectly normal.  For instance:

RED FLAGS:  (1) His speech is pretty delayed.  He will say "uh oh" and "daddy" and a few other words, but nothing else really and it is near impossible to get him to say any of the words he knows with prompting.  He babbles jibberish constantly, however.  (2)  Sometimes it seems like he is ignoring us, but this is usually when he is occupied with something else.  Sometimes he will look at us to his name, sometimes not.  It does appear that he is deaf at times.  (3)  He never points at anything that he wants or is interested in.  He will either get it himself or drag us by the finger to whatever he wants.  (4)  He lines objects up.  They are never in any particular order or color and he doesn't get upset when we mix them up or take away one of the objects, however, they are usually the same type of object, ie. cars, dvd cases, blocks. (5) He won't give kisses or hugs when asked, however, does without being asked every once in awhile, hugs much more than kisses.  (6)  Compared to other children, he seems very behind in listening and really interacting with others.

NORMAL BEHAVIOR:  (1)  He loves other people and children and will often act silly if someone comes over to our house, showing off.  He will bring out toys that he hasn't played with for awhile.   (2)  He isn't afraid to look us or others in the eyes and always has a ready smile.  (3)  He loves to cuddle and has no problem with it unless he wants to play.  (4)  If one of us pretends to cry or if he accidently smacks a friend who is his age and they cry, he will look concerned and give them or us a hug (and a kiss if we are lucky.)  (5)  He plays with his toys for the most part how they should be played with and gives his favorite stuffed bear rides in his trucks.  (6)  He has no problems with schedule changes and loves to go places different.  (7) He has no repetitive movements with his hands or body, at least none we have noticed.

After actually listing these things, I feel a little more at ease, however the red flags are pretty strong and are very apparent on a day to day basis, especially his speech.  I'm thinking he is somewhere on that spectrum at least.  Thanks for listening as this has been the cause of some tears lately. 

Every time I see her on her show, she looks bigger and bigger.

Poor lady, she is so sweet, I really like her show, but she just uses an obscene amount of butter... so so fattening. I don't see how she going to make it, eating the way she does. Yikes.

Everything she makes looks delicious but I know I can't make or eat any of it!

has been caught putting on his 2 year old brother's diapers. He got up in the middle of the night the other night and I caught him. He got embarrassed. He does it during the day behind locked doors. He does not wet his bed. I kept finding clean, used diapers around the house and thought I was losing my mind.

I am not comfortable discussing this with pediatrician yet. He's been doing it for about 2 weeks.  I can't imagine what this could be. He gets really embarrassed if I try talking to him about it. He clearly knows it is not right. He has no faults at all - plays baseball, very boyish young child - and then this creeps up.  Anyone out there know what this could be?

It clearly says you shouldn't take them with high-fat meals.

I've been taking them for 2 weeks now and have not had any such effects.  I'm not on a super low-fat diet, I just use common sense.

Not because I doubted their abilities, but because it seemed like in the first rotation or 2, they were showing some serious bias to the Chinese.  Shawn Johnson's balance beam was way better than Ying Yilan's and yet her score was ranked higher (not talking about the difficulty value, just the execution score) Even the commentators last night were talking about it.  Nastia's uneven bars got a lower score than it deserved as well.  I'm glad to see the judges got their heads out of their you-know-whats for the last 2 rotations and gave these girls the scores they deserved. 

I do feel somewhat bad for the Chinese girl, though.  I hope she doesn't lose a few fingers or toes over this.  Of course as young as she is, I'm sure she'd recover quickly.     That's something else that seemed strange to me, the American girls seemed very emotional and yet the Chinese - nothing (at least not last nice).  Could that be because our girls have a few more hormones running through them, like any normal 16-year-old would? Hmmmm