always been crazy

I said this on Twitter, but I'll put it here too. There is the possibility of some damaging storms coming our way this afternoon (and my favorite meteorologist is on vacation in another state but is still taking the time to make sure we're updated, and since he's the ONLY one who warned of the derecho a couple weeks ago, I'm taking him serious) and I'd rather be prepared than not.

So, rec me some of your favorite long fics so I can download a few, just in case we do lose power again? Three days without power and a week without internet last time means that this is totally an important part of my storm-preparedness plan!

Or if you wanna leave me prompts like you did a couple posts back, that'll work too.

(And anyone who is in the path of these storms, stay safe! They're coming from the Great Lakes / Chicago area again, and reports are already coming in from some of those areas with 70mph winds, siding being torn from houses, and all sorts of damage. Yikes! Here's hoping my mountains slow those storms down enough that I'm worrying for nothing!)

Does anyone have the House of Night books in a shareable e-book type format? At least the first one? I could go to the library but I have Illy all day the next three days and she's sick and it's rainy. I don't wanna buy the book until I know I'm going to at least like it, but my future sister in law wants someone to read the series so she has someone to squee to who will understand what she's talking about. Thanks, you guys!

I know that several of you are participating in a Relay for Life event this year. If you are not, but are interested, I encourage you to go to this link and find an event in your area. If you're not interested in participating in an actual event but would like to make a donation, I'm here to ask for your help.

(or even if you are participating; if you have a donor page set up, please link me to it so that I can donate to your fundraising total!)

There are currently 137 days left until my Relay event, which is taking place on Friday June 17 and Saturday June 18. We have several fundraisers lined up for my team, but we each have personal fundraising goals as well.

MY DONATION PAGE

One of things that we will have at our relay event and on our parade float is a donor banner. Since this year's Relay for Life event theme is Toon Out Cancer, our team is based around Care Bears and Care Bear Cousins (our team name is Cousins for a Cure), this banner will probably be a cloud shape (or more than one, depending on the number of names we need to put on it. We have relay donation cards that are cupcakes, sunshines, and foot prints (like the sneakers or balloons you can buy at certain stores to support jdrf or children's miracle network) that we're going to sell for $1 and put on the donor banner, along with the names/logos of our business sponsors (American Freestyle Karate is donating a pass for on month of classes, the car dealership is donating an oil change, etc, for us to raffle off at the event). So, I know that donations are voluntary and that money paid for exchange of goods or services aren't actually a donation, but we're gonna pretend like they are.

I'm going to leave this post up on my LJ until Relay. If you make an online donation to my fundraising campaign (you can mail me a check donation if you'd rather), leave me a comment or send me an email and you will get the following:

$1.00 donation - name on our donor banner
$5.00 donation - name on our donor banner, thank you postcard from our team, 500 word ficlet* or 20-30 picture picspam**
$10.00 donation - name on our donor banner, thank you postcard from our team, 1000 word fic* or 30-50 picture picspam**
$20.00 donation - name on our donor banner, thank you postcard from our team, 1000 word fic* or 30-50 picture picspam**, music mix***
> $20.00 donation - whatever you want We'll work out something. ;)

* fics/ficlets are based on your prompt, but obviously need to be in a fandom that I am familiar with and can write in
** picspams are based on a theme of your choosing
*** music mix can be sent to you on an actual cd or uploaded in a zip file, or both, whatever your preference

There is a possibility that the kids will be making beaded bracelets and keychains (pink/purple/white beads with the words "love" and "hope" on them), and if so then I'll add them to the thank you cards when we send them out.

Thank yall! <3

Hey! I actually have a tumblr already, what is that nonsense? lol. Also, I know all yall said that it's pretty idiot-proof, but I'm sure I'll find a way to confuse myself on it.

Today's entry is all about good causes!! First, one of my beloved friends is a teacher in NYC and has set up her donorschoose.org page.

My donorschoose.org project is up! I'm asking for money to buy books for my students again. (They're paperback books, so they don't last more than a year in a backpack.) Our budget was cut halfway through last year and it's going to be cut again before school starts in September, so there's no way I can ask the administration for books. But I know these books work because last year, using them, every single student passed the state history test. So if you happen to have a couple of extra dollars lying around and you'd like to donate to an excellent cause and great kids, my project is here!

Anything you can give toward this project would help.

Then, a project that's dear to my heart. (special thanks to wordsalone for looking over this for me) (also, if you wanna share this outside of LJ, I ask that you link it to my tumblr instead of LJ, or to blogspot)

"The people I've met on this journey have given me a home; not a place or shelter necessarily, but where peace dwells inside of me" ~JW

So, I've been meaning to make this post for a while. I figure it's close to overdue, especially since the Meet Me Halfway Finale was last night and the final part of the walk is taking place right now. Meet Me Halfway is a project that Jimmy Wayne began to raise awareness of the fact that too many youth — especially those that are aging out of the foster care system — are facing circumstances similar to those he faced when he was young.

Let me back up a minute and tell you a bit about Jimmy Wayne. He's a country music artist, and I've been a fan ever since I first heard his song Stay Gone in like... 2003? That's probably right, b/c that's about the time I was splitting up with the boys' daddy. I'm not going to turn this into a song related post, even though I could go on for a long while about my favorites of his songs. But I do have his music to share if anyone is interested. I saw Jimmy Wayne in concert last summer, and I knew of his history at the time, but hearing him talk about it made it that much more real. (And okay, maybe I cried a little at the concert, but really, between hearing him talk about it and the lyrics to some of his songs, it was a valid reaction.) Jimmy Wayne survived a turbulent, abusive childhood. His father abandoned the family. His mother went to prison, and Jimmy and his sister were shuttled to a series of foster homes. His stepfather tried to murder him. He was a homeless teen, living by his wits on the street, until he met the Costners, the couple that gave him a home and a family. They had first hired him to mow their lawn, and then offered him a place to stay, with the agreement that he would go back to high school. After high school, he worked in a textile mill and as a prison guard as he was working his way toward an associate degree in Criminal Justice before he ended up in Nashville. He spends a lot of time talking with and supporting foster children and homeless youth. Someday, he'd like to build an orphanage for kids who are too old to be adopted.

Earlier this year, Jimmy began a campaign called Meet Me Halfway. He would walk from Nashville, TN to Phoenix, AZ. The walk would be halfway across the country, he would find supporters who would "meet him halfway" by volunteering and helping to spread the word, and he would interview with media outlets to generate publicity and awareness of the issue. "Because I was helped when I needed it, I want to try and help now," Wayne said. "I'm not asking people to come out and walk with me, but I am asking them to meet me halfway by getting involved - donate money, adopt a kid, learn more about the foster child/foster parent program in your local community. There's so much one person can do, and so many ways they can make a difference. It just takes one person to help someone to a better life."

There are 463,000 American youth in foster care. Foster children don't have the option of staying with their families when they become adults. They don't have the emotional and financial support that most kids do. Most of them don't have the skills necessary to transition from foster care to independent living. More than 20% of young adults aging out of the system experience homelessness. As many as 3 in 10 of the nation's homeless adults have a history in foster care.

Obviously, a lot of people don't have the resources to be foster parents, but there are other ways you can help: financial donations, volunteering time or resources, getting involved in local community programs that help with foster care.

There is a list of national and state organizations that help with foster children on the Meet Me Halfway Website.

You can also Make a Financial Donation to Meet Me Halfway.

Or you can join an MMH Street Team and help spread the word about the project and the issue.

One person, one contribution, can make a difference in a child's life. If you want to find more information about the Meet Me Halfway organization, you can visit the website at http://projectmmh.org/.

So, I am quite often ready to brag about the awesomeness of apiphile (and my subsequent awesomeness for having her as a friend!) but this is definitely something to be excited about.

Help: Twelve Tales of Recovery

So again, particularly in light of their work in Kyrgyzstan at the moment, I thought it would be a good use of our time to raise some money for Medicine Sans Frontiere/Doctors Without Borders.

I need 12 stories, which can be anything from 1,200 words to 12,000 words long, on the theme of "healing"; the healing in question can be psychological or physical, ideological, etc, but must involve a recognisible sentient being (ie. "healing the environment" is not acceptable as it is not relevant). There must not be graphic pornography in your story.

You may submit more than one story, although only one story will be published. There is no guarantee that your story will be one of the ones published; criteria for inclusion in addition to compliance with the entry requirements includes whether or not I've got enough submissions of suitable length to make the book worth people buying.

The material you submit must be original work; no fanworks, and no sending original work whose printing rights you have already given to someone else.

In order to have this book ready for sale in December [for Christmas] I will need the final draft of your story by the first week of October.

You are encouraged to disseminate this information as far as possible across the interwebs.

Profits from the sales of the book will be donated directly to MSF from the monthly author remittances delivered by Lulu.com.

Hey guys! I know that I’ve been really absent from LJ lately, and I have so much to catch up on when it comes to all of you. I’m sorry. I’m trying though, really!

I know that everyone is doing fundraiser stuff this time of year, but I am too, and I know that there is no better way to spread the word and get donations than the internet. Don’t feel like you have to donate, but if you can spare a few dollars and would like to, it would be greatly appreciated.

I am a captain for a March of Dimes team for a walk that is taking place on April 25th, and a walker for a Relay for Life team for a walk that is taking place on June 18th. For the March of Dimes event, both boys are also signed up to participate as walkers, so I’m actually just going to link to their donation pages. For the Relay for Life event, I’ll link you to my personal page.

I know the economy is tough right now, but as someone pointed out to me, babies don’t stop being born early just because we can’t afford them. The same with cancer; people don’t stop getting sick just because they can’t afford healthcare. Both these organizations do a lot to promote research and wellbeing. The money raised by the March for Babies goes to helping women have healthy, full-term pregnancies and funding research to find answers to the problems that face all babies. The money raised by Relay for Life goes to the American Cancer Society for help finding cures, helping people get well, and helping people stay well.

Again, don’t feel like you need to donate. I know that we all have other obligations and causes we personally support. However, if you are interested, here are the links:

Ronnie’s March of Dimes page:


Davey’s March of Dimes page:


My Relay for Life page:

So, the girl at work who stole my ipod and listened to wincest has since stolen it several times to listen to Stealing Harry. But tomorrow is her last day at work. Can anyone tell me where I found the link to download the Stealing Harry ebook/podfic/whateveryoucallit? B/c I obviously have it on my ipod but not on the hard drive for either of the desktops. Help??

I'm getting ready to make a post with a poll (and I expect everyone to participate!) but first I wanted to make a quick note. I still don't have my laptop. This week has been crazy busy. And I feel like every time I'm on here, I'm asking for something, but I can't help it! I promise I'll post something worth reading over the weekend, lol.

One of the little girls I used to babysit was born with Spina Bifida. She's done remarkably well and she's... uh, 13 or so now. But today she had to have surgery at UVA to have her leg amputated, and her mom just updated that she's running a fever of 102 and puking. Please keep her in your thoughts and prayers, or whatever it is that you do regarding good wishes. She and her family can use all they can get. <3

ps Does anyone have the Goo Goo Dolls song Better Days that they can send to me?

So, way back at the beginning of the year, I lost all my musics. It's sad that I'm still realizing that I'm missing certain things. Does anyone have This Is Ivy League or anything by The Ataris that you'd be willing share? I know I have them backed up on cds, but I'm not sure where the CDs are. Please and thank you?