Scrambled Eggs

If you didn't already know, I'm a picky eater. I'm not a fan of meat. Red meat is off limits, but I will eat chicken breast, tuna and turkey. I don't really like turkey meat or tuna. Eggs also make my stomach turn, but I will eat them just trying not to think about what an egg is. 

With that being said, I started to make scrambled eggs this morning. I buy cage free eggs, which isn't as great as I thought.  On average, each caged laying hen is afforded only 67 square inches of cage space - less space than a single sheet of letter-sized paper on which to live their entire life. More than likely, their beaks are also cut off. That made me mad but that's another subject. So, I cracked two eggs into a cup and saw something brownish. The egg shells are brown but I knew it wasn't part of the shell. I scooped it out with a spoon to inspect. Yep, it was an embryo! Even writing it, I want to vomit. My boss is a doctor and she inspected the little guy. She informed me, you can make out the eyes. I noticed when I first looked but looked again. Imagine finding this in your breakfast...

Out of site. Out of mind.

I started this blog earlier but ended up rambling about rambling. :) 

Last night, I recorded a 20/20 special on Appalachia, (I grew up there). Appalachia is a term used to describe a cultural region along the Appalachia Mountains. It extends from southern NY to northern AL, MS and GA. It's a very poor region. 

I'm always worrying about the future and money. Which is a good thing since MOST AMERICANS, 58.5%, will spend at least one year below the poverty line! I hope that my years below the poverty level are in the past (I would say, I was considered below the poverty level in college based on my income.) and I'll never be in that position again.  The poverty for one person is at or below $10,400, for a family of 5 (which I grew up in) is at or below $24,800. How is a family making $24,900 not below the poverty line? The poverty line is sometimes based off being able to live off $1 a day. If you can live off 1.10 a day, you're doing just fine! Crazy huh?!

I grew up in Midland, PA, population 3,137. It's part of Appalachia. It's outside of Pittsburgh, which is the 5th poorest big city in the US. In Midland, the median income for a FAMILY is $31,887. 

I went to college in Athens County, OH. The counties population is 62,223. It's the poorest county in Ohio. The median income for a FAMILY is $39,785, 27% of the population is below the poverty line.

I currently live in Hillsborough, NJ. The population is 36,634. The median income for a family is $93,033. 2.1% of families are below the poverty line. Money magazine ranked it as the 23rd best place to live in the United States. Remember, I only live here because the family I work for can afford it! :)

With that being said, watching the 20/20 special made me really appreciate what I have and thankful that I've never lived the way others in Appalachia do. Living in Appalachia, you don't pay attention to what you see every day. It's just life. It wasn't until December, when I went to visit my father. who lives in East Palestine, Ohio, that I acknowledged the horrible living conditions of the area. 

Mines well add East Palestine's statistics to the list. I don't want to change my FOOOOOREEEVVVVEEEERRR long blogs! :) It's population is 4,917. The median income for a family is $40,057. 10% of it's population is below the poverty line. 

The day I arrived, we drove through the mountains from Pittsburgh to East Palestine. Yeah, the hills are beautiful but once you get into the towns, you see horrible living conditions. I completely forgot about what I grew up seeing every day. We went to a diner for lunch and I asked my father and step-mother if people actually lived in the houses across the street. They were filthy, looked abandoned and the front door to one of the houses was wide open. There was snow on the ground. My step-mother said she saw a baby outside in just a diaper the day before. Now, I think to myself, why didn't she call children's services? Because you are desensitized to it! It's not that crazy to see a baby outside, by itself, in just a diaper, in the winter! 

Yeah, you think to yourself I've seen horrible living conditions in the projects. Or homeless people on the streets in the city. Yes, that's horrible too, Appalachia is a different environment. Or, I lived that way in college. Not even close! I just tried finding a picture but decided it's time for bed. Anyways, to sum this up, it just made me really look at life and hope for a better future for the children put into those situations. I really hope I don't forget where I came from and the horrendous conditions that too many children are living in.

Valentine's Day

One of my favorite things about elementary school was our electives. We had AMAZING teachers for everything. I only had one class for my entire grade! Remind you, in elementary school, I had the normal electives, art, library, gym, band, choir, health and the ones, I'm guessing, others didn't have, home ec, shop/woodwork, a science experimenting class and "special" art (if you were creative). Those are the ones that I can think of, I'm sure there were at least one or two more. 

The kids I grew up with. My first boyfriend is sitting next to me. ;) 

My favorite times, in music class, were when we got to have FUN days! For holidays, we got a packet of festive songs that we could choose from as to what we wanted to sing. One of my favorites, from Valentine's Day, was "Will you be my V-A-L-E-N-T-I-N-E?" It was simple but fun. Will you be my V-A-L-E-N-T-I-N-E? If you will you’ll surely know how happy I will be. Sugar spice and all things nice that’s what you are to me. Will you be my V-A-L-E-N-T-I-N-E? (Repeat and clap like B-I-N-G-O) There were also the games like 7-Up Heads Up Valentine's Day style... you'd put a valentine under the kid's chair. We'd sing, I'm making a big red valentine, I'm making a big red valentine, just for you, with our heads down, as the kids went around slipping the valentines under chairs. Oh memories!

Appalachia

I have too much time on my hands that I should put to better use. 

This started to be the intro to another blog... but I left it at this...

Last night, after a dance in Queens, a couple of us went to the Menlo Park Diner. This girl drove back with us... she was talking to Chad about guy troubles. She started a story going off what Chad already knew. He wasn't following, so he just told her to start from the beginning.  After seconds, I could tell Chad regretted telling her to start from the beginning. He was just giving the occasional uh huh, yeah, that stinks. I couldn't stop smiling and laughing, not noticeable to the others. 15 minutes later, she's still going on with the story. Chad, easily distracted, says to me M3 and points at the BMW passing. Boys will be boys. Ok, 1st, on the way to Queens, we had a discussion about not listening to others and how he's fallen asleep while I was talking. 2nd, Chad and I are like siblings separated at birth. So, I looked over at him and gave the "you're-the-one-who-told-her-to-start-from-the-beginning-smile". We both started laughing but couldn't keep it quite for long. She then hit him and said you're making fun of me. Which, from the beginning, I was laughing at his reaction and then we were laughing at each other. So, we really weren't making fun of her or what she was talking about. His response was, it's Alana! Thanks Chad! I told her, I was laughing at Chad because of the M3. Which was not a lie. (I might write a blog about trying to stop lying.) I was laughing at Chad and his listening skills. Which brings me to the point of this LONG side story... I am also long winded! I need to leave out the details that I find important but other's just want me to finish the story. :) I also need to just eliminate stories that other's don't care to hear. So, if you finished this blog and thought to yourself, that was a waste of 2 minutes of my life, be grateful you just read it and didn't have to listen to me explain. My stories are a lot more scattered, pointless and long winded when I'm saying them in person! I still hope you enjoy some of them...

Self Reflection

So, this morning my mother and I were talking... she said that my step-father remembered a place they forgot to take me while visiting. Then, she said "Maybe this year? On your honeymoon?" I said, "I'm definitely not staying at my mother's on my honeymoon! Also, I have to find a guy first." Which led into to her telling me that I'm mellowing out. I said, "How so?" She then informed me that I use to be a lot more intense. Which, I was still curious as to what she was thinking. She told me that everything had to be Perfect, I had to have the right shoes and my hair had to be exactly in the right spot. Buying my own clothes etc. in college definitely made that side of me change a little. (Which brings up another topic of being ungrateful... that's a whole topic on it's own.) She also likes me a lot more now. My brother-in-law just laughed at my mother's remarks and my sister said that she does not think I've mellowed out, she just thinks, I see things a little more realistic.  

This tied in with my thoughts while watching Grey's Anatomy this morning. I could give you the background of what triggered these thoughts but I'll spare you. If you watched the new episode this week, you'll know. I was thinking about, in high school, I think my jr year, I changed. I don't know why or what happened, but my attitude changed. I use to be happy 24/7 and didn't let things faze me. I was up for anything and ALWAYS having fun. I think a lot of it had to do with having a best friend that lived less than 5 minutes away and always having someone I enjoyed to hang out with. Someone, that I always wanted to hang out with. It didn't matter what we were doing. Unfortunately, people change and I don't know what has happened to that Alana. Yeah, you may think that that is the Alana you know... a lot of times I am but it's not the same. There's a lot more but you get the point. Also, New Jersey is not the place for me. 

Fast and Testimony

Since it's the first Sunday of the month, my favorite Sunday, it's fast and testimony. I think, I explained in a previous blog about what it is and why we do it. If not, just ask. Anyways, every testimony meeting I sit there nervous because I want to go up and give my testimony but I stay glued to my seat. Also, I think about all the different parts of my testimony. 

Today, I was nervous, again, and wanting to go up to the pulpit. I sit in the second to last row, before the walkway, directly in the middle. On the left side of me there were 4 people and on the right there was only 1. I should've gone then... but I didn't. Then, Khola sat on my right and eventually the other guy's wife and son sat down. So, now I have 4 people on either side of me. Even more reason to sit and not not move! Well, Oliver, on my left, went up and now it was better because there were only 3 to go past! He came back, while I continued to sit. Then, Brittany, who was beside Oliver, went up. Another chance! I continued to sit.

 Brittany did say something that really struck me. She said something along the lines of, "Nothing significant, in the past couple of weeks, has happened to give me a story to share." She then continued on with her testimony. The thought that went through my head was, the past three years have been amazing for me. One of the most significant things of my life happened at this time 3 years ago. The missionaries called Courtney (thankfully she called them back) and we began sitting outside, in the freezing cold, snowy weather to listen to missionary discussions. Never would I have thought, that because Courtney wanted me to join her, against my will, outside, in the bitter cold, with two Mormon missionaries, that it would be such a wonderful blessing in my life.

The first time I went to church was a fast and testimony meeting. Jon (Elder Hoy) informed me that I may find it a little strange. I figured I would, but he didn't explain. As I sat in church, three years ago, I remember thinking various negative thoughts. I noticed everyone cried and found it awkward. I thought, they were trying to convince themselves that "this is the true church" because, like Elder Stanley, a lot of the members would inform the congregation that they know that this is the true church.  

One member really stuck out to me, he talked about how big of a blessing the church is and how he couldn't imagine how someone could move (houses) without being a member because of the help that he received from church members and how quickly things got done. Another time, that same man, talked about smashing his thumb and being thankful to have a blessing and it healing fast. At the time, I thought who makes such a big deal of smashing their thumb and having nice people to help you move. Now, being a member, I understand where people were coming from and why they got up there to talk about the small and large blessings that they have in their lives and what they know to be true. 

Since coming to realize that the church is true, I'm so thankful to have the blessing in my life that other people had/have. I might have found the blessings they talked about to be strange, but I now understand why they were thankful and have the testimonies that they had/have. 

Brittany finished her testimony and once again I was in the middle of 8 people. Ali was the next person and started off with, "Around this time, 5 years ago, I became a member." I missed the rest of her testimony because I got up and scooted past 4 people to sit in the front row waiting to give my testimony. When I went up, my entire body was shaking. Even though I was beyond nervous, I did it because I know how much other testimonies mean to me and wanted to share what I know to be true.