Football Question
Posted by: onemom on: November 13, 2009
- In: football
- 2 Comments
We are watching the West Virginia – Cincinnati football game right now, and cheering for the Mountaineers. In the first quarter, West Virginia was penalized for 5-yards for having an illegal formation on the kicking team. The ref said (both times) that they only had 3 players to the left of the kicker. My husband and I have never heard that call before and I have not been able to find it online, so I thought I would see if any of my readers could help us with this penalty.
Thanks!
OneMom
Friday Flyer
Posted by: onemom on: November 13, 2009
- The waiting continues for our family, but I can tell you that one more duck has lined-up. Three more ducks need to do so.
- I do not find myself agreeing with Senator John McCain very often, but his comments this week that the shootings at Fort Hood are an example of how Political Correctness is putting our troops and our country at risk, are spot on. The liberals of course (including much of the media) are begging the American public not to listen to Senator McCain. I am weary of how much we turn ourselves inside-out trying to honor Muslims and their religion while they spit on us and wish us dead. Political correctness will destroy our country.
- We have had a nice stretch of 50 degree weather and sunshine this past week. The blustery winds have returned today, but it still looks like we have several more days of moderate weather. I am told often by the locals that this weather is very unusual this late in November here in the U.P.
- I was accused last night of being a flamin’ liberal. It was all I could do at the time not to burst out laughing!
- Hannah has had a wave of tooth loss over the last week (baby teeth), so her smile is looking a little goofy at the moment.
- Speaking of baby teeth, just about everyone asks her about what the tooth fairy left her. We don’t do the tooth fairy, as we don’t lie to or deceive our child. I also never understood why a child should be paid for losing a tooth. She has a special tooth box where we are preserving the teeth, and that’s all.
- So as not to be attacked over the last point, there is lots of make-believe and pretend in Hannah’s life, but she clearly understands the difference in reality and pretend. The tooth fairy is truly an act of deception (as is marking presents as being from Santa Claus).
- I’m off to work. More later.
OneMom
Holiday Marketing Ploy
Posted by: onemom on: November 11, 2009
Retailers took a big hit last December because they had ordered their holiday shopping stock before the economy fell off a cliff and they were left holding the bag. This year I see an interesting new marketing ploy under the guise of press releases.
Last night I read a story entitled “Can’t find the hot new toy? Blame the Economy”. This story features threats that store shelves will be empty and how your children will be disappointed if you don’t rush to get the most coveted toys right now – don’t even think about waiting until the day after Thanksgiving. Of course the article includes pictures and lists of just what toys our children will die without. One more tactic in the story is an announcement that toy companies have dispatched their “executives” to China to personally oversee production and do all they can to help you out, but you really need to shop right now.
Too bad the toy companies didn’t dispatch their executives to toy manufacturers in the United States.
When it comes to gift giving (specifically gifts for children) I believe it is important to use some basic rules:
- Practical
- Lasting
- Encourages creativity and imagination
Here is a list of some places where you can find toys made in the U.S.
- Toys of the USA
- Kinder Rag Dolls
- AmeriKid (you need to read the item details to see if some parts are made elsewhere or perhaps assembled elsewhere)
- In Home Games (this site features all types of games from chess and checker sets to foosball and carrom … carrom is the wonderful two sided wooden table that includes all the pieces needed to play over 100 games).
Finding books that are both printed and assembled in the USA is a difficult task, especially as mom of an avid reader. So in my effort to not benefit foreign manufacturers, I use book re-sellers which you can find on:
Shop carefully, don’t fall for the media hype, and help your children learn how retailers and the media try to manipulate them. I’ll have more ideas for Thanksgiving and Christmas in the coming days.
OneMom
A Sunday Walk
Posted by: onemom on: November 8, 2009
For the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, a November day in the 50s, no wind and a little sunshine is an incredibly beautiful day, so we took the family for a walk around a lovely boardwalk at a nearby pond. I give you two pictures, the first is Hannah hugging our Basset Hound, and the second is a mysterious plant we spotted today (Frances, any ideas?). For more shots from the walk, visit OneMom’s Window.
Friday Flyer
Posted by: onemom on: November 6, 2009
- In: Blogging| Economy| Michigan
- 4 Comments
- While I hoped for news by today, I can only tell you we are still in a holding pattern. Anybody out there enjoy waiting?
- I am very sad about what happened at Fort Hood yesterday. Unfortunately, while these events are tragic and sad, I find myself less mortified than I use to be.
- As winter approaches, I have heard some who provide snow plowing services complaining that they are being underbid by “unprofessional” plowers. I understand their frustration at losing business, but in this economy there are many people willing to work for minimal money just to feed their families.
- The new unemployment numbers come out today. Ten percent is certainly a possibility nationally, all though much of Michigan has been higher than that for months now.
- It has been an incredibly busy week at work, but I will write a more substantive post this weekend.
OneMom
UAW Hits Ford
Posted by: onemom on: November 1, 2009
This weekend, United Auto Workers employed by Ford Motor Company have rejected contract changes that would have allowed Ford to bring their costs more inline with GM and Chrysler. Ford of course was the one U.S. automaker who managed to remain financially strong enough that they didn’t need government bailouts or to file for bankruptcy as GM and Chrylser both did.
From the Wall Street Journal:
GM and Chrysler, which were forced to reorganize in bankruptcy court, have contracts that bar the union from striking for six years and include certain work rules that help control costs. Ford had hoped to get the similar concessions. Under a system of “pattern bargaining,” the UAW had for decades made it a practice to give equal terms to each of the Big Three auto makers.
But some local UAW leaders argued a no-strike clause was too much to give to Ford, which managed to avoid taking financial aid from the government.
So Ford gets punished by the UAW for managing to stay out of bankruptcy and keep the company functioning without a government bailout. I have read the stories about Ford executives making too much money, and that is a problem that Ford should address and make concessions from more top floor employees. However, Ford union employees are averaging about $55/hour (that is all wages and benefits calculated into total cost), which comes to $114,400/year per employee cost for Ford. Foreign car companies average about $50/employee cost or a total of $104,000/year per employee. Using Ford’s UAW membership numbers of 41,000 employees, this is an annual difference of $426,400,000.
Ford has already said that they will make more parts and more cars in Canada and Mexico because of the “no” vote from UAW members.
The Canadian Auto Workers union voted 83 percent in favor of an agreement that freezes wages for some 7,000 workers into September 2012 in exchange for protecting most factory jobs in Canada.
This could be the straw that breaks Ford’s back and the final nail in the coffin for the U.S. Auto Industry and the city of Detroit. Greed is always ugly, but in this economy where so many people are without work and struggling just to feed their families, this greed from the UAW is especially ugly. I’ve heard their whining about how much they’ve given up, but for people laying in the bottom of the pit, these Ford employees appear to be living the life of kings … greedy kings.
Full disclosure: I have family members who are members of the UAW.
OneMom
Oil and Gas – Here We Go Again
Posted by: onemom on: November 1, 2009
In our part of the world gas prices were holding steady since August at around $2.50/gallon, until mid-October when they started going back up. Yesterday our price hit $2.84/gallon. In light of this, I decided to use my extra hour this weekend to check out what is behind this ill-timed rise in fuel prices. I also thought – just for fun – that it was time for me to re-enter the world of oil speculation by returning the Magic Snowglobe to the blog.
- Crude oil prices hit $80/barrel last week. In the summer of 2008, oil was $147/barrel (we were paying over $4/gallon for gas at that time). At the beginning of this year oil was less than $40/barrel and we were paying under $2/gallon for gas.
- According to the Associated Press, oil and gas supplies are plentiful world wide. So why are prices so high?
- One factor contributing to higher prices is a weak U.S. Dollar. Just as Europeans flock to the U.S. to shop when the dollar is low (compared to the Euro), the same is true for Oil Investors.
- Does the weak dollar explain completely the highest gas prices in almost a year? Unlikely. Some are suggesting that oil speculators have added $15 or more to the current cost of a barrel of oil. In the article, they are not using the negative word “speculating”, but are calling the price a “hope premium” – doesn’t that make you feel better?
- Exxon and Chevron both posted a decline in their earnings last week, but I don’t suppose that could have ANYTHING to do with higher prices. Don’t fall into Big Oil’s media spin – they did NOT report a LOSS, just that they didn’t make as much money as they did in 2008 when gas prices were over $4/gallon and oil was nearly $150/barrel! I will not cry for Big Oil.
- Interesting also that oil prices rose when the U.S. Government declared the recession was over, but made a slight move back down on Friday when the report came out that consumer spending had dropped for the first time since April.
- As the country approaches the holiday shopping season with unemployment inching closer to double digits, foreclosures increasing, and families struggling just to survive, I doubt these fuel prices will be long lasting, and predict that crude prices will decline throughout November. No, I’m not an expert in the commodities market, I’m just OneMom and this is just my common sense, practical take on fuel prices.
Now we wait and we see …
OneMom
Friday Flyer
Posted by: onemom on: October 30, 2009
- Friday has arrived and the windows are rattling! Not from excitement, but from the 40+ mph wind howling off Lake Superior this morning.
- It seems every Friday I ask you to keep praying for our family and for resolutions to some things going on the past several weeks. Today I can tell you that there seems to be some positive things happening in several situations, but all the ducks are still not lined up where they need to be. I know every week I tell you that hopefully by next Friday I’ll have a report … I’m going to have to tell you that at least one more time.
- Many school districts here in the Upper Peninsula have been closed much of the week because of H1N1.
- Hannah-bear elementary school has a very healthy student body (I know this because I tucked that student body into bed last night) and has remained open.
- Speaking of homeschool, Hannah and Papa continue to make progress. I think Papa is learning as much (or more) than Hannah. As I have mentioned many times, Hannah’s reading ability continues to flourish, and math continues to be her nemesis. It does appear this week that she is making some new found progress with adding and subtracting.
- Governor Granholm appears to be toning down her threats about using her veto power on the Michigan Budget because she is finally realizing that that the Republicans are not going to cave-in and raise taxes to support her pet projects. We will see what she actually does this morning as she finally returns to Lansing to look at the budgets. She’s been touring the state on a democratic tantrum trying to get people to push the Republicans to raise taxes. Unfortunately for her, the people of Michigan can’t afford more taxes and weren’t as excited about backing her as she had hoped.
- Funny how the Governor never bothered to find her way to the Upper Peninsula. Of course since the map that Michigan has been using in promotional campaigns only showed the Mitten portion of the state until the legislature voted to add the UP, I can’t blame her for not being able to locate us.
Off to work …
OneMom
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