Be it Haiti Never Forget. This Valentines, please speak through your heart and give. |
February 13, 2010
February 09, 2010
28 Days ... or bust
| A couple of days ago a Tweet from Kim Redd caught my eye. She'd taken a 28 Day Blog Challenge and I was in the mood to lean in that direction. It felt like just the push I needed. Maybe not for the reasons all the big kids on the list were doing it, but for a list of my own reasons as well as trying to adopt some of the Chris Brogan and Liz Strauss discipline of actually BLOGGING. A thing I #fail to do, often. Wishful thinking on my part. Using this 28 days to get out of a rut and back on track, finish projects, start projects ... including a few pieces of my Bucket List that I've never shared and I'm so hungry to do. Life's little victories waiting to be explored and celebrated. I have a lot of things that I think about saying, but I don't. I'm looking forward to this. I'll let you know how I'm feeling after I've used up my 2 planned posts. *smiles* and here we go ... |
November 11, 2009
A Time to Reflect with Thanks ...
Happy Veterans Day!
A time to reflect, with THANKS, to our Soldiers of past and present.
While those who have gallantly served our Country are on your mind,
today is also a good day to start gathering ideas and gifts to send in
Holiday Care Packages for our Soldiers currently serving overseas.
AnySoldier.com is a good site to browse through, pick a soldier or a troop
and show them you care. It doesn't have to be expensive to give. A card
and a letter mean as much to these soldiers as anything. If you need some help,
you can get ideas on what to give by browsing through my Project Kandahar in 2007.
The Post Office supplies Flat Rate Shipping boxes that can save you a ton
on shipping expenses.
Take a moment to send your love to a soldier or give a helping hand to a soldier's
family here, stateside, waiting for their beloved to come home.
Do it because you can.
*hugs*
June 26, 2009
Currently at my Front Door ...
And the rest of the story will be coming soon ... I've had broken toe, playing the part of a guinea pig in the medical lab & "life happens" type of interference.
All is well and I'm on the mend.
*hugs*
October 13, 2008
Haunted Houses for Halloween ...
Locally foreclosures are up, as well as the angry destruction of property while frustrated homeowners struggle.
Hopefully the sugar fix for the banking industry finds a new mask as the economy rides this roller coaster out.
It's so hard to see people suffer like this.
I'm going to have to plot something mischievously fun for a few of my neighbors & their kids.
Trick or Treat.
August 16, 2008
July 02, 2007
IMPORTANT NOTE ABOUT KANDAHAR BOXES!!!
First, a VERY Special Thanks to all of you who have responded and are reaching out to our soldiers overseas, especially to Danny & his 18 men in Kandahar.
A brief, but HIGHLY IMPORTANT Note .. some of you have expressed interest in sending your own care packages over. TOTALLY COOL!! They'll LOVE everything you send!! Please go here and get tips of what to send, how to pack, etc. OR email me if you've any questions or need ideas. There are certain snacks or goods our guys would like that you can send & it would make their day do the happy dance.
Secondly and oh so importantly ... Tape and wrap those boxes up like Godzilla himself will be handling them, because they're going to get the rough treatment. I can't express using TAPE - and a LOT of it - enough!! Tape 'em up!! Especially corners & bottoms. These boxes are going to get tossed around worse than any Postal Carrier you can imagine (and they have to go through our Postal people first! No offense to Postal employees.. *blink, blink*).
July 01, 2007
Kandahar ... and how you can help ...
Those that know me well know that I've often sent care packages to our soldiers stationed overseas throughout the past three years.
Since I can't twinkle my nose & make the whole mess overseas end, I choose to support our soldiers in pro-active ways. I'm not pro war, but I am pro peace, and to me, peace beings with keeping our soldiers in comfort and care. They belong home.
I am SO psyched that I happened upon a chip sale the other day, which completed the stash of chips I've been buying for my current soldier care packages ... these ones headed for Kandahar. They're are also quite special, too, since they're a connection of a special connection, so to speak. I haven't known many of the soldiers I've sent packages to. It's generally been a random pick off of a site. This time a connection was made for me by this wonderful media man I met on Twitter, Jim Long.
Jim was involved in a 7 day world tour circumnavigating the globe covering the Secretary of Defense, doing what he does best, running his camera and keeping us waiting with baited breath for his next sound bite in 140 characters or less via Twitter.
Despite how busy Jim was on this tour, when I asked him to find me another soldier to send care packages to, Jim went to work on it & found me Danny and his troop of 18 men in Kandahar. Since then, I've been communicating with Danny and working on pulling things together to get care packages sent off to these men. (well, I did have a 2 1/2 week interruption involving my move - a crazy amount of time to move in, especially on your own.)
If you'd like to help in my endeavors to make these men feel cared about while they are overseas, away from friends, family, and loved ones, please feel free to email me. I'd love to have you be a part of this.
Recently I'd sent out a request to Twitter mom's & dad's on my friends list for letters and colored pictures from their children. And of course, letters from you. You can send them overseas on your own (I'll give you the address), or if you'd like, scan or snail mail them to me. I really want to make sure that everyone of the 19 soldiers in this troop get mail from us, reminding them of how important they are to America & their representation of us, and how much we care about them.
To my Knitter Friends: Wash cloths? Can you make some to send to these soldiers, please? Ann also has some great ideas for "stay cool" neck bands to make. And of course, I'm also totally open to any other ideas you have or want to do!
So, while I'm "un"boxing moving boxes, I'm preparing to "box up" boxes headed for Kandahar, Danny, & his 18 Men of Steel.
Stay tuned for more...
May 05, 2007
What'll they think of next ...
This could be a case of ... the latest crazy idea to raise money (going on for SEVEN years - apparently I was missing when the pledges were made. lol) or just a case of ....
I HEART San Fransisco.
For more on the latest charity event read The Bachelor Guy (note; emphasis on BACHELOR).
April 27, 2007
Department of Motor Vehicles - aren't they grand???
For the past month I've been having a ... not so fun time... with the California Department of Motor Vehicles AND Los Angeles Department of Transportation.
Both have shown a level of incompetency that stumps, I'm sure, even the average bubble headed blonde.
First I received a notice from the California Department of Motor Vehicles that my license was being revoked for being involved in a traffic accident in early February without Insurance.
Like, what???
Nimwits.
Talk about screwing your average paperwork up. They sent what SHOULD have gone to the *almost hit and run* driver that rear ended me to ME! Had I not followed this guy, taking down his license plate number, he would have NEVER pulled over to give me the 20 minutes of "I no speak English".
I was the one WITH insurance. THREE rounds of *can you read this* and SEVERAL hours of phone calls later, I received a nice letter from DMV saying basically, "the suspension of your license has been suspended." It was too easy to fix the FIRST time I called. So we had to do it THREE more times, because, well .... apparently the California Department of Motor Vehicles rides the little yellow short bus.
It was all SO much fun, after getting things taken care of with the Ca. DMV, Los Angeles Department of Transportation decided to like the color yellow as well. I received a notice from them for a $50 parking ticket fine that was past due.
One problem.
I've never had a parking ticket fine. (I get speeding tickets, NOT parking tickets. dorks) Another - even bigger problem ... I totally have NO clue where the area that I'm supposed to have parked illegally even is! I've been in downtown LA once. In 1984 with a Fashion design class. *confused blonde look*
I'm guessing a poltergeist stole my vehicle WHILE I was SEVEN hours away driving it in the area WHERE I LIVE.
I called the Los Angeles Department of Transportation to discuss the impossibility of this parking ticket taking place with MY vehicle - or ME. Apparently they were short a little man power and the people with brains were off that day. They did tell me, however, that they would put it under investigation.
With LA's best at their finest, I received a letter from the Los Angeles Department of Motor Vehicles stating that, after investigation, they have concluded that said parking ticket is valid and payment is now due. Following that were a few threats if I were to fail to pay promptly.
You know, just your casual impoundment of your vehicle, withholding of your annual vehicle registration, immobilization of the vehicle.
I'm thinking, WOW. Los Angeles Department of Transportation is REALLY hurting bad! Not only are they unable to hire competent employees that are able read license plate numbers correctly, they're also wasting a LOT of ink and paper issuing threats to cover up their mistakes.
Is this a $50 collection for someones retirement party???
*blink, blink*
Thinking that the Los Angeles Department of Transportation can't be THAT stupid, I called them one more time to point out a very grave error that even THEY should have been able to catch in their little investigation. The ticketed vehicle was MAROON. My vehicle is WHITE. Last time I checked those to colors were on pretty opposite corners of the color wheel.
Ok, so, I was wrong.
They are THAT stupid. They don't dismiss tickets on the basis of vehicle colors and it is up to ME to prove that it wasn't MY vehicle in an area I have never been before (or any where near) on this given day in time.
*shakes head in wonder*
Fortunately the day this ticket took place, I had appointments in my area - witnesses. So, I've had to run around getting signed statements (and I took pictures - when you're dealing with Yellow bus people, one can not be too cautious) from everyone I saw that day. Plus my cell phone records indicate that I took and received calls in MY area DURING the time I was allegedly in Los Angeles getting a parking ticket. Knowing that, with the level of competency I've experienced from LA's finest, simple phone records wouldn't be sufficient, I've gotten the signed statements, photo copies of appointment book with MY name in it, and pictures of the witnesses ...
Do you think I need more??? After all, I am dealing with a department that apparently can't read, has trouble writing, and needs to raise money for their retirement and beer fund.
*blink, blink*
Aren't they all just a wonder?
*laughs*
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