My plans never work. Here I am on the eve of my birthday and all my grand plans kind of tanked. I'm not a planner. I'm not a doer. I'm a go-alonger. Next time, somebody else needs to plan it. When I turn forty. This is the real reason Sean and I never do anything; neither one of us is a planner (though he assures me there will be some form of baked dessert tomorrow night).
But here's what I DID do. I DID make a bunch of bows that I WILL sell and donate the money. It won't be by tomorrow, but it will be done. I DID buy two Angel Tree ornaments from Reece's Rainbow to benefit Fiona and Sabrina, and guess what, Sabrina is HOME. I HELPED.
And I AM going to donate my hair this weekend, only for some reason I cannot find a place that will cut it for free or discounted. Boo hoo. But it IS HAPPENING. I might even DYE it, even though that has nothing to do with charity, I just figure as long as I'm doing this drastic thing, why not go all out.
And YOU can still help me like my birthday this year. PLEASE donate to one of the charities listed here, or your favorite charity, or directly to me so that I can make a larger donation once the smaller ones are pooled together. Or pay for the meal of the person behind you at the drive thru. Babysit for free. Find a canned food drive and donate some cans. Ooh! Collect Box Tops and donate them to your local elementary school (or your local elementary school student).
Please comment here if you will give me a birthday present of donating or serving somebody else this month or next. Or both. I'd love to hear what you plan to do, but you don't have to tell me. And if you want to send me money so I can support one of my causes in a bigger way, you can find my address on my facebook info page.
Thank you in advance. I want to make this year a good one, and this is exactly how to start it off right, not just for me, but for you, too.
Wednesday, January 16, 2013
Monday, December 31, 2012
Ideas
I am not known for my organizational skills. Or maybe I am, in that they are memorably awful. So here is me brainstorming and what not.
January 10th-17th I want to have an online auction/sale.
Ideas for auction items would be stuff around your house that is in good condition but you aren't using, things that you can get free or cheaply but would be of more value to others, and stuff that you can make, ie blankets, hairbows, other crafty stuff. Stuff that you could ship. We can also do services like babysitting, dinner, lawnmowing, etc, although those things would be limited to people in the area (maybe I have enough Maryland friends willing to help to make a whole Maryland section?) We post it in an event or group or here on the blog with a description and a suggested value and starting bid, and hopefully people bid on it (example "Awesome awesome thing that awesomes the awesomest. Suggested value $15, starting bid $6, $2 increments). Then when the auction is over, the highest bidder is contacted, they send their money to me or to the charity, and the person who was offering the item mails it to them (or delivers it if they're both local, possibly via my house, see below).
Sale items could be more or less the same type of stuff but for people who don't feel like keeping up with an auction; one price, first person to commit gets it. This would also be good for stuff in multiples, so the same price applies to them all (like, I could make and sell 10 dozen cookies, but I doubt any one person wants to buy all ten. So I post something like "Yummy sugar cookies, $5 a dozen, selling up to 10 dozen, and then you comment, "I'll take one" and Schnickelfritz comments "I'd like 2" and Jo-Jo-McAllergypants comments, "are they Gluten free?" and I say, "No, sorry," and he says, "Darn," and then Tammy Von Textstoomuch says, "ill tk 2, omg lol sooo ymy! luv u" etc etc)
Then on Saturday Jan 19th, there's a fun not-a-birthday Party/open house type affair at my house for local peeps to exchange their cookies and frozen dinners and brand-new-but-too-small-for-my-kids shoes and I-got-these-from-my-neighbor-but-I-don't-have-pierced-ears earrings and -oh-my-gosh-those-are-so-cute hand knitted potholders, etc, etc. And we eat yummy food and chat and don't mention the fact that I am old.
Okay, so hopefully that made sense, and you have already thought of some stuff you can contribute, so PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE do! I'm not so great with the inspirational this-is-why-you-should-do-it stuff, so I'm hoping you'll just believe me when I say I know we can make a huge difference in a lot of people's lives if we work together and MAKE THIS HAPPEN. Please comment here or email/message me if you have some thing(s) you can contribute.
January 10th-17th I want to have an online auction/sale.
Ideas for auction items would be stuff around your house that is in good condition but you aren't using, things that you can get free or cheaply but would be of more value to others, and stuff that you can make, ie blankets, hairbows, other crafty stuff. Stuff that you could ship. We can also do services like babysitting, dinner, lawnmowing, etc, although those things would be limited to people in the area (maybe I have enough Maryland friends willing to help to make a whole Maryland section?) We post it in an event or group or here on the blog with a description and a suggested value and starting bid, and hopefully people bid on it (example "Awesome awesome thing that awesomes the awesomest. Suggested value $15, starting bid $6, $2 increments). Then when the auction is over, the highest bidder is contacted, they send their money to me or to the charity, and the person who was offering the item mails it to them (or delivers it if they're both local, possibly via my house, see below).
Sale items could be more or less the same type of stuff but for people who don't feel like keeping up with an auction; one price, first person to commit gets it. This would also be good for stuff in multiples, so the same price applies to them all (like, I could make and sell 10 dozen cookies, but I doubt any one person wants to buy all ten. So I post something like "Yummy sugar cookies, $5 a dozen, selling up to 10 dozen, and then you comment, "I'll take one" and Schnickelfritz comments "I'd like 2" and Jo-Jo-McAllergypants comments, "are they Gluten free?" and I say, "No, sorry," and he says, "Darn," and then Tammy Von Textstoomuch says, "ill tk 2, omg lol sooo ymy! luv u" etc etc)
Then on Saturday Jan 19th, there's a fun not-a-birthday Party/open house type affair at my house for local peeps to exchange their cookies and frozen dinners and brand-new-but-too-small-for-my-kids shoes and I-got-these-from-my-neighbor-but-I-don't-have-pierced-ears earrings and -oh-my-gosh-those-are-so-cute hand knitted potholders, etc, etc. And we eat yummy food and chat and don't mention the fact that I am old.
Okay, so hopefully that made sense, and you have already thought of some stuff you can contribute, so PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE do! I'm not so great with the inspirational this-is-why-you-should-do-it stuff, so I'm hoping you'll just believe me when I say I know we can make a huge difference in a lot of people's lives if we work together and MAKE THIS HAPPEN. Please comment here or email/message me if you have some thing(s) you can contribute.
Thursday, December 20, 2012
The Short of It
My 30th birthday is on Thursday, January 17th. For my birthday I want to organize an online auction/sale of new, used items, crafts, services (homemade dinner, babysitting, etc), and baked goods to raise money for victims of hurricane Sandy, the Newtown, CT shooting, and Reece's Rainbow (a foreign special needs adoption ministry). I'm also going to chop off my hair and donate it to Locks of Love, and would love it if anybody wanted to join me! Please consider contributing either monetarily or (an) item(s) or service for the auction/sale. Thank you! (and more details to follow).
The Long of It
So last year I pretty much decided to never have another birthday. This was shortly before I turned 29. I thought, "If you tell people you're 29, they look at you suspiciously, trying to figure out if you're ACTUALLY 29, or really 30 or more." So I decided I would just be 28. There's nothing suspicious about 28. Unless you have a teenager of course, at which point I would have suddenly become 34 until such time as it was absolutely necessary to admit more.
Not having another birthday wouldn't be a huge deal, because besides the barrage of facebook well wishing, I haven't really celebrated my birthday since 2004 (coincidentally, the last birthday I was single...hmmm). I've always had mixed feelings about my birthday anyway (the whole asking-but-not-really-asking-for-attention-because-that's-rude), and my 30th seemed like it would be almost painful.
But a month or two ago, as turning 30 became more of a reality and an inevitability, I started thinking about what I would want, if I were to actually get presents. And I realized what I really wanted for my birthday was for people to give something not to me, but to somebody who really needed it. My basic needs, and a good portion of my wants, are met. I have a loving husband and three healthy (albeit quirky) children.
(and now, on that note, a word from Amelia:) debeccadabrie (yes, that's my screen name)
A couple of years ago, one of my best friends and her husband began the process of adopting a child with special needs from a foreign country. I followed their emotional journey (complete with twists and turns) and occasionally contributed to their fundraising efforts. Though my contribution was small compared to what they needed, the end result of their friends and family working together was nothing short of a miracle-an orphan who was no longer an orphan. A heart surgery. A life literally saved.
Since then I have followed a few other adoptions and contributed occasionally. I have been feeling a need to do something bigger, even though I know that even my small amount helps. I guess what I'm feeling is a need and/or desire to try and coordinate many small efforts and see a larger result. So that finally brings me to WHAT I WANT FOR MY BIRTHDAY. I am asking my friends and family, as a gift to me for my (gulp) big 3-0 to contribute to a charity or to a family in need. You can choose whatever you want, but I will be focusing on four things. I'll briefly list them here, but go into more detail on each later.
1-Reece's Rainbow. This is the adoption organization that my friends adopted through. You can contribute to the organization as a whole, a specific child or family, or you can go to a family's blog and participate in one of their fundraisers. http://reecesrainbow.org/
2.-Hurricane Sandy relief. I haven't figured out exactly how I want to contribute here. If anybody has any ideas, let me know.
3.-Newtown, Connecticut victims. My friend is a cousin to one of the victims, so I'll be focusing on her, but any way you can help with anybody effected by this would be appreciated. Emilie Parker Fund on facebook will give directions for contributing to the Parker family or any other family. I've also seen something going around called "26 acts of senseless kindness." Basically you commit to doing 26 good deeds. That might go a lot farther for helping the world then money would.
4.-If you've got long hair and are thinking about cutting it soon, Please please please donate it to Locks of Love!
You can contribute directly to any of these, but I also want to organize an online auction/sale of services, baked goods, crafts, items you have around the house in good condition you don't mind getting rid of, etc. Again, more details later, but please be thinking of a skill or talent or item you have that you could contribute to help me raise money.
Please join me in making a dreaded birthday a wonderful event!
Not having another birthday wouldn't be a huge deal, because besides the barrage of facebook well wishing, I haven't really celebrated my birthday since 2004 (coincidentally, the last birthday I was single...hmmm). I've always had mixed feelings about my birthday anyway (the whole asking-but-not-really-asking-for-attention-because-that's-rude), and my 30th seemed like it would be almost painful.
But a month or two ago, as turning 30 became more of a reality and an inevitability, I started thinking about what I would want, if I were to actually get presents. And I realized what I really wanted for my birthday was for people to give something not to me, but to somebody who really needed it. My basic needs, and a good portion of my wants, are met. I have a loving husband and three healthy (albeit quirky) children.
(and now, on that note, a word from Amelia:) debeccadabrie (yes, that's my screen name)
A couple of years ago, one of my best friends and her husband began the process of adopting a child with special needs from a foreign country. I followed their emotional journey (complete with twists and turns) and occasionally contributed to their fundraising efforts. Though my contribution was small compared to what they needed, the end result of their friends and family working together was nothing short of a miracle-an orphan who was no longer an orphan. A heart surgery. A life literally saved.
Since then I have followed a few other adoptions and contributed occasionally. I have been feeling a need to do something bigger, even though I know that even my small amount helps. I guess what I'm feeling is a need and/or desire to try and coordinate many small efforts and see a larger result. So that finally brings me to WHAT I WANT FOR MY BIRTHDAY. I am asking my friends and family, as a gift to me for my (gulp) big 3-0 to contribute to a charity or to a family in need. You can choose whatever you want, but I will be focusing on four things. I'll briefly list them here, but go into more detail on each later.
1-Reece's Rainbow. This is the adoption organization that my friends adopted through. You can contribute to the organization as a whole, a specific child or family, or you can go to a family's blog and participate in one of their fundraisers. http://reecesrainbow.org/
2.-Hurricane Sandy relief. I haven't figured out exactly how I want to contribute here. If anybody has any ideas, let me know.
3.-Newtown, Connecticut victims. My friend is a cousin to one of the victims, so I'll be focusing on her, but any way you can help with anybody effected by this would be appreciated. Emilie Parker Fund on facebook will give directions for contributing to the Parker family or any other family. I've also seen something going around called "26 acts of senseless kindness." Basically you commit to doing 26 good deeds. That might go a lot farther for helping the world then money would.
4.-If you've got long hair and are thinking about cutting it soon, Please please please donate it to Locks of Love!
You can contribute directly to any of these, but I also want to organize an online auction/sale of services, baked goods, crafts, items you have around the house in good condition you don't mind getting rid of, etc. Again, more details later, but please be thinking of a skill or talent or item you have that you could contribute to help me raise money.
Please join me in making a dreaded birthday a wonderful event!
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