Benazir Bhutto

I guess my blog is here for me to express my thoughts and feelings so let me spill my guts for a minute. I'm very much into escapism at this point in my life and warm and fuzzies. I just think the world is in a terrible state right now. That's why I started a pet magazine that only touted positive stuff. Love, hugs, wet doggy kisses and warm purrs from our cat friends. Sorry - but that's just me. I really don't want to dwell on the bad. Now with that in mind, I've got to tell you that I just this minute heard about the assassination of Ms. Bhutto. This is not how I wanted to start my new year... With all the turmoil in the world it was such a pleasure to see a bright light such as hers, standing up to death threats and the government, bringing hope to some of the people in Pakistan. To see a woman in the Far East making her way politically, with all it's ups and downs, to me was just astounding. I am deeply saddened by this news and I wish I could just tell all the crazies out there - STOP IT! Enough already. Enough.

Overcoming The Holiday Blahs

You probably think it’s funny that a Jewish woman is writing about struggling through the holiday blues since I don’t celebrate Christmas, but you’d be surprised how hard it is to cope. Maybe even harder because we don’t share in this beautiful tradition and I tend to feel left out and alone more than ever.

Having grown up in Israel, I am very founded in my Jewish identity, yet living in America for umpteen years, I still feel overcome with sadness when the holidays roll around. We start with Thanksgiving and I begin to count my blessings, but sometimes it seems that the negative can outweigh the positive. I still haven’t found my knight in shining armor, I never started a family, my immediate family live abroad, and I’m tired of being the orphan at other people’s dinner tables.

Okay, I get through Thanksgiving. On to Christmas. Now I will give thanks that I don’t have the pressure to give gifts to friends and family. It usually just boils down to some co-workers and close friends that I give something to. I don’t know how I could afford to have a sumptuous Christmas with a tree bursting with presents. I’ve pretty much lived paycheck to paycheck my entire life, so I have no idea how people pull this off financially. On the other hand, I’m home alone with my cats (how could I not have cats?) and thinking about all the families surrounding me, celebrating the most important day of their year with food, love and laughter.

And let’s not forget about New Years! Because, once again, I’m alone (except for the cats) and I’m about to spend New Years eve by myself, again. I don’t even get my fill of Dick Clark anymore since his stroke. I have to put up with obnoxious Ryan Seacrest. I usually have no problem going to clubs, restaurants or movies by myself, but I’ll be damned if I’m going to a New Years Eve party alone. No, no, no.

Let’s get to the inspirational part of this article since I didn’t know what other heading to put it under. With all that negativity I just imparted, I do want to say that I handle the holidays like the soldier that I am. I take deep breaths, I take long walk/runs in the re-freshing cold and ENJOY my solitude. I try not to overeat because that would just make me more miserable. I do count my blessings, over and over again, and I do try to phrase my hopes and dreams through use of positive Law of Attraction. Otherwise I feel that I may fall into an emotional morass that will be too hard to get out of. The beauty of the New Year is that you get to re-examine and start fresh. You can learn from mistakes made over the past year and you can take that deep breath and leap into the newness with faith and conviction that this will be the year of change. This New Year will be the best ever!

Here’s wishing you and yours a stellar New Year too.

To all my readers (Mom, Emily, Donald and Michael Owens!), please spread the message of love and peace in your every day conduct. I will try and do the same.

Sara Abrams
visit: Team National and shop!





USE OF ANY OF THE IMAGES IN THIS BLOG IS BY PERMISSION ONLY! THESE ARE COPY RIGHTED IMAGES AND NOT PUBLIC DOMAIN. Contact Sara Abrams at Abrams Media Group, Inc., 704-543-8843, abrams.sara@gmail.com. Thank you!

The Year In Identity Theft!

This is taken from my ID Theft Protection Newsletter which I will send out by e-blast on Monday:

This is the year end re-cap issue for my identity theft prevention newsletter. There was so much that happened this year including the T.J. Maxx scandal. It is now reported that the number of credit and debit cards breached increased from 45.7 million to 97 million. Unbelievable. Still think you’re immune to potential identity theft? Universities were also hit very hard. Can you imagine being a student and starting off your career in the workplace by having to state on employment applications that you have been a victim of identity theft and that the employer needs to be aware of it when your background check comes back?

Let me share with you that every time there’s an identity theft breach I jump for joy, because it just reinforces my point that we are in the middle of an epidemic and you need my services to curtail the damage! Let’s start locally. Last newsletter we had the EMT worker in Cabarrus who lost a computer that fell off his ambulance’s bumper when he drove away. That loss could have potentially put at risk 28,000 North Carolina residents’ medical history. And continuing to keep it close to home, as of a report of December 4, the Duke Law School’s website was illegally accessed putting at risk 1,400 people’s social security numbers.

And what about the United Kingdom? About half the population became victims of identity theft through the loss of computer disks which contained their bank account numbers. Will this have any affect on those of us who live in the United States? Yes and no. No, because it was contained to the UK, yes, because we need to look closely at the breach and learn from it to make sure that we cannot be affected in the same way. We need to watch how the UK government handles and responds to this outrage.

There’s a new law that allows consumers to freeze their credit. Sounds like a great idea at first, but do some research. You’ll need to unfreeze your credit in order to purchase a car or home, and consider that the lender is looking at you as a potential risk because the act of freezing your credit is sending out a message that you may have been an identity theft victim.

To close out this re-cap I, of course, want to wish everyone a healthy, happy and prosperous New Year and in that same vein, please consider beginning monitoring of your credit. I can set you up in 5 minutes with the Identity Theft Shield and the cost is only $12.95/month which covers you and your spouse (or significant other). At a minimum, request your free copy of your credit report and check it carefully. You can do that at www.annualcreditreport.com. Keep healthy and safe this holiday season and throughout 2008!

**********

To all my readers (Mom, Emily, Donald and Michael Owens!), please spread the message of love and peace in your every day conduct. I will try and do the same.

Sara Abrams
visit: Team National and shop!





USE OF ANY OF THE IMAGES IN THIS BLOG IS BY PERMISSION ONLY! THESE ARE COPY RIGHTED IMAGES AND NOT PUBLIC DOMAIN. Contact Sara Abrams at Abrams Media Group, Inc., 704-543-8843, abrams.sara@gmail.com. Thank you!

More Kitty Cat Stories

I know it's the holidays but I'm trying to ignore all that gooey sentimentality. Until I start making some money at one of my umpteen ventures, I'm not feeling too gooey right now. But I DO have some great cat news! Tommy, the wily tomcat, has now become a temporary house cat! As the temperature dropped I let the bad boy into my back office so he could spend the night comfortably. My other 2 cats were not very happy about this arrangement but as long as I kept the door to the office closed, they dealt with it. Being the adventurous individual that I am, one day I opened the door to the office and Tom ventured into the house to explore. Being a little concerned, I went looking for him, only to find him splayed out on the sofa, snug as a bug in a rug, claiming his new territory. To those of you who are new to my blog (all you spy bots), you need to understand that two months ago I was not able to go near Mr. Tom without getting my hand badly bitten and/or scratched. Maybe this is my little holiday miracle!

To all my readers (Mom, Emily and Donald - and who is my 4th???? someone just confessed that they read this too but I can't remember who it was!), please spread the message of love and peace in your every day conduct. I will try and do the same.

Sara Abrams
visit: Team National and shop!





USE OF ANY OF THE IMAGES IN THIS BLOG IS BY PERMISSION ONLY! THESE ARE COPY RIGHTED IMAGES AND NOT PUBLIC DOMAIN. Contact Sara Abrams at Abrams Media Group, Inc., 704-543-8843, abrams.sara@gmail.com. Thank you!