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Before I jump in on Week 4 progress, I want to thank everyone for your sweet comments on the HGTV Magazine feature. It wasn't totally real until I could share it with y'all and I'm still on cloud nine. Actually I'm kind of hoping that euphoria will carry me through the next few weeks because I feel like this project is growing. The list should be getting smaller at this point right? My design ADD is killing me. (catch up on previous weeks here.)

Now that the painting is done and I'm ready to get going on the meat and potatoes of the room I wanted to take this week to share some details on what will be sitting on those newly painted floors.

If you are new to LBD then I should let you know; I like a good bargain. And I love things that have a story to tell. (my furniture likes to talk almost as much as me) So when I can marry those two things and satisfy my 'thrill of the hunt' fix, then I am a happy girl.

For those that follow me on Instagram, these might look familiar but let's take a tour, shall we?


The couch. I found this beauty at Goodwill and loved it right away. Then the 'do I or don't I' debate started and I decided I would walk away and check back tomorrow. If it was still there it was meant to be. I thought about it all night and couldn't wait for the store to open the next morning. I rushed in and paid the $30. That's right. $30. I picked it up the next day in a surprise (and severe) snow storm with it hanging out of the back of my car for the 2 miles home. Zero visibility on the roads but 100% happy with my find.


The chairs. My friend and I go to an annual high school garage sale every spring and we usually come away with something great. The lines are long, we have to go super early and it is pure madness when we get in. We love it. This past spring we went and came up with a big fat nothing until we headed toward the exits. I saw these chairs and said to her that I had no more room for armchairs in my house (I have 4 extras in my basement), but don't they have great lines? And then she said the best thing a friend could say - "They are $8. Get them!" (thanks Becca). And so I did. They won't look like this the next time you see them, but they are again in excellent condition and I love their shape. And that's $8 for the PAIR by the way.


The lamps. Both were from Goodwill. Separate trips but equally ugly. :) Big plans for these. They were $8 for both.


The table. I knew I wanted something for the girls to draw and create on, but I didn't want to spend a lot since...they wold be drawing and creating on it. I saw this one at, wait for it, Goodwill, and emailed my lovely Linda to see what she thought. She assured me I could find some way to paint over that veneer and I pulled the trigger. $20. The dust was free.


The chairs. The green one was my dad's 'homework chair' growing up and the other chair has sat in my parents basement for 30 years. I come by my furniture hoarding honestly. Best part - FREE.


The coffee table. Snatched it up while at a retirement home sale with a client (they had great stuff). My monkeys girls' broke the glass top during an illegal dance party so it needs to be fixed and spruced up. She is the perfect length though and I love her height. $15.

So now the plan is take this motley crew and make them look cohesive and fresh. Less junky, more funky. Some of them have already been made over, some are still in process and some I still need to start (ugh!). Will I make it?!

- Rip up gross carpet (floor and stairs) and replace flooring
- Paint and plank walls and bookshelves
- Recover estate sale chairs - at the upholsterers 
- Create some sort of art station for the girls
- Paint chairs and table
- Repair and paint coffee table
- Create toy storage that doesn't involve the words 'pink' or 'plastic'
- Get some art on those walls
- Find rugs
- New Lighting

Karina Herrera, Lisa Hawkins and Mario Barrios

Click to enlarge.

A glass driving ceiling is a political term used to describe "the unseen, yet unbreakable barrier that keeps a society from exponentially growing the number of miles driven each year, regardless of population increases and the level of automobile advertising dollars spent."

See Also:
Glass Ceiling

Source Data:
St. Louis Fed; Custom Chart

The following chart shows how much production and nonsupervisory investment advice employees are earning compared to their used car dealer counterparts.


Click to enlarge.

Forehead. Desk. Whack. Whack. Whack.

Source Data:
BLS: Employment

Today's employment report was exceptionally weak.

It's worse than the headline numbers suggest. That drop in the unemployment rate from 7.3% to 7.2% isn't all it is advertised to be. Some might even call it mostly rounding error. The following chart uses the data that's used to calculate the rate.


Click to enlarge.

Note that the unemployment rate actually fell less than 1/2 of 0.1%, give or take statistical error (which is no doubt quite high). The rate was rounded up in August and rounded down in September.

Three days ago I posted the following chart.

October 19, 2013
Unemployment Rate: What's the Worst That Could Happen?

Click to enlarge.

As seen in the next chart using today's new data, we bounced solidly off the bottom of the channel.


Click to enlarge.

We are tracking the worst-case scenario with alarming precision. If we continue to do so, then the unemployment rate will soon begin to rise again (confirming that the Fed has not permanently put a stop to the business cycle, much to the surprise and dismay of those embracing risk assets at any price).

It's not all bad news though. Sue Herera of CNBC told us today that 80% of 20-year-olds don't trust the stock market. That means 20% still do! Amazing! Once they've paid off all that monstrous student debt, find employment someday (hopefully in a field that requires a college degree), paid for health care, and possibly helped support their parents in retirement, they can invest whatever is left into it. Just think of all that remaining cash flow!

This assumes of course that we don't have another recession that pops all that optimism.

Don't let it concern you that the unemployment rate of those aged 25 and higher with college degrees rose from 3.5% to 3.7% over the last month. That's probably just sampling error and not the start of a new trend. If nothing else, the unemployment rate of those aged 25 and higher without a high school diploma fell from 11.3% to 10.3%. Whew! We needed that in order to get that unemployment rate headline number to fall. It would have been anarchy without it!

In summary, it was a fantastic employment report for our short-term financial system, and isn't that all that really matters? It means ZIRP will continue to be with us longer than most expect, which is kind of funny when you think about it. The end of ZIRP is always two years away!

This post does include some sarcasm. Just look for anything even remotely optimistic to spot it.

Source Data:
St. Louis Fed: Custom Chart

Menlo Park, CA - Facebook (FB) decided to lift its temporary May ban on violent and beheading videos as long as postings raise awareness instead of glorifying or promoting violence.

by: Les Carpenter
Rational Nation USA
Liberty -vs- Tyranny

There has been a great shift in wealth in America. As the video will show the shift is decidedly and hugely in the direction of the very top income earners. If this continues unabated our nation is staring down the barrel of great social unrest and the upheaval that always follows. Simply put the present income distribution scenario, if it continues on its current path will result in the system collapsing on itself. One way or another.

Fixing Capitalism so a much broader base of Americans can create a measure of wealth and security for themselves and their family, thus growing the American middle class once again, is not socialism or collectivism. It is good common sense and it is the only thing that will ultimately save Capitalism. Corporations and CEO's were doing just fine back in the 50's, 60's, and 70's and so was the rest of America economically speaking. What has changed? Watch the video to find out.



Hat Tip: Progressive Eruptions

President Barack H. Obama

President Obama aids pregnant woman who felt ill and almost fainted during his HealthCare speech.

Obama to push Comprehensive Immigration Reform Bill 

It is all about the fabrics!
A delicate/ fuzzy combination in nude/ ivory/ yellow shades is something that I dream of for quite some time. I especially love the idea of mixing crochet dress with a chunky warm sweater. Two different textures/ shapes can really make a great "team"together!



                                                                                Sweater: Flea market find/ similar Here and Here 
                                                                                Dress: c/o Sugarlips Apparel/similar Here and Here 
                                                                                Heels: Christian Louboutin/ Here
                                                                                Bag: Joe Fresh/ option  Here 
                                                                                Brooches: DIY(Michaels)
                                                                                Sunglasses: c/o zeroUV/ option Here

Maria, 6, known as "Blonde Angel", Eleftheria Dimopoulou and Christos Salis

by: Les Carpenter
Rational Nation USA
Liberty -vs- Tyranny

As the administration acknowledges the myriad of technical problems with the healthcare exchange marketplace (and feigns anger) contractors have identified most of the problems but worry it may be weeks away before all issues are resolved. This is because the Obama Administration has been slow (remis) in issuing orders to fix the flaws.

From The New York Times.

Federal contractors have identified most of the main problems crippling President Obama’s online health insurance marketplace, but the administration has been slow to issue orders for fixing those flaws, and some contractors worry that the system may be weeks away from operating smoothly, people close to the project say.

Administration officials approached the contractors last week to see if they could perform the necessary repairs and reboot the system by Nov. 1. However, that goal struck many contractors as unrealistic, at least for major components of the system. Some specialists working on the project said the online system required such extensive repairs that it might not operate smoothly until after the Dec. 15 deadline for people to sign up for coverage starting in January...

In interviews, experts said the technological problems of the site went far beyond the roadblocks to creating accounts that continue to prevent legions of users from even registering. Indeed, several said, the login problems, though vexing to consumers, may be the easiest to solve. One specialist said that as many as five million lines of software code may need to be rewritten before the Web site runs properly.

“The account creation and registration problems are masking the problems that will happen later,” said one person involved in the repair effort.

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One major problem slowing repairs, people close to the program say, is that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the federal agency in charge of the exchange, is responsible for making sure that the separately designed databases and pieces of software from 55 contractors work together. It is not common for a federal agency to assume that role, and numerous people involved in the project said the agency did not have the expertise to do the job and did not fully understand what it entailed.

The people close to the project spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the system’s problems.

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A part of the system, hidden from users, draws data from several federal and state databases to determine if consumers qualify for coverage and then calculates the subsidies for which they may be eligible. Another part of the system sends enrollment data to insurers. Several people involved in the project say that problems like those of the last three weeks are not uncommon when software from several companies is combined into a large, complex system.

Insurance executives said in interviews that they were frustrated because they did not know the government’s plan or schedule for repairs. Insurers have found that the system provides them with incorrect information about some enrollees, repeatedly enrolls and cancels the enrollments of others, and simply loses the enrollments of still others.

Correcting those errors, specialists said, could require extensive rewriting of software code. Insurers said it could be weeks before their data and the government’s could be reconciled.

Accurate enrollment data is essential. Even if consumers bypass the federal Web site and go directly to insurance companies to sign up for coverage, the Treasury Department will still need enrollment data to pay tens of billions of dollars in subsidies promised to insurers.

Confidential government documents show that some technical fixes have been made to the federal Web site, and specialists say the site is slowly improving.

Nevertheless, disarray has distinguished the project. In the last 10 months alone, government documents show, officials modified hardware and software requirements for the exchange seven times. It went live on Oct. 1 before the government and contractors had fully tested the complete system. Delays by the government in issuing specifications for the system reduced the time available for testing. {Read the Full Story Here}

As America and her frustrations continue over the current ACA registration process glitches she can only wait and hope the process improves and the ACA itself runs smoother and better than its initial signup rollout. Only time will tell. It is after all the law of the land and it ain't going anywhere. Irrespective of the Tea Party, Cruz, Rubio, Gohmert and the rest of the minority working to find ways to insure its failure.

Via: Memeorandum

Adam Joseph Bartsch