Merry Christmas

I pray that everyone that is reading this has a great Christmas. My God bless you and your family with health and happiness.

Well, today I get to go pick up my incorporation papers on Pages for Children, Inc. I don't know how long it will take to get my 501(c)3 number though. I have to take them to an accountant and have him do that part, but at least I'm on my way to having non-profit status. I want to thank everyone that has helped get this done. I could not have done any of this without your help.

Again, Merry Christmas and thank you.

One Game Left

I haven't looked around to see what others are saying about Alabama's loss with Florida. Truthfully, I'm really not too worried about it. I've been a loyal Bama fan for a long time and nothing has changed my mind on that. I'm really proud of our team. They fought hard this year, and while I would have loved to see them get a National Championship, that's not why I root for them. I fell in love with Bama while Mr Bryant was coaching. He did a lot for Alabama Football and of course there will never be another coach like him, but Saban might be close.

Now I'm not one of those people who keep track of whose playing. I can't give you stats on how we've done over the years. There are only a few names of players that I remember and that's only because their name is said so often. And, there is only one player that I ever went to school with, but that's for another day, even though I would like to know how he's doing.

So my comment to the team is;

Great Job. I'm really proud of you. Win or lose, you will always have a fan with me.

God Bless you always.

I have some good news I just had to share

Thanks to everyone who has helped Pages for Children, I am one step closer to making it non-profit. All I need now is almost $600. Thanks to God intervening, I found a lawyer that is willing to work with me on this. He has decided to take a cut from his normal fee to help.

It's funny the way we met. I was walking into a store one day while it was raining and offered to share my umbrella. Once we got inside we started talking, so I gave him a card for my new business, Prints by Olivia. Come to find out, he's a business attorney. I just talked to him yesterday. If all goes well, this time next month, Pages for Children will be Pages for Children, Inc. non-profit. Isn't it great?!!!!

To top off my day, I talked to one of the principals in my area and she is willing to let me use Prints by Olivia as a fund raiser for the school. I think what she really liked was the fact that there are no catalogs to send out. All she has to do is send letters home to the parents and let them know if they by products off my site the school will raise money. She has also said she will place a link on their site.

Yesterday has been a great day for me and I just had to share the good news with you. I'll keep you informed of when things are finalized.

I hope you have a great day and may God be with you always.

Why I don't like Wal-Mart

I'm sure most everyone has heard about the death at a Wal-Mart store durin Blac Friday. Have you actually looked it up to see what happened? I did this moring. Here are few links that detail what happened.

"A 34-year-old WalMart employee was trying to hold back the crowds at a Long Island store this morning at 5am, when they took the doors off their hinges and stormed the store." This story goes on to to say about whose fault it is. At least I will give this person one thing, they blame both the shoppers and Wal-Mart.

The story I like best is this one. "A crowd of bargain seekers apparently killed a temporary worker at a Wal-Mart store in suburban New York when people literally broke down the door to get at "door buster" specials inside the store." This is an objective story that tells all sides.

This is the story that really gets me. It starts out great, tells what happened, gives a couple of points of view, and ends in a way that really makes me angry. "Items on sale at the Valley Stream Wal-Mart included a Samsung 50-inch Plasma HDTV for $798, a Bissel Compact Upright Vacuum for $28, a Samsung 10.2 megapixel digital camera for $69 and DVDs such as "The Incredible Hulk" for $9." Who cares what was on sale? On every story about this that I looked at, it ended the same way, telling what was on sale.

It is so frustrating to see something like this happening. It's one reason why I don't go out on Black Friday. Plus, I don't like Wal-Mart anyway. I'm not saying that there was a lot they could have done to prevent this. I don't know if they could have or not. But it is very uncalled for. People actually got mad because the store had to close for a few hours because of the death. They even hurt a 28 year old woman that was eight pregnant. Is that ridiculous or what? No item is worth the pain or death of any person. There are a few things I might have wanted, but I don't need to hurt someone to get it. To those of you that had a hand in this crazy situation, Shame On You!!! One article calls everyone who did this dehumanized and I have to agree. People are past the point where they don't care about anyone else but themselves. I'm ashamed of these people.

Please keep these people that were hurt in your prayers as well as the family that lost a loved one. Also pray for those that helped cause this situation.

God be with you always.

Surveys Thar are Really Free and Actually Pay

I've had several friends that always ask if I know surveys to you do that are free to join? All they ever find are the ones that you either have to pay for or do trial offers with. I don't do either of those. If a company wants you to pay or do trial offers, I've found they aren't worth it. I will be truthful, some of these reward me if you join, some do not. Please use the link I've provided if you decide to join.

Pay Money:
Pinecone Research: $3.00 for each new study completed directly to your paypal account.
MinefieldOnline: Have to have $10.00 in your account to redeem before they will send check.
SurveySavvy.com: You get paid for each survey completed and for each referral. Plus you get paid whenever your referral completes a survey.
Opinion Outpost: Earn points to redeem for money.

Give Points Which You Can Redeem for Money:
NFO MySurvey.com: redeem points for money.

GlobalTestMarket: redeem points for money.

Any and all personal information you give these companies will not be shared with anyone else. They do not charge you anything to join. I have been with each of these companies for a while and they actually do pay out.

If you have any problems signing up, please let me know.

God Bless and have a great day.

Some Wonderful Truths About Obama

I realize there are a lot of people out there that think Obama is the perfect man for the job of president, but let me show you a few things about him.

First thing, in Missouri, prosecutors and sheriffs have banded together to "respond immediately to any ads and statements that might violate Missouri ethics laws". On this link is a transcript of a news report on KMOW in St Louis of some prosecutors about this very thing. Now I will be the first to admit, they don't come out and say that they will prosecute anyone who violates these laws, but my question is, what will there response be? But in my opinion, you might want to watch what you say if you visit Missouri before the election! Here is a copy of the transcript in case you don't want to visit that site:
"John Mills, reporter: Russell, good evening. Prosecutors and sheriffs from across Missouri are joining something called the "Barack Obama Truth Squad." Two high-profile prosecutors are part of the team. We met them this afternoon in the Central West this afternoon. They are Jennifer Joyce of the city (and) Bob McCulloch, the St. Louis County prosecuting attorney. They will be reminding voters that Barack Obama is a Christian, who wants to cut taxes for anyone making less than $250,000 a year. They also say they plan to respond immediately to any ads and statements that might violate Missouri ethics laws.
Jennifer Joyce: We want to keep this campaign focused on issues. We don't want people to get distracted, and Missourians don't want to be distracted, by these divisive character attacks. So we're here to respond to any character attacks, to set the record straight.
Bob McCulloch: Whether it is directly attributable to the campaign, or to one of the soft-money operations, if they're not going to tell the truth, then somebody's got to step up and say "Wait a minute, that's not true. This is the truth."
Mills: Now the Obama campaign tells News 4 that others, prosecutors and sheriffs, are also part of the team, including some from the Kansas City area, and from rural parts of Missouri. We're also told the truth squad is expected to include Jefferson County Sheriff Glenn Boyle. Live in Maplewood John Mills, News 4. According to ACORN, Obama trained its Chicago members in leadership seminars; in turn, ACORN volunteers worked on his campaigns." It does sound like Obama wants change, but will the change be in the best interest of the US or will it be in the best interest of him and the people he supports, which in my opinion doesn't sound like it's the average American people.

Second, The ACORN and Obama:
I had never heard of the ACORN Group until I received an email telling me about it. I have a hard time believing just anything I receive in my email basket and I have to check it out to make sure it's not just someone trying to make me believe as they do. If you want to check out Obama and his ties to ACORN, just do a search with those two words. There are all kinds of links showing this.

Obama has been part of this organization for years, working with ACORN as a “community organizer” and legal representative. According to ACORN, Obama trained its Chicago members in leadership seminars; in turn, ACORN volunteers worked on his campaigns.

For those of you, like me originally, who have no idea who and what ACORN is, let me tell you. ACORN stands for "Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now". Acorn’s new goals are municipal “living wage” laws targeting “big-box” stores like Wal-Mart, rolling back welfare reform, and regulating banks — efforts styled as combating “predatory lending. This organization is very anti-capitalism. They are big on trying to get housing loans for illegal immigrants who have no discernible income, in other words, they wages are under the table and completely nontaxable. They have also been brought up on charges for voter registration several times and are under investigation for this very offense again.

While the two examples above have me very worried if Obama makes it to the White House are bad enough, here is the icing on the cake. "The Great American Guilt Trip", an report on CBS News last night, shows how the Obama campaign are getting grandchildren to visit grandparents to push for Obama. "If they vote for Barack Obama, they're going to get another visit this year," Sarah Silverman says in the online video. "If not, just hope they stay healthy until next year."

Is this the man we want for president? Do we want someone who will allow this kind of endorsements? Only visit your grandparents IF they vote for Obama? I may not be a grandparent, but this really makes me mad. Talk about emotional blackmail!

Now you can form your own opinion about these subjects, that is the American way. But I hope you honestly think about this. Yes, this is a very important election for America. If you don't like Obama or McCain, vote "None of the Above". It's not like this is a new concept. It's been done before. But vote on what is best for us, not what you feel pressured to vote for. Right this minute, I don't know who I will vote for but I do know it won't be Barrack Obama no matter what anyone says. I have done enough research on him to know that he is not the best interest for America!

God Bless and have a great day.

Hallelujah!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Baseball season is over in this house for a little while. Now I have the good fortune of taking my oldest to the high school to lift weights. He's determined to play football. That's okay. I think it will be good for him. He needs something that will keep him active. He's too addicted to computers and games that an active sport like football will do him a lot of good. Plus, we're thinking of letting our youngest play fallball and for those of you that don't know what that is, it's baseball in the fall. If you want to know why, have you seen the movie The Rookie with Dennis Quaid? The part where he asks what they get to do today and replies "We get to play baseball!". That is Marcus's attitude about it as well. And I know I fuss about them playing some, but I really am proud of both of them. For example: during Devin's last game, he finally hit the ball like we've been telling him he could. He actually got mad enough to try and knock the ball into next week. Of course, he didn't stay mad long, he never does but it sure was a good hit.

Anyway, I'm going to go for now. I hope you have a great day.

God Bless.

I hope you see this coming...

If things continue the way they have been, America will become a 3rd world nation, ecomically speaking. There are fewer jobs, we aren't buying hardly any American made products, even our food is from some other nation. How are we supposed to support ourselves when everything is from somewhere else? Because of gas prices, people are having to close more businesses. 9 times out of 10, if you call customer service, you are talking to someone that is not in the US. I just saw where GM is closing more plants. What are these people going to do to pay their bills? How are they going to buy food to put on the table?

I honestly believe that as long as our politicians get their money, they could care less about us. Look at gas prices. How many politicians have their hand in that cookie far and are getting richer while we're struggling just to make ends meet. There may be a few that are trying to do what is in out best interest but most of there are only taking care of themselves. If you know of one that isn't, prove it to me. Show me how they are trying to put us first instead of their pocket book. I'm more than willing to say I was wrong. I have no problem with that.

How about that smoking issue. How many of you feel as if you're getting the shaft? We're getting taxed without any proper representation. Isn't that what we fought the American Revolution over, taxation without representation? It's called descrimination! If I knew how to go about it, I would sue these policy makers for that very reason. I understand some places should be non-smoking, I have no problem with that. But, to tell me that I can smoke in my car while in a parking lot? That's just wrong!

The government is getting too involved in my personal life. I can't spank my children without worriing about someone calling DHR, notice I did not say beat, I mean a spanking. Sometimes children need a swat upside the butt to make a point. There is a big difference between spankings and beatings! A spanking does not leave bruises. A spanking is only used to prove a point. When you have told your children no for the 15th time, they need a swat to show that you meant NO. I do not like watching children talk back to their parents or treating parents as if they are stupid or pitch a fit if they don't get what they want (I'm not talking about a little bit of fussing, I'm talking about lay on the floor, screaming, calling their parents all kinds of names). I've seen this happen at different stores. If my children ever did that to me, I will give them a spanking, I don't care who sees me do that. I love my children. I do not like to spank them, but I will if I feel the situation calls for it.

I hope you have a great day. May God be with you always.

Please know this is a scam!!!!

I recieved a letter Saturday stating that a mystery shopping company wanted me to work for them. Now you have to understand, I thought this was a great thing for a few minutes. I've been looking for work like this for a while. Something I can do from home or while on my usual shopping trips. Just something to bring in a little extra cash. Along with the letter was a cashier's check for $4985.00, of which I only get to keep $350 as pay for my time. Now, first off, I know of no company that is going to send out that kind of check to anyone they have not talked to before hand. How do they know that I won't just keep all of the money for myself? They don't know my character, they have no idea if I'm an honest person or not.

After I got over the initial shock of having a check for that amount in my hands, I started noticing a few things that were wrong.
1. The postmark is out of Canada.
2. The company off is listed as being in Delaware.
3. The bank the check is from is in Missouri.
4. The signatures are photocopies.
5. My address on the envelope was hand written.

Once I got inside I decided to do some checking. There is no company by that name that does mystery shopping. There is one close though. The bank is real, so I won't mention the name of it, but it does not have the phone number that is listed on the check. The number listed on the check has been linked with a scam before but with a different bank. The phone number that is listed on the letter is out of the Toronto area. All of this information was found on the internet with just a little bit of looking. Within five minutes I had found out that this was only a scam to get money that my husband works hard for. These people are too lazy to get out and work at a legal job. They would rather steal your money.

Anyway, I just wanted to let you know that this is out there again. According to the BBB, they get calls everyday from people that have either gotten one of these letters, or fallen for them. I just don't want you to be one of those that have been ripped off.

I hope you have a great day and God Bless.

How proud my youngest son is...

I know you've heard me talk about my two boys. This time I'm going to tell you about what happened to my youngest son tonight. For starters, he's only 7 years old and he got to play a real baseball game with an 11-12 year old team. They were missing a player and had to have someone fill in. They asked Marcus before they found another one to play that was actually old enough and since they had already asked him, they let him play. He got to bat and play right field. I know it's one of the places they put the worst players, but since he's so much younger than the other boys, it's only fair they make him play that position. I wish you could have seen him. He's so proud of himself. He got walked to first then stole all the way home. Here's a picture of him on third. Of course, I'm very proud of him as well. He tries so hard and loves the game so much, you can tell when you watch him play. He's also hind catcher on his team, and doing pretty good for his first year playing that position. And no it's not just a proud mom talking, I've had other people tell me that. lol Here he is in his uniform and here is a picture of Devin, just to be fair.

I realize I'm talking a lot about Marcus, but it's not often that a 7 year old gets to play with boys that much older than him, but don't think that I'm not proud of Devin as well. They are both good boys and both good players. I'm very proud of both of my children.

I hope you have a great day and God bless.

You won't believe this, I take that back, you just might

I know you don't know this, but Anne McCaffrey is one of my all times favorite authors. I have several of her first edition books here and am trying to get the rest.

Well, I got the bright idea to call some of the local used book stores to see if they might have one or two that I don't. Here's where the amazing part comes in, at one of the places I called, the person had no idea what I was talking about. She said the name wrong, had no idea where the books might be or even what a first edition was. Now I don't expect anyone to keep up with all of the authors out there because there are several and I can't keep up with them, but I do expect a sales person to know the difference between a first edition and a book club edition. I don't feel like that is asking too much of anyone. I had to set here and explain the difference over the phone.

Since I'm Complaining, let me complain about Wal-Mart. A couple of weeks ago, I went there to pick up a few items that I needed for the house. When I got back to the car my brake line broke. Now, that in and of itself isn't why I'm complaining. What really got me was when I went in to use the phone, which they let me do by the way. After telling the associate at the service desk what happened, she offered me the use of their cooler to keep my food from going bad, which I really appreciated very much. But, when I went back with my items that had to be frozen, she was either on break of gone for the day and the people there including one of the managers said that there was no way they could help me with this. The aren't allowed to put customers items in the freezer. That is why I got mad. Not ten minutes earlier, I was offered the use of it only to be told that it won't happen. I called the home office to tell them what happened and was told that the manager would call me, I haven't heard from this person as of yet. Now I'm calling to complain about that. I even go out of my way to not go there. If this is the way they usually treat their customers, I don't see how they are in still in business. Their prices aren't that low and the service isn't worth my time. I can go anywhere else and get decent customer service. I guess Wal-Mart has just gotten too big for their britches. The obviously don't feel as if the customer matters at all. And since they don't feel as if I matter, I can certainly return the favor. I don't want anything they have that badly.

Have a great day and God bless.

You've got to be kidding me!!!!!

I don't know if you've seen the commercials for cashcall.com but I did. I was reading the fine print when I noticed that it said something about a $2600 loan with 99.25 APR. I thought it was a typo but that is the actual interest rate. The rate for Alabama is: $1500/141.42 APR, $2600/99.25 APR and a $10000/70.08 APR. Now you have to realize that this isn't the amount that you actually get. They have to be crazy. Who wants to pay this kind of interest rate? Do people realize how much they will be paying back, not counting the original loan?

Part of this is a fee to get a loan from them. For the $1500 loan, you end up paying back almost $2000. For the $2600 loan, you end up paying over $9000, and the $10000 loan you pay back almost $25000. Maybe I should go into the loan business if this is the type of return I'm looking at, they really are making a killing here. The bad thing is, someone out there will think this is a great thing. They promise to give you a loan without any collateral, but these kinds of loans are out there, you just have to look for them.

I hope someone out reads this and decides not to use this company. It's not worth it.

Anyway, I hope everyone has a great day. God Bless.

Isn't it amazing?

Here we are struggling to pay high gas prices and the oil companies are getting richer off our suffering.

You think I'm just saying this because I hate the high prices? I actually have proof of what I'm talking about.

USA Today, stated on Oct 27, 2005, that Exxon-Mobil made profits of $10 billion dollars. On February 2, 2008 The Washington Post had this to say, Exxon Mobil's Profit in 2007 Tops $40 Billion. Exxon-Mobil claims they need these excess profits to keep up with "the massive scale of the energy challenge before us." to quote Kenneth P. Cohen, Exxon Mobil's vice president for public affairs. What challenge do they have? They have the gas that we need, there is no challenge for them. How much do you want to bet that Exxon-Mobil and all the other major oil companies are sitting in their offices laughing at us because of all of this? They know they have us over the proverbial barrel and there is nothing we can do about it.

High gas prices are part of the reason the economy is in such a bad way. Small businesses are sinking because they can't afford to pay the extra prices. Larger companies just pass the extra expense to us because they can. Families are drowning in debt because of these prices. What will it take for us to finally say that enough is enough?

I realize that I seem to be targeting Exxon-Mobil, but I'm not. If you check the links I've listed, you'll see that all the major oil companies are in the same position as Exxon-Mobil. What are we as a nation, going to do when gas prices get so high that we can't afford to go to work? It's almost that high now. And while I love the way our government is supposed to work, I realize that there are a lot of politicians in the pocket of these same companies. They say they aren't, but sometimes I have to wonder. Why hasn't anything been done to help us? The politicians are supposed to be there for that very reason.

To any elected official who might actually read this, prove to me that you actually care about us "little people", those of us that can't afford to go out eat. We're doing good to buy groceries to feed us and our children. You're out there paying $100 dollars or more just for one meal. That is one problem I wish I had.

I'll get off my soapbox for now, but don't be suprised if I start in on something else just as important to me. As a matter of fact, I have the next few posts ideas ready, I just have to do a little research before I write them.

God bless and I hope you have a great week.

Doctor or Dentist

Why is it people are so afraid of going to a dentist but will go to the doctor? I've noticed that my husband is that way. He'll go to a doctor for whatever he needs to but is scared to death of going to the dentist. He may not want to go to a doctor, but he's more willing to. I just had to say that but that's not really what I wanted to talk about.

The main reason I'm posting today is to ask for help. I've written up some articles of incorporation for my program and would appreciate someone going over them to make sure they are correct or if I need to make some changes to them. I'm not an attorney so I'm not sure if they are written correctly. I can't pay anything for you to do this, I wanted to be upfront about that from the start. I really want to make this a recognized 501c3 organization and I know this is the first step. So any help is really appreciated.

I hope you have a great day. God be with you.

May be looking for a blogging software

I've been trying to change my blogger settings so I can publish on my own site, but it won't accept changes so I've set it up so that it's under blogspot. I've posted comments on the help section but have yet to receive any reply, as have a number of people. It's not like it matters where I post things, but it is aggravating when something like this happens.

Now on to other things.

As you know, my husband lost his eye to cancer almost a year ago. We got an acrylic eye for him that now doesn't fit. We found a place in Memphis that has silicone prosthetic eyes and we're going to try it. We'll be leaving soon to go there and see what happens there. If you haven't had your eyes checked, please do so. He had no warning signs at all, just a small blind spot that he would never have noticed if he had not been shooting bb guns with the boys.

Have a great week and God bless.