A friend got a holiday card with those four words on it. I love it. The
sentiment sums up what I believe year-round.

 As 2011 comes to a close take some time to reflect on all of the people in your
life and all of the blessings you have been given...not just during the
holidays, but EVERY DAY.

I am a regular reader of POSITIVELY POSITIVE. I know you are all stunned by this
revelation. Their blogs are uplifting and engaging. The blog for today is titled
"Your Presence is the Ultimate Present":

 http://www.positivelypositive.com/2011/12/23/presence/

In a season where materialism/greed get the best of so many, I challenge you to
take the time to be present...to recognize that the greatest gift we all can
offer to ourselves and others is the gift of truly being "present".

Also...
See the good in everyone.
Be thankful.
Be patient.
Forgive others and forgive yourself.
Be present.

Family and friends are a blessing to me - including you,TBA readers...my "little
hens".

And, no holiday is complete (in my house) without a rendition of this classic

1980s holiday anthem:

Looking forward to what 2012 has in store for us all.

  

A few tips I've found that actually work. For those without a land-line, scroll to the junk-mail section....

Tips for Handling Telemarketers

Three Little Words That Work!!
 
(1) The three little words are: 'Hold On, Please...'

 Saying this, while putting down your phone and walking off (instead of hanging-up immediately) would make each telemarketing call so much more time-consuming that boiler room sales would grind to a halt.
 
Then when you eventually hear the phone company's 'beep-beep-beep' tone, you know it's time to go back and hang up your handset, which has efficiently completed its task.
 
 These three little words will help eliminate telephone soliciting.
 
(2) Do you ever get those annoying phone calls with no one on the other end?

This is a telemarketing technique where a machine makes phone calls and records the time of day when a person answers the phone.
 
This technique is used to determine the best time of day for a 'real' sales person to call back and get someone at home.
 
 What you can do after answering, if you notice there is no one there, is to immediately start hitting your # button on the phone, 6 or 7 times as quickly as possible. This confuses the machine that dialed the call, and it kicks your number out of their system.. Gosh, what a shame not to have your name in their system any longer!!!

(3) Junk Mail Help:

When you get 'ads' enclosed with your phone or utility bill, return these 'ads' with your payment. Let the sending companies throw their own junk mail away.
 
 When you get those 'pre-approved' letters in the mail for everything from credit cards to 2nd mortgages and similar type junk, do not throw away the return envelope.
 
Most of these come with postage-paid return envelopes, right? It costs them more than the regular 44 cents postage, 'IF' and when they receive them back.
 
 It costs them nothing if you throw them away! The postage was around 50 cents before the last increase and it is according to the weight. In that case, why not get rid of some of your other junk mail and put it in these cool little, postage-paid return envelopes.
 
Let's help keep our postal service busy since they are saying that e-mail is cutting into their business profits, and that's why they need to increase postage costs again.
You get the idea!
 

  

As Thanksgiving nears and I reflect on the blessings of the past year, I want to say “Thank You” to my family here at The Buzz About. Since I first posted in January 2009 I’ve had the pleasure of getting to know many of you in person and/or virtually via this amazing “interweb”.

I’ve received comments from a middle school soccer coach whose team follows me here. I have corresponded with an elementary school class whose teacher encourages them to ask me questions about my hens. When I attended the Glee Live 3D movie preview this August I tweeted live as a group of young girls followed along at a sleepover they planned around the event. So fun and sweet! I’ve heard from folks all over this wide world. For this I am so very grateful. Whether our relationships are cultivated face-to-face or through the internet, know that I value your feedback and feel so grateful for the opportunity I’ve been given to share my randomness with you all.

It’s been a while since I’ve shared pictures of the hens with you all so I’ll take this opportunity to introduce our new red hens – including this gal who enjoys roosting on our 6 foot fence as she nibbles on berries from our neighbor’s bushes.

We got 4 of these pretty girls back in June 2011 at 3 days old and they’ve just started laying the most beautiful small brown eggs. They RULE the backyard. Cooper and Ranger, our mini dachshunds, are often targets as the hens LOVE to sneak up on them and pick their tails. Cooper often watches dutifully from our sunroom – making sure the hens are behaving themselves.

In other news, my paternal grandmother, affectionately called Maminnie by all who knew her, passed away on November 9^th at age 94. I flew home to Georgia for her funeral and had the chance to reconnect with many of my distant relatives. Maminnie was one of eleven children. I can’t imagine what it was like to grow up with that many brothers and sisters. Seeing her surviving siblings at the funeral reminded me of how grateful I am for family. Of Maminnie’s siblings, Aunt Bessie, Aunt Clifford, Aunt Ellen and Uncle Jack remain – all in their late 80s-early 90s. I will miss Maminnie more than words can express. I want to be just like her when I grow up.

On a completely different note, I went to Nashville this weekend to see friends and attend Brandi Carlile’s headlining show at the Ryman and her debut on the Grand Ole Opry radio show on Friday.

Below are a few highlights that I think you’ll enjoy:

Brandi singing “Ghost” (Indigo Girls cover):

Brandi Carlile and Band singing “Raise Hell” – their debut on the Grand Ole Opry radio show:

Yesterday, before we flew back to Philadelphia, we drove south of Nashville, along the Natchez Trace. It’s a beautiful area and we fell in love with the rolling hills. Historic Franklin (TN) was another favorite spot and had some great restaurants and shops and felt a bit like Mayberry – all while being only 30 minutes from downtown Nashville.

Switching gears (again), I’ve been impressed with the Santana storyline on this 3^rd season of Glee. Naya Rivera (who plays Santana) has really shown her singing and acting chops with some pretty intense scenes. The latest episode has Finn “outing” Santana after her relentless bullying pushes him over the edge. I literally gasped out loud when he did that. NO PERSON DESERVES TO BE OUTED – ever. While Santana’s bullying has intensified as she grapples with her identity, she in no way should be “forced out” by anyone. I follow Dorothy Snarker’s blog and she explains it perfectly, in my opinion. Read her post here: http://dorothysurrenders.blogspot.com/2011/11/out-of-this-world.html and let me know what you think.

And, while it is always a treat to have Idina Menzel on Glee, I find the Puck/Shelby storyline and the Quinn/Shelby adoption drama too forced. Just sayin’.

OK, friends…I suppose I should sign off for now. Know that I am grateful for your support and comments. Keep ‘em coming. You can even email me directly here on TBA. Simply go to the “Contact” section.

I hope to post more consistently. If I don’t, feel free to remind me.

You know how an ADD gal like me can get distracted.

  

Let's be very clear, straightaway: When someone tells you that they saw the abuse of child, you have an obligation to call the police. Maybe that is not your legal obligation. Maybe you can think that you can just tell your superior and then wash your hands of it because it's all you "had" to do. But then you have to live for the rest of your life knowing that you could have stopped the abuse of every child that came after that one. Maybe there are 8 in total. Maybe there are more. Maybe your fulfilling your legal obligation wasn't enough.

The scandal at The Pennsylvania State University over former Penn State defensive football coach Jerry Sandusky has erupted and enveloped the careers of former athletic director Tim Curley, former university vice president Gary Schultz, former university president Graham Spanier, and former football coach Joe Paterno. If this week's events are any indication, things will only get worse before they get better in Happy Valley.

As details emerged, Penn State officials soon learned that there was no longer a broom big enough, nor a rug wide enough, under which they could continue to sweep the actions of their former employee Sandusky and the culture of protectionism the university fostered, from it's athletic director to its vice president for finance to its university president, and, yes, even to the venerable Paterno. "The university is much larger than its athletic programs," says John Surma, vice chairman of the Board of Trustees for The Pennsylvania State University. There's a good portion of Penn Staters that are very much feeling otherwise this morning, the first full day that Penn State is without Joe Paterno.

There are victims in this crisis, and they are very real. But let's be clear that the victims are not named Curley, Schultz, Spanier, or Paterno. The victims are the eight, possibly more, young men who suffered from abuse. They are the ones that deserve the fervor of our support.

Higher education is a business, this is something I know all too well. And Penn State thought that protecting a brand, both the university's and Paterno's own personal legacy, were, for too many years, more important than the safety of young children. This course of action is reprehensible when you, as an institution, function in loco parentis for so many.

After the announcement of the firings of Spanier and Paterno were announced, Penn State had the chance to show what they are. The fact that the images that followed were ones of unrest and destruction... Over the loss of a football coach. If part of the problem at Penn State is a culture of protectionism, what are we to make of overturned news vans and broken car windows, acts perpetrated by angry students because an 84-year-old coach lost his job? How is there any way to not take a look at that man and see that he didn't do enough? When Penn State needed to speak volumes about it's character and integrity, many failed this important test through acts of destruction under the guise of blind faith to man who's character and integrity failed them, and who, by his own admission, should have done more when he had the chance. Their defense is that Paterno is a "good man" and has done so much good, generally to the tune of $4 million, for the university, and that he did "all he was supposed to do."

To that defense, I say this: What if it was your child? Would you, as a parent, be able to say "Oh, well, he did all that he was legally required to do."? Would you be able to say that, really? And would you be able to look in your child's eyes after? In saying that Paterno was a good man who did all he was legally required to do, you are discounting the reactions and experience of these victims and their families. You are saying that their pain, suffering, and treatment doesn't matter.

You're saying football, which is a game, is more important than the safety of a child.

  

The incredibly talented "State Radio" will join us for an interview next month. In the meantime, please read details about their upcoming tour dates, efforts to provide shelter for Afghan women, and service projects in cities along their East Coast Tour.

Starting October 29th, State Radio will be touring the east coast with special performances from Massachusetts to DC, encouraging social awareness within the local and global communities.

To kick things off, the band and their fans will walk the Northampton streets in costume. That is, before State Radio's Halloween show at the Calvin Theater, band members and hundreds of fans from throughout the Northeast will participate in the 3rd annual Calling All Crows’ Northampton Halloween 5K. This zany, fun run/walk -- in costume through the streets of Downtown Northampton, Massachusetts -- will help Calling All Crows raise funds to support 50 Afghan women with shelter and education for one year. For more information, please visit: http://callingallcrows.org/2011-nh5k/

When State Radio rolls into your town this fall, be sure to stop by the Calling All Crows table to lend your voice to “Calling for Maternal Health” campaign, providing shelter for Afghan women.

And like every tour over the last three years, members of State Radio will join local fans at pre-show Calling All Crows service projects in select cities.  Check CallingAllCrows.org for the more details.

Tour Dates:

10/28/11 – Northampton, MA @ Iron Horse Music Hall*
10/29/11 – Northampton, MA @ Calvin Theater
11/04/11 – Burlington, VT @ Higher Ground
11/05/11 – Burlington, VT @ Higher Ground
11/10/11 – Philadelphia, PA @ Union Transfer
11/11/11 – Philadelphia, PA @ Union Transfer
11/12/11 – Pittsburgh, PA @ Mr. Small's Theatre
11/18/11 – Ithaca, NY @ The Haunt
11/19/11 – Portland, ME @ State Theatre
11/25/11 – Washington, DC @ 9:30 Club
* Chad “Chadwick” Stokes solo tour date

Calling All Crows is a registered 501(c) 3 non-profit organization that mobilizes musicians and their fans to empower women around the world through service. Visit them online: CallingAllCrows.org.

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