A Few of My Favorite Charities

Yesterday I wrote about a few ways you can pay it forward this holiday season.

One of the ways I like to pay it forward is by raising funds or personal donations to well-deserved charities.
When it comes time for charitable giving, it's often hard to decide where you should donate. For me, there are a list of charities I hope to always support (at least until there is no need for the charity any longer - that is my hope for many listed below).

I urge you to consider each one of the local and/or national organizations below when you are making a donation. Look for a future post on how to help when financial donations just aren't possible.

• Compassionate Care ALS - In Sept 2010 my mother was diagnosed with ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig's Disease.  The cause of ALS is not known, and there is no cure. When my mother was given her diagnosis, I felt lost. I'll tell that story another time, but through the grace of friendship I was connected to CCALS.
  
  
  CCALS doesn't work to find a cure for ALS. There are already many organizations out there raising funds to do so. It's not that those organizations don't need more money, they absolutely do, but CCALS takes a different approach. They focus on each individual patient and what their CURRENT needs are. They stand by each person during their ALS journey and provide advice, expensive equipment to make patients lives easier, medicine bags, and really ANYTHING you and your family need to make your lives even a little bit easier.
  
  They have scooters to help patients get around, they know how to work with insurance companies, if they don't have something you need they know how to get it. They help pay for things like craniosacral therapy if that helps the person with ALS. They have support groups for caregivers. Really, what they do is limitless and a value can't be placed on their care and understanding.
  
  Donations of any amount are always welcome and appreciated. You can make a donation in memory or in honor of someone. Any donations in honor of my mom, Carol M. are always appreciated!
  
  
  
• American Heart Association - My grandfather died of heart disease in 2004. Prior to that he suffered strokes and had a triple bi-pass surgery. My father had open-heart surgery in 2008. He had to have an aortic valve replacement. My  grandmother died of heart disease in 2009. Do you see where I'm going with this? Heart disease runs rampant in my family. The more that is known about heart disease, the better chance my family has of surviving. I haven't worked with any local heart associations, so I support the AHA and give a HUGE shout out to the Cardiovascular specialists at Cape Cod Hospital, in particular Dr. Robert Rizzo.
  

• Andrea Holden Thanksgiving Race - My dear friend Heather lost her 7 year old sister due to a sudden illness in 1990. The family has held a race for the past 11 years around Thanksgiving to raise money for the health and well being of kids on Cape Cod. While the race generates the majority of their funds, you can donate here, year round.
  
  

• Boston Terrier Rescue - There are many BT rescue organizations, but this BT Tea Party Rescue league is local to me. This league rescues Bostons and provides them foster care, permanent home placement and any needed veterinary care. My Boston is such a big part of my life, I would hope that if something unfortunate were to happen that he'd find an organization or family to take great care of him.
  
  
  
  
• Liz Logelin Foundation - I didn't know Liz, nor do I know her husband (although I have met him at a Book Signing and conversed on Twitter) or ever met her daughter. However, I started reading Matt's blog in May of 2008 and was immediately drawn in. I read every single back post and started anxiously awaiting updates about his beautiful daughter, Madeline. I'd often cry/laugh/smile reading his posts and pass the computer, or a link on to my husband and friends to read. From horrible tragedy has come an amazing foundation set up by Matt in memory of his wife. The Liz Logelin foundation helps widows and widowers with young families.
  

• American Foundation for Suicide Prevention -  It's astonishing that a taboo topic such as suicide is so prevalent in today's society. It takes two hands for me to count the number people I know who have taken, or tried to take, their own lives.Suicide is 100% preventable. Arming yourself with just a little bit of knowledge can be a powerful thing.
  
  
  
  
• National Multiple Sclerosis Society - My Aunt and an ex suffered from MS. I used to do the MS walk every year and raise funds from friends and loved ones. My Aunt belonged to a group called "Hopeful Wheelers" which was a bowling league for people with MS.
  
    
  

In addition, I try and support each one of my friends when they do a walk or run to raise money for something personal to them. What are some of your favorite charities?

Ways to Pay It Forward This Holiday Season

I try and be thankful for all I have during the year, but lets face it sometimes it's difficult to look outside of your particular situation and realize how much you have to be thankful for.

It's often this time of year I realize I haven't done enough giving - or volunteering - and it's something I hope to work on moving forward. I want to consistently give back to those less fortunate than my family, and support those I love.

Sure, money becomes tighter for many of us around the holidays, but as Samantha points out, there are many ways to donate without spending a lot of money.

Here are some ways I currently like to do to pay it forward, or ways I hope to start this coming year. I hope you will join me!!

Compassionate Care ALS - CCALS has become part of my family. In Sept 2010 my mother was diagnosed with ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig's Disease. As I wrote about earlier, I hope to start using my blog as a platform to drive awareness around ALS as I've learned most people don't know anything about this debilitating and invariably fatal disease. The cause of ALS is not known, and there is no cure.

CCALS doesn't work to find a cure for ALS. There are already many organizations out there raising funds to do so. It's not that those organizations don't need more money, they absolutely do, but CCALS takes a different approach. They focus on each individual patient and what their CURRENT needs are. They stand by each person during their ALS journey and provide advice, expensive equipment to make patients lives easier, medicine bags, and really ANYTHING you and your family need to make your lives even a little bit easier.

They have scooters to help patients get around, they know how to work with insurance companies, if they don't have something you need they know how to get it. They help pay for things like craniosacral therapy if that's something that helps the person with ALS. They have support groups for caregivers. Really, what they do is limitless and a value can't be placed on their care and understanding.

Donations of any amount are always welcome and appreciated. You can make a donation in memory or in honor of someone. Any donations in honor of my mom, Carol M. are always appreciated!

Look for another post this week talking about some more of my favorite charities.

Donations to your local Food Bank. Melissa gives some pretty staggering hunger statistics over on her blog. She decided to use her blog for good, and rent advertising space for three months. She will be donating 100% of proceeds to the Rhode Island Community Food Bank. Here are some ways you can help: 

• Rent ad space from Melissa for three months to promote your blog, or small business (you can help others while helping yourself!)
• Contact your local food bank and start a similar program to Melissa - using your blog to raise donations
• Organize a canned food drive in your neighborhood and deliver to a local food bank
• Volunteer your time to serve meals and organize food at a local food bank

Donations to your local Animal Shelter, Vet Office or Humane Society. It's no secret around here that I love my dog. We bring him to daycare every day so he gets lots of cuddle and play time while we're at work. 

• One thing I've learned is that shelters/vets offices/doggie daycare, etc always looking for old sheets, blankets and towels to use. When you're cleaning out your closets, put together a bag and encourage others to do the same
• Contact your local animal shelter to see if they need volunteers to walk, feed and bathe the animals
• Contact your local animal shelter to see what types of food donations they could use

Organize a Santa Gift Drive - One of the things I am most proud of is something I did many years ago. I contacted a local homeless shelter and had them gather a wish list of things the residents would like to receive for Christmas. I took the list and put each item on a star and hung it on a tree at my office at work. Employees would take a star, purchase the gift and bring it back to the office wrapped with the star attached. I grouped each gift by family and delivered to the homeless shelter. I also collected cash donations and purchased any remaining "stars" and donated the rest of the money to the shelter. I was so happy that I was able to provide a Christmas to people who otherwise wouldn't have been able to celebrate. It was also a great way to connect with co-workers and really feel the Christmas spirit. 

Practice Random Acts of Kindness - This is something I started doing after reading some great blog posts about RAoK. I am going to start a portion of my blog to talk about each thing I've done throughout the year. It's not to brag about it, but because I when I'm feeling down I want to remember things I've done to bring a smile to someone face. I also hope to encourage others to do the same. I've already started on this task and love that sometimes when I do something SH will ask "Was that your random act for the day?" 

What are some ways you like to pay it forward?

Hop On Over To Filling Our Bucket

Hey guys!

I hope you had a happy Thanksgiving and were able to celebrate with friends, family and loved ones.

Today I have a featured guest post on my friend Melissa's blog, Filling Our Bucket. I talk about holiday stress and how Pinterest has added to that stress, because now there are SO many things I want to do, it's hard to make a decision.

Hop on over and check it out - while you're there check out the rest of Melissa's blog where she talks about being a mom, struggles with PPD, home organization and more. She's also had some pretty fun giveaways in the past - including an iPad 2!!! I'm sure she has lots more to come.

Pumpkin Apple Spice Cake With Cream Cheese Frosting

Before I get to my recipe, I'd like to take a moment to say I hope that everything is OK with Sheryl from Lady Behind the Curtain. I'm not sure she'd ever see this, but you've been in my thoughts. And with that, I would also like to thank Kristen from Frugal Antics of a Harried Homemaker for taking over the Improv Cooking Challenge.

What is the Improv Cooking Challenge? Every month the host gives you two ingredients you must use in a recipe and a date by which you have to complete your recipe and blog post. The goal is to see the many creative ways people combine the two ingredients and share lots of delicious recipes!

The month of November the two ingredients were pumpkin and cream cheese.

I made a Pumpkin Apple Spice Cake with Cream Cheese Icing.

Cake Recipe
The Ingredients: 
Apples

• 3T unsalted butter
• 4 Granny Smith apples (peeled, cored and diced)
• 3T sugar
• 1t cinnamon

Cake

• 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 stick (1/2 cup) room temperature unsalted butter, cut into pieces
• 1/2 t salt
• 3/4 cup canned pure pumpkin
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 2T granulated sugar
• 2t pumpkin pie spice
• 1t baking soda
• 2 eggs

The Instructions:

Apples

• Melt butter in a large, nonstick, pan over medium-high heat
• Add the apples and cook 5-7 minutes until the apples begin to brown 
• Add the sugar & cinnamon & cook another 3 minutes or so until golden brown
• Set aside in a bowl to cool (and try not to eat it all!!)
• Time saving hint: make the day before or substitute a large can of apple pie apples. Just make sure to chop them up a bit smaller and be careful not to get too much of the syrup. I strongly suggest making your own apple mixture, although I may be biased!

Cake

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees
• Butter a 9-inch pan, a springform would probably be best, but I didn't have one so I used a 9" square pan (I also sprayed some Pam after I buttered the pan which worked out well, because upon cooling the cake started to recede from the sides)
• Combine flour, brown sugar, butter & salt into a mixing bowl and beat until crumbly
• Set aside 2/3 cup of the mixture for topping
• Beat pumpkin, sour cream, granulated sugar, pumpkin pie spice and baking soda into the remaining flour mixture
• Beat until smooth (there may be some butter lumps, that's ok) and then beat in eggs
• Pour patter into the buttered pan
• Sprinkle apples evenly over the top and then sprinkle flour topping over apples
• Bake about 50 minutes, or until the top is brown and a tester inserted into the center comes out clean
• Cool for at least 20 minutes
• Try and ignore the cute begging puppy at your feet 

Cream Cheese Icing Recipe

The Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup confectioners (powdered) sugar
• 3 oz cream cheese
• 1 t vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup (or more) heavy whipping cream

The Instructions:

• Blend sugar, cream cheese, and vanilla in a blender/processor alternating between on/off  (I used my Vitamix, it was perfect)
• Blend in cream to form a thick, but pourable icing
• Do not overmix

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My husband, who refuses to eat anything with a mention of pumpkin or cream cheese really enjoyed this dessert (fine, I didn't tell him what was in it ahead of time). I think I will make it again for a Thanksgiving dessert! 

Check out the other recipes as part of this challenge below

Linking up to the following parties:

Sticks and Stones May Break My Bones...

....but names can still hurt me. Even when those names aren't directed towards me specifically.

Today my mom told me a story that absolutely broke my heart. She was ordering a coffee at the drive through at Dunkin' Donuts. After taking her order, the employee must have left her headset on by accident and said "What is she, some sort of retard?"

My mother is not a retard.
My mother is brave.
My mother is strong.
My mother is beautiful.
My mother has ALS.

In September 2010 my mother was diagnosed with one of the most horrific diseases imaginable. Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (also known as Lou Gehrig's Disease) has no known cause, or cure. It is a (usually) quick progressing disease that robs people of being able to control their motor skills and leaves to eventual death. Of course it is much more than this, and I hope to bring more awareness to the general public about ALS in future blog posts. 

Image Source

There are two primary types of ALS. The less common is a Bulbar onset, and this is the type my mom has. What this means is my mom's symptoms have started with her losing control over the mobility of her tongue and she often times had difficultly speaking clearly and swallowing. Many times, especially when she is tired her speech is a bit slurred.

She just finished hosting friends from California for almost a week. That means she spent the week talking more than normal, engaging in more activities than she normally would and was all around just more tired. Let's face it, we're all tired after we have house guests, but for my mom it's a more difficult recovery.

So when my mom ordered her coffee today, I'm sure her speech was slurred. And the last thing she needed to hear was some drive through worker calling her a retard - even if it wasn't meant for her to hear.

I immediately went into a tirade saying she should have demanded to speak with the store manager. But my mother took another route. She looked the woman right in the face (woman, not teenager) and said "No, I am not a retard. I have a disease which affects my speech." and left it at that. She said the woman's face turned beat red and then she drove away.

The thing is, that woman may have felt embarrassed or bad for a few minutes and then I'm sure her day continued. But for my mom, I know those words will stick with her. And with me.

I'm definitely guilty of saying things I don't mean - or don't mean literally, however I've decided to make it a priority from this point forward to try and make a change. Calling people names, no matter how innocent, is not ok. You never know how it will be interpreted and who you will hurt in the process.

What about you? Have you ever been in a situation where someone called you a name that upset you, or inadvertently said something that hurt someone else? I'd love to hear from you.

Burt's Bees Natural Skin Solutions Follow-Up

About a month and a half ago I wrote about my sensitive skin and current acne issues.
I was excited about trying the Natural Skin Solutions products, and wanted to update you the staus:

I'm hoping it helps clear up my skin problems.

• Well, this did not happen. My skin is as bad as ever, however I do NOT blame that on the products I tried. They weren't targeted to help clear skin, they are made to be gentle on sensitive skin and they ARE. I was impressed with how clean my skin felt after using the face wash and loved that they were scent-free

I love Burt's Bees® products.  All of their products are free of phthalates, parabens and soduium lauryl sulfate. The Sensitive Skin line contains 99% natural ingredients like cotton (seriously!!), rice and aloe.

• Yep! So true. You can learn more about their sensitive skin products here.

Plus, this stuff is less expensive than my normal skincare products so if it works not only will my skin be clearer, but I'll be putting less chemicals onto my body and I'll be saving money!!!

• I'm also not entirely sure saving money would be the truth. The one thing I didn't like about the products is that I continually squeezed more out than was necessary. I went through the products in less than a month and that isn't typical for me. That would mean I'd need to buy more often, thus likely not saving money. 

I have not ruled out using Burt's Bees Sensitive Skin Care products in the future. I think I really need to focus on getting my skin back to a healthy state, and then introduce this product line. It's hard to find a good, environmentally friendly, sensitive skin care product and this definitely fits the bill! 

Have you tried Burt's Bees Sensitive Skin products? What did you think? If not, what do you use? 

Disclosure: I'm a BzzAgent and have been provided a sample of the Burt's Bees® products in exchange for sharing my experience with others. All opinions on the Burt's Bees® products are my own. If you are interested in a $1 coupon and single use of the Burt's Bees® Natural Skin Solutions Sensitive Daily Moisturizing Cream please let me know.