To my mother, who is always there for me...
To my family and friends, who love me no matter what...
and to Rob....
Merry Christmas!
- Kristin
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| May the joy of the season fill your heart each day! |
Sunday, December 25, 2011
Merry Christmas!
To my children, who are gifts themselves...
To my mother, who is always there for me...
To my family and friends, who love me no matter what...
and to Rob....
Merry Christmas!
- Kristin
To my mother, who is always there for me...
To my family and friends, who love me no matter what...
and to Rob....
Merry Christmas!
- Kristin
Thursday, December 22, 2011
Christmas Cookies
Along with making pies, I love making cookies, especially Christmas cookies. Ever since I was a little girl, my family has had a tradition of making pressed butter cookies each year and I've certainly done my part to keep the tradition going.
The minute my kids see the cookie press on the counter, they know what is coming! This year, I took some pictures as I made the first batch to eat and share. Hope your holiday days are filled with something just as sweet!
Merry Christmas! =)
K
The minute my kids see the cookie press on the counter, they know what is coming! This year, I took some pictures as I made the first batch to eat and share. Hope your holiday days are filled with something just as sweet!
Merry Christmas! =)
K
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| A few simple ingredients (the butter is suspiciously missing!) |
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| The cookie press is loaded and ready |
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| Don't forget the sprinkles |
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| Warm from the oven |
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| Christmas Trees!! |
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| Multi-colored wreaths |
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| More! |
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| Putting together gifts of cookies |
Tuesday, December 20, 2011
Christmas Caroling in Boulder Creek
I invite you to join me tomorrow night, Wednesday, December 21st, for Christmas Caroling in Boulder Creek.
We'll meet at the Boulder Creek United Methodist Church at 6pm and walk from there around town singing carols and spreading Christmas joy!
Bundle up, wear comfortable shoes and bring a flashlight. No previous singing or musical experience required - just show up and be ready to have fun!
See you then... =)
K
We'll meet at the Boulder Creek United Methodist Church at 6pm and walk from there around town singing carols and spreading Christmas joy!
Bundle up, wear comfortable shoes and bring a flashlight. No previous singing or musical experience required - just show up and be ready to have fun!
See you then... =)
K
Thursday, December 15, 2011
Stepping Through the Open Door
It's been more than two months since the occurrence of the open door and I've wondered about it ever since. Patience has been my constant companion as I wait for the moment to take my first step through the open door set before me and into my new life.
Wait no more! I have now signed a lease for a new rental home and will be moving in a month. I'm delighted with the charming little house I found, which will be perfect for both me and my son. I'll admit to being nervous about moving and disheartened with leaving my home, for good this time, but I trust this new path I've been set upon and will take each step with faith in my heart, all the while quieting my fears.
I can't leave, though, without being sad. So many dreams are lost with leaving. So many things will be left behind. The grieving process over losing my home has been long and complicated, peppered with hope and disappointment. All of this will now become the past as I turn towards a brighter future with countless possibilities.
I am looking forward to moving. I am also looking forward to my life. I hope you also have something to look forward to - drop me a note and tell me what it is!
K
Wait no more! I have now signed a lease for a new rental home and will be moving in a month. I'm delighted with the charming little house I found, which will be perfect for both me and my son. I'll admit to being nervous about moving and disheartened with leaving my home, for good this time, but I trust this new path I've been set upon and will take each step with faith in my heart, all the while quieting my fears.
I can't leave, though, without being sad. So many dreams are lost with leaving. So many things will be left behind. The grieving process over losing my home has been long and complicated, peppered with hope and disappointment. All of this will now become the past as I turn towards a brighter future with countless possibilities.
I am looking forward to moving. I am also looking forward to my life. I hope you also have something to look forward to - drop me a note and tell me what it is!
K
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| My charming new home! |
Thursday, December 8, 2011
MF Global
If you aren't paying attention to what's going on with MF Global, well, you really should be. I've been following the MF Global bankruptcy via The Market Ticker blog, written by the award winning blogger and author, Karl Denninger. His latest piece on the topic, repeated here in its entirety, needs your time and attention.
As I opined rather quickly when MF Global collapsed, the real risk is not that a futures merchant went under. Brokerages go under all the time -- I went through two "consolidations" after 2000 and in both cases my assets and trading accounts were simply moved over to a new entity. How "forced" those were is open to some question, but from my perspective I went to bed one day with an account at "X" and woke up with one at "Y". Nothing disappeared.
The problem occurs when you wake up and assets have disappeared. This has become a disturbingly-common pattern of late, from Bernie Madoff to Stanford and now MF. As Reuters reports:
What most people don't understand is that when you open a brokerage account you allow your assets to be used to "borrow, pledge, repledge, transfer, hypothecate, rehypothecate,loan, or invest any of the Collateral"
Absolutely standard boilerplate language.
But here's the problem -- this is "in accordance with Applicable law."
This use, incidentally, is why brokers scream that trades are "just $5!"
Well, yes. But your money is being used by the brokerage, more or less, as collateral.
But there's a difference between earning on your funds and securities (which brokerages do all the time) and stealing your assets. The latter occurs when the law is circumvented -- whether legal or not.
And it appears that it was -- UK laws appear to contain no limits on the amount of hypothecation or re-hypothecation that can take place. MF Global thus appears to have transferred client assets outside of US jurisdiction where they were then subject to much looser -- effectively zero -- in the way of risk controls!
But the underlying means by which this escaped surveillance is the same means by which both Lehman and Enron blew up -- the use of off-balance-sheet vehicles to hide total risk exposure.
Specifically, these "repo to maturity" deals which our current law permits to be booked as "purchase and sale" agreements, thus realizing the expected coupon flows as "profit."
The flaw in this reasoning is that a "true sale" must be just that -- it must leave you with no obligation beyond the execution. But that's not true here -- if the collateral declines in value either in the interim or at maturity the entity can be forced to make up that shortfall either through posting more margin or through an offsetting settling charge.
As such allowing this to be taken off the balance sheet is an outrage, as there is a continuing obligation and risk of loss that goes beyond the date when the agreement is consummated. That is, it's not a "true sale" despite being able to be counted as one under existing law.
The myth that is operative here is that lending to sovereigns is "zero risk" and thus the face value of a sovereign bond is the value at maturity. This fiction leads to the accounting treatment. But this is a factual lie -- not only now, but always, because lending to a sovereign is nearly always, as a matter of both fact and law, unsecured.
As such there is nothing other than a bare promise standing behind these loans - and governments break promises all the time.
If you remember some of my earliest rants from 2007 they focused on the off-balance-sheet games that were being played at the time. I called them nuclear financial weapons of mass destruction because they are -- such vehicles are always a scam in some form, as the only reason to use them is to hide from customers, regulators and the common public the amount of risk you have on.
That is, they have as their essential purpose in each and every case the intentional hiding of the amount of leverage that the entity involved has taken on, and thus it serves to intentionally overstate the amount of loss that entity can absorb before it is rendered bankrupt.
In short, in each and every case the intent is to deceive and thus induce other parties to enter into transactions at terms they would not be willing to transact under were they to know the truth.
THEY ARE THUS INHERENTLY FRAUDULENT CONSTRUCTS IN EACH AND EVERY CASE AND IF WE HAD AN ACTUAL JUSTICE SYSTEM IN THIS COUNTRY EACH AND EVERY INSTANCE OF THESE CONSTRUCTS WOULD BE TREATED AS A SERIOUS FELONY RESULTING IN ARREST, INDICTMENT, PROSECUTION AND IMPRISONMENT.
We learned this when ENRON blew up with their infamous "barge" transactions and then once again in 2008. Yet despite these two stunning examples and absolute proof that the essence of these transactions is the intentional hiding of risk and deception of clients and counterparties we have refused to prosecute these "instruments" as unconditionally unlawful acts despite the fact that their essential purpose is in every case the deception of others.
And now we have farmers and others who did the right thing -- who engaged in ordinary financial practices that have existed for centuries and which should have involved no execution risk of materiality at all -- who once again got robbed through the intentional hiding of risk and this intentional deception.
The damage is to systemic liquidity and confidence. The games are still being played this morning over in Europe in a furious attempt to "restore confidence" but in point of fact the underlying scam lies here -- and until it is addressed and stopped there will be no resolution or stability.
The Agriculture Committee this morning is once again playing "dog and pony show" while Eric PlaceHolder refuses to indict and Obama says that "nobody did anything unlawful." This is a blatant and outrageous lie by all parties in the government -- off-balance sheet acts are in each and every case an act undertaken with fraudulent intent as their entire purpose is to conceal the risk and size of a given transaction.
And finally, let me reiterate what I've said since this story broke: So long as there are off-balance-sheet liabilities and derivative contracts have preference over deposits -- both of which are true in the present time -- this very same risk is present for anyone with a BANK OR INVESTMENT ACCOUNT OF ANY TYPE in The United States. If you believe otherwise you are wrong.
MF Global: The SERIOUS Issues Reach Mainstream Media
As I opined rather quickly when MF Global collapsed, the real risk is not that a futures merchant went under. Brokerages go under all the time -- I went through two "consolidations" after 2000 and in both cases my assets and trading accounts were simply moved over to a new entity. How "forced" those were is open to some question, but from my perspective I went to bed one day with an account at "X" and woke up with one at "Y". Nothing disappeared.The problem occurs when you wake up and assets have disappeared. This has become a disturbingly-common pattern of late, from Bernie Madoff to Stanford and now MF. As Reuters reports:
(Business Law Currents) A legal loophole in international brokerage regulations means that few, if any, clients of MF Global are likely to get their money back. Although details of the drama are still unfolding, it appears that MF Global and some of its Wall Street counterparts have been actively and aggressively circumventing U.S. securities rules at the expense (quite literally) of their clients.Yep.
MF Global's bankruptcy revelations concerning missing client money suggest that funds were not inadvertently misplaced or gobbled up in MF’s dying hours, but were instead appropriated as part of a mass Wall St manipulation of brokerage rules that allowed for the wholesale acquisition and sale of client funds through re-hypothecation. A loophole appears to have allowed MF Global, and many others, to use its own clients’ funds to finance an enormous $6.2 billion Eurozone repo bet.
What most people don't understand is that when you open a brokerage account you allow your assets to be used to "borrow, pledge, repledge, transfer, hypothecate, rehypothecate,loan, or invest any of the Collateral"
Absolutely standard boilerplate language.
But here's the problem -- this is "in accordance with Applicable law."
This use, incidentally, is why brokers scream that trades are "just $5!"
Well, yes. But your money is being used by the brokerage, more or less, as collateral.
But there's a difference between earning on your funds and securities (which brokerages do all the time) and stealing your assets. The latter occurs when the law is circumvented -- whether legal or not.
And it appears that it was -- UK laws appear to contain no limits on the amount of hypothecation or re-hypothecation that can take place. MF Global thus appears to have transferred client assets outside of US jurisdiction where they were then subject to much looser -- effectively zero -- in the way of risk controls!
But the underlying means by which this escaped surveillance is the same means by which both Lehman and Enron blew up -- the use of off-balance-sheet vehicles to hide total risk exposure.
Specifically, these "repo to maturity" deals which our current law permits to be booked as "purchase and sale" agreements, thus realizing the expected coupon flows as "profit."
The flaw in this reasoning is that a "true sale" must be just that -- it must leave you with no obligation beyond the execution. But that's not true here -- if the collateral declines in value either in the interim or at maturity the entity can be forced to make up that shortfall either through posting more margin or through an offsetting settling charge.
As such allowing this to be taken off the balance sheet is an outrage, as there is a continuing obligation and risk of loss that goes beyond the date when the agreement is consummated. That is, it's not a "true sale" despite being able to be counted as one under existing law.
The myth that is operative here is that lending to sovereigns is "zero risk" and thus the face value of a sovereign bond is the value at maturity. This fiction leads to the accounting treatment. But this is a factual lie -- not only now, but always, because lending to a sovereign is nearly always, as a matter of both fact and law, unsecured.
As such there is nothing other than a bare promise standing behind these loans - and governments break promises all the time.
If you remember some of my earliest rants from 2007 they focused on the off-balance-sheet games that were being played at the time. I called them nuclear financial weapons of mass destruction because they are -- such vehicles are always a scam in some form, as the only reason to use them is to hide from customers, regulators and the common public the amount of risk you have on.
That is, they have as their essential purpose in each and every case the intentional hiding of the amount of leverage that the entity involved has taken on, and thus it serves to intentionally overstate the amount of loss that entity can absorb before it is rendered bankrupt.
In short, in each and every case the intent is to deceive and thus induce other parties to enter into transactions at terms they would not be willing to transact under were they to know the truth.
THEY ARE THUS INHERENTLY FRAUDULENT CONSTRUCTS IN EACH AND EVERY CASE AND IF WE HAD AN ACTUAL JUSTICE SYSTEM IN THIS COUNTRY EACH AND EVERY INSTANCE OF THESE CONSTRUCTS WOULD BE TREATED AS A SERIOUS FELONY RESULTING IN ARREST, INDICTMENT, PROSECUTION AND IMPRISONMENT.
We learned this when ENRON blew up with their infamous "barge" transactions and then once again in 2008. Yet despite these two stunning examples and absolute proof that the essence of these transactions is the intentional hiding of risk and deception of clients and counterparties we have refused to prosecute these "instruments" as unconditionally unlawful acts despite the fact that their essential purpose is in every case the deception of others.
And now we have farmers and others who did the right thing -- who engaged in ordinary financial practices that have existed for centuries and which should have involved no execution risk of materiality at all -- who once again got robbed through the intentional hiding of risk and this intentional deception.
The damage is to systemic liquidity and confidence. The games are still being played this morning over in Europe in a furious attempt to "restore confidence" but in point of fact the underlying scam lies here -- and until it is addressed and stopped there will be no resolution or stability.
The Agriculture Committee this morning is once again playing "dog and pony show" while Eric PlaceHolder refuses to indict and Obama says that "nobody did anything unlawful." This is a blatant and outrageous lie by all parties in the government -- off-balance sheet acts are in each and every case an act undertaken with fraudulent intent as their entire purpose is to conceal the risk and size of a given transaction.
And finally, let me reiterate what I've said since this story broke: So long as there are off-balance-sheet liabilities and derivative contracts have preference over deposits -- both of which are true in the present time -- this very same risk is present for anyone with a BANK OR INVESTMENT ACCOUNT OF ANY TYPE in The United States. If you believe otherwise you are wrong.
Wednesday, December 7, 2011
Life Without Regret
Is it possible to live a life without regret?
After reading Bronnie Ware's Regrets of the Dying, I wanted to turn each regret into an action item as a reminder of how I want to live each and every day. Listing them here for you, but do visit Ms. Ware's website and blog... you'll find lots of great stuff there!
1. Find the courage to live a life true to myself and not the life others expect of me.
2. Don't work so hard!
3. Express your feelings...
4. Stay in touch with your friends.
5. Let yourself be happy.
K
Excerpt from Regrets of the Dying - by Bronnie Ware
1. I wish I'd had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.
This was the most common regret of all. When people realise that their life is almost over and look back clearly on it, it is easy to see how many dreams have gone unfulfilled. Most people had not honoured even a half of their dreams and had to die knowing that it was due to choices they had made, or not made.
It is very important to try and honour at least some of your dreams along the way. From the moment that you lose your health, it is too late. Health brings a freedom very few realise, until they no longer have it.
2. I wish I didn't work so hard.
This came from every male patient that I nursed. They missed their children's youth and their partner's companionship. Women also spoke of this regret. But as most were from an older generation, many of the female patients had not been breadwinners. All of the men I nursed deeply regretted spending so much of their lives on the treadmill of a work existence.
By simplifying your lifestyle and making conscious choices along the way, it is possible to not need the income that you think you do. And by creating more space in your life, you become happier and more open to new opportunities, ones more suited to your new lifestyle.
3. I wish I'd had the courage to express my feelings.
Many people suppressed their feelings in order to keep peace with others. As a result, they settled for a mediocre existence and never became who they were truly capable of becoming. Many developed illnesses relating to the bitterness and resentment they carried as a result.
We cannot control the reactions of others. However, although people may initially react when you change the way you are by speaking honestly, in the end it raises the relationship to a whole new and healthier level. Either that or it releases the unhealthy relationship from your life. Either way, you win.
4. I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends.
Often they would not truly realise the full benefits of old friends until their dying weeks and it was not always possible to track them down. Many had become so caught up in their own lives that they had let golden friendships slip by over the years. There were many deep regrets about not giving friendships the time and effort that they deserved. Everyone misses their friends when they are dying.
It is common for anyone in a busy lifestyle to let friendships slip. But when you are faced with your approaching death, the physical details of life fall away. People do want to get their financial affairs in order if possible. But it is not money or status that holds the true importance for them. They want to get things in order more for the benefit of those they love. Usually though, they are too ill and weary to ever manage this task. It is all comes down to love and relationships in the end. That is all that remains in the final weeks, love and relationships.
5. I wish that I had let myself be happier.
This is a surprisingly common one. Many did not realise until the end that happiness is a choice. They had stayed stuck in old patterns and habits. The so-called 'comfort' of familiarity overflowed into their emotions, as well as their physical lives. Fear of change had them pretending to others, and to their selves, that they were content. When deep within, they longed to laugh properly and have silliness in their life again.
When you are on your deathbed, what others think of you is a long way from your mind. How wonderful to be able to let go and smile again, long before you are dying.
Life is a choice. It is YOUR life. Choose consciously, choose wisely, choose honestly. Choose happiness.
After reading Bronnie Ware's Regrets of the Dying, I wanted to turn each regret into an action item as a reminder of how I want to live each and every day. Listing them here for you, but do visit Ms. Ware's website and blog... you'll find lots of great stuff there!
1. Find the courage to live a life true to myself and not the life others expect of me.
2. Don't work so hard!
3. Express your feelings...
4. Stay in touch with your friends.
5. Let yourself be happy.
K
Excerpt from Regrets of the Dying - by Bronnie Ware
1. I wish I'd had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.
This was the most common regret of all. When people realise that their life is almost over and look back clearly on it, it is easy to see how many dreams have gone unfulfilled. Most people had not honoured even a half of their dreams and had to die knowing that it was due to choices they had made, or not made.
It is very important to try and honour at least some of your dreams along the way. From the moment that you lose your health, it is too late. Health brings a freedom very few realise, until they no longer have it.
2. I wish I didn't work so hard.
This came from every male patient that I nursed. They missed their children's youth and their partner's companionship. Women also spoke of this regret. But as most were from an older generation, many of the female patients had not been breadwinners. All of the men I nursed deeply regretted spending so much of their lives on the treadmill of a work existence.
By simplifying your lifestyle and making conscious choices along the way, it is possible to not need the income that you think you do. And by creating more space in your life, you become happier and more open to new opportunities, ones more suited to your new lifestyle.
3. I wish I'd had the courage to express my feelings.
Many people suppressed their feelings in order to keep peace with others. As a result, they settled for a mediocre existence and never became who they were truly capable of becoming. Many developed illnesses relating to the bitterness and resentment they carried as a result.
We cannot control the reactions of others. However, although people may initially react when you change the way you are by speaking honestly, in the end it raises the relationship to a whole new and healthier level. Either that or it releases the unhealthy relationship from your life. Either way, you win.
4. I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends.
Often they would not truly realise the full benefits of old friends until their dying weeks and it was not always possible to track them down. Many had become so caught up in their own lives that they had let golden friendships slip by over the years. There were many deep regrets about not giving friendships the time and effort that they deserved. Everyone misses their friends when they are dying.
It is common for anyone in a busy lifestyle to let friendships slip. But when you are faced with your approaching death, the physical details of life fall away. People do want to get their financial affairs in order if possible. But it is not money or status that holds the true importance for them. They want to get things in order more for the benefit of those they love. Usually though, they are too ill and weary to ever manage this task. It is all comes down to love and relationships in the end. That is all that remains in the final weeks, love and relationships.
5. I wish that I had let myself be happier.
This is a surprisingly common one. Many did not realise until the end that happiness is a choice. They had stayed stuck in old patterns and habits. The so-called 'comfort' of familiarity overflowed into their emotions, as well as their physical lives. Fear of change had them pretending to others, and to their selves, that they were content. When deep within, they longed to laugh properly and have silliness in their life again.
When you are on your deathbed, what others think of you is a long way from your mind. How wonderful to be able to let go and smile again, long before you are dying.
Life is a choice. It is YOUR life. Choose consciously, choose wisely, choose honestly. Choose happiness.
Monday, December 5, 2011
The Go-Go Girl
This past weekend, I was invited to attend a holiday costume party where the theme was the 1960's. Along with the party invitation, I also received an invite to pick a costume out the day before. If you've not had the opportunity to play dress up in a costume shop, let me just say you should definitely give this a whirl... I haven't laughed so much in one day in a very long time!
After much consideration and a few outfit changes, I found the perfect mini-dress and chunky, white go-go boots. Couple that with a long red wig, black eye liner and false eye lashes and the transformation is complete.
Sgt. Pepper was my date and we laughed and danced the night away. I couldn't have had more fun! I hope your weekend was just as good... drop me a note and tell me what YOU did! =)
K
After much consideration and a few outfit changes, I found the perfect mini-dress and chunky, white go-go boots. Couple that with a long red wig, black eye liner and false eye lashes and the transformation is complete.
Sgt. Pepper was my date and we laughed and danced the night away. I couldn't have had more fun! I hope your weekend was just as good... drop me a note and tell me what YOU did! =)
K
Added 12/15/2011: Here's a pic from the party.. - K
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| Having a great time with Sgt. Pepper! |
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