Aug 
31 

Labor Day Weekend

Filed under: Family, Life, education — Alicia @ 7:56 pm  

Well the first week of school is over and the kids have a 3 day weekend.  They were all happy with the teachers they got and the friends that they had in their rooms.  Only one of them came home mad.  That was my youngest son, the angry child anyway.  He’s the one that always finds something to complain about.  His major complaint……….the sun comes in his room after lunch and is right in his eyes.  Guess he had to find something to gripe about.  Oh well, such is life in my house with me and my three.

 Aug 
25 

The first day is finally here

Filed under: Family, Life, education, raves — Alicia @ 4:02 pm  

The first day of school is finally here!  All the kids were excited to be going back even though the boys had to belly ache a bit just for good measure but I know they were looking forward to going back to see all their friends and see who was in their class.

I remember the first day of school very well.  Times like these make me think of my oldest sons father that died in a motorcycle accident before my son was born.  He loved school, he just didn’t like to do the work.  He had a great sense of humor and could make anything fun or funny if it may be.  I still miss him.  I look at my son and see so much of him.  I miss my other baby that died too.

Today is a day of only good thoughts!!  I have to keep focused on the positive and not the negative or life becomes too hard.  Does that make any sense to you?  It does to me anyway.  So we’re off to a good start to a new school year full of hopes and dreams of what the new year will bring.  That’s as it should be, ya know.

 Aug 
19 

Thank God for ‘Tools for School’

Filed under: Family, community, education, money, raves — Alicia @ 12:48 pm  

I was having trouble getting my children all they needed for back to school between the necessary school uniforms and all the supplies.  Luckily my children qualified for help from ‘Tools for School’ that a lot of local businesses and churches have collected to help out families in need.

It really does my heart good to know that these items are offered to families in need without degrading them in the process.  I found out that if a child received discount or free lunch last year at school, the school contacts these families and offers them the supplies at no cost.  I love this community for all the help they give families in need.  I hope other states do the same.  I just want to thank everyone personally that has donated to ‘Tools for School’.

 Aug 
16 

Back to school shopping

Filed under: Family, education, money, penny pincher, raves — Alicia @ 2:08 pm  

It’s almost back to school time so that means new clothes, shoes, and school supplies out the wazoo.  The kids are both excited and not really wanting to go back yet but I know better.  They can’t wait to get back to school to see their friends and find out what everyone did for the summer.  I just can’t wait for them to go back to school so I don’t have to find sitters anymore.

 Aug 
11 

First births and now deaths

Filed under: Family, Life, entertainment, health — Alicia @ 2:08 pm  

For weeks we were hearing about all the babies being born to famous people and now it’s deaths.  Two famous men died last week one of which was Bernie Mac who entertained us all with his stand up comedy, his TV show and the movies he made.  The other was famous for his deep smooth voice, Isaac Hayes.  Neither of them were old by today’s standards either.

What a tremendous loss to the entertainment industry and the world.  Our loss is nothing compared to the loss their families and loved ones will feel.  God bless them and keep them by his side through their time of loss and grief.

 Aug 

Angelina Jolie

Filed under: Family, Life, money, rants — Alicia @ 2:04 pm  

Now that Angelina Jolie has the twins home, she’s complaining that having 6 children is ‘chaos’.  Well what did she expect?  Having 4 children is hard but throw in two babies and I can see that it would be chaos.  The only thing is I bet there are at least one nanny per child in that house.  After all, she did get a very large sum of money for the first picture of both Shiloh and the twins so I’m sure she can afford to have a nanny for each child.  I wonder if she’ll have anymore?  It wouldn’t surprise me one bit if she either adopted or gave birth to even more.

 Jul 
30 

New York street sweepers

Filed under: Family, critters, outdoors, rants — Alicia @ 12:54 pm  

Did you hear about the street sweeper in New York that killed a mans dog as he was walking it down the street?  How absolutely awful.  I’m sorry but you would think the gentleman would have kept the dog back away from the street sweeper to begin with but to watch that thing jerk your dog right out of his collar must have been a horrifying experience.  Sometimes people just don’t think and unfortunately this mans dog paid the price.

 Jul 
26 

Motorcycle precession line

Filed under: Family, Life, health, outdoors, rants — Alicia @ 12:28 pm  

The father of my first child was killed on a motorcycle when I was 5 month pregnant.  There were about 100 or more mostly Harley Davidson’s that just passed my house in a funeral precession for a woman that was killed on a Harley Davidson a couple days ago.  She was riding with her husband who is in critical condition and another woman on her own Harley and is also in critical condition.  A drunk driver hit both motorcycles killing the one woman.  He should be charged with premeditated murder!!!!!!!!!!

My sons father was trying to get home before it started raining when he was on his Yamaha.  He was trying to pass three cars in front of him that were going slow and didn’t realize that the minivan in front was about to make a left hand turn.  He ran up under the van and was killed instantly.  That still to this day haunts me.

 Jul 
22 

Poor baby Penguins

Filed under: Life, community, critters, going green, home improvement, outdoors, rants — Alicia @ 1:56 pm  

I just read about hundreds of baby penguins being washed up on shore in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil.  It is not common for them to find both adult and baby penguins there it said but this year has been a record year unfortunately.  There are some who think it is from over fishing in the waters where they usually go to catch fish for themselves for food and others blame pollutants.

We have to start looking at what we are doing to our environment before we are the only animals left on our sickening planet.  If just each of us would commit to one day a week of not driving, that alone would help with the air pollution.  If each of us would commit to more and better recycling, that would help too.  There is so much more we can do to help and I personally am going to start checking into what more I as an individual to do.

To read more about this tragedy, you can go to http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080720/ap_on_sc /brazil_dead_penguins and I hope you do.

 Jul 
20 

Help your local animal shelter

Filed under: Family, Life, critters, outdoors, raves — Alicia @ 6:05 pm  

This time of year there are always a lot of kittens and puppies at the shelter from the spring birthing, but there are also a lot of adult cats and dogs being surrendered by owners and many are abandoned or dropped off because of the economy. People are being evicted and having their homes foreclosed and have no way to take care of the pets any more.

This really bothers me - I just don’t see how anyone in good conscience can abandon a pet. What kind of person leaves an animal locked in an empty house and drives off? What kind of person can drive down a road and just toss kittens out of the window into  a stranger’s driveway? People who do that and people who beat their dogs or otherwise abuse their animals should be arrested and put into jail.

If you have a shelter in your community, next time you have the urge to take on a pet, I hope you will go to the shelter and adopt an animal from the shelter. And if you have anything you can donate to the shelter, here’s a list of desired items that can be dropped off and will be put into good use:

  • Clean, old newspapers to be used for litter and lining cages
  • Toilet seat covers (cats love to lie on them in their cages)
  • Any type of cat or dog toy (plastic or washable)
  • Old bath towels and blankets
  • Canned cat food, any brand
  • Bagged, dry dog food (particularly desired is Science Diet but other brands accepted)
  • Laundry soap
  • Bleach
  • Heavy ceramic food and water bowls
  • Antibacterial hand soap
  • Candles - citrus or spice
  • Paper towels

Shelters also need volunteers to come and walk dogs and play with the animals for short periods to give them exercise and socialization skills. If you have a good heart, please help the animals in your local shelter.