Humbug. Down In The Dumps.

I do my best - really I do, and I'm generally pretty good at it - but even I sometimes can't pull myself out of a funk for a while. This Christmas season sucks.

In the last month and a half, my son has been in four different hospitals. Four emergency room trips, three ambulance rides, two extended hospital stays and a partridge in a pear tree. Well, okay, there was no partridge. But I'm trying to keep my humor here, people.

For a while I had to close my online booth (it's open again now, though - please visit!), and lately I can't even make or keep appointments because it seems every other day there's a new crisis with him. I've stood up the handyman, the plumber, and two of my own doctor's appointments. Shoot, he's missed his own doctor's appointments a couple of times because he ended up in the hospital first! So anyway, yeah, I'm down in the dumps.

I have no idea how Christmas is going to happen around here. We don't have a tree yet or a single decoration put up, and I haven't purchased a single gift. I am absolutely, positively determined that I will get my stockings project for the homeless youth done, come "hell or high water", as they say. But will I get Christmas to happen in this house? Gawd, I really don't know.

Well, keeping it short today. Here's hoping I will be back to my chipper ol' self pretty soon. Just wanted to put an update here for those who read. I try to keep it upbeat, but if I'm gonna be honest, I have to admit when times are hard, too.

Please keep my son in your thoughts and prayers.

Found a Great Article on Foster Kids and College

Someone tweeted this article today, and I am so glad they did. Many people may not understand the issues of foster kids trying to go on with adult life, and college is just one of the things that are particularly difficult for them. I will let the article speak for itself, as it is a very good and insightful look at the issue. If you're interested, you can find it here:

From Foster Care To College Life

I can certainly tell you from first hand experience that this article is spot-on when it comes to many of the challenges these kids face. My foster son still lives here at home, and he's 21 now and in his third year of college. Without the support system he has with us, I do not see how he could have made it so far. I wish I could take in more kids like him (someday I plan to do just that), but I have to be realistic about my own limited resources, being a single mom. I do hope that talking about my experiences with young people I've known, if not raised, will help shed light on their issues for people out there who don't know or understand what they face.

Thanks to all who take an interest in these great young people!

Chip-In for Christmas Stockings Project

Really, really, really quick update on Christmas Stocking Project!

I only have a few moments tonight, but I want to throw out an update on the Christmas stocking project. I now have two volunteer helpers; if you'd like to be involved, just get in touch with me.

I have now received a complete list of names from the director of the Tumbleweed Drop-In Center, and we will be making a total of 50 personalized stockings for the homeless youth who utilize the center.

Quick list of things we'll be needing:

* Stockings (50) - Homemade or store-bought, of adequate size to accommodate a decent number of items (probably at least 18"), and suitable for puff-painting on the cuff part so we can personalize. **Note: I have found that they have perfectly suitable stockings for one dollar at Dollar Tree!

* Puff paints or other paints that will work for writing on fabric.

* Small sized toiletry items.

* Socks.

* Stocking-stuffer sized gifts.

* Lip balms.

* Gift cards.

* Telephone calling cards (particularly important because these young people used to be able to make necessary calls from the drop-in center, but due to budget cuts the center can no longer allow long-distance calls).

* Batteries.

* Wet-wipes.

* Snack-size food items.

* Small flashlights.

* Body sprays.

* Candy (particularly Christmas candy, of course).

This list is by no means "all inclusive", and I will most surely be adding to it later. If you have items you'd like to donate other than those I've listed, of course I will not turn anything away! All items are welcomed happily!

If you'd like to help out but just don't have the time or any items to donate, you are welcome to donate a few dollars with which we can purchase any needed items. I will be setting up a Chip-In page that allows you to donate through PayPal.

My online booth still isn't open (sorry) and I don't have the shoe drive fully put together yet, either (sorry), but there will be more info to come on that within the next few days.

Thanks for reading and I hope your holiday season is wonderful so far this year!

This Year's Christmas Project For Homeless Youth

Just a quick update: The Christmas project I will be doing this year for the homeless youth in Phoenix will be... (drum roll please)... stockings! I have been in communication with the director of the Tumbleweed Drop-In Center (a home in central Phoenix that's used as a kind of daytime homeless shelter and resource center for homeless youth) and he is very enthusiastic about the project. He has provided me with names and ages of young people who regularly use the drop-in house so that we can personalize the stockings (he emphasized that this really means a lot to these kids), and we will also be making some blank stockings for any other youth who come in. Staff at the drop-in center will have supplies on hand for last-minute personalization of any blank stockings in those cases.

I have at least one helper so far on this project. If you would like to be involved, please contact me! Also, we're obviously going to need donations. We will need stockings, of course, and also items such as toiletries (small sizes) and socks, and of course fun "stocking stuffer" items. I will provide a list, hopefully by tomorrow, of more of the specific things we'll need.

The shoe drive project is still being worked out, and I should have more info on that within the next couple of days.

My online booth, Rummage Rampage, has still not re-opened, but that is also something I plan to have happening within the next couple of days.

Please stay tuned!

I Was Gone - Now I'm Back!

I haven’t posted here in a while because – basically – my life came apart at the seams for a little over a month, to be honest. I’m still not sure it’s entirely holding together again. I thought a lot about whether I wanted to go into detail here in explaining what all has happened, but I decided against it. Suffice it to say that there was not just a single crisis, but one after the other after the other. To go over it all would be too long and involved, and it would probably get too personal with regard to at least one of my “stray” kids. So, I’m just going to let it go and pick right back up where I left off.

First, though, if anyone who was affected by my “disappearance” is reading, I do want to apologize. There were customers from my online booth who received packages late or whose shipments were messed up while I had someone else take over for me (I did finally get my booth put on “vacation hold” so that there would be no more sales while I was unavailable), and there were other customers who sent me e-mails that either went unanswered or were answered very late. I vanished from Twitter and Facebook, and even my family and friends did not hear from me for a while there. To everyone: I’m sorry. I wish I could explain, but I just hope you’ll understand that I can’t and that you know I’d never leave you all hanging on purpose. Things were just real, real bad.

I can talk about this, though – the latest crisis to hit: My fifteen-year-old son has been suffering from gradually-intensifying tremors and shaking, along with shortness of breath and a light-headed feeling, for about six weeks. This overlapped with all the other stuff that was going on, so it’s been a very difficult time. This “condition”, whatever it is, finally resulted in a full-on, nasty, horrifying seizure. Over the last month and a half he has been to several doctors and has been in three hospitals – the last one, after the seizure, was the most extended stay – and no one can tell us what’s wrong with him. He’s been referred to a neurologist for further testing, but for the time being we are just living on pins and needles.

Now, where does that leave me as far as my “freelance mom” activities? Well, it leaves me in a bit of a pickle. The next month or so is going to be very much filled with doctor appointments and such for both my son and myself (in the midst of all this I became ill as well, but we’re not gonna go there), so I have made the very difficult decision that I will not be doing my Christmas dinner/project again this year. It is just more than I can take on right now. However, I am talking to some different people about the possibility of someone taking it over for me, so it’s not as if it might not still happen. I am still working on my shoe drive, though, and also on a somewhat different Christmas project. (just not a dinner) that is more in line with what I can handle right now.

I haven’t re-opened Rummage Rampage (my online booth) just yet, but barring any further crises (cross all your fingers and knock on wood), I plan to do that some time this week. Also this week I will have more info ready to share about the shoe drive and Christmas. I have some people to meet with and talk to, particularly regarding the shoe drive, and then I will get things rolling and share it here.

That is all for now. Wish me luck. Please! :)

Discovering And Loving Twitter - Finding Great People Already!

So, I finally got with the times and set myself up on Twitter (See that nifty link up in the corner of this page? Follow me!), but I am still learning how to use it. Please be patient with me! Anyway, pretty much immediately upon opening my account and browsing around for people with similar interests, I happened upon the neatest group of ladies here in Phoenix! They are the local “Meet Me Halfway Street Team” for ProjectMMH.org.

I had never heard of ProjectMMH.org before, even though I feel like I should have. How did I miss this? As recently as a month ago, country singer Jimmy Wayne had finished his “Meet Me Halfway Walk” – where he’d walked halfway across the country to bring awareness to the plight of homeless youth and those aging out of foster care – and the grand finale was right here in Phoenix. Yet somehow I missed this news. Ah, well, I can’t keep up with everything. I am just glad to have finally discovered this organization!

This Saturday I will be meeting with these new Twitter friends I have made, the ladies who run the local street team for MMH. They have offered to talk with me about helping with my Christmas project for this year. I am so excited, both to possibly have some help with this year’s project and also to meet people who share my passion for youth in need.

I will keep posting updates about Christmas (and the shoe drive – I’m still working out some details on that). As I’ve said before, if you’re interested in helping this year, please get in touch with me. And please check out projectMMH.org – I’ve added them to my “favorite links” over on the right-hand side of this page. If you have a heart for youth and the particular struggles of those in foster care or without homes and families, you will want to throw your support behind this cause!