Ghosts, Ghouls & Goblins

50 Days of Service left

Well it is October and it is time for all the fall leaves and pumpkins and time for all the little kiddies to go door to door trick or treating. This must be my favorite time of the year and one of the reasons I love living in Ohio. I love how the seasons change here. I lived in Phoenix Arizona for a year and it was so boring. The same weather year round. I just love how the seasons change here.

This is the time of year when mother nature is truly spectacular and I love going for walks and picking up leaves.

I also love sitting on my front steps and handing out candy to all the Trick or Treaters

I usually put on my witches hat and plop down with the pumpkins and a big bowl of candy and enjoy all the little kiddies and even sometimes doggies. I always get a good giggle when people dress up their doggies for trick or treats and it seems in my neighborhood a lot of people do that which is why I also usually have a box of doggie treats on hand for them.

Some animals really seem to get a kick out of getting dressed up like this guy who really seemed to love being a lion.

Then others are like you have got to be kidding me a pink too too?

This is sure the time of the year when the strange and unusual things come out so watch out this year you never know what you might see.

The Power of Word of Mouth

62 Days of Service Left

It has come to my realization that Word Of Mouth is the most powerful thing in the world. Most people don't know what is out there unless someone tells them and it goes for anything. I mean if you think about it you don't know anything unless someone tells you really. So don't hold what you know to yourself. Tell as many people as possible about a good thing because 9 times out of 10 someone else needs that information they just don't know who to ask and how to go about doing it.

I think a lot of society has disconnected themselves from everyone. I mean do you know your next door neighbor? Most of us don't or don't want to.  It takes a special kind of person to reach out to their fellow man and help them. At one time people didn't think anything of it but now we live in a society that is disconnected.

If it isn't on the internet or in a newspaper or a radio or TV people just don't care. I'd like to know what has brought us to this point.

I was recently talking to an old high school friend on FaceBook who I have not seen since school. She is going through a tough time with being unemployed and she seen me on Facebook posting things about AmeriCorps. Well she went to the website and checked it out and is not applying for an AmeriCorps position. I really hope she get's it really I do. And no it's not with the organization I work with but it's a great program too.

Thing is she wouldn't of even thought of AmeriCorps if it had not of been for me talking about it on a Facebook post. It's funny how a little thing like that can change someones lives and really make a difference. So my challenge to you is to tell someone about something that has really impacted your life today. It doesn't have to be much of anything really. Share a recipe or tell someone about a program that might help them if they are in a bad situation or if they are in a good situation ask them how they got there.

I am currently trying to find a job for when my service ends on December 9th and I have found that I get more leads to jobs simply by talking to people I work with. No I have nothing set in stone for December as of yet but I do have some great leads. 

It would be nice if everyone had a hover text over their heads like in video games then you know who to ask what to. *Giggles* but we don't  live in video games now do we? We must live in reality unfortunately. It's OK to live in reality it's not such a bad place. Sure there are crimes and pain and sickness but that kinda makes life interesting doesn't it? So what if it's not a perfect world. It's the imperfections that give us reason to get out of bed in the mornings and try to make a difference in the world we live in. I think everyone likes a challenge and life can be challenging sometimes but if we pull together we can make it a great experience.

It is our challenges that make us who we are today.

The Final Countdown

65 Days of Service left.

Well here we go the final countdown of my service. I can't believe it has been 3 years since I started with AmeriCorps*VISTA and lately I've been kinda down because I really don't know where I am going next. I had thought I was going to stay on here at Shared Harvest but now it seems that may not be an option for me. I was looking forward to continuing on with Shared Harvest but It is very possible that they wont be able to take me on even with the Ohio Association of Second Harvest matching half my income. Oh well that's the way it goes with nonprofits. They just want to make sure they have enough work for the SNAP outreach workers they have and they may not have the funds to take on another full time employee. Things can change but basically I was told to look for other work and put in applications anywhere and everywhere. I'm kinda depressed about it and terrified about looking for work at Christmas time and the high unemployment rate is really scary. I mean employers keep laying off employees so where do you go to find a job? I don't really want to do fast food or work in a warehouse on an assembly line standing long hours. Talk about a nightmare!

Going to school might be an option. I would like to get my bachelors degree and I think it would help with getting the kind of job I want. But I know I still need to find income even if I go to school. And then I wonder how I am going to pay to go to school. I wasn't smart and did not take the education award that VISTA offers. I took the cash stipend and it will come in handy at Christmas as it has in the past. I can probably apply to FAFSA see what they would cover. I've never done it before so it's all new territory. Might be interesting come to think of it. I like trying new things so I will look into the school situation.

So that still leaves the job problem. I would love to do something in nonprofit so I've been looking on Craigslist and Idealist. So far I haven't seen anything in this area only things in Cincinnati which I suppose isn't too far and I could drive it.

My head tells me to crawl in a hole and hide but that won't solve anything now will it? I have to go on and pray for the best and do the best I can and hopefully something will open up at the end or I will be surprised and Tina will tell me that I can stay at Shared Harvest so keep me in your thoughts and keep your fingers crossed for me.

I'm a tough cookie I am sure I will find something and it will all work out one way or another.