Good Morning, again.  They say we will have rain this morning.  I guess we should be glad since those a few miles north will be getting 1 to 2 inches of snow.  We are now in the time of the year when 40s feels like a heat wave.

Hey, hey, Kay (at Kay's Thinking Cap).  I hear your Buckeyes won!!  Hope the rest of your Saturday went as well.

As I said last time, I am getting back to a more varied blog hopping now that the election is over.  I found this with my morning google searches.  For those who crochet and who, like me, hate wasting anything these little coasters using no-longer-useable CDs sounds really great.  But, I thought, why limit the stiffener to CDs?  I can think of a range of plastics that might do the job also.  Have to try it out.

It is interesting how often such ideas come to me.  Mom and I were watching TV yesterday and saw an ad for wash cloth pouch that was interesting.  You slip a bar of soap into it and then use it like a loofa or such scrubber.  It has a draw string on one end and a loop on the other so you can use it like some of the back scrubbers I have seen.  They hawked the things for about $8 or they would send out a special three-pack for about $15.  I thought 'what a wonderful way to use pieces of old towels.  And for a lot less that $8.  Another thing I will have to try out.  It goes rather well here because we have started going back to bar soap.  It lasts longer and does the job better.

June Calendar at Big 70 & More recalls William Saffir's term 'frugalista.'  I had not heard it before but it is a perfect description.  I am glad there is a name for me.  I recently reorganized my sewing section.  I have my fabric organized into boxes for the very big pieces (old sheets, etc.), the large (2 or 3 yards), medium (fat quarters 1 yard pieces), small (less than 10 inches), very small (just large enough to sew into something).  I even have a coffee can in which I put scraps too small to sew.  I figure they can be used to stuff some small thing like a pin cushion or sachet.  When good fabric costs between $4 and $10 per yard it seems a shame to throw anything out.

I would say that the Big Three automakers have a major problem.  Visiting the Congress.org site this morning I saw the results of one of their latest polls.  They asked readers if they supported the bailout loans without conditions, with conditions or not at all.  The 'not at all' option won by a landslide--67% to 31% (OK, with conditions) to 3% (OK, without conditions).  As I said before, I find the whole idea of the bailouts unpalatable.  But I also think we are between a hammer and an anvil here.  There are no good solutions when companies get too big to fail.

Here is an interesting post from TPM Cafe.  Steve Clemons provides some more ammunition for those who are opposed to the auto and Citi bailouts.  We, as tax payers, are supposed to bail out companies whose interests do not intersect with ours.  I have observed for a very long time now that American multi-national firms are usually American in name only.  They have no real nationality, no firm local ties and no loyalty to any nation, city, or locality.  We used to say, with more than a tinge of wry humor, 'what's good for General Motors is good for the USA.'  It used to be somewhat true.  It hasn't been for a very long time.  What's good for General Motors is good for General Motors.  End of Report.  Only big question here is how do we encourage multi-nationals to realign their interests and with whom?