Uplifting People and Communities

On March 17, 2014, HBO premiered the documentary Paycheck to Paycheck, a film about Katrina Gilbert, a 31 year old single mother of three who is struggling to make ends meet. Katrina works as a CNA(certified nursing assistant) in a nursing home where she makes under $10 an hour, caring for our elderly. She's a hardworking woman living on the brink and sometimes I just feel like some Americans just don't get it.

Before the HBO documentary premiered, I took the opportunity to watch a couple of promo videos about the film, I was already pumped to see the film, but I became even more enthralled with it. So, I decided to read the comments and I was shocked(well sort of, we all know about the trolls) to read such negativity and angered directed at the film, but most of all I was surprised that many people(especially women) would even think that she's gotten what she deserves because she doesn't have a husband, many even said, "no husband, 3 kids, what did you think would happen",  I just wanted to scream, SHE WAS MARRIED AND ALL 3 OF HER KIDS HAVE THE SAME FATHER!!! But instead I took a deep breath and thought about what people were actually saying. They were saying, we only feel compassion for a widowed woman or the woman who spent her life being a homemaker only to have her husband leave her the children with nothing, but you single mothers....you can.....just...kick rocks, and you better not ask for any kind of  assistance at all! I don't know maybe HBO and the Shriver Report should've said a 31 year old divorced mother of three, and many people wouldn't have been so pissed off, but to me it doesn't matter, she's still an unmarried woman working her tail off  trying to raise her kids.

After watching the film on youtube, I was moved to leave a comment because I was still pissed off about the harsh comments about Katrina and the film. My comment was basically a thank you note o the Shriver Report and HBO for airing such a powerful documentary that touched on issues such as: affordable childcare, health care, food insecurity and a living wage. I also asked others to think about what they can do in their own communities to help others, and then I shared a story about how I helped a young single mother of one when I used to be an in home daycare provider, and I decided that I would watch her infant daughter at half the rate( $70 a wk). This particular client did not have a car at the time, and she had just moved back in with her parents, so she would get a ride with her mother every morning to a train station (that was a 30 min ride) and ride the train across town and catch a bus to my house Monday thru Friday. Now their were some people who thought I was a fool for charging so low, but I just wanted to help anyway I could, and besides she seemed so determined, it just felt right and you know what, within five months she was able to get her own car and an apartment. So,  I said all of that to say, think about your special unique skills and what you can give back to your community.  Maybe you have clothes to donate to a family in need, maybe you're a frugal shopper, volunteer your time to help a struggling family become wiser shoppers and budget, maybe while you're at your child's school, you decide to put a little extra money on a neighborhood child's lunch account because you know one of the parents just got laid off.  Or simply maybe you're the man or woman behind someone at the grocery store that pays for their  groceries because there isn't enough money on the  debit card or EBT card to get your groceries. By the way please read this beautifully written thank you letter by Andrea Gardner to the woman behind her in line at the grocery store http://www.huffingtonpost.com/andrea-gardner/to-the-woman-behind-me-in_b_5082769.html?utm_hp_ref=email_share  

So let us remember that impoverish people aren't just single moms and the elderly and there are many reasons why people might need a little help from time to time...don't look down on them....help lift them up. Many of us live on the brink or a few paychecks away, so while we're waiting on policies to change in America, lets be that change in our own communities.


Have a wonderful day :)

Shelly

Gardening Chores

My outside chores for this week are :

Separate a few of my garlic plants because there's at least 6 cloves of garlic growing in one hole together.


Turn compost, because I want to see how well the pile has decomposed.

Put compost around lettuce,spinach, kale, and broccoli.




I know this really isn't a blog post, but I wanted to do something on this blog, since this and Pinterest  are my favorite kinds of social media. People are probably wondering how can blogging be your favorite and you don't even post that often, but I had two blogs years ago and I loved writing and reading blogs. I just want to get my groove back and if it means posting gardening chores then so be it.

Have A Great Day :)

Happy New Year!!!

Hope this New Year I'll be more productive with this blog, I've been spending a lot of time over at Pinterest becoming a Pinaholic.  Pinterest is just such a wonderful place, you can't help getting carried away with building boards and building a following. This post wasn't really about anything special, I just wanted to have a post on the board for 2014. Well here's to 2014!!!!

Confidence is Cute

They might have so called frizzy hair, but one thing they have is confidence.

Confidence is key to feeling good and looking good. This video looked like a lot of fun and I was glad to see some of my favorite youtube hair bloggers in the video.

Breaking: Courts discreetly confirm MMR vaccine causes autism

Here's an article that I found at naturalnews.com and it's truly a fascinating eye opener.

Breaking: Courts discreetly confirm MMR vaccine causes autism

This case could possibly give many parents a true voice in their child's health care. To many times as parents, we're told that we're being naive about deciding to vaccinate later in a child's life or choosing not to vaccinate at all, and then we're labeled crazy, irresponsible, and a danger to public health. Now, I'm a parent who chose to vaccinate my younger three children when they entered Kindergarten, because our third child did have a reaction(swelling at injection area, rash, high fever and uncontrollable crying)  to the DTP vaccine as a baby, and I was told...it's normal, just give her some Tylenol. To the doctors and nurses it was common, but to me it wasn't  normal, so I decided I'll wait the other vaccinations out until it was time for school or maybe I won't vaccinate at all. Building my children's immune system became more important to me than making sure that they were shot up with a live virus.

How do you feel about vaccines, do you vaccinate or not? If you vaccinate are there any vaccines that you opt out of, for yourself or your children?  I personally don't allow my girls to get the HPV vaccine because it is still very vague. When HPV was recommended for girls only, I said, no to it because boys are carries of HPV too and I felt that they should be vaccinated too, so I opted out. Now, I'm still deciding to opt out because it doesn't protect them from the many other strains of the HPV virus.  Another vaccine I take issue with is the Chicken Pox vaccine, I know children can die from chicken pox, but it isn't an epidemic. You don't have a thousand children dying from chicken pox a day. My personal opinion is, this vaccine was set up to keep schools from having a chicken pox outbreak and keep the school year flowing a lot better.

Well, you know the drill....leave your comment down below and have a wonderful day :)

P.S. Did you know about the Vaccine Injury Compensation Program? If not, check it out!


Peace,

Shelly

The Sustainability of Self

*Parental Advisory*
Please take the time to watch this gem of a film, it is really deep and had me thinking about my purpose, my community, family and the future. The film takes us on a journey to Ethiopia and exposes the effect of International Aid, education and community involvement  in the country and then brings us, the viewers back to America to live out what they've learned.

 After you finish watching this film please leave a comment.

Did you learn anything from this film, if so, what?  I did learn something and I'll just say it has something to do with the recently government shutdown this country experienced, but I'll keep it at that for right now.


Shelly :)

Walking with Pictures

This past Friday my computer was running really slow and I couldn't take it any longer, so I decided to handle some business at my kids' high school. In our area, before a child can attend school you must show proof of residence if you're a new student or returning student entering 6th or 9th grade. The Affidavit of Residence usually irks my nerves every year because before this year we had to fill this information out every school year, and I always felt like why should returning students fill this out every single year. Every single year the same thing happens, I return a notarized affidavit with 2 proofs of residence along with the paper, and every year, one of my kids' paperwork gets lost, and the threat of being withdrawn every year. In fact, my oldest son was withdrawn during his 7th grade year after I turned in paperwork 4 times (can you say, letter to Superintendent).

Well, this year it seems like the school district has finally figured out the kinks in their system and have gotten more organized. I purposely waited until my son got a few months into his 9th grade year until I got his affidavit ready. For me, this gave the school the chance to get organized and have a set system in place. I'm still keeping my fingers crossed a little, but I have good faith that our paperwork won't get lost. I know people are probably saying, Why don't you make copies? Well, we've done the copy thing and the school has lost 3 of my copies before. But anyway this post isn't about an Affidavit of Residence....it's about my Friday!

Like I said earlier in the post, I decided to handle some business at the local high school. Handling business right now for my family means getting a ride from family, friends and neighbors if need be, because both of our vehicles aren't running, but I'm very fortunate to live in a community where public transportation is very convenient for me. There are two bus stops within 3 minutes of my home and the rail station is a 25 minute walk at most and sidewalks are pretty prevalent, so this makes walking so much bearable to me. Atlanta is notorious for not being pedestrian  friendly city,but I've also found that many people don't want to walk, they're in hurry up mode for everything. 

Our food has to be fast, our communication to one another is quick and short, many of our lifestyles are overflowing with work, projects, after school activities and cub/girl scout meetings.

I'm not against anything that I listed. I'm okay with social media, tweets/texting, being successful, and children being in organized activities. The point of my whole post was about slowing down and getting out and enjoying your community.  My walk was so peaceful and refreshing, I got to see how beautiful my neighborhood is and how walkable the area really is.  

The photos that you see are just a few shots of my community coming back from my son and daughter's high school. After I left the high school, I walked to our downtown district to turn in some library books, and guess what I find next to the library? This right here..........

Yep, the Fall Festival that was supposedly canceled for the year,will go on, and it looks bigger than previous years.

I know the pictures don't show much, but it's everything to me, because it's home!

Getting out and just walking through the quaint neighborhoods, seeing the young children playing in the park, watching the bike riders whiz by, and experiencing the wonderful fall weather is worth slowing down and getting out of the race, just enjoying your own pace.

How often do you get out and just walk or ride in your neighborhood? Do you make it a family outing or do you go at it alone?

Shelly