On November 11, 2014 Pamela Badolato launched a charity project and without telling anyone she knew, called Plaid Pajamas Project. She wanted to collect and distribute pajamas to people in need. They are about to hit their 10 year anniversary and in the past ten collection seasons we have donated probably 10,000 pairs of pajamas.
In her own words:
Every Christmas for as long as I can remember, my sister Kristina and I were allowed to open one gift on Christmas Eve. We received a new pair of pajamas from our grandparents, Nonnie and Poppie, and wore them that night. During our teen years we had some funny pajamas opening experiences as it was humorous to see what they would choose for us. You’ll still find us laughing till we cry when recounting a pair I got during my freshman year of college which were purchased slightly too large. How large you ask? Large enough for Kristina and I to fit in them- together!
As you can see, these pajamas played a huge part of our family Christmas memories. My parents, Mema and Pepa, carry on this tradition and give pajamas to our children each year, and even when we aren’t together it’s the only gift they open on Christmas Eve. Nonnie and Poppie sent pajamas to Jim and I through 2021. However, we lost our beloved grandmother in November 2022, but I know our pajamas are still from her heart no matter what.
Our family has been inspired by our tradition, one that many families share, and we’ve created Plaid Pajamas as a way to provide warm winter pajamas to people in need. Giving our children a chance to learn about the importance of being helpers and givers, not just receivers. Our pajama collection takes place from October through January, with distribution from the end of November through mid-January to various organizations.
The requests for pajamas have already begun rolling in, and she expects to have even more this year. So far they are committed once again to T&E Care, about 15 Head Start classes in Philadelphia, and will have a pair of pajamas for each child that receives a bike from Dom Fixes Bikes .
Their pajamas help keep people warm during the winter, regardless of what holidays you celebrate or not. Their mission is to provide some happiness, smiles, and warmth.
I have thought this was a good thing ever since the inception of this project. It’s simple. It makes people happy. It helps people whose holidays may not be so jolly have some good cheer. It’s just nice.
I wanted to make my husband a special anniversary dinner and one of his favorite things in the whole world is cheesecake. Good cheesecake, not loaded up with anything, so I went rummaging around and decided to make him a New York style cheesecake.
I will give you the basic recipe. Mine is slightly bigger than this recipe because my spring form pan is a little bigger. But if I try to explain how I increased it incrementally, it will get too confusing for people who are just trying to follow a recipe. For those who really want to know, I didn’t increase the filling. It was just that I also had more graham crackers and no place to use them so it was an additional half cup or so of graham cracker crumbs, so I added half a stick more of melted unsalted butter.
I originally found this recipe on the Aldi tab on Instacart. Instacart has these little recipes that they put in next to the different stores that they deliver, and this one looked fairly simple and it was. I did tweak it a little to suit me. I increased the vanilla extract, I increased the sugar slightly, and I added cinnamon and a dash of cardamom. I also substituted cinnamon graham crackers for regular graham crackers. I make my own crumbs in other words and it’s not very scientific. I put them in a plastic bag and I beat them with a kitchen mallet until they’re crumbs.
Full ingredient list
2 cups cinnamon sugar graham cracker crumbs
1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted
4 (8 oz) packages cream cheese, softened
1 1/3 cups granulated sugar (I say a generous 1/3 of a cup. )
2 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
4 large eggs
1/3 cup sour cream
1/3 cup heavy cream
Cinnamon
Dash cardomom
Preparation: 1 Preheat oven to 350°F.
2 In a bowl, mix graham cracker crumbs, about a teaspoon of cinnamon, a dash of cardamom, and melted butter until well combined. Press mixture onto the bottom of a 9-inch springform pan.
3 In a large bowl, beat cream cheese, sugar, and vanilla extract until smooth. Add about four dashes of cinnamon.
4. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
5. Stir in sour cream and heavy cream.
6. Pour mixture over the crust and smooth the top with a spatula. Dust the top with a few dashes of cinnamon. 
7. Bake for 45-50 minutes or until the center is almost set. *Bake with a Bain Marie or pan of hot water* on shelf below shelf you place cheesecake to bake on in the oven* I will also note that I put my springform pan on a lined cookie sheet before putting it into the oven because I have had pans like this leak before in the oven. in the case of a cheesecake. I think it helps. Keep it level as well. The original Aldi recipe does not call for these additional steps and apparently you can bake this cake without a Bain Marie.
8. Turn off the oven and let the cheesecake cool inside for 30 minutes.
9. Remove from the oven and run a knife around the edges of the pan to loosen the cheesecake.
10. Let it cool completely at room temperature before refrigerating for at least 4 hours or overnight.
The last time West Vincent Supervisor Sara Shick, Vice chair of the Board of Supervisors was seen on a meeting recording seems to have been September 16, 2024 doesn’t it? Look it is no secret she is not well, and I actually do not wish her ill. I am a breast cancer survivor, and it’s pretty obvious she is dealing with something bad.
But that being said if her health is in decline, and you are among her people, she doesn’t have to literally die with her boots on. Help her find someone to step into her role, leaving her the dignity of dealing with whatever.
I am sure that whatever it is I say here, I will be attacked for writing about this. I am actually not writing with malice, although she has never been my favorite politician. I am writing about this because whatever is going on with her personally should be where her focus is. And she loves where she lives, but she has to know when to leave the party as an elected official, correct? For the good of her community? As in the greater good?
This is just how I feel. It’s is not casting aspersions, it is practical. It’s a three person board and now it seems that Supervisor Bernie Couris has something going on? Look at the October 24, 2024 meeting. He looks quite literally gray and pale, wearing a mask, and if you look at the meeting and about 21 minutes in, he leaves the meeting. That man is also not well.
This leaves ONE Supervisor, the Chair of the Board, Dana Alan. There was no quorum on November 4th, so the meeting was cancelled, correct? The next meeting is November 18th. Will they have a quorum? What if they do not?
Look, this is one of the largest problems I have with these 3 person boards. Life happens and then township business grinds to a halt.
The interim township manager is the one they kind of showed the door and not reappointed around 2016, correct? Then he leaves West Pikeland and wanders on back to West Vincent?
Where is the system of checks and balances here?
As an outsider looking in they need one replacement supervisor if not two. It’s not business as usual and needs to be addressed. If my research is correct, if two supervisors in a second class Pennsylvania municipality become sick and unable to serve, the remaining supervisors would typically fill the vacancies by appointing qualified individuals to serve until the next municipal election, where the positions would be filled by a public vote; if there are not enough remaining supervisors (which is a real worry in West Vincent), the vacancy board (consisting of the remaining supervisors and a registered elector) would appoint replacements, and if that fails, the court of common pleas would ultimately fill the vacancies upon a petition from township electors, right?
So West Vincent, what’s the plan? You actually have to deal with this. Of course you can say how horrible I am and probably will but y’all need to come to grips with what is happening. And that doesn’t mean bringing certain former supervisors back to the board for a second bite at the apple, either.
I close with this is why I like a 5 person board. It just makes more sense.
I obviously don’t know this woman or the family she is searching for. It’s just a very human post of someone experiencing loss who wants to find family…and they might not wish to be found. Who knows why they lost touch and seemed to roll like tumbleweeds away from their family. The human condition can be a puzzle. Anyway I saw this post earlier this morning:
Hello! Thank you for accepting me into the group here. I am not a local to this area. I actually live in Arkansas. However, despite it being a long shot I believe possibly a long lost aunt of mine may live in West Chester.
Her name is Vicky (or Victoria possibly) White née O’Neal and she had a son named Fritz, and a husband named Dan who may be deceased. She was five years older than my mom so she’d be somewhere in her 60’s or so.
My mom had been trying to find her for years and we had not had any true luck, my only leads are some Facebook accounts that seem to match my photos and the names, however I have not had any luck contacting them thru these means.
My mother unfortunately unexpectedly passed away this year and I am desperately trying to find her sister.
Again, these are not my words. I saw this posted in a Facebook group. This woman’s aunt was not native to Pennsylvania, but may live or have lived in West Chester.
As per other comments:
…that’s another way the plot thickens. Their family is from around Sumner, Mississippi originally, lived in Deer Park Texas and San Francisco California, and I think they may have gone to a few different schools in that time. I should’ve said, my mom’s family is not native to Pennsylvania. I’m not entirely sure about my aunt Vicky’s husband’s family however, Dan White I think was a realtor but I don’t know if he’s from Pennsylvania. Sorry if this is confusing at all
This woman who lives in Arkansas, lost her mom and is young. You can feel her grief. Maybe her aunt doesn’t want to be found. But if she is in Chester County and you know Victoria O’Neal White or her husband Daniel or her son Fritz tell them her niece Cassy Turner is searching for her. If you don’t trust the Facebook profile, I am sure the funeral home can help you.
Seriously a dead chrysanthemum (mum) is just a dead mum. Would you spray paint a dead squirrel ? Probably not, right? So if you can’t keep a chrysanthemum (mum) alive and transplant it into your garden for next year, why can’t you give it a dignified exit?
I’ve been seeing this disturbing barf worthy loving hands at home craft idea since like 2018 or 2019 and I can’t believe it’s still around. It’s still ugly and it still looks like a spray paint it dead plant with some Christmas ornaments stuck in it.
People have videos on YouTube and TikTok about this. How on earth do they think that’s crafting or normal looking or festive? It looks like Morticia Adams got bored with cutting the heads off of flowers.
I’m sorry is it just me or am I being mean? There are those who like to say I am a mean blogger as some of tell me that all the time all of you lovely people out there but I might have a grinch about Christmas? I don’t think so because I actually love Christmas and I don’t see a dead mum as a Christmas decoration.
Take this TikTok from Horine Homestead:
Or this one from Lora Bo
Actually, there are tons of videos on TikTok and elsewhere about this which is just like blows my mind.
If you want to add pizazz to your front porch or front walk and more, try real greens or even something artificial and even weather resistant Christmas greenery.
I guess my point is there are so many things that you can do with so little to create Christmas magic out front of your house or even in different parts of the inside of your house and it doesn’t mean you have to spray paint dead plants.
West Goshen Stupidvisor Ashley Gagme has a syndrome known as Meeting Tourette’s. But it seems like she just does verbal cartwheels in their boardroom. Too often.
Honey, we know you have political aspirations…I mean look 👀 at you never missing a photo op with Josh Shapiro, right? (Although that could also be a thing about older men maybe? ) But you kind of have to curb your enthusiasm at meetings and remember that the boardroom is full of adults, not children to be chided, right? Unless you want to be your own HBO show or something? Think of it as The Office meets Curb Your Enthusiasm….sorry I am getting ahead of myself, but oh the imagination could just run wild with all the other squirrelly behavior in West Goshen, right?
And yes, my dear, I am allowed my opinions. Be the Queen of the Word Salad if you must, just try to rein it in a little ok? I mean girl, come on now, you don’t want to have the reputation of behaving like the Democrat version of Marjorie Taylor Greene, right?
Fear and hate have propelled the masses of ugliness to victory. God help the US Constitution. And us.
Yes that is how I feel. As of today, it’s still my right to express that.
He’s still not my guy and he will never be my guy.
In my opinion, it’s a Pyrrhic victory. It’s a victory that comes at such a great cost that it’s almost like a defeat.
Kamala Harris didn’t lose. This country did. You had the people who didn’t want either candidate so they didn’t vote. You had the people who were her party, but couldn’t vote for a woman, because I think it was that which was more of the issue versus a race issue. I also think that the Democrats as in the national party shot themselves in the foot by not having a primary. People resented Kamala being plugged in as a pinch-hitter, and that is no commentary on her abilities. It’s the optics and this is something that the Chester County Democrats don’t get and they like to play reindeer games during primaries as well, except with them they like to have it all tied up before there is a primary, so it’s like the fix is in sometimes as far as their optics.
We are now probably going to lose the Affordable Care Act. Social Security. Medicare. And potentially a dismantling of our actual constitution and constitutional rights. And Elon Musk will eviscerate whatever much the way he has eviscerated Twitter. And forget women having the right to choose.
However, there are some bright spots for us in Chester County.
I did see that Chrissy Houlahan appears to have won over notthat Neil Young. Not surprised. That’s what he deserves especially after posing with twisted Wonder Woman and her Wonder toadie in their matchy outfits. He’s still welcome for the prod to have a better haircut.
I will also note the bathed in menstrual-like red Moms for Anything But Liberty endorsed triplets of Mauro, Dicranian, and Ayala seem to have tanked as predicted. Congratulations Melissa Shusterman, Christina Sappey, and reluctantly to Kristine Howard because she still really doesn’t do a lot, it’s simply that the Republicans can’t find anybody resembling normal to run against her.
I do feel confident, however, in congratulating Danielle Friel Otten in her victory over whatever his name was this time.
I also thought Elizabeth Moro had won, but sadly it appears she has not. I say sadly because the seat she was running for needs to be flipped. It’s been in a rut too long. 
More unfortunately however, Pennsylvania seems to have elected a hedge fund manager to the U.S. Senate. We’ve all seen what hedge fund managers have done to our local newspapers, for example.
I do also see Carolyn Committa prevailed against Duane Milne’s attempt to seek relevance again. Duane, although a nice enough person, never really was relevant to begin with. Also when the whole Bishop Tube nonsense started back when he was FIRST elected State Representative he really did absolutely nothing didn’t he? My experience with him when I moved to Chester County was that he kind of showed up for photo ops and you can be a nice person but if that’s all you’re going to do why are you an elected official? I did not like during this election when he posted a photo the other day of his son voting as in in the voting booth doing his ballot and you’re not supposed to do that. You’re not supposed to take pictures back there and he supposed to know that he’s been an elected official. I also didn’t like the phoniness of it because that was no kid speaking no matter how educated or eloquent or how much of an honor student, he may or may not be, those are the words of a middle-aged someone.
And fingers crossed because it looks like open space won in both East Whiteland and Uwchlan.
Speaking of East Whiteland someone needs to speak to the Chair of the Republican Party. She seemed to think yesterday at People’s Light that it was ok to physically BLOCK people’s paths on their way into vote. It’s not and her behavior was kind of off the hook behavior-wise. I am told people took photos.
Actually, both parties in Chester County need a bit of a makeover. I’m not letting either one off the hook. It’s hard to be a regular person and want to vote for any candidates. These parties BOTH play reindeer games.
We the average Americans are Malcolm in the middle, Malcolm without access. Face it you’re only as good as the size of your check for a donation.
I sign off this post as a 60 year old woman who is a breast cancer survivor and active cancer patient living in the blast zone of a pipeline. I don’t have a crystal ball. I will note however, as someone else pointed out today that in a couple years, a certain someone will become a permanent lame duck, and that’s a good thing.
The sun was shining, but the mood is cloudy. Now the sun has gone away and it’s looking November although it feels like June.
That is just cult-like ugliness above. I can’t get past that. I remember when I was proud to be a Republican. I do. I was even an RNC 2000 Media Relations Volunteer. I lent a U.S. Congressman who was a platform speaker cab fare because no one else recognized him. I met Colin Powell, Arnold Schwarzenegger and his then wife Maria Shriver. I felt like I was part of something that mattered.
These are not my people.
Then slowly it started to change. More and more I split my ticket when voting. The last GOP Congressperson I believed in was Jim Gerlach. Mostly because you knew he actually cared about his constituents, and proved that helping us fight eminent domain in Ardmore. Through him we met other Republican Congressmen like Jim Sensenbrenner and John Boehner. And I actually liked both of them.
But these Republicans? They are part of the political party that no longer exists. They are Trumpublicans, bought and paid for and influenced by a person who has spent his whole life gaming the system.
What has survived and what this political party has morphed into is ugly and violent and full of hate fueled rhetoric that is more cult than political. I just can’t do that.
I saw the changes coming and 2016 was when I said no and walked away. The GOP chose a man who has as his greatest accomplishment turning this country into a version of his ugly soul. That was my moment when I realized I was no longer a Republican as that party wished to define it vis-à-vis him as a candidate.
The simple truth is Donald Trump has neverever changed who he truly is. I remember when he was in the Academy Ball Book for the Academy Ball benefitting the Academy of Music. I remember thinking then now decades ago how sleazy he looked, and why didn’t the people posing in the photos with him for this great non-profit see it? I will note some of these people still support him, and I still don’t understand why now any more than I understood why then why they thought he was wonderful.
It’s simple: he’s the ultimate charlatan. He’s the Jim Jones of this era, and much like Jonestown of 1978, Trump’s followers today have drunk the Kool Aid, only as opposed to 1978 it’s not spiked with poison it’s proverbial.
I don’t know why it’s so easy for people to fall in love with him. I think they’re looking for things that are lacking in their own lives if you want to know, my honest opinion. because if you have a rational mind, he doesn’t make sense. And that’s why you are seeing all the Republicans that all these Trumpublicans used to worship being maligned because they have stood up and said enough this isn’t the party of Lincoln. This is NOT our guy and this isn’t a person for this country and it’s time to vote country over party.
And these believers? A lot of them are the ones who make everything more unpleasant even in our every day lives when they try to politicize everything. It’s like he gave the schoolyard bullies we grew up with a voice. They even bully their own co-believers. You can’t be part of the popular lunch tables unless you do exactly as they tell you.
And now there’s all this last minute campaign rhetoric coming right from the proverbial horse’s mouth, like that if Trumpublican men’s wives vote for Kamala Harris, it’s like cheating on their husbands. I mean seriously? What kind of bullshit is that? The ones that are on the fence? No one can see who you are voting for. You can vote however you choose you do not have to tell a soul. It’s your constitutional right, and as I told a Republican I know last week, the thing I wanted them to think about was the fact that they had daughters. And if they wanted their daughters to be absolutely guaranteed to have their rights preserved even to be pro-choice, then Trump wasn’t their guy. I said they weren’t just voting their preference. They were also voting the futures and rights of their children who could not vote.
I have to wonder since Trump wants to take care of all the women whether they want it or not if he had his druthers, would he repeal a woman’s right to vote just like he got rid of a woman’s right to choose?
I don’t expect my words to sway anyone. I am only expressing how I feel which is my right. do I have children of my own? No, I was never able to have them, but I am voting for the future that I want my stepson to have and my niece and my nephew and my friends and other family members kids and their kids after them.
Every day if you turn on the TV or you turn on social media or you pick up a newspaper all you see, are these rallies of ugliness. A chant of fight fight fight. Fists in the air that is reminiscent of Nazi Germany or any communist takeover even if the hand/wrist action is not exactly similar. It’s a feeling.
If you want to have your vote count, you can’t just vote necessarily the way your political party expects you to. You have to look at the bigger picture where it is literally country over any party.
Again, I can’t tell any of you how to vote, only encourage you to understand that we can indeed handle a female President. She represents among other things what I believe our forefathers wanted: the changing face of a country founded by immigrants.
Vote for our forefathers. Vote for the women who came before us. Vote for Abigail Adams. Vote for Dolly Madison. Vote for Sarah Bass Allen. Vote for Carrie Chapman Catt. Vote for Matilda Joslyn Gage. Vote for Susan B. Anthony. Vote for the Mercer girls. Vote for Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
Vote for any of the women whom you know or are related to. Vote in memory of those women you knew who are no longer with us.
I hope you choose Kamala Harris, just because it is the right thing to do. The GOP, the party of Lincoln is dead. Voting like mom and dad might of won’t mean anything because the GOP they believed in, again, is dead. If you had asked a much younger me would I vote Democrat let alone become one, I would have simply said “no way”, yet here we are.
Being a true “patriot” doesn’t mean walking lock step for a petty dictator waiting for his next opportunity while waving false flags. Being a real patriot means doing potentially a personally difficult choice, but as an American you know in your core, that you need to vote for a woman who will preserve the US Constitution, not obliterate it for personal gain.
Taken just a little while ago. All for corners of Sugartown & Lancaster in Tredyffrin. They are blocking pedestrians with flags and signs from feeling like they can cross the street safely. That is intimidation. These are not my people and this is the patch of ChesCo GOP chair Raffi Terzian. Is this acceptable to him? Public safely and free flow of people comes first!
Again, your vote is your choice. Just please remember all of those who fought, bled, and died to make this country truly free. Those are the true patriots. They wouldn’t want a man who is a threat to what they accomplished for all of us to get a second bite at the apple.
I am not any more of a biddable Democrat than I was a biddable Republican. I look at the candidates beyond mere political persuasion. That makes me inconvenient to any political party and I don’t really care.
I hope everyone votes as an American on Tuesday. I hope everyone votes for their country over party.
I am going to be a total bah humbug here. I feel like now we have a Instacart for holiday decorating. And I love Instacart but it’s for groceries and maybe Home Depot and Lowe’s when you don’t want to get your car all dirty.
But it’s like no one wants to do anything any longer that used to bring us all so much joy. And I don’t think people are necessarily busier today then they might’ve been 10 years ago or so.
I don’t know maybe I am some kind of an old fart at this point, but I have always loved doing my pumpkins and decorating for Christmas. And that’s been since I was a kid.
When I was a little girl, I helped my parents decorate. I had the most wonderful memories of going on then snowy nights with my father to pick out a Christmas tree. Thanks to climate change we don’t get many snowy nights anymore, but I digress.
As I grew up and got out on my own, no matter how busy I was, I found the me time to decorate for holidays. And I had total joy in going to things like the Saint Davids Fair in the fall, looking for new decorations and haunting thrift shops for cool vintage things.
I figured out long ago it wasn’t so hard to make a wreath. And that was whether I was making one out of ornaments or live greens or fake greens.
I am not Martha Stewart. Nor am I particularly crafty. I can cook, I can garden, but I am not a craft diva. That’s something entirely different, and you don’t have to be a craft diva or a decorator to do your house up for the holidays!
So we learned in October that there are professional pumpkin pimpers. Because God forbid, you pick out a pumpkin and put it on your porch or your front step yourself. Better yet you need to spend hundreds of unnecessary dollars to have someone look like it vomited pumpkins on your porch or front walk.
But the holidays/Christmas? How can you want someone to make you look like you live in Stepfordville? And Christmas is not for a beige beige world.
Now I do understand when people want someone to put lights in a really, really tall tree. Most people don’t have a bucket truck lying around.
I also understand when people are having a party somewhere and they need the help of a florist or a stager to get it together. Especially if you are renting a space which doesn’t necessarily come with furniture and things to give you your look.
I understand people that when they have Christmas parties or even Thanksgiving dinner, gatherings that they go to a local florist for table arrangements. But the rest of it? It’s not hard nor difficult.
If you are unsure what to do with greens outside your house, you can buy lovely preconceived packages from BloomBox. Literally with them, you can buy DIY container kits and you’re out per kit under 100 bucks before tax.
But this new service? It’s like you’re paying for a middle person to deliver Balsam Hill. Only to be honest, I think Balsam Hill artificial greens are better looking than what I saw on that website.
Greens and stems in an old tin watering can, cut from the garden. Simple, happy and festive…and not hundreds of dollars
And just FYI for information sake, these foyer fluffernutters offer packages that start at $475.00 but that doesn’t include service packages. Those start at $380.00. The higher end of their spectrum? $1150.00 before service, service packages add $750.00 and none of these service figures includes true customization. No ribbons, no ornaments. In other words, you look pretty bland like everyone else.
Do you really want your holiday decorations to look like everyone else on the block?
If you do, then this post is not for you. If you don’t, I’m telling you I think the prices are ridiculous and you’re paying for the Emperor’s new clothes and they’re not very attractive.
Spindle tree from BloomBox. Decorations by me.
Look, I understand the time is at a premium for some people, but when you just order the holidays without benefit of participating in the decorating, you’re missing out.
And if money is no option and you want to look like it’s a Stepford wife Christmas then hire somebody with the samey same packages.
But I think the better plan is to enjoy the reasons for the season which includes being creative and even encouraging your kids to get creatively festive. Try it, it will bring you joy.
Here are some links that you can go peruse for ideas:
I love Christmas. I love decorating for the holidays. I realize not everybody does, but from a practical standpoint it’s easy to do yourself, and you can save a lot of money, and not look like everyone else.
Don’t be bah humbug. Remember the little kid joys of paper chains and cut out snowflakes.
But please don’t start playing Christmas music until after Thanksgiving.
