Blue Monday/ The significance of blue pinwheels

This is the sight that greeted those who passed by our local county courthouse this week.

When I saw the blue pinwheels last year, gently spinning in the wind, the sun glistening off of them making them shine, I thought, "How pretty!" There was no sign indicating their purpose, but this year, I found out what they were all about. (This picture was obtained from the website of the local newspaper and is not my own.)

In a county of only about 30,000 people, it's shameful that 532 children had been abused during 2008. Actually, this number is down from 2007 when there were 700 reported children abused. It makes me wonder how many fell throught the system though and their abuse was not discovered.

Because of my professional credentials and my degree in human services, I am a mandated reporter. This means that if I even so much as suspect child abuse, I must call the county Department of Job and Family Services and report my suspicions.

I'll never forget the first report that I had to make. My son came home from school very angry because he heard that his 15 year old best friend had been in an argument with his father, and that his father had punched him three times, twice in the stomach and once in the face. I was so sad for this dear boy who was often a guest in my home, and I was beyond furious at the father. The next morning as soon as JFS opened up, I called and asked to speak to someone in Child Protective Services. My hands were shaking and I was crying as I did this, but I had to get involved, not just because I was required to do so, but also because this was the right thing to do!

A child protective services worker went to the boy's high school to speak with him. They asked him if he wanted his father out of the home or not, and he said he didn't want to make him leave, and since he was a teen, he was allowed to make the decision to stay under the same roof. His father was arrested and charged with domestic violence, and bailed out of jail. He was also required to attend 12 weeks of anger management. Though my son and his friends were very angry at me for reporting the incident as they felt I should have "let that be their business," I never once regreted reporting it. To the best of my knowledge, he never again laid a hand on this boy or his other children.

I have also had to make reports through my job. When a young mother reported that she had once punched her child, I had to report it. When a teen boy said that he had sex with a woman almost three times his age, I had to report it. It's so much easier to report after that first time.

So should you get involved if you see something suspicious? Absolutely! Even if it's just a suspicion of abuse or neglect, it needs to be reported. All that will result is that an investigation will be made. If the child is not being abused and is being appropriately cared for, the case is closed. If nothing else, it leaves a paper trail in case they are reported again. If they discover that there is indeed abuse going on, then charges will be made.

In my profession, I have heard of the most horrible stories of abuse. I heard stories of emotional abuse, physical abuse, and sexual abuse. What if you had the power to stop this abuse, even if you didn't know for sure that it was going on?

Here are the steps you can take: If there is immediate danger, such as you actually witness something physical going on, or for example, you see a toddler out in the dead of winter in just his diaper, then call 9-1-1 immediately! Otherwise, you can call your county Department of Job and Family Services and ask to speak to someone in the child protective services. Some people are afraid that they will have to give their name. No, you don't have to. You can make an anonymous report. I have always given my name, especially when it was part of my job, but its not required that you do so.

Keep in mind that if there has been a confidentiality agreement, such as I had with my clients, that confidentiality is allowed to be broken in the case of abuse or suspected abuse.

Though it's sad to have to even discuss this topic, keep in mind that by getting involved, you could help abuse to end in the life of a helpless child, and you might even save their life.

Be the instrument of help in their life!

Ooops, I almost forgot to direct you to Sally's blog, Smiling Sally for more Blue Monday posts!

Pink Saturday/ Pink Shelf, Pink Eastery Stuff

Sorry I am posting so late! It seemed that everything was conspiring against me today, including the dog barking half the night. I didn't end up getting out of bed until very early afternoon. I was also scanning some very cool old pictures at Walmart before picking up my disc of recently taken pictures, and there were problems with the scanning machines, so this took forever!



Add that to a general lack of get-up-and-go-ness, and you have a very late post!

Anyhow, on to the pinky stuff! I am still in the process of getting things up on the walls in my apartment, but am nearly finished. How do you like the little pink shelf?

Here it is in the raw, seriously needing some dressing up and tender loving care. I decided to paint it pink, and believe me, this thing was a serious biotch to paint! I really should have primed it first if I was going to use cheap spray paint.
After much trial and error, it finally came out pink. I thought it might look nice with my collection of faux African violets. I added in some Beanie Baby bunnies for Easter. I hung my vintage picture of a young girl above it, but somehow this didn't quite do it for me.
Next I tried the picture with the pink border. I liked this much better! The other picture now hangs to the side of this.

I needed to get a little Easter pink in here in honor of the season! I used to collect Beanie Babies, and now have a ton of them in storage, but I did keep out my bunnies for spring and Easter. See the little pink bunny on the left? There is some pink in the basket too, of course.
I found this precious little porcelain bunny at Goodwill. He will sit on my table for Easter brunch.

And this Easter egg plate, also from Goodwill, should be holding some deviled eggs.
Grand total for my Goodwill purchases was only $5, and I will have a cute table setting after all!

For more pink goodness, please visit Beverly at How Sweet the Sound.

Have a Happy Easter everyone, and may your day be especially blessed. And don't forget the reason for the season, Jesus' resurrection!

Updates

Since I haven't posted in over a week, I suppose I should offer an update.

I remain unemployed. The job I was so excited about didn't pan out. In other words, after working only 16 hours total out of two weeks and for less than minimum wage, they told me they didn't think I was right for the job.

I would really like to know how you can tell someone isn't right for a job when they've barely been given a chance to do it. When they asked if I had anything to say for myself, I did tell them that I didn't think I was even given a chance, and that I thought that children needed to see someone consistently and develop a bond and that I wasn't allowed to do this.

I did hear the daycare owner talk A LOT about firing people, A LOT. She had been taking applications for a month when I started work, but then she put out another ad for applications. The person training me had only been there for 4 weeks. This certainly makes me feel like I wasn't a bad worker, but that maybe their policies are bad. I am not technically fired, but I am rather "on hold." Whatever.

I remained on unemployment compensation since my income was so low. I am not getting any job prospects. For even fast food restaurant jobs, there are scores of applications. I am not worried about how we'll survive while I still get my unemployment checks, but not sure what I'll do when they eventually run out.

I'm really hoping that something comes up soon.

I have also been sick for the past two weeks with a bad cough. Not fun, especially for the uninsured.

My computer is still "out" being fixed. Not sure when I'll get it back. This makes it very hard for me to download pics since my son's computer is very old and there is no place for me to put the card from my camera. Right now, I am taking a bunch of pics, and will thengo to Walmart to have them put on a disc. However, I can't do much to edit my photos. This is the biggest reason I haven't been posting. The good news is that I took a bunch of pics and these should be enough for a week or two of posting.

I'll see you for Pink Saturday!

Slumdog Millionaire

The movie Slumdog Millionaire is finally out on DVD! I was lucky to be able to go see it at the local theater, but for those of you who didn't, I strongly encourage you to see this movie!

It won 8 Academy Awards including Best Picture.

It's the story of a young man who is a contestant on the Hindu version of Who Wants to be a Millionaire. During the film, he looks back on his life, showing how he knew the answers to the questions. It's the story of Jamal and his brother Salim, and Jamal's love Latika.

It's also a story of incredible brutality. Many of the scenes are truly hard to watch, mostly because there is truth to them! These things actually happen, or have happened! There is some violence in this movie. Unthinkable things happen even to small children. It is at some points incredibly heartbreaking. This is NOT a movie to take your young children to, though teens can handle it. Actually, I would encourage parents to take their teens to see this movie so they can learn how life is in other countries. It makes me so glad to live in a country where even when you are poor, you have so much more than these children!

Mostly though, the movie is about Jamal and his irrepressible spirt, and his faithfulness and love for a woman who he never forgets and still hopes beyond hope to be with again,...
...Latika, who he has loved since they were about 7 or 8. The children in this movie are portrayed by children actually living in the slums in Mumbai (or Bombay to those of us who are older). You will fall in love with these children, I swear!

The reason that Jamal goes on TV on Who Wants to be a Millionaire is because he hopes Latika will see it and contact him.

Does he succeed? Will they be reunited? Does she still love him too?

You'll just have to watch to see!

I love the music in this movie. My favorite is at the end of the film where they are dancing, Bollywood style.

Well, as many times as I've tried, I still haven't figured out how to add a video from YouTube, so if you want to see the video, click here.

The Pussycat Dolls also made their own version of the song in English. It's not too bad and also includes the original singer from India in their version. You can find that one here.

I love the videos because they are so full of energy and exuberance and happiness!

Pink Saturday/ Bathroom Makeover

Welcome to another Pink Saturday!

Remember this bathroom with the truly dreadful wallpaper that just screams "desperate '70's bachelor?"

And this ugly bathroom rug?

My landlord refused to let me rip down the wallpaper and wouldn't even let me paint over it! Besides, I had been unemployed and had no money. What on earth was I going to do to make this room into something I could love? (I am now only very marginally employed and still have no money, lol.)

First of all, I banished that little rug to the kitchen where it actually seems to kind of work.

Then I had to get creative! While going through bags and boxes, I found my old battenburg lace curtains that hung in my bedroom windows two houses ago. Since I couldn't remove the wallpaper or paint over it, and I certainly couldn't live with it, I decided to cover it! The curtains seemed to fit against the wall quite well!

I hung the curtains from some straight rods rather than staple them to the wall. I figured that it will be easy to remove the curtains for washing in the future.

Oh, now my shower curtain fits in too! I covered the floors with rugs I had two houses ago. See the cute little pink basket I found for $3 at Goodwill? I figured it could hold all kinds of things as I don't have much storage in the bathroom.

I love how the curtains look in my bathroom. Even the drop light seems to fit now!

I needed something over that huge mirror and the valances worked great! It even softened up the hard edges of the mirror. To cover the gap above the mirror, I cut up an old stained tablecloth and put that up to hide the wallpaper, plus it brings more pink into the bathroom!

I will need to get a strip of ribbon to cover the wallpaper right above the curtains.

I was still lacking a medicine cabinet. I had two huge ones at the old house, but couldn't put them on the wall here above the sink here because of that big mirror. I had an old display cabinet sitting around that I never really cared for and didn't use.

Sorry I didn't get a before pic of the front before I painted it, but I thought this pic would give you an idea of how it looked.

I'm not quite finished as I need to attach the scrapbook paper into the glass in the front, but this gives you an idea of how it will look. I still need to find someone who will loan me a jigsaw so I can cut a hole in the back. This will allow me to hang the cabinet up over the ugly thermostat that you see here.

With all these changes, I love my bathroom! It feels soft and romantic and very feminine now.

To see more Pink Saturday posts, please go to Smiling Sally's blog for a list of participants. The list is growing all the time!

Have a great Pink Saturday!

Foodie Friday - My Son Cooks Dinner

This is my first Foodie Friday post! You are not likely going to see another soon because, believe it or not, I really hate to cook! I do only what I have to.

Actually, this post is about a dinner that my 16 year old son made as a school assignment. He had to plan and cook an entire dinner. He had to make three dishes from a recipe, and he could use two boxed or bagged sides. He also had to make a table setting. His meal had to be nutritionally balanced and have a main dish, sides, and dessert. First of all, we went grocery shopping.



Though he certainly did not get the gene from me, I think my boy just might be a foodie! He seems to really enjoy cooking.


The first thing that he did was cut up peppers, cucumbers, and tomatoes and put them on skewers, topped by black olives. He put those in a olive oil, lemon and basil marinade.


He used a recipe that combined ground chicken with bread crumbs and other ingredients, and then he fried the patties.


He added tomatoes, lettuce leaves, alfalfa sprouts and cucumbers to his chicken burgers. Don't they look yummy! They were! Yummy enough even to forget about how he smoked out the whole house when he fried them.


The french fries were from a bag, but oh so good!


Didn't he do a nice job on the table setting? Ok, I confess, I helped a little. The dishes are my everyday dishes. Okay, they are my nice dishes too. Though I aspire to be a dishaholic someday, I only actually have one set that I use for any and all meals. My second set of dishes is the plain white paper plates I bought on sale at Meijer. The blue placemats were from Goodwill.


My son wanted something green in the setting because he cooked dinner on Saint Patrick's Day, so we decided that he could serve root beer floats in my depression glass parfait glasses. It looked so pretty and the floats were so good! I used Diet Root Beer on mine and only a very small amount of ice cream.


I really wish that I had a pic of the dessert he created. It was a very complicated recipe, but he managed to come up with a chocolate filled cake-roll sort of confection. It didn't last long. I so broke my diet on that cake!

Sorry I don't have recipes to add, but my son doesn't know where he put the cookbook!

I was very proud of my son and his cooking efforts.

To join the Foodie party, pop on over to Gollum's blog. Check it out for the awesome decorating too!

Jakey Settles In

Jake the dog is settling into our new place quite well. He has claimed his own special space. (Please ignore the boxes in these pics. We are still in the process of sorting through things!)


Remember my July 4th project from last summer? In the pic below, I had covered the cushion in a pink and yellow toile and the footrest in a pink knit throw. For the new place, I covered the seat cushion with my blue and white Goodwill bedspread, and put the dark red pillows from an old couch on the back, along with a light blue checkered pillow that I found packed away in the garage. A matching throw covers the footrest.


I also added a small pillow that was a $1 bargain from a garage sale last year. It says "Berry Sweet" and "Berry Good." Don't you believe it for a minute!


Here he is totally sacked out. It must be from all the walks I have been taking him on.


He likes to sleep on the couch too.


So does my son.


Jakey is so creative that he has even found his own drinking fountain!


Yes, I think the dog is happy here in his new home!


So are we!