HAPPY VOTING DAY! Have you voted today???? If not, please do so. It is so important that you go cast your vote. This is a right that has been given to us as Americans.... you all really should take the opportunity to hit the poles and let your voice be heard. Like the ol' blog today in red, white and blue!

Steve and I voted on the way to work today. I am afraid of what the lines will look like after work so we went early. We took Piper in with us. Usually we take turns but I wanted to take her in. I wish it was like when I was little and you pulled the handle and the curtain closed behind you. That was cool as a kid. My parents always took us to vote with them. I always remember my parents voting. Piper behaved very well. Well, she was still half asleep so that was to our advantage!

Last night after walking the shit head dogs... I was catching up on some recorded shows. I had the Oprah recorded that was the show that followed her Big Give show. It was cool because Ft. Wayne was the town that had the biggest give with the $10,000 they had to start with. It was neat to see our city and mayor and resident on the the Oprah show and have her congratulate our city. So, with this show - there was this little kid - it was his 4th birthday and he told his mom that he had enough stuff and toys - so he didn't want anything for his birthday he wanted to give his presents to kids that needed stuff..... a 4 yr. old yes.....

Well, to start the story over....Ashley was assigned this school project this year - a philanthropy project. They were given $25 to take a make an investment (ie... buy stuff to have a bake sale, etc.) in other words take the $25 and make more money with it and give the money to charity. Well, Ashley convinces her 2 friends to go in with her - Ashley's step-dad is making screen printed stuff now out of the house and they are going to make a t-shirt to sell and make their money to give to charity. Each girl gives their $25 Visa card to Ashley and she gives it to the t-shirt guy. He charges them to make this design.... and he is supposedly going to donate the shirts. In the end...... Ashley sold one shirt for $10 and the other 2 girls sold nothing and NO shirts were printed up. Ashley learned WHAT from this project????? And no visa cards were returned. So, the whole $75 gone.... gone where?????

I was so excited when she was telling me about his project AND so was she. She couldn't wait to get started (this is before she decided what she was going to do with her $25) Then as the project when on and we kept tabs on what was going on with her project - she wasn't excited and wasn't doing ANYTHING! I guess in the end she ended up with a decent grade on the project which I don't know how when she (in my mind) didn't complete it....

I was excited for this project because I was really hoping it would be a way to teach her about helping others and ways to take a few bucks and make a mint for an organization. Or just a way for her to see some less fortunate situations and MAYBE it would foster something in her and give her something to be passionate about. I don't know how some of these kids you see start a penny pitch because they want to help the kids in other countries buy shoes (just an example) and then some - don't get it at ALL!

Then I watch this 4 yr. old who wants to give his birthday presents to some other kids and from there it starts this big, huge giving scene in his community. A FOUR YEAR OLD STARTED THIS IDEA......

I am making my children watch this Oprah. I want Ashley to see, I want Riley to see and if Piper will sit still(who am I kidding) I want her to see. I give money to charity and I give donations every time I can. Is it enough? Probably not. But I plan on changing that. With Piper getting older and freeing up some of my time - plus I want to include her too.

I plan on having Ashley complete her project by the way. But in a different way..... she is going to volunteer somewhere this summer. I want her to see that her money could've gone to a place like these and who it could've helped.