This is despicable. Yes, despicable.

Just read this pile of unfiltered garbage that passes for a Propaganda Press release (my empahsis).

Building on the success of her two previous Virtual Town Halls, County Executive Maggie Brooks announced that 5,144 County residents participated in last evening’s community dialogue on her F.A.I.R. plan to end the County’s budget crisis. Combining the attendance from the first three forums, 22,771 Monroe County residents have taken the time to participate in this important community dialogue; a figure that is double the seating capacity of Frontier Field.
“22,771 Monroe County residents have now chosen to ask a question, or participate in our community dialogue on my F.A.I.R. Plan to end the budget crisis while cutting the property tax rate with no cuts in quality-of-life services,” Brooks stated. “Through this important community dialogue, we are visiting every local neighborhood and ensuring that our friends and neighbors understand why my F.A.I.R. plan is the best course for our community to achieve true fiscal stability.”

Note to Maggie Brooks and every other elected official:

There is a difference between community involvement and after-the-fact justification. These Town hall meetings are after-the-fact justification and that the administration is trying to pass it off as community invovlement - the word you are looking for is deception.

Community involvement, now pay attention here, WOULD HAVE TAKEN PLACE BEFORE THE VOTE OF THE LOCKSTEP LEGISLATURE. It would have told the community what the government thought was necessary, why it was necessary and it would have gotten buy-in from the community.

Let me repeat, that all would have taken place before the vote of the lockstep legislature.

Oh, one more thing. Participation of 22, 771 residents, What are we measuring? How did they come up with that number? My guess is the number of people who picked up the phone at the cold call. I don’t call that participation. Neither should you.

So shame on any media outlet, Editorial board, columnist or blogger who falls for this transparent Enron Accounting method that inflates the number of people who actually participated in the plan development prior to the vote (outside the Republican inner circle um, that would be ZERO) into an apparently large number of participants.

Shame on Maggie Brooks and her lockstep legislature.

(THANKS to http://rochesterturning.com/2007/10/18/maggie-brooks-fair-plan-town-hall-meetings-deception/)

Online petition - Stop Monroe County Taking $millions from School Districts

check this out and sign it....

On September 26, 2007, the majority of the Monroe County Legislature passed Monroe County Executive Maggie Brooks' Fairness, Accountability, Innovation and Results (F.A.I.R.) Plan.

The plan calls for a 50 percent reduction in sales tax revenue to school districts to pay for the county's portion of the state Medicaid bill.

Without prior public debate, the FAIR plan disenfranchises the voters of Monroe County - who overwhelmingly approved their school budgets in May 2007 - and, worse, hurts school children in our community.

The County justified their 50% cut in education's portion of sales tax dollars by highlighting new state aid to education. But, this year's state aid was provided with the expectation that the new money would be targeted in specific ways to improve academic results and schools are being held accountable by the state for how this money is used.

Since school districts in New York are not allowed to operate in a deficit condition, this decision by the County will create a major problem in every district. The Morin-Ryan agreement for sharing sales tax money is state law and the County has no authority to change it.

Additionally, there is no evidence that the state legislature wrote the Intercept Law intending it to allow a county to alter pre-existing sharing relationships.

And now, the County, desperate for a way to pay this cost, has decided to take money from education's portion of the sales taxes.

If you know me you understand how crazy Ry & my weeks are... the weekends we are typically pretty chill & laid back, but during the week-- forget about it! We forget our own names... :) This week was no different.

We had Monday off of school because of our observance of Veterans Day--- we spent the day honoring the brave men and women who defend us by working double time on our kitchen... VERY unpatriotic of us-- BUT I must say that our absentmindedness was not only reserved for those outside of our personal universe, but directed at ourselves as well...

Tuesday morning at about 6:30am I was checking my schedule online for the day... at which point I screamed to Ryan (who was in the shower at the time) "Honey guess what!!".... he replies... "Oh NO what's wrong".... and I reply "ya know today is our 8th wedding anniversary right"... at which point he replies "Oh my goodness... you're right... did your mom just IM you to tell you"... AS IF I'M NOT CAPABLE of remembering my own wedding anniversary... I OBVIOUSLY responded as if I COMPLETELY remembered and that he was just a shmucko to forget! Ha ha.... the power of the woman... I'm only joking... I was honest with him so that he wouldn't feel TOTALLY GUILTY.... we laughed and gave each other a kiss and went about our day.....ANYWAY..... THAT IS an example of how crazy things have been....

So, here are some pics taken on Monday of our kitchen in process.....

Ryan and I have been hemming and hawwing for--ever over redoing our kitchen....

So, the REAL clincher happened when we FINALLY decided we needed to buy a new fridge...

Now, don't get me wrong--- I LOVE to spend money, but ONLY on experiential things (ya know, the stuff you REALLY remember?) and looking at fridges TOTALLY flustered me...

I was tweaking about the fact that all of our appliances weren't going to match (right now we have a white fridge, microwave, and dishwasher and a bisque stove and exhaust hood)... so, we decided to buy all new appliances. THE ONLY compromise I made was that I FORWENT the stainless for the simple fact that I didn't want to have a HEART attack right there on the showroom floor!

So, then came the downfall of our last week.... we walked down the tile aisle...

and THEN it was all over.

I will spare you the gory details, but basically--we went in with a fridge and now (a week later) we have been to every home improvement store in the area AND ONLINE and now have all new appliances, a new slate floor, a new tile counter top and backsplash, and a WHOLE lot of decorating to do!

So, here are some pics of the process so far!

The wedding that started the TREE DANCE tradition....

Me, Ry, Mike and karrie had a GREAT time.....so long ago... ha ha....

We had a wedding last weekend and went out Friday night..... so, needless to say.... our weekend was a bit of a blur....

If you are wondering about the whole TREE thing... you're NOT alone... it seems to be this INSANE "new" tradition my handsome husband Ryan and his ridiculous cousins decided was a necessity at ALL Desens weddings... so, beware... if you see them dragging in a tree you are in for a MOST ridiculous experience....

We have had a pretty busy month, but still no EXCUSE for not "keeping up" with my correspondence... :)

Not sure where Danny comes from at the ODDEST times.. just kiddin Danny boy....






We had a chance to see our boy Mikey and our girl Bria for a while this month... which was AMAZING!!!





Here Rachel, Mikey and Scotty are enjoying a bit of down time on the Barclay couch!

We also got to see Xtina.. (we sure miss her in Albany!)

My baby Porter sure likes all the company!!!

We had a great weekend.... lots of time with friends and family..... Saturday we went wine tasting on Keuka Lake with Rob and Vickie.... They were celebrating their 12year anniversary with a weekend in wine country and Ryan and I joined them for a couple of hours on Saturday to partake in some yummy wine....




Ryan dressed for the occasion in his hand-me-down carhart jacket at Heron Hill Winery....




The view from the tasting room at Heron Hill Winery....




One that I liked.....




Cozy autumn day with a good glass of wine...




YES ROB BARCLAY DRANK WINE!!!







Bully Hill Winery....




Rockin' out at the wine bar..... not typically the words you would hear.... :)










We had a great time!!

Some old pictures---- this one above is during a medical mission to Belmopan, Belize. This is the Western Regional Hospital that we work out of and my newly developed program Friends Across Borders (FAB) has celebrating the success of our first student volunteer team. This is Belize National TV doing an interview.




This was in 2004---ryan's idea of a "sexy" pose for my bday cake... he has this obsession with picture cakes... ha hah




Mt. Rushmore... funny, I was out there on a "medical mission" to the Rosebud Indian Reservation and we stopped by to see Mt. Rushmore on the way... seems ironic!




But we also saw the Badlands.... they were beautiful... SO INCREDIBLY HOT... but beautiful!




Me visiting Ryan in NYC when he was there with Teddy....




Probably the prettiest kit he's ever owned.... here on stage with Teddy...




Sunset over Raquette Lake, NY... one of the most beautiful lakes in the Adirondacks...




Us in NYC for our 6th year anniversary...




OH, so in love!

A day in Durand Eastman Park

























Mikey and Princess... I think this was taken BEFORE the pups were with us...!!




Ryan celebrating his graduation from Masters program with Mikey O'Connor, Danny Merkey, and Christian Schenk!




My 30th bday weekend in Toronto,ON




We looked up outside our hotel and there was a cazzillion story skim of Teddy... ODD.... I had to take a pic!




BATCH372 played Halloween @ Whiskey... Ryan and Danny getting into the fun!

Okay...so THAT was a recap of the last bit of the Barclay life!