West Georgia Woman Magazine Issue April 2024

Talk Yourself Into Happiness

Transforming Your Mindset with Positive Self-talk

Dr. Linette Dodson

Fueling Georgia's Schoolchildren

Red 40 Reluctance

Why More Parents are Going Dye-free

Booming Blooms!

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Photo by Zachary Dailey

SATURDAY, MAY 4

9AM-3PM DOWNTOWN CARROLLTON

CARROLLTONGA.COM/MAYFEST

Join us for an altogether crafty festival full of fun! Browse handmade arts and crafts by hundreds of vendors, located all around our vibrant downtown. Enjoy tasty local eats and explore our unique specialty shops. Stop by The Amp for family-friendly entertainment throughout the day. Mayfest is Carrollton’s most popular festival – come find out why!

A Beautiful Soul

In the February 2024 issue, I shared a little about the cancer my dear friend, mentor and surrogate father Dr. Fred Richards has been fighting the last two years. In November 2023, a year after he had his bladder removed, his doctors discovered the cancer had metastasized into his hip. Fred received several rounds of radiation at the end of 2023 and multiple immunotherapy treatments at the beginning of this year. Through it all, Fred remained optimistic, and of course, larger than life.

Fred is probably the only person on this Earth who has ever said he enjoyed his cancer treatment infusions – he would tell me he looked forward to going so he could wear his Dr. Seuss hat and lift everyone's spirits while he was there.

Fred and Anne have had a rough few weeks of multiple doctor visits, tests, scans and several spur-of-the-moment trips to the ER, along with one overnight hospital stay within just a few days. He is being treated with antibiotics for a UTI and developed a lung infection from the exhaustion of dealing with all this.

As I write this letter (March 26), Anne has informed me that Fred is now receiving end-of-life hospice support as he transitions into his last days.

I am devastated.

Please keep Fred and Anne in your thoughts and prayers during this difficult time.

In This Issue

Multiple studies show children behave better and perform better in school when they receive healthy meals regularly. This makes school breakfasts and lunches essential to many students and families who rely on them.

Our feature this month, Dr. Linette Dodson, embraces her passion for school nutrition by leading the state team as the Georgia Department of Education State School Nutrition Director. Serving more than 1.7 million students per day, Georgia is ranked as the 5th largest school nutrition program in the nation. She spent 19 years serving Carrollton City Schools as the district’s nutrition director, which provided valuable insight on the challenges and obstacles local school districts face.

She has seen her share of challenges at the state level as well. For example, she helped districts in the state weather the pandemic by being one of the first states to request emergency waivers to keep students fed during the lockdown using flexible meal service options.

She believes changing the perception of what school breakfasts and lunches look like now is key to the future of school nutrition – it’s not the same square pizza many of us had when we were kids. In addition to multiple healthy options for students to choose from each day, Linette says districts can incorporate locally grown foods and apply culinary skills to provide an excellent experience for students while adhering to the nutrition requirements. She hopes providing these choices will help students make better nutrition decisions as they grow into adults.

Read more on page 10 about Linette’s accomplishments and how she stays focused on ensuring healthy food choices for students.

Speaking of nutrition, do you, like many parents, worry about how food’s ingredients affect your child? Research into Red Dye 40 has some parents pulling it from their children’s diets. Learn more about the research and potential side effects on page 18.

Creating clutter is easy – keeping it under control is not. On page 22, find tips on why you should declutter as well as ways to keep your spaces organized so your mind can also be clutter-free.

Look for these articles, as well as information on how to create a year-round garden, ways to turn your mindset around with self-talk, amazing recipes from Chef Rose Isaacs and more as you flip the pages of this month’s issue.

As always, please do business with our advertisers, and let them know you saw their ad in West Georgia Woman magazine.

Take care,

Me, with Drs. Fred and Anne Richards on Fred's 85th birthday, Jan. 12, 2024. The Carrollton Kiwanis Club held a nice birthday celebration for him. Fred has been the Club Herald for the Kiwanis for over 40 years.

Finding our voice. Knowing our value.

Making a difference. TM

West Georgia Woman is a voice for and about the women who live and work in West Georgia.

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Fueling Education

By Shala Hainer

Photos by Zachary Dailey

Carrollton resident focuses on innovative school nutrition statewide

When millions of kids rely on you to make sure they have healthy meals every day, you know you have to show up strong every day. And Dr. Linette Dodson, Georgia Department of Education State School Nutrition Director, doesn’t take that responsibility lightly.

A longtime Carrollton, Ga., resident, Linette was born in Chamberlain, S.D., and grew up in several areas of the Midwest, including Missouri and Colorado. She graduated high school while living in Illinois, and then earned a bachelor’s degree from Iowa State University.

“I always had an interest in health and nutrition, so I decided to pursue a degree in Dietetics and Food Service Management,” she explains. “In college, I discovered I also enjoyed developing staff and leading people, specifically through a college quantity food service class where I was the manager for the full-service kitchen preparing and serving lunch for 150 people.”

Linette began working in commercial food service management after graduating from college. She knew she wanted to build her leadership skills while gaining insight and experience with quantity food production. While working with the commercial food service company, she joined a management training program, where she built skills for her future career and met her husband of 38 years, Randal. The couple moved to West Georgia where Linette worked as a registered dietitian and the nutrition services department director for several years for Tanner Health System. “I stumbled on a job posting for the school nutrition director of Carrollton City Schools, which is where my children went to school,”

she recalls.

“That is when I discovered that school nutrition is my passion. During that time, I also completed a Master of Science degree in Nutrition and later a Ph.D. in Food Service Management, where my research focused on School Nutrition Leadership.”

Linette and Randal still live in Carrollton with their standard schnauzer, Raider. They have three grown children and are excitedly awaiting the arrival of their first granddaughter. “My husband is also a local county school nutrition director, which helps me maintain awareness of program challenges and successes that his district faces,” she shares. Linette served as Carrollton City Schools’ nutrition director for 19 years before moving up to her current position as state school nutrition director.

“During my time in Carrollton, I was fortunate to work with such a great group of managers and school nutrition professionals that were willing to always provide the best for the students,” she remembers. “Our focus was always on serving quality school meals to our students. Because there was a significant amount of support for the school nutrition program from board members, superintendents, district leaders and teachers, we were able to do so many innovative things including developing the model for Food Corps service members working with School Nutrition to make connections between the classroom curriculum, the cafeteria and school meals.”

While working with Carrollton City Schools, the district received two USDA Farm to School Grants to support activities like culinary after-school programs and to purchase a food truck to use on the campus to serve school meals to students.

Serving the State

The Georgia School Nutrition Program is ranked as the 5th-largest school nutrition program in the nation, serving meals to more than 1.7 million students in the state every school day. The ranking is from the USDA and is based on student school lunch participation levels.

“The importance of that is that our school nutrition programs provide school meals for a significant number of our Georgia students,” Linette relates. “The local school nutrition leaders and their teams, supported by our state team, make quality school meals a priority.”

Linette works with a team that offers support, guidance and oversight for local school district nutrition programs. She says her primary responsibility is for the leadership of the state agency team of 65 professionals tasked with the oversight of the school nutrition programs for USDA in the 182 Georgia school districts and over 70 nontraditional schools that operate the National School Meal Programs.

Coming from a local school background gives Linette valuable insight into the day-to-day needs and challenges districts face when it comes to

ensuring the students receive healthy and tasty meals. “Leading a local program is a challenge, and so is leading at the state level,” she says. “However, they are very different challenges. At the local level, the decisions made impact that district’s group of students, but at the state level, those decisions impact the 1.7+ million students in the state.”

She started paving her way to a statewide position early in her career – not with a career move in mind, but more as a way to give back to her field and ensure the students in her care in Carrollton

City Schools received the proper nutritional meals.

She’s held several statewide and nationwide positions on a volunteer basis, including Georgia School Nutrition Association Education Committee Chairman, Georgia Department of Public Health Dietetic Internship Advisory Board Member, Academy of Dietetics and Nutrition SNS DPG Policy and Legislative Leader and Georgia School Nutrition Association State Adviser. These positions helped her understand a broader view of the policies and challenges involved with feeding vast numbers of students with varying nutritional needs.

“The experiences I had in policy roles with the Georgia School Nutrition Association and the Academy of Nutrition & Dietetics gave me the opportunity to better understand the impact policy has on the local school nutrition operations and how important it is to make sure proper policies are in place to enable good work to be done by our local school nutrition teams,” she shares. “It also showed me the value of collaborative partners to support important initiatives and policies.”

She met many high-level professionals while volunteering with state organizations, and several of these helped her decide the next step for her career. She says the previous state director, Nancy Rice,

and some local Georgia directors encouraged her to apply for the state director’s position, and she felt ready for a new challenge. She had a powerful vision for how she could keep the state school nutrition program moving forward.

“Aligned with Georgia State Superintendent of Schools Richard Woods’ agency goals, the primary goal in this role has always been to provide valuable support through training and resources for our local programs so that they are able to provide quality school meals to Georgia students in every school, every day,” Linette explains. “We have added a team of culinary specialists to provide additional support and training resources. We also continue to work on the connections made through foodbased learning in the classroom and with the school nutrition programs because nutrition education is an important focus for our state as well.”

Seeing Challenges as Opportunities

Less than a year into Linette’s tenure as State School Nutrition Director, she found herself leading the state through an unprecedented challenge: the COVID-19 pandemic. She knew students still needed food, but she also knew she and her team had to think creatively to find ways to get the food to students if the students couldn’t be in school.

Continuing the school lunch program was key for hundreds of thousands of Georgia families. According to the Georgia DOE, nearly 64% of students – that’s more than 1 million children –qualify for free or reduced lunch, which means the families are living below the determined poverty threshold and can’t afford to pay full price for school meals. For many of these kids, the breakfast and lunch they receive at school may be their only meals for the day. Proper nutrition is essential for their growing bodies and minds. Eating healthy school lunches helps reduce obesity rates, poor health and food insecurity for students while positively impacting their food selection choices, enabling students to eat more fruits and vegetables, for example, according to the Food Research and Action Center. Eating healthy is critical to the student’s academic success as well, as students who eat breakfast before taking a standardized test score higher in spelling, reading and math, reports No Kid Hungry. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shares that eating

breakfast at school is also associated with fewer missed school days.

Knowing the importance of keeping students’ bodies and minds fueled when the COVID pandemic hit, Linette and her team took immediate action to ensure Georgia’s students still had food available. Before the national USDA waivers were approved, she and her team were able to get emergency waivers to keep the state’s students fed so they could continue to eat healthy and learn during the difficult lockdown.

“When COVID began and our country shut down, we were concerned about how Georgia students would be fed in the absence of the school environment,” she recalls. “Our state received one of the first state waivers from USDA allowing flexible meal service to students when school was closed. Our local school nutrition leaders and their districts were so committed to taking care of their students, and they were creative in providing meals to their students via bus routes and school pickups. The state team was committed to supporting this transition with just-in-time guidance and waiver approval – many staff worked late nights

and weekends to support the local school nutrition programs so that they had the ability to be on the front line preparing and serving school meals during COVID.”

Linette shares that serving students during that time was a team effort, with her state office working collaboratively with local school nutrition leaders to problem solve.

“We are fortunate to have very resourceful school nutrition leaders that not only collaborated with our state team but also their local school district staff and even community partners to provide meals and other resources to families during that time,” she says. “It was really impressive!

“School nutrition professionals at the local and state levels have always played a significant role in the student experience at school, contributing to student academic success. I believe COVID demonstrated what has always been present in school nutrition and in Georgia. Georgia school nutrition professionals are so committed to making sure that our Georgia students have access to quality school meals – even during a pandemic with supply chain issues. They were resourceful to look for creative solutions to limited packaging and

specific food items.”

Linette has earned many awards during her time working in school nutrition, but the most recent is the Big Voices for Children award, presented by Voices for Georgia’s Children. The award honored her vision and rapid response to ensure Georgia’s students had access to food during the pandemic and beyond.

“Georgia receiving waiver flexibility from USDA allowed our local districts to shift very quickly to providing school meals to Georgia children within days of the state shutting down,” she remembers. “During that time, I saw so many amazing school nutrition staff and school staff work through a number of unknowns to make serving meals a priority. Our team was available on a seven-daya-week basis to help those districts work through those unknowns and challenges to provide meals.

“Many of the areas in Georgia had bare shelves at the grocery stores, so we heard so many stories about how the meals sustained those children. In Georgia, over 35 million meals were served during the first year of the pandemic. The Big Voices for Children recognized the leadership of the state agency and our local school nutrition leaders to make that possible.”

Although navigating the pandemic has been one of the greatest challenges of her career, Linette says she embraces the challenges as an opportunity to grow and help her team excel. “School nutrition has always provided enough challenges to keep my workdays interesting, not routine or boring,” she shares. “I enjoy having challenges and seeing the teams that I support be successful.”

Looking Forward

Linette believes the future of school nutrition lies in changing the perception and educating parents about how different the program is now. While the program contains specific requirements each school must adhere to, she says there is an opportunity to incorporate locally grown foods and apply culinary skills to provide a quality school meal and a great overall experience for students.

“I always encourage parents to become familiar with the school menu, find time to go eat a school meal with their child to experience what is being offered, and connect with their local school nutrition director if they have questions or want to learn more,” she says. “People can also connect with the state agency to learn more about what is happening in the school nutrition programs in Georgia.”

She shares that she finds working in school nutrition one of the most rewarding career opportunities available. “There is a variety of skills needed with opportunities that involve skills such as leadership, financial management, human resource management, culinary, nutrition, menu planning, marketing and communication to name several of the key responsibilities with school nutrition. Working in schools is such a positive environment, and having the ability to impact children by serving them a quality school meal that will allow them to learn is an incredible opportunity and is, for me, my passion.” Linette knows that an integral part of educating students is teaching them how to eat healthily.

“Through school nutrition, we can teach our children how to make good choices by providing more fresh and local foods (especially Georgia Grown) in our school meals that will lay the foundation for their better health,” she explains. “Nutrition education, food-based learning and farm-to-school activities need to continue to be incorporated into daily education so that students are more comfortable tasting new foods. If we teach our children now how to eat better, they will hopefully grow up to be healthier adults.” WGW

Red 40 Reluctance

Why some parents are going dye-free

By Sandra Bolan

For decades, many parents assumed their children went into hyper-mode because they ate too many sugarfilled cookies. But some believe children are having a negative reaction to a different ingredient in the cookie, such as food coloring – Red 40 in particular.

As far back as 1973, Pediatric Allergist, Dr. Benjamin Feingold published a study that revealed a potential connection between hyperactivity in children and dyes and artificial additives in food. The link was noted again in 2008 when The Center for Science in the Public Interest asked the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to ban Red 40, along with seven other widely used dyes from foods, citing numerous studies linking the dyes

Home Make Your House a

to increased symptoms of ADHD in children.

There are nine color additives approved by the FDA, which means the agency believes the products are safe for human consumption. However, the FDA has started to acknowledge some children may have adverse reactions to Red 40, such as aggression, hyperactivity, problems concentrating, hives, asthma and migraines. Some studies have shown frequent consumption of artificially colored food, particularly Red 40, can increase the potential for developing an inflammatory bowel disease such as Crohn’s or ulcerative colitis.

Adding to its controversy, Red 40 is made from petroleum and contains benzene, a known cancercausing substance.

The food industry puts 15 million pounds of artificial dye into its products every year and about 40% of those dyes are Red 40. Artificial colors are used in processed foods to make products more visually appealing, indicate flavor (red is equated to strawberry, cherry and raspberry) as well as provide uniform colorization. Fake dyes are also cheaper than natural options.

The list of products containing Red 40 is vast and may surprise you: flavored milks, yogurts, puddings, ice creams, popsicles, salad dressings, sauces, cakes, pastries, candy, gum, breakfast cereals and bars, jellies, fruit snacks, potato chips, sodas and powdered drinks, to name a few. Red 40 can also be found in products geared toward children such

as some toothpastes and mouthwashes, along with prescription medications and cough syrups.

The easiest way to find out if your children are susceptible to the adverse effects of Red 40 is to eliminate all products containing the additive from their diet for at least two weeks. Before undertaking an elimination diet, chronicle your family members’ reactions to foods containing the dye for two weeks. Continue journaling during the elimination phase.

A more scientific method to determine if Red 40 is an issue for your family is to do a professional food intolerance test.

Now what? There’s a high probability many of your children’s favorite snacks will have to be removed from their diet. You’re now among the ever-increasing number of parents going dye-free, which means you forgo many, if not all, processed foods you’d traditionally consume and replace them with healthier options.

Artificial colors provide zero nutritional value. They’re only used to colorize products that would otherwise look bland. Even the FDA acknowledges artificial colors are nothing more than “fun” and utilized “to enhance natural colors, add color to colorless and fun foods such as cake decorations and help identify flavors.”

Dye-free options include anything fresh, as well as whole grains, nuts, seeds, unprocessed meats, some cheeses, plain popcorn, rice cakes and natural granola bars.

There’s no way to know the exact amount of artificial coloring, or any ingredient for that matter, in a processed food item. However, food manufacturers do have to list the products’ ingredients in descending order of weight.

Processed

More food companies are realizing parents still want to treat their children to fun foods but don’t want all the additives. Some clean food companies are: Annie’s Homegrown, Bare Snacks, Clif Bar, Enjoy Life Foods, Kind, Larabar, MadeGood, RXBar, Simple Mills, Simple Truth, Smart Sweets, Sprout Bake, That’s It and Unreal.

foods were created to make our busy lives easier. Why make something from scratch when there’s a perfectly good option available on the grocery store shelf? Those convenience foods, however, are being linked to more and more health issues. Perhaps it’s time to pull out your mother’s and grandmother’s cookbooks and ditch the processed foods for scratch cooking. WGW

Spring Cleaning

By Sandra Bolan

The benefits of decluttering your home

Decluttering, an integral part of the spring deep clean, involves more than putting your things in neat little piles or shoving everything into the closet never to be dealt with again. It’s also about clearing out the mind. Studies show living in a cluttered and chaotic environment can have a negative psychological impact on a person, not to mention how stressful it is because you can never find what you’re looking for without digging through piles of stuff.

Decluttering reduces your stress levels because it simplifies your life as well as frees up physical and mental space. Other benefits of living in a tidy, clutter-free home include better concentration, improved sleep, a happier disposition and the ability to move forward and focus on goals.

Physical clutter competes for your attention, making it tough to get anything done. When you get rid of stuff, not only is your space clear, but so, too, is your mind.

Have you ever gone to bed and remained fixated on the pile of dirty laundry on the floor, or knew that behind the closet door was an avalanche of clothes – some clean, some dirty – ready to tumble out as soon as you open the door?

Ever wonder why you’re cranky when working at your desk, which is covered in papers, file folders, and old, dirty coffee cups? Clutter sends a visual signal to your brain that things aren’t where you want them, causing you to be irritable. Clearing the clutter may help you flip your cranky mood.

Moving on from the past is tough, that’s why we hang on to some things for far too long, to the point of forgetting why we kept them. It’s also important to rid ourselves of items that evoke negative emotions. The whole point of decluttering is to create not only a clean and tidy living space but also a happy home.

Where to Start

Give yourself about two weeks to get your home in order. The easiest and most organized way to go about this is room by room. In each room you’ll create four piles: keep, donate, sell, trash. Having only four options helps you move through the “What should I do with this?” process much more efficiently.

The basement and garage are where you can expect to purge the most stuff, because that's where

770.462.5005

people tend to store things they don't want to deal with right away or don’t have a proper storage place for on the main floor.

• Keep items you regularly use. “Regularly” means daily or weekly.

• Donate things that are still in great shape but no longer serve a purpose in your life. This could be clothes you don’t wear anymore, small appliances that still work and toys your kids have outgrown or don't play with anymore.

• Sell items of high value if you can, but don't expect to make a ton of money. Check resale sites to see if your items are worth selling or if they’d be better off in the donation pile.

• Trash clothes with tears or holes. You might be tempted to put them in the keep pile with the intention of mending them, but if you haven’t sewn them up already, you probably won't.

• Donate to your local food bank. If you have unopened, yet-to-be-expired canned or boxed foods you’re not going to eat in the very near future, donate those items.

Stay Clutter-free

• Bedroom. Always make your bed as soon as you wake up. This leads to better productivity and encourages you to keep your room neat and tidy. It also lowers your stress and anxiety levels. And a well-made bed just looks nice.

• Kitchen. Who doesn’t love shopping in bulk at a big box store? But do you really need 24 cans of beans, 50 rolls of toilet paper and 20 pounds of rice taking up space in your oneroom apartment? Buy only what you need, when you need it.

• Garage and Basement. It's important to get

rid of everything you don't need in these areas. Make use of the tall ceilings and organize all items in stackable containers. Be sure to label them, because you may forget what's in them if they aren't clear containers. Stack holiday items in one spot only.

Just like the old saying, “There is a place for everything and everything in its place.” Once you spring clean and declutter, keep this mantra in mind: When you use something, put it back where you got it from. Hopefully, next spring won’t feel like Groundhog Day on repeat. WGW

Daily Fare With

Chef Rose

Chef Rose Isaacs is a native of Carroll County and lives in Carrollton with her husband, Shawn and their son, Sebastian.

She graduated from West Georgia Technical College in 2013 with a degree in Culinary Arts.

She is a personal chef who offers cooking lessons, baby food prep, date night dinners for two and more.

Learn more about Chef Rose at www.chefrosecooks.com.

Chef Rose photos by Zachary Dailey, Dailey Life Photography daileylifephotography@gmail.com

Recipe photos by Andrew Agresta, Agresta Photography www.agrestaphotography.com

PRESENTED BY

Sheet Pan Tomato Soup

“ Experience a burst of flavor with this delicious soup, which can also be served cold as a refreshing gazpacho.”

Ingredients

1 red bell pepper, chopped

6 Roma tomatoes, quartered

1 sweet onion, chopped

2 sprigs rosemary

8-ounce feta cheese block

1 bulb garlic, sliced at the top

2 to 3 cups vegetable broth

1/4 cup olive oil

2 teaspoon black pepper

Preparation

Preheat oven to 400º F.

Line a rimmed sheet pan with aluminum foil or parchment paper.

Place the feta block, onions, tomatoes, peppers, rosemary and garlic on the prepared pan.

Season everything with olive oil and fresh cracked black pepper.

Bake for 30 to 45 minutes or until all vegetables and the feta cheese are soft.

Remove the garlic bulb and set aside until cool enough to handle.

Transfer all the roasted vegetables and the feta to a blender.

Carefully squeeze in all of the garlic, add vegetables, and blend for 2 minutes or until creamy.

Serve with your favorite grilled cheese sandwich or croutons.

Serves 6.

.

Quesadillas Con Cream Cheese and Fruit

Ingredients

4 large flour tortillas

1 cup sliced strawberries, blueberries, peaches or other fruit of choice

4 ounces cream cheese, softened

2 tablespoons powdered sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 tablespoon butter

Additional powdered sugar for dusting (optional)

Optional toppings: whipped cream, maple syrup or honey

Preparation

In a small bowl, mix the softened cream cheese with powdered sugar and vanilla extract until smooth and well combined.

Spread the cream cheese mixture evenly over one-half of each tortilla.

Arrange fruit of choice over the cream cheese on one half of each tortilla.

Fold the tortillas in half, pressing gently to seal.

Heat a large skillet or griddle over medium heat and melt a small amount of butter.

Place the quesadillas in the skillet and cook for 2 to 3 minutes on each side or until golden brown and crispy.

Remove from the skillet and allow to cool for 1 minute before slicing into wedges.

Serves 4. WGW.

“ Serve this dish warm and sprinkle powdered sugar on top, if you like. If you're feeling fancy, add some whipped cream, maple syrup or honey as optional toppings. Enjoy!”

Dailey Life Photography

Booming Blooms

Grow your gardening game this spring

By Sandra Bolan

Did you know there are actually six, not four, blooming seasons? In addition to spring, summer, winter and fall, there’s early spring and late summer. If you plan your garden appropriately, you can have beautiful blooms throughout all six seasons.

Novice gardeners often build their gardens around what catches their eye as they walk the aisles of the garden center. Then, once they transplant everything, a great-looking garden appears – for about six weeks. Then, the plants all die, turning the yard into a scary summer Halloween scene.

The first step to having 12 months of blooms is not to buy already blooming flowers, trees and shrubs. Buy perennials, shrubs, ground cover and even annuals that have yet to bud. This means your first year of revamping your garden requires trips to the garden center throughout the year.

The average perennial – a shrub or flower that blooms every year – has a lifespan of about two to three weeks, which means you need to create a garden with a rotation of blooms.

When planning what to grow, don’t just think about what the plant will look like while in bloom, but also when dead. Another thing to consider is the height, width, color and texture of what you plant and where. You want it all – stout and thick, big and bushy, as well as tall and wispy.

Next, plant in small groups and repeat the pattern throughout your space. In each grouping, include one to two large and medium plants and no more than three smaller ones. Think of creating a wave: high/ medium/low and repeat. Levels create visual depth. When arranging the plants, ensure the taller blooms don’t cast a shadow over the smaller ones, but do put everything close enough to get some co-mingling,

No Foolin’, Just Bloomin’!

Cathye Dowda Cota

770.722.3947

homelifegroup@kw.com

April’s for growth, not jokes. Let’s boost your home’s value with my blooming marketing strategies. Ready to see your sale flourish?

I sold all my listings, let me sell yours!

which helps cover some of the foliage not in bloom. To complete the garden, consider a border. It gives the garden a more planned appearance and, depending on what you plant, it might attract pollinators.

You’ve created height and depth with your flower choices, but you still have some spots that look rather hum-drum. Pepper in some annuals. The great thing about annuals is you can switch them every year.

If this all sounds overwhelming, an easy way to start filling out your garden is to plant all the different varieties of your favorite perennial. For example, if you love alliums, plant varieties that bloom from spring to the first frost such as Purple Sensation, Gladiator and Circle/ Curly onions.

Before You Plant

Before you even consider a trip to the garden center, you need to know a few things about your soil. A soil test tells you its nutrient composition, which helps determine the best fertilizer to encourage bud growth and quality.

There are two options

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Suite 300 Carrollton, GA 30117

Excellence in Adult Primary Care

Lee Stringfellow, M.D.

William Berard, M.D.

Kevin Webster, M.D.

Andrew Rho, D.O.

Simone Berard, M.D.

Joanne Gaw, M.D.

Schuyler Cook, D.O.

Jessi Stockham, FNP-C

for fertilizer composition: organic and inorganic. Inorganic fertilizers are man-made, water-soluble liquids, granuals and powders that come in specific blends. Organic fertilizers include – you guessed it! – organic matter such manure and compost, which feed plants longer per application but take more time to break down. Another downside to organic fertilizer is that it may not be as nutrient-dense as an inorganic variety.

Next, pay attention to where there’s sun and shade and for how long. There’s nothing worse than falling in love with a bloom that requires full sun, but your land is shady.

Gardening is supposed to be a calm and serene activity that rewards you with bountiful blooms. But for many, gardening confirms you have a black thumb and feels like an exercise in futility. However, with some planning and a lot of patience, gardening can be a rewarding and zen experience. WGW

At this point, you might still be confused about what to plant, when and where. That’s OK, because most of the best gardens take a number of years to cultivate and are accompanied by a lot of sweating, transplanting and more transplanting.

It may take you four to five years to get your garden growing throughout all six seasons. To help you, here are some common floral groupings, and their bloom seasons:

Early spring: flowering shrubs, cherry blossoms, forsythia

Late spring: peony, iris, allium, oriental poppies

Early summer: bugbane, cornflower, ligularia

Early fall: aster, coneflower, sedum, grass, chrysanthemum

Late fall: mums, dahlias, roses, sunflowers

Welcoming Dr. Rachel Harper to

Widener Family Dentistry

UGA & DCG Alumni

Hinman Scholar

Inducted into OKU & the National Dental Honor Society

Certified Solea laser dentist to help provide the highest quality of dental care

Dr. Harper is married to Dr. Chris Harper. they enjoy raising corgi puppies and quarter horses on their small farm

Providing

Leading Edge Dentistry

Solea Laser Dentistry

90% of Fillings with no shot or drill 3D Digital Imaging

Crowns, Veneers, and all Aesthetic

Makeovers designed by both Doctors in house

Digital 3D printed splints & Dentures

Same day placement and restoration of implants

Now Serving West GA in Two Locations

110 Executive Dr, Carrollton, GA (770) 834-4847

106 Sue Avenue, Bowdon, GA (770) 628-5557

Transforming Your Mindset with Positive Self-talk

By Sandra Bolan

We all know the story of The Little Engine that Could – a train gets stuck partway up a steep mountain, and the only one willing to help is the smallest of engines. While ever so slowly towing the big train up the mountain, she repeated, “I think I can. I think I can.”

That children's book is the epitome of positive self-talk. When things get tough, don't throw your hands up in exasperation and give up. Instead, tell yourself you can do it, then give it your best shot. You may not succeed, or the outcome might not be what you hoped, but the important point is you tried.

Doing new things or the tough stuff, pretty much anything that takes you out of your comfort zone, is daunting. But with a little “I think I can,”

internal dialogue, it can become “I just did that!”

Positive self-talk not only gets you to the other side of what seemed like an insurmountable task, but it also has a myriad of benefits such as relieving symptoms of anxiety and depression, improved body image, a reduced risk of selfharm or destructive behaviors, feeling more in control of life, having the ability to overcome life’s obstacles and a better overall sense of well-being.

Because it’s your internal dialogue, you might not always know if you're talking yourself out of something. Ask yourself this, "Do I always expect the worst and refuse to let logic, or anyone, talk me into seeing the potential for a positive outcome?"

Or, the next time life throws you a curveball, listen to your inner voice. Ask yourself if its

focusing on the negative, “I’ll never get this!” or the positive, “That was harder than I thought. I’ll try again.”

Whether you’re a glasshalf-full or half-empty kind of person typically develops in childhood and may be based on how your parents, caregivers, teachers and peers viewed you. For example, as a child, you didn’t do as well as you hoped on a test and proceeded to call yourself “stupid,” and no one told you otherwise. Then, through adulthood, when you didn’t succeed as you hoped you would, you assumed it was your fault because you were inept, unqualified or stupid.

If you struggle with negative self-talk, think of how you would talk to a friend going through the same situation. You would likely give your friend a pep talk and tell her how great she is. Now, give that pep talk to yourself.

While it's common for people to want to pull

themselves up by their bootstraps in the midst of tough times, no one should ignore her innermost feelings. Acknowledge your negative thoughts, then try to reframe those thoughts with more focus on the effort versus the result.

You worked harder than everyone, but didn’t get the promotion you wanted or expected. Sadly, not all efforts will yield the results we want – that’s Life Lesson No. 1. What’s important is you worked hard and didn’t give up. And you will try again.

It’s also imperative to recognize not all naysaying consists of negative words. “Ruby is smarter than me so even if I try my hardest, she'll still be chosen for a promotion over me.” Those words are as damaging as “I can’t do this.”

Reframe Your Words and Thoughts

Once you acknowledge you’re a negative selftalker, it’s time to flip the script. When you’re in mid-negative thought, stop yourself and consciously use positive verbiage. For example, shift your language from “This is too hard,” to “This will be challenging;” “I can’t do that,” becomes “I’ll give it my best shot;” and “I’m going to fail,” is now “I want to succeed.” Engaging in negative self-talk is a self-fulfilling prophecy, so why not think positively so you get what you want?

Forming the new habit of positive self-talk may take time, so be kind to yourself if you forget to reframe your thinking. Always remember, when things don’t go exactly as planned, never give up. Try, try again. If you think you can, you will. WGW

LocaL Happenings

Nursing From The Heart

Breastfeeding Support Group

This group meets the third Thursday of each month from 11:00 to noon at the Villa Rica Library located at 869 Dallas Highway, Villa Rica, Ga.

These events are free to pregnant women and moms looking for breastfeeding support. Weight checks for your baby will be available at no cost. Come and share your breastfeeding journey with us.

Please check our website for meeting and event updates at www.nursingfromtheheart.com.

Domestic Violence Support Group

There is Hope is a support group for women survivors who have dealt with, or are currently dealing with, domestic violence.

This is a private group where women survivors come together and share their personal stories of experience, strength and hope.

This group meets on the first Thursday of every month from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. at a private location. A ZOOM option is available.

There will be guidance for help and resources available as needed. At times there will also be guest speakers.

Contact hopefulone807@gmail.com for more information and to obtain the privacy contract with the physical address or ZOOM meeting ID and passcode.

Survivors of Suicide Loss Support Groups

Has your life been impacted by the loss of a friend or loved one to suicide? You are not alone.

These groups offer peer support for anyone who has been affected by suicide loss.

There is no cost to attend.

Group meetings in Carrollton are the third Tuesday of each month from 7 to 8:30 p.m. at 306A Bradley Street.

For more information, contact Ivey Rollins at iveyrollins@gmail.com or call 470.729.0909.

Group meetings in Douglasville are the second Tuesday of each month from 7 to 8:30 p.m. at the First United Methodist Church at 6167 Priestley Mill Rd., Room 226.

For more information, contact Terri Johnson at chose2live@aol.com or 770.765.2181.

Group meetings in Newnan are the second Monday of each month at 7 p.m. at Crossroads Church, 2564 Hwy 154.

For more information, contact Lynn Bradley at 770.301.4890 or email nbll.bradley170@gmail.com, or contact Nancy Bradley at 770.251.6216.

PFLAG Carrollton Support Group

PFLAG Carrollton provides a free monthly peer facilitated support group for adult members (ages 18+) of the LGBTQ+ community, as well as their family, friends and allies, as a resource for families struggling with acceptance of their LGBTQ+ loved ones.

The goal is to meet people where they are and lead with love. PFLAG’s mission of support, education and advocacy from a place of love can help struggling families, as well as the community at large.

Support group meetings (for adults 18+) are led by a PFLAG trained facilitator and held on the second Thursday of each month from 7 to 8 p.m. in the Fellowship Hall at Grace Lutheran Church, 101 Somerset Place in Carrollton.

Confidentiality and safety are top priorities. Contact Julia Houser, pflagcarrollton@gmail.com for more information.

Pregnancy Resource Center 2024 Fall Fundraising Dinner

The Pregnancy Resource Center for Carroll, Haralson and Heard Counties will be hosting its 2024 fall fundraising dinner featuring special musical guest Allie Kennedy, speakers Al and Lisa Robertson and live artist Laura Ashley.

Tickets go on sale April 2. For more information, visit www.pregnancyrc.com.

L.E.A.R.N. Foundation

Veterans Upward Bound Hosts Resource Carnival

The L.E.A.R.N. Foundation Inc. (LF) has been working closely with the community since its establishment in 2014. By creating a trusting relationship and channel of open communication with program members, community members and leaders, Dr. Dalton Lemelle, Jr. and staff have worked together to identify and address critical issues in the community. This has led to the grand opening of its Community Outreach Center on Sat., April 20, 2024, at 168 N. Johnston St. Ste. 301, in Dallas, Ga.

Through its community outreach program, L.E.A.R.N. hopes to provide resources to improve

the lives of community members by helping them access and maximize services. As a part of this mission, LF will be celebrating the grand opening with a Resource Carnival that begins at 10:30 a.m.

In addition to sharing resources and opportunities available in the community at this free, family community event, attendees can tour the new center, and enjoy food and games.

L.E.A.R.N. has partnered with the local Department of Human Services to host a donation drive of gently used or new luggage and backpacks for children in foster care. Donations will be accepted at this event.

L.E.A.R.N. will address the needs of food insecurity, financial guidance, homelessness, provide resources for mental and physical wellbeing and more with its Community Outreach Center and Resource Carnival.

The new center will have a community closet filled with clothes, shoes, accessories and blankets. It will also have a food pantry filled with perishable and non-perishable food items. Additionally, it will serve as place where community members can seek support through local resources, obtain hygiene products and school materials for free.

“Our goal is to ensure we have an opportunity to be able to assist our communities and the families we serve, so everyone can have the opportunity to have items they need," Dr. Lemelle, founder and CEO of L.E.A.R.N. explains. "After opening the education resource center we found there was a need for different resources outside of the education resources that we offer. We reached out to various organizations, and the items donated were items that were needed by community members.”

Dr. Lemelle plans for L.E.A.R.N. to always be a part of the community as a communitybased organization and to keep the needs of the community in mind for future programming with all services being free of charge.

The resource carnival serves as an opportunity for L.E.A.R.N. to meet people where they are and an opportunity for community members to come together and be a part of a trusted organization that wants to help and isn’t asking for anything in return. The LF also offers programs such as Veterans Upward Bound, Network for Student Success and College Male Student Success.

With these programs, the LF provides first generation and low-income students with the assistance and guidance they need to successfully attend and complete college, university or technical

school. Through these programs, the LF addresses the issue of low graduation rate by providing services and assisting every step of the way.

Visit Learnfoundationinc.org to learn more about the L.E.A.R.N. Foundation and the Resource Carnival.

Council on Aging Annual Spring Fellowship

Open to all senior citizens in the West Georgia area. Educational vendors, door prizes, music, candy, fellowship, dancing and more. The George Britt Band will be performing.

No children, please.

Thursday, May 2. Doors open at 9 a.m., and this free event begins at 10 a.m. at the East Carrollton Recreation Gym, 410 Northside Drive in Carrollton, Ga. For more information, contact Tanya Debick at 770-832-1644 or Sandra Morris at 678-378-0985.

Reconnecting Back Community Fest

Reconnecting Back to the Community's Community Fest will be held Saturday, June 15 from noon to 5 p.m. at Legends West Park, 215 Fourth St. in Carrollton. Food, clothing, inflatable houses, firetrucks, games and more.

This event is free and open to the public. Donations needed: Non-perishable food items, clothing and school supplies. Donations will be accepted through May 31 at 562-D Newnan Rd. in Carrollton. Monetary donations should be mailed to PO Box 1451, Carrollton, Ga. 30112.

For more information, call 678-850-6178 or email reconnectingback@gmail.com.

High School Creative Writing Winners Honored

The winners of the Carrollton Writers Guild/Center for the Arts High School Creative Writing Contest were honored at a luncheon on March 5.

The annual competition features local literary artists in grades 9-12 who write poetry and short stories. The contest was funded by the Fulford Foundation, Carrollton Writer’s Guild, Vabella Publishing, Carrollton Civic Woman’s Club and Jill Pierce State Farm Insurance.

For 35 years, the High School Creative Writing Contest has continued to reward and encourage

the significant writing talent of the county’s young authors and celebrate their artistic accomplishments.

2024 Winners

Carrollton Civic Woman’s Club

Special Recognition Award Poetry

Learner’s Permit, by Autumn Martin, Carrollton High School, grade 12

Carrollton Writers Guild

Special Recognition Award Prose

Snapdragon, by Addison Lloyd, Carrollton High School, grade 11

Poetry Awards

First Place

Beth, by Allison Lowry, Carrollton High School, grade 12

Second Place

You Fell in Love with Me in the Spring, by Sadie Ewers, Central High School, grade 10

Third Place

Strawberry Ice Cream, by Kennedy Little, Villa Rica High School, grade 10

Short Story Awards

First Place

Pentobarbital, by Kai McMichael, Central High School, grade 11

Second Place

The Boy on the Throne, by Caitlin Boone, Carrollton High School, grade 12

Third Place

Little Reminders, by Ari Davis, Carrollton High School, grade 9. WGW

Linda McWhorter Retires from Southwire

Southwire’s longest-tenured team member retires after more than 63 years of dedicated service

March 1 marked a momentous and bittersweet moment for Southwire, as Linda McWhorter, the company’s longesttenured team member, retired from the company after more than 63 years of dedicated service – a testament to her dedication and her appreciation for those she worked alongside.

Linda began her career with Southwire right out of high school when the national average gas price was only 31 cents per gallon. The date was May 2, 1960,

and her first role was as a file clerk.

Over the last six decades, she held multiple jobs as a quotation clerk, executive secretary and administrative assistant. Most recently, she served as a senior executive assistant to Charlie Murrah, Southwire’s executive vice president and chief supply chain officer.

“I have been tremendously fortunate to have worked with Linda most of my career. Her strong work ethic, dependability, professionalism, positive

attitude, lifelong learning mindset and her deep, caring commitment to doing the things the right way set her apart,” says Charlie. “I am hard pressed to come up with anyone at Southwire who has had a more meaningful impact on me than Linda. I know many others who have come through these doors over the years that feel the same. I am so thankful for all that she has been a part of and am filled with joy knowing that she will enjoy her retirement.”

As one might imagine, Linda has witnessed many changes over the course of her career at Southwire. One of the most significant was the expansion of technology. These new advancements brought both challenges and opportunities, and Linda enjoyed getting to watch technology continue to grow and change the company.

“Going to computers from typewriters was very big. The ability to communicate via email was great, and I remember switching from doing colored presentations with a machine that used pins to circle around with different colors to presentations on PowerPoint,” Linda says.

Over the years, Linda’s responsibilities shifted with the various jobs she held within the business, giving her the opportunity to experience many unique aspects of Southwire and work with many different the organization, including Roy Richards Sr., founder of Southwire.

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816 Maple Street, Carrollton, GA 30117

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“Right after the Richards’ home was built across the lake, Mr. Richards invited a group of ladies from Southwire over for lunch and a tour of the house,” Linda shares. “We had a seated lunch with him and Margaret Braswell. During that lunch, I remember him talking about his children and their chores, but in the office, he was always busy and very professional.”

Linda attributes her tenure and success to the people with whom she’s worked over the

years and the leaders who motivated her to pursue new opportunities throughout the company.

“I am very fortunate to have been with Southwire for all these years,” she says. “I love the company and the people that I have worked with. I feel very privileged to have been a part of the Southwire team and am grateful for the opportunities my career has given me.”

Please join us in congratulating Linda on more than 63 years of service to Southwire!

Visit www.southwire.com/newsroom for more Southwire news. WGW

© 2024 Southwire Company, LLC. All Rights Reserved. A leader in technology and innovation, Southwire Company, LLC is one of North America’s largest wire and cable producers and an emerging influence in many important electrical markets. Southwire and its subsidiaries manufacture building wire and cable, utility products, metal-clad cable, portable and electronic cord products, OEM wire products and engineered products. In addition, Southwire supplies assembled products, contractor equipment, electrical components, hand tools and jobsite power and lighting solutions, and the company provides a variety of field and support services to customers around the world. For more information about Southwire’s products, its community involvement and its vision of sustainability, visit www.southwire.com.

Kids Korner

By Jordan Dailey

Fantastic Flower

Materials

Green marker or paint

Yellow construction paper

Glue

Popsicle stick

Cupcake liner

Scissors

Instructions

Cut out a flower shape from the construction paper. Color or paint the popsicle stick green and glue it to the back of the flower.

Attach a cupcake liner to the center of the flower for the pistil.

Craft photos by Zachary Dailey

“Hand some Chick Instructions

Materials

Construction Paper

Feathers

Glue

Scissors

Googly Eyes

The

Draw an outline of your child's hand on the yellow construction paper, and carefully cut it out.

Cut out the shape of a broken eggshell from the white construction paper.

Glue the googly eyes to the center of the hand.

Glue the broken eggshell shape to the bottom of the hand.

Cut out a beak from the orange construction paper and glue under the eyes.

Glue the feathers to the back of the fingers. WGW

J. Collins, with his daughter, J.J.

Spring Word Search

Word Bank

Daisy

Warm Cleaning

Sunshine

Growing

Chick

Lamb

Budding

Butterfly

Daffodil

Hatch

Tulips

Seed

Showers

Breeze

Gardening

I Made a Mistake

A note from the publisher

Last month, I inadvertantly placed the wrong word search in West Georgia Woman, and we received multiple calls, texts and emails regarding the error. If you'll look at the word search in the print copy of the March issue (we've corrected the online version), you will notice the word search from February is on the page. For those of you who found the word "Lent," that was actually "valentine." Apparently, "bunny" and "hop" was also found in the erroneous word search, according to multiple readers (haha), but honestly, after getting – much to my surprise – a few extremely unkind and angry messages (I'm still baffled by those) – I really didn't want to look at the word search again last month.

This error was completely my fault. Our graphic designer had originally created a word search for St. Patrick's Day, and I made the decision to do an Easter word search, instead. And I forgot to place the updated word search on the page (insert faceplant here).

I want to thank all of our readers who reached out to us with kindness and grace. I really do appreciate all of you bringing the mistake to our attention. I'm a firm believer that most of the time, good things come out of mistakes, and this was no different. I had no idea how many people look forward to our word search each month until this happened. So, thank you for letting us know how important the word search is to you. We have included the correct Easter word search in this issue for you to complete. We consistently strive for no mistakes, but we’re human. Thank you for understanding, and thank you for reading West Georgia Woman magazine!

– Angela Dailey, Owner/Publisher

Word Bank

Jesus Christ

Egg Hunt

Chocolate

Good Friday

Hide

Grass

Christianity

Bunny

Hop

Jellybeans

Lent

Candy

Sunday

Dye

Basket

Sacrifice

Word

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