World Autism Awareness Day
Thursday, April 2, 2009 is World Autism Awareness Day.

Why?
Damn, there it is again,
that nagging question why?
Why is anything?
And why is anything NOT?
Create for me the link
where I can see all that I think
and guide me to the place
where I can see you face to face.

 
The space in my new home is a bit more limited than in my old one.  But I like it here.  I call this my corner of the universe, where I spend a lot of my time. 

And I really like my little shelves in that corner too.

Dear Mr. Obama,
     Happy Valentine’s Day.  I hope you and your lovely wife, Michelle are having a sweet celebration of the day of love.
     Congratulations on winning the presidency.  I was quite a bit leery of you at first, but by the time I cast my vote for you, I was feeling really hopeful about the future of our country. 
     But now for my rant and request. 
     The country you lead is funded in at least some part, by thievery.  I am rather enraged by the results of my online session with doing my taxes.  I will try to keep this short.  I quit my job last year, one of the main reasons being problems with my physical abilities.  I am now employed online, but it may take some time to build a clientele, and my salary is greatly reduced from what it was.  When I made the shift in my career, I took an early withdrawal of an extra retirement account I had.  I had to pay 20% in taxes on it at the time, and now I have found out that I owe an additional 10% penalty.  This is money that I have saved.  My own money, invested for when I am too old to do my job any longer.  Why is the government entitled to almost a third of it?  In my opinion, they are not.  It is theft.  I am now getting such a small return on my federal taxes, that it won’t even cover what I owe in state taxes.  I seriously do not know how I am going to afford them, except to put it on credit.  I sink deeper and deeper into a black hole of credit, with interest rates and minimum payments spiraling higher and higher as my credit limits are withdrawn. 
     I would ask that the laws regarding taxes be changed to allow for  hardships in a person’s life, which prevent them from being able to afford the taxes.  Or, maybe you could just do me a personal favor and pay them for me. 
Have a great day,
Catie S.

P.S.  This is my favorite picture of you from a special publication I have about your campaign. 

My favorite part of this song is how  “Christmas is…    families coming home”.  My home is shared between two places but, at any given time, it is wherever my family is. I am thankful this Christmas to be home with my new family. I hope everyone is having a blessed and joyful Christmas Eve.

Merry Christmas everyone!