Graduation :-D

Finally, the day has come for me to experience my final day with just one hour of sleep because I am up all night writing a Final. In under 2 days, I will be walking across the stage to claim my diploma and I couldnt be more excited. College has given me nowledge and experience that I could not have gained anywhere else but after 5 year, I am ready to be done. I will miss the people and the professors and learning but I will not miss driving 45 mins. everyday or spending 2 hours trying to find a parking spot, or paying $25 every other week for an expired meter ticket. Congratulations to everyone who has completed this stage of their life. It is not easy but a success worth celebrating!

For Every Action, There is a Reaction!

Yesterday, May 1st around midnight, President Obama announced to the citizens of the United States that a military operation had killed and captured Osama Bin Laden. Although this is a good thing for American and terrorism around the world, I am not sure if I can call it justice. Justice in America does not mean you can go and kill someone becasue they have killed others. I love my country and grieved terribly after 9-11 so yes I wanted Osama Bin Laden to pay for his actions, but in a justified way. I do not know the entire story so I cannot say that they did not have a just reason for shooting him in the head on that day. However, I wonder if he was a threat to them for them to shoot, if it was too high of a risk for them not to shoot, and if he even picked up a weapon to attack. Many people die everyday, yes! And I am not terribly concerned that Osama has lost his life because he has killed many during his lifetime, but I want it to be done in a way that America can be proud of and hold its head to saying we have not forgot about our core values. I am curious to know exactly what happened during this operation in Pakistan, which lead to the death of Osama Bin Laden.

The second thing I think people are forgetting is that Osama did not carry out these attacks himself. He has an army of followers and these followers are not going to be very happy with the death of their leader. Even if Osama was the brains of the operation, these followers are trained and may already have some experience in how to carry out an attack so I fear and I pray that it will never happen, but I fear for the lives of the American people. My daughter's father travels every week, so he is on a plane at least twice a week if not more. These followers will retaliate on America eventually and I hope that we do not let our guard down becasue I feel like some Americans will have to lose their life for this.

Pray, and be cautious of your surroundings. If you are on a plane and it is hijacked, please ban together and attack these men before they kill everyone. There needs to be a few brave people on the plane to risk their life for the lives of others. Yet, if you attack there is a chance you will live, but if you do not attack, their is no chance. Have a safe, strategic plan for a terrorist attack. God Bless America!

Lupus Awareness Month

May marks National Lupus Awareness Month. Many people have clouded ideas of what Lupus really is and that could be contributed to the fact that the definition and cause are also a little clouded. There is not a thorough understanding even amongst the medical community as to what exactly causes Lupus.

The known facts about lupus are that it is an autoimmune disease, which means the body starts attacking and destroying its own healthy cells, tissue, and organs. Instead of having a defense system that attacks foreign objects adn material that enter the body like viruses and parasites, the body gets confused and does the exact opposite.

Statistically, lupus affects more women between the age of 15 and 45, during their reproductive years. Men can also have lupus and those that do, usually have it much worst than women. The disease is sought to have a connection with sex hormones, meaning estrogen and testosterone and their are currently studies being conducted to determine the exact relationship between the two and lupus.

This month, please learn a little about this disease and what you can do to help. The main symptom is exhaustion and many patients lack the ability to just wake up and go like the rest of us. It takes them a long time to convince themsel;ves to get out of bed becasue they are either suffering from joint pain or just the result of the body working so hard to fight off something.

Please visit the Lupus Foundation of America, Greater Cleveland Chapter or anline at http://www.lupuscleveland.org/ and learn about how you can help change the life of someone with this terrible disease.

Rewards to Motherhood!

When I first realized I was pregnant, I didnt know how to feel because I wanted to be excited about having a child but I was not married and I was not finished with school. I am strictly pro-life and abortion was out of the question so I tried to focus on my health and exercising to make sure that my little girl or boy was healthy. I originally wanted a little boy because I wanted him to be the older protective brother over his younger sister. But when the doctor said revealed it was a girl I thought about all of the movie nights and shopping we could do together and how much she could be a little mini me.

My daughter is now 21 months old and although she is entering the terrible two stage she is incredibly smart and funny. To see her personality change over time has been a great process that I am proud to have been a part of. When she wakes up she usually whines once and then says morning momma over and over again even though she doesnt see me and I cant help but have the biggest smile on my face at 7-7:30 a.m. If it was up to me, we would wake up at 10 a.m. not earlier but she has started to become an early riser, which means although I get to sleep at four or five, I am an early riser! She dances, plays and repeats everything. She laughs at things she thinks are funny even if noone else does LOL

She sings the entire twinkle twinkle little star song, knows all of her body parts, even her wrist and ankle. knows her right and left, she counts to ten skipping 1 and 9 (haha) and she knows rhymths to songs she hears alot. I have been letting her watch your baby can read dvd's and she has learned alot of words from that. She loves to read and would rather read a book with momma than play with a toy around night time.

This will be her second christmas and I am looking forward to seeing her unwrap her millions of toys by herself becasue it took such a long time last year doing it. LOL

Fall 2010 Semester

So, at the beginning of this semester I was set to graduate on Dec. 19, 2010. I chose to stay one more semester and graduate with a second degree in Spring 2011. Everything keeps reminding me that I would be done with school in three days. Cleveland State keeps sending me flyers on rings and cap and gown instructions because I was already approved for graduation prior to changing it and everytime I get graduation items it makes me sad to think I would have been done. Lol But it is good to get two degrees in five years than two in eight, right? Thats what I keep telling myself to help get over me not graduating on time. I know that it is the wiser decision of both but I was so excited to graduate this semester that the closer it gets the more I think about how it would feel to be crossing that stage. One good thing about this time of year though it that finals are almost finished and I have learned a great deal this semester. The work load was a lot more and alot harder than previous semesters but it was definitely worth it. First I had an internship with the National Alliance on Mental Illness for greater Cleveland and working in the real world made me realize some things about my field that I love and some that I do not think I would like in a job. I am starting to get excited about what I could learn next semester and what I can teach to someone else. I am glad that Fall 2010 is coming to an end and I hope next semester is even more rewarding. Have a great end to 2010 and happy new year!!

Holiday Season

Families of all backgrounds and ethnicites come together for the holidays to share food, gifts and laughter in each others company. Although many cultures have holiday's throughout the year, the holiday season is usually synonomous with winter and surrounds itself around the christmas holiday. The events most celebrated begin the day before thanksgiving, which is known as the busiest time of year for bars because everyone is home for the holiday and friends get together to have a drink before the feast the next day. Then its thanksgiving, which families eat a huge dinner and then alot head to the movies with soaring box office . Black friday is one of the busiest shopping days in the entire year. Alot of stores have began to start early on thanksgiving day because the stores are so busy. For example this year, toys r us began its sales on 10pm thursday night. I thought I would wait until 11pm so that most people would already be in the checkout line or gone. However, when I got there there was a line that wrapped around the building. It was pouring down rain and I had left my umbrella in the car, so I looked behind me in line and decided that it was not worth getting back in line behind the 50 or so people that were behind me. I waited for about a half hour in that line as I kept checking the ad to see what I circled and if it was even worth waiting in line anymore. Finally, I got into the store and found the items I wanted as I looked over to my right and saw that the checkout line wrapped around every isle in the store. Luckily, I found one of my friends towards the end of the line and stood in line with her. We waited about 2 or more hours in line to checkout. A few of my relatives stood in line at walmart from 9pm - 5am to get a flat screen t.v. Every year the deals get harder and harder to get and people start loosing alot of sleep over gifts either for themselves or for other people. I didnt get to sleep until 2:30pm on Friday which means I went to bed at 4am thanksgiving morning and woke up at 8am thanksgiving morning and didnt get back to sleep until 2:30pm the day after thanksgiving. Sleep is a vital component of one's life and well-being, so why do we sacrifice so much of it around the holidays without any complaints?