Our Yule/Christmas

Our Christmas was OK. Glenn and I were broke this year so things weren't as good as they had been in past years, but my kids had a great time thanks to a lot of wonderful people. My friend Andrew and his parents gave us their old Christmas tree, so we could have a tree for the Holidays. They are amazing and I'm glad that they helped us, because they didn't have to. Glenn's step-grandparents sent us some money for presents so we were able to buy the kids some clothes and movies. Also, Glenn's god mother and god sister sent the kids a lot of clothes and a few toys. Glenn's dad and his dad's girlfriend bought the kids some clothes too. We couldn't buy the kids anything this year so we signed the kids up for Toys for Tots and the school counselor put their names on an Angel tree so they received a couple gifts from those programs as well. My mother has told me she has a gift for each of them and Glenn's mother is sending money soon for the kids. So, thanks to our lovely friends and family and a few generous strangers, my kids had a great Christmas even though we were unable to buy them anything. We also made homemade ornaments for our tree this year instead of buying them. The following are pictures that I took.

The Beating of David Ivins

Note: I do not own rights to these photos. All rights belong to the photographers who took them.

I'm one of those types of people that is always checking the news to see what is going on in Lincoln, Ne, across America, and around the world. I love to find out what's going on in the world outside my home. I see disturbing news stories all the time, but there was a story released this week that made me cry more than once and shocked me so much I was speechless. After going through so many emotions from shock, to sadness, to now anger, I knew that I had to do a blog post about this story. I can't stop thinking about it, because it is so disturbing. I'm talking about the story that broke on National news about the beating of David Ivins, a 50 year old homeless man from Belmar, New Jersey.

Here is a video of the incident. I must warn you it is quite graphic. The original was taken off of youtube, but this news report shows portions of the original video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ekuhMFS0bKo&feature=related

The Attack

David Ivins, a 50 year old homeless man from New Jersey was viciously beaten and humiliated on 2 separate occasions on December 11th & 12th, 2011. The video shows that he was attacked in a wooded area by 20 year old Taylor Giresi while his 17 year old accomplice records the attack. Giresi can be seen kicking, punching, kneeing, and pushing David Ivins to the ground and David not fighting back. They also stole the man's bike (some news reports said that in the end the bike was left in the woods) while David pleaded with them saying he needed his bike. The last clips of the video shows David Ivins walking away without his belongings, while Giresi takes off with David's bike. The video also shows what belongings that David Ivin's did have, scattered across the ground. A horrific and humiliating experience for a man who is struggling and who just wanted to be left alone. The 2 attackers recorded the attack so they could upload the video to youtube, because in their minds they thought people would find it funny like they did. The police received several tips about the video so police decided to watch it. Shortly after police watched the video and identified who the attackers were, the 17 and 20 year old were arrested. 20 year old Taylor Giresi is being held in Monmouth County Jail in Freehold Township on between $60,000 and  $100,000 bail (exact dollar amount is hard to say with news outlets reporting different amounts) without the option of paying 10% for his release. He's being charged with aggravated assault, conspiracy to commit assault, second degree robbery, and theft. The un-named 17 year old was charged with conspiracy to commit assault and theft and was released into the custody of his parents pending a future court date. The original video the guys posted to youtube was taken down, but not before going viral and the news has been showing some of the clips from the original video. The story hit the National news on December 20th, 2011 and caused an uproar of disgust across the nation. Most Americans making comments saying they couldn't watch the news videos because it was so disturbing. And most others who did watch saying they were heart broken and cried at the sight of a defenseless homeless man being attacked for a few laughs.

Some of the videos and news stories from the media. They contain graphic images and content.

The Young Turks
http://youtu.be/WjjNNFaj1IM

CNN
http://www.cnn.com/video/?/video/bestoftv/2011/12/21/hln-homeless-beating-news-12-nj.hln#/video/bestoftv/2011/12/21/hln-homeless-beating-news-12-nj.hln

Huffington Post
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/12/20/video-of-homeless-man-bea_n_1160466.html

The Raw Story
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/12/20/homeless-new-jersey-man-beaten-then-wished-merry-christmas-on-video/

Most news outlets (except ABC News that I can find) made this one of their main stories in this week's headlines. I'm not quite sure why ABC News did not make this story a priority. The only story I found on ABC News was a story re posted that the Associated Press had originally released. It doesn't look good on their end. I find it appalling that they did big news stories about a Jesus toaster and a cat surviving a ride under a car hood for 3 hours, but didn't take the time to report on this story about a defenseless homeless man being assaulted by 2 young bullies. Glad I don't rely on them for serious news stories. I greatly dislike Fox News, but even they made a point to cover this story.

David Ivins is doing OK. He has no serious injuries, but did have to be rushed to the hospital Wednesday night. He had gone to the Belmar Police Department to pick up a bicycle that someone had donated to him. While in the police department he suffered a seizure and was rushed by ambulance to Jersey Shore University Medical Center. He was later released.

A Nation of Giving

This was a disturbing incident, but what happened next made me proud of our country and the people in it. The was a huge outpouring of love and charity from the American people who all wanted to help David Ivins. Donations have been set up at several different places for him. People are donating food and clothing, gift cards to different stores and restaurants, and most importantly cash for food, clothing, shelter, and anything else that he may need. Also other donations including a new bicycle have been dropped off at BelmarBelmar Inn has put him in a room for free until January 3rd. Johnny Kash has set up a facebook page to honor and help David. The page is called Support David Ivins of Belmar, NJ. The page gives information on how to help David with donations and gives people from all over a place to leave comments of support. Here is a link.

 https://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Support-for-David-Ivins-of-Belmar-NJ/248717178529532

Belmar, NJ Mayor Matt Doherty took the time to meet and talk with David to make sure he was OK and taken care of. Others are trying to help him with his alcohol addiction. A man named Michael Behning has set up a website called DavidIvins.org. Michael's site was inspired by David's story, but he says on the site that he wants to help others like David in the future through the site. The site also gives information on how to donate to David. Here is the link to the site.

http://davidivins.org/

Also, I would like to include the information and name of the detective assigned to this assault case. Detective Bono is the officer assigned to the case. Address and phone number are the following.

Wall Township Police Department
c/o Detective Bono
2700 Alldaire Rd.
Wall Township, NJ 07719
(732) 449-4800

New Jersey Legislation

Among some of the news reports there was information on legislation New Jersey lawmakers are trying to pass for situation like this one. Legislators in New Jersey have put forward a bill that would increase penalties and mandate jail time for video taping and distributing the recording of an assault. Under the proposed legislation, videotaping and distributing the recording of an assault will result in an automatic second-degree aggravated assault charge. A person convicted of second-degree aggravated assault can face 5-10 years in prison and face a fine up to $150,000.

Future Plans for David Ivins

David Ivins family and friends have rushed to reconnect with him after seeing the attack on the news and locating him. In a interview with reporters, David says he plans to spend Christmas with his mother and his sister. He says that he wants to stay sober and work on his alcohol addiction. He says he wants to start attending AA meetings and plans to go to a rehab center in Pennsylvania after the New Year. David says that he needs to change his life around and find a job. With help from his friends, family, donations, and rehab I have high hopes for him and hope he gets over his addiction and recovers physically and mentally from this senseless assault. After 8 years of being homeless of and on and being unemployed while being addicted to alcohol, it's sad that it took a savage assault for people to sit up and notice that this man needed help. I hope his story makes a difference for all homeless people in our country. As for his attackers, I hope they get maximum sentences on the charges they are facing. It takes a sick and twisted person to attack a defenseless homeless person not once, but twice just for laughs and than post a video of it on youtube. I also find it disgusting that the 20 year old Taylor's mother, Joanne Jost tried to defend her son's action in a CNN interview. I wish David the best in his life and hope this is a wake up call to the nation that we the people need to step up and help our fellow citizens. This is one of the richest and greatest countries in the world and our fellow Americans should not be sleeping in the streets and woods because no one cares enough to help them.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/story/2011-12-23/homeless-nj-beaten-youtube/52191164/1

http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2011/12/outpour_of_support_for_nj_home.html

Smallwood Household Update

I've been busy lately making ornaments for our tree. We are low on funds this year so my children and I are making Yule decorations for the tree. We already made salt dough tree ornaments. I plan on buying paints in the next few days, so I can get them painted. We are getting some thin ribbon to hang the ornaments from also. My children and I are planning on making puzzle piece wreaths, stringing popcorn, peppermint discs garland, ball ornaments made from those round coca cola pop bottles they sell at Christmas time, and etc. I'll have to do another post with pics when they are all finished.

My kids are super excited about the holiday season. They can't wait for presents and good food. As I said, we are low on funds, but we plan on getting a few things for my kids that they need and some of my family and Glenn's family is stepping up and buying for my kids this year. We plan on making the most of what we can do. I love watching my kids' faces light up when they see all of their presents. They are still little and don't mind what they get as long as they get something. Stocking stuffers are easy for them. They usually are OK with some holiday candy and toy cars for the boys while the girls like hair ties and lip gloss.

Lincoln, Nebraska got it's first snow storm a few days ago. The kids kept running to the window to watch the snow fall and yelling "Mommy look! It's snowing!" Yep, I heard that no less then 20 times in a few hours. I can't wait until we have a heavier snow fall, so the kids can go sledding. Our first snow wasn't so amazing for everyone. One family traveling on I-80 got rear ended by a semi truck that couldn't stop. The mother, father, and 1 year old child survived, but the couples 2 year old child was killed. I can't imagine the pain they are feeling. There have been many other accidents as well. The snow wasn't bad, it was the rain and ice that caused all the chaos. I know how dangerous winter in the Midwest can be. My husband's little sister, Charity, was killed on December 22nd, 2004. The person she was with over corrected the car after it slid on some ice sending the car spinning out of control while the semi truck behind them could not stop and struck the car several times while it spun. My best friend and a girl who was like my own little sister was the only one killed in the accident.  I'll have to tell the whole story about that later on. I know what it's like to lose a loved one in a car accident caused by bad weather (and bad driving). Our winter storms can be deadly, so I hope folks buckle up and drive safe during the holidays.

My son, Landon, has missed a few more days of school while he was sick. I now have to have a meeting with the teachers and principal to discuss why my son missed school thank to Nebraska's horrible new truancy law. The school my kids usually go to is being renovated, so the kids are bussed  to the far south end of Lincoln to a temp school. So, I have to waste a 1/4 of a tank of gas to drive there and back to tell them my son was sick on the days he missed (which they already know). If he misses 7 more days for any reason, I have to go to court and could face a fine or lose custody of my son because he was sick. Nebraska's truancy law does not excuse days missed due to an illness or any other reason either. Parents of kids with chronic illnesses, military families, and etc. are being treated like criminals for keeping their children home for any reason. Also. because of this horrible law that doesn't excuse ANY missed days, parents are sending their children to school sick to avoid trouble and their kids are making others sick. My son has been sick more then usual this year as well as other kids who normally are not sick. I keep my kids home when they are sick, even with this stupid law in effect. I'll probably wind up in court, but it's a fight I'm willing to step up and face. I'm Landon's mother and Nebraska law makers are telling me that my parental rights don't matter and they know what's best for MY child. When did the Nebraska become a police state? Our governor is one of the many persons responsible for pushing this law through, and even with Nebraska families showing more and more outrage over the law,  he still defends the law and sees nothing wrong with it. He's a Republican, so it's no surprise he is so dis-connected from Nebraskans and what they want.

That's a few things that are going on in my household as of lately. A post with pics of Holiday crafts will be coming soon. Also, I will probably do a post about Occupy Wall Street. I'm putting together info. for that post right now and it will also be posted soon.

Tis the season to be jolly?

Yep! It's that time of year again, the Holiday Season. And what is everyone doing? Complaining, being greedy, being violent, verbally attacking each other, and etc. What a great time of year, huh? It usually starts with Black Friday. I stay home that day, because getting trampled to death to save a few bucks just doesn't sound all that fun to me. My family is usually has no money to go shopping too. This year's Black Friday was just like the rest. People got trampled, fights broke out, there were shootings, pepper spraying, police brutality, the whole works. It's like this every year. It's sad and it's pathetic.

Fox "News" is doing their yearly made up crisis about the "war" on Christmas. They think their is a war on Christmas every year, because some people say Happy Holidays instead of Merry Christmas. They think it's offensive and offends their God. I've read the bible and I guess I must have missed the part about Christmas. For a channel that panders to a party that prides itself on freedom for all, when did they decide that everyone has to conform to their views and only their religion is that right one? That's not freedom. And they keep nagging and whining that our nation is a Christian nation and blah, blah, blah. Um, our nation is a diverse one and always has been. Our founding fathers believed in religious freedom, not Christianity is the one true religion. I have no problem with Cristians in general, it's the crazy ones that I can't stand. If you want to say Merry Christmas and have a Christmas tree then do so. But don't be offended at others when they say Happy Holidays, Happy Yule, Happy Hanukkah, or call their tree a Holiday tree or a Yule tree. They are also Americans and have the right to celebrate the season in their own way.

Another thing that is sickening to me is watching the rich people this year spending tons of money on stuff they don't need while so many are going without. Our economy has been bad for several years now and the rich keep getting rich, the poor are getting poorer, and our middle class is now the upper class poor. There isn't much of a middle class left. There is the few folks that are rich and the rest are poor or soon to be poor. I must make it clear that I don't hate all rich people. Their are a lot of good people with a lot of money that give a good chunk of that to those in need. Then, there are a large group of greedy assholes that just don't care. If I had all the money that some of those people did, I would be putting a lot of that money back into the hands of folks who need it. The Holiday Season is supposed to be a time of joy and sharing, but every year it seems more people get meaner and greedier. Maybe it just seems that way the last few years, because most people are hurting and need help. I'm hoping that things get better for my family and others who are struggling. I'm also hoping that people will stop being so selfish and petty and just be happy and thankful for what they have.

Have a Happy and Blessed Yule everyone!

Baby Huls!

My beautiful niece, Britney is preggo and I couldn't be happier for her. She is 17 so the pregnancy has raised some concerns about her health and her future plans, but our family is very confident that she will finish high school and go on to college like she has planned. Her pregnancy is going OK so far and we are all hoping the delivery goes well. She's very mature and smart for her age so we know she will be a  good mother to her child. She's a senior in high school this year. I'm sure she never imagined being pregnant during her senior year, but things happen. Britney did not mean to get pregnant, but even with taking all precautions, it still happened. Even though my niece is scared to death about being pregnant, she's happy and trying to adjust. She goes to school and  has a job and her boyfriend has a full time job making decent money. They have their own place and are doing very well right now. I hope they continue to do well. So, we are all excited and planning for the baby. Between the baby shower, the delivery, and after the birth there is a lot to plan, buy, and do. Britney and her boyfriend Kyle want a baby boy. My sister Jenny and her husband I think also hoping for a boy. I was hoping to have another little girl in the family (we have a lot of boys already) and I'm not sure if anyone else has weighed in on  it yet. We all hope she has a healthy baby. This is the big news in our family lately. I recently went to my sister's to celebrate Thanksgiving with her family and snapped some pictures of Britney's baby bump which I will post below.

The Sick Season In Nebraska

It's that time of year again when lots of folks are getting ready for the holidays. My family however, is trying to deal with and prepare for being sick for the next 5 months and it's already starting. I have four children who seem to catch colds and spread germs easily, so if one of them gets sick, they usually all get sick. From the end of October to the middle of March are the months when we go through a lot of tissues, cough medicine, antibiotics, and etc. For some reason after having four children, my immune system isn't functioning as well as it used to and for the last few years I have been getting sick quite a bit. Being sick while trying to care for sick children is a horrible and exhausting task. I try to avoid people who are sick and I consume plenty of vitamin C, but it doesn't help when I have kids bringing home germs with them from school. I've learned that kids are amazing at spreading illness to other people. My kids being sick so often is going to be tough on all of us this year. Last year the state of Nebraska passed a new truancy law stating that if your child misses more then 20 days of school in a year you and your child get reported to the county attorney. A lot of states have these laws and I understand the reason behind them, however Nebraska is the only state with a truancy law that doesn't excuse school absences due to illness. So, what's the result of this you may ask? Well, our justice system is being cluttered up with these cases, it's costing our state a ton of money, the cases of parents in our state being investigated for child abuse and neglect has quadrupled under this law, our state has had a major increase in children being taken from their homes and being put in the state's custody due to this law. There have been a lot of parents angry over this new law and rightly so. I think it's outrageous that families that have kids with cancer, HIV, and other illness that compromise their immune system are being hauled into court over their children being sick. And, they have to take their kids out of school to go to court. That doesn't make sense either. There are thousands of kids across this state that get serious illnesses or have chronic and incurable diseases and illnesses and miss more then 20 days of school a year because of it. How can our state say that these cannot be excused and that parents should lose there children due to being sick? How can anyone in this state not be upset by this or think it's OK? Personally, it outrages me, because my children are in that category of kids who miss a lot of school, because they are sick. My children still do very well in school, but this year I'm afraid of losing them thanks to this outrageous law. I don't think any child should be ripped away from their family and thrown in foster care or juvie for missing school from being sick. I don't think parents should be fined or thrown in jail, because their kids are sick. I'm scared for my children. Right now two of my children are battling bronchitis and have missed a number of days because of it. Earlier this year they missed a few days, because they had the stomache flu. If things keep going like this my kids might go over that 20 day limit, and there is nothing I can do. I'm not allowed to send them to school when they are sick, but I can lose them if I don't. It makes no sense to me. I will continue to care for my kids and try to keep them from becoming sick, but there is only so much a parent can do. I love my kids and don't want to lose them and I hope Nebraska changes this law soon, so that illnesses will be considered excused absences. I think the law as is should be repealled. I'm hoping I do not lose my children or go to jail and get fined because our state lawmakers think they know what's best for everyone else's lives.


http://www.omaha.com/article/20111002/NEWS01/710029894

http://nfpf.blogspot.com/p/current-issue-repeal-new-truancy-law.html

http://www.omaha.com/article/20111002/NEWS01/710029910/0#parents-chafe-at-truancy-oversight

Excited About Samhain

Yay! It's that special time of year again. Samhain (Halloween known to most) is a day away. I'm super excited. For those of you who don't know Samhain (pronounced Sow-in) is a Pagan holiday that falls on October 31st. What is Samhain? Samhain is known by most folks as Halloween, but for Wiccans and Pagans it's considered a Sabbath to honor the ancestors who came before us. It's a good time to contact the spirit world with a seance, because it's the time when the veil between this world and the next is at its thinnest. Samhain is when we honor our ancestors who came before us. If we’re fortunate, they will return to communicate with us from beyond the veil, and offer advice, protection and guidance for the upcoming year. Samhain is also marks the very end of the harvest and most Pagans/Wiccans consider Samhain their New Year.

Why Samhain Is Important To Me!

Samhain/Halloween is a special day for me. It is the day my oldest daughter Hailey was born. She will be 8 years old this year. She got an early present this year, a little black kitten that we named Midnight. The perfect gift for any little witch in training. It also marks the day of my father's funeral. That's right, they held his funeral on October 31, 1995. I was only 13 years old when he died at the age of 35 years old. My mother wasn't with him very long and he was never really a part of my life. I only saw him a few times before his death. His death was still hurtful because I had just found he was my father and wanted to get to know him. He died from a brain aneurysm, or at least that's what I was told. So, Samhain is a pretty important day for me and not just because it's a Pagan holiday.

Our plans for Samhain/Halloween

We start tomorrow with the carving of the pumpkins. This year we are going to try and do Nightmare Before Christmas characters and of course some Pagan symbols. We didn't decorate our house this year, because of money being tight. Some of our decorations were messed up last year and we had planned to replace them and never got the chance. Maybe we will go all out next year. Thanks to my hubby's family sending Halloween costumes to us for the past few years, we didn't have to buy any for the kids. As I said Hailey is going as a witch. My other daughter, Brianne who is 6 years old, is going as a corpse bride. My son oldest son, Landon who is 5 years old, is going as the race car driver Jeff Gordon (who my sister, Jenny loves by the way). And last, my youngest son, Brendan who is 3, is going as Spiderman. Myself and my hubby were going to dress up, but maybe next year if we can afford it. We will have Hailey's birthday celebration before we go out to get candy. My mom took the day off and we are super excited to spend some time with her. After we get back from taking the kids around and they are in bed, I will have a few drinks and do my Samhain ritual. Can't wait.

Witch Ritual Candles

I was cruising the Internet not long ago and came across some really neat witches ritual candles on Etsy. They are candles with different color of wax dripped down the sides of them. I however, am short on cash because of bills and other things keep coming up, and I don't want to pay $20 or more for the candles when I can make them myself. I bought 4 orange colored candles from Walmart, 2 Mulled Cider (smells like apple cider) and 2 Pumpkin Spice (smells like pumpkin pie). I also bought black and lavender colored candles to melt and drip down the sides of the candles. They candles turned out really good for being my first time making them. There are a few things I will change to make the process easier next time. I had some purple ribbon and pentacle charms already so I added those to the candles as well. Now that I know how to make them and how neat they look, I plan on making the candles for all my Pagan holidays. I'm going to make Yule ones soon so I can get them to the Pagan members of my family before the holiday.

Those are some of our plans and information on why the day is important not only to me, but my family and other Pagans as well. I will be getting my altar ready soon, so I will blog about that and talk about how our Samhain holiday events went in my next blog post. I also plan to try and step up my blogging posts, because I've really been slacking off since I've stated this whole thing. I look forward to sharing more with every one. Have a happy and safe Samhain/Halloween! Blessed Be!

And a Halloween song for you to enjoy!

http://youtu.be/jU6iP0WLsU8