#426 - Event Volunteering

This morning, some ladies from the music fraternity and I volunteered to get the Note-Able Evening of Romance event ready for their big 400-person gala. The Note-Ables are a great local organization who provide music therapy to children and adults who need it, they also have a performing group. Their executive director, Manal Toppozada, is a new Patroness member of the fraternity, so we have been helping them this year so we can all get to know her better. As for this morning, I spent time using a cutting board, stringing icicle lights along the stage, and putting together goody bags. Here's hoping they have a great event and raise lots of money!

#410 - Guitar Karma

About six weeks ago, I sent a box of books and a digital metronome to a soldier overseas who had requested some beginning guitar instruction books. He e-mailed me to say thanks, and since then I've learned a little about him - including that he's been checking out a shared guitar at his base and teaching himself to play for only two months. Today, while attending a board meeting in North Carolina, my fellow board members gave me four guitar instruction books to send this soldier, and tentatively gave me a guitar to ship him later. The music and instruments are part of Sigma Alpha Iota's People-to-People project, which ships these materials to people who need them all over the world. (I just need to get approval from the project director on the guitar part.) I can hardly wait to see the e-mail from this soldier once he receives the instruction books - I told him about them in an e-mail as soon as I had them in my suitcase to bring home.

#408 - Shoebox Party

As you know, I enjoy volunteer work. I pack boxes of books for soldiers, I help the local PBS television station, and so on. But this afternoon, I attended a shoebox party. The hosts have this party annually through Operation Christmas Child (a part of Samaritan's Purse) where they pack shoeboxes full of toys, school supplies and candy for needy children all over the world. I brought a few bags of candy and a Wal-Mart bag full of stuff I purchased last week, but I was not ready for the sheer size of this party! They were expecting 60 guests and had a video to help us learn what to pack. I ended up leaving and going to the Dollar Tree store to get more items for my boxes. We had to wrap each shoebox in Christmas paper (which was the hardest part of the party). It was fun to see what everyone was packing and I was glad to help out in this way.

#355 - A Jury of TLG's Peers

This afternoon, my wonderful hubby and I played Christmas carols at the daycare center's annual family Christmas get-together. I will admit, I don't usually get nervous before I play trombone, but today I felt some little butterflies before we began playing. One of the office managers there plays baritone, and she joined us to make a trio for the first three songs (which was nice). And later in the party, we played a handful of duets. The funniest thing was the little guy's reaction - he stood between us while we were playing, hardly moving at all, even though he could have been doing art projects, playing with friends, or eating a snack. I love that he is respectful of live music already, thanks to Grandma and Grandpa for bringing him to our regular band rehearsals and gigs and teaching him about this. Of course, we played fine, and there was certainly no reason to be nervous... all the other kids and their families seemed to enjoy the music as they partied hearty. We were overshadowed by the cute kindergartners singing carols during our break, but who wouldn't be?!?

#348 - Donate What You Can

I've always been a believer in the motto "donate what you can." I am a regular blood donor, and we are always giving stuff to the local MS society when they come by the house. And of course, my work with the Booksforsoldiers.com website keeps me busy too. Well, today I completed the sign-up process to put my name on the National Marrow Donor Program list as a potential donor. I actually tried to sign up once, years ago, when there was a local drive to sign up people at one of the local casinos. They turned me away for my recent back problems. But the website sign-up asked if I'd had any problems in the past two years, and I am proud to say that it's been many years since my last real back problem (maybe I've finally learned to lift with my knees?).

Anyway, for the month of November, the NMDP has received an unrestricted grant to cover the cost of all the donors who sign-up online like I did (this usually costs a little over $50 to the donor!) It was really easy - I just answered some personal contact questions, some health/medical questions, and hit "enter." Then today I received four cotton swabs in the mail to use on the inside of my cheek and mail back for them to "type" me. I may never get a call that I could be a match, but I feel good knowing that I've at least volunteered if there is someone in need. There's still time this month to register for free, so if anybody reading this is in good health, I'd urge you to put your name forward. Just go to http://www.marrow.org/

#331 - Water Baby

The little guy (TLG) loves water, and anything having to do with water, as I've mentioned in the past. Tonight, my bosses asked us to bring home some volunteer work to try: we have a ton of zipped-up canvas bags that need to be unzipped, soaked in a bunch of water in the sink, then dried in the clothes dryer on high heat. I am proud to share that I helped TLG do his first-ever volunteer work by helping me with this project. He quickly figured out how to unzip the bags, but even more exciting was pushing the bags down in the sink-full of water. And best of all was taking the bags out, one by one, and letting them drip all over the place in the kitchen. Of course, he didn't realized this was "work" because he just loves to help.

#319 - Birthday Wishes

My birthday is almost here, which means I need to decide what to do about this blog. I had originally intended to do one thing every day, which didn't quite happen - but for somebody who is as busy as I am, I did pretty well. Anybody reading this want me to continue a blog in some fashion after my birthday? Drop me a line and let me know your thoughts, OK?

But I'm off topic. Today's new thing also has to do with my birthday. I've started getting asked (by family members) if there's anything I'd like for a gift. A few weeks ago, I wrote a list of interesting-sounding things down for birthday gifts including a book, a couple DVDs and some silver-toned earrings. But the truth is, I don't want for much at this stage in my life - I'm very lucky that whenever I need/want something I usually just go buy it. So today, I made an executive decision: I am asking anybody who was thinking about getting me a gift to instead donate the same amount you were planning on spending to www.BooksforSoldiers.com.

BooksforSoldiers.com is a non-profit organization, run totally by volunteers, and struggling to stay afloat financially. They hope to raise $70,000 by November 1 and are well short of their goal. If you've read this blog for a while, you know that I enjoy corresponding with the soldiers through this website, and I would be very upset if it shut down. Yes, I could use AnySoldier.com or one of those other sites, but I like how BooksforSoldiers.com matches you directly with the soldiers from the get-go. At this point, every $10 helps, so if you were one of those people asking for a birthday idea for me, please click on www.BooksforSoldiers.com and hit the Donate button. You could also send in a check, the address is listed on the website. Thanks, everybody!

#309 - A Good Deed (with a little help)

Recently, there was a fire near where I live and work that destroyed seven family homes. As it happens, one of those homes belonged to a man who works in the cafeteria where I work. I heard them saying that he was left with only the uniform he was wearing that day - his house is completely gone. So last week, my wonderful sister came to visit and she gave me $30 in gift cards to the store where she works (a national chain, so he can use them locally). Today I wrote a note wishing him the best, and delivered this small gift to his department. I do hope that I will get to meet him someday just to say I'm sorry about his house... can you even imagine how terrible it would be to be hit by a disaster like a house fire? Scary.

#299 - Faux Treasurer

A good friend of mine was supposed to be on this trip to Chicago. Alas, she is not, and she is the treasurer for the group that is meeting. As many groups and exec boards as I have been on, I have never been the treasurer of anything. (I've done almost everything else, including: president, recording secretary, editor, VP programs, committee chairman, committee member... I don't know what it is about me and money, but nobody has ever asked me to be in charge of the money.) Anyway... today I gave my first-ever treasurer's report (with a budget and notes from my good friend). And you know what? Being a treasurer is HARD WORK. Everything going on at our meeting has an impact on the budget, so I had to keep going back and adding notes as we discussed everything. It's not like I could just present the budget and be done with it. I have always respected treasurers for doing their jobs, but now I understand how difficult it is!

#269 - Freebies to a Good Cause

At our house, we get lots of free stuff in the mail from non-profit organizations, including address labels, nickels, pins, stickers, greeting cards, and 12-month calendars. As you know if you read this blog regularly, I love to recycle things/donate things/make good use of things as often as possible. Today I took a bunch of 12-month calendars and donated them to the local Big Brothers Big Sisters program. I used to be a big sister, and I know that they give wall calendars to the "littles" so they can write down when they have time scheduled to be with their "bigs." Today's stash included calendars with all sorts of themes: wildlife, puppies/kitties, classic Jeeps, and flowers. Hey, it's better than recycling them or throwing them away! If anybody reading this gets similar calendars and is thinking of tossing them out - please save them for me the next time you see me, ok?

Funny thing, though, I came home after dropping off the calendars, and what did we get in the mail? You guessed it. Another calendar. Go figure.

#251 - Rallying Cry

Today I attended a rally at my alma mater to help garner interest in keeping the marching band program in the future. It was exciting to have about 60-ish current, past and upcoming band members in attendance with instruments, and another 100 or so supporters with signs. It was a peaceful rally, not a protest or anything - we played the fight song and alma mater songs over and over, chanted and made noise. I didn't stay for the town hall meeting that took place afterwards, but according to the media, there were 500 people there with questions about the future of the University. All three news stations and our local newspaper showed up to cover the band rally and if you are so inclined, you can watch the news here:

Budget Cuts Could Hurt UNR Marching Band (KTVN Channel 2 - search by story title in the video box, look for me in the shot in the band room!)

UNR band protests what Glick says to be "deep and painful" cuts (KRNV Channel 4)

UNR Marching Band Vows to Play On (KOLO News Channel 8)

UNR band rallies to save itself (Reno Gazette-Journal)

Save the Band Rally Photos (Reno Gazette-Journal)

Just for fun, I've posted two photos of the Pride of the Sierra Marching Band playing at the final home game of the 1998 season. It's hard to believe this was ten years ago already.

#249 - Letter to the President

This evening I drafted a letter to the president of my alma mater, which I will mail in the morning. It's been all over the press that my University is having some trouble deciding how to cut it's budget, and today's news reported that they are making plans to cut the marching band. I am very upset about this idea, as it was an integral part of my University experience. What kind of first-rate University has no marching band? Would Notre Dame or USC ever think about cutting their marching band? NO! Here I go again, getting all riled up. I don't know if my letter will help the situation at all, but at least I feel better now.

#240 - Recycling Center

One of my early posts to this blog was when we finally got recycling bins for glass and plastic at our house. Today, we took a trailer full of cardboard to the local recycling center. We've been saving boxes for over six months to fill up the trailer, so the three of us drove down there together. It turns out they aren't open on Sundays, but they have plenty of giant bins out front where you can leave your recyclables, so we worked together to flatten the last of the boxes and sort them appropriately. The little guy was a huge helper, he loved being in the trailer to push out boxes. It was a good family outing for us.

#226 - Fashion Show!

Today I volunteered at a work-related fashion show. Having never been to a "real" fashion show before (only 4-H shows back in the day), I wasn't entirely sure what to expect - would they have professional models? Clothes from lots of different designers? Today's event was sponsored by Coldwater Creek, so all the clothes came from there. The models were staff members and volunteers from my organization, ranging in age from 23 to 85 (!) and they were adorable. I was not a model, but a runner for the raffle portion of the event. But they had so much fun, maybe next year I'd consider it. Who knows?

#204 - A Very Rare Disease

The other new thing about tonight's event was the cause: Niemann Pick Type C, or children's Alzheimers. There are only about 500 children in the world with NPC, and there is no known cure. The twin 4-year-old girls for whom tonight's event was planned were both diagnosed with early signs of NPC last October. There were over 1,000 people in attendance at the event, so I'm hoping I wasn't the only one who learned something new. The two girls were recently featured on Good Morning America, and their doctors and parents are doing everything they can to find a cure. I wish them the very best of luck.

#197 - Really Cool Snail Mail

If you read this blog regularly, you know that I've been sending packages to soldiers serving oversees for about six months. In today's mail, I got my first letter from a soldier who said, "I'm coming home so don't send me anything else at this address!" (Wow, I got chills just typing that.) This soldier is one I've been keeping in touch with, sending letters even when I didn't have anything else saved up to send. It feels great to know that this soldier is headed home for his family, friends, and life! Now if they could all just come home, that would be great. (Wishful thinking, I know.)

#145 - Go Pack!

Today, I wrote a check to join my alma mater's Alumni Association. I've given them donations before, particularly to support a scholarship in the name of one of my favorite professors who passed away too young. But when a mailer arrived this weekend inviting me to join the Association, I decided to give it a try. I've read about it in the Alumni magazine in the past but have never figured out exactly what the big deal is. So now we'll see, won't we?

#38 - Customs

If you've been reading my posts for the past few days, you know how excited I've been to get involved as an official volunteer for Books for Soldiers.com. After posting a bunch of books as available last weekend, yesterday I heard directly from a soldier in the middle east asking for some of the books. Last night, I packed up two packages of books, candy, and little games - and today I took them to the post office where I had to fill out customs forms and do all the "official" stuff to get boxes sent oversees. I learned some valuable advice for next time regarding the flat-rate priority mail boxes they have (boxes are free and the shipping is $8.95, which is cheaper than the smaller boxes I sent today). I also brought home a bunch of boxes and forms for next time. So if you live near me and you have any spare (used or new) books, CDs, DVDs or games, don't throw them away! I'll take them off your hands for my new venture. It felt good to know someone else will really use the stuff I'm sending. Yay!

#34 - A New Cause

There are an incredible amount of soldiers oversees who could really use some extra books to read during their down time (if there is such as a thing over there). I recently discovered a website called Books for Soldiers, which organizes volunteers with troops who would like to receive books. For years, I've given my books to local organizations - but who knows if they actually get read here. So I've officially thrown my hat in the ring, and today I posted my first seven titles to offer to the troops. I'll certainly be posting again if I get any "bites" but I'm excited at the prospect of helping in a small way.