Not unless you pitched her in front of a moving truck, it doesn’t. The fact that it took so long before said verbal showdown is in and of itself an argument for your impending sainthood.
I don’t do a whole lot of charitable work at the moment. We flat out can’t afford to give anything, and at this time of year, we don’t even have extra time to spare. About all we can eke out is looking after the neighbor’s cats when they’re away.
In some ways, we’re a bit burnt out. We’ve both served on the boards of directors of various 501©3 groups in the past, and DH is presently working at a children’s health organization.
On the other hand, I’ve also been able to give them some time as well - a few months ago, I gave them some advice on what was going on with their office network so their painfully over-burdened office manager/coffee maker/snacks for board mettings buyer/mail clerk/IT guy/fill-in receptionist could speak sensibly with their dedicated IT helpdesk on the east coast and at least say “It’s not working right!” Over the years, their network grew and the growing was done badly, using home-grade hubs instead of proper corporate-grade routers and switches, so the whole thing was a thrill ride for data packets. I’ve also taken some of their PCs and given them a good internal scrubbing so they didn’t need to wait 20 minutes for all of the malware to load in, then set 'em up with current antivirus.
The other “weird” thing I do is occasionally, I’ll play matchmaker. About a year ago, I beat the bushes to find a new phone system for a senior citizen independent living facility. While they could have tried to scrape up the dough to buy one, I was able to finagle a donation of a used system, then picked up the thing and installed it after taking a crash course in AT&T “Partner Plus ACS” office phone systems.
Right now, one of my target acquisitions is a “distribution transformer” for someone’s electrical system. $1500+ to buy a new one, but I’m hoping to find one for a small percentage of that. This one may be a lot tougher - these things are plentiful on the East Coast, but cross-country shipping of a 400-pound thing would be brutal.
Dammit. Now I’ll have to evict Kaiwik’s toad from the sand pile in the garage. :mad:
Hmmm… charitable stuff.
I donate old clothes etc to Salvation Army. I used to donate to my church store, but I think the SA needs them more (and they help more people).
We give a bag of groceries twice a year to the food drive at church. I also used to give away too small diapers etc to the Food Pantry near here. No more diapers over here, though.
I donate to NPR, just because, and Doctors Without Borders (have forgotten the French name for it). I know they do good, needed work.
I used to donate blood and still try to, but LifeSource is very obnoxious in its [del]phone harassment[/del] calling.
I used to give to Planned Parenthood and other places, but our budget is now bare bones.
Happy Birthday, Lisslar!
Just in time for Quit O’clock comes news of a forest fire in Cottonfield County, but not in my district. I may still be busy if they call extra alarms.
TTFN
Happy 30th Birthday, LiLi!!!
Timely OP. I’ve been thinking about charity since hearing a storyon This American Life about the Harlem Children’s Zone and their Baby College. I’m inspired by the work they’re doing to work with poor parents in Harlem and teach them how to raise their kids from the time they’re babies, especially by reading to their kids. I’ve been trying to figure out how to work with a group in this area to start something similar. I’ve heard statistics many times on how early intervention and investment up front can keep kids from getting in trouble later and therefore it saves lots of money as well as giving the kid a future instead of ending up in jail or in a gang or whatever. However, other than just thinking about it, I haven’t done anything yet. (The story was on the radio last weekend so it’s not like I’ve been procrastinating that long!)
At the moment most volunteer work I do is through my church. The church takes food to a shelter once a month and I usually make desserts for them. (I haven’t gone to the shelter; I just make the dessert and someone else takes it with the dinner that others make. I, too, like the idea that we each do our one part and the work gets done.) There’s also a prayer shawl ministry which knits shawls for people going through difficult times - it can be people who are diagnosed with a disease or someone going through divorce or whatever. I’m planning to start knitting for them… as soon as I finish the two projects I’m knitting right now and if nothing else comes up between now and then. I have knit two scarves for a collection of scarves, hats, and mittens they make every year to give to new immigrants who come to the Upper Midwest from warmer climates and who don’t have proper winter clothes.
Unfortunately, I’m also wrangled into giving to United Way every year, and appropriately enough, I just got the kick-off letter from the company today. Bleh. They don’t quite strong-arm us here, but it’s *very strongly *encouraged that we participate. I really resent that, but 1) we can buy “casual days” where we can wear jeans from Nov 1 - Jan 31st, which is really nice as it gets towards winter so that’s worthwhile and 2) in the past (not sure if it’s true this year) they’d give us the Friday after Thanksgiving off if we reached a certain % of employees participating… I didn’t want to be the person keeping us from getting that!
I also give to NPR, we donate blood a few times a year (not every 8 weeks… sorry, that makes me too tired!), and we’re members of both the zoo and the arboretum where the membership fee goes to help their causes.
We had a good weekend. The wedding was good. The bride wore a knee-length black skirt, a black & silver top, and a feather boa. And she was barefoot through the 5-minute ceremony. It was fun. Apparently, her parents are Mormons, but she and her sisters seem to all have left the faith so she didn’t want a traditional wedding. And my denim skirt was just perfect - not too dressy and not too casual. The reception dinner was delicious. It was a buffet, but I mostly just had some awesome vegetarian lasagna. And cookies. And chocolates. Really really good intense dark chocolate. And cheesecake. Yum!
I did something to my back this morning and it really hurts now. 
I wanna go home.
Happy Birthday Lili!
mousie your hair is amazing - I bet you feel a world of difference having all that hair cut off! Your hair was georgous before but wow! Makes me feel so jealous as my hair could really use a good cut! I’m STILL waiting for my student loan to come in so i’ll just have to wait! If it doesnt come in within the next few days I’ll ask my mum to pay for it as part of my birthday.
Its nice to see that there are so many nice altruistic people out there. I went on a world challenge to Tanzania in 2003 when I was 17. As part of the challenge we put $200 (Tanzanian) each toward buying building materials. We paid one of the locals to go out and actually purchase them and then we used them to help build a school. We got loads done within the week we spent working on it and even taught English to the children. It was an amazing feeling to be helping others that were so in need of it. i got a bigger high helping than I did reaching the top of Mt Kilimanjaro. Truely a month of my life I will never forget. 
<ahem> clearing throat <ahem>
**
Haaapppyyy biiirrrttthhhdddaaayyy toooooo youuuuuu!!!
Haaapppyyy biiirrrttthhhdddaaayyy toooooo youuuuuu!!!
Haaapppyyy biiirrrttthhhdddaaayyy deeeaaarrr LLLIIILLLIII!!!
Haaapppyyy biiirrrttthhhdddaaayyy toooooo youuuuuu!!!**
Looks like I still can’t do that in all caps. Oh well, it’s the thought that counts. 
I may have some interestin’ job info to post in a couple of days. I gotta do a little more thinkin’/soul searchin’/investigatin’ but I just might accept another job. This is kinda out of the blue but intrigues me. I got a call from somebody I know who pretty much said we want you to help us with QA stuff. Anywho… tomorrow Ima go talk with him in earnest. Hey, if nuttin’ else, it’s a free lunch!
Howzzat for a teaser?
Oh and I am impressed by the amount of charitable work/donating everybody does. It’s one of those heart cockles warmin’ things.
The fire was nuttin’. The 2 forestry guys had it put out with their equipment before Hooterville VFD got there.
Love your haircut, mousie! Very cute.
Happy B-day, LiLi!!!
My charity of choice is Leah’s house - the women’s shelter in my county. When I have a successful craft show, all the proceeds go to Leah’s. We’ve also got food drives at work (one just started this week, so I gotta shop.) And I donate our unneeded clothing and stuff to Mellwood, an organization that helps mentally disabled adults.
I also intend to donate to Susan G. Komen, in light of my cousin getting breast cancer. And I support animal shelters.
Supper just arrived - PapaJohn cooked. More later.
MWAH!!
Am I first?
Don’t you just love it when Papa John decides to make dindin?
I’ve got a meatloaf in the oven right now for tomorrow night’s dindin. The good thing about meatloaf (well, good to me anyways) is that I like it better when it’s cooked the night before and reheated the next day. When the meatloaf’s done, I have some mac & cheese ready to go in the oven. I do it stove type style. Boil the macaroni, drain it, dump the macaroni back into the pot and return it to the stovetop on low heat. Add in butter, milk and cheese. I have no exact proportions, except to say some butter, some milk and tons o’ cheese. Then I put it in a casserole dish. I’ll add some more grated cheese on top and pop it into a 350 degree oven (amazingly that’s the same temp as the meatloaf is cookin’! What a coinkydinky!) and melt the cheese. Tomorrow I can nuke it in the microwave. Same with the meatloaf. I may even go ahead and steam the cabbage tonight and just heat it up tomorrow too. Ima do some field peas with snaps and make some cornbread tomorrow when I get home.
Oh, tomorrow is a spend the night night, the first one we’ve had in a month. Thus, the need for a big home cooked supper. I expect to be muchly appreciated for it. 
PapaJohn done good. Now I’m going to help grade 2nd grade papers. This should be interesting…
(I missed the edit window)
Happy Birthday, Li-Li!!!
mousie - did you go to college in NOLA? You’ve done some lovely things - Karma will reward you.
I’ve given to the American Cancer Society on several occasions because many family members were lost to one sort or another. I’ve put in time for a local chapter of the Fight Against Breast Cancer. But most of my volunteer time is either for Mensa or Sweet Adelines. And while those are not charities, they do provide services and a place for people to feel like they belong, so that counts, right? if only just a little bit.
On the down side, when I was flush, I donated to four separate law enforcement benevolent associations (along with some othe local organizations) The following year, I cut back because I had to watch my pennies a little more closely, so I chose one of the four and donated there. The other three called me regularly for four months. What is it about “things are tight - I cannot afford it” do some people not understand? I have no problem giving to charities when I have the funds available. But I resent my name and phone number being passed around frm agency to agency just because once upon a time I could afford to be generous. And charitable organizations are exempt from the “do not call” act.
Okay - now about my weekend. I dinner with a slew of friends at Dead Lobster, then we went to BC-Survivor friend’s house to watch DVDs. We watched some Piglet Files, some A Bit Of Frye & Laurie, and enough of Wordplay to see chorus event roommate pop up in the crowd here and there (she’s also very active in NPL and knows twickster from there) It was a lot of fun.
Then Sunday - same house, different event - an afternoon of board games followed by CHines take out for dinner - I collected all the fortunes - so here - happy snerking
**Utilize what you have been given.
To be a man means constant revision, like correcting a writing.
Time and patience are called for; many surprises await you.
What is to give light, must endure the burning
We should not let our fears hold us back from pursuing our hopes.
We judge others by actions; we judge ourselves by intentions.
Things are turning for the bright side.
Today’s action becomes tomorrows habit.**
Hmmm. Charities. Because I work for the state, I give through the Combined Charitable Campaign, which includes United Way Agencies as well as other charitable groups. You can select individual agencies or just give an amount that is split across all the charities. I always select three or four and split my donations among them. This time it’s two local agencies that I know provide important services to people in need and one to an international agency (Mercy Corps this year, IIRC) with high efficiency ratings from Charity Navigator and good references from elsewhere. And, yes, NPR. (It’s all I listen to, so it would feel like cheating not to give.)
I also donate to my church, which does a lot of social justice projects including mission trips, feeding the homeless, and other things I’m forgetting. It also serves the OSU student community, so there’s always someone that’s being helped.
My family was at the receiving end of quite a bit of charity when I was younger, so I feel like it’s only fair that I give back.
I also garden both for church and for one of our local parks, so I get to do a little bit with my talents as well.
Some of my work friends wonder what they’ll do when they retire. Me, I can’t retire too soon because there are so many things I’d like to do. One of my volunteer friends goes on projects almost every year where she helps teach or build or otherwise do something constructive. I’d love to do something like that.
OK…that was way longer than intended. Thanks for letting me think about all of that, mousie.
Tired, but I have a new haircut as well. Not so much new as recent. Looks the same as ever, pretty much. (Love your haircut, by the way, mousie.)
Job possibility sounds intriguing, swampy.
Need to peek at the e-mail, then shut this machine down, because it’s really quite loud. Need to figure out how to get the laptop taken care of soonest, as well. (Have I whined about that lately?)
Back later, maybe…
GT
HAPPY BIRTHDAY LILI!
I am officially off of Social Security as of…today. I settled the details this morning. I ended up leaving work early because I was weirdly freaked out about the whole thing; I’m glad to have them off my back, but I figure most people go through the “OMG! It’s all up to me!” thing a good bit younger than I. Well, here I am. Eek!
I’m not petrified; financially, for me, I’m doing all right now (well, aside from that late cable bill…shhhhhh!) so it’s not like I’m going to starve.
This is weird.
I think I will feel much better tomorrow. I better, because I can’t duck out of work again! I NEED the money!
Charities? I have been known to donate to the ASPCA. I’d love to regularly, but I can’t afford it.
I charitably donate humor whenever possible. 
Good news on that front: I helped Complicated Roommate get his virtual private server set back up and to reward me he’s going to host Agony Aunt Ryl when I decide to move it off of my journal and into The Wilds of Cyberspace. That should be happening around the end of this year, beginning of next.
Plans within plans. They’re all coming together.
…………*
Happy Birthday LiLi !!!
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For your birhtday, I arranged a hockey season in your honor.
I did not work all day today. My assistant volunteered to come in and close. A refreshing change form Miss “I’m not gonna do that/come in and work/do my job.” Is it Firday yet?
Congrats snowbunny!
gt, everyone I know who retires ends up working more than before. Scary thought for me.
Good luck with the job, swampy! I guess those long, dangerous commutes are starting to wear on you?
Ugh. I got sick this morning and tossed my cookies. And I’ve been nauseous most of the day after that. I took a nap when I got home and now I feel like my insides are on fire. I’m about to make a quick trip back to bed and hope that I feel better when I wake up.
In other news, they’re not very big, but we do have 5 lunches tomorrow.
Also,
**
Happy Birthday Li-Li!!!**
Thanks for all of the great hair comments everybody. It’s always a big change–my head feels so light. I actually got a headache right after she cut it because of the weight difference.
LiLi, you share a birthday with my sister. I just thought of that as I was signing her birthday card…Yeah, I know it’s going to be late. She’ll live.
Rosie, I’ve never been to NOLA. I’ve wanted to go though. All told, it’s probably better that the Red Cross didn’t send me there. I was in Southeast Texas–Silsbee, not too far from Beaumont. (I tried to get you all a map, but it’s not working right. Sorry) Rebo, how far is that from you?
Good Luck with the student loans, Agent J. I know how much it sucks to have to wait for them. When I was in college, they wouldn’t put someone on the class list until the money had come through. We just got an orange card to show Profs. with the explanation that it was a financial aid/student loan thing. They were always nice about it, but it still sucked.
Hope you feel better soon, Pie