This morning I logged onto my Twitter and I find this. It was so moving and so incredibly heartbreaking, I could not take another step without sharing this with you. I’m a parent of a college student. I’m a parent of a college athlete. And as a parent who loves all, I feel all his pain.
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Also, I invite you to visit IF YOU TURN AWAY FROM THIS, WHAT DOES IT SAY ABOUT YOU? at Watch Nonnie Write!
This is a must read!
Friends, we are living through some very difficult times. To me, it almost feels as if we’re all in this boiling pot and at any given moment, we’re all going to just boil right over. Systemic racism is a real thing and it’s clear by the marches and peaceful protests that are taking place right now all over the world, that it isn’t just the black community who is angry – everyone with a conscience is pissed at what is going on right before our eyes. And, because these protests and marches house more than just those from the black community, maybe now, change is really going to take place … positive change, that is.
I was excited when I learned that the network, BRAVO, had gathered and produced a show with cast members from various shows of their network, to discuss this racial climate we’re living…
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Yesterday, as I watched the final night of the Democratic National Convention, I was so moved by the story that was told about Joe Biden’s mother, I captured the audio to share with you below…
I thought I was the only mom in the world like this!
I have a story so eerily similar to Joe’s, that I was reeling when I heard the one above.
When my baby was in kindergarten, a little boy shoved her on the playground. When she told the teacher, as she had been taught to do (by my husband), the teacher responded rudely with … “If you tattle one more time…”
Well, when I picked my baby up from school that afternoon, I noticed as we were walking to the car, her beautiful smile was missing. “What’s wrong, baby?” I asked. She shared with me what the teacher had said to her.
I turned around so fast, my baby’s feet were probably lifted from the ground, as her hand was in mine while I was in fast motion. I marched up to this teacher, in full view and earshot of every other parent, child and teacher around, and I asked her, “Did you threaten my baby?” In her boldness (or ignorance as to the kind of mom I was and still am) she said, “Yes, she tattles…”
Before the woman could finish her sentence and before I could form another thought, my finger was on her nose. Yes, TOUCHING THE TIP OF HER NOSE. I said to her, very calmly and with extreme clarity, “If you ever threaten my child again, I’m going to sweep this entire area with your little body.”
Yes, I said and I did just that – I also meant every word. So, as you can see, I loved hearing that Joe Biden’s mom, a mom before my time, was fierce enough to “warn” a nun that she would rip that damn bonnet off her head if she threatened her child again. She was a mom just like me!
Every mom in this world should feel that protective of their babies. Every mom in this world should be that bold when it comes to standing up to adult bullies when they threaten their babies in any way. Every mom should be just like Joe Biden’s mom. I wish I had known her!
Bravo, Mrs. Biden!
Have you ever had a brave mommy moment like Mrs. Biden?
Hello, friends! I probably should have posted this sooner, but I just got the idea from one of my fellow members of the RAVE REVIEWS BOOK CLUB!
I’d like to invite you to a virtual event that’s going on right now, and it’s like no other event you’ve seen in probably the last year! It’s the 5th Annual RRBC WRITERS’ CONFERENCE & BOOK EXPO!
There is so much to see and do at this amazing event, but at the top of that list, is a huge helping of fun! There are so many games to play and win! So many door prizes to be won! So many people to meet and new friends to make – and I don’t want you to miss another second of it!
So, drop by, visit every area of the event, but don’t leave any of the (virtual) author booths or Vendor booths without leaving a comment, because those comments get your name thrown into a lottery to win that author’s door prize!
Every year, we also raffle off (7) $100 Amazon gift card gift baskets and there’s still time until this Sunday, August 16th, for you to purchase a raffle ticket or tickets! Don’t miss this amazing opportunity!
We’re the most amazing book club around, but what kind of book club would we be if we weren’t offering AUTHOR READINGS to our friends? I am certainly not that kind of friend! I want you to drop in and have fun and win prizes and door prizes!
Well, I’ve talked enough. Time for me to hurry and get back to all the fun! I’ll see you there!
A must read for everyone!
Hello, RRBC!
Please forgive my sharing lately of news that isn’t writing-related, but there are certain things I feel we need to get the word out about regarding this pandemic we’re living through. Some things are just too important not to share, so when you happen across information that might be beneficial to us all, I hope that you will also share it with the masses.
I know that we are bombarded daily with news of the Coronavirus – how it’s taking its toll on families, etc. Today I came across this message from CNN’s Chris Cuomo about how it feels to have this awful virus, and because he is a trusted anchor, in my opinion, I felt his message needed to be shared with you all.
From losing 13 pounds in 3 days to hallucinating having a conversation with his deceased father, this is an absolutely compelling account of…
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Welcome all to day 5 of the WHILE THE BOMBS FELL blog tour! This post is definitely one parents can learn from so I am proud to be able to share it with all of you.
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What was it like for children growing up in rural Suffolk during World War 2?
Elsie and her family live in a small double-storey cottage in Bungay, Suffolk. Every night she lies awake listening anxiously for the sound of the German bomber planes. Often they come and the air raid siren sounds signalling that the family must leave their beds and venture out to the air raid shelter in the garden.
Despite the war raging across the English channel, daily life continues with its highlights, such as Christmas and the traditional Boxing Day fox hunt, and its wary moments when Elsie learns the stories of Jack Frost and the ghostly and terrifying Black Shuck that haunts the coastline and countryside of East Anglia.
Includes some authentic World War 2 recipes.
Tentanus is an acute infectious disease caused by spores of bacteria. These spores are found everywhere in the environment, particularly in soil, ash, intestinal tracts/feces of animals and humans, and on the surfaces of skin and rusty tools like nails, needles, barbed wire, etc. Being very resistant to heat and most antiseptics, the spores can survive for years.
Tetanus is often called lockjaw due to one of its common symptoms being spasms of the jaw muscles. Other symptoms of tetanus include:
Symptoms of tetanus can appear anywhere from 3 to 21 days after exposure. The further the injury site is from the central nervous system (brain and spinal cord), the longer it will take to see symptoms in an infected person. The quicker the symptoms present after an injury, the higher the risk of death.
Tetanus can be prevented by vaccination with tetanus toxoid.
John A. Roebling was a German-born and educated civil engineer who immigrated to the U.S.A. He is famous for his designs of rope-suspension bridges, including the John A. Roebling Suspension Bridge over the Ohio River in Cincinnati, which is named after him. In 1867, while he was surveying the site for the Brookyn Bridge spanning the East River in New York, his foot was crushed by an arriving ferry. His injured toes were amputated, but he still developed tetanus, which killed him on July 22, 1869.
Joe Powell was an English footballer and the captain of the Woolwich Arsenal in their first year of League football. During a match in 1896, he broke his arm, which had to be amputated. Despite the amputation, he contracted blood poisoning and tetanus which eventually killed him on November 29, 1896. He is one of the only footballers to die directly from an injury that occurred during a game.
George Montagu was a English army officer and famous naturalist who specialized in birds. He pioneered work on the Ornithological Dictionary which was the first document to catalogue Britain’s bird population. One day in 1815, he stepped on a rusty nail and died of tetanus shortly afterward. His collection of over 200 birds was donated to British museums.
When my mother was a very small girl growing up in the English town of Bungay during World War II, one of the young boys who lived in the town stepped on a piece of rusty corrugated iron while the children were playing in the river one afternoon. Derek contracted tetanus and, much to the shock of the children, died a horrible and painful death.
This is a short extract from the book:
“Unfortunately, Derek Mickleborough’s experience of standing on the piece of corrugated iron did not end that afternoon. The children had no way of knowing that the day spent at Sandy would be the last time any of them saw Derek alive. By the end of the following week, young Derek started experiencing mild spasms of his jaw, chest, neck, back, and stomach. Derek’s symptoms worsened over the following few weeks, and he became ill with fever and sweating. He also experienced stiffness in his neck and had violent muscle spasms. Within a month, Derek died of lockjaw or tetanus.
The children of the town, who learned of his horrible symptoms and spasms through overheard conversations amongst the adults, were shocked by his death.
His parents did not call the doctor for a home visit timeously as they did not have much spare money available and they were quite ignorant as to the symptoms of this deadly illness and its dire consequences.
It is unlikely that the doctor could have done much anyway as there were no antibiotics available in Suffolk at that time.”
AUTHOR BIO:
Hello, my name is Robbie, short for Roberta. I am an author with six published children’s picture books in the Sir Chocolate books series for children aged 2 to 9 years old (co-authored with my son, Michael Cheadle), one published middle grade book in the Silly Willy series and one published preteen/young adult fictionalised biography about my mother’s life as a young girl growing up in an English town in Suffolk during World War II called While the Bombs Fell (co-authored with my mother, Elsie Hancy Eaton). All of my children’s book are written under Robbie Cheadle and are published by TSL Publications.
I also have a book of poetry called Open a new door, with fellow South African poet, Kim Blades.
I have recently branched into adult and young adult horror and supernatural writing and, in order to clearly differential my children’s books from my adult writing, I plan to publish these books under Roberta Eaton Cheadle. My first supernatural book published in that name, Through the Nethergate, is now available.
I have participated in a number of anthologies:
SOCIAL MEDIA LINKS:
Thank you for supporting this author and her tour. To follow along with the rest of the tour, please drop in on this author’s 4WillsPub tour page.
If you’d like to schedule your own 4WillsPub blog tour to promote your book(s), you may do so by clicking HERE.
“You don’t have to be oppressed to disagree with the oppressor. Change only comes when we all take a stand.”
~Nonnie Jules
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I came across this story and it ripped my heart out for a couple of reasons – one, to know that we are still here in 2020 is just maddening, and two, that there would be those who would try to hurt someone, still in 2020, based on the color of their skin.
Read this story about Crystal Mason. Tell me what you think about it in the comments below.
In case you’d like to delve deeper into this story, here is the link to YouTube vides about this story.
All I can say is WOW! We are really still here…
Happy New Year! It’s 2020 and I’m so glad that I’m able to be here sharing with you!
Due to my busy, busy, busy schedule with the RAVE REVIEWS BOOK CLUB and RAVE WRITERS – INT’L SOCIETY OF AUTHORS, I have found that my own writing time and the time that I connect with you, my followers, has been greatly compromised in the past years. One of my resolutions for 2020 is to get back on track with my writing and blogging and to stay there!
I’ll have more to share with you later but, do keep up, because this year, you’re going to have a lot more questions to ask the good mommy!
Today, I’m here to share awesome news…so please take a look below:
I’d like to invite you to visit the ALL-NEW RAVE REVIEWS BOOK CLUB at our new location > RaveReviewsBookClub.wordpress.com
-If you are an author looking for amazing support, #RRBC is the place for you!
-If you are looking to grow as a writer, #RRBC is the place for you!
-If you are looking for a community where your peers push for your success just as hard as they push for their own, #RRBC is the place for you!
When visiting, we ask that you #follow our site so that you’re kept up-to-date with all the awesome news that we’ll be sharing in 2020.
If you like what you see after looking around the site, then please, JOIN US! We’d love to have you!
Friends, I know some of you have been straddling the fence about joining RRBC, but, in this new decade, this new year, make the decision to get off the fence and jump right into the most awesome community of writers there ever was. I promise you, you’ll be so glad you did!
See you around!
Everyone knows that I love inspirational stories so when I came upon an article recently about a 10-year old boy who had been kidnapped…I couldn’t help sharing the “thing” that got him released.
Willie Myrick, born to atheists parents (but raised by his godmother) was playing in the front yard when he was approached and thrown into the back of a car. The story goes that the kidnapper drove him around Atlanta for three hours, threatening and cussing him all the way.
The little boy says that he was terrified – and then all of a sudden, he began singing a gospel song called “EVERY PRAISE” by gospel recording artist, Hezekiah Walker. The kidnapper could not get him to stop singing, so, annoyed, he dropped the boy off at a random location and sped away. Willie says: “I guess he got tired of me singing.”
I’d never heard this song, so I rushed to YouTube to find it and came across the most perfect version of it. They say that music is the universal language, one that we all understand – it connects us in ways we never could imagine and that is exactly what I felt when I saw all that I saw in this video.
Please, no matter the hue of your skin, watch this video all the way through. (It will be our little secret if it even moves you to get up and dance a bit, too!)
Did it move you any? Please, let me know how it made you feel in the comments below?
Hi, and welcome to the RAVE REVIEWS BOOK CLUB’S 2019 BOOK, BLOG & TRAILER Block Party!
(1) $10 Amazon Gift Card – Winner: JOY NWOSU LO-BAMIJOKO
(1) paperback signed copy of THE GOOD MOMMIES’ GUIDE TO RAISING (ALMOST) PERFECT DAUGHTERS
How many empty nesters do we have here today? Well, I sadly pronounce that my hubby and I are now members of this class of parents – and, I must say, we are very reluctant participants of this group.
I can imagine that some of you were so very excited when your kids reached a certain age and moved away. Many of you imagined your wonderful retirement years and had them planned out long before your kids were even teenagers. And, there are those of you in this crowd today who couldn’t wait for the clock to strike midnight – you know, on their 18th birthday. I must say, we are definitely not those parents.
No one gave us the memo that we’d have these babies, love them so fiercely, raise them to become amazing members of society and then one day…have to stand by and watch them fly the coop. No – we missed that very important memo. And, because someone at Parent Headquarters screwed up and forgot to clue us in on that part of our job – I demand a recall – I want my babies back home with me!
I’ve heard way too many parents spout the parent anthem: “We raise them to grow up and become self-sufficient people so that they can take care of themselves.” No, we don’t – that’s not what I did – at least it’s not what I was intending to do.
I raised my babies to be strong, driven, talented, respectful, loving and caring young ladies – I didn’t raise them to grow up and leave me. I guess I was putting in all of that hard work so that I could sit back and enjoy it – here, at home.
Seriously though, I’m not equipped to handle this new stage of my life and I don’t want to be. This is the saddest time in my life and if it were up to me, they’d be upstairs in their bedrooms (which by the way, are just as they left them…never to be changed in case I win this war and somehow get them to come back home) yelling down for me to make their favorite breakfast. Oh, yes, I miss that, too.
Just as God created us all so very differently, he didn’t make us any more alike as parents. I always knew that I’d be “that” mom – the one who cried when her kids moved away – the one who still, today, bursts into tears at times while merely sitting at her desk, working. I’m sad because I want them near me all the time. And, although some of you moms may not share or even understand my grave feelings of sorrow, it doesn’t make me want to disguise my pain or pretend any less, that I’m feeling anything other than what I am. Again, I don’t want to be part of this club. I didn’t sign up for it and I just want to know, how do I get out of this horrible membership?
Daddy’s sad, too, although he’s handling it a lot better than I am. But, that’s understandable..he didn’t grow those babies inside of him so even though they favor him more, it doesn’t make the bond that I share with them any less profound.
I ask again – any empty-nesters in the house today? If so, I don’t want to hear that it’ll get easier as the days go by (if truth be told, I don’t want it to get easier), but, I would like to know how you’re handling your own transition, or how you did in the past when it was your turn. And for those of you who don’t know it yet, trust me, we ALL have a turn and if yours hasn’t come around yet, thank your lucky stars.
{FACT: Mother birds will push their young out of the nest if they are defective, or when it is time for them to leave. … Sometimes a nest gets crowded and one of the nestlings gets accidentally knocked out by a nestmate. But it is unfortunately all too common for many baby birds to be pulled out of the nest by predators.}
Push them out? I’m not “that” mom, either! Empty-nesting = absolutely no fun at all.
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Friends, this was probably the very first book trailer I ever created (I’ve grown since then) and I need to re-do it to make it perfect, but, I’ve held off on doing it because I’m kind of attached to this one. Stay tuned!
Thanks for dropping by today!
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