The Great Gift Chronicles: You Gotta Have Art

The Great Gift Chronicles: You Gotta Have Art

Deals for Black Friday, Cyber Monday

Be sure and visit My Happy Sun tonight to get deals on Thanksgiving, Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Some deals are available now. Check back at midnight tonight...Happy Shopping!!!

The Great Gift Chronicles: Candle Lovers

The Great Gift Chronicles: Candle Lovers

The Great Gift Chronicles: Apothecary Gifts (Homeopathic)

The Great Gift Chronicles: Apothecary Gifts (Homeopathic)

The Great Gift Chronicles: Funny T-Shirts

The Great Gift Chronicles: Funny T-Shirts

Black Friday, Cyber Monday and Christmas Shopping

Hey to all you mommas and papas out there! It's been a while since I posted on this blog. Mainly because I've been working my butt off!!
I've been writing more articles on Hubpages and Wordpress. I've been learning about Twitter and how to tweet...it's addictive and ramping up my website, My Happy Sun, for Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, Cyber Monday, Hannukah and Christmas.

If you are looking for one-stop shopping, be sure to stop by and check out my website which is now live and has some great shopping deals. For Black Friday and Cyber Monday be sure to check back ON THOSE DAYS for deals.

Heel Condoms...Who Knew?

Heel Condoms...Who Knew?

Try these condoms on for size. They're for your shoes...not for, well, you get the idea!!

Change Your Medicine to Laughter

Laugh it up!!!!!

Change Your Medicine to Laughter

Hottest Movie Picks for January 2012 by Stayingalivemoma

Hottest Movie Picks for January 2012 by Stayingalivemoma

Be sure and start 2012 off right with these great movies in January!!

Great Gift Ideas That Also Support Race for the Cure

Great Gift Ideas That Also Support Race for the Cure

If you're already buying gifts for Christmas, why not support a worthy cause?

Disability Denied….Again

Filing for Social Security Disability is no easy task. This was my second time applying and getting denied….third time must be a charm. I hired a lawyer this time, however, so I am hoping that the 25% they will be getting is worthwhile.

Oh, Mr. Social Security, you say that you think I will be able to work in the next 12 months? Well, let’s see….I’ve been off work now for six months, the only thing that has gotten better is the eczema on my hands and everything else is getting worse. Hey Mr. Disability Examiner, why don’t you switch places with me for one day and THEN reevaluate my case!

Hmmm, let’s go through my wonderful day…

·         I have left ventricular dilated cardiomyopathy, so I am ALWAYS tired

·         I suffer from depression and anxiety disorders so some days I don’t want to see the sun and the days I do get moving I am so wound up and anxious that I should of stayed in bed

·         I have arthritis in my spine…my back always hurts or burns or throbs – I spend most my days either sitting in a chair with a heating pad on my back or laying down (on a heating pad)

·          I have vertigo(dizziness, room spinning) most weeks

·         I have numbness and tingling in my legs, feet, arms and hands in varying degrees of intensity

·         I have a herniated disc in my back

·         I experience memory loss or forgetfulness

·         Migraines

·         Oh, let’s not forget the asthma and COPD so I am short of breath

·         Cardiac arrhythmia – heart beat slows down and then speeds up, I feel like I’m going to faint

·         Undiagnosed is my widespread pain I have in my bones and muscles (going to pain management for that next week)

Okay, so HOW exactly am I going to be able to work? Let’s not forget how my medications make me tired and the two diuretics I take to control my swelling and high blood pressure make me pee most of the day. Again, I ask HOW exactly am I going to be able to work?

I am so out of my comfort zone. Should I have stayed at work and continued to take sick days(which I have no more of) or continued to constantly get up from my desk to go to the bathroom (which my boss didn’t like) or falling asleep at my desk (which I got caught doing) from my medication and then eventually get fired? Apparently…..

Today life is a bowl of the pits…..

Katt Williams’ Anti-Mexican Hysterics in Phoenix – Loyal American or Racist?

 Okay, let me first say this. I love Katt Williams. I think he is funny and he captures life’s ins and outs with a profanity driven spin that tears my insides apart. That being said, I am Black and I live in Phoenix, Arizona. After watching his antics at a show here a couple of days ago, I gotta wonder did he go too far.

Some would say, in comedy, there is no such thing as going too far. But I beg to differ….yes, we all laugh at jokes that poke fun at our race, our religion, our speech, our way of life, and the way we feel about the country. But just when is it not okay to make jokes about someone’s race? I think when you are making a direct insult fueled by anger to a person or people on a whole, it is offensive. Katt Williams got upset by an audience member who was Hispanic….in Phoenix…Arizona….a border state....well you get the idea….Katt Williams ran with it.

I’ve been checking out different articles on this story and reading the comments submitted by people. There seems to be a “he’s just saying what everyone else is scared to say” sort of thing. I also read some comments where people were greatly offended by what he said. Here's the link to the video in case you missed it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lLPgn3JDSnA

What I feel is this; I grew up in a mostly black part of Detroit where white people stayed with whites and black people stayed with blacks. We moved to the suburbs in my teen years and I got exposed to a cultural shock. Even more so when I moved out to Arizona from Michigan, there was an even greater culture shock. For the most part, everyone mingles with everyone, no matter what the race. I happen to really like Mexican people. I get into debates with family members all the time who do not feel the same. Yes, I know people who are racist. But I do not let that change my way of thinking. And I think we need more of that in this country. Think for yourself; don’t just go along with the mainstream norm, the Tea Party, the conservatives, the liberals, blah, blah, blah. Why can’t we all do what our mothers taught us growing up? Treat people the way they treat you. Or did some of us not grow up that way?

What did I do when I watched the video? I laughed, to be honest. Then I watched the Hispanic male leave from the audience. I have to say after watching the video, it was like being back in school watching two boys cap on each other and one was just better than the other at it. I don’t know what the Hispanic male said to Katt Williams, but it must have REALLY pissed him off in order for him to go all out like he did. Personally, I feel that once he saw that he was angered the audience member, he should have just moved on with his performance….but not Katt, he continued to add more fuel to the fire while at the same time raising his own blood pressure and leaving all common sense and professionalism behind.

I really don’t know how I feel about him now, but I know a lot of Mexicans and I can say (in my own experience) that they are some of the hardest working, family oriented people I know. Sure they have faults, but what race doesn’t? Hispanics, while racing towards being the new majority race in this nation, is also faced with being the new ‘black” people. In other words, you’ve got a fight on your hands for your identity just like us blacks have been and still are going through.  To all the Hispanic people that were offended by Katt Williams’ performance, I say this on behalf of him…. lo siento, perdoname por favor (I’m sorry, please forgive me).

Racisim? Uh, yeah...it still exists

I am so outraged at an article I read on CNN this week about a black man in Jackson, Mississippi who was beaten and then ran over by a truck because he was black. Here's the link to the article http://www.cnn.com/2011/CRIME/08/17/mississippi.hate.crime/index.html?hpt=ju_t3 . I was surprised to see some of the comments by people who clearly have not had a good upbringing. For the most part, people were in support of these idiot kids getting the death penalty.

There were a few comments, however, by some people who clearly want to take this issue and turn it into a "we didn't hear about the white on black crime" issue. Listen people, crime goes on EVERYWHERE in all races! Unfortunately, the media does sensationalize some stories more than others. This story needed to be sensationalized. It is a complete atrocity and believe me, if you watch the video and see that truck running that man over as he was staggering from just being beaten by these poor excuses for humans, then you would be angry too. That's if you have any kind of humanity, compassion, dare I say...soul?

I know people who are alive now and grew up in Mississippi. People who couldn't go into certain restaurants in town because they were Black. Like a friend of mine whose great-grandfather was stuffed and sealed in a cow by some White men....alive. (While his daughter watched.) No media spotlight for that one....Yes, it was many, many years ago when slavery had ended everywhere else except for...oh yeah, Mississippi. Are we really surprised to see teenagers running around in Mississippi with " F**k them Niggers" attitudes? Guess where they learned that from?

I wish people would stop playing tit-for-tat. There are some horrible, horrible crimes that have went on in the past against Blacks and are STILL GOING ON. I had my first racist moment with a white woman in Walmart last year. But I don't hate all white people because of it, Now, don't get me wrong. I love all races. I have friends of all races, my close black friends call me an "oreo" because I deal with white people. I don't think I am an oreo. I just chose to treat people according to how they treat me. I am cool with you until you insult me, steal from me, etc,. I don't care what color you are.

So today, my life is a bowl of fire. Fire that burns bright with the souls of all my brothers and sisters (black, white, muslim, asian, hispanic etc.)that have been lost due to hatred of our skin. Our skin! Not our minds, not our hearts or our actions, our skin. Think about that.

I love to hear any and all comments...please comment and share this story with others. We need to come together people and find a way to bring racism to a stop. For ALL races. God Bless.

Buffett to Congress: Don't 'coddle' me

Buffett to Congress: Don't 'coddle' me

Tax the Rich? Heck, yeah....

I read an article today on CNN http://money.cnn.com/2011/08/15/news/economy/buffett_tax_jobs/index.htm?hpt=hp_t2  that I couldn't agree more with....I am soooo tired of living hand to mouth, while rich people (of all races) sit up on their butts and get tax breaks. And no, I am not some lazy black welfare mother. I have always been employed since I was 15 until I got disabled. Why can't we all have insurance? Why can't someone who has billions of dollars sitting in a bank account help someone like me who is barely supporting a family of 6 on less than $18000 a  year disability income? What do you think?

Something's gotta give...then smile

Have you ever had one of those days when you just were ready to throw your hands up in the air and say the hell with it all? I know I have. I can remember in high school, having these big aspiring dreams and then...nothing. What went wrong? Or, right? I've always worked since I was 15. But here I am, almost 40, with five kids and a rap sheet of health conditions. Getting LTD from my job, waiting on a decision from SSDI. Applying for food stamps...something's gotta give.
So, my kids are aged 19, 16, 4, 3,2. Yep, 4, 3 and 2. What was I thinking? The 19 year old moved out, my 16 year old is being a...teenager. And my three little boys are, let's say, challenging.
But with every day of hearing screaming, crying and running along with my shortness of breath, palpitations, migraines, dizziness and back pain....there is a little glimmer of fireworks and rainbows. So, when my oldest son comes up to me out of the blue and hugs me and says, "I love you Mommy"...or when my husband tells me I'm the strongest woman he knows.......suddenly it's all worthwhile.
So here's my first blog, ever. What to write about? What do want to hear?
We are all the same, we have good days and bad days. We all want love, romance, money, friends, a supportive family, to be accepted and so on. Problem is life doesn't work out that way. Sometimes life IS a bowl of cherries for a select few. But for the majority of us, life is a bowl of...what?
Blog with me....let's talk about life, all of it. Don't hold back (respectfully).
Do you think your boss is a sexist pig?---Are you the victim of a hate crime or know someone who is?--How do you deal with racism?--Do you wish sometimes you could not be a mom for like 2 hours? Do you hate Republicans? Or Democrats? Do you hate how your hair will only grow to a certain length?-- Do you wake up in the morning and just lay in bed and cry for no reason?--Do you hate how your husband (or wife) nags or doesn't listen to you when you think you have something really important to say?
How is your life going? Tell me what kind of bowl life has given you today. Venting is good for the soul, believe me. Then, let's laugh about it. It gets better. It just has to. This blog is not just to help me, it's to help all of us. So read, type and weep...then smile.