I Am An American Patriot

Talk about being grateful. Today the Army National Guard Recruiter stopped by to give me an award for my support of our soldiers. Wow what an honor. She presented me the award in front of my class.

Today I was pretty busy getting articles ready for my Thrifty Maven blog. I’m trying to do a series of articles on how to celebrate Valentine’s Day without breaking the bank.

Today’s a kind of sad day. First the father of Officer Morgan has passed away and will be laid to rest today. Officer Morgan is a wonderful woman and I’ve had the pleasure of teaching one of her son’s as well as her older son’s baby’s mother. What a difficult time it must be for her. Trixie, is a wonderful person, great co-worker, loving Mom, and a doting Grandmother and I wouldn’t wish this pain on her for even a moment.

We also lost another co-worker this week. We called her Ms. Candy. She was our cafeteria manager and it was a job she seemed to love. Feeding the kids and making sure that the food served her was not just healthy but very tasty was very important to her. I usually don’t eat school lunch but one day she asked me why I didn’t. She told me that she would get me to try eating it yet. Once I did I was hooked. I loved her cheese buns and I understood why the kids and the teachers were so crazy about them. They were soooooo very tasty.

Last year she was diagnosed with cancer. She seemed to have fought it and won some time. This week she passed away. One of the cafeteria workers told me that her husband died about twelve hours later. Our principal acted as one of the pall bearers at her funeral today.

On the economic front recession-battered employers eliminated 598,000 jobs in January, the most since the end of 1974, and catapulted the unemployment rate to 7.6 percent.. I’m grateful to have my job. I see that the city of Canton has laid off 14 percent of its workforce in an attempt to balance a budget shortfall of $1.1 million to $1.2 million. Clark Atlanta University laid off 100 people Friday and canceled classes until Tuesday, according to school officials. Seventy faculty members and 30 other staffers were laid off. Clayton County schools with a surplus of about 150 teachers. That means that 150 teachers need to retire or resign by April 5 or face losing their job next school year. In addition to teachers, the district also has a surplus of 102 other workers, including three assistant principals, 19 counselors, 18 physical education teachers, 14 middle school graduation coaches and 38 kindergarten paraprofessionals. This is all so very frightening.

I did win a $5 Chevron gift card. Every little bit helps you know. I HATE when Darryl opens my wins. It doesn't leave me the fun of opening up my wins.

I'm entering more blog contests and here they are:

Prize: $25 Build-A-Bear Workshop gift card.

Prizes (3): Audiobook copy of A Long Stone's Throw by Alphie McCourt.

Prize: Roku digital video player and six-month Netflix membership

Prize: Code for a box of personalized Fruit Rollups.

Prize: Coupon good for a Pizza Hut Tuscani Lasagna Meal.

Prize: 5-pack assortment of musical and voice recordable Hallmark cards.

We're still watching two episodes of Dallas every night. Tonight Sue Ellen had her baby after having a car accident when she escaped from the Sanitarium.

Being Thankful For What I’ve Got

I spoke to the kids today about my trip to Kroger and how well they treated me there. I told them how I wrote a letter of praise to the store manager, the district manager, and on my ThriftyMaven blog. Then I told them that I felt guilty that I had neglected to tell them what a wonderful group of students I have been teaching this year. I am so impressed by 98 percent of them. Many of them are respectful and hardworking. I told them so and you should have seen how surprised many of them were that I shared with them my gratitude for making my days at Rome High School a genuine joy. This is not to say that there aren’t kids that get on my very last nerve or days that I wish would hurry up and end, but for the most part this year has been very good. I told the kids that I was so pleased with them and so proud of them and I thanked them very much for being so awesome.

You should have seen how amazed they look. They looked as though no one had ever said that to them. Perhaps they haven’t. I’m glad I did. Really it was kind of funny because a couple of classes broke out in applause. I wasn’t looking for that but I did feel good about telling them. I picked a good day for it too because it was progress report days. I told them that when they show their parents their report cards the parent might see a page full of A’s but will focus on the one F they received. I told them that every now and then we should try to find something good to say to others because we all need it so desperately.


Prize: $20 Baby Cakes Online Bakery gift certificate.

Prize: $25 gas card.

Prize: $50 gas card.

Prize: Polka Dot Heart box with 16 chocolate bon bons

Prize: $25 gas card.

Prize: $25 gas card.

Prize: $25 gas card.

Prize: $25 gas card.

Prize: Package of assorted coupons

Baby It's Cold Outside

The Weather Channel threatened us with ice and snow flurries. I told the kids to go home and think snow last night. I put some of that book the Secret to work but it failed to produce any results. Then again, perhaps the kids forgot to do their homework or the dog ate their homework. You see although it was very chilly this morning there was not a speck of snow on the ground. Ah the good old days back up in Maryland where there was a lot of snow and you got the day off. I can’t cry too much though because we will get a couple of days off for Valentine’s Day to make up for the fact that we haven’t taken any snow days.

Speaking of snow days back in Maryland, I see that my birthplace, DC has passed a mandate requiring that drivers clean the ice from their car. You receive a citation but no fine if you fail to do so. The law takes effect immediately and will be in place for 90 days.

I received an interesting call today from someone at Kroger. She said she received my letter and she checked out my blog. She is sending it on to others. I told her about my idea about doing a series of blogs about shopping at Kroger. She's going to send me the information about who to speak to, now that's exciting. Wish me luck

I received a winning email today. I won Daily Prize: Tower of Treats (ARV $39.95).

Here are the blog contests I've entered today:

Win yummy Valentines day cookies for you or a loved one! The Cookie Boutique's cookies aren't only yummy, they are pretty!

Win a 32ct. box of chocolate bon bons from Pikes Peak Bon Bons! Just in time for Valentine's Day.

win a valentine dog bandana

Prize: Product Red iPod Nano and two SOAPnet/ABC Hot Guys calendars.

Prizes (2): Valentine's Day box of dark and "milk" chocolate hearts.

Prize: Set of cupcake charms

Prize: Shea Whipp and Cupcake Soap.

Prize: Copy of Angels in the ER by Dr. Robert Lesslie, M.D.

5 Winners will each get the new Strawberry Shortcake DVD.

A Sign Of The Times

Years ago when I was in college I remember the recession that happened after the stock market collapse in 1987 (October 1987). The stock collapse of unprecedented size lopped twenty-five percent off the Dow Jones Industrial Average. The collapse, larger than that of 1929, was handled well by the economy and the stock market began to quickly recover. However the lumbering savings and loans were beginning to collapse, putting the savings of millions of Americans in jeopardy. Sound familiar?

People often think of DC as almost recession proof yet they were difficult times. I remember a new convention center/upscale hotel was getting ready to open and they were having a job fair. At the time I was a cocktail waitress and going to college. I felt I could make more money working there and it was a lot closer to home than where I was working. The day of the job fair there were lines almost wrapping around the building of people with college degrees applying for jobs like hostess, grounds keeper, etc. I remember feeling so very frightened about the future.

My parents and grandparents had lived through the depression and I was already on welfare trying to work my way off of it. I was going to college for a better life. I didn’t want to be the sixty year old woman waiting tables at Denny’s on the night shift. You might say I was short sighted in this because I honestly didn’t see how we would come out of this.

Now I’m seeing shades of this again. Long lines of people applying for few jobs each desperately wanting a chance to support their families, what jobs would there be now that American’s don’t want to do? In Miami today 750 applicants showed up to apply for a position as a Miami firefighter. There are 35 openings that we have," he said. "We will accept 750 qualified applications who will compete for those 35 positions."

Need more proof about just how bad it is? In Canton, Ohio people came from as far as New York City in hopes of improving their lives by insuring others. Liberty National Insurance began spreading the word last week that it plans to open a new Canton branch with about 100 new jobs. Applicants were told they could make $80,000 per year or more, depending on how motivated they were to sell insurance. They had so many applicants that it ran out of applications just minutes after the job fair began. In Austin, Texas before the city went on a hiring freeze there was a part-time position open for a person to do shelving, and more than 200 people applied.

These are scary times. One of the teachers in my department was told he didn't have enough completers in his program. Remember when I said I felt like I was in the movie the Lottery. I believe he is the first cast drawn. He told me tha the was told that the principals already told him that they are looking at where to make cutbacks and his program doesn't have enough completers.

Today was a red letter mail day. I received the free Valentine Cards I ordered, the free calendar I ordered from Snapfish, and I received the cutest Koala Bear from a contest I won. It even has an autographed card from the race card driver. Very cute.

I also won another blog contest. It turns out I won some doggie Valentine Cards. Speaking of doggies, I won't be getting the puppy I talked about. We decided it would be too traumatic on my dogs to get a new younger dog.

The Grand Slam Is On

Today's they day. You can get a FREE Grand Slam Breakfast at Denny's. Check www.thriftymaven.com for information.

A Guest Blogger

It's hard to believe but I will have a guest blogger on my thrifty maven site. One of the women from online-sweepstakes is going sent me a story for my blog. Now that's really great. I'm trying to drive traffic to my site and I hear this is one way to do it.

I saw the cutest dog today. The National Guard recruiter brought her little Chihuahua, puppy. I understand I can get a puppy myself. The owner is givng them away. I talked to Darryl and he said I could have the puppy but then he reminded me how jealous our big dog would be. Little dog would be mad also. The thing is how often do you have people giving away Chihuahuas?

This morning was a a little cool but not cold. By afternoon the weather was damp and cold. It's supposed to get even colder tommorrow with the possibility of some snow.

Prize: Box of Yummy Mummy Brownies

Prize: Valentines Day Morsel Box with 24 bite-size brownies in Original, Caramel, Chocolate Chip and Walnut flavors from Fairytale Brownies.

Prize: Avon gift basket with heart pendant, Bond Girl 007 fragrance, I'm Loving My Feet pedicure set, heart-shaped candle, heart bath fizzy and Sweet Delicious lip balms

Prize: Four Weddings and a Funeral, 27 Dresses, An Affair to Remember, Princess Bride and Moulin Rouge DVDs.

Prize: Yanni Voices CD/DVD and Godiva Truffles.

Prizes (2): Word World DVD

Thrifty Maven's Got A Giveaway

As some of you know, I'm trying to garner a following for my thrifty maven blog. We are hoping that having a few contests to drive traffic to the site and hopefully they will be interested in coming back again and again. This time we are giving away some headbuds. Those are the things you use to listen to your Ipod. I hope you will come visit and enter the contest

My Fruit Roll-Ups

Beth Moore's Bible Study: "Stepping Up"

"Win $25 Amazon GC"

Chores pad, various desk pads, school years home organizer, desktop day planner in leopard, desktop day planner in faux crocodile and mini daily in leopard from momAgenda

Laura: Starbucks Gift Card (US only)

A Standard Portrait Session and a Basic Digital Media Package - Atlanta area only

$25 gift card to Starbucks!

($250 Keurig Brewer & Coffee)

$10 Starbucks Gift Card

Cute Cheeky Monkey Cloth Grocery Bag

$50 American Greetings Giveaway!

$30 Giftcard to Applebee's

FREE subscription to All You Magazine

free $30.00 Visa Gift Card

$25 TJ Maxx Giftcard