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Home > Archive: April, 2011

Archive for April, 2011

Money and Perspective Collide

April 27th, 2011 at 03:16 am

Friday night, we had a fundraiser for a young man (21) who is battling cancer...who has been fighting it since he was just 10. He was accepted into this final study to try one last time....and so far, the news and results have been encouraging...he is 6 weeks into the program.

The money we raised helped him get to his appointment yesterday....where he learned that the chemo has stopped working and his participation in the study is cancelled.

Understandably, he took today off from life to absorb the news.

My heart is sad tonight.

Successful NIght

April 23rd, 2011 at 05:30 pm

Last night was the fundraiser for my friends son who needs financial help to keep getting to cancer treatments. We had a spaghetti dinner, dance and silent auction- all thrown together in about3 weeks. We raised just under $900. I consider that a huge success expecially considering how busy my co-hort and I have been the past few weeks with our jobs. We had about 80 people show up..every silent auction item sold and te winner of the 50/50 raffle donated their half of the pool back to the cause. And everyone had a great time.

There were several ladies there in their 30s-40s...we are all friends, but we rarely talk...life is just...busy. Which is sad when you think about it. I think I will host a dinner for just sitting and visiting when the weather gets a little nicer. Just to relax and catch up. Why dont we take time to do this once in a while...I guess some ladies do...they call it bunco...hmmmm.

I am pooped.

Today is my oldest GSs birthday. Can you believe he is SEVEN??? DD2 asked to have the party here at my house...oh boy. Luckily and thankfully, my houseguest graciously offered to get the house readyand she has done a fabulous job. I hate to say it, but I am eager for the after party rnr to happen. Work has been insanely busy the past two weeks with department moves, evening functions, and a busy workload.

Again, I am pooped.

My next big event is the 50th party at the beginning of June. Oh...and a mid-term and final for psychology...

In the meantime, I have 220 eggs to stuff before the party...so I need to get busy.

Happy Saturday. Life is good!

What?

April 13th, 2011 at 06:19 am

Ok...this just doesnt happen...at least not to me...lately.

The hub stopped to pick up our taxes today. Postponed it till the last minute because the preliminary word from our tax man was that we owed $1600. ouch. The primary reason for this is because my moms memorial and the inheritence she wanted the kids and grandkids to get was all out of her IRA. I told the hub that if he would pay the $285 tax preparer fee, I would come up with the $1600. *choke*

So, the hub picked up the taxes today and called to tell me that the tax guys estimate was off...ALOT.

We DO NOT have to pay $1600....rather, we are getting $1700 BACK....OMG. I am so excited. I have been taking care of everyones shortfalls that coming up with $1600 right now was TOUGH.

Now, I can breathe again.

Now to see how the hub wants to split the refund. We are keeping our finances separate...but there are several layers of financial issues that make a 50/50 split unfair...but I want to hear his perspective.

The fundraiser dinner tonight was AWESOME! very yummy meal and great company.

My lunch meeting was around raising money for childrens hospitals and pediatric wards. The next time you are in Rite Aid or Walmart and see the paper hot air balloons for $1 for kids/hospitals...that is what I am involved in. I adopted a local Walmart to be their cheerleader for raising money..I believe it is a national campaign next month...so you just might be asked to help!!

Community kind of a week....

April 12th, 2011 at 05:22 am

Today I enjoyed a nice (free) lunch attending a Chamber meeting for work...and the guest speaker was awesome to boot.

Tomorrow, I have a lunch meeting for a leadership committee I am on that raises money for the local pediatrics ward.

Tomorrow night will make up for the freebies...I am attending a fundraiser for the local homeless teen shelter...at $50 per plate. Half goes to the shelter...the other half is a very nice dinner with great company.

Friday night is the local Goodwill employee awards banquet. I try to attend this one every year. I love watching the recipients receiving their awards. They are so sincerely joyful of 'thier night'.

Ive told the story before...but one year there was this young lady all dressed up for the night. Her makeup was applied by shaky hands...and she wobbled in her heels...and she had on the most sparkly dress. You could tell she felt beautiful...and so I told her she looked pretty and her dress was very sparkly...she turned to me beaming and said "thank you, I got it in the free bin"...one of my all time favorite moments.

So..this week is full of community opportunity.

Hope to feed 200...

April 9th, 2011 at 04:48 pm

The fundraising dinner is officially on! Announcements have gone out and duties are assigned. We are hoping to feed 200 at $5 per person. All food is being donated...now to work on securing everything else. We hope to have a silent auction that will bring in even more money. It will be fun to see how many donations we can get for this event. And then, to see the recipient get to continue his cancer treatments for as long as possible.

Any of you who have advice on a fundraiser of this size, please chime in!!

My sons business has picked up and he is working steadily...so I am hoping the bank of mom days are behind us. They need to be...Im out of resources. Bless his heart...he really has poured his heart and soul into this venture. This should be a turning point year...he has a solid customer base and gets at least 2-3 referrals a day during bug season...so I am confident that if anyone can do it...he can.

The hub got called into work today (another good sign, since he was only getting 20-30 hours a week for months...)...I have the house to myself. I need to get some school work done...and plan to put a meal plan together for this next week. Life goes so much easier during the week when Ive planned the meals out ahead.

But...Im not in too big of a rush this morning. I am enjoying the quiet...and my coffee. And I still have a few blog sites to read...that other stuff can wait a little longer. Big Grin

Enjoying a vacation day!

April 4th, 2011 at 11:56 pm

My friends son is at his Dr appointment today to find out if he will continue with chemo treatments or not. He got so excited about a dinner in his honor, that I will go forward with the event either way- and we are going to have a dance with the event. If this will lift his spirits, then Im all over it. My DIL has agreed to DJ the dance...my daughter will do photography...I will get to work on securing donations to raffle...and food to serve. I have 18 days to get everything ready.

This past weekend a friend from High School and her daughter came to visit. We went sight seeing and I took them to a few of our restaurants that are unique to our area. I think they enjoyed themselves. It is interesting to see how two friends from high school can grow in such different directions. But it was fun to catch up and get reaquainted.

DD3 is all moved in with her papa...She called yesterday needing me to buy books for school. Almost $200 later, I think we got her all set. Thank goodness for sites like Amazon where I can buy those books for much cheaper and have them shipped directly to her. Between her expenses and my son still trying to catch up... I am way behind $$ now. I have to come up with car insurance and have zero in my christmas club and freedom accounts....I will be catching up for months.

Good thing I am in a place where I dont have a long list of wants and can get by on basic needs for now.

Today was a vacation day for me. I have spent it doing laundry, dishes, floors...and getting reorganized. I have to jump back into school mode this week, so my free time is about to become limited again.

Plus, planning the dinner-dance...

Glad I had today to refresh...it may be a while before I have another day to relax and putz.