I met the former residents and descendants of former residents of Promise Land, Tennessee several years ago at the motel I work at. They are a group of of very sweet, beautiful People that are trying to keep their ancient culture alive, just as we Native Americans are.
Ms. Serina Gilbert, the main organizer of the annual events came by the motel yesterday. As always, it was wonderfully refreshing visit.
This coming June 6, 2009 they will be having African Tribal Dancing and Arts & Crafts displays and sales. This email is an invite from Ms. Gilbert, extended to you through me to come be a part of this cultural event. All artists can set up a booth for free and demonstrate their arts and sale their wares.
They wish to extend a special invite to Native American Dancers with the understanding that regrettably, they are unable to provide any funding to cover your expenses.
Personally, I see this as another wonderful opportunity to not only share our culture but to educate others as to the truth and remove the stereotypes society has towards the Indigenous Peoples of this land--our Ancestors.
I do plan to attend and demonstrate myself. My skills and talents are limited compared to most of yours.
I have made arrangements for a discounted rate for all Native Americans that will be demonstrating at this event. The discount will be based upon how many are willing to show up. If you are planning to attend or even think you might attend, please call Ms. Serina Gilbert at 61... and tell her you received a copy of this email.
Her email is gilbertsk@bellsouth.net. My contact information is WaccamawWoman@gmail.com, home phone is 615-952-2740 and if you are on Verizon cell you can me free at 864-99.... If you are planning to participate and will need lodging accommodations at a motel, please let me know ASAP. There are several groups coming into the motel that weekend of June 6, 2009. We do have more than one motel available to use with discounts.
For more information you may wish to check out these links:
Promise Land Tennessee http://www.promiselandtn.com/
Promise Land South Carolina http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Promised_Land,_South_Carolina
The Motel I work at and the first choice for you all to stay at http://tinyurl.com/boysss
For those that travel in RVs, there is a KOA campground and a state Park: Dickson KOA Campground150 W Christi Dr., Dickson TN 37055, 615-446-9925
Tanbark Campground125 S Spradlin Rd, Dickson TN 37055, 615-441-1613 Montgomery Bell State Park
http://www.tennessee.gov/environment/parks/MontgomeryBell/index.shtml
Please, if you know any crafts person or dancer that may be interested, please pass this information on to them.
Cha'kwaina
The Great Spirit is in all things, he is in the air we breathe. The Great Spirit is our Father, but the Earth is our Mother. She nourishes us, that which we put into the ground she returns to us....
Big Thunder (Bedagi) Wabanaki Algonquin
Friday, January 23, 2009
Friday, January 9, 2009
Days of Caring--Alzheimer's
As some of you that know me and/or follow me on other places on the web, already know, my fiance's sister has Alzheimer's as does her husband and we are caring for them.
This is not an easy task as it is only us. Let me introduce each of us to you, the blog reader:
Me--I am 41 with a birthday coming up soon. You can actually read my profile to learn more about me. I do want to note some medical conditions here as they have a bearing on this particular blog entry-hypertension, spondylosis, and rheumatism.
Dave-He is 65½. He has had open heart by-pass surgery and four heart attacks afterwards. He is now showing signs of congestive heart failure. He has also had four arteriograms.
Robbie-Dave's 79½ year old sister. She was diagnosed with Alzheimer's about 2½ years ago. She also has a low thyroid, and is B vitamin defienct, and suffers with hypertension. She has a dominant personality.
Bob- Robbie's 83 year old husband who will be 84 in a few weeks. He also has Alzheimer's and was diagnosed at the same time she was. He lost a kidney about six years ago to cancer. He has also been diagnosed with renal failure, hypertension, brain aneurysm, and two femoral aneurysms. The left femoral aneurysm was repaired in July 2008 when he underwent an above the knee leg amputation due to PAD. Bob is a docile person.
Some of Bob and Robbie's medical conditions, if not all of them, worsened as her Alzheimer's progressed. See she had it for many years before anyone noticed. They all just assumed it was her eccentric personality getting worse with age. As has been discovered, she was not allowing Bob to take his medications nor was she taking hers, this only made each condition worse.
About two and a half years ago, several family members had tried to call and for several days not gotten an answer. A sister sent her husband and niece down to check on them.
Robbie was in the floor half naked and Bob was just ignoring that fact and the phone and door.
Dave was called and he came down. The niece had dressed Robbie and placed her in a wheelchair she still had from breaking her leg several years previous due to osteoporosis.
At this time Robbie had ataxia and just could not remember how to walk. She went to a nursing home for what was supposed to be a twenty day stay for rehab--to teach her how to walk again.
At eighteen days they called us and told us to come get her immediately or they would be placing her in a mental health facility as she had obtained a nail file and tried to stab a member of the staff.
A few of Robbie's escapades at the nursing home:
This is not an easy task as it is only us. Let me introduce each of us to you, the blog reader:
Me--I am 41 with a birthday coming up soon. You can actually read my profile to learn more about me. I do want to note some medical conditions here as they have a bearing on this particular blog entry-hypertension, spondylosis, and rheumatism.
Dave-He is 65½. He has had open heart by-pass surgery and four heart attacks afterwards. He is now showing signs of congestive heart failure. He has also had four arteriograms.
Robbie-Dave's 79½ year old sister. She was diagnosed with Alzheimer's about 2½ years ago. She also has a low thyroid, and is B vitamin defienct, and suffers with hypertension. She has a dominant personality.
Bob- Robbie's 83 year old husband who will be 84 in a few weeks. He also has Alzheimer's and was diagnosed at the same time she was. He lost a kidney about six years ago to cancer. He has also been diagnosed with renal failure, hypertension, brain aneurysm, and two femoral aneurysms. The left femoral aneurysm was repaired in July 2008 when he underwent an above the knee leg amputation due to PAD. Bob is a docile person.
Some of Bob and Robbie's medical conditions, if not all of them, worsened as her Alzheimer's progressed. See she had it for many years before anyone noticed. They all just assumed it was her eccentric personality getting worse with age. As has been discovered, she was not allowing Bob to take his medications nor was she taking hers, this only made each condition worse.
About two and a half years ago, several family members had tried to call and for several days not gotten an answer. A sister sent her husband and niece down to check on them.
Robbie was in the floor half naked and Bob was just ignoring that fact and the phone and door.
Dave was called and he came down. The niece had dressed Robbie and placed her in a wheelchair she still had from breaking her leg several years previous due to osteoporosis.
At this time Robbie had ataxia and just could not remember how to walk. She went to a nursing home for what was supposed to be a twenty day stay for rehab--to teach her how to walk again.
At eighteen days they called us and told us to come get her immediately or they would be placing her in a mental health facility as she had obtained a nail file and tried to stab a member of the staff.
A few of Robbie's escapades at the nursing home:
- Going in other people's rooms and taking their clothes.
- Going in other people's rooms and putting her clothes in their closets.
- Locked herself in a gentleman's closet with a trash can. She was peeing in it.
- Trying to run away.
- Jerking the covers off of sleeping patients at night and yelling at them to get out of her house.
We have had to put double key deadbolts on all the outside doors. There are cam locks on all the cabinets in the house. We had to add a door to the utility room. The fridge and freezer have padlocks. All the clothes have been removed from her room and put behind lock and key. The bathroom has been emptied for her safety. The stove is not functional as she "cleaned" it to the point it will no longer work--she was taking the eyes out in the dark. (Yes, the electricity is off to the stove.)
There are no typical days. Robbie slide off into yesteryear a long time ago. She maybe in 1975, 1982 or 1946 and not on different days, sometimes all in the same hour.
Bob forgets he only has one leg now and will try to stand and walk.
They both have hallucinations and delusions and sometimes she has paranoia.
Sometimes Robbie is aggressive but not as much now with medications in her system for sometime at this point.
They both have sundowners at times.
Robbie also exhibits repetitious behaviors.
Please, learn the warning signs of Alzheimer's. Getting an early diagnosis can add productive years to your loved one's life.
Please, go here to sign a petition asking President elect Obama to make Alzheimer's a priority.
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Motel Breakfast Offerings
What do you expect, in the way of a a complimentary breakfast, when you are traveling?
You can set your expectations too high or too low. Either of these extremes is NOT good.
Some motels only offer a basic "Continental Breakfast" of coffee, tea, cereals, milk, juice, fruit and sweet breads.
Other places will offer some type of hot breakfast. This may include some type of egg (boiled, scrambled, cooked to order), one or more breakfast meats, waffles or pancakes, hot and cold cereals, juice, fruit, milk, coffee, sweet breads, bagels, toast. Maybe even sausage gravy and biscuits.
In my experience, most will offer something somewhere in between these two.
You can not expect every motel to offer every possible breakfast option out there.
If you are on a special medical, religious or other diet, you can not, in all fairness, expect a complimentary breakfast to cater to your diet.
You can not live in the southwest where Huevos Rancheros are a common place item on full service restaurant menus, to be served on a complimentary breakfast bar.
Is it truly fair to expect a mid-range motel, without a restaurant in it, to serve biscuits, gravy, two or more breakfast meats, eggs to order, waffles and pancakes, english muffins in two or more flavors, bagels in six flavors, salsa, hot sauce, and on and on?
If have specialized needs and or tastes, when making your travel plans, please, research the motels you will be staying at. Before making a reservation, call the motel and ask what is served on the breakfast menu, including what condiments are available.
With this information in hand, you can better prepare for your special needs and/or wants for breakfast. We all have them and it is just plain impossible for a motel's complimentary breakfast to accommodate every person's "perfect breakfast wish".
You can set your expectations too high or too low. Either of these extremes is NOT good.
Some motels only offer a basic "Continental Breakfast" of coffee, tea, cereals, milk, juice, fruit and sweet breads.
Other places will offer some type of hot breakfast. This may include some type of egg (boiled, scrambled, cooked to order), one or more breakfast meats, waffles or pancakes, hot and cold cereals, juice, fruit, milk, coffee, sweet breads, bagels, toast. Maybe even sausage gravy and biscuits.
In my experience, most will offer something somewhere in between these two.
You can not expect every motel to offer every possible breakfast option out there.
If you are on a special medical, religious or other diet, you can not, in all fairness, expect a complimentary breakfast to cater to your diet.
You can not live in the southwest where Huevos Rancheros are a common place item on full service restaurant menus, to be served on a complimentary breakfast bar.
Is it truly fair to expect a mid-range motel, without a restaurant in it, to serve biscuits, gravy, two or more breakfast meats, eggs to order, waffles and pancakes, english muffins in two or more flavors, bagels in six flavors, salsa, hot sauce, and on and on?
If have specialized needs and or tastes, when making your travel plans, please, research the motels you will be staying at. Before making a reservation, call the motel and ask what is served on the breakfast menu, including what condiments are available.
With this information in hand, you can better prepare for your special needs and/or wants for breakfast. We all have them and it is just plain impossible for a motel's complimentary breakfast to accommodate every person's "perfect breakfast wish".
Sunday, December 28, 2008
Last 2008 Update on my Brother
Well, unless something drastic or miraculous occurs!
When I went to Pau Wau I stopped at Mama & Don's both ways. Don is getting around for short distances fairly well. You can see the pain on his face at times though.
I was very surprised to see his right leg bowed out so badly. It is apparently because the hospital in Atlanta had him placing weight on it much, much too soon after the surgery.
He is still going to therapy several times a week. Sometimes we will be talking and he tells me the therapist was either hard or easy on him. LOL
The doctor recently verified that he will bee 100% disabled for the rest of his life.
Don was pretty good artist at one time and he is thinking about making greetings cards.
A lady at church that is also disabled but able to drive is taking Don to his appointments so Mama does not have to take days off work anymore. Many thanks to Laurie for doing this.
When I went to Pau Wau I stopped at Mama & Don's both ways. Don is getting around for short distances fairly well. You can see the pain on his face at times though.
I was very surprised to see his right leg bowed out so badly. It is apparently because the hospital in Atlanta had him placing weight on it much, much too soon after the surgery.
He is still going to therapy several times a week. Sometimes we will be talking and he tells me the therapist was either hard or easy on him. LOL
The doctor recently verified that he will bee 100% disabled for the rest of his life.
Don was pretty good artist at one time and he is thinking about making greetings cards.
A lady at church that is also disabled but able to drive is taking Don to his appointments so Mama does not have to take days off work anymore. Many thanks to Laurie for doing this.
Expecting A New GrandBaby!
I will have a new granddaughter in April. She's due the ninth but I'll bet my bottom dollar my Mom is praying for her to be born on the twelfth--Mom's birthday!
As with all births there is some apprehension along with all the excitement! All babies are welcome, but G. had complications during the pregnancy and birthing of her last child--a beautiful boy.
G. is in an expedited nursing program and will be graduating in April about two weeks after the babies birth. She'll be a bit strapped for about four weeks but she is conservative with her money and a good pre-planner.
Actually, she pushes herself much too hard sometimes.
Right now G. has a cold that has turned into an ear infection and is spending her Christmas break trying to rest and recover.
As with all births there is some apprehension along with all the excitement! All babies are welcome, but G. had complications during the pregnancy and birthing of her last child--a beautiful boy.
G. is in an expedited nursing program and will be graduating in April about two weeks after the babies birth. She'll be a bit strapped for about four weeks but she is conservative with her money and a good pre-planner.
Actually, she pushes herself much too hard sometimes.
Right now G. has a cold that has turned into an ear infection and is spending her Christmas break trying to rest and recover.
Saturday, November 29, 2008
firstamendmentcenter.org: news
firstamendmentcenter.org: news
Five year boy expelled from school for practicing his religious beliefs!!!
Five year boy expelled from school for practicing his religious beliefs!!!
Saturday, November 22, 2008
Baby Blanket for a Friend
I have finally finished a blanket for a friend. She is expecting a boy and is doing his room in teddy bear browns.
Sunday, October 19, 2008
Saturday, October 4, 2008
Handicapped Parking Spots
Sometimes, people, myself included, just do not think.
I want you to take a moment and close your eyes and picture a handicapped person. What do you see?
My car, sadly, sports a handicapped license plate. I park in the handicapped parking spot at work and other places. Several weeks ago a lady came back and told another employee that she wanted to lodge a complaint--an employee was parked in a handicapped parking spot.
I want you to take a moment and close your eyes and picture a handicapped person. What do you see?
My car, sadly, sports a handicapped license plate. I park in the handicapped parking spot at work and other places. Several weeks ago a lady came back and told another employee that she wanted to lodge a complaint--an employee was parked in a handicapped parking spot.
It apparently never occurred to this woman that handicapped people have limitations and are productive, contributing citizens.
As the conversation ensued this woman expressed that surely I could not have any handicapping conditions as I was gainfully employed and did not use a wheelchair.
People, not all conditions that limit mobility are visible.
You can not see into my spinal column and see the bone spurs that are prying my vertebrae apart and at times cause nerves to be pinched thus causing excruciating pain that can and does bring me to my knees. There are times the pain is bad enough I faint.
You can not see the spinal stenosis that is causing my bony spinal column to close in around the nerves of my spinal column and that movement, such as walking, can cause the nerves to rub against those bones. Again, this is extremely painful.
You can not see the rheumatoid arthritis in my hips, knees and other joints that has been damaging these joints since I was nine (9) years old. You can not see the pain that causes me.
You can not see the rheumatism in my lungs that makes breathing difficult.
Then there was my Daddy. He had gout in the soles of his feet. It looked like someone had implanted golf balls in them. I could see the pain on his face as he would walk the shorter distances from the handicapped parking spots to the door.
I also saw the tears as people yelled at him for being lazy and taking a spot he did not deserve.
No one could see the enlarged heart beating in his chest overworked by the exercise of walking those few feet.
I continue to work because I refuse not to. My Daddy continued to go to the store whenever he had a good day.
Think before you judge someone.
As the conversation ensued this woman expressed that surely I could not have any handicapping conditions as I was gainfully employed and did not use a wheelchair.
People, not all conditions that limit mobility are visible.
You can not see into my spinal column and see the bone spurs that are prying my vertebrae apart and at times cause nerves to be pinched thus causing excruciating pain that can and does bring me to my knees. There are times the pain is bad enough I faint.
You can not see the spinal stenosis that is causing my bony spinal column to close in around the nerves of my spinal column and that movement, such as walking, can cause the nerves to rub against those bones. Again, this is extremely painful.
You can not see the rheumatoid arthritis in my hips, knees and other joints that has been damaging these joints since I was nine (9) years old. You can not see the pain that causes me.
You can not see the rheumatism in my lungs that makes breathing difficult.
Then there was my Daddy. He had gout in the soles of his feet. It looked like someone had implanted golf balls in them. I could see the pain on his face as he would walk the shorter distances from the handicapped parking spots to the door.
I also saw the tears as people yelled at him for being lazy and taking a spot he did not deserve.
No one could see the enlarged heart beating in his chest overworked by the exercise of walking those few feet.
I continue to work because I refuse not to. My Daddy continued to go to the store whenever he had a good day.
Think before you judge someone.
Sunday, September 21, 2008
Remember to Complain, Forget to Praise
It has been a great few days but as I work with the public it is pretty much anything goes.
The boss is out of town and "Murphy" of Murphy's Law fame does live very close to the workplace and comes by to visit on occasion.
Since Friday many people have complimented me on my great customer service and all the little extra things I have done to make their experience here more pleasant.
These people did not fill out a survey card and drop it in the comments box. They did not call the corporate office and tell them how impressed they are with the company due to my wonderful attitude and customer service skills.
However, I will remember these people and their praise will stay in my heart and spur me to continue to always to my best and treat people as humans.
Today there were two complainers. One I believe was a misunderstanding and the other just wanted a freebie.
Did they call the corporate office? Well, of course.
That is fine. That is one of the reasons we have managers and supervisors.
It sure would have been nice if just one of the people that saw how I was doing all I could to be friendly and helpful would have made sure the head honchos knew that also.
Please, let the managers and supervisors of the businesses you use know when someone is doing a good job.
You never know, but if all that ever gets reported are complaints, your fav grocer checker just may get fired.
The boss is out of town and "Murphy" of Murphy's Law fame does live very close to the workplace and comes by to visit on occasion.
Since Friday many people have complimented me on my great customer service and all the little extra things I have done to make their experience here more pleasant.
These people did not fill out a survey card and drop it in the comments box. They did not call the corporate office and tell them how impressed they are with the company due to my wonderful attitude and customer service skills.
However, I will remember these people and their praise will stay in my heart and spur me to continue to always to my best and treat people as humans.
Today there were two complainers. One I believe was a misunderstanding and the other just wanted a freebie.
Did they call the corporate office? Well, of course.
That is fine. That is one of the reasons we have managers and supervisors.
It sure would have been nice if just one of the people that saw how I was doing all I could to be friendly and helpful would have made sure the head honchos knew that also.
Please, let the managers and supervisors of the businesses you use know when someone is doing a good job.
You never know, but if all that ever gets reported are complaints, your fav grocer checker just may get fired.
