Name: Whitney
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- Take inventory of all your valuables.
- Have a small safe to put all important paperwork, pictures or anything that you can refer to for the insurance company.
- Take pictures and/or video of your home and valuables.
- Put the information on a flash drive and keep in your safe place.
- Practice your escape plan or where you and the family will be going in the house for safety.
Pinterest Wednesday
June 19th, 2013Hey everyone, it’s time for my Pinterest finds. I have a birthday in two weeks, so I’m gonna list a few things that would be nice for my birthday, lol. Have a great day everyone.
Quote ~ I love this, why do we even use that word when describing people?
Outfit ~ Summer fun
Young Love ~ First Date
June 17th, 2013I enjoy my children and watching them go from babies to the young ladies they are today. My oldest is loving, quiet and loves music. My youngest is inquisitive, athletic, loving and very opinionated. This is their personalities and who God intended for them to be. I knew the phase of boys, love and everything associated with it would happen. Here’s my daughter’s story and her “first date”.
My daughter reconnected with a friend of hers when we were in Kansas City last year. She met him in elementary school and he is autistic, just like she is. They have been planning this meeting/trip for at least a month. My daughter was so excited, talked about it every day this week, I mean every day. I took her to buy a friendship card for him and she picked an appropriate card with my help. The young man, his mom and baby sister (8 months old) arrived around 11:00. We were outside waiting because they took a wrong turn. He introduced himself to me, gave me a firm handshake and hugged my daughter for what seemed like 2 minutes. It was so long, his mother had to tell him they better get going. He was quite the gentleman, opening the door to the minivan for my daughter. The mom gave me their agenda, the Gateway Arch, Museum, lunch and then the zoo. They were gone all day, I wondered how she was doing but I didn’t call. I did send her a text that she didn’t answer. I didn’t freak out, I just figured she was having fun and her phone was in her purse.
I talked to my daughter and explained to her that if she felt uncomfortable at all to call me and I would come and get her. I also made sure she had money to pay for her own food. The plan was for the friend to treat her to lunch but I also told her that she could buy her own lunch and spend her money if there was a problem. I remember my momma having this same talk with me when I started dating. She was prepared and ready for her day with her friend.
They showed up and we were standing outside waiting because they took a wrong turn. He jumped out and hugged her and his mom and I talked for a few minutes…you know getting info on where they were going from the mother, just to make sure everyone was on the same page. They had plenty of water and drinks because they were gonna be outside all day. My daughter’s friend was quite the gentleman, opening the door and helping her in the minivan. They took off and I was happy for my daughter because she doesn’t have many friends and socializing is a challenge for her.
Around 5:00 they showed up and everyone looked worn out, even the poor baby. She had been crying, she was just probably sleepy. I watched as her friend got out of the minivan, ran and opened the door for my daughter. It was so sweet, it really was. She was still smiling, exhausted but happy. The whole crew was tired. Mom ran the day down and how my daughter did, sometimes people with Autism will have melt downs. Seems like she got through the day but she did complain about the baby crying, she’s not used to being around babies. I asked her to apologize, she did and felt bad.
She took some great pictures and we talked about the day and what I asked her how she felt about the young man. She told me they were friends and wouldn’t be able to be girlfriend/boyfriend until after she turned 18. I’m so glad she had a good time and I can live with not having a boyfriend until after she turns 18.
Father’s Day Gift Ideas
June 14th, 2013Here’s some gift ideas for the father in your life. Some are practical and some are for those that like to really treat that special father/man in their life. Enjoy!
A Coach baseball glove?? What’s your thoughts on this one?
Pinterest Wednesday
June 12th, 2013Today’s Pinterest finds are dedicated to Father’s Day.
Quote ~ We do have some good father’s in this world, we need to recognize that. They aren’t perfect and they are different from us.
Emergency Preparedness
June 10th, 2013We had a severe storm and tornado in the St Louis area on May 31st. This is my third spring here and every year there has been a major tornado that has cause major damage to the communities around here including Lambert Airport. I’m talking devastation, where you look and only imagine how people have survived such a storm. We survived the storms and I’m blessed for it, but for those that were so lucky my hearts go out to them at this time.
When people have lost all of their possessions they are really at a lost and not sure where to start. It made me think about when you get homeowners or renters insurance they want you to compile a list of all your possessions and send it to them. I’ve compiled this list of things to prepare you for an emergency. I hope it’s helpful because at the time you have the emergency, the last thing you want to worry about is trying to figure out what you have and where everything is. Once you get over the shock of the devastation, then it’s time to clean up and file claims with the insurance company.
Once you all are safe and everyone accounted for, this would also be a good time to go to social media to let family and friends know you are safe. This works because sometimes phones lines are down or the towers for cell phones are either down or just not able to handle all the calls and/or text messages. I went to Facebook to let everyone know we were ok and I got a few phone calls and texts throughout the day from people that don’t do social media.
The clean up process is steady around here, the tree companies are super busy. There are tree limbs and parts of trees everywhere. Here a few of the pictures that I took after the storm, amazing.
No one likes thinking about disasters happening to them, this has happened so much in the last few years I thought it was necessary. If you can think of anything to add to the list, let me know so I can add. Have a wonderful day everyone.
What’s Brewing at The Cafe
June 7th, 2013
Coffee is good this morning and I have quite a bit to share with you all today. Let me get this one off now and get it off my chest. There is an alderman here in St Louis that sent a letter to some of his constituents and friends asking for assistance with his daughter’s tuition. She attends St Xavier University in Chicago and he was asking for $14,000, that’s what he was short of her $38,000 total. You can read about it here. This was major news around here, all the news stations were trying to interview him, he had no shame and said it was nothing wrong with what he did. He has now said that he will not take any money. My husband says he has been an alderman since True, Alderman Bosley didn’t break any law, but the letter started with “This is Alderman Bosley”. St Louis politicians are truly an interesting bunch, I’ve never lived in a city where there were so many municipalities and how they all waste money. I normally don’t talk about politics, but I wanted to mention this because it was a hot mess.
My daughter is smitten with a boy from our hometown of Kansas City. She reunited with him on our brief stay there last year. They have stayed in touch and guess what?? He’s coming here with his mother next week to visit. I. Am. Not. Ready. For. This. She is so excited, made him a friendship bracelet and wanted to buy him a gift. I told her I thought the bracelet and a nice card was enough. I’m going to speak with the mother to get a good understanding of the visit and what their plans are. I need to know exactly what the plan is so I can go with them. I don’t know if you all think I’m being over protective, but this is my oldest and she’s still awkward with relationships. She has come a long way, she’s able to socialize much better, she is such a loveable person, but she has wanted a boyfriend since she was 15. She told me yesterday she was in love with him. I almost fell down, but I played it off and just talked to her. I will definitely keep you all posted on this. She has come up to me almost every hour to talk about it. The young man is also autistic, but they seem to be pretty good friends. We’ll see. My baby is growing up and she reminds me of that all the time.
I wanted to put a warning out to you all about a company that has been emailing bloggers about advertising on their blogs. I received an email from a company named Media Discovery from the United Kingdom. I get skeptical when I receive random emails from another country (with the exception of Canada). The email went straight to the business, asking if they could advertise on my blog, nothing about reading and enjoying my blog. That put the red warning signs up for me. I went to the BLM group on Facebook and posted the question, and someone suggested that I Google the company with the word scam next to it. Well they aren’t necessarily a scam, but they advertise for gambling sites. Oh no way, gambling is a touchy subject in my family (more on that later), and I don’t want anything on my blog advertising for a service or product like that. They also offered to pay upfront $120 for the year. I deleted the email but wanted to warn you all about this company.
I have a date tonight with my husband! We are going to the banquet for our church’s 20th anniversary. I haven’t decided what to wear yet, but I’m not buying anything new, gonna shop the closet tonight. I would like a new pair of shoes, but I’m passing on spending any money other than what we put out for the tickets. My husband doesn’t want to wear a suit, bless his heart. I’m not gonna push him either, but ya girl will be cute, lol. We are having dinner, jazz musician, a gospel comedian and then some grooving at the end. I love my church, Shalom Church ~ City of Peace. Pictures next week.
I am a contributor for Kokoa Magazine’s June issue. I would like to thank Kita, the editor and founder for the opportunity to write for her magazine. Go check it out, it’s a great online magazine with articles for everyday women like us, no fluff and pretense. Congratulations Kita and continued success.
Have a good weekend everyone and enjoy this unusual cool late spring we are having.
Pinterest Wednesday
June 5th, 2013Hi everyone, here’s my faves for the week on Pinterest.
Quote ~ I love this quote.
Are You Honey or Vinegar on Social Media?
June 4th, 2013
Image courtesy of Stuart Miles FreeDigitalPhotos.net
Do any of you remember the saying, “You can catch more flies with honey than vinegar”? We could sure use this old saying in today’s world. I try to approach everything I do or people I encounter with a positive attitude. Trust me, some days are so hard, but I keep pushing forward. One of the reasons I changed my thinking about life was when I became a mother. I wanted my girls to be positive and be kind to people and I wanted them to see me dealing with people in that manner as well. I haven’t been as successful as I should have, but I take every situation they witness as a teachable lesson. This is part of the reason they don’t have any social media accounts yet, I know what’s out there and I want to keep it out of their lives as long as I can. My youngest wants a Instagram account, only with my supervision. You all know some of the foolishness that goes on with these social media platforms.
I belong to a natural hair group on Facebook, most of the women that post and share pictures are young women under 25. Most of the time, I glance at their post and hit like on their pictures and keep it moving. Some of those young women are so creative with their hairstyles, it’s one of the reasons I haven’t left the group. This is one of my pet peeves about social media, we share too much personal information with people we don’t know. Last week, one of the young ladies posted a picture of a married couple wearing an African inspired outfit. She said that she shared the picture on her Instagram account and her fiance, who is white posted a comment saying that it would never happen and said “black power”. She went on to talk about how they disagreed about what he said and what she could do to show him that he was wrong. That became one of the longest threads I’ve ever seen, it was awful. I even commented by saying that personal issues should be handled with the person, not Facebook. Others agreed, but most people took the opportunity to attack the girl, her fiance and the situation. The comments were negative and immature and the admin of the group had to finally remove the post.
Why people chose to be negative on social media is just perplexing. It’s a form of bullying to me, it gives them the ability to say the craziest things and hide behind their computer. I will delete people and posts that are used to attack people or a situation. It just isn’t necessary to be that way, some people are just miserable. You don’t have to be super sweet, but use your social media accounts to pass along a little positive vibe every once in a while. Trust me someone who needs a little encouragement will receive it and maybe thank you, like the post, or favorite it on their Twitter feed. Who knows, we could be the only positive image that person get to see in their life for the day. You never know what’s going on with someone behind the computer, tablet or smart phone.
Encouragement and supporting women have become a great concern of mine and what I try to share on my blog. Social media isn’t going anywhere, it’s growing more and more. I’m sure in the next 10 years there will be more platforms than the ones we have now. Cyber bullying and negativity is serious, keep it off your accounts and let those bullies know you don’t have time for that.
What’s Brewing at The Cafe
May 31st, 2013
Welcome to The Cafe and happy Friday! Hope you all enjoyed your short work week. No Scandal update for you, what are we gonna do? I did watch Tyler Perry’s “The Haves and the Have Nots”, not trying to get addicted to another soap opera style show. I didn’t really like it, very predictable and I it didn’t really hold my interest. I try to support his efforts, I don’t get caught up in the negative talk about him. We try to go see some of his movies and I’ve been to one play. I didn’t even watch the sitcom, I don’t care for those at all.
Last Friday when we were on our trip, we took the girls to Rue 21 to buy a few pieces for summer. So we go to the shorts, they are buy 1 get 1 for $1. I like that, they were no more than $20. They go to the fitting room and both have on shorts that are way to short for my husband and I. I know that at times with children, you have to pick your battles, but this is one battle I couldn’t let them win. Those shorts were 1/2 inch from cheek area, nope not having it. I was surprised that both were disappointed when we said no, but I guess I shouldn’t be. My youngest said the famous, “all the girls wear them that short”. I answered with, “that’s their momma’s problem”. When they went to take off the shorts, I head over to find shorts for them that are a little more appropriate for my husband and I. We came to an agreement on four pairs of shorts, several tops and left the store as a happy family.
I’ve been pretty busy this week, my contract work is picking up and I’m working on a few things regarding the blog and other opportunities to earn income. One thing I’m learning with brands and companies approaching you for sponsored posts is you have to sit down and carefully review if the company or brand is someone you want to work with and not a quick way to make money. That is where I am this week, reviewing and making decisions. Not all money is good money. I’ve heard that all my life and I truly understand it now.
Just found a great new website for online deals. Daily Deal Superstore pulls together all the best deals into one search engine. It’s super easy to use – just set up a profile and then quickly find deals, with no email clutter or unwanted updates. And then you can actually earn money by sharing it on Facebook. This one takes online deals to the next level.
Have a good weekend and never give up on your dreams and aspirations!
Pinterest Wednesday
May 29th, 2013Wednesday snuck up on me! Here are my Pinterest findings for this week.
Quote ~ Hold on to your dream, never give up.
Source: Cafe Mocha Reflections via Justine Rector on Pinterest
Outfit ~ I entered this in a contest. Love it!
Source: Cafe Mocha Reflections via Polyvore on Pinterest
Father’s Day ~ Poor Dad, I couldn’t hardly find anything.
