I have my first 4 online donations & the week hasn't even started.
I am working with the site to correct an error in crediting a donation. They said it's glitched, but they are all over it. At this point, I have $51.00. (Wow, guys -thanks, thanks & thanks again!)
Let me tell you something: the folks who have given, did so from deep in their hearts. Money is extremely tight - no one knows this better than I do - yet, these people gave. I want to thank them with every ounce of sincerity I have.
It wasn't easy (or fun to think about), but I have come up with menu plans for the week coming:
1 - Ramen noodles(4/$1.00), hot tea or coffee & water.
2 - Single mac 'n cheese (2/$1.00), black tea w/sugar & water.
3 - Toast w/butter, Celestial Seasoning's honey/chamomile tea & water.
4 - Can of tuna w/chopped pickles, Tbl mayo, tea & water.
5 - Ramen noodles, apple, black tea & water.
All the plans are an average of $1.50 to $2.00
I have to tell you that, if I feel unwell or anything, I am going to add a piece of toast, juice or a couple of crackers to the menus. I don't anticipate being unwell. I have done prayer fasts before the Sarc & meds. I think it's going to be cool.
In prep for this coming week, I had a bit of food anxiety & ate like a freed hostage. All in all, I think the cutback on food will not only keep me in prayer for those living in poverty, but will be good for my health also.
Please keep the less fortunate in your hearts, minds and prayers this coming week & all the days of your life. This is just a week, the problem is forever.
Peace
--Free
P.S.: And, don't worry, a little hunger isn't going to kill my smart motor mouth ways. I will be doing "regular" type posts along with the updates :-)
****Update: 3 of my friends mistakenly did a generic "Donate" instead of a "Donate to me." Their money did get credited, but the site is trying to get it changed back over to my account. Doesn't matter to me, the money is going to the cause. I just want to make sure that I get to thank the folks who give on my behalf.**** Here is a partial of the email from them:
Hello Ms Conway,
I'm afraid that donations once made are processed and transferred to the recipient charity immediately. This means that, although the end recipient (the charity) is the same, unfortunately, we cannot reassign the money flow to go through a participant rather than a general donation.
Best regards,
Guy Kirkpatrick
It's all good. So far $71.00 Let's keep the train rolling!
I want to thank the folks who have been helping with this. A couple folks even decided to get involved by starting their own teams. Good, cool, cool (I wanted you to donate to ME! LOL) I have also received a bit of cash from those who don't have means to pay online. That really makes me feel good because they are the ones with the least to give (anyone thinking about the widow's mite?). I will NOT be keeping this money. I am transferring it asap to a card to give to the site.
For the rest of ya...
Tomorrow is the day. I have your "I'm gonna's" and I'm gonna hold you to 'em. I mean, I won't put anyone on blog blast or nothing, but, um, there will be funny looks every time I see you using a utensil. And the next time you are whining about not feeling "blessed?" Well, you can miss me with that, okay?
So. Tomorrow it starts. I want you to give or do or pray or help in some way. Not just for those who need it - but maybe for you. Compassion does a soul good you know.
BTW - the reason some of ya(insert side eye) decided to make a team for yourselves is (and I get it) there is a PRIZE situation... Um hmmm... I didn't read that bit of fine print until the last minute. But, hey - go for it. Get out there and help the cause.
Have not had time to post til now. So happy to have more fam around for a moment. Having my little brother here makes me feel very, very content, as if I have crawled back into the lap of some old memories.
I forget how nice it is to be surrounded by these crazy, dysfunctional, strange & weird people I love and who love me.
My mind and body is kind of on sensory overload. You have to be here to understand the cacophony of happiness we generate. On top of all us adults laughing and trying to over- and out-talk each other, we have the baby trying to get his two cents' worth in. He is definitely one of us. He already knows he has to make himself heard! As my mom used to say, get us all together and we start telling stories and lies so fast and loud, no one cares what the truth is as long as we are together. The other kids will be over tomorrow. Oh. My. Sanity.
Don't know if I mentioned the fun Darrell and I had making our Nilla Wafer Pie. I am mad that we didn't get pics. It was just us here while everyone else was at dialysis or busy with other stuff. SO much fun. I'd forgotten that Lil Bro could cook! That pie lasted half an hour with everyone grabbing a piece while dropping in to see Darrell. He and I are going to make another one for tomorrow's family dinner - which we will be sharing with the rest of the Stateside fam via the wonder of Skype.... I will make sure we get some kind of pics.
This few minutes here is a little bit of a break for me. I love the fam and the noise and the us-ness, but if I don't get some time alone, I get jittery. Thank goodness the guys are all gone to the movies. Some kind of male thing they like to do. My sister and niece are handling dinner. I am just handling me. I need this silence.
But, again, I had to share with you how wonderfully content I feel at this time. It's been over 3 years since I saw my brother. I needed my fam-fix. (Talk to me in a couple of weeks, and I will be ready to go into a convent to get away from all this "love," but, for now, I am a happy gal.)
AND, just discovered this really cool thing my camera does of taking two separate pics and kind of merging them. Sweet! I now have something else to play with for posting here. Surely will be doing bro-bro & sis-niece & all those combos... (I need to sit down with this phone one day & read the manual!)
Anyway...
I sure hope you guys get to see all your fam soon and have a big dinner or reunion or come-together of some kind. We need that every now and then just to remind us that we have people in this world who would die for us. That's love we won't always have. That's love we should celebrate before an illness or funeral or other tragedy has to force us together. I have had times when I was mad at one sibling or the other & holding one of my grudges of silence. That's not good. Life's too short & unsteady for that silliness. So, yeah - call somebody up and say something good. Feel something good. Remember something good. Don't let time get away from you.
Go on and call someone and tell them you love them, miss them, wish you were with them.
This morning, I did my test run for the Live Below the Line campaign.
It did not go well.
Usually, when I wake up in the morning, I am thinking about 1 - not smoking, 2 - what I am going to get done that day, and then 3 - what can I gnaw on...
Last night, just before bed, I was alerted to the fact that I had my days off & the campaign doesn't start until Monday. Still, I figure - do a little test run. Um..... yeah. That went a little something like this:
I woke up with Kita the Kalendar Klock looking at me like, "Hey. Hey, you. Test run." I stretched, blinked and... thought of what the heck I could have for breakfast that would leave me enough to eat the rest of the day.
Guess I need to think this plan out a little better.
I ended up having my coffee and a piece of toast. (Told myself I was feeling a little faint. The only way I can be feeling faint is from all that freaking PIE I ate last night.)
Here's the thing: I lasted half a nano-second before I was thinking about all the food I wouldn't be able eat. And all I'm really going to be doing is a fast for a week. Somebody's going to wake up today not fasting but starving. (Somebody? Let me quit playing & go on & say a whole LOT of bodies.)
Yeah.
So, I am all over this. I am a texting fool. Right now, I have a brother who was in Cali last night & who when I texted out the reminder, he hated me a little. (He answered, made sure I wasn't sending a secret distress signal, then cussed me out a bit like my BFF does.) I also have about 30 friends who have probably blocked my text messages. LOL (They all love me.)
If I had your number, you'd be blocking me too. But you'd feel bad. Maybe bad enough to go over here next week and do this.
I'm raggedy looking, tore down tired, bed-head fugly & I don't even care.
I got my lil brother, 2 nephews, 2 nieces and ME.
The rest of some of us will be here later.
This is the Nilla Wafer Pudding Pie me and lil bro made:
We are the BOMB Diggity!
We were whisking and stirring & trying to keep from spilling custard all over the stove! It was a hoot. We done good. (That one meal a day deal for 7 days is gonna do this body good!)
I really am going to post a pic of us later - but not while I look like the Walmart Greeter in Dante's Inferno. No, no, no... LOL I have to go to the Green Room and do some serious make-up artistry.
In the meantime, this is what it looked like when I just peeked into the kitchen:
Oh I love these crazy people!!!
D.J. will even get a little taste of the custard. Shoot, we might have to do a lil taste test...
And even if they do, I don't care. I don't want anyone to be hungry.
**You know how cranky my Prednisone-fueled behind gets when I miss a meal**
I can't do a damn thing about the problem with money I don't have.
I can do a damn thing about it with some prayer & getting involved.
**and guilt-tripping every fat, Whopper-munching, Olive Garden grazing person I know**
You can do something too.
And if you don't do something, then, dangit, you oughta be ashamed the next time you sit down to a big old, nasty-can-on-the-back-of-your-stove fried-meat-grease-cooked meal.
If you eat Chittlins - I hope you smell like them for days...
If you eat a pork chop, I hope you fart diesel fumes for a whole week...
If you burp out a scent of French Fry, I hope you taste Castor Oil instead...
Unless ...
You have a heart & do something, anything - just for one day...
to stop this kind of mess...
There is no place in the world for that kind of mess when we can spend money on fake hair, fake nails, fake boobs & butts, fake eye color... For a fraction of what we spend on that false b.s., we can feed a real human being.
If you can't do one little something for one damn day, don't ever talk to me about someone beating a kid, hitting their wife or doing some dirty business on the job. Don't even tell me about how you care. I will call you on it. Just miss me with all your talk until you at least act like you want to walk.
Seriously.
I don't care if you don't like somebody because they are white, black, indian, asian, fat, skinny, rich, gay, Christian, Muslim, Atheist, Republican, Democrat, Male, Female, American, Middle Eastern....... This is not about us liking each other. This is not about how we are different. This is all about how we are PEOPLE. Above the animals. Intelligent enough to make stuff happen.
We are all human. These babies are all our babies. They are somebody's babies.
I'm a cold-blooded, not-very-good-Christian, selfish, mad freaking black woman without a damn diary. Even I can't do anything but want to cry when I think about these babies & their defeated, struggling mothers and fathers.
You can't be that bad.
**If you are, I really don't want to know you. I'm trying to hang with a better class of people**
Right?
Plus:
I am going to be giving up some freaking FOOD for a week!!! You better help me out before I get mad. You won't like me when I get mad.
I finally got my tired behind up off the bed, you guys. Feel somewhat better, so I'm thinking I may have just been over-tired.
And... This is what I spent the last hour watching on Hulu. (I promise I hardly ever do this kind of post, but it's the lazy gal's way today. Plus, I wasn't so depressed after this. Just about broke a rib laughing at this mess.) **By the way: Thanks Hulu.com You guys are the only reason I even look at TV when I do!**
Starting with the one cast member I really don't like... This dip is apparently a Christian in the Church of How Pretty Do I Look To My Husband. All she ever seems to talk about is her ass, boobs, slutty clothes or how "blessed" she is (and those blessings never include health or family, just looks and botox treatments). Dizzy broad. Here is her reaction to her "sinus" surgery that included a nose-fixing job:
("It's so pre-wee! It's so Pre-wee!" Don't you just want to slap piss out of her silly ass?)
Dumbass.
Please tell why it is that whenever Bravo adds a new member to the Housewives, it's never one that is just completely different from the others? All they ever do is add someone in a different shade of annoying - maybe with a different hairdo or something. This new chick here - boy is she a trip. Her husband is a plastic surgeon & she is an "actress on baby-raising hiatus" (or some such crap). Basically, she is a wanna-be-old-money heffa with too much time on her hands. I've seen her raising babies exactly 3.0008 seconds (there's an army of invisible nannies somewhere because the kids disappear with them). The rest of her time is spent thinking of really classy ways to spend hubby's money. Last week she and some friends "choppered" over to L.A. to get advice about a restaurant they want to open. (I'm hating, but I gotta admit that whole helicopter thing was kind of pimp. Not for me tho - no-no, I have those phobias...)
Anyway, this clip here is of her doing something that made me like her for about 4 minutes (when she entered a Mud Run for charity) before she went and annoyed me again:
Uh, scuse me, Ms. Vanderbilt, but you just crawled out of the mud with these folks. What's the deal with sharing a spray-down? Think you're going to catch that one germ you missed earlier?
Dumbass. (I would nickname her something like "Slitch" or "Snotch" - for silly-snotty-bitch, but I usually reserve "bitch" for folks I really like.)
I used to hate Vicky, but she's an original cast member. She's grown on me. I feel protective of her. She's like that crazy cousin you see only at reunions - the one who just tap dances all over your last good nerve... I can talk about her, but I don't like anyone else messing with her.
Well, guess what? She has this new creepo boyfriend. There is something just not. quite. right. about this dude. Every time I look at him, I have a flashback vision of that crazy Jim Jones guy (you know, the Kool Aid psycho?) When I hear him speak, I think of some guy trying to lure susceptible people into buying a spaceship ticket to somebody's gates. Bad news: Vicky is in a bad place in her life & she's ripe for something to drink... I just wish she'd get back with Donn.
"You're not alone anymore."
Bitch, you better pray for some loneliness. Better lonely than dead. This dude sounds as sincere as a teenage boy with his first piece of ass. He is starting to scare me...
Alert! Alert! Get something for your eyes before you watch this one. I laughed so hard, I had salty tears trying to carve some new wrinkles on my face. I'm pretty sure I even accidentally burned a calorie or two.
Oh. My. Damn. Has this guy ever gotten laid with this bullshit game he's throwing?
That mess was so lame ass that Vicky almost missed it. She was still chewing food. Now, c'mon ladies, when a man you really like says anything hot, you just kind of fall all down in your heart, right? And if you really like him, he can say "Ah-choo" in a certain way & you're hearing every sweet or dirty word you know.
So what the robotic monotone hell was that about? He looked like a world leader trying to look calm while breaking really bad news about a bomb or something...
"I wanna flip the table over..."
I do too - on my way getting the hell away from your crazy ass!
Um-kay... Now I really am afraid.
There is a way to say "Give it to me" and make someone's knees buckle or make them throw up or make them give you this look...
...or make them want to dance:
When Rick James (Jacko wasn't the only misunderstood whacko) got demanding at least he put a beat in so you could move to it. LOL
Ladies: Joking aside for just a moment. I came out of an abusive relationship & that look in that man's eyes sent me back to a bad place for a minute. Crazy. Seriously. (If I didn't believe that a lot of the reality shit has nothing whatsoever to do with reality, I think I'd be writing to Vicky telling her to run like Wilma Rudolph.)**
Did you see his eyes? And there was not a damn thing sexy or sweet about that "Give it to me" crap. Later on, he acts all annoyed & mumbles something about "No PDA? Eff that..." Hmmm... I'm trying to assume that they are engaging in some kind of really awkward verbal foreplay - her talking about "Daddy" & him trying to play the tough. If so, it's really bad acting & wouldn't turn me on with three switches and a cognac, but that's just me.
Moving right along...
Tamra's finally signing her divorce papers. I really did feel for her. No matter how shitty a relationship ends up being, they all had something good enough to make you want it in the first place. That's the part any person with a heart would be hurting over. So, yeah, I get it.
However (you knew this was coming, right?), Tam lost my sympathy for a moment when she did all that soulful reflecting back on "the good times." For one thing, I noticed that all those times had something to do with price tags. I mean, c'mon girl - you guys did have some really nice times. I know. I've been there from the start of the show (yes, I am ashamed to say that). ~sigh~ Just bad editing, I know, but it pissed me off because that's what TV always does. Shame on those editors. Dag-nabbit, the dirty rabbits!
I still feel for you, Tam.
Anyway, you guys, that's how, um, productive my day was. I am now going to go and learn to make this Nilla Wafer Pudding Pie. I can't tell you how many times my sis has tried to get me through this. I really want to do it tho, cos my Baby Bro comes in tonight & I am SO freaking happy & excited. It feels like Christmas in my heart! I'm going to go and do something to this head of mine & get presentable so I will feel like this
But it don't matter what I do, cos when I see baby bro, I'm gonna be like this
Meantime, hope you guys are all cool & well. Remember: Life's good most of the time & when it's not, just wait.
Guys - cannot post. Mind is scrambled like crazy this morning. Going to break from the Net & listen so some music. Might just need to slow the brain down. Will be back later if the grey cells work better.
In the meantime, just a little something I stole from a new Net buddy to make you smile. (And make sure to check out his site. Brother is a writing machine!
The day ended up being not so funky. Only strange thing that happened was that I finished a post this morning & forgot to Publish. It was still up on the screen when I got home from an appointment. Don't think that was Sarc. tho - just Rushing.
One of the fam was looking at the post from stateside & called me up to comment. They like what I did with the pics. Said I didn't bore them to tears trying to keep from mixing Project stuff with the blog. This is good to know. Of course, now you guys are going to be seeing a whole lot more posts like that one!
BUT - this post has a point & I better get to it before I start wandering all around BoreYaTa Deathland. Actually, there are two things I have to get done here:
One - after the app posting, I got a couple more emails about my not updating the World Wide Wow blog. Here's the thing - I just had too much going on. When my mind was sharper, I could work full-time, spend time with the fam & friends, have my "loner" time, and still juggle the EIGHT blogs I had going. Things have changed. I can't keep up right now. This blog and the Project are all I can really handle. Until I get better, I will do try to handle some of the email requests. I will start you all in the best direction ever by sending you over to the beauty & brains that is Kim Komando. Chick is bad-to-the-bone sharp (and cute, too, the heffa - like the Farrah Fawcett of Geeks) and she is the pro. Bookmark her. Find her radio show in your area. You will never ask me shit again. (Where the hell do you think I went for my tips?)
Two - I can't keep eating to kill the cigarette cravings, but I can bake to keep the hands busy. So... I am prepping a cobbler for dessert. Let me just let you know, I am from Texas & I can bake my feet off! My cobbler is known for being off the freaking chain. I will post pics when done. I can tell you what the reaction of the fam is gonna be:
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