Japan

On Thursday night the NET team came in. They all had dinner with me & then the girls spent the night while the guys went around the corner to stay at the home of one of my church friends. The guys came back for breakfast in the morning.

I was in a daze Friday because I literally stayed up the entire night watching the tsunami coverage on my laptop. I'm horrified at the loss of life and the incredible damage to that beautiful country.

It seems crafting- particularly crocheting & knitting- is joined tightly at the hip with charity. I don't know any crochet/knitters who haven't lifted a hook or needles to make a premie hat or afghan square or scarf for the homeless at some point. So it's no surprise that there have been tons of posts on Ravelry lately asking how we can help & where to send blankets/sweaters/hats...

The truth is, I don't know that any of that is going to help at the moment. In fact, while I've earmarked money for donation, I haven't actually donated yet because so few aid organizations are actually able to get into Japan at the moment. This article explains some of the reasons to wait a little while.

There are some ways to donate that are immediately helpful. The Huffington Post lists a bunch of organizations taking action and in need of our support.

But for those of you itching to stitch up something special right away for Japan, I've found one way to do it so far. If you knit socks, this guy is accepting sock donations. I'm sure he intends for people to buy socks and mail them, but who wouldn't love a pair of handknit socks at a time like this? Wool would be great because it stays warm when wet, too.

If, like me, you can't knit socks, I'd suggest making something for auction/raffle and donating the money.

Have you found any other creative ways to help Japan? Please share!

Get This $#*! Out of My House!

So I bake for Christmas. Well bake and make candy. Lots of candy. Somehow I didn't think about just how far fudge goes and now have about 4 pounds of extra fudge that just couldn't fit onto our gifted plates o' goodies. Then I have about half a sheet of Congo Bars (which, by the way, are the best things EVER), a dozen peanut butter balls and an entire batch of peanut bite cookies still in my kitchen.

Then... like probably a lot of you... I received several plates of baked goods as gifts from friends and family. My BFF gave me a 7.5 liter tupperwear filled with what had to be 10 pounds of cookies. That's it at the top of the page. Holy moses, right? Add to that my sister's godmother's plate of cookies & carrot cake, my cousin's sugar cookies and our neighbors plate as well.... it's a serious fat & sugar overload here. Since my sister is ALWAYS at her boyfriends, there's just TWO of us here. And believe me... if the sugar & fat stays here we WILL eat it all eventually.

So look, I gotta get it out of here. This evening I've taken everything that looks like it has a snowball's chance in hell of surviving the trip, wrapped it up in plastic wrap, stuffed it into ziplock bags, stacked it in that huge tupperwear box and I'm sending it to Afghanistan in the morning.

I figure the soldier marches around a lot & can work off the calories, plus he has 350 or so friends he can share it with. I hope if something is too moist & starts to mold I've at least separated it from the rest of the box by several layers of plastic. Honestly, if it doesn't make it at least it's the thought that counts and at least it isn't being converted into fat on my hips as we speak.

Did you end up with lots of yummy treats? What do YOU do with all of it?

Package Update

So I've done a fairly good job keeping up with at least one of this year's goals. I've sent one package a month to the soldier for the months that he has been deployed. Mind you, November marks only the 4th month.

The first package made it into his hands in just one week! I was totally excited about this, especially looking forward to baking season. Except the 2nd package went out on September 30th (I was running late) and the 3rd package went out on October 18th and he STILL hasn't received EITHER ONE! I can't even begin to tell you how annoyed I am by this. I had planned to start baking this month since it's colder but I can't have cookies and brownies sitting in some mail storage container for over a month! I'm going to have to skip Thanksgiving and send a Christmas package out next month in hopes it gets there in time.

/rant

First package received

I got an email from the soldier today that the first care package I sent just one week ago has been received. That's pretty exciting!

What is not exciting is the fact that his email didn't include the words "thank you". I mean, I wasn't expecting gushing, but a thank you would have been nice. Maybe it's the fact that I'm sick, but I find this really annoying. It's actually a pattern with him. I wonder if it's just with me or if he never says thank you.

Anyway, right now with my difficulty breathing and my stomach that won't stop churning and my headache and lack of sleep I'm reconsidering the whole notion of sending him boxes full of stuff every month. Right now with all that I'm think I can find a better way to spend $60 a month. Right now I'm thinking a facial or a purse or really anything for myself once a month seems like a better way to spend my money.

Or maybe I'm just bitter.