Nintendo Props

I like to give credit where credit is due.

Props to Nintendo for replacing the faulty charger to Wes' Nintendo DS. The charger stopped working a couple of weeks ago. His DS was a Christmas present and he had been very careful with the charger. So, I was surprised when it stopped charging.

I called Nintendo and they simply replaced the charger...with no charge, thank you very much. We got the new charger today and all is well in DS world.

It's nice to have a company take responsibility for their product and have very good customer service.

Good job, Nintendo. Maybe you can work with GM!

Catching up

I'm a blog slacker. I seem to be endlessly busy in all aspects of life and neglect my blog. I know, shameful. So, I'm going to get caught up on a few events.

My dad's parents (my grandparents by default) celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary at the assisted living community in which they live...or as the boys call it..."the hotel". All of my dads siblings were there, a few of the grandkids and only a couple of great-grandkids. Our boys fall into the great-grandkids category and they were very well behaved. I was proud of them. On my list of things I'd rather not do this little trip was at the top, so I appreciated how boring and icky it was to the boys. Shhh..don't tell anyone, but I thought it was excruciating. If it wasn't for a funny uncle and my supportive husband, it would have been agonizing. Let's just say I showed up and got big points from my dad. Oh, and Obama was there too.








Our anniversary was January 29th and was a great weekend. We met up with our Purdue football buddies (minus Amy and James -sniff-sniff) for lunch and a Purdue basketball game. It was a strange game against Michigan...but the end result was all that mattered...Purdue won! Chris and I continued our weekend together (minus the boys) by heading over to Indy for a night on the town. Our dinner at St. Elmo was amazing. They have the best steaks around, and their service and attention to detail is top notch. They had a very private table, with flowers for us, away from all the major dining rooms. Chris broke the "no gift" rule for the weekend and bought me a beautiful heart shaped pendant I had been drooling over from Kay's. If you look closely you can see it in the pictures. Our weekend together was the best.






Wes did a great job in his annual musical at school. This years first grade musical was called "Bugz." It was very cute and well put together. Every child was given a line to say and each child participated in at least two musical numbers. As usual, Wes went along with being on stage and saying his line, but did so with the least amount of acting enthusiasm as possible. He just isn't a stage performer. He inherited that trait naturally. Don't get me wrong, he was cute and smiling and participating...he just didn't go the extra mile like some of the kids who acted like they were in High School Musical part 10. Props again to the teachers for pulling for a nice, timely program!






We are going through the "Stop Bedwetting 101" course at our house. Wes has always, always been a bedwetter...every night. We have tried all suggested methods and nothing will keep him dry at night. In case it isn't showing through my blog writing...I'm really, really done with bedwetting at my house! I've suspected that there is a level of laziness involved here, but he is also the deepest sleeper I've ever met, so who knows?? When our ADT smoke alarms have malfunctioned in the middle of the night and awaken Chris and I to heart attacks, him and his brother just slept away. Scary!!! Upon taking Doc's advice I ordered the Potty Pager. I'll be posting more about this endeavour, but last night was a success. Wes is scared to death of the thing going off. It acts as a pager and also has a buzzer. (Chris has been teasing him that it shocks him) Let's just say the pager part is 30 times more powerful than a cell phone on vibrate. I think it will wake him...but we shall see. Again, more to come.

Oh, and not to short change Connor....here's a cute random picture of Connor.




I know there have been other events around here that I would have liked to blog about but just didn't have the time. Hopefully, I can keep up better now that I've tackled the big events.

More to come on "Stop Bedwetting 101."

Happy Anniversary

Happy Anniversary to my amazing, thoughtful, kind and loving husband. Nine years ago today I married my sweetheart. I loved him then and I love him even more today. I didn't know that was possible.

Today he is my best friend, my hostess cupcake cohort, my negotiator, my peacekeeper and the world's greatest dad! Thank you for your kindness, your patience, your love and your commitment to me and our family.

We are playing it low key today but we get to escape this weekend to Indy for some much deserved one on one time. I'm looking forward to a night out, great food and even better company.

Happy Anniversary!

Stupid, stupid, stupid

No school today. Probably the -18 degree temperature at bus stop time had something to do with that.

If you listen carefully you will hear the sound of me screaming..."Nooooooo" at the top of my lungs. The boys didn't have school today and they don't have school on Monday. I have a four day weekend with them and they can not go outside to play and we can't go anywhere in this cold.

Wait for it...it gets better.

Wes lost his DS all week for calling me a jerk. Yeah, no one ever said that 7 year olds make great decisions. Not two hours into our day today this goes down.

I'm working out downstairs and Connor comes down to tell me that Wes won't play with him. I ask why..."Caus', Wes is playing his DS"

What???? I bolt up the stairs, which I'm sure Gilad would have approved of as part of the work out because I'm sure took the stairs faster then his near 60 year old ass could have.

And what do I find...Wes, sitting in his room playing his DS, which HAD been safely stowed on the TOP shelf of our closet. Besides the fact I'm stumped as to how he got the DS down, I sure wasn't speechless. Boy did I scream and yell at him. I've been asked nearly hourly all week when he can get his DS back and I'd already answered that question several times today, so there was no doubt he knew he was screwed at that point. Because getting caught playing it pretty much spelled death sentence.

As far as I am concerned he lost any chance of getting the DS this weekend, playing Wii with Connor and I this afternoon and maybe even lost his trip to Purdue with Dad on Sunday.

Why, Wes?? Why?? Why did you have to ruin everything with one stupid move??? Not to mention he could have broken his neck climbing our shelves in our closet standing on my exercise ball???

So, basically my peace for today is shot, my peaceful one child Sunday has been shot.... all because of that stupid DS. If the damn thing wasn't so insanely expensive it might have flown out a window. Oh, but wait...it's -14 degrees outside so I'm sure even the damn window is frozen shut.

Stupid weather. Stupid DS. Stupid exercise ball. Stupid Gilad!

It's cold...

...it's really, really cold. And, I'm tired of winter.

Folks, I grew up in Michigan and I know what cold winters are all about. But this is nasty cold. It's past noon and it is still only -4 degrees outside. That is just crazy ass cold. We have had daily snow all week with it starting to pile up outside.

Good thing we had our furnace fixed last week. I thought 57 degrees in the house was bad, hate to think of what it would be now. Sorry, I digress.

We had a school delay this morning, but it really didn't make much difference. We got a lot of snow yesterday, so I wasn't sure if the delay was for the snow or the cold. I guess I will know tomorrow morning. The predicted temperature at bus stop time is -5.

So far the highlight of my morning was running the snow blower to clear our sidewalks, again. When it is -4 with wind chills somewhere around -25 and the snow coming out of the snow blower hits you in the face, that sucks! Even after a hot shower my cheeks feel like I went 10 rounds with a 2 x 4.

I'm pretty much the snow removal team of our household. Chris leaves in the dark and comes home in the dark and that makes clearing the driveway difficult. I've also been afraid that his Honda wouldn't make it up the steep drive with snow on it. So I've cleaned...and cleaned...and cleaned some more.

It's worth good brownie points. Our anniversary is coming up so I'm expecting good rewards!

Catching up and Happy New Year!

Really? It's 2009? Really?

The holidays just flew by and dragged me along for the ride. I'm just now starting to catch my breath and put my feet on the ground. We had a very busy, traveling holiday. Our time in Flint was spent with a snow storm there. We were fortunate to make it back home between rounds with only rain to drive in.

We spent Christmas Day at our house with just us and the boys. It was an interesting day. For some reason while we were gone the thermostat for our furnace became confused and had a problem. The highest temp we got in the house on Christmas day was about 58. A bit cold for momma. The boys didn't notice because they were way to happy unwrapping presents and getting to play the new Wii. I think Mario Cart is their most favorite game, ever!!!

The day after Christmas we headed over to my in-laws for the day. When we left the house at 10:15 it was 32 degrees and raining. The roads turned to a sheet of ice right in front of us. They were the nastiest roads I have ever had the privilege of driving on. If it had been any other event other than Christmas that we were headed to we could have went back home. As it was we had to turn the car around twice to find roads free of spun out cars. A good time, not! It warmed up during the day and we got to drive home in fog. A great way to start and end the day. I'll not say more than that about the rest of the time so that I appear nice.

Other fun events over the holiday break included playing Guitar Hero, a trip to Purdue for a men's basketball game, playing Guitar Hero, a New Year's Eve Komet's hockey game with the boys, playing Guitar Hero and Uncle Stu spending the night playing Wii and you guessed it... Guitar Hero.

There are other great stories involving missed Christmas dinners, the shooting of a car-struck deer in my parents yard, Connor trying to flip off Grandma, Wes calling Connor a "piece of penis" during Christmas at the In-laws, and so on and so forth. I'm not sure, but I might be suffering from post-traumatic-stress disorder.

I'll say no more and show you the pictures instead. Yes, those are the bad haircuts I'm responsible for.

Holidays and Bad Haircuts

We are headed to Flint tomorrow to celebrate Christmas. We will hang out there until Christmas Eve and then return home. Santa only seems to know how to find us when we are at our home. Thank you, Santa!

I'm apologizing now for the horrendous haircuts on my boys. They desperately needed haircuts this week before we leave tomorrow. Unfortunately our dear friend, John, who always cuts the boys hair has been without power thanks to the ice storm. So, what choice did I have but to whip out the clippers and cut all their hair off?

Connor looks fine...it's short on him but his hair is always shorter than Wes. Wes on the other hand definitely got the worst "do" of the two. He never fusses for John but he went nuts when I tried to cut his hair. He cried! What? Yes, he cried and if he knew enough to know what a bad buzz cut looked like when he looked in the mirror, he would continue to cry.

My mother is going to kill me when she sees them. I don't blame her....but it will be all I hear about for the next four days. Damn ice storm! I'm going to attempt to go back over Wes later tonight with the clippers and see if I can make it better. I'm sure that will work!!! NOT!!!

Ice Storm

Like most of the country, we seem to be getting our fair share of shitty weather. I would certainly classify a half inch to an inch of ice as bad weather. It sucked here on Friday. We were so, so very lucky to not lose power. Most everyone around us has been out for over 24 hours. We were only out shortly, but I was reminded how much our boys depend on electricity...and how quickly the house seemed to get cold!!

I took a few pictures. This is my attempt at cool photography. After looking at them on here it appears I failed. I am sad that our very nice birch tree took a bad hit. All three major parts of it are on the ground and one of those three have split. With temperatures staying well below freezing I'm not too hopeful that the rest of the tree will make it.

Wes' Birthday

Wes celebrated his 7th birthday last week. With the chaos of the holidays and dealing with bad weather, I haven't goten around to posting some pictures. I got to go into his class that day and I was glad I did. It was fun to watch him wig out on sugar with his classmates. Good times.

Star Wars is all our boys seem to want to play with right now. I have a feeling this will be a very Star Wars Christmas.

Holiday Mail for Heroes

Holiday Mail for Heroes is a great program sponsored by the American Red Cross. They have a goal to deliver one million holiday cards to American Service Members, Veterans and their families in the US and around the world.

The deadline to participate in this program is Wednesday, December 10. All cards must be postmarked on the 10th or they will be returned to the sender.

I'm excited to be able to go into Wes' classroom this week to provide the supplies for him and his classmates to make cards. This is a neat way for our kids to appreciate being home for the holidays and thanking our service men and women for their sacrifices!

In case you are interested:

Holiday Mail for Heroes
P.O. Box 5456
Capitol Heights, MD 20791-5456

(This replaces the program of sending cards directly to service men and woman at Walter Reed Hospital. Walter Reed will not accept cards addressed to recovering soldiers.)

Big relief

I met with Dr. Hicks this morning at Fort Wayne Orthopedics to get my bad ankle checked out. I have been having problems with it for the past month or so. It has been 10 years since I had it fused with surgery. I manged to get all my old records/x-rays from home (thanks to my aunt) and took them with me as a comparison.

Thankfully everything looked the same and none of the screws had moved. I was so concerned that something would need fixed. A new pair of orthotics was suggested as well as the walking boot I am currently wearing. It's way better than a cast and it was suggested that I use it when my ankle flairs up...as it has been.

I'd forgotten how much fun it is driving with my left foot. But, just like riding a bike, I got the hang of it again. I'm glad there wasn't anyone in the car with me while I was getting the hang of it! And for the record...it is not illegal to drive with your left foot. I've checked!

Now my mother can stop NAG, NAG, NAGGING me about my stupid ankle. I swear if she asks me one more time how it is doing I'm going to scream! I hope she goes back to worrying about GM and my Grandma and leaves me alone.

On to more important things...only 18 days till Christmas. OMG!!!

I'm happy to boast that all my shopping and wrapping is done. The house has been decorated for a while too. It's nice to have stuff done and just be able to enjoy the holidays. I intend to do some baking soon. I've gotten a bunch of old recipes from my mom that she used to make and that I loved. Looking forward to that!

My birthday is tomorrow and Wes' is Friday. Chris suggested we move my birthday to June when there is less stuff going on. Not sure we are going to get an evening out to ourselves. Sniff, sniff. My parents are coming back this weekend to spend Saturday night. It just seems like there is always something going on. Hence why I am so happy to have my shopping/wrapping done!

I'm torn...

...between my family who are desperate for a GM buyout and my personal opinion that there shouldn't be buyouts!

I grew up in Flint, Michigan. We lived in Flint township, not the city of Flint, but our mailing address still said Flint. Without any siblings in my life I had the good life. I wasn't overly spoiled, but I always had what I needed and my family "played" Up North in Michigan with boats, cottages and now horses. The Flint I grew up in was a GM town, but is now just a ghost town. On my last trip home I was appalled at what is happening there. Nearly everywhere you look homes have been for sale for years and more are just abandoned. There are absolutely no jobs to be had anywhere and staggering poverty.

My parents and my grandparents are dependent on GM.

My grandparents live month to month on their $800 GM pension check. They have struggled with money their entire lives. They are not the kind of people who ever treated themselves to luxury or squander a penny. Actually, they are the cheapest people I have ever met. And now their assisted living apartment rent, which pays for the heat, electricity and food is dependent upon GM. They will have nothing if they loose their pension. They are completely dependent on GM.

My parents are dependent on GM. Dad works in the Flint Metal Fab plant and has been there since the day after he graduated from high school. He has been offered every buyout that has come to his plant, knowing full well his plant is terminal. It only has another two or three years left before it is slated to close, if not sooner. He could retire but they can't afford for him to retire. Namely because of their horses.

Now I feel sorry for my grandparents because they scrapped along in their lives just to get what they have. I do not feel sorry for my parents. The writing has been on the wall for years that this meltdown was coming. They have chosen to ignore every warning and continue on the path they have chose. They could have sold horses. Dad could have taken classes and found a "new" occupation. He could have looked for a new job. They could have left Flint...but instead they have chose to stay. And now they have no options.

My mom has the lawn and garden family business that she runs with my uncle. It has also been failing for years. When you live in a town failed by GM your business will fail too. I know my parents haven't given up and left town because the Lawn Shop, but because of their decisions now they are trapped.

If GM folds, as it will without a bailout, my parents are done for. I agree that bankruptcy for a car manufacturer will not work. We are getting close to needing to replace a GM lease and I won't purchase a GM car without knowing I will have a company and warranty to back up my car in five years.

So, I'm torn. I most certainly do not want my grandparents left with no place to live or my parents left with nothing. But I can not agree to government buyouts. I didn't agree with the financial institution bailout and I don't agree with this one. I believe in survival of the fittest and in evolution. I believe that if a company can't figure out over the course of a decade how to pull itself together or evolve, then they don't deserve to be in business. They failed. They have become extinct. My parents believe that GM has made those changes and it is the failure of the lending institutions that has brought this on. Maybe that is true and I'm being too harsh.

If Chris and I failed in our finances no one would give us money hand over fist. I don't believe it is the taxpayers responsibility to bail out a company that plain and simple failed. And I believe that even if the government actually gives them the money, that GM still will not make it. GM will just struggle on for a couple of more years and continue to fail. I even agree with Bush when I read this quote..."he is concerned about providing taxpayer money to companies "that may not survive." Ok, me agreeing with Bush? Come on people, what are we coming to in Washington?

If GM were a horse I would call the vet and have it put out of its misery. I realize how a failed GM will devastate my family as well as this entire country. I get it probably more than most people because I grew up in Flint. But there has to be a better way then giving them our hard earned tax money.

Giving them what they want is only prolonging the inevitable. And, then who is next? Who else wants to go and beg to our government for free money? Steel companies, airlines, states like California? Heck, maybe I should drive to DC in my GM car and get in line?

I wish I had the answers and I realize what a tough job our politicians have on this one. I literally feel torn in half about this. After another blow up on the phone with my mom today I also realize that I can no longer talk to her about it.

I guess I will just watch and see what happens, because that is all I, or any of us can do.

Random Update

I couldn't think of a better title! I've been a slacker on here lately, but we have been so busy as a family. The weekends have been full and will continue to be so all throughout the upcoming holidays! So, here are a few recap pictures of what has been going on with us!



Wes was so stoked to get to "meet" Icy at the local hospital's Halloween Party. Icy is the Komets mascot.



"Enjoying the straw maze, I am"



Yes, that is a really, really big pumpkin!



Grandpa, the boys and their favorite barn kitty!



Trick or treating on Halloween night.

I Voted!

Did you???

There is still time...get out and vote, especially if you live in Indiana. I'm hearing today that it could all come down to us??? Now that is a scary thought. Good thing my vote cancelled out my husbands vote.

I was lucky to be able to go vote at 1:00 today. I didn't stand in line at all. According to the friendly ladies where I voted, it was the only time of the day there were no lines. Most everyone else I talked to around here stood in very, very long lines.

I'm smart and lucky. Now if my guy wins, I'll be even luckier.

Millennium Park

Millennium Park is....wow, what to say! First of all, it is a huge, 24.5 acere park now connected to Grant Park. It contains all kinds of sculpture, amazing landscaping, an outdoor concert venue and is probably one of the most popular destinations in Chicago. I'll get to the best part, people watching in a bit. Let me at least appear to have paid attention to other things besides the crazy people in the park!!

I was completely impressed by the flowers and landscaping. The views of the city were none to shabby either. It was odd to me to see huge buildings and yet be surrounded by vibrant flowers.



I loved seeing "The Bean" which I discovered is actually called The Cloud Gate. I like "The Bean" much better. It's basically a big, stainless steel bean. Loved it! It's also lots of fun trying to take your picture with its reflection...and as Chris also discovered, it's fun to mess with other peoples pictures!





Ok, so now lets just stop with the nicities and get down to what was really so great about the park....the crazy, wacky people who were in the park! I love people watching! It's the best!! I'm not sure how best to prove how good the people watching was other than to show you the pictures and tell you about the pictures that got away.

There were several wedding parties in the park for obvious picture reasons! I guess I have missed out on the newest wedding trends, but I believe this is what hooker brides ask their best friends to wear.



I think she was actually proud of her dress. Can you tell? And, these poor sailors got sucked into nearly ever photo opp with every bride.



Ok, sing along with me now...."One of these things is not like the other, one of these things just doesn't belong!"



Now here is just an example of a people watchers dream come true. You got bad bridesmaid hanging out waiting for her photo opp, the other bridal party whoring out to the sailors and then you have Asian girl that just appears out of no where and practically starts undressing herself for her own photo opp. WOW!!!!



And then, just when I thought is was safe to leave because all the great spotting had been done, in strolls Miss Thing In Pink! Hold the boat folks, I'm not going anywhere.



and....she brought her pimps along too!



Yup, my friends, you can't make this stuff up!!!



Oh...and there was more. It was like worlds collide when the "Bad Bridesmaids", met up with the "Good Bridesmaids" and the "Vision in Pink" for a photo opp all together. Wow! Then, right after all that cleared out we had a crazy old guy dressed in a bag pippers uniform, with no bag pipe, that came strolling by saluting anyone who would make eye contact with him!

Truly, it was complete people watching fullfillment! A dream come true.

Chicago!

Chicago was fantastic. Chris and I had a wonderful weekend together (just the two of us) celebrating 10 years ago that we "reunited" in Chicago! We had a blast and the weather was gorgeous...almost too hot!

After dropping the boys off at G & G's house Friday evening, I drove to Napanee to meet Chris. I had forgotten that Napanee is home to a very large Amish population. I was reminded of that Amish population as I was driving down back rural roads in the dark trying to dodge buggies and cycles! Yikes!

He and his crew had a Friday night football game at Northwood High School. It was the first, in a long time, that I had a chance to watch him officiate. I enjoyed myself and got a good taste of high school and middle school children. Mine are never allowed to grow into that breed! Agh...they were awful!



After his game was done we drove on to Merrillville to spend the night. It was well past my bedtime but I managed to stay awake for some food at Buffalo Wild Wings! I guess that is a standing tradition that the crew always eats there after a game.

We drove into Chicago on a beautiful, sunny, Saturday. For old times sake we went past downtown and into the Lincoln Park neighborhood, where Chris had his apartment. This is the same small apartment that we managed to co-habitat for a few months after we were married. We took a few pictures for the boys to see where we used to live!


It's the building with the black door.

We then proceeded downtown to an early check-in at the Renaissance Hotel. The hotel and the room was gorgeous. We have stayed at many different Renaissance Hotels and they have never let us down. It was perfectly situated on the river at Wacker Drive. Which was a great spot to walk to Michigan Avenue and Millennium Park. Millennium Park was an event all in itself and worthy of a second post!



We joined the thousands of shoppers and Chicago Marathon Runners who were walking up and down Michigan Avenue. To our disappointment, FAO Schwartz had closed their store. We had hoped to do some early holiday shopping for the boys. Oh well.





After relaxing, after all our walking, we got ready for the highlight of our weekend. A virtual beef feeding frenzy was in store for us at Fogo De Chao. It was the most full I have ever been after a meal. The food was amazing. And, it just kept coming and coming for as long as I could take it....and the mashed potatoes were great too. I finally had to stop after I thought my button on my dress jeans was going to pop off and wound some other diner. And, as if that wasn't enough...the amazing wait staff overheard us talking about our 10th anniversary and brought out this huge piece of chocolate cake with "Happy Anniversary" written on the plate. We were both surprised! It was all I could do to walk out of there.

It was a beautiful evening to walk and we had a great time! After an hour or two I started to feel like I could breath again...I really have never been so full. Thanksgiving meal has nothing on that place.

Sunday was the Chicago Marathon. Obviously, we were not running the race, but we watched it from the 18th floor of our room. That is about as close as I will ever get to a marathon! Runners started going by on the street below at 8:00. You could tell the real runners from the fun runners. The real runners were hauling ass and had the trucks with the camera guys following them. The real mass of runners came by much later!

We headed back to pick up the boys Sunday and just hung out for the rest of the day. Thankfully, Chris took today off, so it was nice having him around for the long weekend.

I can't thank Chris enough for remembering this special anniversary for us and for finding a way to make the weekend happen. Thank you for handling all the arrangements, reservations and taking the time off to spend the weekend with me! You are the best! I'm looking forward to many more anniversaries with you!

Happy Birthday

Happy Birthday to my Grandma, Mouse. Yes, that is what I call her and I always have. Don't ask, I don't know why! Anyway...Happy Birthday to Mouse. When I called her this morning in Michigan she was debating going to "see the Indians". Which is code for going to the casino. Good luck if you go!

These were some pictures the boys sent to her today!

Miss You!

Chris is headed out for business to Colorado today. Sniff, sniff...I will miss him. I'm always sad when he isn't here! Fly safe, Hun! Funny, I always told him that when he traveled every week....like he has any control over his flight!

But, I definitely have something to look forward to while he is gone. Chris and I will be headed to Chicago next weekend to celebrate a 10 year anniversary. It isn't our wedding anniversary, but it is the exact weekend that we "reunited" 10 years ago. We are both very much looking forward to roaming around Chicago together, just like old times!

I'm on my own till Thursday, so hopefully my little dudes will behave themselves. Have a good week everyone!

Post Turtle

I get lots of e-mail jokes and such, but this might be my new favorite!

This is the best short summary of the Palin phenomenon.

Post Turtle

While suturing a cut on the hand of a 75-year old Texas rancher, the doctor struck up a conversation with the old man. Eventually the topic got around to Sarah Palin and her bid to be a heartbeat away from being President.

The old rancher said, ' Well, ya know, Palin is a post turtle.'

Not being familiar with the term, the doctor asked him what a post turtle was. The old rancher said, ' When you're driving down a country road and you come across a fence post with a turtle balanced on top, that's a post turtle.'

The old rancher saw a puzzled look on the doctor's face, so he continued to explain.

"You know, she didn't get up there by herself, she doesn't belong up there, she doesn't know what to do while she is up there, and you just wonder what kind of dumb ass put her up there to begin with."

Curious?

I'm curious how the whole current financial drama is going to play out over the next few days. I see that McCain wants to suspend his campaign to return to his real job and try and "fix" things.

Apparently his fix, and our current crappy administrations fix, would be asking American taxpayers to cough up our hard earned money. Where exactly do they think all this money is going to come from in order to fix things? I fail to see the logic of asking us taxpayers (some of us who seem to have our financial affairs in order) to pay for the mistakes of businesses and individuals who screwed up.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but if I went out and overspent thousands of dollars on credit no one in their right mind would just give me the money to pay it back??

Crazy!