Over the years health has become an outspoken topic. Not just in politics, but also in everyday, ordinary lives. Each year it seems statics changes the guidelines on what we should eat and how much of it we should eat. That is why home cooking is a better choice over fast food. Home cooking can allow you to become healthier and also bring and keep the family together. Where as fast food, tends to allow everyone to pick their own food and more than likely causes them to go their separate ways. Fast food is fattening, costly, and bad for the overall health of the family.
After a typical day at work, a normal household wife may not find it easy or exactly exciting to just say, “well I guess I will go home and cook a delicious and healthy home cook meal for the family”, but easier to say, “well I guess I will stop at McDonald’s and get the kids something to eat.” Not once to stop and think about herself or her spouse. Once at home the kids get to enjoy their hot fries or good burger, while the parents are left to fend for themselves, which we probably lead to an unhealthy choice of food. Something fast and quick just like that McDonald’s that was just picked up for the kids. Fast food is quick and easy, so there is no time basically for the family to spend with each other. Actually, after eating the family is subject to go their own separate ways, which may be outside, on the computer, or just to their room.
Eating out every day or at least 4-5 days a week can be very costly on the family’s budget. Where with home cooked food it allows you to buy the minimum or what is actually needed for the family. On average a whole meal for one person cost between $5.00 and $7.00, now if you were to buy something for everybody it would probably run anywhere from to $20.00 to $25.00, depends on where you stop. Now think about that, eating out can cost anywhere from $1200.00 to $1680.00 for an individual yearly and $4800.00 to $6000.00 for a family yearly. That is ridiculous. No one actually thinks about how much it is actually costing them to eat out on the day to day bases, but it really is affecting the family’s budget, which will lead to undue stress in the future. It is better to just budget yourself and your family food cost to a minimum of $200.00 and a maximum of $300.00 monthly by buying groceries from the store, which may actually last longer than you think and have some good health benefits in the long run.
Every time you turn around Zaxby’s, Wendy’s, Krystal’s, etc. are adding different products to their menu that seems at first glance, healthy. They put out substitutions for their fries or drinks, such as salad, yogurt, juice, or milk. Sounds good, or maybe even looks good on the menu, but actually it is not. When you think about, those are the same products that could be given at home. Even though we see those choices, we still tend to go for the usual combo without the substitutions. Just because it what we like and what we are used to. So why not save the weight and go home and cook.
Fast Food may be convenient and easy at the time, but it can save you some money and heart aches, literally in the future. Why sacrifice what little time the family does get to spend together for and a meal that was not even prepared with love. Sit down, enjoy your family, and the home cooked meal that was either prepared by you, your spouse, or even the entire family, you will be surprised by the benefits that will come out of that. More time with the family, more money for the family, and a better health for the whole family is the many benefits of home cooking versus fast food.
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Campus Security
Lately in the news there has been a lot of kidnappings and murders, which has stirred up a lot of ruckus. I was definetly captured by the fact of the Yale graduate that was kidnapped and later found dead in the walls of her school. Whoa, did not see that coming. It was so sad. It touched me in a weird kind of way eventhough I did not know her. It made me think and I know everyone else, especially those that are attending college themselves. Its sad to say that you can not go out at night, let alone the day time. It makes me wonder if campus security is as tight as it should be, even for those million dollar schools. People have there opinions of everything that has been going on, but they did not think someone will actually take it that far. I am constantly thankful for going day by day not having to worry bout who or what is behind me. I know that in some way I am safe. BEING CAREFUL is the first rule I would give. Also, BE CAUTIOUS. Never let our guard down for any male or female. They might take it as being vulnerable. Always BE AWARE of your surroundings. NEVER TALK TO STRANGERS was a rule applied when I was little and it seems as if we still need to use it now. Just be careful with who you befriend, cause everybody is not friendly.
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
1st Essay
Writing my first essay this semester seemed to some how give me a rush. I was more enthused about than I initially thought I would be. Right away, I knew what topic I wanted to write about and as soon as I sat down at the computer and started to type the words just started to form on the page. I tried to make frequent stops to make sure I was actually making sense instead of just typing. Little did I know I was making perfectly good sense and I it also sounded pretty good. I am guessing the reason for this is that the topic mean't so much to me that I actually had to share it. It was also part of my coping strategy. The more I actually talk about it, now write about it, it still heart but it also is a calming feeling that I get knowing that one more time I waas able to talk about it and express myself. Sometimes my paper are a little short on length, but this paper, to my surprise was three pages long.
After submitting my paper that is when the anxiety kicked in. I was not sure how people reading it on my bolg would look at it and appreciate it the same way I did or not. My biggest worries was from professor Aiken her self. Did she like it? Was she suppose to like it? How did it read to her? Where some of the questions going though my mind. I thought the worse and by the looks of my rough draft revision she put on there I was right. I still did not know whteher or not she like it or not. Maybe all the marks was not as bad as it looks. Maybe that long line drawn form one end to the next was just a mistake. Ha! Yeah right. It is okay though I am going to take what she wrote and try and make it better as much as possible. Now reading the other blogs were pretty cool. I did enjoy it. Seeing that I am not the only person that makes mistakes and really can not write as well as we may think. It is a good experience. It allows you to see what others thought of your essay and what you think of theirs and ultimately, what the PROFESSOR thinks about all the papers!!!
After submitting my paper that is when the anxiety kicked in. I was not sure how people reading it on my bolg would look at it and appreciate it the same way I did or not. My biggest worries was from professor Aiken her self. Did she like it? Was she suppose to like it? How did it read to her? Where some of the questions going though my mind. I thought the worse and by the looks of my rough draft revision she put on there I was right. I still did not know whteher or not she like it or not. Maybe all the marks was not as bad as it looks. Maybe that long line drawn form one end to the next was just a mistake. Ha! Yeah right. It is okay though I am going to take what she wrote and try and make it better as much as possible. Now reading the other blogs were pretty cool. I did enjoy it. Seeing that I am not the only person that makes mistakes and really can not write as well as we may think. It is a good experience. It allows you to see what others thought of your essay and what you think of theirs and ultimately, what the PROFESSOR thinks about all the papers!!!
Struggle
Everyday has becoming a struggle for me and the little one. Its get heavier and heavier to carry. I am also starting to get morning sickness all over again. October 22nd isnt coming fast enough. I can hardly wait. Yesterday, I tried to have a last minute ultrasound before the baby got here so we could know what we were having, but it failed. The baby was being so stubborn. It would not open its legs to save the world. I laid back there almost 30 minutes until the lady finally just kind of gave up and said we couldn't try any longer. In some odd kind of way, I was kind of disappointed but happy in the same sense. I wanted to know so I could start baby shopping and then just being able to know before the big day. At the same time I said is that I would like it to be a surprise so that it can be more exciting for me and the dad. Either way i am just anxious to have this baby. During the ultasound she noticed that the baby had already turned upside down in the birthing position. There is a chance however that the baby may move again but it may not. Its just needs to come. I am ready to get all this frustration out of me plus my little bundle of joy!!!
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Killings
Lately there has been a none stop of killings in America, especially right here in Macon, GA. It has began to become a pattern. Just the past week or so a store clerk gets gunned down for no particular reason. The robbers got the money but for some insane, selfish reason ONE idiot had to go back in and kill the man. sometimes I just began to wander why. Me or you will never be able to understand. Its was a brutal murder and the man did not deserve to die that way. Thanks to community efforts those 3 murders were taken off the street. God has the ultimate punishment. No state or federal judiciary can put a STAMP of PUNISHMENT on what they did. I am currently vacationing from my job at a Gas Station, the Marathon. People in my family been wanted me to quit because they fear for my life, but I continue to stay because it is my source of income. Thankfully, the store has a bullet proof cage that can only be unlocked from the inside. It is about as safe as I think it can get at a gas station. No one knows when or how a robber my strike but having that cage and an automatic lock switch for a little protection is good. Me and some other co workers speculated that we thought somebody has been planning to rob us but hasn't came up with an efficient plan that would get them in successfully. For any job of any degree I will say just be careful.
Thursday, September 3, 2009
News of death
Sunday, June 12, 2005 was supposed to be an ordinary day, but as the day unfolded it was completely the opposite. I will never forget that day. About a year before that my family had gotten some bad news; my grandmother Shirley had breast cancer. Cancer runs in my family so we kind of just accepted the news and tried to help my grandmother cope with it as much as possible. I was my grandmother’s oldest grandchild and I actually had lived with her since I was eleven, so I was more upset than most because I was not use to seeing my grandmother suffer like that. She was doing the treatment as ordered by the doctor, then came the surgery. We just knew that was the end of the cancer but as time allowed it we realized it was not. What happened next had me filled with anger, sadness, and joy-in a religious way.
Life for me and my granny seemed to start looking up. She was working again and cooking that good soul food. February of 2005 brought on more heartache for us. My grandmother sister had gotten married and we had planned a reception. Everybody enjoyed the night and each other, and then tragedy struck again. My grandmother got so sick that she begun to throw up blood. Terrified we took her to the doctor. Her test came back inconclusive so they wanted her to do more follow ups with her doctor. After a series of doctor visits and tests, the phone call we were all waiting on came. It seemed as if everybody in our family were there that night to find out the news; it was not good. While my grandmother picked up one phone, we picked up the other so we could hear for ourselves what was being said. The nurse on the other end explained that the cancer had came back and not only did she have breast cancer, but it had spread to her bones and stomach. So in all she had breast, bone, and stomach cancer and it was too far gone for any treatment to cure it. Only medicine would help with the pain and it was only a matter of time before it ate her up entirely.
Neither my grandmother nor I took it very well. Who would? Knowing that the doctor had messed up and put an expiration date on your life would not leave a good feeling. I love my family though because we all came together and dealt with this as a whole. The year progressed, so did the cancer. My grandmother became, it seemed, sicker and sicker by the day. She could not eat nor use the restroom normally. Her weight dropped tremendously. By mid April, my grandmother became hospitalized again. That time they did not keep her long, they told us they estimated that she would be dead within thirty days. We took the news, but we did not accept it. As with our religious beliefs we had faith in her life and knew that God had the last word.
Then that day came; Sunday, June 12, 2005. It starts out normal. I woke and got dressed for church and for some strange reason I wanted to put on my grandmother’s perfume. I did. I also talked with before I left. At church it seemed as if everybody was asking about her, it just made me want to be home with her more. They sang songs that related to my grandmother and our situation. After church we went out eat with our church family. Then finally I got a chance to go home and be with my grandmother, since had been having an urge to be there anyways.
When we pulled up the house kind of looked deserted like no one was there and had not been there for awhile. Once inside the door, I smelt something burnt, but my focus was on my grandmother, I began to call her name while walking towards her room. Once at the door I saw her laying there facing the television, but it was not on. I continue to call her name but she was nonresponsive. My heart dropped to my stomach and I knew it, but did not want it to be so. I walk over to her still calling her name I began to shake her and try to wake her up. She was still warm. Finally my aunt came in after seeing what was burning and she called her name too. Then we turned her over and her eyes rolled back. I screamed and screamed I did not want it to be so. My cousin, who I did not know was there, came running up the hallway screaming also. I could not believe it. My mother had left and I did not know how to tell her, then the phone rang, it was her. I could not even speak, she took my emotions and she knew then and became emotional also. I lay with my grandmother until the funeral home came. Hospice came first. They wanted to know did we want to revive her because her heart beat was there but very faint. We thought for a moment but we knew how much she had struggled before now and it was her turn to go.
Things had started looking up for my grandmother, she had started to walk a little better and even eat more. As the old saying goes,” a person starts to get better before they get worse (death).” I may have lost my grandmother that day, but I gain my mother back and from that day forward our relationship has gotten stronger. Even though I wanted to blame the doctors, I knew it was God’s will. Sometimes I could not be sad from being so angry at the world for taking something from me. I never got over it, but I have learned to deal with day by day. My grandmother is in a better place and is no longer hurting or suffering and that is where my joy comes from. I will never forget June 12, 2005.
Sunday, June 12, 2005 was supposed to be an ordinary day, but as the day unfolded it was completely the opposite. I will never forget that day. About a year before that my family had gotten some bad news; my grandmother Shirley had breast cancer. Cancer runs in my family so we kind of just accepted the news and tried to help my grandmother cope with it as much as possible. I was my grandmother’s oldest grandchild and I actually had lived with her since I was eleven, so I was more upset than most because I was not use to seeing my grandmother suffer like that. She was doing the treatment as ordered by the doctor, then came the surgery. We just knew that was the end of the cancer but as time allowed it we realized it was not. What happened next had me filled with anger, sadness, and joy-in a religious way.
Life for me and my granny seemed to start looking up. She was working again and cooking that good soul food. February of 2005 brought on more heartache for us. My grandmother sister had gotten married and we had planned a reception. Everybody enjoyed the night and each other, and then tragedy struck again. My grandmother got so sick that she begun to throw up blood. Terrified we took her to the doctor. Her test came back inconclusive so they wanted her to do more follow ups with her doctor. After a series of doctor visits and tests, the phone call we were all waiting on came. It seemed as if everybody in our family were there that night to find out the news; it was not good. While my grandmother picked up one phone, we picked up the other so we could hear for ourselves what was being said. The nurse on the other end explained that the cancer had came back and not only did she have breast cancer, but it had spread to her bones and stomach. So in all she had breast, bone, and stomach cancer and it was too far gone for any treatment to cure it. Only medicine would help with the pain and it was only a matter of time before it ate her up entirely.
Neither my grandmother nor I took it very well. Who would? Knowing that the doctor had messed up and put an expiration date on your life would not leave a good feeling. I love my family though because we all came together and dealt with this as a whole. The year progressed, so did the cancer. My grandmother became, it seemed, sicker and sicker by the day. She could not eat nor use the restroom normally. Her weight dropped tremendously. By mid April, my grandmother became hospitalized again. That time they did not keep her long, they told us they estimated that she would be dead within thirty days. We took the news, but we did not accept it. As with our religious beliefs we had faith in her life and knew that God had the last word.
Then that day came; Sunday, June 12, 2005. It starts out normal. I woke and got dressed for church and for some strange reason I wanted to put on my grandmother’s perfume. I did. I also talked with before I left. At church it seemed as if everybody was asking about her, it just made me want to be home with her more. They sang songs that related to my grandmother and our situation. After church we went out eat with our church family. Then finally I got a chance to go home and be with my grandmother, since had been having an urge to be there anyways.
When we pulled up the house kind of looked deserted like no one was there and had not been there for awhile. Once inside the door, I smelt something burnt, but my focus was on my grandmother, I began to call her name while walking towards her room. Once at the door I saw her laying there facing the television, but it was not on. I continue to call her name but she was nonresponsive. My heart dropped to my stomach and I knew it, but did not want it to be so. I walk over to her still calling her name I began to shake her and try to wake her up. She was still warm. Finally my aunt came in after seeing what was burning and she called her name too. Then we turned her over and her eyes rolled back. I screamed and screamed I did not want it to be so. My cousin, who I did not know was there, came running up the hallway screaming also. I could not believe it. My mother had left and I did not know how to tell her, then the phone rang, it was her. I could not even speak, she took my emotions and she knew then and became emotional also. I lay with my grandmother until the funeral home came. Hospice came first. They wanted to know did we want to revive her because her heart beat was there but very faint. We thought for a moment but we knew how much she had struggled before now and it was her turn to go.
Things had started looking up for my grandmother, she had started to walk a little better and even eat more. As the old saying goes,” a person starts to get better before they get worse (death).” I may have lost my grandmother that day, but I gain my mother back and from that day forward our relationship has gotten stronger. Even though I wanted to blame the doctors, I knew it was God’s will. Sometimes I could not be sad from being so angry at the world for taking something from me. I never got over it, but I have learned to deal with day by day. My grandmother is in a better place and is no longer hurting or suffering and that is where my joy comes from. I will never forget June 12, 2005.
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Waiting
As of today, I am 32 weeks and 5 days pregnant and it seems as if 40 weeks is so far away. I do not know what I am having so at this point, I think I am going to let it be a surprise!!! The suspense is killing me but I think I can wait it out. With everybody keep asking me, it makes me want to know more instead of holding it off in the back of my mind. I haven't thought of any names because I am a procrastinator like that. The only thing I can say is that if its a boy, it will be a junior. Easy an simple no work done with it. All the movement and stuff going on in my belly makes me very happy and sometimes makes me sick and be wanting to know what it is so I can tell it to stop. My little girl is very excited. She says its her baby. SHe loves telling the baby hey and giving the baby kisses. Sometimes I can not make her stop. We are still waiting for the baby to get here but time is not moving fast enough. I wish October 22nd will hurry up and come. Thats my due date. I know the baby may not come on that day but at least I know I can anticipate when it will be here. I am so ready. It feels like being pregnant for the first time!!!!!!
The Weather
The weather lately has been very gloomy, but in a sense I hav enjoyed it. Not in a glamorous sense, but just kind of bodily. Since I am pregnant, sleep is sort of a neccessity for me. Even if I am not sleepy, I seem to just fall in a deep sleep as if i have working twelve hour shifts. Lately when I have been waking up its either already rained and has stopped or its thundering, signifying that its about to ran. My 22 month old daugther she loves to sit in the window and say over and over,"its raining!" She become so excited by the rain, but not so the thunder. The rain has sort of been a relaxing moment for me. I usually take that time to make it a play and learn time for my daughter. She is learning so much from me and I think she is very smart for age. On the other hand, if my mother call and say come over I am hesitant because the rain over the weeked has been a little unpleasant. I was set to go over to my mother house sunday and get my hair done, not knowing it had been raining and was going to continue at an enormous rate. The water on my side of town was coming down so hard and was rising so high in the streets. I was scared, I have never liked driving in the rain since I started driving, and that was almost 5 years ago. "Its Hurricane Season" I have heard some of the reporters say and that terrifies me. I do not want another BIG castrophe to hit America again. Then at the same time its HOT and Humid like it hasn't even rained in Macon. Thats one thing about Georgia, our weather is o unique that you don't even know what to expect or when to expect it. Everybody has their own perception and likes/dislikes on weather. Pick Yours!!!!
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