The value of attending a class on foreclosure mediation cannot be over stressed. With housing prices continuing their downward spiral in many areas, particularly in the West, as the homeowner you need as much information as you can possibly gather.

Here in the Las Vegas area, the Legal Aid Center of Southern Nevada in conjunction with UNLV’s William S. Boyd School of Law, regularly hold classes to help homeowners facing lender foreclosures. Their class is a few hours long and worth every minute. You will walk away armed with the information you need should you choose to go the route of Mediation with your lender.

We have firsthand experience with this – due to a long span of unemployment for my husband. Our dilemma is similar to many who, through no fault of their own, purchased homes they could afford before the economy took its nose dive affecting so many. However, having exited Round 1, we came out winners. Being prepared – having every single piece of paperwork ready and with you – is your key to a successful mediation.

For us, the lender side was unprepared. This is a sharp stick in the eye for them, and a winner of a conclusion for us. It’s not over, but we have high hopes that when all is said and done, we will have something we can live with – an affordable payment to make each month.

Whether you decide to keep your underwater home or not, choosing Mediation is your best choice for both individuals and families. There are numerous other factors to consider that go beyond the stay or go decision. Six states are labeled recourse states. Be sure to know what sort of laws govern your state, and take these factors into consideration.

Your life strategy lesson for the day… do not sit back and let things happen to you. Be proactive. Be prepared. Be knowledgeable. Take the bull by the horns. After all, those you “go up against” are mere humans working in a highly flawed system. These are two points in your favor if you are prepared!

The paper today is filled to the brim with controversial tales of GOP politics, religion court decisions, and education. The more I read, the sicker I feel.

As if it were not bad enough that it is so darn hot here in Las Vegas, the news also seems to be feeling the effects. With high unemployment, foreclosures at an unbelievable level, and now political races you want to run from, Nevada is having a really tough time.

I’ll be covering more about all of these over at WorldNewsVine this evening. So keep in touch with current, factual news – and our soon to be he said/she said (alias Dems versus GOP) section.

Time to turn up the air conditioning!

This post will be deliberately short. Not only am I spending more and more time doing followup stories about the unemployment situation over at WorldNewsVine, and keeping track of what Congress is (or isn’t) up to, but today we received some shocking news.

My son was all set to head to his friend’s house (right next store) when he said, “I’m back!” even though he’d never left. His friend had IM’ed him that he apparently was “going out” and would contact my son soon.

Well, we did hear back – he was in the hospital!

Turns out he not only is anemic, but also his kidneys are shutting down. A blood transfusion later, and kidney biopsy still not back (they shipped it out of Nevada over to UCLA and it could take a week to get the results back!), but he was clearly bleeding internally.

The root cause of his condition may – but no one is sure – be based around the fact that he was “dieting”. And not in a good way.

I’ve spoken about “dieting” before – how important it is to get proper nutrition, to know your body mass index, to understand the concept that “dieting” never works, but eating healthy and exercising are the only way.

Lots of people want to believe in the c-r-a-p claims out there, but please stop! First educate yourself on not the old-fashioned food triangle we were all taught years ago, but the true way to balance good eating habits to achieve good health.

I’ve known “the kid next door” (who is 20 btw) for about a decade now. And I could not be more worried if he was my own son. I’m trying very hard to be positive. Yesterday he looked a heck of a lot better (after they found and stopped the bleed), but he’s most likely going to end up on the kidney transplant/need a donor list.

Prayers all around please. You don’t know him, and I won’t use his name, but he’s a great “kid” and we all really love him!

So if I’ve been distracted, and if it’s not Congress driving me insane, you’ll know why I’ve been “missing in action.”

Thanks for reading and say a prayer please!

I received this email earlier in the day from my father. What do you think…? Personally I think it has a ton of merit:

This is from an article in the St. Petersburg Times Newspaper on Sunday. The Business Section asked readers for ideas on “How Would You Fix the Economy?”

Dear Mr. President:

Please find below my suggestion for fixing America’s economy.

Instead of giving billions of dollars to companies that will squander the money on lavish parties and unearned bonuses, use the following plan.

You can call it the Patriotic Retirement Plan:

There are about 40 million people over 50 in the work force.

Pay them $1 million apiece severance for early retirement with the following stipulations:

1) They MUST retire. Forty million job openings – Unemployment fixed.

2) They MUST buy a new American CAR. Forty million cars ordered- Auto Industry fixed.

3) They MUST either buy a house or pay off their mortgage – Housing Crisis fixed.

It can’t get any easier than that!

If more money is needed, have all members of Congress and their constituents pay their taxes…

Okay, it’s YOUR turn… so what do YOU think? Please comment!