Back In Cleaning Mode

Even though my allergies have me feeling like total crap I’ve been really busy doing more Spring cleaning around here.  This weekend we took advantage of the long weekend and spent Saturday morning and this morning tackling the garage.  Ben has the tool trailer loaded down with stuff to drop off at Goodwill tomorrow, and we can finally see the concrete floor in a few spots. 

A majority of the stuff in there isn’t even ours.  It’s stuff that either my Grandparents left here for us because we might find a use for it (and my Grandma doesn’t throw anything away) or it’s junk other people have brought over to see if we want before they trash it.  When people drop by with stuff that’s in good condition I almost always take it just to prevent it from ending up in the landfill.  I might not have a use for it, but I know I can put it with my donation stuff and haul it all off in one trip.  That’s also why we usually have enough to fill the tool trailer during each trip.

This year seems to be the year for collecting Christmas lights and toys.  I kept some of the Christmas lights that were given to me because I can recycled the small strands into craft projects, but I have no use for a majority of the lights that were in the garage. I know the trim on my house is brown, but I don't need a bunch of boxes of brown wire christmas lights that don't match the lights we use.

Then there were the boxes of clothes.  My aunt decided to clean out her closet a few weeks ago, and I came home one day to find a bunch of boxes of clothes sitting on the porch with a note to keep what I wanted and give away the rest.  Now my aunt is about my size, but she wears a bunch of what Ben calls “churchy” clothes.  The boxes were full of dresses that look like they walked out of an 80s camp meeting and big bulky shirts.  I pulled maybe 4 shirts out of 6 boxes because they looked comfy to sleep in.  The rest of the clothes went straight to the donation pile and left us today as well.  You may say “but they’re not in style”, but oh around here those clothes will sell like hot cakes to all the little old church ladies. 

I know anyone who stops by my house and sees my garage probably thinks I’m a hoarder, but I promise I don’t belong on one of those shows!  I just don’t want all that stuff going to the landfill if someone else can use it, and there is no reason to make umpteen thousand trips to the donation box if we can fill the trailer with a load once every couple months. 

Helping, Teething, and Sleeping

As usual it’s been very busy around here this week.  Thursday we traveled to Mount Hope, Alabama to deliver the supplies we’ve collected over the last two weeks.  The supplies were much appreciated, and I’m so glad we were able to help some of the families who lost everything.  I have uploaded a video and some photos I took with my cell phone as we toured the area.  I will also be adding more photos as I get a chance to do so.  It’s hard to describe the scene we saw, but it is something I will never forget.

We stayed overnight at a family member’s house in Russellville to recuperate a bit before making the trip home.  Both Ben and I had been running on very little sleep for days as we worked almost around the clock to gather everything we could, sort, and load all the donations.  Okay, so Ben did most of the loading and unloading as most of the boxes were way too heavy for me to lift.  I felt bad because he had to do most of it by himself, but I’m thankful I have him to do the heavy lifting.  Sometimes I do secretly wish I could rub testosterone gels all over and magically make myself stronger, but I know that will never happen!

Combine being worn out with a cranky baby and a day of travel, and we were both in need good night’s rest by the end of the day.  Thankfully Ellie did great on the trip.  She decided to put the crankiness on the backburner, and she was in a great mood to meet our family in Alabama.  We decided to take her with us for this reason and because I really wanted to go but couldn’t leave her behind while breastfeeding. 

Once we returned home Friday evening she was back in full cranky mode again, and she’s been pretty ill the last few days.  She’s cutting another eye tooth, and I know the poor little thing is in massive pain.  All day today she kept begging for ice.  She’d see me with a glass of tea, and she’d point and say “ice”.  She’d go to the freezer, point at it, and ask for ice again (she knows the popsicles are in there, and she calls them ice, too).  I’ve hardly had a chance to get anything done because she’s been clinging to my side and fussing if I try to do anything that doesn’t involve holding her while she eats her ice.  I’ll be so glad when she’s done cutting teeth, but at the same time I don’t want to rush it.  Having all her teeth just means she’ll be that much bigger, and she’s already growing up too fast!

She’s sleeping soundly right now, though, and I’m hoping she’ll have a good night tonight.  Just in case she’s up every hour (like last night) I guess I should drag myself off the internet and get my housework done.  After taking the trip and dealing with Ellie I haven’t had the time or energy to clean up the mess that my household has become, and there’s a huge pile of laundry calling my name.  *Sigh*

Tornado Victims Need Our Help

I’ve been busy as a bee around here this week working on something very close to my heart.  After the deadly tornadoes that hit many of the Southern states April 27, we’ve been working hard to help families in need.  There has been a huge outpouring of support from all over the nation for the victims of this horrible natural disaster, but the national organizations can’t make sure every single person who was affected has their needs met.

A large number of my mother-in-law’s family lives in Mount Hope, Alabama, a small farming community north of Decatur and Cullman. We were relieved to here they all made it through the storms without any injuries, but their friends and neighbors weren’t so lucky.  My uncle-in-law’s best friend lost his life, and most of his family members were (and still are) hospitalized.  The eldest son’s prognosis isn’t very good, and we do not know if he’ll make it.  The Crosby family’s farm, consisting of 4 family homes, was completely destroyed.  Out of all the homes and barns on their property only 1 house remains, a mobile home that was flipped upside down.

The Crosby family is just one of many families in Alabama that are now facing a hard road.  They have no homes to return to, they’ve lost loved ones, they’ve lost everything they own, and they don’t have the money to recuperate.  They are even struggling to scrape together the funds needed for their Father/Grandfather’s funeral.  The family members who were not hospitalized (3 adults and 4 children) are now living in their aunt’s 1 bedroom apartment because they have no where else to go.  There were 14 lives lost across the county, and numerous other injuries.  Families have been split between hospitals, and the hospitals are so full they are now asking residents to call for a paramedic to come out to their location because they have no room for them in the hospitals.

Then the news started coming in that FEMA and Red Cross hadn’t reached Mount Hope yet.  They were told it would be at least 45 days before power would be restored because the entire county was without power, and the damage to the power system was massive.  The local gas station was destroyed along with many businesses in town.  This left a great number of the residents without homes and jobs to return to.  The other businesses couldn’t operate because of the power loss, and many of the families didn’t know how they would make it without an income for the next 45 days on top of everything else their dealing with.

The next town, 20 miles away, had power, so it was the place to go to get gas and supplies.  Unfortunately things have been selling out quickly, so it’s very hard to get the food and supplies these families need.  Lines at the gas pump are very long, and when they are able to get gas it is rationed.  They must then conserve the small amounts of gas they can buy for emergencies and trips when supplies ran out.  The post office was destroyed, and we have not been able to mail in care packages to the families.

The locals have been doing what they could to help.  Two local churches have been working hard to provide supplies when they can, hand out hot meals to those searching through the rubble, and providing clothing for the families who lost everything.

My aunt-in-law, and her family searched through the rubble left behind from the destroyed homes and barns to rescue all the farm animals that could be found at the Crosby’s.  When the horse barn collapsed 2 horses were killed leaving behind an orphaned foal, and almost all of the others were injured and needing a lot of care.  The horses and other animals were divided between my aunt-in-law’s farm and another family friend’s farm.  Neither had much room or supplies to care for them, but they couldn’t leave them stranded and injured with no care.

The National Guard finally arrived on Friday.  They cordoned off the town, handed out id cards to the residents, and banned non-locals from entering.  Among all the devastation there were many (mostly out of towners, but some locals, too) who were taking advantage of this horrible situation by looting.  They also had sightseers crowding up the roads that were not damaged making it hard for medical help to get through to those who needed it.  We got word that Red Cross finally arrived at the beginning of this week to provide a few hot meals and cold drinks as well as a few supplies, but there just aren’t enough Red Cross teams to setup in every single town that was hit. 

To everyone’s surprise we learned teams worked quickly and power was restored to most residents on Monday.  This is such great news, but there is still a lot more that needs to be done for the residents of Mount Hope to move forward.  FEMA has finally started to arrive at the hospital to start the process of finding housing for those without, but this is also another long process.  There are many small towns all across Alabama that are in the same position right now, and they won’t receive the help they need without individuals and businesses stepping up to help.

When word reached us about the Crosby family and the other families in need in Mount Hope my Mother-in-law, Husband, and I got together and decided we had to do anything we could to help.  So what if my husband is still struggling to find a new job?  We’ve got a roof over our heads, food on our table, and our bills are paid.  We’re going to help in anyway we can, so we decided to sponsor Mount Hope.  We’ve been diligently working all week to raise donations (both supplies and monetary) to help the people in this small farming town.  We’re blessed to live in great communities full of people with big hearts that have graciously donated food, medical, and personal supplies.  Our stack of donations to transport to Alabama is growing little by little, and we’re working hard to expand it.  My husband and mother-in-law will be taking a trip to Mount Hope on May 11th to transport all the donations we can gather.  I wish I could join them (just not possible with the little one), but since I can’t I’m doing everything I can to help gather donations.  We would love to raise enough supplies to make multiple trips ensuring these families have what they need in the months to come as they rebuild, not just presently.

I have setup a ChipIn donation website, and I’m begging (I don’t do this often, so I really really hope you’ll help) that each and every person who has even a single dollar to spare donate to help us provide for the families of Mount Hope, Alabama.  We want to provide them with the things they need to keep going on this road to recovery.  We will be using all the funds we raise to add to our supplies to take to these families, and we’ll be using any leftover funds to help those who are struggling to raise money for cremation/burial costs, housing, etc.  They will be personally handing out supplies to families who are in need, and anything left over (both supplies and money) will be donated to the local churches who stepped up to immediately help these families.  We want to send every single item and cent to this community to help them rebuild their lives.

Items that are needed include:

• ant poison, bug spray (if you’ve ever been to the Southern states in the Summer months you know bug spray is a must while clearing through the rubble)
• sunscreen
• trash bags (for clearing rubble)
• baby wipes, diapers, formula, and baby food
• hand sanitizer
• toiletries and personal care items
• laundry detergent
• rubber gloves and work gloves (for clearing rubble)
• shampoo, conditioner, and soaps
• paper towels, paper plates, disposable cups and plastic silverware
• first aid supplies
• horse feed, chicken feed, cat food, dog food, cat litter, flea spray, and wormer
• financial contributions (to buy supplies and provide the families with money to help purchase more of the items they need as they get back on their feet)

Also needed are items to help these families recover when they find homes.

• pots, pans, cooking utensils
• sheets and other bedding
• gift cards to purchase other items that will be needed
• other household items

Please if you have even a dime to donate click on our ChipIn widget in my sidebar or visit our ChipIn page to make a donation.  If you can’t afford to donate but would like to help please consider sharing this post on social networks like Facebook, tweeting, and/or writing your own post to promote our cause.  I am not writing this post for traffic purposes.  I just want to raise money to help out these families in need, so feel free to link to our ChipIn page instead of this post if you would like!

If you live in my area and have items to donate feel free to contact me (jshusterman @ charter . net), and I’ll arrange for the items to be picked up.  As I mentioned we are currently unable to mail in items, so if you would like to send items you can contact me, and I will provide you with shipping information to do so.  We would love to find a business or corporate sponsor willing to help with our cause as well.  If you own a business willing to help (by providing donated items or funds) please contact me to arrange an agreement.

Sorting, Cleaning, & Donating

Today is yet another boring rainy day around here, so I'm taking advantage of the fact that the little one is spending the day with my Grandparents to do some more household organizing. I think it's time to go through all of our clothes and pack up most of the seasonal stuff.

It's still a bit chilly right now, but we're in that in between Spring and Winter phase. We don't need all of our Winter clothes, and I'd like to get a jump start on getting those out of our drawers/closets. This is also a great time for me to go through my clothes to see what I can donate again.

I've lost more weight, and now the stuff I was wearing most of the first year post-baby is just way too big for me. I'm fitting back into a lot of my pre-baby clothes, so I can get rid of the stuff that doesn't fit. I also have a ton of jeans that I need to donate. A friend gave me a huge container of jeans she can't fit into anymore now that she's had a baby, too, but I'm so short most of them are too long for my short legs. I had set them aside to have my Grandma hem them, but considering they've been sitting in a box in the bedroom for 3 months now I should donate them instead. I always forget to take them to be hemmed, and if I'm not using them someone else should.

What is it with jeans these days anyway?  Even though I’m only 5’2” I used to have no problem finding jeans that fit me properly lengthwise.  These days I’m starting to think my parents should have given me hgh supplements to make me grow more lol because even the jeans in the petite sections are way too long for me!  I end up rolling them up and looking like a bum because I can never find ones that fit, but I’m always too busy to remember to get them hemmed.  Plus if I can’t get my Grandma to hem them it’s just another added expense I don’t want to have to face. 

Maybe I should give up and start wearing dresses year round!  Ok, so we know that won’t happen.  I hate wearing dresses even more than I hate jeans that are way too long!

How We’re Helping This Christmas

If you were given the option to purchase gifts for your friends and family this year or help a child in need instead what would you choose?  After discussing the amount of money we actually have to spend on Christmas this year (which isn’t much) Hubby and I came to an agreement.  Our daughter’s presents are purchased, and the only other presents that really concern either of us are for a child from the Salvation Army Angel Tree. 

We’ve gone back and forth talking about what our family members and friends might want for Christmas that we could afford, and the bottom line is we just can’t afford gifts for everyone.  Sure, I could come up with cheap gifts for everyone if I wanted to. I could probably buy a few Mp3s to go with my SIL's new ipod touch, but that isn't what we're choosing to do.

We chose a little boy in our area from the Angel Tree, and we’ve been purchasing the on his list instead of presents for everyone else.  To me that is so much more important.  Not only will he have presents this year, but he’ll have things we know he needs.  As for our adult family members we’re going to give them each Christmas Cards that include a note informing them that we have combined our gift money this year to help provide for this needy child.

Will some people be upset that we are doing this instead of purchasing gifts for them?  Probably, but they shouldn’t be, and if they are I feel that’s just petty.  I’d much rather give my money to a child who needs the assistance instead of buying a cheap $5 gift that will probably end up in the trash or re-gifted anyway.  I feel like we’re making the right decision, and we’re using our money in the wisest way possible.

If you would also like to help out a child by purchasing Angel Tree gifts for them it’s not too late!  You can adopt an Angel and mail gifts by December 10 or drop them off at your local Salvation Army by December 14!

Cleaning Out The Office

The rest of this week I'm going to take advantage of the baby's naptimes to do something I haven't had a lot of time to do...Spring Cleaning! I've been on a mission to clean out my office and convert part of it into a playroom for a few weeks now, but I just haven't had the time to do it. I feel frazzled when I walk in the room and try to figure out what I should tackle since part of the room has become storage and a catch-all these last few months. That makes me turn tail and move onto something else that's less intimidating in the short time I have to clean.

Today I decided it's time to get that room organized and converted to a play space for Elliana, and I'm going to make myself get it done. This morning I started by pulling out a couple of boxes that were stacked up and going through them. I figure if I can get a few boxes out at a time I'll be able to accomplish things a little bit at a time. As I was going through the stuff I realized we hadn't touched any of it in 6 months, so what's the use of keeping things we aren't using? In the end I tossed everything into a garbage bag to cart off to the nearest charity donation sight.

Now I want to tackle the extra office furniture we have in there. We were given a couple of desks that we're not even using, so what's the use of keeping them? I've got a smaller desk in the corner of the room that I use as my work station when I actually have time to sit down in my office for a few minutes. Mostly I work from my netbook these days.

We've also got a couch in there that hasn't been sat on in months, so what's the use of keeping that, too? To me Spring cleaning equals clearing out everything we don't need, use, and/or want anymore. I keep reminding myself the more junk I get rid of the more space I'll have for Elliana to play, so I want that furniture out of here asap. Now I just have to get Hubby motivated enough to help me move it!  I’m still contemplating on whether I should donate the stuff to a local charity or if I should Freecycle it.  Either way I’ll be getting the stuff out of my house, and it’ll be going to a place where it can be used for something.

For A Good Cause

This has been one very exciting week for me. I'll tell ya if things in my life had been this exciting back when I was trying to lose weight I wouldn't have needed an appetite suppressant because my excitement is doing that for me. I've really had to make sure I've reminded myself to stop and eat because I've been completely forgetting about meals.

What's had me so excited? Well for starters I had my first ultrasound Thursday morning. If you want to see the photos I posted them here along with a photo of the other little bundle of joy that's had me so excited. While I was getting my ultrasound done our best friends were upstairs getting ready to welcome their first child into this world. She was induced at 8:30am, and at 5:30pm we all got to meet Baby JJ.

I've been in baby mode over the last few days. I was holding off on buying any clothing items for JJ until we knew what the sex was, but now that I've got a baby boy to shop for it's been very hard to keep me out of the baby section.

Now today we've got something else going on that I'm really happy about. From 4pm-10pm we've got a benefit concert going on for a couple of local brothers who are really going to need a lot of help. The Wiley brothers lost their mother in February when her life was taken due to domestic violence. She was a breast cancer survivor and a wonderful woman who we all loved very much. Now the 23 year old full time college student is left as the only guardian of his 7 year old brother.

The benefit is featuring 5 bands, including my father-in-law's, as well as $2 beer, pizza, and subs from Columbos in Clemson, SC. We're all going to hang out, have a great time, and raise money for a great cause. If you're in the Upstate SC area and want to join us you can get all the info you need here.

Donations

While my friend is here I need to mention something to him I know I've talked about on all my blogs before. There's a site called Car Angel where you can donate your old cars to raise money to make educational videos for next generation's children. Car Angel has raised enough money to give away 2.4 million videos.

What are the videos about? Some of them are religious while others deal with topics that some parents may have a hard time discussing with their children like drugs. Here's an example of what some of the videos are like.



If you want to donate to Car Angel but you don't have a car that you can get rid of you can also make a boat donation if you have an old boat you don't use any longer.

Set Your Books Free!

If you have a ton of books lieing around that you don't read anymore check out BookCrossing.com. It's a neat little site I found where people exchange books with a twist. If you've got a book you haven't read in awhile and probably won't pick up again, release it to the world! How do you release books? Collect up a few books, take them to a public place and leave them there. Then return to the website and list the location where you left the books. Another lucky member can swing by that location and pick up the books to read, and when they're done they can release them again!

I think it's such a cool concept, and it's better than letting your books lie around collecting dust. You don't have to give up your identity or location this way either, so it's an easy way to trade books online without giving out personal information. You can choose to release books to the community or to a specific member, and it's so easy to do because signing up for an account at BookCrossing.com is free! I only see one person right now participating in my area, but maybe if I spread the word and leave a few books around town I might get some people participating!

Create Your Own Coffee Commercial

Have you ever been on a coffee high? That's what I'm calling what I've got right now. I've got my sleep schedule all messed up again, so I went to bed about 8 am this morning. I ended up sleeping until 4 pm, so in no way am I sleepy at 2:15am. Unfortunately I'm cold. I've had cold chills all evening, and after a hot bath didn't fix the situation I fixed some coffee. I've had 3 cups of coffee in the last hour. Of course it's my favorite kind...Folger's Gourmet Selects Vanilla Biscotti. I also love the Caramel Drizzle, but I'm out of that.

Why am I telling you all about my favorite coffee? That's because Folger's Gourmet Selects is promoting something I think it very cool. They're raising money for Habitat For Humanity. Unfortunately it's only for the Los Angeles Branch, but I don't care where you live. If you need help I'm going to try to help you. Folgers has given us a very easy way to help. Just create your own Gourmet Selects commercial telling the world how you wake up! Each time you create your own commercial or vote on your favorite Folgers will donate $1 to Habitat For Humanity.

It's easy to make your own commercial. Just tell us what's your favorite part of the morning. You can choose photos from the website or use your own photos to create your commercial, and you're done! Check out my Folger's commercial!