From Kim:
In September 2008 my son was life flighted to Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh. He/we took that flight so that he could be evaluated for a liver transplant. My son, Greyson was 7 ½ months old.
I traveled in our car. A car filled with everything I could fit of his and a suitcase for myself. I was told to pack for at least 6 months, but to be prepared for a year. I went with great medical coverage, but no job (our home was 5 hours away, I met parents from all over the WORLD). Greyson was checked into CHP and I soon checked into the Ronald McDonald House.
Ronald McDonald House (RMH) became my calm. I could meet with other parent who, if they were not going through my exact situation, they were going through something similar. We were living on a hope, we were living on small stipends from insurance (if so fortunate,), with a household of bills for our “real” home still coming in. RMH gave us food, they gave us shelter… for a measly $11 a night and in some cases that too was waived. But, that is not all that they provided. They provided parents and children (who were able) with tickets to local “sights” they provided us with donated clothes for our children. Yes, children in the hospital are allowed to wear clothes, it is encouraged. It is a sense of normalcy, even for the babes. No one wants to walk around with their arse hanging out of a johnnie gown, not even a toddler.
During our 3 month stay I was amazed when others would drop off clothes for RMH “guests” and I was extremely grateful. I didn’t have to worry about what my son was outgrowing. That worry was alleviated.
My son died December 8, 2008 while waiting for his liver transplant. Last year for his first “anniversary” I decided to give back. I collected clothes for children of all ages from friends and family and sent a care package to RMH. I would love to do the same this year. I would like your help. I will accept gently used or new clothing for kids of all ages, books, toys. Gift cards. Anything! They will be sent to RMH Pittsburgh. I thank you in advance and on behalf of the families you will be helping. THANK YOU! (Please do not send stuffed animals. they cannot be 100% washed free of germs.)
If you’d like to donate in remembrance of Greyson donations can be made directly to Ronald McDonald House Pittsburgh, here:
Ronald McDonald House
Attn: Leslie Montgomery
In remembrance of Greyson Menefee
451 44th Street – Penthouse Floor, Pittsburgh, PA 15201
Attention, those of you in the North Alabama/ Tennessee area: the North Alabama Spay Neuter Clinic is having a fundraiser this weekend in the form of a Plea Market (they had one last year, you might recall.) They’re looking for donations (which are tax deductible!) – you can go here to read more about what they’re looking for, when and where you can drop off your donations, and when the Plea Market will be open to the public.
This event is sponsored by 13 animal welfare groups in the area. The money raised will be used to buy a transport vehicle to assist people in rural areas to get their animals spayed/neutered. Volunteers will be needed on Thursday & Friday (12/18-19) to help set up and also on Saturday, the day of the sale. Donations of saleable items will be accepted both days at the Jaycees Building on Airport Road.
The North Alabama Spay Neuter Clinic charges $35 for feline neuters, $45 for feline spays, $55 for canine neuters, and $65 for canine spays. The only cost above the basic charge is $10 for the rabies vaccination if you cannot provide proof that your animal has been vaccinated in the past 12 months.
PLEASE NOTE THAT ANYONE CAN USE THE SPAY AND NEUTER CLINIC. You do NOT have to qualify! There is no extra charge for weight or if the cat/ dog is in heat.
Thank you so much for your donations to Heaven’s cat, Dirty Feet – and if you haven’t donated and would like to, you can click on the widget below, or visit the ChipIn page here.
Food I made this weekend that I highly, highly recommend (I was in a cooking/ baking mood on Friday, apparently!)
Hot Cocoa Bread. It’s a wonderfully dense, chocolaty bread. It’s not super-sweet, but very very good. I think next time I make it, I’ll double the marshmallows just because I like marshmallows a lot. You could also add chocolate chips and chopped nuts and call it Rocky Road bread!
Chunky Guacamole. SO SO SO good. The only thing I’d do differently next time is, I’d actually add the entire half a red onion, as the recipe calls for. I got nervous when I was chopping the onion because it seemed like an awful lot of onion, so I only used about 1/3 of the onion, which I don’t think was enough. Also, note to myself: make sure there actually ARE baked Tostitos in the pantry before you make it next time. We ended up eating the guacamole on Ritz crackers. Which was still really good!
Individual Cream Cheese danish. Once again, I was blown away by just how good – and easy! – these things are. I told Fred I thought it was time for us to try plural marriage, because I’m bringing on Chunky Guacamole and Individual Cheese Danish as his Brother Husbands.
Have you been sitting there just WAITING for the Cranberry-Habanero jam?
If so, it’s your lucky day!
Cranberry Cruelty Habanero Jam is now available!
(I’ve got plenty of the other flavors still in stock, and considering how many habaneros we grew this year, I don’t expect to run out anytime soon!)
I had a hair appointment last Wednesday morning, and looking at myself in the mirror while she cut my hair, I came to the realization that I’m apparently growing out the grays. I haven’t colored my hair since just before I went to Maine in July, and I’d say my roots are about 1/3 the length of my hair.
I’m actually surprised to find that though I have plenty of gray hair, it’s not quite as gray as I’d expected. For now, I’m planning to keep on growing it out (this would be far more fascinating if I had a picture to show you, I’m aware), but it’s entirely possible that I’ll get tired of seeing all that gray, and go back to making Fred helping me color it a boring medium brown.
After my hair appointment, I stopped at the grocery store on the way home. It wasn’t ’til I was in the cereal aisle penned in by two gray-haired grannies (my people!) that I remembered Wednesdays are not only the day the new sales flyer comes out, but also senior discount day. I don’t know what the discount is for seniors, but it must be something pretty damn good, because the seniors come out in DROVES from about 7:30 on, and the place probably stays packed ’til closing (I wouldn’t know, though, ’cause I’m probably sound asleep by the time Publix closes).
There was one line with just one woman in line, and she was standing there looking at a newspaper when I walked up behind her. I put all my stuff on the conveyor belt and waited. And waited. And waited. Ever so slowly, she turned the pages of her newspaper, and keep in mind it was 9:45 and I hadn’t had anything to eat that morning, so how I did not fly at her with claws extended to yank every last hair out of her head, I do not know.
Finally, all huffy like, I said “Oooooookay”, picked up all my shit, and moved two cash registers down. I don’t know what the fuck was going on with that lady, but she was still there casually perusing the newspaper when I left.
I did not smack her.
Note to self: stay the fuck away from Publix on Wednesdays for the next 20 or so years. When the hell do you start getting a senior discount, anyway? 62?
Which reminds me – I got a GODDAMN AARP MEMBERSHIP FORM in the mail a few weeks ago. What the fuck? I’ve got a good 6 years and 2 months before I qualify, fuckers!
This blue basket lives in a corner of the kitchen, and it’s no surprise that I got these pictures of Hutch going “Oooh, there are toys in here! I like toys! Look at the cool toys!” and Starsky’s trying to figure out how to get a good bite on the basket handle.
::thlurrrrp::
Sweet Rhyme. I determined over the weekend that Rhyme’s personality is a lot like that of his half-brother Mike (of the Wonkas). Is he a happy boy? He is SUCH a happy boy. At night he gets up on the bed and flops right down between Fred and I and purrs and purrs and purrrrrrrs.
Bath time for Reacher.
I’ve perhaps mentioned that when I go outside, the cats – especially the Bookworms – like to gather around me. Here are three of the four – and you can see, since Reacher and Corbett are next to each other, just how thin Corbett is. He’s perfectly healthy, and he eats just fine, he’s just a skinny cat. Reacher is the biggest of the Bookworms.
Spanky claims the basket as his own.
Previously
2009: No entry.
2008: No entry.
2007: Happy vacuuming!
2006: When I thought of how crappy the doors would look, he gave me a long-suffering look and said in his “Look how patient and long-suffering I am” voice, “I’ll paint them.”
2005: “Fascinating.”
2004: All your frog are belong to us.
2003: No entry.
2002: I am freezing to death.
2001: I think I need to get a life…
2000: In other words, Robyn is a total spaz about her eyes, comprende?
1999: On the way into work, and the whole time I worked today, I reconsidered that reconsideration.