Happy Holidays!

 

Ahh, how nice for the kids to be grown and gone. Holidays are just more fun when you have little ones to share them with. Grand kids, are the most holiday fun a grand parent can have.

Guests for holiday meals, when the kids were small and at home used to be small quaint affairs, just us and the kids, for a nice total of 7 for most gatherings.

Then they grew up, moved out and on.  Now, our once big enough house, seems to need more space! We now have 7 grand children and this year, the count was 19 for dinner. Wow what a switch from 7!

There seems to be 10 times more stuff under the tree, more food, more family fun! But really, our house seems so small when we get so many shoved into it. We are totally thinking about saving Christmas for July, when all the kids can run and play outside without getting too cold, and the food, a huge BBQ, turkey fry, heck, we could have all the same great food, just more room to play!

Happy Holidays! Have a wonderful 2012 end and 2013 begin.

Fall Fun For All

 Ahh Fall in Indiana. As children, we all loved jumping into huge piles of leaves and weekend bonfires. As we age, it seems we just don't have the gumption to play in leaves and horse around. For grand parents, we really don't look forward to the Fall, it means that Winter will soon be here along with cold, snow, wind, and the sun hiding for weeks on end.

I was looking around for some fun things to do with the grand kids in the fall and came across an awesome post for those who have a dry sense of humor about Fall. 

Make sure to read more here. There are loads of tips for parents and grand parents alike. I love this blog!

1. Play the ever-popular game, "eat the leaves." I mean, you never know when you'll get the leaf with the slug on it.
2. Make lewd sculptures composed entirely of leaves on your front lawn.
3. Pass out birth control to the parents whose kids are assholes on Halloween.
4. Dress your kids in slutty Halloween costumes and yell, "SHE'S TRAINING FOR THE POLE" whenever anyone gives you the stink eye.
5. Teach your kids to rake the leaves in your front yard into your neighbors yard for HIM to deal with.
6. Rearrange your neighbor's scarecrow into inappropriate positions.
7. Throw an anti-Halloween party in which you stand on a soapbox and holler about the various reasons Halloween is the Devil's Holiday. This is especially awesome if you have preteens -- they love being mortified.
8. Instead of putting an election sign in your yard, start a peition to boycott apple picking.
9. Rather than decorating your pumpkins adorably, just stick a butcher knife in each and call it a day.
10. Whenever anyone asks if you'd like a fall recipie, tell them, "I don't believe in fall."
11. Instead of going around the table at Thanksgiving and telling your loved ones what you're thankful for this year, insist that you'd rather play a game of truth or dare. And, oh yeah, you'll go first.
12. Pass out raisins for Halloween, and when the kids complain, tell them it's better than cat poo -- though by a small margin.
13. Sign up the whole family for nudist hay rides at the local apple orchard -- bonus points for making an "apple" joke.
14. Head to the orchard after hours, and swap out all their cider for hard apple cider, then bring a video camera to watch the children's activities disintegrate around glass two.
15. Bring a small kitchen torch with you to the orchard so that you can always pop the corn while doing the corn maze. Bonus points for carving your own pathway.

Keep Kids Excited About Back to School Sales!

How do you keep kids excited about school?

 

Remember the fear, anxiety, and even excitement you felt when returuning to school after a long summer? This is how your children feel! But soon enough, that wears off, and it's just SCHOOL! Help keep your children engaged with their learning with a personalized bundle of hip, original, (and affordable) school supplies from Snapily.com.
 

Snapily offers personalized backpack tags, notebooks (large and regular), rulers, bookmarks and more - in either 3D or animation. So extend the summer memories by taking some of your favorite shots and personalizing them on one of the items or the whole bundle. Coupon SCHOOL20 will give you 20% off your entire order... and can be used for multiple transactions!

Planned Parenthood, Susan G. Komen Breaking up

Looks like Planned Parenthood and Susan G. Komen are falling victim to politics. Both organizations are vital for women's health care.  Abortion is not the only service Planned Parenthood provides for women. There are many who use their services for preventive health care, birth control, and other health issues. The women who use this service are unemployed, uninsured, or under employed and under insured. Taking away the services that Planned Parenthood provides will effect a lot of women.

The latest news from the Komen camp is that they are not splitting with Planned Parenthood.

Planed Parenthood is currently gaining donations, due to the possible cuts they may have to endure if the politics of it all wins out over the need for the services.

From the Komen camp, we get this news:

Susan G. Komen for the Cure is backing off of its decision to cut off grants to Planned Parenthood, announcing in a blog post that the organization will continue to be able to apply for future grants.
“We urge everyone who has participated in this conversation across the country over the last few days to help us move past this issue,” Komen’s founder and CEO, Nancy Brinker, says in the statement. “We do not want our mission marred or affected by politics — anyone’s politics.”

Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0212/72416.html#ixzz1lLYpycCJ

The right for women to have access to necessary health screenings and treatments is what is at issue, with Planned Parenthood gaining supporters since the news of the Komen cut off, Planned Parenthood seems to be able to weather the storm this has created.

Family Auctions Toddler's Art to Pay Medical Bills

Though his cancer treatments zap his strength, 3-year-old Liam Myrick refuses to sit idly in the hospital room to which he's been confined. The toddler uses what energy he has to paint, a hobby that may help his parents pay for his $500,000 medical bills.
The Missouri boy was diagnosed with stage-four Neuroblastoma in July, and when he's not getting chemotherapy or physical therapy, Liam takes to the canvas, WILX reports.

"Part of his physical therapy was getting him up to walk and he had to learn to walk again and so he actually got up and painted it," Liam's mother, Shawna, told the news outlet.

The Myricks, who were already saddled with expensive medical bills when their older daughter battled an unrelated cancer last year, are auctioning Liam's work on Facebook, paintings that demonstrate how he's coping with the pain of his treatment.
"He doesn't care about what's going to happen ten minutes from now," Shawna said. "He cares about the moment."

To buy one of Liam's paintings, visit his Facebook page here.

2012 Jump Rope For Heart

I have something to share from my grand daughter, Kitty's elementary school. She came to me last night and asked for my help getting her some donations for her school. She is really excited to Jump Rope For Heart! 

I helped her get her account all set up online. It was fairly simple. Then we got to work setting up an ecard and a video to share with everyone we know!

Here is a little information from her website that was included with her signup...

I'm joining millions of other kids to help save lives with the American Heart Association's Jump Rope For Heart Program!
I'm doing Jump Rope For Heart at my school and learning how I can help make a difference.  I'm also learning about my own heart, and how to take care of it. And I'm getting active and jumping rope!
I'm excited about raising money for other kids - kids with hearts that don't exactly work right.  Please help me be a Heart Hero who saves lives!  Thank you!

 Help me help Kitty get a lot of donations! She is such and awesome little girl!

Lupus, Raising Awareness

This story on WNDU really caught my attention. My mom died a few years ago from complications of her Lupus. She had it for many years. It was very hard to watch her suffer with this debilitating disease. It effected her physically and mentally.

There needs to be a lot more research done to find the cause. Thank you Mikayla Wireman and Mikaela Reed, for bringing awareness to this little known illness. 

Millions of Americans live with the symptoms of lupus each and every day. But, the relatively low awareness for the disease can leave some people without a diagnosis for years. One Indiana high school student is doing her part to help those coping with the disease.

Mikayla Wireman and Mikaela Reed share more than a name. They are best friends and are now raising awareness for the same cause.

“I knew her mom and I knew the struggles,” Mikayla Wireman said. “So, the initial idea in my head was to do a Lupus walk.”

Reed's mother was diagnosed with Lupus in 2007. Emotions ran deep when her friend told her about the idea for the walk.

“I bawled when she told me she was going to do it,” Reed said. “My family didn’tt have that support because we didn’t know anyone else who had it.”

Lupus is an auto-immune disease that can leave those with this condition feeling weak and less able to fight off health problems.

One of Reed and Wireman's classmates recently found out that lupus does not discriminate against age.
“I’m sick all the time,” Taylor Peterson said. “I really don't have energy to do much. I miss school a lot because I’m sick or because really I am that tired and cant even function.”

Peterson knew more about Lupus after the last year's walk. She also knew she had someone to turn to.
“When Taylor came to my mom, it was touching that she felt like she could do that,” Reed said. “It puts it into perspective that kids at a younger age can have it.”
Now, preparations are in full swing for the second year of the walk.

Most of all, Wireman said she wants this walk to help build support for those living with lupus.

“From what I've discovered, people in our community have it and no one knew,” Wireman said. “It’s a hidden disease and people don’t know how serious it is. And they don’t give the sufferers the support they deserve.”

The walk is scheduled for October 22nd and will kick off at Bell Memorial Public Library (101 W. Main St. Mentone, Ind.). For more information email Wireman at dancer2mw@hotmail.com.