Sunday, September 2, 2012

Our trip to China July 2012!


 My husband and I took a trip to Chengdu China to visit and meet the parents of the Chinese exchange student we hosted in our home in 2010. We call her our Chinese daughter and our relationship really is precious!

 We had the opportunity to meet her parents, grandparents, aunties and uncles, fathers work associates, and friends. We ate and shared through most days. Each night we had special banquets. We were hosted to fabulous museums, cultural centers, the downtown areas of Chengdu and Chongqing, the Panda reserve and so much more. 








Hanging out and laying around in their simulated native environment! Both are pandas.






We had visited China in 1986. What we found in these to metropolitan areas in 2012 was amazing. China has moved into the 21st Century. The skyscrapers, cars of every sort, trains and highway systems were extensive. I do fear that the growth has been so rapid and the poor are being left behind. If the people do not bring greater equity in this area they could experience unrest.











The food was scrumptious! The special pepper corns that they spice their food with literally explode in your mouth with flavor that is like a flower while also giving you a type of numbing sensation. If you eat something hot in temperature it becomes even stronger.

Their hot and spicy Sechwan food was delicious. I think the noodle dishes were some of my favorite. While I had grown up with many different type of foods and always expected to eat them whether I like them or not, I did add some things to my list: Alligator, snake, eel, frog legs, intestinal material that is different from tripe. I also ate of course: beef, chicken, pork, duck and rabbit to name a few.
Their speciality was the hot pot. It is a giant fondue experience heated by a live fire. Koreans and Chinese both have this type of food.



 We found the family unit is small in terms of blood relatives but the Chinese have expanded their family units to include aunties and uncles that may be work associates of your parents, long term friends, or neighbors. These people influence and support                                                           each other for the greater good.

 
We had lots of fun and experiences together!



 
 


 Another thing I loved were the way the ladies dressed. Like us they were in all sorts of clothing, jeans, shorts, dressy dresses, simple house cloths. But the colors are bright and gay. There was not one event or gathering where the ladies did not appear quaffed. When I had been to China in 1986 the colors were kept to the hats or hair ribbons. Most of the cloths was drab. What a dramatic change.
 


Sandy picked up a little culture and stood with the wisest of them!


I had the opportunity to learn Mahjong. Cherry's family and friends love to play this game. I did quite well, but would call it beginners luck!

Sunday, August 19, 2012

Jean Hutton Memorial


Along with being too busy to Blog, I have been working on the Jean Hutton Memorial Unveiling for just after our Refurbishing project. The family wanted us to have a unveiling of the specail art dedicated in honor of their mother who use to volunteer for the  library. We had contacted local artists to submit their work and Sheena Hemmert's art was chosen. The Board felt it really symbolized the new motto for our library. The motto is "Bringing Words To Life!" The art has wheat and milo to represent the hertitage of the area, and the colors and other parts of the panels represent a spirit of creativity.  So many people helped with this project, I should not mention names. If you want to know you can contact me.




 
The Hutton Memorial  contributed funds through the Dallas Women's Foundation. This memorial purchase the specially created work surface or desk for staff, the new front counter, the theme wall, the art panels, special clock, and new book cart to make a brand new experience at the checkout counter for our library. The Hutton family was great to work with throughout the process.
 

Sunday, June 24, 2012

Too Busy to Blog!


Well I have been way too busy to blog lately. First we were preparing for what I call "refurbishing" our library. We have selected carpet, tile, 9 new electrical outlets in the old part of the library, paint, chairs, blinds, stack movers, part-time workers to help move things, painting the parking lot, staff and contractors schedules and soooo much more. It has been exciting but sometimes I wake up remembering something we need to ask or do in the middle of the nigh! So up I get and write a note or two.

Let me show you a few pics!







 
 
 



Saturday, January 21, 2012

We are taking it financially in the shorts already!!

Please read to the end -- the financial picture is staggering when you think of the implications.

And their touting a low inflation rate is bunk (3%)!!! If we take out the deflation in housing our rates are much higher. If we start prior to the economic crisis (2007) our inflation rate is also much higher. My discuss below shows the economy conservatively looses over 5 trillion in spending capital while inflation is really at about 8.5%. Read on my friends!

Personally, I have not heard from any candidate be they R., D., I., what the financial regulators of our nation will be doing about the artificially low interest rates in our nation.We think it is saving us $$$ but in fact we are paying for this without realizing it.

1. Yes our nation pays less on our nation debt of trillions of dollars with a lower rate. What would our electorate expect our national government leaders to do about the debt if we were really paying a reasonable rate. We would have to deal with the problem.

2. If our baby boomers are the largest population group in our nation, then it would be wise to make sure that we help them be able to survive without so much government assistance. By keeping interest rates low retired and elderly are loosing thousands of dollars a year in interest income that they had planned to live on.

3. Purchases by those living on interest income do not have the funds to place funds in the economy by purchasing items in their lives. If they are the greatest population group, then how much is our local businesses loosing because they do not have any purchasing power.

4. Interest income for schools, colleges, medical facilities, non-profits and foundations is down between .20% to .90% on CD's or CDARS. If an organization has 1 million dollars in their foundation and planned to earn say 4% then they would earn $40,000.00 in a year. But now they only earn .04% they earn $4,000.00. This means that these foundations that plan on using interest income for purchases and special projects have just lost $36,000.00 per year.

5. The National Center for Charitable Statistics has a Table Wizard that a person can enter specific data sets to get the number of non-profits registered (http://nccsdataweb.urban.org/tablewiz/tw_bmf.php). I entered on the Wizard for all non-profits that for "Total Asset Levels between 1995 to August 2011). I then looked at the results and found that there were 102,655 with over 1 to 5 million in assets. Those with assets 5 to 10 million is 22,470. The total earning from 1 million to 100 million is 160,643 organizations. Lets just multiply by 36,000.00 of purchases and earnings. That alone is a huge amount of $ being placed in our local, state and national economies. The amount if they spent only 36K per year would be $5,783,148,000.00. That is almost 5 trillion. What would that do for our local businesses and our national economy??

6. Our banks, credit unions and financial businesses are going to go broke with the low income they are making from these low rates. The businesses and homeowners in our nation do not have the income to be able to borrow funds from the banks. Keeping the rates low has not increased lending. In fact I'd argue that it is hampering their ability to make loans from the financial organizations.

7. If we allowed rates to rise normally it would begin to have people in our nation feel more confident in our financial future. If we are keeping rates artificially low it communicates that our nation is still in risk and they will just hold tight. It also keeps us from saving for our future.

8. Officials say we have an inflation rate of 3.2 % but this is misleading. However, if I enter in an Inflation Calculator (http://www.usinflationcalculator.com/), it indicates inflation up 4.5% since 2008 (if I spend $20.00 in 2008 the same item would cost $20.90). Beginning in 2007 the inflation is much higher. I am using this years figures because this is really the year prior to the huge financial crisis hit our nation. If I purchased a $20.00 item in 2007 and then I purchased the same item in 2011. the inflation is 8.5%.I would have paid $21.70 for the same item in 2011. 


One financial advisor I have talked to thinks that the federal government may simply inflate prices so that the national debt will not look as big as it is. So then salaries might have to go up, prices of course go up; instead of the nation debt being taken care of. But those with no capacity to earn more will not be able to keep up, our costs will continue to sky rocket and our problem will get worse.


 Let's not play games, the American public is paying for the crisis, handling of it, the low interest rates and the way our nation is handling their finances! A president alone will not solve the problem. It takes the resolve of the American people to get the Senate, House, Federal reserve and Presidential executive branch to really deal with our financial house. 


                                National Center for Charitable Statistics has a Table Wizard
                                              http://nccsdataweb.urban.org/tablewiz/tw_bmf.php 

Level of Total Assets Number of Registered Organizations Number of Organizations Filing Form 990 * Total Revenue Reported on Form 990 * Assets Reported on Form 990 *
A. Less than $100,000 834,876 52.8% 737,108 63.0% 30,516,885,565 1.6% 9,549,855,100 0.2%
B. $100,000-249,999 119,850 7.6% 116,029 9.9% 18,408,917,493 0.9% 19,041,021,402 0.3%
C. $250,000-499,999 87,459 5.5% 85,203 7.3% 20,769,408,021 1.1% 30,629,947,818 0.5%
D. $500,000-999,999 74,978 4.7% 73,262 6.3% 30,770,852,383 1.6% 52,296,245,499 0.8%
E. $1-5 mil. 102,655 6.5% 100,671 8.6% 140,416,784,354 7.2% 224,186,905,928 3.5%
F. $5-10 mil. 22,470 1.4% 22,103 1.9% 89,964,211,697 4.6% 155,708,198,535 2.4%
G. $10-100 mil. 29,674 1.9% 29,166 2.5% 431,067,601,297 22.2% 845,674,398,690 13.3%
H. More than $100 mil. 5,844 0.4% 5,771 0.5% 1,176,648,882,415 60.7% 5,021,789,009,888 79.0%
Not Reported 302,630 19.1% 0 0.0% 0 0.0% 0 0.0%
Total 1,580,436 100.0% 1,169,313 100.0% 1,938,563,543,225 100.0% 6,358,875,582,860 100.0%