Grandma's House

Noah Lamaide deserves a major 'atta boy!'
http://gma.yahoo.com/wisconsin-boy-saves-grandmas-house-foreclosure-185349531--abc-news.html
This 12 year old boy is making a positive difference in the lives of others. It started when he was nine years old and his mother challenged him to do a community service project each year. Soon he was foregoing birthday presents in exchange for donations to the local food bank, helping Hurricane Katrina victims, and raising money for terminally ill people to visit Disneyland. Noah even started his own website to help with fundraising for his community projects. Here's the link- http://dreamcatcher.bbnow.org/index.php
It seems that Noah's parents have taught him to openly help other people. And, he may have learned some humanity from his grandma who has been a foster parent to over 100 children! So when this same grandma fell behind on her mortgage payments due to health problems, Noah put out a plea on his website asking just four hundred people to each donate $25.00 to help save grandma's house from foreclosure. It worked!

Noah is a shining example of giving from the heart and he proves that charity begins at home. Please consider making a donation at his website- Noah's Dream Catcher Network (the link is posted above). Good job Noah!

Red flags are waving- Pay attention!

In New Hampshire, a 14 year-old boy shot himself in the face while at his schools' cafeteria during lunchtime on Friday. He is alive and listed in serious condition in the Intensive Care Unit. It was reported that he had been passing notes in class during the week saying that he was depressed. Really guys? This didn't tip off anyone?
http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/nh-14-year-shoots-face-cafeteria-15558256#.Tzcd6PnQe8A
 

 In today's society, you can not be too over-involved in young peoples lives. Teachers/counselors/parents/principles/friends you didn't notice his depression? You need to be alert for warning signs! Generally speaking, these types of things do not just pop up randomly out of the blue. There probably was some telltale path of mood changes and withdrawal that occurred and everyone missed it. Shameful.
    Hunter my heart breaks for you. I sincerely pray that you can fully recover from the physical and emotional scars of this incident. Also to the many other students and staff that witnessed this tragic event.

just in time for Valentine's Day...

OMG, talk about romantic!
This guy was trying to find the perfect opportunity to propose to his girlfriend in a unique way. I think he succeeded. Congratulations. http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/olympics-fourth-place-medal/olympic-swimmer-proposes-girlfriend-medal-stand-video-151602945.html

A rave for this little piggy!

 This story is just too funny. Inmates at a Vermont prisons' print shop managed to alter the design of the states' crest. The official picture on the crest shows a spotted cow in the background. The inmates changed one of the 'spots' into the shape of a pig! For a year this image was on the side of police cruisers before someone noticed. Bahahaha This is classic humor like the whoppie cushion and "pull my finger."
And for the people who are upset about this saying that it dishonors police officers; get a gripe. Take it at face value- it was an awesome prank! Click here to check out the pic http://news.yahoo.com/vermont-inmates-hide-pig-official-police-car-decal-004403610.html;_ylt=Aqw4munhLKMYL9G2EPYXO58DW7oF;_ylu=X3oDMTRjcnVpMmk1BGNjb2RlA2N0LmMEbWl0A01vc3RQb3B1bGFyIExpc3RpbmcEcGtnA2Q1MTQ5OGIzLWExMTgtMzQwNy1iNGQ1LTQ0YjM4MjAxYjcwNgRwb3MDMTAEc2VjA01vc3QgUG9wdWxhcgR2ZXIDYzMwOTllOTgtNGU4NC0xMWUxLWE0ZjUtNzhlN2QxNWU5MWUy;_ylg=X3oDMTFyNzExZWxyBGludGwDdXMEbGFuZwNlbi11cwRwc3RhaWQDBHBzdGNhdANwb3B1bGFyBHB0A3NlY3Rpb25zBHRlc3QD;_ylv=3

Toddlers & Tiaras' should be named Toddlers & Tarts

The make-up, the costumes, the way they gyrate and shake around the stage. Eww nasty.
The TLC show Toddlers & Tiaras' is in my opinion showcasing and promoting little girls as hoochie mamas. Soft porn featuring five year old kids. I do not watch the show for this same reason. However, I just read about how some of the contestants get that extra sparkle. They are drunk on sugar. Literally. Some of the girls eat bags and bags of Pixy Stix to get a major sugar buzz so they can appear more alert and energized. This kid goes one step further. Check it out. http://www.nydailynews.com/life-style/health/toddlers-tiaras-mom-defends-giving-juice-pageant-crack-6-year-old-daughter-alana-article-1.1019164?localLinksEnabled=false

Alana is six. Her mom mixes her up some homemade 'go-go juice' which is Mt. Dew and Red Bull mixed together because the kiddie crack (pixy stix) wasn't giving the toddler enough energy on stage. This child is hyper because she's about to go into cardiac arrest because of a major sugar spike! Really? wtf is wrong with these pageant mothers? 
I'll let Alana's mother finish off this blog...
"There are far worse things," she said. "I could be giving her alcohol."

Hiking Barefoot

This teams picture should be featured on a motivational poster for dedication! The group is called the Old Mutual Barefoot Kilimanjaro Team and they recently completed the remarkable climb to the top of Mt. Kilimanjaro in Africa (19,341 feet) barefoot. Yes, you read that right. Barefoot.
I guess they must have been sitting around the kitchen table one night talking about all of the awesome things that they had done;
       swimming with the dolphins...done
       sky diving...check
       running with the bulls...check
Hmm, what to do next? "I got it" yells one guy. "Let's go climb a mountain barefoot! It'll be epic!"

All joking aside, I was both impressed and amazed when I read this article. http://www.grindtv.com/outdoor/blog/32592/climbing+expedition+attains+summit+of+mt+kilimanjaro--barefooted/ The incredible challenge of the intense week-long climb to reach the mountains summit is daunting as it is, but then imagine doing this task without your hiking boots. Holy crap! Some days I can hardly drag my fat ass of the couch and these people are doing extreme hiking.
I tip my hat to you o' great barefoot hikers. When the team finally reached the peak, I wonder if they felt empowered by their amazing feat? (pun intended lol) 

Power to the people!

The 21 hour work week.
I've always questioned why we, as a society, needed to work 5 days a week just to get a measly 2 days off. Who made this rule? Shouldn't these scales be somehow better balanced? Who's responsible for stickin' it to the working man? Whew deep calming breath. Sorry 'bout that I tend to get fired up sometimes.
I know that personally I work Monday thru Friday. Saturday is pretty hectic because of things that did not get done during the week. Then Sunday is spent getting ready for Monday again! What a rat race! I NEED MORE DOWN TIME! This is why I'm captivated by the idea of converting to a 21 hour work week. Recently I read an interesting article about this notion. Check it out. http://finance.yahoo.com/news/the-case-for-a-21-hour-work-week.html


First off, I will not pretend to understand exactly how the redistribution of wealth thing works. I do love the idea of having more free time to do whatever my little heart desires with the added bonus of lowering my overall consumption of products. I'm happy and the Earth is happy. Win-win situation.
The article does say that ideally people would be working less hours but with higher pay. Yay! And that less money should also be spent on material objects with a push towards recycle/reduce/reuse. Sign me up! I'm already pretty darn frugal. But, this may prove to be difficult with our societies over-the-top 'champagne wishes on a beer budget.' Need an example? Look at the number of people who took on HUGE morgage payments without the means to pay for it. Say hello to Foreclosure.

Here's another article that I found. Go ahead, go read it. I'll wait for you. http://tlc.howstuffworks.com/home/transition-21-hour-week.htm Pretty cool huh? Everyone just needs to get over their buy buy buy fetish. Only then can we hope to put an end to this vicious circle of working more than relaxing. Power to the people!

p.s. I also want year round school with 4 two-week breaks :)