Can You Hear Me Now?

Last night, I finally saw the movie Pay It Forward. I bawled at the end… the ugly cry. Wow.

Anyway, it reminded me that I wanted to do another “Pay It Forward” type project this year. Last year’s was a huge success! Thanks to everyone who contributed! This year, I am doing something different, for a very good cause. Inspired by my friend Kim’s sister, Kate, who is also now MY friend (thanks, Facebook!) She works with women in/escaping from abusive relationships. She has started a Facebook group called Sisters in Ending Violence Against Women, which pointed me in the direction of the Central Alberta Women’s Emergency Shelter, and my decision was made. We’re going to raise money for this shelter and to help these brave women!

If you notice on their website, it says “CAWES is in urgent need of the following items”:

• Shampoo/Conditioner
• Deodorant
• Toothpaste
• Toothbrushes
• Combs
• Brushes
• Women’s Pajama’s (all sizes)

Seriously? Who can’t help with that?!? They also have an urgent needs list here. I say… we can do that! You guys send the money, and I’ll do my favourite thing, the shopping! And because I REALLY like their products and their advertising campaign, I’m going to buy Dove brand deodorants/soaps/shampoos etc. None of this Dollar Store stuff. Although, I may hit them up for nail clippers and combs. And I can’t WAIT to buy pajamas. Ohhhh, I love me some pajamas!!

So, here is what I need you to do, same as last year - send me your donations via PayPal. If you are not comfortable with that, you can email me for an address to send a cheque, or an email money transfer. If you’re not comfortable with giving me the money because you haven’t been reading me long and think I’m going to spend it on lattes for myself, you can make a cash donation to the shelter yourself, right here. But I am REALLY hoping you will let me have the pleasure of shopping for these ladies and their children!!! Once I have bought all the loot, I will make arrangements for Kim or Kate to pick it up from me. They don’t know this yet, but since they live in the same city as the shelter and I do not, AND they come to Calgary fairly often (or at least Kim does), I’m sure we can arrange something

Anyway, I’m sure we have all had people do nice things for us this past year, so here is your chance to pay it forward, and eventually it will come back to you again I realize this time of year is a financial burden on many people with the holidays coming up, but I’m not asking you to give much! These woman have taken their children and run from their abusive relationships with nothing but the clothes they are wearing. They need shampoo, people! A few dollars buys a lot of shampoo! Every little bit adds up - last year your $10 here and $15 there added up to over $800 for that family’s Christmas! And the best part was, I got to do the shopping… I LOVE shopping for other people!!

So don’t go thinking you can’t make a difference with only $2 or $5. Skip buying your coffee today and add it to this pot!

Click the button below to contribute and let the Good Karma begin!! Just like last year, I will keep you updated on how much I’m collecting and what I’m buying (pictures included!) And for the record, I have no idea how to move this button up higher:

It’s about time this received more international attention… my friend Brett has been writing and speaking about it for so many years.

We interupt regular blogging activity to advise you of the following:

I know I swore off eBay and buying more clothes, but this top?? Pretty much the most beautiful item of clothing I have ever seen. And I got it for under $25, which is a lot more expensive than other tops I’ve bought from there, but come ON! It’s still a steal. I had to fight in a bidding war to win it, and I hope to God it fits. I asked the seller to ship it Priority 5 days so I can have it for my trip. Which means it cost even more, but I DON’T CARE. Gorgeous.

You may now resume your regular activities.

I’m getting a little Croc crazy on eBay. I’ve been going through phases… clothes, then health related things, now shoes. On a positive note, (well, to me finding Crocs on eBay is positive, just not for my wallet) I’ve got 8 items up for sale myself, now. 3 pairs of shoes and the rest are clothes I never wear. I’ll be adding more soon too… a couple cheap purses and more clothes. So far I have received ONE bid on an outfit! Woo hoo! I can make back some of what I’ve spent. I am officially an eBay Addict.

Crocs are cheaper there than buying them in stores or at crocs.com, and they have the styles I can’t find in stores here. I’m getting all of these:

Cleo - black/charcoal

Patra - orange/white

Prima - cotton candy

Mary-Jane - black

Alice - chocolate

Shush, do NOT lecture me. I think I’ll have Lisa beat in the Crocs department, now? That makes… um… 9 pairs. 4 of the ugly normal style and ALL THESE NEW CUTE ONES!!

Oh, there is one more pair I have bid on that ends Wednesday, but I’m almost outbid on them and I won’t bid again. They’re the black Cleo style with a lavendar bottom, and I bid on them before I found the all black ones which I’d rather have. At this moment I am tied for highest bid, so I’m sure by tomorrow someone else will bid higher. Crocs are in demand there. BUT, if I do end up having to buy them… ohhhh, well. I will just have to buy some lavendar tops. Heh (My mom just fainted). I also wouldn’t have bid on the Mary Janes (BIG bidding war! But I waited until there was 20 seconds left, let her think she won, then bid at the last second and got them. HA!) if I’d even known the Alice style existed. But I didn’t see the Alice ones in black in my size anyway, so I will justify the purchase of chocolate brown. How CUTE are those?

Maybe I’ll polish up and sell the other Crocs I have because they’re butt ugly (except the pink ones!)… if these ones are as comfortable!

I’ve bought a few more things from eBay, but not clothes. (I think I have enough). I decided to buy a few health-related items to help me with those goals. The first thing I ordered, after seeing Suzanne Somers on a repeat of Ellen recently, was a Thighmaster. Why not? It’s one of the best selling pieces of exercise equipment ever! And it’s something I can do to strengthen muscles in my legs and arms while lying in bed or sitting back in my recliner watching TV. It is also too small to sit in the corner of my bedroom and act as a clothes rack, so that is a plus.

Then I purchased a Tai Chi DVD for Seniors. My understanding is that the seniors level is one people with MS can do if they can stand at all. I’d love to get into yoga and pilates one day, but even the beginners DVDs are way too hard for me. So I’ll try this and my Gentle Fitness DVD and COMMIT to this DAILY.

Then I bought Season Two of The Office. I won it for about half the price it is on Amazon! Yay! Laughter is, after all, the best medicine. And one of my favourite episodes of all time, The Injury, is in season two.

And finally, the big one… an ion cleanse machine. Ever since that one and only ion cleanse session I went to, I have wanted one. The machine that woman had is about $3,000 US. I’m not really sure what the difference is between these expensive models and the one I bought; I figure the expensive ones can handle more sessions/day for a business, whereas mine will be personal? Other than that, I’m not so sure. I bought mine for about $450 CDN with shipping (thanks, Visa) and this is what I’m getting. It sounds good to me, and the seller feedback is great, so, I’m happy. If I had gone back to that woman for a 10 session package, it would have paid for this one. And I never went back because she is so far away from me, and I knew I was going to end up with my own machine soon anyway, it’s on my “vision board”. I can’t wait to get it! (And the seller is kind enough to mark it as a “gift” so I won’t have to pay customs!)

So… I’m going to use my Thighmaster to strengthen some muscles; Tai Chi and gentle movements to increase my balance, strength and “chi”; laughter for fun and all the goodness that brings; ion cleanses to detoxify and give me energy, and whatever the “chi” belt does that comes with it; and still go to the odd Quantum Release session. That’s my “plan”. As usual, it’s the regular exercise I have a problem sticking with, but I must, I must, I must!!!

Hopefully regular ion cleanses will get me off my sleeping and anti-depressant meds eventually!! I’ve been trying to cut back on Paxil again on my own, but it just doesn’t work. I’m at 40mg/day, so I was doing 40-20-40-20 for a few days, and then last night I struggled like mad to get my bra off and then once I finally did, I threw the FUCKING BRA across the room, fell onto my bed and bawled like a baby. Yeah. I think I need to stay at 40mg for the time being. Although, you know, every couple weeks I think I should be allowed a 5 minute pity party to cry and get it out, and then just get on with it. I mean, sometimes it just sucks, you know? It can be very frustrating when you can’t do a simple task, so I shouldn’t think it isn’t normal behaviour to react like that once in awhile. Yeah. Okay, glad I got that sorted.

Lots to ramble on about today! For starters, the wonderful Maggie tagged me as one of her favourite Female Bloggers who Rock. Awww, thanks Maggs! Now I have to list five Female Bloggers who Rock. These women have amazing blogs/journals that I click on daily, hoping for updates.

Robyn - I’ve been reading Robyn for so many years, I feel like I know her. She inspired me to get Pita and Pepper and take buttloads of photos of them! She’s a crazy cat lady who lives in Alabama and has a zillion cats, plus fosters baby kittens, volunteers at the pet store, helps out the no-kill cat shelter, etc. etc. She recently moved to this awesome house in the country and now they have chickens, too. Robyn does more before 9:00 am than I do all day.

Shauna, a.k.a. Dietgirl - I started out reading Dietgirl several years ago, and eventually found her other blog as well. Now she is famous (many magazines/papers have written about her because of her huge weight loss) so she can no longer keep the two identities separate! Shauna has transplanted herself from Australia to Scotland, found herself an adorable husband, lost oodles of weight, and is an inspiration to everyone. She’s funny as hell and I can’t wait for her book!

Kate Harding - A recent find and fast favourite. She talks mainly about feminism and Fat Acceptance. She really knows her stuff. She is smart, funny and awesome.

Jane - Damn, this woman is a riot to read. She’s a working mom and wife, living in Kansas. That may not sound like much excitement, but you’d be surprised. Her writing is spectacular and she has a huge following for good reason!

East Side Girl - Also a fairly recent find. Sometimes her posts are only a sentence long, but they say all that needs to be said. She has a way with words like no other, and is what a blogger is supposed to be!

I don’t think any of these ladies read me (Robyn does, but probably just for the cat videos haha) so I don’t expect them to know I tagged them. I just wanted to mention them because they are all amazing and you should all be reading them regularly.

I mentioned awhile back that I ordered myself a Twister Sweeper. Can I just say, if you’ve ever wondered if the items you see advertised on TV work as well in real life, you can be assured that this one works BETTER. It is the absolute most amazing thing ever invented. It’s light as a feather, picks up anything and everything, works on carpet and floors, great for picking up spatters of cat litter without needing to pull out the vacuum, gets that broken glass right away, no dust pan needed, easy to empty… and if you’re prone to dropping your bottles of pills on the floor and watching them spatter all over your 70’s yellow camoflauge linoleum which hides everything you drop (and really, who isnt?), you’ll be glad to know you can run the Twister Sweeper across the floor once, remove the bottom and then pick out your pills in about 20 short seconds. My mom loves hers too, my brother uses mine and wants one, and my mom’s co-worker decided to get one after my mom brought hers in to work because vacuums are so darn heavy. Honestly, if you have so much as considered getting one, if you hate dragging out the heavy vacuum all the time, if you have pets, (great for cat hair too), if you hate trying to sweep into a dustpan… just GET ONE.

Shoes. Shoes and boots. And sheets and towels. Next on my list of things to sort through and donate what I can. Clear up some closet space and get real about the shoes I actually DO wear (Crocs and a few select others) and the ones I don’t or can’t (anything with a heel or laces). Also, bedroom closet. It’s overstuffed again. It happens so quickly!! If I would just stay ONE SIZE for awhile, perhaps this would not happen…

Reasons why yesterday sucked:

1. I cut my leg while shaving. Usually, a little nic in the shower while shaving is no big deal and all you need to do is put some pressure on it for a second and it stops bleeding. These ones were cuts in several places (because me and left handed dexterity while shaving are not best friends) and WOULD NOT STOP BLEEDING. After a couple hours I finally gave in and put bandaids all over my cuts before heading out with my friend Pam.
2. At the restaurant, we sat on the patio in those cheap plastic flimsy green patio chairs. Now, when I get up from a chair, I am quite rough on it - pushing and pressing hard on the left arm because that’s just how I have to do it. This chair did not take kindly to that, and the left leg started breaking underneath me. Pam tried to save me from falling on my ass, but she is all of 100 pounds soaking wet and I’m a big girl, so two people from a nearby table ran over and helped, and eventually we got me up to being seated on my walker. I had to sit there and catch my breath for a few minutes… get over the embarrassment and give my legs a rest. They worked very hard trying to keep me from falling and are sore as hell today! Pam tried to make me feel better by insisting those chairs are pieces of crap and it had a bit of a crack in it already, and just needed that push I gave it to break down. I choose to believe her.
3. We went to Starbucks after dinner. Last time I was there I sat in a big cushy chair and had no major problem getting out of it by myself. I was about to sit in the same chair, when two people came along and sat at that exact table. So I chose the one beside it, with two different styles of cushy chairs, and the second I sat down I thought, “I’m not gonna get out”. Way too low. I drank my latte and didn’t worry about it until it came time to leave. I struggled to get up, and I just could not. Pam was going to help me, but again, tiny person! A woman at a nearby table asked “do you need some help?” and I said “yeah, actually, I do” and she came over. Her and Pam helped lift me up from my right arm while I pushed on the chair with my left. Done deal, easy enough. But still… all attention on you when half the customers are helping you get out of a freakin’ chair.
4. By the time I got home, my legs had pretty much given out on me. I settled in to watch a movie (Stranger Than Fiction - I really liked it) but when I got up to go to the bathroom, I stumbled and fell forward against the sink, basically landing on the top of my nose between my eyes, on the edge of the medicine cabinet that is just above the sink. It hurt like HELL. I bawled like a baby and sat back down with an ice pack and sniffled. Now I have a lovely, sore red bump there. And my legs hurt like hell, have I mentioned that?

Now, to put a positive spin on the evening, I have to point out that Pam was gracious and wonderful, and wasn’t the least bit embarrassed to be with me; it was great to get out with her; the weather was nice; the food at the restaurant and the latte were delicious; I didn’t fall and break anything, and I certainly could have broken my nose in the bathroom if I’d landed a little differently, yet I DID NOT; I really enjoyed my movie; my friend Shawna called from Winnipeg. So, not all bad. Plus I have cute cats.

OH! Biggest, bestest News of the Week. I finally heard back from Calgary Housing and they are going to subsidize my rent! I’m part of a new program in which my actual suite is not becoming a subsidized unit, but I as a person am subsidized. So I pay my regular rent and Calgary Housing sends me a cheque every month to help out. It basically cuts my rent in HALF, which is awesome!! I sign papers on Tuesday and it goes for a year before I’m reviewed again. So the only downside is, if my rent goes up within the next year, (which it most likely will), the amount of my cheque will not until I am reviewed again. I’m okay with that, because it will still be more than I had before.

Oh my goodness, this is long. So I’ll end it. But not before saying Michelle and I saw Emm Gryner on Thursday night, and she was wicked-awesome.

Oh yeah, and Happy Canada Day!!

I KNOW!! The Maynard’s Candy commercial jingle is awesome! Who wrote it?? Who sings it?? Is there a full length version of the song available??

It’s written and performed by Major Maker (I would know Lindy’s voice anywhere!) and apparently a full length version will be made available this summer. Cadbury’s is trying to keep this a mystery and the song is generating a lot of buzz. So I want to help get the word out, because Major Maker deserves all the attention they can get!

Wondering what to do with your tax refund?? Help Shawna raise money for Breast Cancer research! She’s got more great reasons she is doing this in her blog.

Happy Earth Day!

After watching Oprah on Friday, and all the ideas for going Green and doing a little bit on our part to help the planet, I spent yesterday looking for Green stuff.

At the moment, the only “good” things I do are use those energy saving light bulbs in my main rooms and recycle water bottles and pop cans. I could easily improve in the areas of buying a decent water bottle and re-using it with filtered water from my tap, buying eco-friendly cleaning products, and using my own canvas bag when shopping rather than taking home a ton of plastic bags. I do use them for the cat litter, but I usually end up with way more plastic bags than I need around here and throw many away.

Other little things I’m going to do:

• No more helping myself to a pile of napkins at restaurants or fast food places, just ONE;
• No more taking a receipt when using the bank machine;
• Unplug things I’m not using! My toaster sits on my counter plugged in, although I rarely use it. It’s still using energy, so it’s unplugged now and so is my espresso machine when not in use!
• Buy even more Energy Saving lightbulbs and replace them everywhere I can;
• Buy recycled paper towels and toilet paper;
• Bring my own To Go mug when getting coffee/lattes at Second Cup or Starbucks.

So, my first step was to go to the Shaklee website and order their Get Clean start up kit. “Canadian Customers Click Here”. Okay. We need to sign up and become a member (which is free), and then they will email you your member ID and a password, which you can use to log in and shop. “Allow us 15 minutes to process your information before logging in”. Well… I kept trying for a good hour or so before I gave up. I decided to head to the mall to get a water bottle and look for cleaning stuff there.

I had no luck finding Green cleaning products, and I ended up with a Rubbermaid water bottle that will have to do for now until I can get to a better store for one of the good ones they showed on Oprah, or shop online or whatever.

Since I couldn’t find the cleaning products I wanted, I headed over to Bedding and somehow I ended up coming home with sheets, blankets, throw pillows, a duvet cover and shams in various shades of burnt orange for my new bedroom decor. Funny, how that happened.

When I got home, I tried to log into Shaklee again. Still no luck. I emailed them, but no answer. They’re probably so overwhelmed with member sign-ups because of Oprah, that they can’t keep up.

So I went to another website, Method Home. I started clicking through their products and choosing all kinds. I loved them!! I was aiming for “Go Naked” because there are no perfumes or dyes, as much as I wanted to try Pink Grapefruit and Lavender. I had this cart full of products and it wasn’t until I looked at the shopping cart list that I realized they were out of stock on many of the things I wanted. Damn Oprah! Heh.

I still can’t log on to Shaklee, so I decided to just place an order with the online organic grocery delivery place I use sometimes. They sell a limited selection of Green cleaning and dishwashing products, but it’s a start. They have Seventh Generation products which were featured on the show, so that’s good. I even ordered the recycled toilet paper… $16.59 for 12 rolls, which is more than double what I normally pay!!

I am soooooo ordering Method Home products when they’re back in stock, they sound great and they have a nice variety. I love using cleaning wipes, and they even have body wash! And face it, the packaging is cool, even though that’s not supposed to matter. But check out their dish soap bottles! Hee!

And if Shaklee ever responds to me and gets my account working, they may get my future business too.

And speaking of green, we are green here again, the snow from Friday melted with the sun and warmth of Saturday. Now… STAY!

More clients on the way, I must be going.