Friday Wrap-Up (Loose Ends Edition)

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I missed my blogiversary! How the hell does that happen?? I mean, people pay attention to hose things (*NOTE* I'm leaving this typo here to irritate the shit out of Mike who enjoys sending me emails pointing out my spelling/grammatical errors. If I "wrote" like he does (pictures and links only) I suppose I'd make fewer errors) - making sure everyone knows how long they've been blogging and how many posts they've put out there - having contests to pad their reader numbers.

Me? Fuck! I just let it slide without even a mention ... until now ...

Since September 12th, 2007 (THREE YEARS), I've manged to put up 893 posts. That's a lot of driveling bullshit ... with a few HNT's thrown in!

There will be a blogiversary give-a-way, but this time I'm going to secure the goodies before having the drawing, 'cause we all remember what happened last year!

If your curious, [THIS] is where it all started.

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The apartment?? Ahhhh ... when is anything ever easy?

I got my hair cut Friday during lunch. The plan was to turn in my apartment application after my hair cut.

Of course, I've got to talk to my stylist about the new place (I knew she'd have the dirt on the landlord) and she says, "You know, my dad has a condo in town that's been up for sale for quite some time. It's vacant and he might be willing to rent it out, rent with option to buy, or even offer owner financing on it. I could show it to you Sunday."

Ummm ... yes please!




It's PERFECT, and almost identical to the townhome I sold in Minnesota when Cam and I moved out here ... right down to the deck and the 2-car garage.

Of course, I then have to go to the local dive bar in Podunk to talk to my Stylist's dad about it because ... well, he owns the dive bar too and it's the most likely place to find him.

I tell him about my interest, and he tells me what he wants. We weren't exactly on the same sheet of music, but we were at least playing the same song.

There are a couple of problems (reasonable financing, availability to rent, realtor contract, etc.), but those will go away in about 5 months. I've decided to wait it out in the Podunk ghetto for the time being and see where we stand in 5 months.

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I've neglected to publicly thank all of you who offered your prayers, thoughts and donations for Boo and her family. This is, in part, because I wanted to be able to give you an update. Now I can ... actually, Boo can.

Boo put together an amazing post detailing her Nightmare. You can read it [HERE]

She's also back to "regular" blogging, and although some of you might think that odd - that grief doesn't allow for trivial things like blogging - I will flat out tell you that you are wrong ... and she is proof!

You can read Boo's most recent blog entry [HERE]

Words cannot express the outpouring of love and support I felt from all of you. I tend to be a bit cynical on the internet - far more cautious than I might be in real life - and was so grateful that so many of you were not! In doing something for Boo, I was given a gift myself.

Y'all really are amazing!

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Friday Wrap-Up

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We now return you to your regularly scheduled blogging.

Not sure what happened this week - I've got tons of ideas for blog posts - just couldn't find the discipline to sit down and put those thoughts together. I'd think it had something to do with Cam returning to school, and attempting to adjust to a new schedule, but he doesn't go back to school until next Wednesday ... maybe ...

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Cam's new school is about an hour away and the district is providing transportation (i.e. taxi service door-to-door). I hadn't heard anything on the transportation schedule so I sent an email to the district explaining my concern.

I received a phone call from Leonore shortly after sending the email. They were putting the order in on Thursday - they would get back to me Friday with the details. I asked who I should call if I didn't hear anything on Friday and got the, "Oh! You'll hear back on Friday. You won't need to follow-up!" Ummm ... yeah ...

Yesterday was the one week mark and I have heard nothing. I called Leonore and suddenly she wasn't the person I needed to talk to - she transfers me to Patty.

Patty insists this isn't a quick process - that Leonore gave me incorrect information a week ago - but that she will have the transportation information for me Friday (today). Anyone want to take any bets??

Accountability seems to be as elusive as the yellow-bellied sap-sucker these days.

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I created chaos at work this week and - for a period of time - thought I might have pushed a little too far.

I am the regional accountant for our western division branches (Northern California, Southern California and Arizona). My AZ branch has always been a thorn in my side. I've got an incompetent bookkeeper there, and a General Manager who has an odd (inappropriate?) relationship with her. She continues to screw up - to negatively impact the success of the western division - and no one will do anything about it.

This has been going on for 3+ years. It came to a head on Tuesday, and resulted in closed door conference calls involving the Controller, the CFO, the VP and the GM in AZ. I was a bit stressed.

True to form, no one has given me any status update, but I do know that my bookkeeper in AZ did exactly what she was supposed to do yesterday, and that was my goal.

What happened to people honoring their word? Doing the right thing rather than the easy thing? Addressing conflict and performance in a direct manner rather than bitching about it behind closed doors and doing nothing?

*shakes head*

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Donations for Boo and her family continue to come in. Thanks again to all of you who have supported her with donations and continued thoughts and prayers.

Just a reminder that Nitebyrd is donating 100% of the proceeds from any/all sales in her Etsy Shop to Boo and her family through 25th.

I am a huge fan of her Designer Upcycle/Recycle Tote Bags. Not only are they adorable, but they are quite practical too!

Clicking on the banner below will take you directly to Nitebyrd's shop

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Boo Update

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I've been a little overwhelmed with the amazing outpouring of support for Boo and her family, but I did want to take a moment to share some things with all of you.

You'll notice that I added a "Prayers for Boo" button to my sidebar. This button was generously put together by Singlemama CC and, when clicked, will lead readers to my original post telling the story of Boo's family. It's also a reminder that thoughts and prayers (if you are the praying type) are a very important part of what we can all do for Boo and her family.

If you'd like the html code for the button, leave a comment or contact me via email and I'll be happy to send it to you.

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I received an email from Boo yesterday that said, in part:

I can't begin to describe how much the love and support of everyone in my life has helped me through this. It's the hardest damn thing I've ever had to face.

She is doing her best to stay busy - to stay focused - continuing to be strong for her girls while mourning the loss of Moo and D'oh and promises to keep us updated as time and emotions allow.

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Like so many of you, Nitebyrd was looking for a creative way to help support Boo. She graciously offered to donate 100% of the proceeds from any/all sales in her Etsy Shop between now and August 25th.

Clicking on the banner below will take you directly to Nitebyrd's shop

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Again, thank all of you so much for your thoughts, prayers and donations. I will leave the donation button active through the end of August. You can access it at any time by clicking on the "Prayers for Boo" button on the top of my side bar.

You guys are AWESOME!

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What You See Is What You Get?

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I'm over at Lynn's place today!

Click the pic to find me today and every Tuesday ...

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Please consider making a donation to help support blogger Boo and her children after the tragic house fire that took the lives of two of her children.

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One Of Our Own

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Thursday's HNT was an emotional one for me. One of our own, Boo (formerly Boo(duh)) - a fellow parent, blogger and HNT-er - a dear friend of mine years before I started blogging - shared some shattering news.

Her short, but poignant post read:

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On Monday July 19, there was a fire at my ex's home. We lost Moo and D'oh. Deedles is my hero, because she got Ganigan, Beans, and herself out of the house. She did everything right. I'll tell the full story later. Right now, I have too much to do and think about.

I lost my babies.

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This is Boo's family. This will always be Boo's family.

However two of these children are no longer physically with the family.

Moo (age 9)

And D'oh (age 3)

Boo shared with me that, although they have received an outpouring of support and donations, as I'm sure you can imagine, their needs are many. Donations received to date have been split between Boo (the primary residence of the children) and her ex (where the fire took place).

Boo is not currently working and is not sure when she'll be emotionally ready to return to work. In addition to the overwhelming emotional tragedy of this loss, the financial impact is a very real concern every day.

I have set up a PayPal account in Boo's name for donations for her children. If you have a PayPal account - or would like to donate using a credit or debit card - just click on the button below. 100% of what you give goes directly to Boo. I realize these are difficult economic times for many of us. I ask that you give what you can - no donation is too small - to ease one stressor from this family's list of many.

PayPal Button Removed

If you are not comfortable with a cash donation, but would still like to help out in some other way, please email me at dana.luann@gmail.com and we will work out the logistics of your donation.

If you have a blog and would like to link to this post, I encourage you to do so.

If there is one thing I know, it's that the blogging community has amazing strength during times like these. Let's remind Boo that although she is not yet in a place where she is ready to talk about this in a public forum, we stand strong - holding her up - during this unimaginable time in her life.

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