soulight on Aidpage

Comment: BEING POOR - read this if you dont know what it is like to be poor. if you are poor , you already know

Mon, 16 Jul 2007 11:20:01 PDT

BEING POOR - DONT READ UNLESS YOU WANT TO CRY If you have never been poor , You MUST read this. If you are poor , you already know. ____________________________________________________________ Of those people seeking emergency food relief, more than one-third (36%) had to choose between buying food or paying for housing. -FROM CHARITY NAVIGATOR Poverty and Family Homelessness Over 12 percent of the U. S. population lives in poverty—one in six children. Families with children are the fastest-growing segment of the homeless population in the US—40%. Thirty-six million people, including 14 million children, experience hunger. About 41 million people do not have health insurance. ~ A minimum-wage worker would have to work more than 67 hours a week just to keep a family of four above the poverty line of $18,104 per year for the average family of four. ~~~ The State of Poverty Number of children: 12.9 million...four times the number of all the children in Illinois Number of seniors 65 and over: 3.6 million...the same as the entire population of Oklahoma Number of women: 14.6 million...the entire population of Wisconsin, Indiana, and Iowa combined Number reporting a disability: 8.0 million...a population larger than the State of Massachusetts Number of homeless: 3.5 million...twice the population of Nebraska from the Sergant Shriver National Center on Poverty Law : poverty law dot org _________________________________________ ___________________ This is the link where i got the listing below : http://www.scalzi.com/whatever/003704.html Posted by john at Septemberber 3, 2005 12:14 AM September 03, 2005 Being Poor by John Scalzi Being poor is knowing exactly how much everything costs. Being poor is getting angry at your kids for asking for all the crap they see on TV. Being poor is having to keep buying $800 cars because they're what you can afford, and then having the cars break down on you, because there's not an $800 car in America that's worth a damn. Being poor is hoping the toothache goes away. Being poor is knowing your kid goes to friends' houses but never has friends over to yours. Being poor is going to the restroom before you get in the school lunch line so your friends will be ahead of you and won't hear you say "I get free lunch" when you get to the cashier. Being poor is living next to the freeway. Being poor is coming back to the car with your children in the back seat, clutching that box of Raisin Bran you just bought and trying to think of a way to make the kids understand that the box has to last. Being poor is wondering if your well-off sibling is lying when he says he doesn't mind when you ask for help. Being poor is off-brand toys. Being poor is a heater in only one room of the house. Being poor is knowing you can't leave $5 on the coffee table when your friends are around. Being poor is hoping your kids don't have a growth spurt. Being poor is stealing meat from the store, frying it up before your mom gets home and then telling her she doesn't have make dinner tonight because you're not hungry anyway. Being poor is Goodwill underwear. Being poor is not enough space for everyone who lives with you. Being poor is feeling the glued soles tear off your supermarket shoes when you run around the playground. Being poor is your kid's school being the one with the 15-year-old textbooks and no air conditioning. Being poor is thinking $8 an hour is a really good deal. Being poor is relying on people who don't give a damn about you. Being poor is an overnight shift under florescent lights. Being poor is finding the letter your mom wrote to your dad, begging him for the child support. Being poor is a bathtub you have to empty into the toilet. Being poor is stopping the car to take a lamp from a stranger's trash. Being poor is making lunch for your kid when a cockroach skitters over the bread, and you looking over to see if your kid saw. Being poor is believing a GED actually makes a goddamned difference. Being poor is people angry at you just for walking around in the mall. Being poor is not taking the job because you can't find someone you trust to watch your kids. Being poor is the police busting into the apartment right next to yours. Being poor is not talking to that girl because she'll probably just laugh at your clothes. Being poor is hoping you'll be invited for dinner. Being poor is a sidewalk with lots of brown glass on it. Being poor is people thinking they know something about you by the way you talk. Being poor is needing that 35-cent raise. Being poor is your kid's teacher assuming you don't have any books in your home. Being poor is six dollars short on the utility bill and no way to close the gap. Being poor is crying when you drop the mac and cheese on the floor. Being poor is knowing you work as hard as anyone, anywhere. Being poor is people surprised to discover you're not actually stupid. Being poor is people surprised to discover you're not actually lazy. Being poor is a six-hour wait in an emergency room with a sick child asleep on your lap. Being poor is never buying anything someone else hasn't bought first. Being poor is picking the 10 cent ramen instead of the 12 cent ramen because that's two extra packages for every dollar. Being poor is having to live with choices you didn't know you made when you were 14 years old. Being poor is getting tired of people wanting you to be grateful. Being poor is knowing you're being judged. Being poor is a box of crayons and a $1 coloring book from a community center Santa. Being poor is checking the coin return slot of every soda machine you go by. Being poor is deciding that it's all right to base a relationship on shelter. Being poor is knowing you really shouldn't spend that buck on a Lotto ticket. Being poor is hoping the register lady will spot you the dime. Being poor is feeling helpless when your child makes the same mistakes you did, and won't listen to you beg them against doing so. Being poor is a cough that doesn't go away. Being poor is making sure you don't spill on the couch, just in case you have to give it back before the lease is up. Being poor is a $200 paycheck advance from a company that takes $250 when the paycheck comes in. Being poor is four years of night classes for an Associates of Art degree. Being poor is a lumpy futon bed. Being poor is knowing where the shelter is. Being poor is people who have never been poor wondering why you choose to be so. Being poor is knowing how hard it is to stop being poor. Being poor is seeing how few options you have. Being poor is running in place. Being poor is people wondering why you didn't leave. This is the link where i got the listing above : http://www.scalzi.com/whatever/003704.html Posted by john at September 3, 2005 12:14 AM ________________________________________________________ "This is not about pity. It's more about passion. Pity sees suffering and wants to ease the pain; passion sees injustice and wants to settle the score. Pity implores the powerful to pay attention; passion warns them about what will happen if they don't. The risk of pity is that it kills with kindness; the promise of passion is that it builds on the hope that the poor are fully capable of helping themselves if given the chance . In 2005 the world's poor needed no more condolences; they needed people to get interested, get mad and then get to work. " ~ Note : The totally bizarre background is that this article( and perhaps the award given to the people the article was about ) was sponsered by "The Hilton Family " -From an article about the Bill and Linda Gates Foundation : The Good Samaritan Melinda Gates, Bono and Bill Gates: three people on a global mission to end poverty , disease and indifference By NANCY GIBBS The rest of the article can be found here : Times Article -complete . ~ Add your own comments about being poor. Maybe we can get some of the world to understand what it is like.The world would be better if we could walk a mile or more in someone else's shoes. I never thought i would be in the situation i am in now. It is so true that ANY of us can be in this situation. It only takes one big accident , or a lay-off , or , a hurricane , or a major health problem. ~ Being poor for me is looking at my ex's life with his new wife and son and how they are living compared to how my daughter and i are living. It's eating generic spaghettios out of a can because your electric got shut off Thinking about the dreams you had for your daughter , and then had to give them up in order to leave an abusive relationship so your daughter wouldn't be abused by your ex. Getting a job , finally ,then having an accident at work . It's desperately needing sleep , but the walls in your cheap rental are so thin and the neighbors kid is screaming again and throwing stuff against the walls , and the landlord doesn't give a crap. Going for a quick get-rich scheme even though you know it's probably another fake , because you are desperate for something like this to be real.(it never is) I am poor. I am not stupid. I am not less of a person than you. I deserve the same rights as anyone. I deserve to eat at a table with kings, because they are human beings just like me. I don't enjoy going without. I don't like it when people that I don't even know talk down to me. I am probably more educated than some of those who are "helping the poor lady". I don't want to be a statistic. I want to be a person. I want the same for my child as the person who has a child in Harvard. I am a good mother. My daughter knows she is loved. Poor people are just like you. I want to get the word out. -soulight ~ The tragedy of Katrina exposed a huge gap in our society . Being poor means sometimes you can't afford a car. Being black or Latino without a car in the Katrina disaster was a death warrent. Fifty years ago, the late Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on a Montgomery, Alabama bus, catalyzing history-making events. Imagine, however, if Rosa Parks had lived in New Orleans in September 2005 and was trying to escape from the gathering clouds of Hurricane Katrina. Would she have jumped in her car? Would she have bought a train ticket? It is likely she wouldn't have found any bus seat. Would she have survived? In light of Hurricane Katrina, millions of Americans were forced to make such nerve-racking calculations. And their transportation options, unfortunately, depended on race. Those with cars largely escaped. But African-American and Latino households are much less likely than white families to own a car, leaving us with those indelible images of people of color crying out from the rooftops. A great deal of attention in the last two decades has been focused on the "digital divide," the concern that unequal access to new forms of technology such as the Internet are leaving people behind based on their class and race. But Hurricane Katrina exposed the "internal combustion engine" divide, the alarming disparity in car ownership that literally was the difference between life and death for many Gulf Coast residents. Read the rest of this article : THE BLACK COMMENTATOR ~ Do you want to do something to help take action against the racial and economic divide in this country ? Read what these sites have to say: United for a Fair Economy is a national, independent, nonpartisan, 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. UFE raises awareness that concentrated wealth and power undermine the economy, corrupt democracy, deepen the racial divide, and tear communities apart. We support and help build social movements for greater equality. UNITED FOR A FAIR ECONOMY ~ A POOR MAN'S WAYS ~ THE HIGH COST OF POVERTY ~~~ SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT - WE NEED TO GET SOME FLU SHOTS IN THIS COUNTRY ! AFFLUENZA AN EPIDEMIC If you think you might already have this bug , or if you want to be innoculated for the epidemic , click here : ESCAPE FROM AFFLUENZA This is a "cute" way to approach the problem , but it is real and scary. Please check these sites. ~~~ I just found a really good book review about our being so individual in this country and how it relates to the economy. I thought the first paragraph especially is pretty true about how we need to help each other help ourselves.Highlighting is mine. May 2006 | A Berrett-Koehler Publishers Book "All Together Now"Common Sense for a Fair EconomyBy Jared Bernstein ISBN: 978-1-57675-387-3 or (1-57675-387-5)$12.00, 120 pages, 5 1/2” x 8 1/2”Available in May 2006 from Berrett-Koehler Publishers “Jared Bernstein provides a smart look at the American economy, one deeply rooted in American values. All Together Now explains the importance of having an economy that puts people first and ensures a fair shake for all.”—Senator John Edwards “Jared Bernstein is to most economic writers what Red Bull is to a decaf latte. In All Together Now he makes such a rousing case for mutual responsibility and shared risk that you’ll leap out of your chair and into action. Everyone in the sub-billionaire class needs to read this book and send a gift copy to his or her elected officials.”—Barbara Ehrenreich, bestselling author of Nickel and Dimed and Bait and Switch “What does our national debate about economics most need? It needs ideas. It needs strong voices for justice who understand economics. And it needs economists with a passion for social decency. Jared Bernstein is a passionate economist who provides hard data to describe the world as it is, and ideas to make the world more just. All Together Now should be read and debated by all who know that the status quo is failing us and seek a daring and bracing examination of the reasons for our discontent.”—E. J. Dionne, syndicated columnist, author of Why Americans Hate Politics and Stand Up Fight Back, and Professor, Georgetown University “This vitally important and readable book couldn’t have arrived at a better time. Jared Bernstein examines the ever-increasing gap between our socalled ‘booming’ economy and the waning economic security of the very people creating that growth. With common sense and common decency, Bernstein shows where we’ve gone off course and how to find our way back.”—Robert B. Reich, Professor of Public Policy, University of California at Berkeley, and former U.S. Secretary of Labor Introduction Ready or Not, You’re on Your Own I once heard an allegory about mealtime in heaven and hell. It turns out that in both places, meals are served at a huge round table with lots of delicious food in the center. The food is out of reach, but everyone’s got really long forks. In hell, everyone starves because, while people can reach the food with their forks, the forks are much longer than their arms, so nobody can turn a fork around and eat what’s on the end of it. In heaven, faced with the same problem, people eat well. How? By feeding each other. Protecting the rights of individuals has always been a core American value. Yet in recent years the emphasis on individualism has been pushed to the point where, like the diners in hell, we’re starving. This political and social philosophy is hurting our nation, endangering our future and that of our children, and, paradoxically, making it harder for individuals to get a fair shot at the American dream. This extreme individualism dominates the way we talk about the most important aspects of our economic lives, those that reside in the intersection of our living standards, our government, and the future opportunities for ourselves and our children. The message, sometimes implicit but often explicit, is, You’re on your own. Its acronym, YOYO, provides a useful shorthand to summarize this destructive approach to governing. The concept of YOYO, as used in this book, isn’t all that complicated. It’s the prevailing vision of how our country should be governed. As such, it embodies a set of values, and at the core of the YOYO value system is hyper-individualism: the notion that whatever the challenges we face as a nation, the best way to solve them is for people to fend for themselves. Over the past few decades, this harmful vision has generated a set of policies with that hyperindividualistic gene throughout their DNA. The YOYO crowd—the politicians, lobbyists, and economists actively promoting this vision—has stepped up its efforts to advance its policies in recent years, but hyper-individualism is not a new phenomenon. Chapter 1 documents archaeological evidence of YOYO thinking and policies from the early 1900s, along with their fingerprint: a sharp increase in the inequality of income, wealth, and opportunity. The most recent incarnation can be found in the ideas generated by the administration of George W. Bush, but the YOYO infrastructure—the personnel with a vested interest in the continued dominance of these policies—will not leave the building with Bush. Unless, that is, we recognize the damage being done and make some major changes. One central goal of the YOYO movement is to continue and even accelerate the trend toward shifting economic risks from the government and the nation’s corporations onto individuals and their families. You can see this intention beneath the surface of almost every recent conservative initiative: Social Security privatization, personal accounts for health care (the so-called Health Savings Accounts), attacks on labor market regulations, and the perpetual crusade to slash the government’s revenue through regressive tax cuts—a strategy explicitly tagged as “starving the beast”—and block the government from playing a useful role in our economic lives. You can even see this go-it-alone principle in our stance toward our supposed international allies. While this fast-moving reassignment of economic risk would be bad news in any period, it’s particularly harmful today. As the new century unfolds, we face prodigious economic challenges, many of which have helped to generate both greater inequalities and a higher degree of economic insecurity in our lives. But the dominant vision has failed to develop a hopeful, positive narrative about how these challenges can be met in such a way as to uplift the majority. Instead, messages such as “It’s your money” (the mantra of the first George W. Bush campaign in 2000), and frames such as “the ownership society,” stress an ever shrinking role for government and much more individual risk taking. Yet global competition, rising health costs, longer life spans with weaker pensions, less secure employment, and unprecedented inequalities of opportunity and wealth are calling for a much broader, more inclusive approach to helping all of us meet these challenges, one that taps government as well as market solutions. To cite one potent example, 46 million people lack health coverage, and the share of our economy devoted to health care is headed for unsustainable levels. We urgently need to begin planning a viable alternative, such as a system of universal coverage as exists in every other advanced economy. In every case, these countries insure their citizens, control health costs better than we do, and have better overall health outcomes. Yet our leaders want to solve the problem with an individualistic, market-based system of private accounts designed to cut costs by shifting risk from the insurer to the patient, unleashing more of the very market forces that got us into this mess in the first place. As I stress throughout, those crafting such policies are trapped in the YOYO paradigm, one where common-sense solutions, even those embraced by the rest of the advanced world, are out of bounds. This book has but a few central messages, but this is one of them: we simply can no longer afford to be led by people wearing ideological blinders. We must seriously investigate a new way of thinking if we are to successfully craft an equitable approach to growth, risk, and the distribution of opportunity and income. For decades in the post-WWII era, the income of the typical family rose in lockstep with the economy’s performance. As the bakers of the economic pie—the workforce—grew more productive, they benefited commensurately from their work: between the mid-1940s and the mid-1970s, both productivity and real median family income doubled. Since the mid-1970s, however, family income has grown at onethird the rate of productivity, even though families are working harder and longer than ever. Recently, the problem has grown more severe. In late 2003, we finally pulled out of the longest “jobless recovery” on record, going back to the 1930s. Our economy expanded, but we were losing jobs. Moreover, despite solid overall growth since the recession of 2001, the typical family’s income has consistently fallen and poverty has gone up. The gap between the growth in productivity, which has been quite stellar, and the very flat pace at which the living standards of most families are improving has never been wider. This is a characteristic of YOYO economics: the economy does fine; the people in the economy do not. How has this occurred, and what role do the people and politics of YOYO play? While the whole story might be made more interesting by a right-wing conspiracy, the rise of YOYO isn’t one. Though conservatives have introduced recent YOYO initiatives like Social Security privatization and private accounts for health care and unemployment, this is not a story of good Democrats and bad Republicans. It is the story of the ascendancy of a largely bipartisan vision that promotes individualist market-based solutions over solutions that recognize there are big problems that markets cannot effectively solve. We cannot, for example, constantly cut the federal government’s revenue stream without undermining its ability to meet pressing social needs. We know that more resources will be needed to meet the challenges of prospering in a global economy, keeping up with technological changes, funding health care and pension systems, helping individuals balance work and family life, improving the skills of our workforce, and reducing social and economic inequality. Yet discussion of this reality is off the table. We're In This Together We need an alternative vision, one that applauds individual freedom but emphasizes that such freedom is best realized with a more collaborative approach to meeting the challenges we face. The message is simple: We’re in this together. Here, the acronym is WITT. Though this alternative agenda uses the scope and breadth of the federal government to achieve its ends, this book is not a call for more government in the sense of devoting a larger share of our economy to government spending. In fact, there is surprisingly little relationship between the ideological agenda of those in charge and the share of the economy devoted to the federal government. To the contrary, some of the biggest spenders of federal funds have been purveyors of hyper-individualism (with G. W. Bush at the top of the list). But, regardless of what you feel the government’s role should be in the economy and society, an objective look at the magnitude of the challenges we face shows we must restore the balance between individual and collective action. We simply cannot effectively address globalization, health care, pensions, economic insecurity, and fiscal train wrecks by cutting taxes, turning things over to the market, and telling our citizens they’re on their own, like the gold prospectors of the 1800s, to strike it rich or bust. All Together Now aims to set us on a new path. At the heart of the WITT agenda is the belief that we can wield the tools of government to build a more just society, one that preserves individualist values while ensuring that the prosperity we generate is equitably shared. Importantly, under the WITT agenda, this outcome occurs not through redistributionist Robin Hood schemes, but through creating an economic architecture that reconnects our strong, flexible economy to the living standards of all, not just to the residents of the penthouse. As the pie grows, all the bakers get bigger slices. Where YOYO economics explains why we cannot shape our participation in the global economy to meet our own needs, or provide health coverage for the millions who lack that basic right, or raise the living standards of working families when the economy is growing, WITT policies target these challenges head on. As YOYOism rolls on, the amplitude of our national discomfort, the vague sense that something is fundamentally wrong in how we conduct our national and international affairs, is climbing. In poll after poll, solid majorities view our country as headed in the wrong direction, and there are signs that the YOYO infrastructure is not impenetrable. Though the administration may ultimately get its way, some members of Congress have unexpectedly been resisting White House demands for billions more in tax cuts for the wealthy. In a totally uncharacteristic reversal, the Bush administration was forced to reinstate the prevailing wage rule it suspended in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. In the off-year 2005 elections, a few closely watched races revealed that simply pledging to cut taxes wasn’t enough. In a couple of important cases, candidates and initiatives that delivered more WITTisms than YOYOisms prevailed.1 The climate of a few years ago has changed, and resistance is no longer futile. A growing chorus is calling for a more balanced role of government in our lives. In the words of Iowa governor Tom Vilsack, “Government is nothing more nor less than the instrument whereby our people come together to undertake collectively the responsibilities we cannot discharge alone.” If enough of us add our voices, we can reject messages like “It’s your money” and “You’re on your own” as divisive and counterproductive. We can move the pendulum away from a politics that excessively focuses on individuals—the YOYO agenda toward an approach wherein we work together to craft solutions to the challenges we face. Embedded in these solutions is a healthy respect for markets and individuals. But that respect is not excessive. It does not lead us to stand idly by while the economy expands year after year as poverty rises and the real incomes of working families stagnate. Neither does it impel us to shy away from our goal: building a society where the fruits of economic growth are broadly shared with those who create that growth each day of their working lives. A Return to Common Sense The subtitle of this book invokes Common Sense, the most famous work of the American revolutionary Thomas Paine. What’s the connection? It’s partly, of course, the issue of whom our government represents. Paine was ready to throw off the yoke of British tyranny well before most of the nation’s founders were. In this spirit, part of what follows is a common-sense critique of the United States’ current situation. As discussed in chapter 1, hyper-individualism has held sway numerous times in our history, and a characteristic of these periods is the extent to which they favor the chosen few over the majority. But what makes Paine so relevant today was his ability to see outside the box. While the majority of the colonists were unhappy with the Crown, most were unable to envision ending their relationship with England and seriously consider independence. Common Sense, which starts right off with a vitriolic personal attack on King George III, offered the colonists a radically different view of their options. Paine told the colonists that their humanity was a gift from God, not from the king. Thus, they had a responsibility to themselves and their children to construct a system of government that would free them from the constraints of the Crown to pursue their “natural rights.” We can see this philosophy clearly embedded in the Declaration of Independence, where the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness was enshrined as a God-given, self-evident right of humanity. We have drifted too far from Paine’s vision. Many of us share a sense of deep discomfort and insecurity about the direction our country is taking. But there do not seem to be any signposts pointing to a better way. Why not? It’s easy to blame the lack of leadership, and there’s something to that. The quality of many of our leaders does seem particularly suspect these days. Opportunists can always be found in politics, but their influence is often countered by those truly motivated to promote the public good (which is not to say that such people agree on how to do so, of course). Right now, the ratio of opportunists to idealists may be unusually high. But the problem cuts deeper. The emphasis on individualism will always be a core American value, but it has been stressed to the breaking point. As the YOYO influence has spread, assisted by the muscular application of contemporary economics (as discussed in chapter 2), the YOYOs have implemented a philosophy of hyperindividualism that disdains using the tools of government to seek solutions. More than anything else, this policy has led to our current predicament. Under the banner of “You’re on your own,” we have lost a sense of common ownership of our government, an institution that many of us now distrust as feckless at best and corrupt at worst. This abandonment of our faith in government to help meet the challenges we face—social, economic, and international—has been costly. We have shut off our critical faculties that under normal circumstances would lead us to be deeply angered by much of what’s going on. Despite the events of September 11, 2001, we are less prepared for a national disaster now than we were a few years ago. Our citizens are dying in an underfunded war launched on false pretenses, and our actions have helped to unleash powerful forces that are both lethal and destabilizing. A majority of our representatives are addicted to tax cuts with no regard for their future impact. Short-sighted vested interests are at the table, constructing self-enriching energy policies instead of incentives to conserve; polluters are editing the science out of environmental protection acts. These are front-page stories. Yet in the absence of a broadly shared vision in which we see that each one of these calamities poses a deep threat to our common fate, it’s not clear how we should react. We have a vague sense that something important is off-kilter, but since the YOYOs have taken government solutions off the table, we have no means of crafting a suitable response. When the answer for every problem is a market-based solution—a private account, leavened with a tax cut for the wealthiest—we are trapped. Clearly, we need to escape from that restrictive, cynical vision. Pursuing our collective, rather than strictly personal, interests will help. The plan I offer is straightforward: diagnose the point at which we got off course and chart the way forward. The diagnosis begins in chapter 1, with a more detailed explanation of YOYO ideas and policies and a brief history of their evolution. Chapter 2 looks at the supporting role played by economists whose ideas in recent years have lent sustenance and support to the YOYO agenda. In chapter 3, I get proactive and lay out the WITT agenda. Chapter 4 addresses a set of challenges to the agenda, and the final chapter concludes with thoughts about how a movement to implement these ideas might be nurtured into being. My hope is that the ideas that follow, along with some of the great work of others I cite along the way, will morph into a blueprint for such a movement to carry out. By working, thinking, and planning “all together now,” we can find our way toward a more hopeful future for ourselves, our families, and our society. Purchase this book Copyright © 2006 by The Economic Policy Institute. All rights reserved. _____________________________ TO SEE WHAT MY OTHER AIDPAGES ARE ABOUT , CLICK HERE ____________________________

HOW TO SPOT INTERNET SCAMS

Thu, 20 Sep 2007 10:30:05 PDT

DON'T BE SCAMMED BY THE TONS OF FRAUDULENT OFFERS OF "HELP" Read on for red flags : ALWAYS REMEMBER , IF THEY ARE FOR REAL , THEY WILL GIVE YOU INFORMATION ABOUT THEMSELVES AND THEIR COMPANY WITHOUT HESITATION OR EXCUSE.ASK FOR INFORMATION BEFORE YOU SEND OR E-MAIL ANY TO THEM. DON'T LET ANYONE TAKE ADVANTAGE OF YOU JUST BECAUSE YOU ARE HURTING OR DOWN . IF THEY MENTION YOU PAYING MONEY AS ANY PART OF THE "HELP" , THEN THEY ARE NOT REALLY HELPING YOU. ANYONE WHO WANTS YOU TO GIVE THEM ANYTHING IN EXCHANGE FOR HELP SHOULD BE SUSPECT.READ ON AND PROTECT YOURSELF FROM THE SCAMS , FRAUDS ,PYRAMID SCHEMES , AND LIES . ____________________________________________________________ BEFORE YOU SIGN AN AGREEMENT OR PAY SOMEONE ANY MONEY , LOOK THEM UP AT THIS SITE. IF YOU WERE ALREADY SCAMMED , REPORT THEM HERE : RIP OFF REPORT AND PLEASE REMEMBER DO NOT GIVE YOUR PERSONAL E-MAIL OR ANY OTHER INFORMATION TO PEOPLE WHO SAY THEY WANT TO "HELP" Especially if they say that they can't help at all without your e-mail , address , last name , you paying them first , or your phone number. These are all red flags that something is wrong. Check them out and talk to them for a while. THEY CAN CONTACT YOU THROUGH PRIVATE MESSAGING ON AIDPAGE . You don't have to provide any other e-mail to them. LOANS CAN BE SCAMS TOO. IF YOU DON'T HAVE MONEY NOW, HOW WOULD YOU PAY IT BACK ? THE PEOPLE YOU GET THE LOAN FROM DON'T CARE HOW YOU PAY IT BACK , THEY JUST WANT THEIR (your) MONEY , AND THEN YOU HAVE MORE OF A PROBLEM THAN WHEN YOU STARTED. Here are some additional tips Be extremely suspicious of all unsolicited e-mail messages from unfamiliar sources. delete such messages without opening them. Sometimes, a careful inspection of the Web sites given in the e-mail messages will cause alarm, but even a careful inspection of a bogus Web site may not reveal a scam. The best course remains - delete the e-mail messages without opening them. Interview and run background checks on all prospective employers the same way you would expect them to interview and run checks on you:Do a Google online search for the prospective employer to see if there is anything posted about them that may warn you about a scam. Run a company search on the Better Business Bureau's Web site, www.BBB.org. If the company purports to be a charity, the BBB also allows you to search for charities by name at www.give.org. If a charity or company refuses to send you any written information before you commit to taking a job or requires you to make a donation - beware! Legitimate charities and jobs will not object to sending you written material about their organization before you commit to employment with them or give them a donation. If an organization does not readily provide a valid street address and contact information (for example, if communication is done electronically only), this is also a warning sign. Again, most charities and other prospective employers have valid street addresses or some other type of contact information. Beware of any company that presses you to advance money out of your own bank account - the mere fact that a check has "cleared" does not mean it is good! While the bank may make funds from the check available to you in a few days, it can take weeks before the forgery is uncovered and the check bounces. If you insist on responding to job opportunities that sound like the one described above (think again ! ! ! - sl ) inform your contact at the charity or company that you will not forward any money until the check they sent you clears. The contact person likely will not respond and will not contact you again. If you have given out personal information in response to an unsolicited e-mail, review the consumer alerts on ID theft provided below. Avoid all employment offers that require you to accept checks for deposit in your personal account and then forward payments to an overseas organization. Never divulge personal information on the Internet until you have checked out the potential charity or employer. Unfortunately, con artists will use an identity that is difficult to verify, such as an overseas charity. If you are unable to find out more information about the charity employer from reliable sources, walk away. If the organization claims to be a U.S.-based charity, ask it for a copy of its IRS Form 990, the financial report filed with federal and state governments. You also can check out the organization by contacting your state government's charity registration office (usually a division of the state's attorney general's office), visiting www.give.org (if a national charity), or if it is a local charity, visiting www.bbb.org to contact the Better Business Bureau in your area. Don't assume the charity or job is legitimate because of an impressive looking Web site that mentions well known personalities and/or official contacts. Watch out for "red flags" in the job application process such as requests for your mother's maiden name or your date of birth. These are not legitimate requests and the information obtained can be used to commit identify theft. This is another good site for educating yourself about internet safety . There are free classes to take . This is another great web site courtesy of Elaine of TSA. If you have children of any age ,or if you aren't sure yourself about internet safety ( and I found lot's of stuff I didn't know) go to this site ! INTERNET 101. Here is a site recommended by Emil (co-owner of this site) It is published by Craigslist . HOW TO AVOID SCAMS AND FRAUD This is a must-see site . The link came compliments of our fellow Aidmate , Elaine of TSA : What does the NFIC/IFW do? Our mission is to give consumers the information they need to avoid becoming victims of telemarketing and Internet fraud and to help them get their complaints to law enforcement agencies quickly and easily. FRAUD DOT ORG. Another site to investigate or report consumer fraud : Education is a key tool to prevent consumer injury. In this section of our website, you'll find publications with advice on avoiding scams and rip-offs, as well as tips on other consumer topics. CONSUMER TRADE COMMISSION FOR THE CONSUMER PAGE. Here is a good article about fraud by the consumer credit counseling people. Look for the yellow yield sign. CONSUMER CREDIT FRAUD Here is a good link about online scams.This one is easy to understand. Michele Schermerhorn has over 30 years experience in the business world and over 12 years running her own successful online businesses. She is President of Online Business Institute Inc. Online Business Institute Inc. exists to “Create Successful Online Business Owners One Person At A Time”. ONLINE GURU OR SCAM ARTIST-HOW CAN YOU TELL? This is just something I have seen myself on this site (aidpage). If someone comes online and says they will help you ,and then they won't give information ,or if they do ,you have to light a fire under them to tell you about what they offer , it is a scam. The Wizard has a page all of us should look at about this. As a person who is disabled and who gets tired easily , I have to be really careful to keep alert about stuff like this-sl When you are vulnerable , like most of us are when we come to aidpage , that is when the scam artists strike. ****ABUSE-WARNING-PAGE BY THE WIZARD**** This is an Aidpage written by Sweet Granny . She has tips and lists scammers to look out for. SWEET GRANNYS' AIDPAGE Here is a site that tells why we may get lured into someones scam or fraud schemes : 5 Ways to get yourself into debt fast. Consumers information from the Federal Trade Commisson:(includes info about the internet and fraud) Federal Trade Commission The top ten SCAMS on the net: 10 Scams-Businessweek Quatloos. The cyber-museum of SCAMS and FRAUDS Quatloos page A page on SCAMS and tips on how to avoid them : Avoiding Scams page on bizymoms.com Another page on how to avoid work at home SCAMS Avoiding work at home scams from about.com The Global Prosperity Group SCAM : Information about the Global Prosperity Group Here is a page about identity theft This is another thing to watch out for when someone asks for information about you on the net . This website is a one-stop national resource to learn about the crime of identity theft. It provides detailed information to help you Deter, Detect, and Defend against identity theft. While there are no guarantees about avoiding identity theft, there are steps you can take to minimize your risk and minimize the damage if a problem occurs: IDENTITY THEFT ANOTHER THING I HAVE NOTICED FROM LOAN COMPANIES IS THEY GIVE THE SAME OFFER TO EVERYBODY . IF THIS WAS SOMEONE WHO REALLY WANTED TO HELP , WOULDN'T THE WORDING BE A LITTLE DIFFERENT INSTEAD OF JUST CUT AND PASTED ON EVERYONE'S PAGE ? DO THESE PEOPLE EVEN READ YOUR PAGE ,OR DO THEY PASTE THEIR INFORMATION ,AND THEN ROCKET ON TO THE NEXT VICTIM ? I JUST KEEP THINKING HOW CAN A LOAN HELP IF YOU DON'T HAVE MONEY TO PAY IT BACK , AND THEN YOU ARE SUNK EVEN DEEPER.- soulight If you are looking for ways to pay down your debt , here are some tips (on how NOT to do it ): DUMB WAYS TO PAY DOWN DEBT. Here is an article on PAY DAY LOANS -WITH BOTH OF THE ABOVE AND BELOW LINKS WATCH OUT FOR ALL THE ADS. APPARENTLY THE AUTHOR IS TRYING TO NAVIGATE AROUND THEM TOO.. PAY DAY LOAN RIPOFFS _________________________________________________- Many have come on Aidpage to ask for money to help them with the Student Ambassador trips. Some people say this is a scam/ripoff . It does seem that if this is an award-type program that the trip would already be paid for . Sometimes it is so flattering to be offered something like this that we tell ourselves our child has to go , no matter what . Just check it out and see what this program is really about before you spend your or someone else's money. STUDENT AMBASSADOR TRIPS. Many people wonder what a multi-level marketing scheme/plan is. Here is a link that has a good explanation of how a mult-level scheme works : MULTI-LEVEL MARKETING OR PYRAMID SCHEMES Here is something else to look out for on the Internet Chain letters , chain pyramids and other similar schemes : CHAIN LETTERS -ARE THEY legal ? Here is the Internet Public Complaint Center . It is for internet fraud and other crimes .This is the FBI's site. INTERNET COMPLAINT CENTER ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- MORE AIDPAGES BY SOULIGHT FOR FREE HELP OF ALL KINDS. -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

HANUKKAH AND KWANZAA 2006 FRUGAL IDEAS TO CELEBRATE THESE WINTER HOLIDAYS

Tue, 20 Feb 2007 13:32:59 PST

***** KWANZAA ***DECEMBER 26- JANUARY 1 ***** HAVE A WONDERFUL KWANZAA ! LEARN MORE ABOUT THIS HOLIDAY AND ITS WONDERFUL MEANINGS AND TRADITIONS ! HERE IS THE THEME FOR KWANZAA IN 2006 NGUZO SABA:The Principles and Practice of Bringing Good Into the World SCROLL PAST THE HANUKKAH STUFF FOR KWANZAA ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ IF YOU NEED HELP THIS HANUKKAH , OR ANY OTHER TIME , AND YOU LIVE IN NEW YORK,TRY YAD ELIEZER, IN NEW YORK YAD ELIEZER , WHAT WE DO THEY SEEM TO HELP INTERNATIONALLY , BUT I BET THEY WOULD HELP LOCALLY TOO. I CAN ALMOST SAY THEY WOULD WITHOUT QUESTION. General information Email: info@yadeliezer.org Sori Tropper, CEO American Friends of Yad Eliezer Email: sori@yadeliezer.org Dov Vizel, Director, Yad Eliezer Israel Email: dov@yadeliezer.org Yossi Kaufman, Director of Public Relations Israel: 050-889-9497 USA: 718-974-8414 Email: yossi@yadeliezer.org Rafi Kugler, Big Brothers Program Email: rafi@yadeliezer.org Milcah Benziman, Social Services Director Email: milcah@yadeliezer.org Contact the Yad Eliezer office nearest you: United States American Friend of Yad Eliezer 1102 East 26th Street Brooklyn, NY 11210 Toll Free: 1-888-354-3737 Phone: (718) 258-1580 Fax: (718) 252-0091 Email: sori@yadeliezer.org Canada Toronto c/o Salamon Family 1 Forestwood Toronto, Ontario M5N 2V5 Phone: (416) 782-2197 Montreal c/o Gestetner Family 1943 Clinton Montreal, Quebec H3S 1L2 Phone: (514) 735-2833 TRY IT , IT COULDN'T HURT ! SOME MORE INFORMATION FOR AID ,NOT JUST HANUKKAH , BUT FOR ALL TIMES : American Jewish Committee/Israel Emergency Assistance Fund 212-751-4000 American Jewish World Service 800-889-7146 Jewish National Fund 800-542-8733 Mazon: A Jewish Response to Hunger 310-442-0020 New Israel Fund & Signing Anew 888-988-3863 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ FOR PEOPLE ON A BUDGET(OR NO BUDGET, LIKE ME---------- ( HOW DO YOU HAVE A BUDGET WITH NO MONEY ) : ) ***************************** THE CHRISTMAS STUFF IS NOW ON THIS PAGE : CHRISTMAS *************************** ********************************************* * HANUKKAH * ********************************************** Even though Hanukkah is not a major holiday , some people celebrate it around the holidays. Sometimes it coincides with the Christmas holidays , sometimes not. Hanukkah is a minor Jewish holiday , but just because Hanukkah is not a High Holy Day , that doesn't mean you can't have fun ! I would like to make this clear : This is just my opinion , but please know that Hanukkah is not a "replacement" for your kids not celebrating Christmas. The Jewish holidays and High Holy Days are beautiful and stand on their own. You do not have to have any replacements. Being Jewish is an honor. Jews are Gods own people. Don't downgrade this by thinking that you need to have any replacement for Christmas.soulight Here are some links for low cost and free fun : FUN FOR YOUNGER CHILDREN HANUKKAH FROM THE FAMILYFUN SITE ***More Hanukkah Ideas*** DOUGH RECIPE ALL PURPOSE PLAY DOUGH CLAY This play dough clay is scented and colored. 1 cup flour½ cup salt1 pack unsweetened drink mix1 tablespoon oil1 cup boiling water Mix dry ingredients in a large saucepan . Stir is oil and water . Stir over medium heat until it forms a ball , Dump on wax paper or tabletop allow to cool a little, then knead until smooth.If you have glitter , add it for a special look ! Store in the refrigerator in an airtight container (old cool whip-type container.) Use the dough recipe printed above to make a dreidel or menorah. You could use the blue drink mix. The candles in the “Jewish” section at the grocery store are really cheap. You can get them in white, or sometimes in different colors. ____________________________________ Latkes are cheap to make and good. So are doughnuts and applesauce. Or hot apple juice with spices. __________________________________ Do a play about Hanukkah.-Here is a really good story to use. It is really well written for all ages: A GOOD HANUKKAH STORY FOR ALL AGES ____________________________________________ Use pennies for gelt. 30 pennies are a lot! _______________________________________ Get together with other families or go to the synogogue. Some have fun Hanukkah parties. They are free too ! _________________________________________ Make outdoor ice lights. Color the water with blue food coloring.- ICE LIGHTS ________________________________________________ Make snowflakes. Paint the windows with blue paint , or cover with blue paper. Put white snowflakes up. SNOWFLAKES AND LINKS TO SNOWFLAKES _____________________________________ Make a homemade Star of David decorations : Star of David home decorations:Form a triangle with 3 sticks (or popscicle sticks) and glue them together. Form another triangle the same way. Glue the two triangles together in the form of a Star of David. Draw squiggly lines on the star with glue, and sprinkle with blue glitter if you wish. Or paint them blue. Hang the stars around your home, with ribbon or string.You can also cover the stars with aluminum foil before gluing them together. _________________________________ HERE IS A PAGE WITH SPECIAL THINGS TO PRINT OUT FOR HANUKKAH : HANNUKAH/CHANUKAH PAGE ________________________________________ HERE IS A FREE FUN GUIDE TO SEND FOR TOTALLY CHANUKAH _____________________________________ THIS PAGE HAS A WHOLE BUNCH OF LOW COST AND FUN HANNUKAH ACTIVITIES HANUKKAH FUN AND CRAFTS _____________________________________ MORE CHANUKAH FUN ITEMS TO MAKE FROM THE TOYMAKER INCLUDING 2 DREIDELS. CHANUKAH FUN _____________________________ THE TOYMAKER ALSO HAS SOME THINGS FOR THE HIGH HOLY DAYS ON THIS PAGE : TOYMAKER HOLIDAY PAGE HERE IS A PAGE FOR THE TOP TEN HANUKKAH COLORING PAGES AND WORKSHEETS FOR CHILDREN. CHANUKAH PAGES FOR KIDS JUST A LITTLE MORE . . . TORAH BYTES ************************************************* ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ *** KWANZAA *** HERE IS THE THEME FOR KWANZAA IN 2006 NGUZO SABA:The Principles and Practice of Bringing Good Into the World ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ HERE IS THE OFFICIAL KWANZAA WEB SITE : OFFICIAL KWANZAA WEBSITE ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I don't know much about Kwanzaa , but I will learn more this year by looking at the site above. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This is an explanation of what Kwanzaa is about : Kwanzaa is a holiday that celebrates African-American culture. Kwanzaa lasts for seven days; it starts on December 26th, and ends on New Year's Day. The word "Kwanzaa" means "first fruits" in Swahili. Maulena Karenga, an African-American scholar and activist, founded Kwanzaa in 1966. Kwanzaa celebrates seven principles ("Nguzo Saba" in Swahili), including: Unity (umoja), signified by the gathering of family, friends, and community Faith (imani) Purpose (nia) Collective work and responsibility (ujima) - the commitment to the high ideals of the African community Cooperative economics (ujamaa) Self-determination (kujichagulia) Creativity (kuumba) Honoring the past (especially the history of Africa) and one's ancestors is central to Kwanzaa. On December 31, a Kwanzaa feast is enjoyed by family and friends. Maulana Karenga designed the feast to include the following: a straw place mat (mkeka), a holder for seven candles (kinara), candles (mishumaa), a variety of fruit (mazao), an ear of corn for each child in the home (vibunzi), a unity cup (kikombe cha umoja), modest gifts, especially for children (zawadi) HERE IS A MENU FOR A KWANZAA FEAST : Kwanzaa Karamu (Kwanzaa Feast) Menu Hot Spiced CiderSpicy Corn FrittersSquash and Bean Soup Moroccan Chicken with Olives Slow Cooker Jambalaya Hot and Spicy Greens African Squash and Yams Colorful Black Bean Salad Coriander Bread Cheese-Garlic Biscuits Banana-Coconut Bake Butter-Rum Pound Cake AND HERE IS THE BETTY CROCKER SITE , WHICH HAS ALL THE RECIPES AND PREPARATIONS : KWANZAA/KARAMU FEAST FROM BETTY CROCKER ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The theme of 2006 sure seems like a good one to me. I found a link to making a Kwanzaa workbook with your children that is low cost and meaningful. MAKE A KWANZAA WORKBOOK ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Here is a very simple craft to make an oware (mancala) board game. OWARE GAME TO MAKE ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Another KWANZAA site for family activities. Really nice ideas. FAMILY ACTIVITIES FOR KWANZAA ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Also, you can.... BUILD ACTIVITIES AROUND THESE IDEAS : Seven Principles of Kwanzaa Day 1 UMOJA (oo-MOH-ja) Unity Togetherness, we help each other Help each other make tidy up the house so you can have fun together doing some of the activities above. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Day 2 KUJICHAGULIA (coo-gee-cha-goo-lee-ahh) Self-Determination Thinking or deciding for oneself. Everyone gets to take turns deciding what the next Kwanzaa activity will be. Here is a great link to use to pick some activity ideas : GREAT IDEAS AND LINKS FOR KWANZA ACTIVITIES ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Day 3 UJIMA (oo-Jee-mah) Collective work and reponsibility Work together to help others, make life better. Make these meat pies together. They are not expensive to make.And you can share them with neighbors and friends, JAMACIAN MEAT PIES ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Day 4 UJAMMA (oo-jah-MAH) Cooperative Economics Build own businesses, create own jobs Create you own jobs for the day by making gifts for each other. Talk about cottage businesses. Hunt for Natural Treasures rocksstickssandfeathersshellsleavesdried flowerspinecones A Special part of Kwanzaa is giving handmade gifts! Make gifts from natural items found in your area. Make a collage, decorate a frame, or box. A link to a cottage industry in Swaziland. NGWENYAGLASS COMPANY Also with your natural treasures, you can make a beautiful African wrap doll : AFRICAN WRAP DOLL INSTRUCTION ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Day 5 NIA(NEE-ah) Purpose Reason for living, be the great people that we are. Check out this great site about great African Inventors ,Kings and Queens GREAT AFRICANS :INVENTORS ,KINGS AND QUEENS ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Day 6 KUUMBA (koo-OOM-bah) Creativity Make our communities beautiful, use hands and minds to create new things. Here is how some people made their neighborhood beautiful by building a Kwanzaa playground.Cool ! THE KWANZAA PLAYGROUND Think of ways to make your own "THRONES TO THE EARTH AND SKY"Make a space to be peaceful and quiet . ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Day 7 IMANI (ee-MAH-nee) Faith Believe in ourselves, our families, and the future. Spend time talking about family and look at pictures of family. Talk about the possibilities for the future (there is always something positive. Make it your job to find the positive for your kids.) Talk about your personal and family heritage of faith , if you know it , or start one !Look up your local place of faith and go there to pick up pamphlets/brochures with what they have to offer. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ HERE IS A SMALL BUT VERY NICE PAGE ON THINGS TO MAKE FOR KWANZAA : KWANZAA THINGS TO PRINT OUT ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ HERE IS A PAGE WITH MORE KWANZAA FUN AND CRAFTS KWANZAA HOLIDAY CRAFTS AND FUN ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ HERE IS THE TOYMAKERS KWANZAA PAGE KWANZAA FUN ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ HERE'S ANOTHER PAGE WITH TONS OF KWANZAA CRAFTS. ENCHANTED LEARNING KWANZAA ************************************************ SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT YOU ARE THE ONE WHO SETS THE TONE FOR THE HOLIDAYS AND THE HOLIDAY CHEER IN YOUR HOUSE. IF YOU ACT LIKE IT IS A HORRIBLE HOLIDAY, YOUR KIDS WILL TOO. SO , TRY TO FIND THE THINGS YOU CAN BE JOYFUL ABOUT THIS TIME OF YEAR. START WITH SMALL STUFF THEN BUILD UP TO BIGGER THINGS TO BE JOYFUL ABOUT. YOUR KIDS WILL LEARN THE DEEPER THINGS THIS WAY. BEFORE YOU KNOW IT , YOU WILL HAVE A DIFFERENT TRADITION STARTED. ONE ABOUT BEING HAPPY WITH WHAT YOU DO HAVE. *********************************************** Please add you own ideas about the holidays. If I have the wrong information about a holiday that you are familiar with , please feel free to set me straight (nicely of course :))

CHRISTMAS PAGE

Tue, 3 Apr 2007 08:51:46 PDT

CHRISTMAS PAGE This page has ideas for a low or no money Christmas. **************************** BEFORE YOU LOOK AT THIS PAGE FOR IDEAS, PLEASE CHECK YOUR ATTITUDE ABOUT CHRISTMAS OUT. IT IS WONDERFUL TO CELEBRATE DURING THE HOLIDAYS. GETTING AND GIVING GIFTS TO EACH OTHER IS FUN ! ! ! BUT PLEASE REMEMBER WHAT CHRISTMAS IS REALLY ABOUT : ****CHRISTMAS NEEDS AND WANTS**** ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ THE NEW CHRISTMAS PAGE IS HERE. IT HAS MORE CHRISTMAS IDEAS ADDED ALMOST EVERYDAY AS I FIND THEM. *****EVEN MORE LOW AND NO COST CHRISTMAS IDEAS***** THIS IS PAGE 3 , CHRISTMAS CHARITIES BY STATE , REGION AND CITY : +++++++CHRISTMAS PAGE 3++++++++ ******************* ********* AQUI ESTA UNA PAGINA de NAVIDAD EN español: NAVIDAD HERE IS A PAGE ABOUT CHRISTMAS IN MEXICO. SOME PARTS ARE IN SPANISH AND SOME IN ENGLISH SO THAT WE ALL CAN LEARN . THE CHRISTMAS IN MEXICO IS ORIENTED MORE TOWARDS THE BIRTHDAY OF JESUS THAN IT IS ABOUT SANTA. Could we learn something here ? CHRISTMAS IN MEXICO *********** The pages for Hanukkah and Kwanzaa are here : HANUKKAH AND KWANZAA For everyday living look here : HOW TO LIVE ON VERY LITTLE MONEY ************************************************ NEW ON 11/20/06 FROM SHEZABLONDE. THIS IS HOW TO HAVE A HOLY CHRISTMAS. IT IS A WONDERFUL SITE, WITH TONS OF INFORMATION. THANK YOU SHEZABLONDE ! A HOLY CHRISTMAS BRAND NEW LINK 11/10/06 FROM A SITE FOR AND BY SANTA CLAUS(ES) " Regardless of whether you are an individual, organization or fellow Claus in need of assistance, we, at Just Be Claus.Net welcome the opportunity to try and assist you in resolving whatever unfortunate circumstances have threatened your full enjoyment of the Christmas holidays. If you're a private individual, or a representative of a group of 'True Believers', who, for whatever reason, now find that Santa, or Mrs. Claus, may not be able to keep an appointed visit with you, please click on the link below, appropriate to your needs. In the Elf-mail that opens, you'll be able to contact our 'S.OS. Elves' and describe what it is that now concerns you and how we may be able to help you. " JUST BE CLAUS DOT NET *NEW LINK* Here is a new site if you have tried the others below and they have not worked. It is a search engine to find a toy drive in your area by zip code. CHRISTMAS TOY DRIVE SEARCH ENGINE Here is one called SimpleChristmas maybe to help change our ideas about Christmas? I have cut down on the amount of presents that I give after reading pages like this one. SIMPLE CHRISTMAS Try the Salvation Army. My town had a free shopping day with a room you could get free new presents-they gave us a voucher-call your Salvation Army to find out what they have SALVATION ARMY CHRISTMAS HELP How to request a toy at Toys for Tots (NOTE-click find a local campain office in the side bar at the left , then click find an office, then use the scroll down feature to find your state. This will give you the information to contact the local coordinator in your area.) TOYS FOR TOTS Here is another page with ideas that are very low or no cost. NO COST CHRISTMAS Try your local freecycle group. Here is the national site with links to local sites. It is amazing what you can find. FREECYCLE Christmas with no or little money. I typed this in at a forum at this site , and got tons of pages of stuff , so you can sift through and find what you want to use. NO MONEY CHRISTMAS This is the Christmas page from the AllThingsFrugal site. Just put your blinders on for all the ads they have , and you will find some good stuff. ALL THINGS FRUGAL CHRISTMAS AND GIFTS The Fraternal Order of Police have a wonderful program called SHOP WITH A COP. In order to find out about it , you need to contact the local lodge of the FOP in your town.Not all the lodges take part in the program.This is worth doing some homework to find it in your area. Here is some stuff you can do without money This stuff is free, or made with items you can get with food stamps: Make a popcorn Garland Or one from those fruit flavored cereals(the 'loop' kind) Watch Christmas shows together with hot chocolate(stir with candy canes) and popcorn and show on tv is free. If you don’t have a tv-walk to free activities in churches or museums or libraries. My daughter and I did ,and we had great conversations walking together that we would not have had if we stayed home and moped around. Make a snowman Have a snowball fight Make a ginger bread house out of graham crackers and what ever you have in the house Make cement from powdered sugar and water. It is cheaper than store bought icing. GRAHAM CRACKER HOUSES Paint Christmassy pictures on the windows with washable paint Add a little dish soap to make it come off easier. Make a game out of hunting around the house, for things to make Christmas decorations . Let the stuff kids find be good memories even if it is “silly” to you. Here are some really nice ornaments to make about the true meaning of Christmas. You can make them from paper and markers/crayons OR fabice/felt. Whatever you have . CHRISTMAS ORNAMENTS Go caroling or just sing Christmas carols at home. Singing can make you feel better ! Page 2 has free Christmas Carol sheet music to print out ! PAGE 2 CHRISTMAS Attend a live Nativity –churches have free ones. Some are outside , so if you live in a cold climate , dress warmly ! Go collect pine cones and use them to make ornaments TIP : First bake the cones on a foil-lined cookie sheet for about an hour at 200 degrees. This kills any bugs or spider mites(or who knows what else !) that live in them. This also allows the seeds to fall out. If you want the pine cone to close up again , just plunge it in cold water. PINE CONE CRAFTS Have the kids write and act out a Christmas play Rent videos from the library and have a movie marathon. Stay up all night if you want ! Have a game night –you sometimes borrow these at the library too. Or invite other single mom families and tell them to bring what games they have. Here are some games to print out ! ! ! PRINTABLE GAMES The link above has all of these ! 25 Dominoes games 8 Rummy Games 18 Lotto & Bingo Games 4 Uno-type Games 8 Board Games 2 Tic Tac Toe Games 6 Memory Games 4 Matching Games Shovel the snow for your elderly neighbors –No matter how little you have , you always have something you can give to others who have less. Read one Christmas short story each night before bed –make some up too. Get books out of the library early. People tend to snatch them up at the last minute. Have a birthday celebration for Jesus. Tell Him what you will give Him for His birthday this year. Light up your sidewalk with luminaries ! take labels off cans of veggies or fruit. Punch holes in cans in any shape. (mom do this with screw driver or other tools). Don’t punch all the way to the bottom of the cans. Fill with sand or dirt to level below punched holes. Stick old candles in light . Put outside at night . They are so pretty. Here is another icy light to make for free : ICE LIGHT Learn about different cultures celebrate Christmas.... and about what they did years ago(library). This link has a book list for Christmas. Scroll down for the books about different countries. If your library doesn't have the book you want ask for inter-library loan. CHRISTMAS BOOK LIST Make a manger scene out of playdough( Play dough type recipe follows) or clay or even construction paperor blocks or sticks from outside(I bet the original one was made out of stones and logs and dirt), whatever is handy Gingerbread people made out of brown grocery sacks are inexpensive.You can decorate with crayons or paint. Make paper snowflakes . The simplest, yet most beautiful holiday decoration? Paper snowflakes! Re-live your childhood and create a few. Or a whole blizzard. If you're feeling generous, you can ask your kids to help. When you're done, tape them on your windows- whenever you look out, you'll see a white Christmas.The snowflakes also look really good made into a wreath. SNOWFLAKES MORE PAPER FUN. PRINT OUT AND MAKE PAPER TOYS ! THIS SITE IS WILD AND FUN ! COOL PAPER TOYS COOL HERE IS ANOTHER COOL MAKE YOUR OWN TOYS SITE ! ! ! SITE QUOTE :Welcome to my odd, little world of paper toys, holiday cards, valentines, sun boxes, baskets and bags, origami and ephemera... all for you to make. My goal is to help grownups and kids spend time together making things. It is my wish to amuse and delight. Enjoy, Marilyn. COOL MAKE YOUR OWN PAPER STUFF SITE FOR KIDS AND ADULTS (This link is not working at the moment. Use the link below instead.) HERE IS THE CHRISTMAS PAGE Here is a cool page from Readers Digest telling you how to make toys (easy from stuff around the house.) 18 TOYS YOU CAN MAKE AT HOME More Christmas ideas and thoughts from W H O ~ K N E W (an aidmate!) I was reading your posts about Christmas and I remember we used to take the dough recipe (you posted) along cookie cutter and make ornaments. Roll the dough out to about ¼ in thick. Cut out different shapes with cookie cutters – holiday shapes, or even a simple round cup can be used. Remember to cut a small hole at the top to put yarn through! Let them dry overnight and then paint or decorate with glue and sparkles or other decorations. Hang on tree and enjoy your homemade Christmas tree! Another decoration that NEVER goes out of style is the paper chains. Cut colorful strips of construction paper about ¼ wide and 2inches long. Glue the ends together, take another strip, loop it through the first and glue together. Great for stringing over doorways or using as garland on the tree! If you do not have colored construction paper, us plain white paper and color the strips before gluing together. Not only does it look beautiful, but it is a great way to spend time together. just a thought...WHO KNEW HAS GREAT PAGES ! click here for her homepage : HOME PAGE OF WHO KNEW *********************************************** HERE IS A SPECIAL CHRISTMAS PAGE BY ANNIE EVEN IF YOU DON'T USE ANY OF HER IDEAS , SEEING HER GRAPHICS ON THIS PAGE ARE WORTH THE CLICK ! FREE DECEMBER FUN BY ANNIE *********************************************** STOCKING STUFFER BRAINSTORM : Cookie crayons - Take the paper off old crayons.Break into pieces. Spray muffin tins with nonstick spray or lightly coat with oil.Put crayon pieces into muffin tins and melt in an oven at 250 degrees until just melted (so the colors are still separate).Let cool. Turn over and rap back of tins hard. Diary / journal Here are journals for kids that you can print out : JOURNALS FROM ACTIVITY VILLAGE Here are some for moms : JOURNALS AND SHOPPING LISTS TO PRINT OUT Here is a pretty (Christian oriented ) journal for ladies to print out : JUST 4 LADIES FREE PRINTABLE JOURNAL Fabric trick wallets : MAKE A FABRIC TRICK WALLET Flower seeds –from your own flowers Here is a seed packet pattern . You can hand print what type of seeds they are. PRINTABLE SEED PACKET Travel Bingo cards (and one stationary print) TRAVEL BINGO CARDS TO PRINT OUT These are REALLY CUTE ! You can print them in color or black and white. Homemade chocolate dipped pretzel rods(with bonus of other recipes ;) Tip : you don't need parchment paper. Use waxed paper. RECIPES FOR HOMEMADE GIFTS-SCROLL DOWN FOR PRETZEL RECIPE Movie Viewer instructions ( your older kids can make their own ) ZOETROPE MOVIE VIEWER Herbal teas –package an assortment from your own teas in a paper packet you made REALLY CUTE TEABAG HOLDERS TO PRINT OUT FOR FREE ! Here is a very simple but fun toy called a Thaumatrope (or 'wonder turner) to add to the stockings : OPTICAL ILLUSION TOY Sewing kit, travel-make one from felt or fabric------- This is the cutest sewing kit from Family Fun. You can make it into any animal you can think of. ALLIGATOR SEWING KIT NEEDLE HOLDER Homemade goop Here is a link to homemade slime , goop ,sillyputty ,play dough and . . . HOMEMADE PLAY FUN Snow globes Here is a more expensive snow globe project 1. SNOW GLOBE 2. Cheaper snow globe Small glass jar with lid (baby food jar) Baby oil or corn syrupWaterGlitter OR egg shells crushed up (remove all the thin skin stuck to the inside of the egg first) Glue (not water soluble) Toys or seashells or little things from around the house that you are tired of stepping on. (Like Barbie accessories!)Fill the jar with baby oil or corn syrup, and a little water, then add glitter or crushed egg shells. Meanwhile, glue the toys or seashells to the inside of the lid with glue and put the lid on the jar (seal with glue). When dry, turn the jar upside down. Knitting Spool It is easier to get wooden spools than it used to be , and these are FUN ! KNITTING SPOOL OR CORKER Hair Scrunchies Make your own hair scrunchies out of fabric scraps : MAKE YOUR OWN HAIR SCRUNCHIES Stationary or note cards This is a really nice assortment of printable stationary : STATIONARY TO PRINT OUT Here is one with free stationary gift tags and cards : MORE STATIONARY TO PRINT OUT Here are some beautiful watercolor notecards : NOTECARDS Tiny Teddy bear TINY TEDDY BEAR PATTERN AND INSTRUCTIONS Booklet of games or puzzles PUZZLES AND GAMES FROM KIDPRINTABLES Many more puzzles and word searches ,as well as crosswords to make booklets from : MAKING A PUZZLE BOOK FOR CHRISTMAS Doll clothes Sewing for your dolls : HOW TO SEW FOR DOLLS Doll shoes : FREE DOLL SHOE PATTERN Here is a precious doll sweater from 1904 ! DOLL SWEATER Lots of different doll clothes and doll cosume ideas : DOLL CLOTHES AND COSTUMES Paper Dolls PAGE FULL OF LINKS TO PAPER DOLL PRINTABLES FOR KIDS AND ADULTS Doll patchwork quilt- This is a site I have found many good projects on. This page has some easy doll blankets to make. EASY DOLL BLANKETS Paper airplane instructions Here are 3 to print out colored or black and white. 3 PAPER AIRPLANES 6 more gliders 6 GLIDERS 21 can be found here ranked easy to difficult 21 MORE ! Match up game WINTERTIME MATCHING GAME MEMORY GAME (CUTE ANIMALS) More matching games , memory games and mazes to download and print from the page where I got the two listed above. MAZES MATCHING GAMES MEMORY GAMES Print your own custom playing cards MAKE CUSTOM PLAYING CARDS Make your own paper rocket (you just print it out , your kid makes the rocket ! Instructions for making the launcher too ! ) MAKE YOUR OWN ROCKET Jumprope Here is one to make from plastic bread wrappers ! MAKE A JUMP ROPE ! Bubble blowing liquid BUBBLE TOWN Coloring pages LINKS TO TONS OF FREE COLORING PAGES BY IVY JOY Homemade Beauty Treats MAKE YOUR OWN COSMETICS . COM Cookies personalized with name These are spicy and buttery ! Flatten with the bottom of a glass dipped in sugar instead of a fork. Write your childs name on the cookie in big frosting letters. SPICY BUTTER COOKIES Samples from department stores (lotion , perfume , mens cologne etc. ) -They practically push them on you at Christmas time. You have no obligation to buy their product when they are offering you the samples. Popcorn balls-recipe below Bookmarks These are courtesy of Brownielocks and the Three Bears. BOOKMARKS Here are 9 more PAGES of bookmarks , plus 2 more to print and color with crayons or markers ! BOOKMARKS A letter from santa ,or parents or ? to say how special they are Here are some different stationaries you can print out and use : LINED SANTA #1 BLANK SANTA #1 LINED COUNTRY CHRISTMAS BLANK COUNTRY CHRISTMAS LINED CHRISTMAS BEAR AND FLOWERS BLANK CHRISTMAS BEAR AND FLOWERS LINED GINGERBREAD BOY BLANK GINGERBREAD BOY LINED SNOWMEN AND BIRDS BLANK SNOWMEN AND BIRDS Stuff from the dollar store-its amazing how cheap some of their stuff is Stuff you have found through-out the year at garage sales(plan for next year) Homemade puzzles these are triangular puzzles to print out and put together ! TRIAZZLE PUZZLES Here is a shareware program on Winsite to make your own jigsaw puzzles. I haven't tried it yet , but I am going to ! MAKE YOUR OWN JIGSAW PUZZLE SHAREWARE Really colorful mittens you made Here is a pattern for two-needle mittens. They are for any size from infant to adult , and you can convert them to crochet. : 2 NEEDLE MITTENS Another way to make mittens is to buy a colorful sweater at Goodwill , trace your childs hand and cut out mittens from the sweater. You can make your own mitten pattern from a paper bag. I bought a beautiful sweater at Goodwill on half-off day for $1.50 , It will make at least 5 pairs of mittens. Tiny things made for their dolls-fruits veggies etc MAKE DOLL FOODS ( CUTE !) And here is a clay you can make and use for the doll foods : Homemade Cornstarch Clay Clay to use for play or make doll food , ornaments and sculptures. Large saucepan2 cups baking soda1 cup cornstarch1 cup waterPaints and brushes (optional) Stir the cornstarch, baking soda and water together in the saucepan thoroughly and bring to a boil on medium to medium-high heat, stirring constantly. Turn off the heat and continue stirring until the mixture is the texture of mashed potatoes, then cover and cool to room temperature. The clay is now ready for play! Use it for play or make ornaments and sculptures. Dry your clayAllow the clay to air dry, turning the piece over every 12 hours. If your oven is capable of baking at less than 200 degrees Fahrenheit, you may choose that option, though the ornaments will be more brittle. You can make ornaments too : Roll out 1/8- to ¼-inch-thick slabs of clay. Cut out shapes with cookie cutters or children’s play knives. Poke holes large enough to thread a ribbon or fishing line through, using a pencil or other object. Use watercolors or other paint after it dries. ***************************** COLORFUL POPCORN BALLS 2 c. light corn syrup1 c. sugar1 lg. box of any colored/flavored gelatin dessertSprinkles in Christmas color to accent gelatin color (optional)20 c. popped popcorn Combine sugar and syrup and boil for 1 minute. Do not stir. Add Jello and mix, pour over popcorn and mix well. Add sprinkles if desired. Then grease hands with butter and make into balls. Make sure popcorn is cool, but not too cool. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ ALL PURPOSE PLAY DOUGH CLAY This play dough clay is scented and colored. 1 cup flour½ cup salt1 pack unsweetened drink mix1 tablespoon oil1 cup boiling water Mix dry ingredients in a large saucepan . Stir is oil and water . Stir over medium heat until it forms a ball , Dump on wax paper or tabletop allow to cool a little, then knead until smooth.If you have glitter , add it for a special look ! Store in the refrigerator in an airtight container (old cool whip-type container.) +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ I wanted to include this , but I didn't know where to put it. It is dessert sushi , and it would be fun to make as a family or with friends. I think it may be a hit with the older kids ! DESSERT SUSHI FROM EVILMADSCIENTIST DOT COM **************************************************** SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT YOU ARE THE ONE WHO SETS THE TONE FOR THE HOLIDAYS AND THE HOLIDAY CHEER IN YOUR HOUSE. IF YOU ACT LIKE IT IS A HORRIBLE HOLIDAY, YOUR KIDS WILL TOO.SO , TRY TO FIND THE THINGS YOU CAN BE JOYFUL ABOUT THIS TIME OF YEAR. START WITH SMALL STUFF THEN BUILD UP TO BIGGER THINGS TO BE JOYFUL ABOUT.YOUR KIDS WILL LEARN THE DEEPER THINGS THIS WAY. BEFORE YOU KNOW IT , YOU WILL HAVE A DIFFERENT TRADITION STARTED. ONE ABOUT BEING HAPPY WITH WHAT YOU DO HAVE. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Here is another thought about Christmas by shezablonde. It truly is more important to remember what Christmas is really about. The love of a Father who gave His Son to us. CHRISTMAS THOUGHT BY SHEZABLONDE ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ LOOK HERE FOR THE NEW CHRISTMAS PAGE 2 :EVEN MORE CHRISTMAS ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Here is a posting from the previous holiday page that has some great advice: 1. SierraStar posted on Oct 18, 2006 You know I like what you said that we're the ones who set the tone for the holidays. We've never had a lot of money to spend on gifts, I feel bad for my kids when they have to go to school and here all the gifts everyone else has gotten. But no matter how little we have we do what we can for others. I used to work at a nursing home and I had to work Christmas a few times and it was very sad for me to see that a lot of the residents family never came to see them and after the first time I seen this the next year we made everyone a little gift and we dressed up in our holiday best and spent the day with the residents. We do this every year now, and my kids look forward to it. I've always taught them it's better to give from your heart then your wallet. I also wanted to add when we first bought our fake Christmas tree 10 yrs ago we couldn't afford ornaments. I decided every year my kids would make something special for the tree. Until they could write I would write on an ornament shaped piece of paper what I loved about my children or what is special about them, now every year we all write something special about eachother and afterward I take my packing tape and put over it and we hang them on the tree. I love my tree because it's a symbol of my family. soulight posted on Oct 18, 2006 SierraStar Thank you so much for your story and for the good example of how to be happy with what you have.You sound like a good mom ! Note : I have deleted some of SierraStars information ,because she has included it in her new aidpage which can be found here : Cheap or Free Christmas Presents ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

REAL WORK AT HOME IDEAS

Mon, 27 Aug 2007 09:17:34 PDT

***** REAL WORK AT HOME IDEAS ***** Real work at home ideas may not be get rich quick ideas , but they aren't scams either. USE AT YOUR OWN DISCRETION.PLEASE. SOME OF THESE SITES MAY HAVE PYRAMID SCHEMES ADVERTISED IN THEIR SIDE BARS. SOME MAY HAVE "KITS" TO START THE BUSINESS. JUST USE THE IDEAS , YOU DON'T NEED TO BUY KITS ,AND YOU CAN USE THE IDEAS AND GET MORE INFORMATION AT THE LIBRARY FOR FREE. FIRST , HERE IS HOW TO AVOID A SCAM. 10 Tips on Avoiding Work At Home andHome Based Business Scams (Scoll past their registration box). SCAMBUSTERS WORK AT HOME JOB LIST This is another good article about searching for a home based business online. WHO CAN YOU TRUST ONLINE ? Another good ,3-part article. Watch out for all the ads on this page. Put your blinders on . It is worth it for the information though . DOT-COM OR DOT-CON Here is a good page from AOL about work at home job scams , and also a listing of good work at home jobs (in box to the right) . AOL AND WORK AT HOME JOBS. For much more information about scams , frauds , on-line jobs ,and more , go here HOW TO SPOT SCAMS , FRAUDS AND BAD INTERNET VENTURES. _____________________ _______________ _______ REAL JOB IDEAS START HERE Being a medical transcriptionist. This is the official organization , not "buy our program to learn MT": OFFICIAL SITE FOR MEDICAL TRANSCRIPTION Job ideas , from Mommy's Helpers . com. -Business and Family Resources for moms. MOMMYSHELPERS.COM The Small Business and Self-Employment(SBSES) pages. Remember to check all the links for all the information : SMALL BUSINESS AND SELF EMPLOYMENT SERVICE Top work at home job sites from About.com: HOW TO FIND A WORK AT HOME JOB Some more real jobs you can do at home from MSN : 4 real work at home jobs from MSN Money 4 REAL WAH JOBS FROM MSN MONEY If you are crafty or make homemade items , this is a really cool site for marketing them ! SELL YOUR HOMEMADE THINGS HERE ! Here is another way to make money from a craft : Crafting for Fun and Money! We are pleased to announce a new program we are starting to help build the Craft Projects section on ThriftyFun. If you are an avid crafter, capable writer and own a digital camera, you are eligible to participate. Submit your craft projects to ThriftyFun and we will pay $15 for any crafts that we publish. Crafts should adhere to the following guidelines: CRAFTING FOR FUN AND MONEY. Ten more jobs you can have at home by AOL.com 10 MORE WORK AT HOME JOBS Another brainstorm of honest home-based businesses you can start. HONEST HOME BASED BUSINESSES This is an organization that promotes guidance for women who would like to become self-sufficient. About Women Work! OUR VISION Women Work! The National Network for Women's Employment envisions a nation where all women have educational and employment equity, personal and economic security, and social equality throughout their lives. OUR MISSION Women Work! advances economic justice and equality for women through education, advocacy and organizing. OUR MEMBERS Women Work! members include individual supporters of economic equality for women, organizations that assist women to enter, re-enter and advance in the workforce, and state networks that advocate for women's economic self-sufficiency. STATE BY STATE FOR PROGRAMS THAT SUPPORT THE WOMEN WORK PHILOSOPHY Here is another site that promotes women in their business ventures.Count Me In champions the cause for women's economic independence by providing access to business loans, consultation and education. The first online microlender, Count Me In uses a unique women-friendly credit scoring system to make loans of $500 to $10,000 available to women across the United States who have nowhere to turn for that all-important first business loan. The organization provides access to networks that expand contacts, markets, skills and confidence. Why Count Me In? Count Me In is impartial, independent and understands the challenges facing women today. We want to strengthen women's position in the economy Count Me In will make women visible, valued and more powerful in the economy. Count Me In will address the systemic challenges that women face in traditional lending institutions that do not account for the realities of women's lives today. Count Me In will develop a more "woman appropriate" credit scoring technique that will measure a woman's economic life and business development potential. Let's Create our own opportunity! The need for increased economic opportunity for women cuts across racial, ethnic and language lines. Women need financial services including small loans and funds for training and technical assistance -- in addition toinspiration and practical information. Current criteria for gaining access to credit and capital does not fit the lives many women lead or the kinds of businesses millions of women start and own. Women tend to start smaller, service related businesses, do not have traditional forms of collateral, have no credit or messy credit histories due to divorce or other life circumstances, and want smaller amounts of money to start a business. (And count me in understands this and works with you to navigate around these things.) -sl COUNT ME IN FOR WOMEN'S ECONOMIC INDEPENDENCE Another page from the About dot com people . This one is how to make money on the Internet . Great ideas ,and very realistic about WORKING HARD to make the money. The internet can be a boomtown economy for those who are willing to work it that way. There are many ways to get in on the loot, but you must be willing to put in many hours and a lot of effort. For most people, the internet is a way to make a little extra If you're thinking of going back to work, and you want to polish up some of your job skills, here's a page that has over 650 tutorials for free. You can also use to learn some new job skills, and it's all free. Tutorials for Free Here is a page listing small business grants by state : SMALL BUSINESS GRANTS BY STATE I found a great site for learning typing skills if you want to find a job that requires them. It is free ,as are the tests and other resources . LEARN2TYPE More free learning pages from the people at About.com: LEARNING FROM ABOUT DOT COM. And, one more page for free on-line courses to learn at your own pace ! Good for stay at home single moms ! MORE ON-LINE ADULT EDUCATION LINKS (FREE) HERE ARE SOME MONEYMAKING IDEAS FOR THE HOLIDAY SEASON Bake Yourself Some Dough this Christmas (And Other Ideas for Making Money during the Holidays!) Here are some money-making ventures that you can embark on to make your holidays brighter and merrier. by Liz Folgers Contributing Author MAKE MONEY FOR THE HOLIDAYS So far in my search , I have found , as most people probably already know there are no jobs that make you rich overnight. Just like away from home jobs , work at home jobs are just that-work .Some take training , and all take hard work and time. I guess when a person needs money fast , they are not going to get it from a legitimate job opportunity. There are many scams out there that are run by people who just want YOUR money. They make it seem like they want to help , but they want to profit for themselves , not others. The way I see it , if we need money right now, for an emergency, we need to keep searching for aid. Then when we are on our feet again, the ideas for working at home,or at a second job, will be more feasable. __________________________soulight_______________________ ~MORE JOBS CONTINUED AS I FIND THEM~ Here is a site that I just found that may not directly help you find a job , but they are working for you just the same "Wider Opportunities for Women (WOW) works nationally and in its home community of Washington, D.C. to build pathways to economic independence for America's families, women, and girls. WOW has a distinctive history in changing the landscape of women and work. For more than 40 years, WOW has helped women learn to earn, with programs emphasizing literacy, technical and nontraditional skills, the welfare-to-work transition and career development. Since 1964, WOW has trained more than 10,000 women for well paid work in the DC area. WOW leads the National Women's Workforce Network which is comprised of organizations committed to increasing women and girls access to well-paid work and the Family Economic Self-Sufficiency Project (FESS). WOW is recognized nationally for its skills training models, technical assistance, and advocacy for women workers."-SITE QUOTE WIDER OPPORTUNITIES FOR WOMEN ~ IF ANY OF THE JOBS LINKED TO ON THIS PAGE ARE QUESTIONABLE , OR IF YOU WANT TO CHECK OUT , REPORT , OR RESEARCH A CERTAIN BUSINESS , GO HERE : THE BETTER BUSINESS BUREAU ~ HERE ARE MY OTHER PAGES FOR FREE ASSISTANCE There is help for all areas of life. The page you go to first explains what all my Aidpages will do to assist you. .

SUICIDE HELP LINE NUMBERS

Mon, 23 Oct 2006 11:12:37 PDT

If you are feeling like hurting yourself because things are so bad , please call this number NOW. National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, 1-800-273-TALK (8255), (en Español 1-888-628-9454)

OVERCOMING DEPRESSION

Sat, 28 Apr 2007 09:07:20 PDT

HOW TO FIND HELP IF YOU ARE DEPRESSED. IT IS NOT A SHAMEFUL THING TO BE DEPRESSED . IT IS A REAL THING THAT YOU CAN GET HELP WITH . I DID , AND IT WAS ONE OF THE BEST THINGS I EVER DID. IF YOU ARE DEPRESSED , YOU ARE NOT ALONE. Somtimes it feels like you are but that is the depression talking to you. But if you are feeling like hurting yourself because things are so bad , please call this number NOW. National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, 1-800-273-TALK (8255), (en Español 1-888-628-9454) Here is a checklist for depression : DEPRESSION SELF-CHECK LIST Here is another self-check list geared towards young people. Young people in High School and College are under so much more stress than they used to be. It is hard to maintain their daily schedules. Then alot of them also have home troubles , have to worry about outside influences trying to mess up their lives .Drugs , sexual pressure , alcohol , finacial worries about how to pay for school . All this pressure can lead to depression. If you are a young person under tons of pressure and you are depressed , please get help. There are people out there who care and want to help you with your personal worries. HELP FOR DEPRESSION AND OTHER WORRIES Here is a site that explains what depression is and gives ideas for change . I disagree that acting happy will make you happy. If you are clinically depressed , this doesn't work. It would work if you are just having a blue day , but some depressions need medication. Here is the name of the article and the topics it covers :Overcoming Depression & Finding Happinessexcerpted from "Family Desk Reference to Psychologyby Chuck T. Falcon Causes of Depression Treatment of Depression Activity & Depression Motivation & Depression Sticking with it Act happy to be happy The role of exercise OVERCOMING DEPRESSION ARTICLE Here is another site for teens that has a help-line . It also has a radio show called ZJAM. ZJAM.COM This is a study on depression and low income. Having a low income and being depressed also certainly affects our kids too.It is interesting to see the correlation. After all , who wants to look for a job when you are depressed ? You don't even feel like being around people at all. If the cycle of depression/low income/depression could be broken , how many of us would have better lives ? How about a working wage ? And someone to take care of our kids who we know will care about them as much as we do , and will keep them safe and free from all the harms of life ? DEPRESSION STUDY Moms and dads , please read this article about teenage depression. Our teens may be acting up because they are crying out for attention. Sometimes bad behavior gets more attention , and so your kids act up to get the attention they crave. TEENAGE DEPRESSION If you have a friend that is depressed , you may feel helpless as to what to do to help them. This is a well written , step-by-step list of what you can do. As the author of the page mentions. A friend does not take the place of a therapist. Still , you could be the one to touch your friends life and help them get started in the right direction. HOW TO HELP A DEPRESSED FRIEND Depression in the elderly is often overlooked by doctors as a reason that they "Just don't feel like myself anymore." For some older people, being lonely , the development of a disabling illness, loss of a spouse or a friend, retirement, moving out of the family home, not having enough funds to pay for retirement or health care , or some other stressful event may bring about the onset of depression. In addition , depression can be a side effect of some medications commonly prescribed to older persons. If there is an older person in your life , and they are feeling sad , please mention to their doctor the possiblity of depression.Here is a link to some useful information : DEPRESSION AND THE OLDER PERSON Sometimes its hard to know what to say when you first go to a doctor for depression , or any problem for that matter. Here is a link that has some pointers on what to say. TALKING TO YOUR DOCTOR ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ This aidpage has a post at the bottom about one alternative for depression : SCROLL DOWN ON THIS PAGE FOR DEPRESSION ALTERNATIVE HELP The aidpage listed above is about Vagus Nerve Stimulation.I got this idea from a post on the aidpage of WHO~KNEW , who is no longer on Aidpages. Here is a page that talks about VNS : VAGUS NERVE STIMULATION THERAPY ______________________________________ MY OTHER AIDPAGES CAN BE FOUND HERE ______________________________________

soulight-my story so far

Thu, 19 Jul 2007 16:09:03 PDT

This is my story from my home aidpage. I moved it here so that I can concentrate on other subjects on my home page. You can find that here : HELP FOR SINGLE MOMS ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ With all the recent greediness on Aidpages , I have wondered if all my time put into trying to help fellow Aidmates has been worth it. I have been thinking about this a lot. I decided that if just one person is helped because of something that I put on Aidpages , it is worth it. All the people who are scamming and just out for a free ride of money will suffer in their own ways ,and I don't need to address their problems , but I am on here for those who are willing to go partway with me in solving their own problems . We all need support and encouragement. That is what I want to do - support and encourage people to grow towards the person God made them to be. So , I carry on. soulight-1/26/2007 2/07/07 Just another update. My medicaid was just turned down again. I need therapy for my balance , my hip and shoulder , and occupational therapy. My doctor has re-written my functional capacity exam because I am getting worse. My rehab evaluation counselor doesn't think I have enough strength for a full time job , nor is my pain level low enough. I have spent much time on these aidpages , but not full time. I rest alot in between . My illnesses are sometimes O.K. and sometimes I go into a major flare and everything falls apart. Right now ,I am typing with a major cramp in my left arm down to my hand , and I end up typing with one hand. I am getting weary of the fight , but not for long , God will see me through. These pages have given me something to do that I have always wanted to do , and I don't even need a car , or money , or much energy to do them. Now why can't a real job be like that ? Of course , I couldn't just stop typing and take a nap whenever I wanted to with a 'real job.' ; )Never give up. soulight 04/12/07 I thought i might add another update, since it has been a while. My pain levels have increased greatly and i am not sure why . I have to wait to find out though , because i am having a hard time with insurance again.I have to re-apply for some of my assistance through the state , as my lawyer had some major problems(death in family) , and we missed a deadline. I like this lawyer a lot , but this is another set back. i got a special voice activated computer program from my daughter ,and it is much easier than typing , as on my bad days , my arms and hands cramp up. Having all these things happen to me is a blessing. NO I AM NOT CRAZY ! ! ! it is just that i have always wanted to help other people ,and the more that i go through , the more i understand what others are going through , and i am greatful for that empathy. Still , i really , really wish more people came to Aidpages to help others rather than to always want help , as i get weary of the "givemes". Is our country truly full of so many greedy , needy people ? I don't mean needy for money , but needy for a good spiritual , moral base.Anyway, i went to a rehab program ,and though i was not accepted because of my pain and physical problems , they said it will be hard to get social security because i am too intellegent. GO FIGURE , IF I HAD KNOWN THIS I COULD HAVE CHEATED ON MY TESTS BY MISSING ANSWERS : ^ (-ADDENDUM , I WOULD HAVE NOT CHEATED ON THE TESTS . THIS IS A JOKE ! Anyway , i plug on and I DO NOT GIVE UP . We all need to keep up the good fight ,and run the race. In the end we will recieve the prize. soulight April 18 , 2007 Today I just need to vent a little. I do love helping people, but it would help if they help themselves a little. I spend hours finding information , and then people come on a page and ask for assistance with something that is already addressed on one of my Aidpages. It seems people don't even want to read the page for help ,they just want me to do ALL the work for them. I hope these people start helping themselves ,or they will be caught in the 'please help poor me' trap for the rest of their lives ,and it seems that this is a miserable way to live. I don't want to live that way.Maybe some people do.If that is the case , what a sad existance. soulight 5/11/07 As of today , i will start helping people only through prayers and my Aidpages , at least for a while. It is so tiring to help so many who have an emergency or crisis. My own health challenges and life challenges need some attention , so i pray that people search for help for themselves , starting with my Aidpages as a jumping off place. I care about people and what happens to them , but i need to care about me and my daughter too.I still struggle with all the things listed below. I am blessed by help from family and church , but it still is quite a struggle and very energy zapping . My own health problems already include low energy challenges , so i am pulling back on some of my commitments in my life right now to save what energy i do have for the most important things. I will still add things as i find them for assistance ,and i will still monitor my pages everyday , but i will not be helping people on an individual level . I hope people understand this. It would be so cool if some others stepped up and STARTED HELPING OTHERS AND REALLY MAKE AIDPAGE PEOPLE HELPING PEOPLE ! ! ! : ) soulight 5/25/07 So , I am feeling much better . My asthma was part of what was causing the fatigue. And , I will be having a sleep study , as I probably have apnea and stage 4 sleep problems related to the fibro. What fun. Still , my problems might be lessened if I slept better. I hope to interact more with people on Aidpage , and I still hope and pray that there continue to be more people who HELP EACH OTHER OUT !!! :<) My review with my social worker is coming up in a couple weeks. Anybody who reads this and is a pray-er , lift me up ! Please ! soulight 6/07 Am now waiting for results from the sleep study. Sleep studies are interesting things ! They stick electrodes on you , tell you that you have to sleep at least 7 hours ,then tell you that the camera on the table is so that someone can watch you while you sleep ! It is a blessing that I slept at all. Two things though( i already knew) i snore A LOT , and i dream A LOT ) I think i slept , i hope i slept enough. Still , GOD IS GOOD , ALL THE TIME. No matter what , He will see me through. soulight June 27,2007 Well , i have sleep apnea. Now that we know , we can do something about it and hopefully i will not be so fatigued all the time. It is a mild case ,though. I only stop breathing 5 times an hour.(!) We had to put our beloved Ginger to sleep on Monday . She was a very special , loving cat. We will miss her so much. Thank you God for giving us the gift of Ginger. soulight 7-19-07 Insurance companies and the governments alternative are disgusting. I need a second sleep study , because they need to fit the APAP (breathing machine) . They also think that I may have seizures while I sleep as the whole inside of my mouth is chewed up. GUESS WHAT ?! MY LOCAL COUNTY INSURANCE COVERS THE FIRST SLEEP STUDY FOR THE DIAGNOSIS, BUT THEY DO NOT COVER THE SECOND STUDY OR THE CPAP MACHINE TO TREAT THE DISORDER ! ! ! SO , I can find out what is wrong with me , but they won't help to make me better ! ! ! Thank God they do pay for my meds , which are now up to about $2,000 a month. It is amazing that those of us who are low income in this country are alive at all. I credit my life to Jesus Christ . I would have been dead before I was 20 if it weren't for the Lord , and that is the most true thing that I have ever said. soulight THIS IS MY STORY SO FAR : My story actually goes farther back than the story listed below.Back to when I left an abusive husband . Then I had to move from a big city that we lived in for 13 years because it is too expensive for a single mom with health problems. We moved in with family in a small midwest town ,who, unfortunatley, were set in their ways and didn't want to bend for the younger people ,and kicked us out.(It was actually from religious differences. I am a Christian , they aren't) I finally found a job that included " health insurance" (that was a joke), and that had hours where i could goto work after school started for my daughter,and be back home before school was over so that I could be there for my daughter ,and then this happened : 2 years ago i fell at work. i worked for a major discount chain store , that sells at "roll-back" prices. i wont mention the name , but you probably know who i mean. the first thing that happened after i fell , my manager said "you have the same injury on your hand that my mom had when she used to spank me"(weird i know) and "its the weekend when we have our best business" , and "your not really hurt that much" he refused to go along with my request to go to the hospital. a week later , i asked another manager to take me to a doctor . he did , i had a sprained neck, a sprained arm, a badly bruised hip and a problem with my balance and hearing.and i have been going to doctors , physical therapists ,occupational therapists ,and pain doctors ever since then. the company has put myself and my daughter and all my friends and family through living hell. the managers who messed up by not taking me to the doctor immeadiately were"transfered to a different store" so... after over 2 years of fighting this company andtheir insurance i ended up with no workers comp., no disability and no job. i am permantly disabled , and fighting for social security . my lawyer ,( who has ms herself and is an amazing person and example for me), is a God send , and is fighting for me. , as are all my doctors and therapists. But , in the meantime , i have 15 different medsthat cost over 1,500 dollars a month. i am currently being helped with those by our community health . but i was turned down for medicaid ,who was paying for the meds , and my lawyer is not sure when my appeal will come through , if it does ,andthe community health may run out. i am praying it doesnt. i am very thankful thati have it. i have no money. no income at all. my family and church are helping at the moment , and i have applied to everything that i can think of , or have been refered to. i have(not all are as a result of the accident) : insulin dependent diabetes,fibromyalgia , arthritis of the spine, high blood pressure , asthma , sleep apnea , circadian rythm disorder ,a vestibular balance problem , a gait(walking ) problem, myofacial pain disease ,allergies to all sorts of stuff , IBS ,adrenal problems , female problems , chronic pain for which my doctor put me on morphine , and depression (i wonder why?) my daughter(who also has diabetes) is a wonderful help. she is smart enough to have gotten into college with scholarships and grants. she has had to stay home and go to the community college to help care for me. my muscles dont work well, and i cant lift anything over 1/2 pound without dropping it. my daughter is trying to get a job to help and has applied to over 37 places so far. she hasnt had any luck. she doesnt have any work experience because all she has done in her spare time is help me. my parents have been helping , but my father is in a wheelchair ,and my mom just had complete hip replacement , so they have thier own problems.they also said they canthelp much longer. my social worker said that i cant be helped until i am facing eviction , and then i will have to pay them back. FROM WHAT MONEY? my lawyer said it will probably be 2 years before my sociail sec. appeal comes up. in the meantime , i dont know how my daughter and i will live. so far , i have been blessed by family and friends, but i am so ashamed that i can do nothing to help the situation myself . i dont want pity , i just want a way to make it so that i am not such a burden on others. (I HAVE BEEN READING SO MANY STORIES ABOUT PEOPLE ON THIS SITE ABOUT HOW THEY NEED HELP AND NO ONE IS HELPING. I DON'T FEEL LIKE I AM A BURDEN ANYMORE , JUST VERY THANKFUL. DONT LET ANYONE MAKE YOU FEEL GUILTY FOR NEEDING HELP. )10-5-06 YOU ARE WORTH IT. WE NEED MORE OF THE "UN-POOR" TO STOP BEING SO SELF-RIGHTEOUS AND WALK IN THE OTHER PERSONS' SHOES.-10-5-06 anyprayer or suggestions are gladly welcome please , if you have a story that is similar i would love to hear from you on how it turned out and if you have ANY SOURCES I CAN GO TO FOR HELP.(after all Aidpages are for People helping People !) thank you soulight_________________________________________ MY PAGES FOR FREE HELP AND RESOURCES THOSE OF US WHO ARE LOW INCOME OR HOMELESS OR DISABLED OR ??? NEED TO STICK TOGETHER . HERE ARE SOME OF MY CONTRIBUTIONS : LIST OF AIDPAGES BY SOULIGHT ___________________________________