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Try our customer favorites for FREE!* You only pay shipping and handling charges of $6.95. We know you will love our cookies! Sample 6 mouth-watering treats for FREE*! Limit one per customer! BONUS OFFER – You will receive a $10 Reward Card to use toward your next Cheryl's purchase. $21.99* in TOTAL SAVINGS!  We’ve included 6 of our most popular flavors: chocolate chip, oatmeal raisin, sugar, snickerdoodle, chocolate chocolate chip and our FAMOUS buttercream frosted cookie. Each of our soft and chewy, individually wrapped cookies are made from the finest ingredients - sweet creamery butter, whole rolled oats, plump juicy raisins and rich chocolate chips. *Free cookie offer is exclusive of shipping and handling charges. No other purchase is required. Items subject to availability, delivery rules and times. Offer available online only for product #57141. Limit one item per customer. Offer valid through 11:59 EST, December 31, 2010 or while supplies last. Offers cannot be combined, are not available on all products and are subject to restrictions and limitations. $21.99 savings include $10 reward card savings on next purchase and $11.99 free gift value. Prices and charges are subject to change without notice. Void where prohibited.

Veterans Day freebies for Military and Veterans

  In honor of Veterans Day on Nov. 11, restaurants, retail stores and
        entertainment centers across the country are offering a variety of
        discounts and deals for everyone from veterans and their families to
        firefighters and police officers.  The list below includes just a few
        examples but there may be others.  As with all promotions, be sure to
        verify availability in your area! 
       
       
        *********
        RESTAURANTS :
       
        Applebee's - Free dinners to veterans throughout the day.
       
        Outback Steakhouse - Free Blooming Onion and beverage.
       
        Golden Corral- Free buffet dinner from 5-9 p.m. on Nov. 16 to anyone who
        has
        ever served in the U.S. military.
       
        Krispy Kreme - One free doughnut of any variety.
       
        UNO Chicago Grill- Free entree or individual pizza with an entree or
        pizza
        purchase of equal or greater value.
       
        Coushatta Casino Resort - The Louisiana casino and resort is offering a
        free
        seven-clans lunch or dinner buffet to veterans or active military.
       
        MarketPlace Grill & Express - Veterans and active-duty military receive
        free
        entrees.
       
        Masala Wok - The Northern Virginian restaurant is offering a free entree
        to
        veterans.
       
        Hy-Vee supermarkets - The mid-western supermarket chain is offering a
        free
        breakfast to veterans.
       
        Abuelo's Mexican Food Restaurants - All veterans and active-duty
        military
        receive a free entree.
       
        Carolina Burgers & BBQ - In Matthews, NC is offering a free meal to all
        service members and veterans.
       
       
        *********
        RETAILERS:
       
        Brides Across America - Provides free wedding gowns to qualified
        military
        brides.
       
        Lowe's & Home Depot - Extra 10% off to active-duty military members,
        National Guard and reserve members, retirees, honorably discharged
        veterans
        and immediate family members.
       
        Sam's Club - Over 25,000 Hugo canes will be given away to U.S. veterans
        in
        need of mobility assistance. Membership is not required, but supplies
        are
        limited, so check with your local store.
       
        Amazon.com - Free "Veterans Day Honor" MP3 album download. The album
        includes 12 songs by The Bands and Ensembles of the U.S. Armed Forces.
       
        Cabela's Outdoor Store - Offers their employee discount to all veterans,
        active-duty military and reserves, law enforcement, fire and EMS
        personnel
        Nov. 11-12. Discounts vary from 5% to 50%, depending on the item.
       
        Build-a-Bear Workshop - Members of the armed services including the
        Army,
        Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, Coast Guard, and Reserve Officer Training
        Corps, will receive a 20% discount Nov. 11-15 on any one transaction at
        Build-A-Bear Workshop.
       
        Dollar General - 10% discount for all veterans, active-duty military,
        National Guard and reserve and their immediate families.
       
        Fashion Bug - 20% off all plus-size and misses clothing purchases with a
        copy of military ID or spouse's military ID.
       
       
        *********
        ENTERTAINMENT: 
       
        National parks, forests and monuments - Admission is free to everyone on
        Veterans Day.
       
        Knott's Berry Farm - Free park admission to U.S. armed forces personnel
        and  a guest during Veteran's Month, November 1-26.
       
        Colonial Williamsburg - Free admission Nov. 6-11 for active-duty
        military, guard and reservists, retirees, veterans and their dependents.
       
        San Jacinto Museum of History - Free visits to the Observation Deck,
        theatre, and special exhibit for veterans, active duty military
        personnel, and their families.
       
        Historic Jamestown - Free admission to veterans, current Armed Forces
        members and their family members.
       
        Battleship Cove - Free admission and a special ceremony for veterans,
        active, duty and reservists.
       
        Vicksburg National Military Park - Free admission for all.
       
        Birmingham Museum of Art - Free admission to the ticketed event "Life
        and  Liberty" on Nov. 10-11 for veterans and active military.
       
        Vulcan Park and Museum- In Birmingham, Alabama is offering discounted
        admission through November to the park and museum.
       
        Greenbay (WI) New Zoo - Free admission to veterans and their families.
       
        Central Florida Zoo - Free admission to the Sanford, Florida zoo with
        proper  ID.
       
        Strategic Air & Space Museum- Free admission for veterans Nov. 11-14 to
        the Ashland, Neb. museum.
       
        National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum - in Oklahoma City offers free
        admission to veterans and five guests from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Veterans
        Day.
       
        Natural Elements Spa & Salon - In Chesapeake, Virginia, will provide
        free  services from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. to both active duty and retired military
       
       
       

Kelsey's graduation invitation ideas

Kelsey doesn't like the invitations that the school is using, so she wants to make her own. This is what she came up with this past week.

Natalie

Natalie

Week 42 | In The Orchard Photo Challenge

From Our life as an Air Force Family' From Our life as an Air Force Family Its been a couple of weeks since I have entered a I Heart Faces Challenge, but I knew I had a picture for this one, from our trip to the orchards last year. DJ would close his eyes each time he went to pick an apple.  We wanted to go to the festival this year, but didn't make it up there.

Kelsey Senior Pictures

Sisters

IMG_1913
Originally uploaded by scienceesl

You're Invited to Christmas at Richland!

Dear Family and Friends of Richland Restoration League, Inc.,

What a beautiful day we had for the 199th Anniversary Homecoming at Richland Church on the 3rd of this month! The weather was perfect, the service was superb, the food was fabulous (as always), and the fellowship made the day a total success. Thank you to all who came out to enjoy the day with us.  I hope you will  plan now to bring your family and friends and come to enjoy our very unique "Keeping Christmas at Richland Church" programs the first weekend in December.  This will be our 3rd Annual Living History Christmas event, and the second year we have added a Sunday Matinee to make it easier for our senior citizens and others with busy December calendars to come out and enjoy.

As we enter the 200th year for Richland Church, many of you know, the Restoration League is working diligently to pay off our $90,000 restoration loan taken out to restore the foundation and the roof of the church.  Although the foundation and the structure of the church are repaired, we still have much work to do to restore the vandalized doors, the interior paint and plaster of the church. We also have plans to install a well, restrooms and a future pavillion to make the property more user friendly for community events and family events like weddings, etc.  Our cemetery restoration is coming along nicely, with the help of grants, Trustee and community support, but our membership fees for the League and our fundraisers are the only way we can continue our work to keep the beautiful National Register Landmark church repaired and maintained. 

Our Christmas programs have been our gift to the community for the last couple of years.  This year, we are asking our community to help us continue our efforts in maintaining the church by first, joining the Richland Restoration League, Inc. or renewing your membership and secondly, by offering a suggested donation of at least $10 for adults and $5 for students as admission for our Christmas program.  No donation for children 6 years of age or under is suggested.  With your help, we hope to "burn the restoration note" at our 200th Anniversary Celebration on October 2, 2011, and if all goes well, christen our well and restrooms.  We can't do it without you!  Please share the attached brochure promoting our Christmas program with all your friends and family.  Feel free to email the brochure to all your contacts!  The program promises to be a celebration that will leave you with a song in your heart, teach you more about our traditions before, during and after the War Between the States, and take you back in time for an experience of Christmas you won't soon forget.  I look forward to seeing you there!  For more information, please visit our new website:  www.historicrichlandchurch.org

Susan Faulk Burford

President

RICHLAND RESTORATION LEAGUE, INC.

316 Eagle Crest Drive

Macon, GA  31211

478-951-6643 Cell

478-738-9546 Home

478-738-9578 Fax

www.historicrichlandchurch.org

Talk about "adults" and "experts" screwing up with schools

Have you seen this? http://www.wkrn.com/Global/story.asp?S=13327426

COLUMBIA, Tenn. – In a dramatic step Thursday night, the Maury County School Board tossed its budget request back to the Maury County Commission and in the words of the director of schools, Eddie Hickman, it means that schools in Maury County "would be closed until further notice."

Are you kidding me?!? This is crazy! I mean absolutely crazy! And the ones that are going to suffer? The kids and the teachers.


Stupid jerks...

Dear. Ms. Winfrey

I finally got a chance to watch the episode of Oprah where she had Bill Gates, Michelle Rhee and Davis Guggenheim. I have to say I was not impressed nor too happy with the negative light in which they portrayed the average American teacher.

October 15, 2010

Dear Ms. Winfrey,

I am writing to you today to express my extreme disappointment in your show that was aired a few weeks ago with the director of "Waiting For Superman" Davis Guggenheim, Bill Gates, and Chancellor Michelle Rhee. Through the years since my youth, I have greatly admired you as a person, and as a powerful caring woman. I am forced to say that after finally getting a chance to watch this episode my opinion of you has fallen a great deal.

You may be asking yourself "Why is she just now writing to me? Where was this outrage when the show was aired?" The truth to be told is that I only recently had a chance to view the episode, because you see even though I knew it was coming on, and wanted to watch it, I couldn't. Why? Because I am one of those teachers that your panel of so called "experts" put down and belittled. You see the day that episode aired, I was still in my classroom working on grading papers, writing lesson plans, adjusting lesson plans, figuring out differentiation for my students, and calling parents. It is a very rare day when I leave school before 3:30, or even better yet 4:00, and I am usually at school by 7:00 in the morning.

Let me tell you a bit about myself, so you can see that I am not just your average teacher who is upset here. My husband is active duty in the United States Air Force, which means I am not your average teacher who starts in one school district and stays there until they are ready to retire.

I started teaching in 1998 in a Department of Defense Dependent School in England; there I was blessed to teach some of the top children in the country. I taught the children of Generals in the United States Air Force, as well as the children of the airmen and non-commissioned officers. I taught and worked with students who came from Portugal, Spain, Turkey, Mexico, and Panama as the ESOL instructor. I have worked with students who have since joined the military, or went to some of the top colleges in the country, and some who are now veterinarians, in medical school or just passed their bar exam. How many of your "experts can say that?

In 2005 my family moved to Florida where I taught 6^th grade Language Arts in a school where the majority of the students had been effected by Hurricane Ivan, and had spent most of the year before picking up the pieces, some of which were still displaced from their homes. I taught students later in that school year who were Hurricane Katrina refugees. I taught students whose parents lost their jobs at the beginning of the recession. I taught students who went to bed without eating, and came to school in the same clothes at least twice a week. But I also taught students whose parents volunteered in the school weekly, or who had not been affected by Ivan or Katrina at all, and to them there was nothing to be worried about. How many of your "experts" can say that?

 In 2006, I moved to an alternative school, where I taught 6^th-12^th grade science to students who were "in the system". Most of my students there had been in a youth detention center for everything ranging from shoplifting to assault. I had the pleasure of watching a student who had never had success at school "get it", and the scary moment of staring down a 6'4" "boy" who had gotten high on crack cocaine the night before and came to school still in the throws of the effects of the drugs.(I wonder if any of your "experts can say that?). I had a young woman knock me off my feet, causing me to sprain an ankle in her rush to try to start a fight. I had students who were young parents, and I had students that did not know where their own parents were. Again I have to wonder, how many of your "experts" can say that?

For 12 months in 2006-2007 I taught a GED class at the local community college. I got to meet the adults of society, for whom the local system had failed at one point or another. I got to know these adults, and got fairly close to several as I learned their stories. I heard the stories of how a pregnancy, an illness, or legal trouble caused them to leave school without a diploma. I do not recall a single story of how a teacher let them down, or how a teacher just didn't care enough, or spend enough time with them as the reason for why they left school when they did. I did hear a few times "If my teachers in school cared like you do, I would have stayed in school." However they would also acknowledge the fact that most of the teachers tried to care, but when you are dealing with 200 students its hard to have one on one attention like it should be. How many of your "experts" can say that?

 I currently teach 4^th grade in a small 100% free lunch district (less than 1100 students pre-k to 12^th grades), just outside of Macon, Ga. I have been with this district for 3 school years now. Due to the fact that our school has a departmentalized fourth grade I teach 62 students on a daily basis. Which is not bad compared to high school, but asking a lot if you ask me to spend an additional 10 minutes on each child each day, or week? Here I have students who have never lived with their biological parents, for the drug use, or abuse in the home. I have students whose families have been on welfare for generations, and yet they can afford to take cruises and vacations, but can not afford to send in pencils and paper for their students to use in class on a daily basis, and just expect me to provide it for them out of my pocket. I have students for whom the only meals they eat regularly are the ones provided by the school. I have students for whom the only person that tells them that they love them is me. How many of your "experts" can say that?

I work on average in the school 70 hours a week, according to our time clock that we punch in and punch out on every day. That is not taking into account the three to four hours every weekend that I spend working on papers, or writing lesson plans, nor the average of 30-60 minutes I spend at night after leaving the school. You might say, "Yes, well you get summers and vacations off." However, I would have to correct you. Over the last 10 summers I have spent an average of 10 days in professional development trainings, unpaid trainings mind you. School year vacations are often spent planning for the days after we return, and more often than not, worrying about what is happening to my students, especially the ones that I know have a rough home life. How many of your "experts" can say that?

I spend on average over $500 a year on things for my classroom, out of my own pocket. From paper and pencils, to trade books, to teacher education materials, if it goes into my classroom, chances are I have provided it out of my pocket. I tried to make a pact this school year that I wasn't going to spend my money on my classroom, because with the furlough days quite frankly I can't afford it. I can't justify to myself spending money on paper for my students when I have three students of my own at home that I provide paper to whenever they need it. However, the sad truth is, I have already spent about $250 on my classroom this year, and we are only into October. How many of your "experts" can say that?

The "experts" talk about teachers having planning periods, and other times to work on improving our teaching. I would like to invite them to come in a sit for a week in my school. I have students in my classroom from 7:20 until 3:05 most days. I eat lunch with my students. My only "down time" during the school day is when my class goes to connections (specials), and that is filled with meetings, and/or conferences on average of 3 days a week, the other two days are usually filled with grading papers or meeting with my teammates.

            Did you ever stop to ask those of us in the trenches of teaching, from Middle Georgia rural schools, to inner city New York, to inner city Los Angles to the teacher on the reservation in Arizona, what we thought could be done, should be done to fix education in this country?

Do you want to know what as an educator I think the real problem is here? My answer is two fold.

1.       A lack of community caring.

The parents of today's children, the ones who are failing school, overwhelmingly are not involved in their children's education. These parents are the ones who are happy to sit back and join you in the crusade to blame educators everywhere without lifting a finger to help and fix the problem. These are the parents who do not read with their children at night. These are the parents who do not attend conferences with the teachers. These are the parents who do not teach their children general manners, and expect us to do it for them. I know that this is not the case for every parent or for every child, but for quite a few of them it is.

Then there are the "experts like those on your show. They say that they care, and they preach at us that are in the trenches, but what are they doing, what are you doing to help us fix the problem? Throwing money at private schools and magnet schools is not helping the general population of children. Preaching at the general educator without walking a day in our shoes is not helping the children.

2.       Lack in education funding, or education funding being funneled to schools that already have "it all".

Race to the Top is not going to "fix" anything, least of all since the schools that need the funding the most are the ones that are not getting the funding. States across America have cut their funding over and over again, and the teachers are paying the price. We have supposed "experts" that belittle everything we do. Is it any wonder that so many people decide that teaching just isn't for them?

History shows that we need educated people to have a successful nation. I am a firm believer in part of the reasons for our economic troubles right now is because of a lack of education, a lack of funding, a lack of caring in the past. What we don't need is supposed "experts" going around talking and not doing. Or doing, but only for a select few, that they think deserve it.

Ms. Winfrey, I am asking that you give those of us "in the trenches" a chance to speak about this disservice that has been done to us. I ask that you get a panel of every day teachers together and get our opinions on what is wrong with education today and how it can be fixed.

Thank you for your time.

 

Sincerely,

 

Patty Cleveland

Twiggs County Homecoming

Watch as the Homecoming King leads the band to the band room after the game.

twiggs County Marching Cobras Homecoming Oct 8 part 2

First part of the homecoming show.

Twiggs County Marching Cobras Homecoming October 8, 2010