November 11, 2022

1. Comcast actually automated something useful! Our internet service was out most of the day on the weekend and I went to Xfinity chat to (I thought) argue for too long over a credit for our account. Instead I got this screen when I asked for a credit:

I entered the dates of the outage, and they just applied the credit:

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November 4, 2022

1. Safeway had a random free box of salad coupon and PiC snapped that right up.
2. We visited one set of family friends and hosted another. I might not walk again for two weeks but it was a LOT of fun.
3. JB got their booster! Now we need an approved booster for Smol Acrobat so we have a complete set of double boosters for all 4 of us.
Challenges this week: Sick again 🤢😷
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October 28, 2022

1. I made a giant 4 lb batch of beef-turkey chili that everyone, even Smol, loved. My taste buds are being weird again so all the lovely melded flavors were lost on me this round. But we had enough for a good dinner, enough to put up a meal to freeze for a busy week, and enough for a small meal later. Not enough to share with our friends as I originally intended so now I know to make an extra lb or two next time.
2. The kids got their flu vaccines and there weren’t any tears! JB opted for the FluMist, I didn’t know that was a live vaccine, and Smol didn’t get a choice but they were a champ for the jab anyway. Now it’s just me left for the flu, and JB needs to get their bivalent booster.
3. I scrubbed our bathrooms until they were about 80% clean and gleaming. At that I needed a 2 hour nap after. I’m glad that I stopped there instead of pushing for the full 100% because I’d be useless the rest of this weekend.
4. Halloween scavenger prep included buying prize stickers from a small business (check), making little tissue paper ghosts from used tissue paper (check) and finding hiding places for them (not yet). Gonna call that progress!
5. I stretched a pound of bacon for a week: breakfast egg and bacon sandwiches, breakfast burritos, adding some crunch to avocado turkey sandwiches that PiC got from work free. Usually it all goes into one giant bacon pasta. Nomz.
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October 26, 2022
The Background
The Pine Ridge Reservation is part of a larger territory established for the Lakota in 1868 that was later broken up into smaller tribal reservations. The Pine Ridge reservation portion of the territory includes Pine Ridge, Wounded Knee, Porcupine, Kyle, Oglala, Wanblee, Allen and more, and is now home to about 40,000 Native Americans. Pine Ridge County, within the reservation, is the poorest county per capita in the nation. Folks on the reservation are generally living in very poor, cramped conditions. Household sizes range from single adults to families with 16+ children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren, all of whom need food, clothes and education. As you can imagine, with limited income, the need for assistance is great. It’s common for families to lack heat, running water, clothing, and basic household supplies, even more common for large families to run short of food.
For the past five years, friends have contributed to a pool of funds and I’ve used them to help families on the reservation through the Okini. Each year, our effort grows a little bit more.
This year, we have deployed 20 shipments so far, mostly directly to families, and a few to the Allen Youth Center to share with families near the Center.
The Idea
Directly supporting more indigenous folks on the reservation would be an appropriate way to observe this federal holiday. To be more efficient on this occasion, I thought we could send a big shipment of basics to the Allen Youth Center to distribute.
I discussed this idea with the coordinator handling the Allen Youth Center and she confirmed they would welcome any help we could give, in any quantity. There’s a massive need for things like socks, diapers, OTC meds, blankets, coats, shampoo and conditioner, body soap, laundry soap, lotion, pantry foods, etc. COVID continues to be a big issue on the reservation and medications aren’t easily come by.
This would benefit approximately 100 local families that live near the Center.
The Details
Initial pricing gave me a sense of how much money we’d need to supply just a few families (these are examples so this won’t necessarily be the pricing available near Thanksgiving):
Kirkland Diapers Size 1-2, 192 count, $26 ($9.50 off until Oct 23)
Kirkland Diapers Size 3-6, 222 count, $36 ($9.50 off until Oct 23)
Limit 2 per member, 2 boxes in each size: $392 pretax
Or socks! Good quality socks from Costco range from 3-5 pairs per package and run $10-13 a package. If we wanted to send 2 packages of socks to ten individuals so they’d have a full week of clean socks, we’d need $200-260 pre-tax.
12 boxes of diapers and 20 packages of socks requires about $720 with tax. I’d love to supply a lot more than that, but any of these items in volume is going to cost a lot, even on sale.
The Plan
With our usual giving circle and a few extra folks pitching in, we’ll be able to send something like a dozen boxes of diapers and 20 packages of socks. But if we are lucky enough to get much more funding, I’d like to send the following.
- To the Allen Youth Center: boxes of diapers in every size, cases of wipes, socks in various sizes, acetaminophen, ibuprofen, children’s ibuprofen, children’s cough and cold medication, thermometers, blankets, sets of shampoo and conditioner, packs of bar soap, lotion, pads and tampons, hand soap, dish soap, laundry detergent, men’s coats/sweaters/vests, women’s coats/sweaters/vests, childrens’ /sweaters/vests in various sizes, pairs of kids boots in various sizes, a selection of pantry foods.
If we somehow still have money after this, I will work my way down this list!
- We’ll supply families listed on the Okini, most of whom live outside the AYC area and wouldn’t benefit from the supplies shipped to the Center. I pick one family at a time and shop for them. This takes a lot of time and attention as I shop for every individual in the family according to their sizes and needs. These are sent directly to the family/families.
- The Okini holiday list, published mid-November: we’d pick a family and buy the requested gifts to be sent directly to the recipients.
- Pine Ridge’s neighbor, Rosebud Reservation, has a holiday party for their people each year and ask for supplies for the meal, gifts for their elders (socks and gloves), and gifts for the kids.
I’ll shop the best possible sales that are available at the time we have funding. With my full time job, full time parenting and life, I can’t optimize every single sale but I always do my best to make the most of every penny that comes in.
The Need
We’ll need our community’s help to help Indigenous families this holiday season. If you’re able to contribute funds, we would deeply appreciate your help, as would the families! Sharing this post widely would be a great help as well.
Important: To accept a wider range of donations, I’ve teamed up with my dear longtime friend Ruth Tillman. She and I go back over a decade and I trust her implicitly with financial matters. She’s publicly visible, whereas I remain pseudonymous, and she can accept money on behalf of the project at:
- Venmo: @RK-Tillman
- PayPal: ruthtillman@gmail.com
- Cashapp: $ruthkt
Please add a note that your gift is for Pine Ridge and include your email address to receive updates.
October 21, 2022

1. We got our bivalent boosters! I’m just waiting for them to be available for JB now that it’s approved for their age group.
2. Mom win: JB really wanted to decorate a pumpkin this year and I remembered in time to get them one. $5, except there was a mysterious basket discount of $1 which made it $4. I got 35¢ back on that Safeway receipt. I haven’t cancelled Ibotta yet so may as well make back a little bit of cash with that data.
3. Moriah‘s girlfriend needs gender affirming surgery and they need some help funding it.
4. This show is Very Cute and also they have an all Native writers room which is pretty amazing: ‘Spirit Rangers’ creator made the show she longed for as a Native American child
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October 14, 2022

1. I normally do all the laundry and run the dishwasher. I quite enjoy the former and happen to be best placed to note when the latter is ready, but PiC did all of it this weekend before I could decide where to slot it into my day. Part of me wanted to be annoyed he stole my jobs, but I’m choosing to focus on the fact that when I’m extra tired and need a hand, my partner is going to step up and that doesn’t mean I’m lesser for it.
2. JB’s been participating fully in their self defense classes and that makes me feel good about the time and money we’re spending on them.
3. Marian Call is having a living room concert! Join the concert, pay-as-you-can, replay available for 24 hours.
Before we had kids, we went to Marian Call’s intimate concerts at Comic Con and she was absolutely wonderful. Support a fantastic Alaskan musician!
Challenges this week: still sick. 🤢
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October 7, 2022

1. PiC’s bike had a flat (boo) but I remembered that I had run across an old REI gift card circa 2018 when I was working on some other chores. It covered the two inner tubes with 89 cents to spare. Since gift cards don’t expire, back into the bin it goes until the next REI adventure calls!
2. I’ve balanced our planned income and expenses for the rest of the year. I just need to adjust one rough spot where we’ll be short $700, briefly. It may be a matter of timing of debits and credits but we’ll see. Fingers crossed!
3. Our 2023 spreadsheet is set up and ready to go when January rolls around. There is something deeply satisfying about having a fresh spreadsheet waiting to be populated. At least for something I enjoy populating.
4. I took some notes from this chili recipe, and a couple on the fly liberties, to modify my current favorite chili recipe: omit water entirely, use baking soda with the beef, spice the cooking ground meat first before adding the liquidy ingredients and it produced quite a tasty chili. I had every intention of saving half to freeze but the family ate it all by Day 2.
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