Tag Archives: Virginia’s Sandwich Run

Day 352

You can have freedom and still not be free – that’s what I learned today 🙁

It’s 7: 15 PM on day 352 of my journey towards independence and I’ve managed to brush my teeth, feed myself oranges for breakfast, tweet about my Clean Water For All Campaign – no luck – feed myself oranges for lunch, exercise for about ten minutes, watch TV, feed myself grilled chicken and bread for dinner, brush my teeth once more and watch some more TV.

The moment I woke up today I asked my mom could you buy three loaves of bread – I wanted to make sandwiches for our housekeeper’s neighborhood – if you have idea what I’m talking about refer to Virginia’s Sandwich Run – while my parents were at work tomorrow just in case the housekeeper didn’t show up on Saturday – and she answered my question with another question isn’t sisi – that what we call our housekeeper – coming on Saturday we’ll give her the sandwiches then in that moment I thought to myself I wish I could drive I would go buy the bread myself and that ladies and gentleman is what it is like – at least for me – to be “disabled” – it does not matter if you can pay for things – I offered to pay all of the expenses that go along with running Virginia’s Sandwich Run with the money I make from this blog (thank you guys for all your support) but my father declined – you will always have to rely on someone else to get things done which suffice to say is hard because everybody has their own lives. Do you feel imprisoned in spite of the fact that you have freedom?

Are we connecting on Twitter? If not, say hi at http://twitter.com/Nisha360

If you’ve given to my cause or you can’t give now, please help me by sharing my cause with others. You can tweet about it like my friend Stan Faryna. This is the tweet he uses: @Nisha360 is a brave, smart young woman trying to make a better world for us all. Please help her do an amazing thing. http://bit.ly/hC7vOu

Stan’s very sweet for saying so, but feel free to write what reflects you best.

Thanks to all my friends out there who are helping me make my dream come true: to make a better world for all of us!

Day 309

It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is the most adaptable to change. – Charles Darwin

It’s 7: 55 PM on day 309 of my journey towards independence and I’ve managed to brush my teeth, feed myself a polony sandwich for breakfast, tweet about my Clean Water For All Campaign – no luck – chat with my Twitter friend @pfellas via Skype –it was actually fantastic I got to see some London sunshine sitting in my own dining room 🙂 – watch TV,  feed myself rice and curry for lunch, go and say goodbye to my uncle and aunty who are leaving for Canada tomorrow, feed myself a McValue Meal for dinner and brush my teeth once more.

Yesterday my mother told me that our housekeeper would be replaced by the temp if she didn’t show up before August 5th – we need a housekeeper every day because someone has to help me while my parents are at work (oh the joys of having Cerebral Palsy never alone but always just a teensy bit lonely) – and although I had no problem with the temp my first thought was who’s going to deliver the sandwiches to our current housekeeper’s neighborhood every week(if you have no idea what I’m talking about refer to Virginia’s Sandwich Run) then it hit me that I could just as easily have our temp deliver the sandwiches since both her and our current housekeeper live in the same neighborhood my point is sometimes things happen that you don’t expect but that doesn’t mean you have to quit because I truly believe that there is no problem without a solution and no question without an answer. In a world where change is the only constant do you choose to adapt or die?

Are we connecting on Twitter? If not, say hi at http://twitter.com/Nisha360

If you’ve given to my cause or you can’t give now, please help me by sharing my cause with others. You can tweet about it like my friend Stan Faryna. This is the tweet he uses: @Nisha360 is a brave, smart young woman trying to make a better world for us all. Please help her do an amazing thing. http://bit.ly/hC7vOu

Stan’s very sweet for saying so, but feel free to write what reflects you best.

Thanks to all my friends out there who are helping me make my dream come true: to make a better world for all of us!

Day 291

Mental illness is a family disease– that’s what I learned today 🙁

It’s 9: 35 PM on day 291 of my journey towards independence and I’ve managed to brush my teeth, – feed myself  an egg sandwich for breakfast, tweet about my Clean Water For All Campaign – no luck – help make 40 sandwiches as part of Virginia’s Sandwich Run – I am SO proud of myself 🙂 – feed myself rice and curry for lunch, prepare my Kid of the Week feature for Sunday and brush my teeth once more.

As you know my grandma and I are very close and in honour of the person she used to be I am going to share with you the symptoms of “her” disease in the hopes that it will help you and your family. Take a look:

The Signs of Dementia through All Three Phases

Early

  • Word-finding difficulty – May be able to compensate by using synonyms or defining the word
  • Forgetting names, appointments, or whether or not the person has done something; losing things
  • Difficulty performing familiar tasks – Driving, cooking a meal, household chores, managing personal finances
  • Personality changes (for example, sociable person becomes withdrawn or a quiet person is coarse and silly)
  • Uncharacteristic behaviour
  • Mood swings, often with brief periods of anger or rage
  • Poor judgment
  • Behaviour disorders – Paranoia and suspiciousness
  • Decline in level of functioning but able to follow established routines at home
  • Confusion, disorientation in unfamiliar surroundings – May wander, trying to return to familiar surroundings

Intermediate

  • Worsening of symptoms seen in early dementia, with less ability to compensate
  • Unable to carry out activities of daily living (eg, bathing, dressing, grooming, feeding, using the toilet) without help
  • Disrupted sleep (often napping in the daytime, up at night)
  • Unable to learn new information
  • Increasing disorientation and confusion even in familiar surroundings
  • Greater risk of falls and accidents due to poor judgment and confusion
    Behaviour disorders – Paranoid delusions, aggressiveness, agitation, inappropriate sexual behaviour
  • Hallucinations
  • Confabulation (believing the person has done or experienced things that never happened)
  • Inattention, poor concentration, loss of interest in the outside world
  • Abnormal moods (anxiety, depression)

Severe

  • Worsening of symptoms seen in early and intermediate dementia
  • Complete dependence on others for activities of daily living
  • May be unable to walk or move from place to place unassisted
  • Impairment of other movements such as swallowing – Increases risk of malnutrition, choking, and aspiration (inhaling foods and beverages, saliva, or mucus into lungs)
  • Complete loss of short- and long-term memory – May be unable to recognize even close relatives and friends

Are we connecting on Twitter? If not, say hi at http://twitter.com/Nisha360

If you’ve given to my cause or you can’t give now, please help me by sharing my cause with others. You can tweet about it like my friend Stan Faryna. This is the tweet he uses: @Nisha360 is a brave, smart young woman trying to make a better world for us all. Please help her do an amazing thing. http://bit.ly/hC7vOu

Stan’s very sweet for saying so, but feel free to write what reflects you best.

Thanks to all my friends out there who are helping me make my dream come true: to make a better world for all of us!

Day 282

Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm. – Sir Winston Churchill

It’s 7: 47 PM on day 282 of my journey towards independence and I’ve managed to brush my teeth, feed myself French fries and a mango sandwich for breakfast, tweet about my Clean Water For All Campaign – eleven days and counting without a donation – watch TV, tweet about my campaign – no luck –  feed myself rice and curry for lunch, email Salt & Necter – I figured since they wrote about Oprah’s final show they would be willing to write about someone who was inspired by Oprah 🙂 – feed myself rice and curry for dinner, watch some more TV and brush my teeth once more.

Two days ago I received an email in response to my sponsorship request (if you have no idea what I’m talking about refer ‘Day 277’) and it read in part Please may you send through a formal letter with a letter head as PnP only support charity organizations and not individuals. and although I was severely bummed out at the time I now realize that real change comes from the actions of ordinary people such as you and I so I am asking you to spread the word about Virginia’s Sandwich Run and donate if you can. Do you fail at everything you do because you give up the first time you hear a no?

Are we connecting on Twitter? If not, say hi at http://twitter.com/Nisha360

If you’ve given to my cause or you can’t give now, please help me by sharing my cause with others. You can tweet about it like my friend Stan Faryna. This is the tweet he uses: @Nisha360 is a brave, smart young woman trying to make a better world for us all. Please help her do an amazing thing. http://bit.ly/hC7vOu

Stan’s very sweet for saying so, but feel free to write what reflects you best.

Thanks to all my friends out there who are helping me make my dream come true: to make a better world for all of us!

Day 275

One should see the world, and see himself as a scale with an equal balance of good and evil. When he does one good deed the scale is tipped to the good – he and the world is saved. When he does one evil deed the scale is tipped to the bad – he and the world is destroyed. – Maimonides

It’s 7: 29 PM on day 275 of my journey towards independence and I’ve managed to brush my teeth, feed myself a banana for breakfast, make sandwiches for Virginia’s Sandwich Run – I decided to make the sandwiches during the week because I never know if our housekeeper will show up on Saturdays anyway I would like to take this opportunity to thank my sister for helping out today … I love you sweetheart you are truly a masterpiece in the making 🙂 – tweet about my Clean Water For All Campaign – no luck 🙁 – watch TV, feed myself rice and curry for lunch, watch some more TV feed myself a banana for dinner and brush my teeth once more.

A few months ago I promised myself that I would donate 25% of my earning to charity when I started earning some money and although I can hear my father in the back of my head saying are you nuts you can’t give away 25% of your money this is only your second paycheck I will stay true to the promise I made to myself because at the end of the day if all we do is take and take and take some more there will come a day when the world will have nothing left to give. Are you tipping the scale to the good by giving to the world more than you take?

Are we connecting on Twitter? If not, say hi at http://twitter.com/Nisha360

If you’ve given to my cause or you can’t give now, please help me by sharing my cause with others. You can tweet about it like my friend Stan Faryna. This is the tweet he uses: @Nisha360 is a brave, smart young woman trying to make a better world for us all. Please help her do an amazing thing. http://bit.ly/hC7vOu

Stan’s very sweet for saying so, but feel free to write what reflects you best.

Thanks to all my friends out there who are helping me make my dream come true: to make a better world for all of us!

Day 270

It is better to lead from behind and to put others in front, especially when you celebrate victory when nice things occur. You take the front line when there is danger. Then people will appreciate your leadership. – Nelson Mandela

It’s 7: 12 PM on day 270 of my journey towards independence and I’ve managed to brush my teeth, tweet about my Clean Water For All Campaign –at last the amount raised so far has moved up– thanks yet again to Stan (@Faryna) who has made a FOURTH donation :)– prepare my Kid of the Week feature for Sunday, feed myself rice and curry for lunch, watch TV, feed myself bread and chili chicken for dinner, watch some more TV and brush my teeth once more.

As you know one of my greatest passions in life is giving and getting other people involved in giving which is why I was SO happy to hear that Jack’s (@drjackking’s) daughters, ages 4 and 9, wanted to help me with Virginia’s Sandwich Run – thanks girls you are AWESOME! Do you follow from the front or lead from behind?

Are we connecting on Twitter? If not, say hi at http://twitter.com/Nisha360

If you’ve given to my cause or you can’t give now, please help me by sharing my cause with others. You can tweet about it like my friend Stan Faryna. This is the tweet he uses: @Nisha360 is a brave, smart young woman trying to make a better world for us all. Please help her do an amazing thing. http://bit.ly/hC7vOu

Stan’s very sweet for saying so, but feel free to write what reflects you best.

Thanks to all my friends out there who are helping me make my dream come true: to make a better world for all of us!

Day 268

Carpe diem! Rejoice while you are alive; enjoy the day; live life to the fullest; make the most of what you have. It is later than you think. – Horace

It’s 8: 50 PM on day 268 of my journey towards independence and I’ve managed to brush my teeth, feed myself a chicken nugget sandwich for breakfast, create and publish Virginia’s Sandwich Run only stopping to feed myself rice and curry for lunch – I spent three whole hours trying to get the page title in the center but in the end I decided that it didn’t matter where my title was as long as my message was clear 🙂 – watch TV, help my brother with his homework – to Laura (@laurajteacheroz) I totally have a new respect for what you do I only had to do  it for an hour and I felt like pulling my hair out LOL 🙂 – feed myself Puri and chicken curry for dinner, brush my teeth once more and tweet about my Clean Water For All Campaign – still no luck 🙁

Yesterday I heard the story of eighty-two-year-old twins, Helen and Ellen, who started The Love Kitchen – a non-profit organization dedicated to providing meals, clothing and emergency food packages to the homeless, homebound and unemployed people of Knoxville, USA – twenty years ago and that has inspired me to stop procrastinating and launch Virginia’s Sandwich Run – a page on this blog dedicated to our late housekeeper, Virginia, which aims to raise enough money to make 48 sandwiches a week for the people in our current housekeeper’s neighborhood – today regardless of the fact that I don’t have enough time to do so. Do you postpone making your dreams come true because you don’t have all your ducks in a row?

Are we connecting on Twitter? If not, say hi at http://twitter.com/Nisha360

If you’ve given to my cause or you can’t give now, please help me by sharing my cause with others. You can tweet about it like my friend Stan Faryna. This is the tweet he uses: @Nisha360 is a brave, smart young woman trying to make a better world for us all. Please help her do an amazing thing. http://bit.ly/hC7vOu

Stan’s very sweet for saying so, but feel free to write what reflects you best.

Thanks to all my friends out there who are helping me make my dream come true: to make a better world for all of us!