Spaghetti Day

Thanksgiving to most, Turkey Day to some...in my family its spaghetti day. November 22 was my grandmothers birthday and I saw my great grandfather. He looked so old, sick, and fragile. I didn't realize how long it had been since I had seen him...and seen him healthy. He is nearly 80, as is my great grandmother, and while they are very fortunate to have lived as long as they have I am terrified to lose either. So with them in mind and the traditions of my family I write my blog. Here we go:

As stated in the last paragraph I said my family celebrates Spaghetti Day instead of Turkey Day. We start the night before Thanksgiving, which this year happens to be November 26 and we make our noodles and family recipe spaghetti sauce. In the morning we have no breakfast. We bake pies and cookies, breads and pastries. It smells delicious and two years ago I was allowed into the kitchen to cook for the first time. I was sooo excited. I never would have thought about how much preparation goes into our feast. I didn't want to help the next year but this year I am very, very excited. Thinking about how short life really is, I want to spend as much time with my family as I possibly can. I love them to pieces and nothing is more important to me. My grandmother is one of my biggest supporters and heroes. She has always been there for me and is very open minded and accepting. I love her. My little cousins are like my brothers. I moved away from them recently but they are still a huge part of my life. I miss them when I'm not there...even though I get a tad irritated with them when I am around, I love them no less.

Every year there is a Christmas party at my aunt Amy's house. It was held at my Great Grandmother, Nancy's house until her second husband Bruce died. I miss the old parties sometimes but love the new parties just as much. Everybody is happy, its a stress free environment. It starts on Friday night and everybody has pizza and watches hilarious movies. Saturday we have a huuuuuuuuuge dinner and everybody is invited...Family, neighbors, friends, friends of friends. Just anybody. Its one of the most fun times of the year. Sunday we have a breakfast for just the family. It is close and familiar, and even though I'm not at my home I feel like I'm at home.

Those are more traditions in my family and I would love to write more but sadly my class is over and I have to go.
Have a nice day.
Have a nice holiday for that matter.
Warmest Regards
Hannah Joy
(:

Obese America

So, again today I woke up with a problem on my mind. We are an obese nation. People that tell us that we just need to lose weight don't know how hard that can be, especially with the dieing economy. The cheap food is definitely not healthy. People are buying what they can afford, and with all the technology we have now people don't have to do really anything by themselves. If we were to walk somewhere instead of driving once a day we would cut back on the amount of toxins we are emitting into the air and get the excercise that we know we need. The problem with children playing outside now a days is that its not safe. In most places its not safe for a child to be outside by themselves, and adults have things that they HAVE to do. They don't always have time to take the children outside and supervise and then most will get angry with the children for playing with that brand new video game system or computer or cell phone that YOU JUST BOUGHT THEM.

America is obese. Things NEED to change, but once again this goes back to the economy. Things are not cheap, and a lot of families are struggling just to get by. My family is one of the many who people have been laid off or their job has been cut because companies are failing. I know that when we go grocery shopping we have to be smart, we compare prices and I've noticed that the things any working class family can afford right now is completly junk food. Sugar cereals, those gross little debby snacks, candy is even cheap, as is soda, or Kool Aid. All of these things are what everyday America is consuming.

The message in todays blog is: health care providers complain at todays obesity but there is no way most people can afford the things that they should be eating. There is help available...but people that don't need it have been getting help for so long that the people that do need the help can't get it.

Just Another Look

OK, so I woke up this morning and the new was blaring. Michael Jackson was on again. I have always been a fan and I still liked him after his alleged molestation, but I find it to be quite ridiculous that nobody wanted anything to do with him after he had been brought to court, and as soon as he dies people are tributing him...What about Farrah Fawcett? Nobody has even come close to making as much of a huge deal about her death. If you or I were to die right this very second, it wouldn't be announced on the news, well unless we died of something extreme. I just don't think that we should make a such a huge deal about things that happen everyday. Michael Jackson, Farrah Fawcett, Mr. Rogers, all of those people were just the same as us. Their having money doesn't make them any better than the rest of us.

I truly admire the people that get up everyday and go to work. The economy is horrible now and I find it truly disgusting to see people that were completly capable of working sit back and get "help" from the government, when now there are people who have always worked an honest days work and can't get the help they need because they got laid off or their job got cut because there is no money. I also realize that my opinion on this doesn't matter, but every voice counts.

I find myself thinking about ways that I can help the world. I think about the starving people, and not just children but people young and old. I think about the homeless and the people that are fighting to be able to marry the one that they love. Something that I think needs to be changed is that we are hypocrites. Americans can go into other countries and tell them what they are doing is wrong, but how are we any better? People here are murdered, our government is corrupt. We have flaws in our own system and its not right for us to criticize another country for having flaws.

We feed the children in Africa, what about the children here? I mean we spend all kinds of money making sure that everybody else is ok, but we forget about our own. Why?

Hopefully I made you think today. I am thirteen years old and I have a lot to say. This is one of many blogs to come.