July Currently - 14

Welcome to July.

WOW.. I cannot believe how time flies. Thank you for stopping by, for the July Currently. Hosted by the one and only Farley from Oh boy 4th Grade,  Be sure to stop by her Blog and leave her some sweet comments!

Listening:  I am listening to a Colin Firth, Cameron Diaz movie.  It's somewhat funny, but I am cracking up at Cameron's Texas accent. :)

Loving:   I received the wedding invitation for my dear friend Missy's wedding.  (Aug. 9).  She is the daughter of one of my best friends.  I wish I could be there for her on her special day.  It'd be a real long trip and it's just not in the cards right now.  Her colors are purple, teal, and navy.  

Thinking:  About the classroom decor kits I am finishing up on.  My sweet friend, Mel (Graphics from the Pond) made me some exclusive clipart... I can't wait to show it to everyone.

Wanting:  A little motivation. The chocolate ice cream didn't help.  I have a lot of things I need to get done in a short time. I know I can do it.  It would just be nice to have someone here at home that I could share it all with.  

Needing:  Yep... I think I need a little time away.  I think in the Fall, I am going to work it out to leave for a few days.  I just need to DO IT and not talk about it. :)

4th Plans:  It probably won't sound all that interesting to others...  A friend of the family is going to start breeding some really nice Alpines. Her barn isn't done, so her goats that are coming in from VA, and Idaho are going to stay here for awhile.  So my parents are coming over this weekend to help put up a new buck area and barn.  It'll be nice when it's all done.

I hope you have a great month!

Be sure to check out my Custom Designs section.  I AM booking orders for Blog designs.... if you are thinking about a design or make-over on an existing one...  let me know. I'm happy to help.

Throwing away lunch....

This Blog post is going to be a little different than my usual posts. Even though for most of you, it's the end of the school year and probably want to focus on suntans and flip flops... There is a problem that I wanted to address.

School lunches.

There.  I said it.

I am not going to talk today about the quality of school lunches, as that is a topic for a much lengthier rant.  Today, I am going to talk about a growing trend among schools to penalize a student(s) for not having enough money on their account to pay for their lunch.

Yesterday,  an article was posted (here) about a student in Washington state that was .26 short to purchase his lunch.  Instead of the school spotting him the .26, the nitwit tossed the lunch.  I can't even begin to tell you on how many levels this was WRONG.

My first thought was, how much brain power did it take to realize that the cost of throwing out that lunch was most likely over $4.00 (cost of food, employee prep time, and sanitation) and the humiliation that the student had to endure.  You can' really put a price tag on that.

This is the 3rd article I have read in the last week of this sort of thing happening.  Blah blah blah students should be responsible,  schools can't afford to feed all students, etc.  I've heard it all.  What I haven't heard is a solution to the problem.

NO CHILD should ever go hungry.  Period.   If the schools are so tight on costs, then they need to get out a #2 pencil and start going over the budget.  What I don't understand is why schools are making this a student issue?   Why not pick up the phone and call a parent or guardian?   Why not send a note home with the student ?   Heck, why doesn't the school provide a lunch program?  They do fund raisers for sports teams and other activities, why not do a fundraiser to create a fund for student lunches?

Here are some facts:

According to the Federal Education Budget Program,  in 2013 - 62% of student lunches were Federally funded (free lunch program), 8% were reduced, and 30% were paid.   This means that the families, of over half of the student population across the country is BELOW 130% of the annual income poverty level guideline.  (The income level that they look at is $23,850 for a family of 4.)

For the 2012-2013 school year, 30,700 million students in 98,433 schools and daycares were served lunch each day.  Out of that number 21.7 million students received free or reduced lunch.  (Data from the National School Lunch Program)

_______________________________

I spent some time doing a little research to find out how much food the school lunch programs throws away each day.  The numbers that I found were for food that students have thrown away, rather than food that the food services discard either due to preparing too much, or tossing because it wasn't purchased.

If we can have policies for what the students have in their lunch, there should be a cohesive plan to make sure that no student goes hungry. This isn't an issue that is just going to go away.  It most likely is going to get worse as the income levels go down, and it becomes harder for families to make it paycheck to paycheck.

If a school is going to throw food out, they should make sure that ALL students (whether they can afford to pay or not) can get something to eat.  How can they be expected to sit in class and learn without proper nutrition?

I'd love to hear from you to know what happens at your school.  Feel free to email me or leave me a comment below.

June Currently....2014

Isn't it amazing how time flies?   I have this great Blog, wonderful fans and followers, and the best of intentions to write more often but I find myself becoming side tracked and here it is "Currently" time again. :)   This month's Currently is sponsored by 4Mulafun which is owned by the wonderfully talented Jennifer Smith Sloane.  Be sure to show both Farley and Jennifer some Bloggy love today.....

As I type this,  I am listening to 48 Hours (I love crime shows) and the whir and hum of the AC.  It's about 90 degrees out.  We've had some rain this week, which has made the barn entry way look like a huge mosh pit. -rolls eyes-

I am feeling  MUCH better than I was last week.  I have a tendency to worry about things and I guess all that worrying got the better of me.  I was having some ticker malfunctions and felt like I had no mojo left at all.  Not good.  Thanks to a good friend, and my Mom letting me hang out at their place I think I am doing much better.  I plan on spending more time goofing off this summer (not working all the time) and getting out and doing fun things instead of working.    I also need to stop worrying about the things I cannot change and roll with the flow a little better.   

I do want to dive back into creating, but nothing that is going to make me feel claustrophobic. I was thinking of doing some more DIY projects.  That's creative, right?   Maybe do some water color painting out on the deck.  A few weeks ago I got rid of some furniture and miscellaneous other c.r.a.p. that was on my deck.  Now it's like a bright new canvas.  I was thinking tiki bar... with maybe some colorful lights? :)

I have been wanting to do some remodel to the big goat barn.  Because of the winter and spring storms it's now moving up the to-do-list.  I need to get the end pulled off the barn, gutted, with fresh shavings.  I may be having a 2nd kidding season from July on so I have to be a bit more ready. :)

Who has time to clean their house?  lol  I love my house to be neat and tidy, but dang......... My kitchen right now looks like something exploded in there.  I'm thinking about working on that this week.  We'll see how that goes. ROFL!!!   

My Summer Bucket List consists of reading a good book (or two...), taking a little drive over to Jonesboro which is where all the good shops are (hour and a half drive) and then taking time off to sleep late and do as little as possible.  I kept my list to 3 so that I have a better chance of actually accomplishing it.

Does anyone need a Blog designed?   The summer is a good time to get a blog face lift!!!   Hint hint!    I do have some time in my lax schedule to do some more design work.  Believe it or not it relaxes me.  :)

Thank you to everyone who popped around to read this.  I love hearing from you.... I do read all of the comments!  (Even the spammy ones that wind up posting... ;)   

Have a great day!!!