MAMMO AND GRANDKIDS IN SANTAS WORKSHOP

When you are learning to do new things on the internet; there are so many new worlds that open up to you. This was something I was able to create using my picture and pictures of my grandkids to create a fun Christmas card to send to people. I thought that you might like to see this as well. JibJab is a also a fun place to get jokes and other ecards. Check them out:
http://www.jibjab.com

James and I are wishing everyone a very Happy and Healthy Holiday season. Get those New Year's resolutions ready to write down. We will share some of our thoughts on that subject after 2008 is officially here. Right now we are enjoying the season.

Don't send a lame Holiday eCard. Try JibJab Sendables!

LIVING GREEN--Use Less Stuff

Another of the things that I can do for my children and my children's children!

My husband and I live in an area which is predominately older; therefore many things are simpler and less in quantity.....until we get to the holidays.

With out of town guests over Thanksgiving week; I found myself carrying out almost twice as much trash and recycling pieces than we usually have. As I looked around on our block; I realized that we were not alone in our increased consumption. Everyone had more "trash" than normal.

In an effort to do what I can for the Earth and the environment; I am always looking for the ways that we can make even little strides in conservation that will add up to large savings if done by many.

I found a site called ULS (Use less stuff)
UseLessStuff
Check out this site for a checklist of simple things you can do to reduce waste while you eat, drink, and make merry this holiday season.

The following "Did You Knows" will make you think.

**Did you know...at least 28 billion pounds of edible food are wasted each year - or over 100 pounds per person. Putting one less cookie on Santa's plate will reduce his snacking by about 2 million pounds.
**Did you know...if each family reduced holiday gasoline consumption by one gallon (about twenty miles), we'd reduce greenhouse gas emissions by one million tons?
**Did you know...in 1981 the average household received 59 mail order catalogues, and by 1991 the number had increased 140%, to 142?
**Did you know...if each household canceled 10 mail-order catalogues it would reduce trash by 3.5 pounds per year? (If everybody did this, the stack of canceled catalogues would be 2,000 miles high!)
**Did you know...the 2.65 billion Christmas cards sold each year n the U.S. could fill a football field 10 stories high? If we each sent one card less, we'd save 50,000 cubic yards of paper
**Did you know...if every family reused just two feet of holiday ribbon, the 38,000 miles of ribbon saved could tie a bow around the entire planet?

RETIRED AND SAVING THE CHILDREN

FOR THE CHILDREN:

"Children are like wet cement. Whatever falls on them makes an impression." Dr. Haim Ginott (1922-1973) teacher, child psychologist and psychotherapist, who worked with children and parents.

Serving Children in Crisis: Save the Children Helps Children Impacted by California Wildfires and Seeks Public Support for Response
Save the Children staffer Nino Acuna plays with 5-year-old Angelina at a shelter in Santee, Calif. Save the Children provided games and other safe play materials to the shelter where Angelina and her family are sheltered. This is the second evacuation for them during this fire. Their house was destroyed in the fires of 2003. And they do not know the status of their current home.

Save the Children is calling on the public to support the agency's efforts to assist children and families affected by the devastating wildfires in Southern California. Today, Toys"R"Us, Inc. announced that the Toys"R"Us Children's Fund is supporting the response effort by donating $250,000 to Save the Children's California relief work.
Read more
Ten Tips to Help Children Cope with the California Wildfires
Following 9/11 and again after Hurricane Katrina, Save the Children prepared the following 10 tips to help adults support children through times of crisis.
Read more
emergencies/us-california-fires/
california-wildfires-blog.html">
www.savethechildren.org/
Live from the Scene
Save the Children's staff on the ground in San Diego share their impressions of responding to the southern California wildfires.
Read more
Vice President, U.S. Programs Mark Shriver on Fox & Friends
Vice President, U.S. Programs
Mark Shriver on Fox & Friends
Assembling Safe Space Kits
Donate to support Save the Children's emergency management work in the United States, including our efforts in California and throughout the U.S.

FOR THE ADULTS:

If you or the group of which you are a member wish to make a contribution to the general fund to help the victims of the San Diego Wildfires, please read the following. We can't just shake our heads and feel sorry for these people; we need to step up and lend a helping hand.

Our thoughts and prayers are with everyone affected by the fires raging through Southern California, and I know many of you want to help those in need with your time and money. So we would like to share some links with you from the Los Angeles Times about ways that you can get involved.

American Red Cross: Cash donations can be made through donate/donate.html"> www.redcross.org
or through a local Red Cross chapter. Volunteers also are needed. Information on shelter locations can be found on Red Cross websites for Los Angeles, Ventura, Orange and San Diego counties and the Inland Empire. Donations of clothing can be made at Goodwill locations. Information: (800) REDCROSS or (800) 257-7575 for Spanish speakers.

Salvation Army: Cash contributions can be made through its website www.salvationarmy-socal.org or by calling (800) SALARMY.

Governor's Office of Emergency Services: Businesses wishing to donate large quantities of goods for distribution to fire victims can call (800) 750-2858 between 8 a.m. and 10 p.m. Pacific time. Individuals wanting to donate items or volunteer to help with local disaster response efforts should contact the Red Cross or go to the governor's CaliforniaVolunteers website at www.californiavolunteers.org.

United Health Group: Southern Californians coping with the emotional consequences of the fires can call a counseling hotline at (866) 342-6892. The free service provided by the insurance company will be available around the clock for as long as needed.

FOR THE PETS:

The Los Angeles Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals: Cash donations are needed to support efforts to provide emergency shelter for animals displaced by the fires. Contributions can be made through www.spcala.com or by calling (888) SPCALA1. Food supplies also are needed.

New Leash on Life: The animal rescue group needs help caring for evacuated pets at its Newhall facility. The group can be contacted at (661) 255-0097.

Regardless of which group of people tugs on your heart strings and plays your song; there are any number of titles you can listen to: children, people who have lost their home, the pets affected.
Please step out of your comfort zone and help the children, people, and animals in the most need right now.

THANK YOU

"The universal brotherhood of man is our most precious possession."
Mark Twain (1835 - 1910)

NORTH SAN DIEGO COUNTY WILDFIRES!

Here is a follow-up of the post I made last night. Pictures speak so much louder than words. Our prayers and thoughts are with everyone who has lost their homes.

Now the evacuations total over 350,000---that is homes, not people. Now the estimated number of homes destroyed total over 1,000 and the numbers will surely increase with the Santa Anna winds continuing to rage through the area.

RETIRED-SWITCHING TORNADOES FOR WILDFIRES!

When we retired and moved from Nebraska to California; everyone told that we were moving to the state and area where there were earthquakes and the state was going to fall into the ocean. We laughed to ourselves and sometimes to the people who said that to us. We always tried to point out the number of earthquakes in California in a year compared to the number of tornadoes in Nebraska in a year. I actually drove through one driving home from Nebraska Wesleyan in Lincoln to my home in Omaha; being really homesick.

We have felt two earthquakes since we moved to California in 2001. Both times we had to ask each other, "Wow, was that an earthquake?". What we had not been warned about or prepared for were wildfires. Sure, since we moved here; we have seen wildfires burning on our TV from areas mostly far from us.

In 2003, there was a wildfire (now referred to the Cedars Fire) that was close to the area where we lived but not threatening to us. Today, in our community, we have lived in a state of emergency. We woke this morning at 4:30 because of the Santa Anna winds shaking the house. When we turned on the TV; we learned that the wildfire that had started in the area had been fueled by the Santa Anna winds into smaller wildfires around the San Diego area; including one in our new hometown.

Watching the local TV, we saw up close and personal the fires move from away from our "space" to encroaching upon it.

View Larger Map

We took the precautions and loaded up the trunk of our car with "things" that we had to take. How do you go through your home and think -- "What do I take that is invaluable to me?". I grabbed the many boxes of family and friend's pictures -- knowing that they couldn't be replaced. Grabbed important papers and packed clothes and toiletry/ medical needs. (I admit, I was ready to grab my pillow.) Took pictures on my digital camera of the rest of the belongings in our house in case we needed to file an insurance claim. What a trip that exercise will put you through.

We waited for the "reverse 911 call" that would tell us that we needed to evacuate our house. Once afternoon came and we could watch the sky from our driveway go from the ugly, gray, orange haze from the smoke to patches of blue sky with whiter clouds; we knocked on wood--hugged each other and thanked Mother Nature for sparing our immediate area.

Unfortunately, tonight we are still watching with apprehension as the winds and low humidity and dry conditions are posing new dangers for the night. Our trunk is still packed and we are staying vigilant. But our hearts go out to the people who did not escape the vicious fires. Over 250,000 people have been evacuated from their homes because of the danger; close to 500 homes have been damaged or destroyed with more on the way; 16 firefighters have been sent to the hospital, some in critical condition. I can't imagine the devastation we will see when this is over.

BUT, as a former Directore of a Volunteer Services Program in Nebraska, I am so impressed and moved by the outpouring of support from both businesses and individuals for the displaced homeowners and everyone affected by the wildfires. So heartwarming.

I am sure that most of you have seen the national news talking about these wildfires. If there is a way that you could support these people with a contribution; you can do so through the Red Cross.

"Since national is coming to help, we're asking people to donate to the national disaster relief fund and designate to the San Diego County Wildfires," said Jeff Wiemann, chief financial officer for the San Diego/Imperial Counties Red Cross.

Donors who want their contributions to the national fund to be earmarked for San Diego should use the account code No. 616.

However, San Diego Red Cross CEO Veronica "Ronne" Froman said last night, "If people want to send their donations to our chapter, that's their call."

http://www.redcross.org/donate/donate.html