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December 13, 2022

Lakota Pine Ridge Native Heritage Month/Thanksgiving Giving Project: THANK YOU!!

This was previously on my Giving page but I’m making it a post and updating that page for ongoing efforts. The updates from the start to the end of this fall’s project are below in chronological order.

We will continue to help the Lakota people even after the conclusion of this big fundraiser. We send gently used and new things as they become available or are requested year round. You are always welcome to contribute.

This post is to say a very big thank you to everyone who helped and contributed.

The Lakota people face serious challenges in Pine Ridge: poverty, food insecurity, lack of adequate heating and housing.

This all hits close to home for me. My mom grew up in poverty and I remember her stories of fishing for protein for their meals. Of making porridge that was more water than rice to stretch their single monthly 50-lb bag of rice per month to feed six, then seven, then eight children. Of earning money and making her own clothes at ten years of age. That wasn’t the life she wanted for me and I was lucky enough to make my way out of poverty because she came to America. In her memory, I feel a deep responsibility to pay forward the help needed for people to survive and thrive, and in particular to the Indigenous people who were here first.

The high in Allen, SD this week (last week of October) is 34 degrees, and the low is 3 degrees, and it’s only fall! Folks of all ages and sizes need warm clothes, socks, gloves, hats, coats, blankets. Food is a big need too, but I’ve got to grab hold somewhere to start helping, and keeping people warm is a good place to start with the sales that are on now.

With a South Dakota winter coming, all of these become much more urgent. One Spirit is a great organization that supports the Oglala Lakota but they have limited resource, they need us to help fill the gaps.

Our community has come together the past five years to assist families with urgent needs on the Okini and this fall I expanded our efforts to provide direct aid in bulk: hunt down the best deals and send great big loads to share with our neighbors in South Dakota. I’d love to supply the whole reservation this way but we’ll start with one area first and work our way out.

On October 26, 2022, we launched a fundraiser for a big Native Heritage Month + Thanksgiving giving drive. With your help, we’re sending much needed supplies to roughly 100 families, or 600+ people, on the Pine Ridge reservation in the Allen area. Mutual aid FTW! I’ve shared updates on the blog here and here, and on Twitter. I’m also documenting our work here for transparency and posterity.

How you can help

Every penny matters: $15 buys a pair of gloves or a pack of socks, $37 buys a case of diapers.

Venmo: @RK-Tillman
PayPal: ruthtillman@gmail.com
Cashapp: $ruthkt

November 8, 2022

Fourteen days into the public fundraising! Added to the earlier private donations in the first part of October, we’ve raised enough to send the following goods on sale:

Health

COVID is a big problem on the reservation, and it’s a terrible cold/flu/RSV season to boot.

6 Ibuprofen (NSAID) Pain Reliever & Fever Reducer Sofgels- 300ct
2 Acetaminophen Extra Strength Pain Reliever & Fever Reducer Caplets – 500ct
12 Children’s Pain and Fever Oral Suspension, Acetaminophen Cherry, 4 oz
10 Children’s Dye-Free Ibuprofen 100 Oral Suspension Berry, 2 pack, 4 oz
12 Walgreens Infants’ Pain & Fever, Acetaminophen 160 mg per 5 mL, Dye-Free Grape, 2.0 oz

For kids
15 black Targus backpacks
10 girls size 7 snow boots
16 packs of Girls Underwear, Assorted 20 Packs in sizes (4 each) 6, 8, 10, and 14
6 packs of Boys’ Boxer Briefs, Assorted 5 Pack, Size XL
5 Kids’ 2-pack Blanket Sleeper, Dark Pink, 12 months
5 Kids’ 2-pack Blanket Sleeper, Pink, 2T
5 Kids’ 2-pack Blanket Sleeper, Blue, 3T
5 Kids’ 2-pack Blanket Sleeper, Blue, 2T
20 total: Eddie Bauer Kids’ 3-in-1 Jacket, Blue or Red, 5 in each size: XS, S, M, L

For adults
4 Fleece Crew Sweatshirt, 2XL, Blue
4 Fleece Pullover Hoodie Sweatshirt, 2XL, Black
4 Fleece Pullover Hoodie Sweatshirt, XL, Grey Heather
4 Fleece Elastic Bottom Sweatpants, 2XL, Black Heather
4 Fleece Elastic Bottom Sweatpants, XL, Black
5 32 Degrees Ladies’ Power Tech Jacket, Blue, Medium
5 32 Degrees Ladies’ Power Tech Jacket, Copper, Medium

Household
28 Bath Towels

November 9, 2022

Kids
10 toddler coats: 2T, 4T, 5

November 12, 2022

$460 of cash and gift card contributions came in this week! YAY! Some thoughtful folks confirm which stores made the most sense and sent over gift cards for the efforts and this is so appreciated. I hope we’ll have enough time to gather enough funds to hit the intense holiday sales hard, but the Twitter sharing is getting more difficult.

I asked our coordinator what their top priorities from the list below are and she said: There is a volunteer cook who comes in 6 days a week to “create “ a meal with ingredients that they have on hand so they’re always in need of food and snacks for kids. They also need diapers and baby (gently used is great) clothes.

I ship them all the gently used hand me downs we get from our community and have a plan to ship more when I gather all the giveaway clothes from the lost and found at the end of the school year. I’m kicking myself for not trusting we’d raise enough funds to afford buying the diapers while they were on sale in October but I think they’ll be on sale again in December/January. Should I wait and buy then? Or should I send what we can afford now? DEBATING.

Today, I’m pivoting to buying a load of food and snacks. I will keep hunting for deals on diapers and baby clothes in hopes that our dollars will go further on those items in a week or so.

Update 2! This was a cart split between healthy ingredients and reasonably healthy snacks for kids, as requested, coming in just shy of $400. Tomorrow, per a friend’s recommendation, I’ll get diapers from Target.

(3) Kirkland Signature Chicken Breast, 12.5 oz, 6-count
(2) Kirkland Signature Organic Diced Tomatoes, 14.5 oz, 8-count
(2) Del Monte Cut Green Beans, 14.5 oz, 12-count
(2) Kirkland Signature Organic Chicken Stock, 32 fl oz, 6-count
(2) Krusteaz Complete Buttermilk Pancake Mix, 10 lbs
(2) Premium Saltine Crackers, Original, 4 oz, 12-count
(1) Ardent Mills Harvest Hotel & Restaurant All-Purpose Flour, 25 lbs
(1) Crisco All-Vegetable Shortening, 6 lbs
(1) Kirkland Signature Organic Sugar, 10 lbs

(3) Kraft Macaroni & Cheese Dinner, 7.25 oz, 18-count
(1) Skippy Peanut Butter, Creamy, 48 oz, 2-count
(2) Quaker Rice Crisps, Variety Pack, 36-count
(2) Del Monte Diced Peaches, 4 oz cup, 20-count
(2) Dole Mandarin Oranges Cup, 4 oz, 16-count
(1) Nutri-Grain Bars, 1.3 oz, 64-count

November 14, 2022

For $146.75, I’ve shipped three boxes of clothes, toys, treats, art supplies, $100 worth of kids’ masks, $900 worth of COVID tests.

November 20, 2022

We had a few more contributions come in this week, this might be the last we can expect what with Twitter going down and all.

Tami and I are working on a series of diaper orders, one has shipped and two more are being placed soon.We’re budgeting about $300 for diapers now, we’ll get more later if funding comes in. This week I fielded specific requests from the coordinator and director of One Spirit (they run the Okini list). I ordered adult sized coats (they asked me to focus on L, XL, and XXL sizes) for the older kids and adults near Allen. The sales finally dropped prices enough so that I could buy 18 adult sized coats for $473.21.

The Youth Center also has a big group of kids with very little seating, just one used sofa, so they asked for bean bag chairs for the kids. I found one very large one on sale, and am now on the lookout for more individual sized bags.

First of three diaper orders to maximize discounts:
Fragrance Free Baby Wipes Unscented 216ct – up & up™
(1) Diapers Giant Pack Size 2 – 184ct – up & up
(2) Diapers Economy Plus Pack – Size 3 – 228ct – up & up

(5) Unisex Big Hooded Zip Jacket, 2XL, Color: Camel
(2) Men’s Dockers® Arctic Cloth Heavyweight Performance Hooded Parka, XL, Green
(1) Men’s Dockers® Arctic Cloth Heavyweight Performance Hooded Parka, XL, Grey
(2) Men’s Dockers® Arctic Cloth Heavyweight Performance Hooded Parka, L, Grey
(2) Women’s ZeroXposur Brooke Packable Puffer Jacket, Infinity Blue, L
(2) Women’s ZeroXposur Brooke Packable Puffer Jacket, Rose Clay, L
(1) Juniors’ Plus Size SO® Sherpa Full Zip Jacket, 1X, Blue Cream Dye
(2) Juniors’ Plus Size SO® Sherpa Full Zip Jacket, 2X, Larue Lavender
(1) Juniors’ Plus Size SO® Sherpa Full Zip Jacket, 2X, Maroon Black Buffalo

November 26, 2022

We’ve sent the second and third of three diaper orders:

(2) Diapers Economy Plus Pack – Size 4 – 204ct – up & up
(1) Diapers Giant Pack Size 2 – 184ct – up & up
(1) Fragrance Free Baby Wipes Unscented 216ct – up & up
(2) Diapers Economy Plus Pack – Size 5 – 186ct – up & up

I’ve also ordered individual sized bean bag chairs, women’s gloves, blankets and comforter sets, kids/men’s/women’s beanies, kid and adult socks, and adult underwear packs.

(2) Big Joe Classic Beanbag Chair, Sapphire
(2) Big Joe Milano Kid’s Beanbag Chair Pink Passion Smartmax
(5) Women’s Ultra Lightweight EZ Touch Screen Quilted Gloves – MEDIUM
(5) Women’s Ultra Lightweight EZ Touch Screen Quilted Gloves – LARGE
(4) Classic Velvety Plush Full/Queen Blanket, Hippie Tie Dye Wizard (pinks)
(6) Eddie Bauer Mountain Village Ultra Soft Plush Fleece Reversible Full/Queen Blanket, Chambray Blue
(2) Sunham Holiday Gingham 3-Pc Comforter Sets
(3) Kids’ Colorblock Beanie – Cat & Jack™ Pink
(3) Kids’ Solid Cuffed Beanie – Cat & Jack™ Gray
(8) Men’s Circular Knit Beanie – Goodfellow & Co™ Indigo
(4) Women’s Knit Beanie – Universal Thread™ Dark Gray
(4) Women’s Knit Beanie – Universal Thread™ Red
(3) Kids’ Solid Cuffed Beanie – Cat & Jack™ Yellow
(4) Men’s Circular Knit Beanie – Goodfellow & Co™ Cream
(4) Baby Boys’ 6pk Crew Socks – Cat & Jack™ 12-24M
(4) Toddler 10pk Solid Low-Cut Socks – Cat & Jack™ White 2T-3T
(4) Toddler 10pk Solid Low-Cut Socks – Cat & Jack™ White 4T-5T
(2) Hanes Boys’ 12pk Cushioned Ankle Athletic Socks – White L
(4) Hanes Girls’ 20pk Super No Show Athletic Socks – M and L
(5) PUMA Men’s No Show Sock, 10-pair, size 10-13
(5) PUMA Men’s No Show Sock, 10-pair, size
(5) PUMA Ladies’ No Show Sock, 10-pair, Black
(4) PUMA Ladies’ No Show Sock, 10-pair, White

(1) Plus Size Jockey® Elance 3-pk. Briefs Panty Set, Size 8, Blue
(1) Plus Size Jockey® Elance 3-pk. Briefs Panty Set, Size 8, Black
(1) Plus Size Jockey® Elance 3-pk. Briefs Panty Set, Size 10, Black
(1) Plus Size Jockey® Elance 3-pk. Briefs Panty Set, Size 10, Pink
(2) Men’s Hanes Ultimate® 5-pack Exposed Waistband Boxer Brief, XL, Blue/Orange
(1) Men’s Hanes Ultimate® 5-pack Exposed Waistband Boxer Brief, XXL, Blue/Orange
(1) Men’s Hanes Ultimate® 6-pack ComfortSoft Tees, XL, Black/Grey
(1) Men’s Hanes Ultimate® 6-pack ComfortSoft Tees, XXL, Black/Grey

November 30, 2022

I’m watching and waiting as the orders start to ship and updating the coordinators. I’ll update the numbers here as soon as I can get some time! The Holiday Okini is out but I’ve got to take a break.

December 9, 2022

There are still things on the wish list that I didn’t get to or can use more of: diapers, men’s gloves, blankets, snow boots (for all sizes and ages), tampons, pads, shampoo, conditioner, soap.

But since we’ve used all our funds pre-Thanksgiving, and everything has FINALLY shipped, it was time to pull this update together.

Final summary

Together we raised $4396! Y’all are AMAZING! Thanks to Music for encouraging this wacky idea to hatch, Ruth for signing up to assist with the money, Maggie, Tami, Kristen, ZJ and Penny for helping and advising me behind the scenes.

Thanks to Shep and Chris and also you Chris, Hiro, Plutus folks, J Money, Steph, Anne, Sarah, Janna, Jaydot, Jim, Quiara, Jelena, and so many more for signal boosting so we could get one more coat, one more case of diapers, one more blanket, one more package of socks.

BIG thanks to everyone single one of you who helped in every way. This quite literally could not have happened without you.

My heart is full this season with your caring for people who have a need that we can help with, and I hope yours is as well.

Posted in: good

7 comments

December 12, 2022

Living in the time of pandemic: COVID-19 (132)

Year 3 of COVID in the Bay Area.

Year 3, Day 260: Smol’s third round of fever started last night, coinciding perfectly with my fatigue deepening to the point I didn’t even hear them wake and cry at 4 am. PiC took care of them, but I usually hear and respond to all middle of the night wakings. Getting up felt like a forced swim up through multiple levels of sediment. Heavy and yucky and my ears kept popping.

Working felt the same way today, too. Just a lot of yuck and struggle to get the basics squared away. Pre-holiday hangover?

My arm is still sore from my flu shot which reminds me that yay I finally got my flu shot! It’s been hard to muster any energy or time. No new symptoms from the shot, I just continue to be generally headachy, muscle achy, fatigued and have an on again off again sore throat. Maybe, maybe if I can pull off another night of sleep or ten, I’ll feel better? It doesn’t help that I’m also anticipating with great stress and no joy the upcoming time with family that involves a lot of logistics and problem solving and no help whatsoever.

Year 3, Day 261: Ah yes one of the few days I have meetings scheduled would be following a horrible up constantly with a very sad Smol Acrobat night. It’s not clear what was wrong. They were sad and couldn’t get comfortable, but I didn’t know why. Their fever was down and I had administered Tylenol just for their general discomfort but they just couldn’t deal. They napped at daycare, thankfully, twice even, but were terribly sad at lunch and refused to eat. This was a puzzle and teachers tried to feed them to no avail. According to the doctor, though, this is actually their third virus in the past 2.5 weeks, so we have to take them for another round of COVID and flu tests. Also, it turns out there’s a chance they were exposed to hand foot mouth disease last week, we’re just finding out now. Mega sigh.

For my part, I was 90% zombie today. I’m just so tired. And maybe this contributed to my feeling slightly inadequate. One of my dear friends (#1) was a key player in planning a major inauguration and gala, and she did a magnificent job. I simply cannot imagine wrapping my head around doing anything that immense or that highly visible. Our mutual dear friend (#2, much older than both of us) selected #1 over me to be the executor of her will in this year’s rewrite and #1 is also the designated party planner. #2 doesn’t want a funeral, she wants a big party. Don’t get me wrong, I am not gunning for more jobs, but I admit to a small pang of “well gosh, what am I good for then?” As you know, if I don’t have a use, a job to do, then I don’t know what the point of me is in a friendship.

It’s possible I’ll write the obituary, I wrote her late spouse’s, but that feels like small potatoes. Then again, I’m not sure how I’ll even do that, my heart is in my throat whenever I think about writing it. And yet I feel like I need to prepare raw material now before it’s too late. In any case, I agree with #2s choice of #1 for an executor. It’s practical, her kids are quite a bit older than ours and she’s more intimately familiar with #1’s tastes and preferences because she’s very particular about tastes herself. I’m not that person. I’m a nuts and bolts, behind the scenes person. Pure functionality over form, entirely about getting a job done with zero thought for performance and flair. I’m no good at the latter, I’m uncomfortable with fanfare. I 0% wanted to be the center of attention at my own wedding and only got through that by ignoring people if I wasn’t face to face with them. The choice truly does make sense to me. I just want to be more of service in the event of #2’s passing. If nothing else, to numb the grief, I suppose.

Year 3, Day 262: I really don’t know what’s what with COVID anymore. PiC’s employer has noted higher community transmission rates and moved their company guidance accordingly. But it’s only “masks recommended and limited in person meetings”. Meanwhile everywhere I look, hardly anyone is masked. Half the people at the orthodontist were unmasked, and they actually require masking. One lady had the nerve to tell her kid to REMOVE their mask when they stepped inside. I guess that’s “require” since they didn’t enforce it or chastise it unmasked people.

Smol’s still sick and in a lot of pain. They couldn’t eat all day and PiC and I were racking our brains on how to help them. I’m exhausted from the past two nights of all nighters with them. I had to set aside time to just lay down and rest during the day because it doesn’t look like this will resolve quickly, it’s very probably hand foot mouth disease. They were exposed last week and we only got the notification yesterday about the exposure. Not that we could have done anything about it last week, either.

After I had the brilliant notion of picking up Jamba Juice for them, and it worked! They slurped down a huge amount and were smiling for the first time at a meal in days! They opened their mouth wide saying ah! ah! ah! They suddenly felt good enough to let me take a good look inside and sure enough: herpangina. Sigh. They’re miserable and it’s so sad.

Year 3, Day 263: Not for the first time since I started using them, I’m grateful someone mentioned setting phone alarms for things like appointments. It’s been a huge help for picking up JB from school. I get very deep into my focused work day to day and really need that sharp jerk to pull my brain out of the depths on time.

Especially on days like today, my third day after a sleepless night, and my brain is barely just creaking along, at least I don’t have to also worry that I’ll forget someone somewhere. That’s happened a couple of times, before the alarms, and I know they’re fine but I would just as soon skip that guilt (strongly linked to how I felt when I was constantly left at school), thank you very much.

I thought about cooking with that chicken I defrosted on Monday and haven’t touched. Since I started work at 530, I had some time by the afternoon. But the two and a half brain cells I had left piped up and said maybe don’t wipe yourself out the rest of the way cooking when there are still classes to drive to? Good job, tiny voice.

Year 3, Day 264: Mulling over how, since starting daycare, I’ve gotten a few days a week with chunks of uninterrupted time to work which is REALLY good. But the tradeoff is germs germs germs omg germs. Thankfully so far not COVID, but every other kind of viral fever-inducing thing out there has come home with them. They’re on Virus number 6 in 3 months and this one is absolutely brutal. I thought patting them down 3-5 times a night was bad (and it was). This go-round, they’re absolutely hysterical with discomfort throughout the night, night after night.

Today is an at-home day for Smol, who is still sad and sick, which reminds me just how physically exhausting it is to be ON constantly with an active toddler when I’m super tired, plus have work to do (which I of course cannot even think about while I’m on Smol minding duty). Feels like all the options are bad right now.

Big sighs.

*****

I noticed that my lifelong friend had big smile wrinkles that weren’t there before this year, in pictures she texted me. Then I noticed that I have them. We’re prematurely aging! The long running joke is that this sort of thing doesn’t usually show up on our (Asian) faces for a few more years, and then generally it happens all at once. I guess the pandemic kick-started it.

*****

We donated again to the Child and Family Relief Round 2: Our goal is to provide 500 food packages to families in need in different provinces of Afghanistan. Aseel’s Emergency food Package Emergency Food Package 1 (92 USD per package) feeds a family of 6-8 members for five weeks.

Posted in: family, life, money

10 comments

December 6, 2022

Money & Life Report: November 2022

On Money

Income

Our primary income comes from our full time jobs. We have minimal income from investing in index funds and dividend stocks (all reinvested). We earn money on the side to supplement our main incomes. We get a bit of income from Swagbucks, cash back sites (Rakuten, Mr.Rebates) and affiliate links to Bookshop and Amazon sometimes pay a micro-commission to keep the blog running. The sidebar has ways to support the blog and our charitable giving.

Our long term goal is to replace our day job income with passive income before my health prevents me from working. I know from my Mom’s experience that qualifying for or relying on disability is incredibly tough or near impossible here in CA. Aside from that, I aim to do my best to make the most of what we can do while we can.

***

Dividend income. We received $916.56 in dividends from the stocks portfolio. There are two times in the year that the dividends are this big, and this is one of them. Gives a real false sense of income security coming into the holidays!

(more…)

Posted in: snapshot

4 comments

November 14, 2022

Living in the time of pandemic: COVID-19 (128)

Year 3 of COVID in the Bay Area.

Year 3, Day 234: I’m trying to put together a backup plan in case Twitter goes belly up. I’ve come to rely on it as the gathering place for many friends and acquaintances and the place where neat information comes up or hilarious interactions cross my path that I otherwise wouldn’t ever have known. I have plenty of one on one connections but there’s something unique about the (highly curated) experience of Twitter as a round the clock no commitment social gathering place that’s been really helpful in easing my health-induced isolation.

It’s my digital pub, and it may well be going away. It’s sad. The process of curating a list so that spoiled brat of a billionaire throwing tantrums and threatening to make it impossible to see your own feed unless you pay means I keep running across old fallow accounts. I hate that because it also makes me sad and I don’t know why when I clearly haven’t talked to the person behind that account in 2, 4, 7 years. It’s a thing that always gets to me: reading comments on my blog from years past, people who touched my life for just a moment and disappeared.

*****

Prices just keep going up at the grocery store and I’m sort of insulated from seeing it because PiC continues to do the majority of our grocery shopping but I pay the bills and see the totals there adding up faster and faster. Making our next to last batch of pasta carbonara was a real shocker. I looked up our favorite bacon (Zingerman’s) and it’s now $19/lb!!! I normally buy a bunch when it’s half that price and freeze it to use throughout the year. We may not get our next year’s batch at these prices.

(more…)

Posted in: family, life, money

2 comments

November 1, 2022

Money & Life Report: October 2022

On Money

Income

***

Dividend income. We received $216.40 in dividends from the stocks portfolio.

*****

Many Californians should be getting a Middle Class Tax Refund between October 2022 and January 2023. Whatever we get will come in useful.

I’m getting ready for a lean start of the new year. Traditionally our income is always much lower in the first half of the year thanks to pre-tax contributions. Why did it take me so long to finally remember this is a pattern?

Now that I DO remember, I’m trying to stash some cash ahead of the turn of the year.

(more…)

Posted in: snapshot

4 comments

October 25, 2022

My kids and notes: Year 7.9

Life with JB

When we talk about small day to day things, what happened at recess, what events are upcoming at school, how they deal with conflicts, I catch myself having reactions that are projections of how I would feel (present day me) in those situations and feeling that way FOR JB. It’s hard for me to practice separating that reaction in the moment even though I know that it’s best for me to take a step back and let them have their experiences in their own way.

Mostly that’s about the bad stuff like kids being thoughtless or if they’re anxious about being left out because their good friend moved away (there’s a big trigger for me, abandonment) or if they’re grumping about the work (signs of potential slackerhood are a huge trigger for me as they remind me of my dad and brother). I’m trying my hardest not to fix, rescue, or solve for them. But how do I keep holding my feelings at bay so they don’t spill over onto JB?

I direct my venting to friends, or here, and hold out until therapy when I can safely be frustrated without worrying I’m stunting their emotional growth or making them feel like they can’t talk to us.

***** (more…)

Posted in: child snapshot

2 comments

October 24, 2022

Living in the time of pandemic: COVID-19 (125)

Year 3 of COVID in the Bay Area.

Year 3, Day 213: I’m still hacking up a lung but a little less than yesterday so here’s to small improvements. But I discovered a painful bump, pimple?, on my shoulder and how am I still getting these in my forties? Is there no peace to be had??

Over the weekend I sent out a message to our giving group that helps me support folks on the Pine Ridge reservation year-round. I floated the idea of making a big purchase, taking advantage of the upcoming Black Friday sales, to send bulk basic goods to the reservation. Supporting indigenous people for Thanksgiving feels like the right way to observe that federal holiday.

Some folks were able to contribute quickly (yay!) and I started hatching shopping lists. One thing led to another, namely prices adding up really fast, and I started brainstorming ways to make the impossible happen.

Two boxes of diapers in each size (12 total) comes to $350 pretax. Just 10 packages of good socks comes to $280. I wanted to send a variety of supplies: socks, gloves, diapers, warm sweaters and vests, OTC meds, shampoo and conditioner, soap, lotion, and holiday gifts for kids (sports balls, puzzles, books). COVID is still a huge problem, the coordinator confirmed, and they can’t afford even the basic OTC meds.

Once again with the money we have, it’s variety vs volume. I hate having to prioritize.

I hate it so much I asked a couple of my high profile friends if they’re willing / able to help boost a bigger effort this year. Part of me secretly hopes it’ll be a massive success and we’ll be able to help so many families in one fell swoop. Part of me wonders if I’m biting off more than I can chew. Another part of me is pretty sure that I am. But I have a plan! It just needs money and good bargain prices!

It’s a good thing we had daycare today, we normally don’t on Mondays, because I got all my work done and set up some structure for a big fundraising effort this year.

FYI: you’re witnessing a real time obsessive spiral. I now have 50 links for dry goods and pantry foods that I’d like to buy to outfit X number of families and the cost most definitely leapfrogged the current budget by several leaps and bounds. One can dream, though, yes?

I also cooked dinner! Pork roast, rice, and bok choy. And Smol Acrobat even ate their dinner like a halfway civilized human! Except for the part after they calmly set their own bowl aside and demanded my plate. They wanted to eat off a plate like everyone else.

All in all, not a bad day despite how I felt physically. (more…)

Posted in: family, life, money

5 comments