The Carnival       In 2003 I joined the carnival 😂 Reithoffer Shows to be exact. It was the craziest decision I ever made. It was definitely a memorable experience. It was me. my one year old son & his dad. I told this dude he had to get a job & we ended up, packing up & joining the carnival where I was able to become the Amazing Snake Lady for two weeks. The head of a beautiful woman with the body of a snake The original one got sick, they needed a replacement & asked me. Of course I took the job, it was .50 to see me & I made $800 in the two weeks I was there. I was also the girl that handed you the ball for the dunk the clown game. I even ran this game called pick a duck win a prize, I had to yell that all day too! I had a lil daycare in one of the trailer houses for the carnie children, boy did I love that. I assisted with ride set up & tear down, it was an amazing experience 😁 Being a direct care aide      I don't...

    (were still in Philadelphia with the jobs)            I had 2 Grassroots jobs that didn't last longer than a day or two. One of them consisted of getting people to donate to help stop bullying. We would meet downtown and a van would take a team to Prinston NJ to ask for the donations. I quit because I figured my organization could do this for ourselves. Turns out I was right more on that stuff later. My cousin and I were also door knockers that tried to get people to switch their electric company to a "better more earth friendly solution".  I quit this job because my co-workers were ghetto as hell. They smoked weed on the job like literally between door knocks, ok I was a pot head too but damn! They also fought people at their door when things got out of hand with a potential customer. The supervisors were horrible & my cousin gave the same kind of report from the team he was on. Nope that kind of atmosphere wasn't for us we were...

  One question would eat or have you tasted these? I don't have the guts to try some of these. I will tell you the ones I would try & that they are for sale at most CVS stores in Southern California.  I would try this one, who doesn't love buttery popcorn!   I would try this one too, sea salt is great not a taste one would wonder about. First of all I am not a fan of anything Dill Pickle, I will leave pickling to the pickles. I am not a fan of everything bagels so I'm not sure how I would feel about it as popcorn. Would I try them? Nope   This one is a big yes for me, I am actually going to try this one I'm interested in what they taste like. This one seems like it may have good flavor, but they are a no for me. I'm going to try this one it seems safe enough. I do enjoy apple pie & honey. This seems like it taste the way I think it does in my head. I'm sure it's good especially if you like chocolate. I think it's safe to assume that these taste l...

       Let's talk about that time I was a Bill collector . I worked for this company on South Hampton Rd. called Tate & Kirlin. This was an interesting job, It took me about a hour & 45mins to get there from Germantown, I never really had a ride home and would have to walk about 15 to 20 mins to the bus stop every night because we got off at 12am. When I did get a ride to the bus I had to hope I was alive to get on it. These people would drag race each other down Roosevelt Blvd, that's the thing that made it interesting besides the phone calls telling people to pay their bills and how they would react about it. I was 19 & I hadn't experienced a lot about people & this was wild. Anybody that's ever worked collections knows what I mean. I was also a Telemarketer selling pagers & cell phones for a brief stint for this company called GoInternet.    I went into a training with the welfare to work program and became a property manager for th...

     (All these Jobs were in Philadelphia)      My first tax paying job was Burger King on Chelten Ave, I was 16. I kept this job all of 2 weeks because as far as I was concerned this job was not for me. They expected me to sweep & mop that huge dining room floor & put out huge bags of trash, in the dumpster around the back of the store. I found these things to be too complicated at the time and decided that job wasn't for me.      When I was 17 I started working for Dunkin Donuts on Broad & Wyoming. This job was fun & I became the bomb at making coffee. There is a story behind this job that I'd rather not tell, but I will say I was fired after working there for a year.      After that I tried City Blue on South st. it was interesting being as though the location was so lit. I met a lot of different people from a lot of different countries but yet I still found it to be boring. A friend of mine got me into ...

    At 17 I started working at Dunkin Donuts this was my second tax paying job. The first one, I didn't stay long enough to be paid. The only reason I was allowed to work before 18 was because my grandmother finally gave in to me having my own money. It was a long time coming too 6 years of having to create my own hustles without anybody noticing how smart I actually was.       How many of you guys understood the tax paying rule upon your first job? Not me nobody told me anything about paying taxes. If I was supposed to learn that in school, I didn't due to being removed by my mother & grandmother in the 9th grade and not finishing. (more on that in another post) I had a nerve to think the government would actually give me all the money I did the work for. That is screaming funny! I  had a rude awakening; I came storming in the house with my first check not understanding why the net worth said one thing and my actual pay was $150 less. My mother th...

        In 1998 14 year old Jodie came up with an idea, since the threat put out by her Grandmother seemed to be really serious. Not ever working again until she was 18 was a hard pill to swallow, she had to come up with a way to keep money in her pockets. I mean at 14 she wasn't trying to do anything but buy snacks and Ice cream cones for the children on the block who couldn't get one. That was something she liked to do.       Jodie pulled all her neighborhood friends together and had a meeting about them becoming a drill team. The plan would be to go door to door and collect donations and they would have money everyday. Jodie told one group of young people to always be standing on the sidewalk when they went to a house so that they could look like the drummers and we were raising money for their drums.       Then there was the group that went just up close enough to the door, just in case someone asked to see a step, they co...

      At 38 years old I've had many jobs and have had the opportunity to sharpen many of my many skills. I'm going to make a list of all the jobs I've had in my life to see how it will possibly shape a career. I'm still not exactly sure what I want to be, but I have contributed a lot to society in many ways. Let's get started because I had my first taste of employment when I was 12.  In 1996 12 year old me worked as a daycare assistant around the corner from her home. I was paid $24 per week. Jodie loved this job and her love for children started to grow. Do you remember pagers in the 90's? They were mobile devices that notified you that someone was trying to contact you. They came in all different sizes & colors, what happens is someone dials ur number, leaves their number & you get to a phone and call them back. Now I wanted one of these cute devices, the one I wanted was called a mini. My Grandmother told me I couldn't have one because I didn'...

AporHomeBase is a people opportunity repair program  that   has a mission to keep individuals mentally strong & capable of maintaining healthy lifestyles 💪🏾💯  AporHomeBase is a Peer Specialist/Community mentor lead resource center that offers support services to youth, families & individuals looking for guidance & structure in their lives.   If you are reading this that means you share in the vision of healing our communities & we know that; that happens through grace, mercy, understanding, support & good works. Your continued love & support will help us create a sanctuary for people that feel oppressed & or burdened by the state of their life we can assist them in growing & adjusting to the new person they would like to be . Because we make it a point whenever possible to promote Wellness over Illness!!! Few things better reflect the heart of a genuine person than for them 2 give a helping hand 2 another.  The followin...

      It's so awful that there aren't enough public restrooms. I totally understand that the employee's of these businesses don't want to have to clean up after some very nasty people in our world, that make it hard for the clean folks that would just like to do what comes to us naturally. Now that I think about it that's probably how some of those situations happen when people end up with bladder issues, from having 2 hold their pee for long periods of time throughout life. It's the worst having to Pee during any kind of traveling. I'm going to share with ya'll a time when having to pee was not the mood for me.     One time I was coming home from work in Philadelphia. I was on the bus and I had to go so damn bad I had to get off and go anywhere I could. It was either that or peeing on myself! I was wayyyy to far from my destination and it was go time. I forget what bus I was on & where I got off because this spot wasn't somewhere I usually worke...

       Let's start with Colorado since the story is shorter than the California story. I was able to visit Colorado on our cross country drive to California. We drove through 8 states to get here in Santa Monica California. We stopped in Indianapolis to get food, we stopped in a really cool store in Illinois to use the restroom & Colorado oh yes we stopped in Colorado & went to WOW The World Of Weed!  https://www.worldofweedfarms.com/ Honey first of all let me say this up to this point I never seen prices so cheap for bud besides LA. WOW was great I wish I could've stayed longer but our mission was to get to Cali in three days.      California , California , California I had to say it three times because I've been there 3 times. For three different reasons. The first time was Valentines weekend to meet my sweet heart who is now my husband. It was also my first time on a plane! After that I started flying my butt off lol. I stayed 4 days...

       Every family has fallen leaves on their family tree. My condolences to you all & I hope you found a way to push forward & pull through that trying time. This is a way to make sure my love ones are remembered. If not by anything else but pictures and words.      It was taking me some time to post this blog, I was trying to figure out if I wanted to give my grand mother her own tribute then I decided against it and am going to give my grand mom & grand pop a post together for with out them both I would not be here.       I'm going to start with G-mom. Her name was Janette Mclaurin Smith . I'm not going to go into where she was born, worked, or anything like that. I'm just going to say a few words about what she meant to me. When I was a little bean, between the ages of birth & maybe 12 she was my world. I lived with her until I was 18. I was split between my mom's & brothers home (more on that in another pos...

       I think these last 3 places were probably the most fun! The stories of what happened and how I landed in these spots were interesting too.  Let's start with Florida I've been there 3 times, the first time was with my Amazing God mother for yet another birthday trip. We went to Miami, we stayed at the Westgate in Sunny Isles Beach https://www.westgateresorts.com/hotels/florida/ ; courtesy of my God Sister. My God mom wasn't feeling well so I got her some food & let her rest. I was out... I went bike riding on the beach at 7am each day I was there, I went for a fan boat ride through the Everglades https://evergladesairboattoursmiami.com/ & was in the water with the Alligators, it was an amazing trip. When my God mom felt better we went clubbing and out to eat.       The second time I went to Florida back to Miami I went to South Beach this time. Hubby & I went out for our birthday month. We rented a car and drove to the Flo...

  I have been blessed to meet many people in my life & have felt the effects of loss. This is dedicated to some of the people in my life that weren't family but played a significant part in my story. I wish I had a picture of them all to honor their memories. Here is what I do have & a few short stories ❤️  The guy in the Burgundy shirt is Desmond Sinkler. I met him in outpatient treatment for drugs & alcohol in 2014. Funny pic choice 😂 he was a funny guy. We were the President & Vice President of the program. Nothing Romantic happened between us, he was just a awesome partner & a supportive friend 🙏🏾 May his family be blessed. Larri Mccully... I met Larri working at Boston Market in either 2013 or 2014. We became instant friends. I was a shift manager & he was on my crew. Larri was a great person to know & I'm glad I had a chance to meet him. Foxworth, I met him in Southwest he was a friend of my favorite family. He was super cool & he let u...

       My trip to Connecticut was wild... Let me tell you the story of how I ended up there. One day in 2018 a senior client of mine came into my office for help. This is back when I was a Peer Specialist, she told me about a trip to Connecticut, to be in the audience of the Steve Wilko's show that her senior home put together. She stated that anyone could go because they were renting a bus and it was only $3. Chile I made sure me & a friends name was on that list and off to the Steve Wilko's audience we went. Boy did we have a great time those older people were wild!          Brockton Massachusetts was a stop that was made while I was traveling with   Reithoffer Shows https://www.reithoffershows.com/ . The carnival was set up on the race track. This is where I found out I was pregnant with my daughter. The father & I wanted to keep it quiet but could not because I had to buy the pregnancy test from the only store on our s...

      Darby Pennsylvania , I don't know why I took the time out to mention Darby. As I type this I really don't know. Darby sits right outside Philadelphia, I spent a lot of time out there mostly during my homeless faze living with friends. As far as I'm concerned there really isn't anything exciting that happens there. It's also close to my favorite part of Philadelphia which is South West Philadelphia it's always some positive fun to get into out there. In Darby there is also a huge raw African presence, I say that with the upmost respect. I feel like living there was an introduction to life in Africa in America. Everyone was always nice and willing to teach me a lot if I asked and they cooked some pretty good food. It sucks that I'm allergic to fish and seafood because most of their best dishes are made with it.        Off to Altoona Pa ,  https://www.altoonapa.gov/ this was a really fun trip. Well it wasn't a trip at all it was a conference ...

     Let's keep traveling with Jodie... Next stop is the state of Delaware   I've been here quite a few times my best friend used to live there. Her and I went to the Bob Marley festival there a few years back. More info here:  https://www.visitwilmingtonde.com/event/peoples-festival-4peace-tribute-to-bob-marley/33502/ We went to Rehoboth Beach https://www.visitdelaware.com/beaches/rehoboth-beach/ ,  one year for her birthday & I enjoyed myself. They had a lot of places to shop and eat as well, I wish I took pictures.       Virginia, Virginia, Virginia oh how I love this state. I've been to amusement parks here, we'll talk about those in another post. Virginia  Beach    https://virginiabeach.gov/ was amazing! I hung out on the beach, the boardwalk blocks, My lil homie & I took the lil trolley it was so cute, we went to the Speedway to race cars, it's the biggest one they have, they also had 8 differen...

       The reason I write this is because I've started a new chapter in my life. I am now considering myself a traveler & I wanted to recored all the places I've been so far, either what brought me there or just what I thought of my surroundings. I was born & raised in Philly -aka- Philadelphia which is in  Pennsylvania, so we'll start there.      The home of Philly ,  https://www.visitphilly.com/history-in-philadelphia/ so since I was born & raised there I know the place pretty well, almost like the back of my hand. I lived in a place called Germantown most of my life. I've lived in the same house on the same corner of the same block for 18yrs. After that I lived a lot of places in Philly. I traveled around while I was there. In the late 90's I used to love to roller skate at this place called WOW, I also enjoyed being Downtown I've seen all the sights, either alone or with friends. South West was always popping, I enjoyed my t...