Bing "Our School Needs..."Contest Finalists have been chosen!!

So for the Bing "Our School Needs..." Contest the final 15 contestants have been chosen!  Now it's time to go vote for which one of those schools you think deserves the prize. The school with the most votes will win $100,000.  Can't decide which one is your favorite? Thats ok, because you can vote up to 5 times a day. The only catch is you can only vote once for a school per day. So if you want you can cast your vote for up to 5 different schools every day.
Want another reason to vote? The first 30000 people to vote each day will get a $3 donation code for DonorsChoose.org.  DonorsChoose.org is an online charity site where teachers can post classrooom projects in need of funding. This is a really great program the  connects you to teachers all over the country. You can look through different project types or through differect economic levels, to choose a project that you wish to help with. Are you a teacher looking for ways to raise money for a class project, or for a special speaker, or for even possibly a class trip? Want more information? Click here for a link to find out more information.
So go vote! Quickly! Voting ends November 7th! Remember that if you are one of the first 30,000 to vote to go use your code to donate $3 to a school at DonorsChoose.org. Didn't get a code? Still go check them out. Maybe you know a teacher at your local school that could benifit from DonorsChoose.org and would like to sign up. Be sure to tell them about it.

OfficeMax A Day Made Better & Adopt-A-Classroom

OfficeMax has a program to help teachers. It's called A Day Made Better. They work with Adopt-A-Classroom to help bring much needed supplies to teachers and classrooms across the country. One day a year they surprise over 1000 teachers with over $1000 in supplies.  Adopt-A-Classroom helps donars adopt a classroom to help provide financial and moral support. The fund usage is up to the choice of the teacher of the classroom. The only thing teachers cannot use the funds for is field trips.
Considering that on average teachers spend approximatly $1000 out of their own pockets each year to help supply their own classrooms. These two groups working together provide a great relief  and encouragement to over extended teachers through out the country. Office Max also has many well known public figures who are also advocates for their programs.
This years adopt a classroom already occured on October 5th. Click here to view some of their stories.  You too can become involved  in many different ways. Anywhere from becoming involved in  Adopt-A-Classroom to something as simple as buying a gift card and surprising one of your local teachers with it to use to purchase supplies for their classroom.
To become involved in Adopt-A-Classroom is easy. Simply go to thier website. They have an easy to use school locator.  Type in your schools name and press go. Not seeing your school? Or don't have a specific school in mind? Simply put in your zip code and it will bring up the schools in the area that are already involved in the program.  Now you may need to do some research at this point if you are interested in adopting a classroom it does ask for a teachers name and email and phone number. However you can still click on the no preference box and it will take you to where you can choose how much you wish to donate.  100% of all donations go straight to the classroom. None is taken out for anything else.
If you are a teacher you can simply click the teachers tab on the right hand side and register your classroom.
Not a teacher?  Click on the launch a local program tab. Teachers, administrators, parents. All can use this option to help bring Adopt-A-Classroom to their community. They give you access to informational materials and outreach tools. These tools help to give local schools and communitys information about the program, and they also help to track your progress.   Both these programs do amazing things to help out our schools.

Power a Bright Future Contest

So Clorox is having a Power a Bright Future Contest. The winning school recieves a $50,000 grant.  It is very similar in set up to Bing's "Our school needs..." contest .  However they have already narrowed down the submissions from schools and now are onto the final voting. Just click here or on the link at the bottom of this post to go to the Clorox Power a Bright Future Contest.  In the upper right hand corner is a Login Box. I suggest you put in your email and register first. Since you will have to register to vote and it doesn't take you back to the school you were voting on, so you will have to find it again.  And there are LOTS of schools. They make registration easy, you can choose not to have them send you information on Clorox, Clorox products, affiliates, etc.  And you don't need to confirm your email. So you can go straight on to voting. Now you can only vote for one school, but you can vote once a day so remember to go back tomorrow, and everyday until the first of November. Help your school get the program it needs. Your schools not entered? Then simply look through the schools and find one whose program you feel deserves the money. As an added bonus for those of you with printers, after you vote clorox gives you free coupons for clorox products that you can print out. Just for voting.  They also have a daily game you can play for a chance to win a prize for yourself.
Remember  voting for the schools ends  until November 1st, and you can vote everyday!  So hurry up and go vote!
So go vote! Go hurry! Why are you still on this page?



Clorox Power a Bright Future

NaNoWriMo's Young Writers Program

O.k. November 1st marks the beginning of NaNoWriMo.  National Novel Writing Month. The whole goal behind NaNoWriMo is for the people participating in it to write a 50,000 word novel by midnight of November 30th.  They catch is they can't start writing it until November 1st. This is a program I only first heard about last year and only this year realized how it helps our schools.  How? Easy.
NaNoWriMo has a program called NaNoWriMo's Young Writers Program. This program is specifically set up and designed for children 17 and under to participate.  Unlike its more adult oriented program kids can set their own word-count goals. Also it is able to be incorporated into a classroom curriculum. Best part, it's free to participate.   Their website provides educators with a virtual classroom to help them better work NaNoWriMo into the classroom. They also have a NEO lending program for classes that are unable to access the internet for the duration of NaNoWriMo. The NEO they lend out is basically a kid friendly laptop/word proccessor that the kids in the class can use to type up their stories on.  They also offer ways for kids to participate without using computers.
They also provide forums for teachers to communicate with one another about NaNoWriMo and workbooks for students to use to help them write their novels.
How does this relate to any of us??? Well it's free! It's a free curriculum for teachers who are strapted for cash and can't always afford some of the newer writing courses out there. It's also a great way to encourage kids to write and learn helpful organizational skills.  No time in the classroom? Why not start it as an after school program? They also offer free novel proof copies to kids that reach their word count goals.
As for the rest of us who aren't teachers? Why not offer to help organize getting together pens and paper for the children to write on? Volunteering to help encourage the kids to keep writing, or coming in and helping add up word counts for the kids after they are done writing.  Maybe if you have an old typewriter or word proccesor lending it out to the class so the teacher can help them type up their work?  How 'bout even just bringing this to the attention of the teachers at your local schools?
There are so many ways this can be applied to benefit schools and kids it's unbelievable.
Now, unfortunetly, I know the deadline for signing up to participate is a little more than 7 days away. And the deadline for applying for the NEO's is well past. However, NaNoWriMo is a yearly event that takes place every November. Go sign up, check it out. See if it's something that you, the teacher, could see working in your classroom. Parents your kids can sign up independantly of a classroom. Why not both you and your child sign up for it this year and see how it goes. Give it a test run. Then next year already be ahead of the game and be ready in September to see about talking to the teachers at the school and seeing if it would be something they are interested in.
In today's economy where classrooms sometimes are working with books and tools that are in desperate need of updating, and when funds are not there to do it with, this provides a new and innovative way to help encourage young writers. And helps give kids a fresh new way to learn.
So I encourage all of you  reading this to go check it out!
Again here are the links for NaNoWriMo's young Writers Program  and NaNoWriMo itself.

What does your school need?

So remember the "Our School Needs... " Contest I told you about in the What does your school need post on October 12th? The one from Bing?  Well they've extended the submission date to tomorrow, AND they've extended the time you have to rate the entries to the 26th!   Did your school enter? Make sure you go and vote for them! Not sure? Go check! Can't find your school, then find one you like and vote!  I'm sure you can find a school that you think deserves to win!
Remember the finalists are announced on October 29th, and then the voting begins to choose a winner. The last day to vote is November 5th and the winners will be announced November 9th! Go vote now!
You will need to create an account with site to vote, it takes a second and you have to confirm your email.  But really, it's not that much to do to help out a school in need.  You don't have to give any money, and you don't even have to leave the house. In the time it took me to write this I confirmed my email and rated my pick. So what are you waiting for?  Everyone always says the want to help!

GO,GO,GO!!!  

Fund-raiser!

O.k. I've got another one for you! This one unfortunetly does not allow you to purchase online. So if you are interested in purchasing any of the candles and are in the Banning or Beaumont, California area please email me. That way I can put you in touch with one of the group who is selling these candles.  This fundraiser is for the San Gorgonio Middle School Theater Group. They actually started it a week early because they need the funds to purchase costumes for their Dickens Festival in December. They will be preforming "A Christmas Carol"

There are 15 different scents and each one is $10. The only thing over $10 is the Jar Candle Topper and Base which is $18.  It also says the burn time on the candles is 50hrs.
The scents are:
Holiday Home
Mandarin Mulberry
Baked Apple Pie
Warm Cinnamon Pumpkin
Cinnamon Sticks
Tango Mango
Hot Cinnamon Rolls
Vanilla Cream
Butter Cream Cookies
Cucumber Melon
Mint Chocolate
Christmas Holly
Crisp Cotton Breeze
Angel's Touch
Gardenia

Coke Rewards

Here's one for those of you who collect the codes from coke products.  You probably already know about it, but just in case you don't, and for those of you who don't collect them.   My Coke Rewards lets you donate your My Coke Rewards points to various schools. It's quick and painless. Just click on the spend you points button and down on the left hand side is a link that says donate to your school.  Then just find a school. You can do so by entering your zip code or the state you live in.  Then up pops a list of the schools in the area you've requested.  Then just scroll through until you find the school you want to donate to.
If you're school's not registered let them know about My Coke Rewards.  There's even a link for you to send the information to someone at the school who could register.

You can donate as little as 1 reward point.  No minimums are always a good thing. You can also look at your schools wish list or the full school rewards catalog.  While the cheapest item starts out at 72 points and then jumps to 420 for the next item.  This is no reason to not donate, even if all you have to donate is 1pt. Pts. like box tops do add up. Anyway the minimum you recieve for a code is 3pts anyway. So if all you are collecting the points for is to donate to a school you are already going to be donating more than just one.
Also until November 30th, for every 5pt donation that a school recieves they will also recieve a sweepstakes entry to win $25000 to spend on a new playground for the school.  Even if you're not into turning in codes to get stuff online, how hard would it be to save the caps from two coke products and sign up for just the next two months? Sign on get 6 points and then donate those 6 points to a school. You don't even have to go to the school you are going to donate to. Don't know a school? Just enter your zip code, or your state and then pick one randomly.  I'm sure they will appreciate it.   Just follow the link to go to My Coke Rewards to find out more!


http://www.mycokerewards.com/home.do

What does your school need?

I just found this contest this morning. If you know of any school that could use this money please feel free to let them know about it.

Ok the contest:

Bing will award a quarter-million dollars, divided among four schools—$50,000 to three first-prize winners, and one $100,000 grand prize

Who can enter and what you need to do:
Any student or teacher from a K-12 school can enter. While students under 18 are encouraged to create the entry, a parent, legal guardian or a teacher must submit it.

Students can work in groups, classes, or even school-wide to write an essay and take pictures finishing the sentence "Our School Needs: ___________." To enter:

1. Write an essay (500 to 800 words)
2. Take pictures (3 to 5 photos)
3. Film a video (not required, but fun! Maximum of 3 minutes in length)

Schools will be broken out into 3 categories, K-6, 7-9 and 10-12. The top-voted entry in each category will be awarded a first prize of $50,000. The entry that receives the largest number of overall votes during the voting phase will receive the grand prize of $100,000.


The last day to enter is October 22nd!!!!!



For a more complete description of the contest and contest rules go to:

Bing: Our School Needs

Boxtops, Campbell's Soup Labels, and Tabs...

Ok, most people know about Box Tops for education, some have heard of Campbell’s Soup labels for education, and while pretty much everyone has seen a soda can, and therefore seen a soda can tab, not everyone knows that a fair amount of schools collect them. Here's the kicker, the soda can tabs don't benefit the school. They actually go to the Ronald McDonald House. The school doesn't benefit from collecting them at all. I found that out today when I went to Sundance Elementary School to ask about how these programs help the schools. Isn't that mind blowing, that even when teachers have to buy classroom supplies out of their own pockets, and kids lose their favorite after school programs for lack of funding, they are still willing to help out another group of kids out there. I think that is probably a very important lesson that the kids at that school are learning, wouldn't you agree?
Now what do schools get from box tops and soup labels? A lot. Box tops if you look have a little monetary designation on them for .10 cents. No, ten cents isn’t A TON of money but labels add up. Also unlike fundraisers, were only a portion of the money brought in goes to the school, with box tops; the school gets the entire amount. As for the soup labels, the school gets points for the labels collected. Then these points can be used to purchase items for the school from a catalog that Labels for Education offers.
Now I'm not saying that if you don't purchase items with box tops or what not that you should automatically run right out there and start. If you can afford to great! But I understand that there are some of us, myself included, who sometimes have to go with an off brand to make ends meet. But if you look in your pantry or food cabinet, I bet there is probably a good chance that something in it at some point in the year has one of these two items on it. How hard would it be that when you decide to use said item. (I would say food item, but I have found box tops on non-food items as well) How hard would it be to just rip off that box top, or soup label, and put it aside? Maybe in an old tin, or a shoe box, or a junk drawer even. Then once a year just take whatever you happen to have gathered together and drop them off at your local school. Even if you aren't sure that they accept them, honestly the probably do, and even if they don't they will know somewhere that does. Really it's quite painless and it requires very little of your actual time. Now on the soup labels there is no expiration date that I have noticed. However on the box tops there usually is one, fortunately they usually are good for a few years. For example one I am looking at right now doesn't expire until June 1, 2013. So even if you only turn them in maybe once a year the expiration date shouldn't be an issue.
If you feel even more into it why not get your neighbors involved? Have them collect box tops and labels as well and every few months you can get together, see how many you have and take them in. Maybe even take turns. If you don't know of a school that uses them in the area maybe they will.
Very little time, very little effort, and honestly why not send them in if you've got them? Especially if you regularly purchase items with them on them.
And while you're at it why don't you throw some tabs in there too. :)


*****In answer to a question I've been asked recently-yes they do have expiration dates on them. The ones I've seen usually expire in approximaitly 2 years. and they have a specific month and date, as well as year.******

Fund-raiser!

Ok, I know not everyone can afford to purchase from fundraisers and thats ok. But not everyone is broke. There are two main problems with fundraisers theses days. The first is that kids can no longer go door to door. I know this if for the safety of the children so I support that, but it greatly limits the amount of people that are actually exposed to the fundraisers.  The second is that the prices have gotten flat out ridiculous on some of the fundraisers. Now the later problem I can do nothing about. However the former problem I CAN help with. Fortunetly most fundraisers have realized that students no longer have a large pool of potential clients to pull from. So they have set up web sites that out of state family members and online friends can go to and order from. The items bought are credited to the the school in the students name, and then are shipped directly to the person who bought them. Whoever thought up this idea may I just say thank you.   To my followers if you know of a fundraiser please feel free to leave a comment on a post or email me at aimeelavalle@gmail.com . I will gladly post you're fundraiser information and hopefully it will help bring in more funds for the school you are raising money for. 
That being said here is my first official fund raiser I am going to do that for. This particular fundraiser will benefit  Three Rings Ranch Elementary School in Beaumont, California.  The name of the fundraiser is Kids are First. I have personally been able to look over this fundraiser (it is for my friends daughter) and it is a good one. There are lots of items to choose from and they have decent prices starting at $6. Also on the order form if a person just wants to make a donation they can. I am not sure if this is possible if you order online, but it is definitly a bonus. After all the whole point is to raise funds for a school. That doesn't necessarily mean that the person who is ordering something actually wants what they are ordering.
The fundraiser is running from October 8th, 2010-October 22, 2010. So be sure to check it out!
. You can shop online at:

http://www.westcoastfundraising.com/store/brochures.php?sID=thr7588

The school receives profit from the sale and the student will receive prize credits. Enter the student ID below to begin.




Thank you for your support.

If the link above does not work, please use the following link and enter the student ID: http://www.westcoastfundraising.com/store/index.php

60 potholders in 60 days....

Ok, no more soap box. Not unless something REALLY insane happens. (say more science classes having to raise funds for class for example :) )

Ok, anyway. I am going to chronicle in this post my newest volunteering adventure. Making potholders!!!! OOOOOO...don't all get all excited all at once. lol





So anyway, the girls are having a winter dickens festival in December. I will be posting a time, date, location spot as soon as I get it. Right now the only thing I know about that for sure is that it is on the 3rd and 4th of December and that it will be at the San Gorgonio Middle School.  As part of the festival they will be having booths to sell items to raise money for the different clubs at the school.  Well of course my youngest daughter hit me up to make cupcakes. (that will be a different post all together)  and then both of them hit me up about learning to crochet. Apparently some of the booths will contain home made craft items.

Well, unfortunately for me, no one thought to lock me in the house the next day, or to due anything sane like take away my car keys. So what did I do, oh I had already agreed to make cupcakes, but there is always something more I could do  between now and December...right? Long story a little bit shorter, after talking to the teacher I now find myself making potholders to donate for sale to one of the booths. I gave myself a personal goal of 60 potholders to be made before the 1st of December. Which is approximately one a day for the next 60 days.   Considering that I can make potholders anytime, anywhere, and that it isn't exactly a physically demanding process this is actually an obtainable goal.  So everyday I will be adding to this post, and putting up pictures of the potholder(s) I have made for that day. Feel free to point out which ones are your favorites, or you favorite design or color combination. Remember I am trying to finish this well before my actual finish date. I do have other things that I have to take care of. So also feel free to pass on any helpful hints or your own tale of volunteering adventure, or misadventure, to help me pass the time.



these are the ones I made before the 7th.





10/7/10



10/8/10





10/9/10



10/09/10---One more down!!! :)   O.K. I'm really not sure on the color of this pair. It's BRIGHT yellow, but i guess it looks good. Also finally got a container to store all the finished potholders in so today was definitely a productive day. Let me know what ya'll think. Don't forget to check out the questions at the top of the page and post some answers.



10/10/10---None today. : (   I started a pair and almost finished it. But between burning my arm on the frying pan while making quesadillas, food shopping, and getting a nail in my tire. Just didn't get a chance to finish them. Oh well, means I'll have to make two pairs tomorrow. : (



10/11/10



10/11/10---Got one pair finished today. I really like this pair. Honestly they are my favorite pair so far. I don't think the picture does them any justice, since you can't really see the gray edges or center. The problem is that while the gray yarn is really pretty and really soft it is really hard to work with! My hands are so sore just from doing the edges!  Didn't get the second pair done, but I will catch up. :) 



10/12/10



10/12/10---One more down!



10/13/10

10/13/10---I think this pair is really pretty too. Its actually a dark green color.







  







10/14/10

10/14/10---Trying to make each pair a little different. I like the way the picture turned out on this one! You can actually see the blue in the center!

10/15/10

10/15/10---Finally finished this pair. Same pretty and really soft grey yarn from before. Still really hard to work with!  But they are so soft and pretty!!!!   



Aren't they pretty!

I also would like to thank Molly Roman for donating more yarn to the cause! Thank you! Thank you! Gotta go gotta get up early for a band review tomorrow. See I don't just sit in bed all day and knit all the time. :)    


10/16/10---Oh yah! Got two pairs done today! And the band placed 4th! Awesome! Plus more yarn!!
So any color combos you guys would like to see? Let me know. To any Lakers fans out there, today's pairs are both bright yellow and purple! Hope ya like 'em!




10/16/10



Thanks again Molly!









10/17/10---So yesterday after  posting got hit with a migraine. Blech. Woke up this morning and it was still hanging around somewhere in the vicinity behind my eyes. Double blech. So decided to stay in bed 'til around 11. When it finally decided to go away. Didn't get to start on any potholders at that point. Normally I try to get them started and finished early in the day. Nope, not today, when I finally did drag myself outta bed, realized I had planned to meet with a friend of mine to work on invitations for a shower that we are planing for a mutual friend. So spent the first 2 awake hours of my day helping to write out invitations. Then realized we possibly needed more, and had to run to the store to buy more, thank goodness there we went then, there were only 2 packets of the invitations I had bought left.  That was just the beginning. Still had to come home and do normal everyday things like clean the house, make dinner, and have a life in general. So didn't actually get started on these 'til after 7.  By the time I started was to mentally exhausted to pick new colors, so just stuck with the ones I used yesterday. The one is the front side, the other in the picture show the back. Hope to actually get a chance tomorrow to get up the post I've wanted to write regarding donating old clothes that can be used for costumes for plays, etc. Fingers crossed. :)

10/17/10

10/18/10

10/18/10---Got away from the purple today, but still couldn't escape the yellow. :)








10/20/10---BLECH! Somebody gave me the flu! And when I find out who I'm giving it back!  Spent yesterday hiding in bed. Most of the time asleep!  Convinced myself to go out at one point to pick my daughter up from school, then came back home and hid in bed! Still sick today, but at least I could function!
Hopefully will be back to normal tomorrow.

10/20/10

(still out of it, couldn't find the picture of today's potholders, after a good 5 mins realized that I had never transferred it from the camera.)



10/21/10---So still trying to use up that purple! :) But it's just in the center of this pair. For some reason the purple comes out blue in the pictures. Between cleaning the house and baking the cake, and then cleaning up the mess from the cake! Barely got this pair done.  Not sure if I'll get any done tomorrow. It's my baby's birthday. But somehow one of my Dr. appointments got rescheduled for the morning, and this is one of those Dr's were the wait is notoriously long. So maybe I'll be able to finish something then. Here's to positive thinking! Hope you all have a wonderful Friday if I don't get a chance to sign on tomorrow!

10/21/10

10/22/10

10/22/10---So I got to finish these while at the Dr's. Can I call it or what? Decided to try some of the new yarn that was so kindly brought over by Molly Roman!  This one was soft and sooo pretty. Caught more than the other purple yarn I was using, but not as much as that grey one did.   If you get the chance to pick up the new people, the one from 10/25/10, be sure to flip to page 60. Very revealing look at some of our schools are faring these days....Very revealing, and disturbing. Even more reason to help out in any way you can.


10/23/10---Got 2 done today!!! Not sure how, but I did!  Be sure to go and rate your favorite school at Bing's "Our school needs..." contest! (Can you tell I finally started to figure out how to add links to my posts. :) lol)





10/23/10



10/24/10

10/24/10---Trying to use as much of one color before moving on to the next. I really like this color, except the more I look at it the more orange it looks! lol   Don't forget to go vote for your favorite school program at The Clorox "Power a Bright Future Contest". Remember voting ends the 1st of November, but you can vote every day, and you get to play for a chance to win something too!

10/25/10---2 more done today!!! Woohoo!  Don't forget to go vote in the Clorox "Power a Bright Future" Contest and the Bing "Our School Needs..." Contest.

                    

10/25/10

10/26/10---One more down. 32 more to go. Almost 1/2 way there! Did you vote yet today? Don't worry if you haven't there's still time!
Just click the links below!  :)
 Bing "Our School Needs..." Contest
"Power a Bright Future" Contest



10/27/10---One more pair! Don't forget to vote for the programs you think should win first place. So who's ready for Halloween? What are you dressing up as?

10/27/10

10/30/10---OMG! Two whole days and I didn't post anything about my potholders! Sorry bout that. So Thursday was crazy. Got some amazing things done in the morning. Not potholder things, but important non the less. then was wiped out by the time I got home. Spent the rest of the evening hiding in bed, only ventured out to make dinner. Friday, well Friday was a completely different thing altogether. Started the black and white pair in the pic. But never got a chance to finish them. Ever have one of those days? Yeah Friday was one of those days! So today, while I was still recovering from Friday, I made it a point to get these two pairs done. Especially since tomorrow is Halloween. Plus I have an appointment in the morning, which I will tell you all about next Monday. Hope you all have a Happy Halloween!

10/30/10

***OMG! Just realized that I am FINALLY past the half way point!!!! YAY!!!!***

11/1/10

11/1/10---So I knew I was right about yesterday. Halloween was great! But sooo busy and crazy! Today was even busier, was gone all day and didn't get home 'til late! Will have my first Spotlight up tomorrow. Be sure to check it out!

11/3/10

11/4/10---O.K. so this first one I shoulda put up yesterday. But everything got so crazy it just didn't get up. So don't forget to go vote in Bing's Our "School Needs..." Contest! Voting ends on November 7th that's 3 days away.  Remember everyday that you vote you receive a $3 gift code for donorschoose.org. This means that you can donate $3 to the school program of your choice on that site. It takes approximately 10mins if you aren't registered with Bing yet.  Really not that long. So go vote, go now! And don't assume it's too late in the day to get a code. I voted the other night at 8pm and I still got one.

11/4/10

11/4/10

11/6/10---So I actually started these Friday and would have had them up yesterday, but unfortunately I got sick after my daughter's band review.  So they were finished today.   Did everyone remember to vote in the Bing "Our School Needs Contest"?  Did you get a code for Donorschoose.org?

11/7/10

11/9/10

11/9/10---So for the better part of today I thought to myself, "Gosh I got nothing done on Tuesday" and "Where did Tuesday go anyway?".  Sometime in the mid afternoon I realized that it wasn't Wednesday and somehow I still didn't accomplish much today.  So I'm sure I'll spend the better part of tomorrow wondering why I didn't get more done today. :)





11/15/10---Sorry haven't been feeling well for the past few days.  But I'm starting to feel a bit better and wanted to get the pics of my latest pot holders up. Less than 20 to go! I will have the dates for the Dickens festival up within the next week. :)

11/12/10



11/13/10



11/14/10

11/20/10---So this past week has been absolutely horrible. As you might have already guessed from my lack of posts. I hope to have a post up later today about Fresh & Easy and their shop for schools program.  Currantly they are giving $1 for every $20 that is spent in their store to local schools. If you live in Yucaipa, Ca, you have probably already heard of this since their schools are participating in this program.  Also I hope to have up a new spotlight as of this Monday so be sure to be on the look out for it! Here are the potholders I was able to finish in the past for days.  To finish on time I will need to make 13 more within the next 10 days. Feel free to offer any encouragement, between migraines, the holidays, and life in general I am fighting an uphill battle. But I am determined to get it done!!!! :) I will also have more news on the Dickens Festival which will be taking place at San Gorgonio Middle School in early December.

11/16/10



11/17/10



11/18/10 and 11/19/10

11/30/10---OMG!OMG!OMG!   I'm finally done!!!! YAY!!!!
K, soooo sorry, that I haven't posted for 10 days!  Between Thanksgiving, and then getting the flu, I was pretty much trapped in my bed 'til  this morning! But I got them all done!!! Yay!!! If anyone is interested in getting a pair, the San Gorgonio Middle School will be selling them at their Dickens Festival. On December the 3rd from 6pm-8pm and on December the 4th from noon til 6pm.

 Right now the currant tally is 60/60 so only 0 more to go!!! YAY!!!

Why I started this....

So when my daughters were little, I really didn't have time to participate a lot in their schools. I did the expected treats for their birthdays, and attempted to make it to school programs etc. As they got older work unfortunetly began to eat up more and more of my time, so even thinking about volunteering became a joke. Then I got sick. No more work for me, and tons of free time. As I reaquainted myself with my daughters lives outside of the house one thing became glaringly obvious. Their schools were severely under funded. I had known this on some level for a while, I used to take my mother-in-law to buy supplies for her class room. But when my oldest daughter told me that they were only allowing a certain number of kids into the color guard because thats how many uniforms they had, that shocked me.  Then  she brings home a paper saying that to raise funds for science class the class will be selling energy efficient light bulbs. Not a fund raiser for the school in general, but to raise money for the science class! I mean has that what school these days has come to?   That, in part, is what started me on my own personal crusade to see more people (not just parents) get involved in schools. The other part is that I spend a lot of my time feeling bored and useless, and this gives me something to do that makes me feel useful. So if I seem a little taller it's not cause my ankles have deflated enought for me to wear my stilettos, it's cause I'm standing on my own personal soap box.

I know not all schools have fallen this far in the currant economy. Some schools, and the school systems they are in, don't have massive lay offs simply because they can't afford the teachers. But that doesn't mean that the teachers that work there don't appreciate community involvement. So those of you who's school systems don't stink feel free to participate too.

In my posts I am going to focus on ways people can help, or have helped. Maybe it will help you with your own ideas on how you can help, or get involved.
Participation doesn't mean you have to give your blood, sweat and tears. Sometimes it is as easy as clicking a button and becoming a fan of a site to get them to donate. Office Max just did a promotion on facebook, were for every fan they got they donated $1 to help a class room in need. Now clicking like on thier page isn't a lot of effort. And you can always just hide thier posts from that point on. A minimum of 2 clicks just to donate a $1. Then 2 more if you don't want the posts on your facebook feed. How hard is that?
So I wanna hear from you guys, post what the most recent thing you have done to help out a school, it can be any school, and it can be anything, becoming a fan, helping a class, buying an item from a fund raiser, anything.

I started this blog to help encourage people to help out at their local schools.  Not just parents, but everyone. Students shouldn't have to raise money just to keep the after school art program. Teachers shouldnt have to stock their own classrooms with money from their own pockets.  But unfortunetly they do. Hopefully this blog will help everyone in the community to come up with ideas of how they can help.  Whether it is by simply taking five seconds to like a company on facebook that promises to donate for every fan it gets, by promising yourself you are going to buy atleast one item from the fundraiser, or getting more hands on and actively donating your skills or time to a program or classroom at school.  I was originally going to limit this blog to only within the area where I live. However, school funding problems aren't just limited to my area, and so I am opening it to everyone, everywhere.