Team Duke: class act on many levels.

tonight i went to a restaurant called A and caught up with some childhood friends. here's what they've been up to lately. seriously. watch this and tell me if you're inspired to get out and do something positive:

Team Duke-Ethan Wayne from Team Duke on Vimeo.

Delighting in decorating

certain things in life present a challenge, and the task of decorating a large blank wall makes me freeze in my tracks. my mind is as blank as the wall.

knowing this, understand that i've been in my home for about 5 years and am just now starting to get around to decorating it. please share in my excitement as I show you my new end table and rug from Pottery Barn. the rug is called Vivenne and the end table is from the Rhys Collection.

last night I moved the furniture, unrolled the carpet and reset the couch and table. no wonder I lost two pounds on the scale this morning!

wysiwygying it

i'm not much of a writer. i'd like to be, but let's face it, i lead a life of a harried divorced mom who's lucky to have clean underwear on hand rather than someone who runs the perfect home with flawless execution. so, instead of taking time to craft the perfectly written blog, i wing it. i create in brief flashes of impetus, slap it on the net with imperfect punctuation & grammar, hoping it's a bit funny and will ring true to those who happen to wander in to read.

my blog is like my house: a bit messy, but it's honest, from the heart; full of life, laughter and honesty. what you see is what you get....hey, i'm a wysiwyg blogger!

so, the point of this post is i may be back to blogging regularly, this time, with mobile uploads from snippets of my day. short and sweet. maybe a bit silly and possibly even socially relevant.

let's see what happens, hmm?

Trying something new

Get this: it's been so long since i've blogged I forgot my password...until this morning....

so herei am trying something new: a mobile update!

I spent my bday with mckid at an Angels game this week. so much fun, an they won!

it's good to be back to blogging :0)

mck.

mckidisms

i should have been writing these down a long time ago so i can remember all the wonderful comments mckid makes. here are a few recent ones:

(from inside the bathroom) "momma! want to hear something cool? i scored all my poops in the little potty hole!"

(while in the bathtub after a small crying jag)" momma, does this soap remove sorrow? it says No More Tears"

(while singing to himself what he thought were the correct lyrics for Silver Bells, as we decorated the christmas tree) "silverware, silverware"

pray for life. choose life and you'll answer someone's prayer.

i love my two kids with all my heart and soul.


i pray some woman somewhere chooses life over abortion, so my good friends' prayers come true and they can become parents.

Make photo slide shows at www.OneTrueMedia.com

class personified

you want to know the definition of classy? McCain is not only an American hero, but also a class act. This man would have made a wonderful leader.




Transcript of McCain’s concession speech
Republican senator urges unity and support for Obama

PHOENIX -


Thank you. Thank you, my friends.

Thank you for coming here on this beautiful Arizona evening.
My friends, we have — we have come to the end of a long journey. The American people have spoken, and they have spoken clearly. A little while ago, I had the honor of calling Senator Barack Obama to congratulate him. (Audience boos.) Please.

To congratulate him on being elected the next president of the country that we both love.

In a contest as long and difficult as this campaign has been, his success alone commands my respect for his ability and perseverance. But that he managed to do so by inspiring the hopes of so many millions of Americans who had once wrongly believed that they had little at stake or little influence in the election of an American president is something I deeply admire and commend him for achieving.

This is an historic election, and I recognize the special significance it has for African-Americans and for the special pride that must be theirs tonight. I've always believed that America offers opportunities to all who have the industry and will to seize it. Senator Obama believes that, too.

But we both recognize that, though we have come a long way from the old injustices that once stained our nation's reputation and denied some Americans the full blessings of American citizenship, the memory of them still had the power to wound. A century ago, President Theodore Roosevelt's invitation of Booker T. Washington to dine at the White House was taken as an outrage in many quarters.

America today is a world away from the cruel and frightful bigotry of that time. There is no better evidence of this than the election of an African-American to the presidency of the United States. Let there be no reason now.

Let there be no reason now for any American to fail to cherish their citizenship in this, the greatest nation on Earth.

Senator Obama has achieved a great thing for himself and for his country. I applaud him for it, and offer him my sincere sympathy that his beloved grandmother did not live to see this day. Though our faith assures us she is at rest in the presence of her creator and so very proud of the good man she helped raise.

Senator Obama and I have had and argued our differences, and he has prevailed. No doubt many of those differences remain. These are difficult times for our country. And I pledge to him tonight to do all in my power to help him lead us through the many challenges we face. I urge all Americans.

I urge all Americans who supported me to join me in not just congratulating him, but offering our next president our good will and earnest effort to find ways to come together to find the necessary compromises to bridge our differences and help restore our prosperity, defend our security in a dangerous world, and leave our children and grandchildren a stronger, better country than we inherited. Whatever our differences, we are fellow Americans. And please believe me when I say no association has ever meant more to me than that.

It is natural. It's natural, tonight, to feel some disappointment. But tomorrow, we must move beyond it and work together to get our country moving again. We fought — we fought as hard as we could. And though we feel short, the failure is mine, not yours.

I am so ... I am so deeply grateful to all of you for the great honor of your support and for all you have done for me. I wish the outcome had been different, my friends.

The road was a difficult one from the outset, but your support and friendship never wavered. I cannot adequately express how deeply indebted I am to you. I'm especially grateful to my wife, Cindy, my children, my dear mother; my dear mother and all my family, and to the many old and dear friends who have stood by my side through the many ups and downs of this long campaign.

I have always been a fortunate man, and never more so for the love and encouragement you have given me. You know, campaigns are often harder on a candidate's family than on the candidate, and that's been true in this campaign. All I can offer in compensation is my love and gratitude and the promise of more peaceful years ahead.

I am also — I am also, of course, very thankful to Governor Sarah Palin, one of the best campaigners I've ever seen; one of the best campaigners I have ever seen, and an impressive new voice in our party for reform and the principles that have always been our greatest strength; her husband, Todd, and their five beautiful children for their tireless dedication to our cause, and the courage and grace they showed in the rough and tumble of a presidential campaign.

We can all look forward with great interest to her future service to Alaska, the Republican Party and our country.

To all my campaign comrades, from Rick Davis and Steve Schmidt and Mark Salter, to every last volunteer who fought so hard and valiantly, month after month, in what at times seemed to be the most challenged campaign in modern times, thank you so much. A lost election will never mean more to me than the privilege of your faith and friendship.

I don't know — I don't know what more we could have done to try to win this election. I'll leave that to others to determine. Every candidate makes mistakes, and I'm sure I made my share of them. But I won't spend a moment of the future regretting what might have been.

This campaign was and will remain the great honor of my life, and my heart is filled with nothing but gratitude for the experience and to the American people for giving me a fair hearing before deciding that Senator Obama and my old friend Senator Joe Biden should have the honor of leading us for the next four years. (Audience boos.) Please. Please.

I would not — I would not be an American worthy of the name should I regret a fate that has allowed me the extraordinary privilege of serving this country for a half a century. Today, I was a candidate for the highest office in the country I love so much. And tonight, I remain her servant. That is blessing enough for anyone, and I thank the people of Arizona for it.

Tonight — tonight, more than any night, I hold in my heart nothing but love for this country and for all its citizens, whether they supported me or Senator Obama — whether they supported me or Senator Obama.

I wish Godspeed to the man who was my former opponent and will be my president. And I call on all Americans, as I have often in this campaign, to not despair of our present difficulties, but to believe, always, in the promise and greatness of America, because nothing is inevitable here. Americans never quit. We never surrender. We never hide from history. We make history.

Thank you, and God bless you, and God bless America. Thank you all very much.

happy halloween

Don't let the trick be on us. Vote McCain.

fannie gets bitten on the ass

a bit of old news that's apropos for today's headlines....


New York Times
September 30, 1999

Fannie Mae Eases Credit To Aid Mortgage Lending
By STEVEN A. HOLMES
In a move that could help increase home ownership rates among minorities and low-income consumers, the Fannie Mae Corporation is easing the credit requirements on loans that it will purchase from banks and other lenders.

The action, which will begin as a pilot program involving 24 banks in 15 markets -- including the New York metropolitan region -- will encourage those banks to extend home mortgages to individuals whose credit is generally not good enough to qualify for conventional loans.. Fannie Mae officials say they hope to make it a nationwide program by next spring.

Fannie Mae, the nation's biggest underwriter of home mortgages, has been under increasing pressure from the Clinton Administration to expand mortgage loans among low and moderate income people and felt pressure from stock holders to maintain its phenomenal growth in profits.

In addition, banks, thrift institutions and mortgage companies have been pressing Fannie Mae to help them make more loans to so-called subprime borrowers. These borrowers whose incomes, credit ratings and savings are not good enough to qualify for conventional loans, can only get loans from finance companies that charge much higher interest rates -- anywhere from three to four percentage points higher than conventional loans.

"Fannie Mae has expanded home ownership for millions of families in the 1990's by reducing down payment requirements," said Franklin D. Raines, Fannie Mae's chairman and chief executive officer. "Yet there remain too many borrowers whose credit is just a notch below what our underwriting has required who have been relegated to paying significantly higher mortgage rates in the so-called subprime market."

Demographic information on these borrowers is sketchy. But at least one study indicates that 18 percent of the loans in the subprime market went to black borrowers, compared to 5 per cent of loans in the conventional loan market.

In moving, even tentatively, into this new area of lending, Fannie Mae is taking on significantly more risk, which may not pose any difficulties during flush economic times. But the government-subsidized corporation may run into trouble in an economic downturn, prompting a government rescue similar to that of the savings and loan industry in the 1980's.

"From the perspective of many people, including me, this is another thrift industry growing up around us," said Peter Wallison a resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. "If they fail, the government will have to step up and bail them out the way it stepped up and bailed out the thrift industry."

Under Fannie Mae's pilot program, consumers who qualify can secure a mortgage with an interest rate one percentage point above that of a conventional, 30-year fixed rate mortgage of less than $240,000 -- a rate that currently averages about 7.76 per cent. If the borrower makes his or her monthly payments on time for two years, the one percentage point premium is dropped.

Fannie Mae, the nation's biggest underwriter of home mortgages, does not lend money directly to consumers. Instead, it purchases loans that banks make on what is called the secondary market. By expanding the type of loans that it will buy, Fannie Mae is hoping to spur banks to make more loans to people with less-than-stellar credit ratings.

stalkers take note:
tomorrow i'll be hanging with the family at the susan g. komen Race for the Cure at fashion island in newport beach. i'll be the one wearing the 5k tshirt.










p.s. save a breast. massage one today.