Chattanooga, TN

The gourd looks pretty good too.

Nothing like carving a pumpkin with a kid who has no idea why you are doing it

Ignore the facial expression, there's no way that you could avoid enjoying something like carving punkins!

I think he was just disappointed that it wasn't going to turn into pumpkin bread.

His grandmother has spoiled him that way.

With numerous good reports on the economic front over the last few weeks, many are starting to suggest that the recession is over. Jobs though continue to be a problem.

To answer questions about the impact of the stimulus program, the administration has announced that the stimulus is approaching 1,000,000 jobs saved or created. From the White House blog.

According to information on Recovery.gov, Tennessee has been an especially fortunate recipient of the stimulus funds.

Still, Tennessee's unemployment remains over 10% through September, despite the 1156 jobs identified as created by the stimulus. Some good news is starting to be announced locally. More on that later.

UPDATE STIMULUS IMPACT FOR TENNESSEE: Posted November 1, 2009

As promised the stimulus figures were updated on Recovery.gov. The new figures indicate that the stimulus has created over 640,000 jobs nationwide, and 9548 in Tennessee.

The Chattanooga Community Kitchen is in the process of its Fast Day Fund raiser.

This fund raiser has taken different forms, but has been the main fund raiser for the Kitchen for many years.

The Kitchen has received national recognition as a model for a local non profit organization. It was originally started in 1982 as a feeding program. There were 7 downtown churches that partnered to meet a growing need in Chattanooga.

The Kitchen has its own blog. You can stay current on needs and on offerings by checking updates here.

The main program is to provide food 365 days a year:

• Breakfast 7:00am to 8:00am seven days a week
• Lunch 11:00am to 11:45am seven days a week
• Dinner 4:00pm to 4:45pm weekdays

Other programs focuson employment, shelter, counseling. A big help for many homeless is that the Kitchen provides a place for basic, essential services like bathrooms and showers, telephones, mail, washers and driers, and more.

The Community Kitchen is well known and well respected in Chattanooga because of its long service to the needs of our community.

You can help by volunteering or with a donation. Click here to make a donation.

The Chattanooga Renaissance Oktoberfest was held this past weekend.

My friend and local social networking hero, insurance agent extraordinaire Jon Moss provided these videos.

The 2009 Women's Expo in Chattanooga, presented by Memorial Health Care System, was held Tuesday.

The annual event is all about the women - Food, Fashion, Fun. 

This year featured Taste of Home Cooking School and Belk's Fashion Show. The MaryEllen Locher Foundation receives 10% of the ticket sale proceeds.

Vickie Phillips and Tina Christein from our office went this year and came back raving about all the new things they learned.

Photos from some of the booths.

Tina and Vickie were also interested in the Time 2 Save Workshops and the P90X Fitness Program.