School Supplies for disadvantaged kids...and the Supah Stah Sell Out Club

Help out disadvantaged kids by buying extra school supplies

It's that time of the year...for some lucky people. School is back in session! Except, not here. We have one more entire month to go. God help me.

Nevertheless, we are purchasing our supplies.

I love buying school supplies. Notebooks, folders, pencil cases, pencils, crayons...the lot. Selecting styles, quantities, colors.

But most of all, I love pens. In fact, one might say I have a pen fetish. In Cambridge, across from Harvard, there is this stationary shop that has rows and rows and rows of pens. On days when my friend and I were stressed (which was often) we'd skip across the street to this shop and test out hundreds of pens, finally selecting The One, and leaving happily. Retail therapy. But I digress.

Not everyone has the same ability to purchase or access necessary school supplies.

So when you are out shopping, and buying school supplies for your family, or if you already bought them but pass a row in a store (in every single solitary store---taunting me, teasing me, making me think about the kids in school, an event that is one entire month away)...

Grab a few extra or double up on your list, and donate the extras to disadvantaged kids in your area.

Your local school probably accepts extra supplies for kids who attend with your kids. Keep it anonymous. Nobody wants to bow to Lady Bountiful, hat in hand, finger to forelock.

If your local school doesn't have a program, try your school district or your local news station. They usually have a program or information about a program.

It's a simple and easy thing to do...reasonably inexpensive.

Also, consider packing the supplies in an old backpack---if you have one---that your kids no longer use.

Thanks!

Double thanks if you already did this. :)

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It's coming, they're coming...ADS! AAAARRRRRR

That's right. I've sold out. ;)

In the near future, my blog will begin running select BlogHer ads as well as the discreet little Google AdSense ads I've had up for a long time. I've also been accepted into several affiliate programs (although one beloved store where I frequently shop turned me down...said I didn't reach their market, they are nuts I tell you, nuts. My readers buy furniture and home accents! And my grasping little heart is broken). So I'll have ads for my affiliates, and will review and recommend items on my blogs dedicated to that.

I realize it means I'm turning full frontal capitalist.

But a girl's gotta eat.

This won't buy me a new pair of shoes---even if it earns that much---because this is not done flippantly for pin money. I'm doing this to earn necessary income.

That's why I want to mention something that I know is wicked controversial but I've mulled it over for weeks and just decided to join: Jo from Life with Heathens---"I'm a 32 year old wife and mother who happens to have cancer. Thanks to 3 heathens, 2 cats, and the Hubby Guy... I laugh more than I cry!"---started Mad Click Monday.

Now, I'm going to do my best so that my ads don't intrude on my content.

And you are welcome to do your best to ignore them. Fair enough.

But, I'm also going to ask you to ponder this Mad Click Monday idea. With this, instead of always ignoring the ads, one day a week you pay attention, and if one can benefit you, click it. I tried it for the first time yesterday.

Ads aren't always selling products. Sometimes, they are offering information.

For example, yesterday, I found a traffic tracker---for free---that I far prefer to Sitemeter. I found it by scanning an ad on a blog I regularly read. So I clicked the ad and got myself a good new tool. Also, I read a study---for free---from the Pew Charitable Trust that I found by clicking an ad. Lastly, I bought a towel rack. I know, money spent. However, I have been seeking a towel rack for a year in the kitchen (which has none) and haven't found one that was the right price. This one? $5, with shipping, still made it half as much as the ones I've seen like it in stores.

I don't---and wouldn't ask---people to click ads just because.

But.

If you decide to pay attention every now and again, and see if anything there is of interest or benefit to you...then thank you.

And if anybody wants to join my club (it's unofficial, being silly---dig?) you are welcome!

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Personal Update

You'll notice I am blogging. It's not from prison, I'm happy to report (but blogging from prison? That's an upcoming post...) Hat in hand, no excuses other than, "I blew it," I pleaded my case to the judge, or rather, to his assistant, which I think actually means I pleaded my case to the court, but I'm no lawyer (which might have been in my favor, actually). They were lenient on me; if I pay exorbitant amounts of money (in my opinion) I can take defensive driving---where I will learn that driving 7 miles over the sped limit, I kid you not---is illegal. I'm aiming for a comedy one. For the record, I still pay a fine to the court in addition to paying the defensive driving course fee. If the judge is reading this, I'm grateful. Truly. I appreciate that our legal system allows some wiggle room for stupid people.

Also, in more good-ish news about the tree...my neighbor and friend is doing it for me for about hmmm $2000 less than any big tree firm has quoted to me. Yes, I called my insurance company. Actually, I had already called before even posting. I'm sadly used to catastrophes, and familiar with protocol...but thank you guys for loving me enough to make good suggestions. No, I'm not asking my neighbors to chip in even though (a) it is largely on their property and according to the laws (at least the laws of insurance) not my responsibility, and (b) there is no fault to a tree suddenly toppling. It's my tree, though, that originated on my property and therefore in my mind my responsibility. I also want to retain Good Neighbor We Like status.

In children news...the Kindness Campaign hit a great spot yesterday, then dropped viciously, then came back up again. I expect this, I suppose. The great news is that it is clearly on all our minds, this being nice, kind, courteous and respectful thing. Persistence did drive me to drink yesterday (what a shock!) with a variety of ingeniously disastrous things. I console myself by saying she'll be three soon, at which point it's the mouth I have to concern myself with more than the getting into every bloody thing.

Don't forget Hump Day Hmm tomorrow...too much of a good thing.

I think that's all!

copyright 2007 Julie Pippert