Calling All Quilters, Knitters and Crocheters...

Just look at this precious baby girl all snuggled under her blanket sleeping warmly and safe from freezing.

But what about those that don't have blankets to keep them warm? We have been under a severe weather alert the last few days and the temperatures have dipped into the low teens.

The temperature as I am writing this is 25 degree's fahrenheit and earlier this morning it was 17 degrees fahrenheit. For my many friends in Australia and the United Kingdom, that is -3 and -8 celsius and that my friends is COLD!

In our area, there are many homeless people that huddle in doorways together to try and stay warm, some live under bridges by the river and others just keep moving afraid if they slow down they will freeze to death. Yes, many are people with mental illnesses, drug and alchohol troubles or simply have been in trouble with the law and cannot find work. Does that mean their lives mean any less as humans?

In our local paper one reads how bad downtown is, but you know what? I have been downtown and it isn't really that bad. Yes, there are pan handlers, but we have had the same lady pan handling for over two years near WalMart and no one seems to mind her being there. It isn't as bad as a larger town could be and yet, we really do not have many safe places for them to stay warm as large cities do.

I want to help! I can make quilts for them and that will help, but I am calling on all of my blogging friends to help me help someone in need. Isn't that what Christmas is all about? Isn't that how Jesus lived His life? Jesus didn't just help the people who were good, He helped those that had been turned away by life.

It only takes someone caring for another person to be able to change someones mind and heart. Will you be the one that helps me?

***I am NOT a non-profit, so if you are looking for a tax write-off, you won't get one here!***

However, if you just want to help others, I am asking for quilts, blankets, hats, gloves and warm socks. They can be purchased or handmade and I promise you I will deliver them to those people in need along with a hot cup of soup or hot chocolate. I don't even now where I am going to get the money to do this, but I know that God will provide for me to help others.

If you would like to help, Email me and I will send you my address and if you are going to help, please, post it on your blog and let others know so we can get this started. Lets show the world how a simple request on the internet, can help people from dying!

Should You Bite The Hand That Isn't Feeding You?

Today, I have decided to ask the question, is it okay, or should you, bite the hand that isn't feeding you? I am very skeptical of companies that want you to come in for an interview and then they wind up having no jobs and telling you that they are a pay-for-service company.

WOW! I thought those agencies went by the roadside long ago with the exception of the ones that are head hunters for CEO's and the likes. Guess I was wrong. After talking with one of these companies last week and hearing how many jobs they have at this time, I felt I would put in an application, what I and four others that were filling applications out at the same time heard was, 'if we get something in, we will call you.' In other words, they have no more jobs than I do!

Then there is our local employment office that I have been to numerous times this past week with resumes, applications, etc. and while they have access to company web-sites, not one of the trips I made got me in the door for an interview. Matter of fact, one of the companies web-sites doesn't even have the job advertised.

Sadly, all the jobs I sent applications out to, I could have found on my own searching through local and long distance company web-sites. Not one of the jobs asked for a requisition number or stated that I had to be referred by the employment office.

However, I did get a turn down for a job I applied for to work for the employment office. So it goes, that last week, I sent off via Email and snail mail 20 applications and two of them I drove to for a round trip of over 200 miles and yet, here I sit without a job while 50 more people in our area were laid off from the local ship yard.

I applied for a part-time job with our local hospital, just doing some of the things I have done in the past...customer service, medical collections, answering telephones and at least this time I received a notice they are looking at my application, however, since I have sent them numerous applications and resumes, I do not expect much. Matter of fact the last position I applied for, I was told I didn't have the qualifications.

While I try to be positive about this and know so many other people are going through it as well (for every job out there, I heard there is something like 100 applications per opening), I am getting depressed.

I know God has the perfect job for me and I know He isn't going to let us down. I have a group of prayer sisters that pray for me everyday and one of the things I was told is this: 'our God is better than sending you two hours away for a job.'

I know that every job I have applied for up until this point, there have been business closures, lay offs and bounced employee checks. Is he protecting me? I know He is, but it is scary to not have steady work or get your paycheck a month after you worked. If I could work minimum wage right now at fast food I would.

Yesterday, snowflakes fell for just a few moments, a huge reminder to me that God is in control & while attending my husbands holiday party, I did get the line on another education position that might keep me pretty busy...still, it is only a once a month paycheck and that is the real killer here!

For those of you looking for work as well, I will pray for you and that will keep my mind busy!

Blue Bunny Ice Cream...Amazing

If you are an ice cream junky, you have to buy Blue Bunnies new Bourbon Street ice cream, it is gooey, sweet and simply heaven and speaking of heaven, if you are a Christian you need to support Blue Bunny.

Blue Bunny has a Christmas song on their web-site you can download for FREE! Not only is a downloadable song, but it mentions Christmas and Jesus and in todays day and time when merchants and people are so afraid to hurt someones feelings, it is refreshing to find a company that is openly supporting Christmas, Jesus and the season!

I have never understood why we can celebrate so many holidays in our country and not celebrate Christmas. The United States and the very core of our country was founded on Jesus and the right to be free. Millions are still coming to America for freedom to say and worship how they want, but we aren't supposed to say Merry Christmas?

I say hooey! If you are jewish and I wish you a Merry Christmas and you correct me, I will be happy to tell you Happy Hanukkah, if you celebrate Kwanzaa, I will wish you a good Kwanzaa, you have the right to not celebrate anything if you choose and yet, I am not supposed to mention Christ or Christmas?

This year, the lights on our house are bright, the makings for our yearly cookie gifting are being purchased, the kids are excited, we are sharing gifts with our scout troop and there is a severe weather warning because our temperatures are in the 20's and while we have no snow, I know it will be here for me as it has been the past two Christmases, even if just for a little while.

Merry Christmas to all of my believing readers! For all of us who are living in places where we are free to celebrate in any way we choose, lets say a prayer for those that do not live in places where they are free to worship how they want or even say what they want.

If you know of a company that is openly celebrating Christmas and the employees and company is not afraid to say or display items that say Christmas, let me know, I will give them a shout out on my blog!

God Bless All of You and Merry Christmas!

Keep A Camera With You...Don't Miss Kodak Moments

Even if I don't get the jobs I applied for out of town, the drive was so peaceful and beautiful that it was worth it. However, I missed so many beautiful pictures that I think from now on I will keep a camera with me when I am traveling.

It was very foggy yesterday, but the bay around Shelton was amazing! The fog sat on top of the water and in the marina area, the utility poles stuck up eerily out of the mist like many wooden statues suspended in air.

Then I saw a bald Eagle sitting on the shore of the bay and I missed that opportunity for a picture.

It was just such a fantastic opportunity and isn't that what we should be doing, capturing all the wonderful and beutiful Kodak moments in our lives?

So, next time you go out, make sure that you grab your camera, you never know what you are going to see.

Age Does Matter...EEOC Makes Sure Of It

You know, as a Business major with a Masters in Human Resources, I am very familiar with EEOC regulations and laws, but it is how these get used that truly surprises me. I do not care what people say, I am telling you, for your own sake, if you want to at least get an interview, don't fill out the form.

In the last two years, I have probably turned in over 150 resumes, job applications and EEOC forms and after awhile, I began to wonder if I was being discriminated against due to my age and gender (female over 40) and why are they allowed to ask those questions anyway? There are an apparent way to discreetly discriminate though HR professionals will tell you that isn't true.

Isn't it? I have put in jobs with the same company over and over again in different areas and never once got a call for an interview. However, the minute I didn't fill out the EEOC form, BINGO, I get interviews, but then, I get passed over and when I have gone back to check who got the position, it is always a younger person.

It happens! Don't tell me it doesn't! I am not the only one. A friend of mine is driving 3 hours a day to work because she can't find a local job. She works commercial real estate and is very well versed in the regulations, etc. . Recently our local port was looking to hire someone, she told me she had a very long and great interview and in the end, they hired a young person with no real estate experience at all.

While I am at it, what is up with wasting so many peoples time with interviews? If you have a great candidate in house and you post the job in house and several people apply in house, hire one, do not post the job externally knowing you are hiring from in-house to begin with. It isn't fair to those of us that are seriously looking for work and need jobs.

There is no federal rule to my knowledge that says you even have to post a job externally. While there may be union or company policy, my opinion is that deep down a company knows who they want in the position and they are going to hire that person, no matter how great my application is, no matter how nice my resume is or how glowing my references are. A company doesn't care!

What bothers me the most is when I can't get an interview and the person hired washes out quickly, steals from the company or gets fired for not showing up to work. Then I apply again and I still don't get a call. I am confused!

Here is the thing...if I put my Bachelors and Masters down and you are looking for someone with an Associates degree, I am over qualified. If I don't put it down and list only my Associates and later you find out about the others, I am lying. I can't win for loosing!

I can't do fast food anymore, I can't bend over to tie my own shoes, so a job with lots of bending won't work out for me. I can't lift over 10 pounds. But I can type 55 WPM, I can answer the phone with intelligence and professionalsim, I can multi-task and I don't mean talking and texting at the same time.

Anyone else out there over 40 feel the same way I do?

I saved police officers lives, I saved a man from killing himself, I comforted scared children and domestic violence victims, I trained adults for a living and I can't find a job and I am letting my entire family down and my husband.

How do you look at your kids and grandkids and tell them you can't find work, so you have to go far away for awhile?

I am lost!

Angel Tree Ministries

The crispness of winter is in the air, our extended forecast calls for some snow showers in the next week, the stores are full of shoppers, bright Christmas baubles and kids are talking about Santa.

It is a harsh world today, so many of us are struggling just to keep our homes, trying to find jobs, doing all we can to make ends meet and here I come asking you to donate to a wonderful and worthy cause, Angel Tree Ministries.

My son Justin is in prison and will be there for a very long time. I am just stating a hard cold fact, but no matter what, he does love his children and while he can't do much for them from where he is.

But he does what he can, he sends them letters, cards, calls them when he can, draws pictures for them, has made them each crosses and each year he anxiously places their names and gift request on a Christmas list.

Last year when we were contacted, I broke down in tears and could barely talk to the representative that wanted to know what to get them as gifts. I was so moved by the fact these babies (though they aren't baby babies anymore) were getting gifts that their dad had chosen for them that I couldn't speak.

Don't do this for me, do it for the children who are the ones who suffer so much! My grandchildren had a lot of gifts under the tree last year, but the ones they were so anxious to open and the ones they were so excited about and still talk about to this day, were the gifts they received from their dad through Angel Tree Ministries.

Let me assure you, the people in our area were very generous. The children did not receive junk stuff. My granddaughter got a huge container of art supplies that included: paints, colored pens, colored markers, pencils, paper, templates, books, etc. and she has used something out of that box everyday!

Our grandson received some nice cars, pajamas and clothes with the CARS theme because he loves that movie and though getting shorter everyday, he refuses to give up the pajamas because they came from his dad.

The middle one received beautiful clothes and some earrings and a pair of boots. A perfect gift for a diva girl!

For $10.50, you can help a child receive a gift from a parent in prison. For many children, the only gifts they receive are the ones from Angel Tree and without this organization so many children would go without Christmas.

Before you think to yourself that you won't help prisoners children, prisoners are bad, they deserve their lot in life, let me remind you that Jesus said to 'suffer not the little children.' Jesus has a place in His heart for all children and Angel Tree Ministries is trying to remind these lost children that they are loved!

Click on the button above and donate, please!

New Name, Same Location

Yes, I have changed the name of this blog to The Compassionate Quilter. I am still the same Quilting Ranny and this blog will not change much except maybe in the area of more talk about finding work and how our family may have to split up to do so.

We have just come to face the facts that there is no work in our area for what I do and if there is, it is given to those who know someone. I get that, it is a small community where many of the people here were born and have been raised here and many have never left the area even for vacations. I get that they want to help friends and family.

For our family having only lived here a few short years and knowing very few people, I have just come to realize that I am not going to be able to find full-time work while I remain in this area. Funny thing is, when I look around at many of the places around me that do not rely on logging or fishing as their main source of employment, they are doing well.

Not only did many people lose their jobs in this area when Weyerhaeuser closed down the mills, but the county has raised our property taxes, some of the cities have raised their taxes and the slim are getting slimmer. When the mills closed in our area, the cities and county decided that 'we the people,' have to make up for it. While we have a local city mayor that thinks it isn't his or the cities responsibility to bring work back into our area.

Hmmmmm, let me think about that for awhile! WRONG! I worked for a city in Arizona for over twelve years that went from a small struggling community with volunteer fire fighters to one of the best communities to live in with great amenities, good jobs and when I left, they had four firehouses. Why? Because the city manager, city council, mayor and citizens all worked together to make it an unbelievably wonderful place to live.

I have done all I can to try to help this area out. I have written letters to companies that are looking for a new location, I have written to companies that can't find enough people to work for them and told them to locate to our area and they would have plenty of great people to hire. I have written to the mayors of several cities and business owners. Only one wrote me back to let me know how they are trying to change.

One of the things I strongly believe in is that municipalities must enforce their city codes. If you have a code that says no abandoned vehicles on the roadway, then enforce that code. Tag the vehicle, send a notice to the owner with a three day window and if it is still sitting there, tow it away!

If you say no junk vehicles in the yard, no high weeds, no graffitti on property, no abandoned refrigerators, junk, etc. Enforce those laws and when home or business owners do not comply, fine them and if they continue to not comply, fine them!

No one wants to move to a place that looks run down and falling apart. No one wants to buy a home where the neighbor leaves trash in the yard to pile up for the rats. If you want to win business owners and corporations, a city has to be willing to spend money to get money in.

That is my rant for the day!

Thank You So Much

I want to say thank you so much to the wonderful peson who signed up for a premium Zibbet account under my name, giving me one step closer to having my own premium account without having to pay for it. You are truly the answer to a prayer and I appreciate your gesture so very much!

The cost for a premium Zibbet shop is only $6 per month and if you have a craft, quilting, jewelry or other business and it is doing well, than you cannot go wrong with Zibbet. Please, if you are considering using Zibbet, follow this link and help me achieve premium status.

I know, I am shameless in this area, but honestly, all I need is six more people to sign up for premium status. I thank each and everyone of you who have signed up to use this wonderful tool.

So, if you are thinking of changing from selling on Ebay or Etsy, please, sign up with Zibbet, you can't go wrong!

Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow

So, those of you who know me well or who followed my blog last year, you know that winter is my absolute favorite time of the year and that the more snow I have around me, the happier and sillier I am. To those of you who don't love it, I am so sorry and I still love you all anyway!

Even if you don't like snow, you have to like this adorable little wall hanging I made with snowmen, snowflakes and hand embroidered red and blue let it snow comments. When I saw this at connecting threads, I just couldn't resist it!

It is almost done and then I will go to work on some snowflake ornaments that Patrick Lose over at his blog has generously decided to giveaway a free snowflake pattern to help us all kick off the holiday season. Not to mention, if you haven't been to Patricks blog or seen his work, you are really missing out on something special!

Here is the back of my wall hanging of course done in snowflakes and I just love blue snowmen, so this fabric was such an easy choice to make. I have a few other small Christmas projects I might be able to finish while I am praying that for Christmas, I will get a job offer! So far, my prospects do not look to strong, but I will not give up!

No matter what adults think of snow, we have to remember that for children, it is magical and awesome. Snow means school is closed, lets build a snow fort, a snowman, lets have a snowball fight.

It is cold outside, lets go home and have hot chocolate with marshmellows, ice cream or whipped cream.

Yes, the holidays and snow are really for the children and now, one and a two and...Lets get this party started!