Authentically Nita

Is it just me, or is Back to School shopping extra-expensive this year???? I think it's a combination of my pay check not going as far as it used to and the fact that all of my children are in school now. I only have to buy uniforms for three of them this year, but that doesn't really matter. Looking on the bright side: At least I don't have to buy one of those expensive calculators this year.

The photo I'm using this week takes me back to my days as a little girl when my dad was able to fix any problem I had. My father bought me these two Cabbage Patch Dolls when I was 3 years old. I had lost my first & only Cabbage Patch at the park one day. I cried for days, because she was my favorite doll. Not long after this happened, I received a package in the mail from Germany. It was from dad & he had mailed me these twin Cabbage Patch Dolls to make me feel better. Every time I pull out these dolls, I reminisce. It takes me back to when there was no problem too big or too small for my daddy to fix. There’s nothing like being a little girl and having a wonderful father there to fix your problems and stop your tears. Even when he was in another country, he was still right there when I needed him.

"If you do what you've always done, you'll get what you've always gotten" ~. Anthony Robbins I'm a pretty routine person. I usually fall into a routine and stick with it for years. Lately my life has been shaken up with all kinds of new changes that are making me step away from the normal routine of my everyday life. Some changes were not preventable, some are decisions I've made. I am trying to take it all in stride and think positive. The changes I'm making, although new and sometimes scary, they are for the better and for my future. "A man practices the art of adventure when he breaks the chain of routine and renews his life through reading new books, travelling to new places, making new friends, taking up new hobbies and adopting new viewpoints." ~ Wilfred Peterson

Academy-Award winning actress and singer Jennifer Hudson gave birth to a baby boy, David Daniel Otunga, who weighed in at 7 lbs., 14 oz. Congratulations to the new mommy! ....& daddy too!

The Edgar Allan Poe House is a National Historical Site located on 532 North Seventh Street in Philadelphia.  This is right off of 7th & Spring Garden. Admission is free.  I visited the Edgar Allan Poe house when they had the Grand Re-Opening on January of 2009.   If you don't know who Edgar Allan Poe is, Google him. Haha! Just kidding.  Edgar Allan Poe was a poet, writer & critic. He lived in the 1800s & this house was his home during his time in Philadelphia.  Poe was one of the first (well-known) Americans to try and live off of writing alone.  You know, like make a career out of it. "The Raven" is one of Poe's most famous poems and has become a favorite to many people including myself.  Outside of the Poe House there is a Raven statue (shown below). It is believed that Edgar lived in this house at around Age 23.  I was told that this entrance on the side of the house, was actually the main entrance back then. When Poe lived in Philadelphia, he lived