Auction #7 - Gaaaawgeous Painting

This painting is an original by artist Randy Lipsey (a friend of the Berry's). 

It's done with spray paint and has a graffiti style to it. It is 4ft x 4ft (yes, you read that right - 4 FEET by 4 FEET) in size and is on a smooth plywood canvas.  

I LOVE this painting, and think the winning bidder is going to be quite "blecky" (a word my friend and I made up for blessed and lucky =) )

Auction Rules/Details

The auction begins NOW, and ends NEXT Monday (Dec 1st) 9:00 pm PST. 

YES, A 1 WEEK AUCTION!  

I know a lot of people are traveling for Thanksgiving and I want to make sure everyone has a chance to see this cool piece of art.

You place your bid by posting a comment in THIS POST with your bid amount. Please bid in increments of $5 - and higher.  Whoever is the highest bid at the time the auction ends (9:00pm - NEXT Monday) is the winner.

I am not sure what the shipping costs will be, but I'm going to see if the artist has any insight to this.  Will update if/when I get any more info about shipping.

The entire amount of the winning bid will go directly to the

Berry Family Adoption Fund. 

Do I hear $25.....???

***PS*** ~ If you link to this post on your blog, Facebook or your online yahoo group or whatever, you get bonus points......in heaven =)

More Water For Christmas

Wouldn't you like one of these beautiful WFC ornaments to hang from your tree this year as a reminder that you chose compassion over consumerism...

Or maybe this is what you'd like to give as gifts.  You can give a beautiful ornament, and maybe even attach a card that says you also gave an additional $20 to WFC as the recipients gift.

I can't think of a gift I'd rather get this year than water.  

You can buy them HERE for $6.50.  All proceeds go to Water For Christmas.

You can drink the BlackBerry's home if you please....

I have just heard about an awesome organization called 963 Coffee.  They recognize the fact 

that while we are paying $4 for a cup of joe, coffee farmers around the world aren't even making a living wage.  The middle man is making ALL the money.  

The Project’s purpose is twofold: to provide a fair wage for coffee farmers in poverty-stricken communities, and to allow groups and individuals to use the coffee to raise funds for mission projects and relief initiatives. 

Which brings us back to the BlackBerry's.  963 Coffee is allowing the Berry Adoption Fund to be an affiliate.  Which means that 40% of the money you spend at 963 will go straight to bringing Becky & Billy home. 

How awesome is that? 

You can purchase as you need, or you can set up an order that is automatically delivered on a certain schedule.  

Just go HERE to place your order.

I have set up a button on the right of the blog that will take you to the wesbite anytime you want to purchase.

Now go drink your java AND FEEL GOOD ABOUT IT!

Update!

I went to place my first order with 963 and was surprised by the $7.50 shipping charge for a $10 coffee order.  I just spoke with Erin from 963 and this is what she said:

Here are a couple tips to beat the shipping cost over load… first if possible ship it to a “commercial address” such as where you work or your church. FedEx and UPS both charge a $2 residential surcharge to ship to a residential address.  Another tip is to order more at one time whether that is for you to keep on hand, or if you get together with friends or neighbors to place one larger order together instead of many small orders. We have seen shipping prices spike along with the cost of oil. Unfortunately the shipping cost has not come down with the cost of oil. The bulk of the charge is basically to ship something to somewhere and then that cost gradually goes up based on how much and where. For example it may be $8 to ship 1lb to you via Fedex but it is probably $10 to ship 10 lbs.  

I checked what she said and she's right.  The shipping only goes up slightly when I order a lot more coffee.  So definitely order in bulk, whether for yourself or combine orders with friends.

I still think this is totally worth it.  Just wanted to give you a heads-up.

Oh and FYI~ the Fundraiser Starter Kit and the DVD don't count towards the 40%, but EVERYTHING ELSE does.

Putting this one off

This is a hard one.  I've been putting off writing this for 2 weeks.  It was a mommy moment I don't care to ever relive.  Although I'm sure I will in some form or fashion.

Zeke burned his hand.  Like really bad.  

The short and the long of it is that our kitchen was a little out of sorts because we had lost 90% of our power the day before.  The coffee pot was moved, the stool was left down, and Zeke was not in our sight.  On Friday morning (Halloween),  I was hanging with the older 2 kids in the living room trying to wake up, and Luke was walking out the front door when we heard the cry.  All mom's know that the pain cry is different than all other cries.  Luke ran back into the kitchen to see Zeke standing on the stool below the coffee pot.  His hand was red, but did not look horrible.  But I knew by the cry that it was bad.  Luke said I think he's going to be okay (nothing against dad's - Lord knows Luke is a great one, but they don't have mama bear instincts).  I grabbed Zeke, grabbed my keys and raced out the door to the urgent care clinic in town.  My poor baby did the pain cry the whole way there.  I did the mom of a baby in pain cry the whole way there too.  The doctors and nurses were great.  They gave him some Tylenol with Codeine for the pain.  I was hoping they would give me something too.  =)

But it didn't stop.

He cried.  I cried.

He cried more, I cried more.  

He didn't want to be in my arms, he didn't want me to put him down.  He couldn't be consoled.  He hurt.  

It was killing me. 

Finally they decided to give him more meds for the pain.  

While there, the redness of the burn got more intense, and then large white streaks appeared where the burn must have been most intense.  And a couple tiny blisters appeared.  By the way, the burn was on the back of his hand.  We think he grabbed the handle and pulled the coffee pot toward him and burned the back of his hand on the glass.

The nurse cleaned the burn and bandaged it up really well.  We got a prescription and went home.  And slept.

While on the pain meds he actually seemed to be doing quite well.  I had pictured Zeke and I having a quiet evening at home that night, but we decided to go ahead and stick with our plans to go to the Candy Zone at the church.

Here is our little stinker bandaged up.

We were given instructions to clean the burn every day and to redress it with fresh bandages.  I wasn't home the next day when Zeke took off his dressings, so Luke did it solo.  I was secretly glad, because I was really dreading looking at it.  Luke said that it didn't look too bad.

But the next day I didn't escape the duties.  

When we took off the dressing, I almost puked and passed out.  It looked awful.  The burn was bright red and the white areas had swollen and filled with what looked like fluid.  It just looked sooooo painful.  

That was the worst of it.  A few days later the swelling went down, and the skin looked melted on top with bits of raw flesh peaking out underneath.

The picture below is at the end of that stage - and not nearly the worst of it.  It was still gross, but looking so much better by then.  Thus the picture.  I couldn't bring myself to take a picture in the earlier stages. 

This last one is nearly 2 weeks later when it was really starting to heal.  You can't tell from the picture, but the new skin was still pretty raw.  It has only been the last 2 days where his skin is actually starting to look good.

Zeke was really a trooper.  After he got those 2 doses of pain meds he was great.  Much better than mommy.  I kept him on those for about 3 days, then he didn't seem to need it anymore.  The dressings hardly bothered him.  He hated that we would tape a plastic bag over his hand while he ate (to keep his bandages clean), but other than that, he acted like his normal self.  He became a "lefty" very quickly, and did just about everything with his left hand with no problem.

I am just so thankful that he is okay, and that the burns weren't worse than they were.  He could have poured scorching coffee all over his body just as easily.  I thank God that he did not.

This is just one more thing that makes me hold him a little tighter, and a little longer each day.

The End.  

Carving Time

The day before the big "H", the kids had fun carving away.  It's actually fun now that the kids can do their own pumpkins for the most part.  

I look at these pictures and I'm so torn.  Halloween is such a fun holiday for the kids.  It holds 3 of the most fun things you can do~

1.  Dressing Up

2.  Collecting candy.  Lot's of candy

3.  Stabbing large squash to create funny faces.  

What's not to love?

And it seems innocent enough.

The problem I have is the history of Halloween, and even what it still means to some today.  

Even though we are not participating in any kind of witch-craft or worshipping of spirits, I know that it is a significant day for people who do.  And just the fact that we are "celebrating" it in any way doesn't set well with me.

This year we went to the Candy Zone at our church.  Kind of a Halloween alternative.  Really a fun time for the kids.  But I still can't escape the fact that we are "celebrating" and partaking in a day laced with evil.  

So why don't we just NOT participate?  Well, part of it is that I don't want to be one of those parents.  And I want my kids to have fun.  And experience the excitement.  And I can't imagine not going to the pumpkin patch every year.

But really, those reasons don't appease my uneasiness.  I know that by even putting this in writing there will be those that think I'm nuts for making such a big deal of this.  And will already think I'm one of those parents.  But I'm just kind of working this out in my head, and using this blog to figure out my thoughts.  Not really sure what I'm going to do with this in the future.  Good thing I have 11 and a half months to figure it out.

Monica Guzman...where are you?

UPDATE:

I've been in contact with Monica and all is well.  The bag goes to her.  Sorry Linda =)

Does anybody know Monica Guzman from Hayward?  She is the winner of the bag, and she hasn't contacted me about it since the auction ended.  

If you know her, tell her to drop me an e-mail.  If I don't hear from her in the next few days I will offer it to the next highest bidder.

Thanks!

Calling all sewers!

Oh geesh!  I am talking about sewing, not the pipes that carry our "waste" to...wherever it goes.

Anyhow, I have just learned about a sweet act of love that we can participate in.  Tracy from Junk Posse is heading up these Love Blankets that will be going to an orphanage in Africa.  Anyone who can sew a 2'x2' quilt can participate.  The truth of the matter is, I am not a "quilter".  But I can fake my way through this.  If you sew, you probably can too!

It's such a great cause.

And to be honest, it was these yummy fabrics by Joel Dewberry that really made me want to participate.  

Aren't they scrumptious?

Tracy will send you the fabric to make the top of the quilt.  You need to supply the batting and back of the quilt.  

Go here for more info and to contact Tracy.

Did I mention it's a contest too?  She's got some great prizes.  I don't know how you win though.  Best quilt?  Random drawing of participants?  I don't know!

Are you in?

Is this me?

I'm too lazy to post a real post, so instead I'm posting this.

Your Personality Cluster is Introverted Intuition

You are: You are multilayered and complex. No one can quite understand you. You are very inspired and driven to achieve your goals. Whether you know it or not, you are a visionary with a complete life plan. You are intuitive enough to understand difficult problems, ideas, and people.

What's Your Personality Cluster?

Wondering of those who know me if you agree???? Don't be shy, leave a comment. Enquiring minds want to know....

$10 Friday

I can't believe I didn't post this earlier.  I've been caught up in the auction ending thursday and the drawing today, that I forgot to post this.  Although I didn't forget to do it myself.  Nor did I forget to update my status  every couple hours reminding people, thus being really annoying on FB.

I don't want to waste any more time before you see this, so I'm stealing most of the wording below from Cassie's Blog.

$10 Friday

The Water for Christmas facebook group has reached 1000 members. So we were talking that if everyone donated just $10 on Friday, we could fund the drilling of 2 wells.

2 wells in one day...wouldn't that be amazing?!?

So we are naming today $10 Friday. We are encouraging everyone who believes in this cause to go donate. Go to www.water4christmas.com, which will take you

 to the fundraising page. 

Click on the red donate button to be a part of this incredible movement. 

A movement to save lives. 

To bring hope to a community across the ocean during this holiday season.

To say no to consumerism and yes to compassion.

Let's do this!

The winner of the Give-Away.......

Okay, so I've done the drawing.  

Let's just say it didn't exactly go how I had planned.

I thought I could have my 4 year old son draw the winning name.  It would be so cute.  

Instead, this is what I got.

Warning:  this is not at all enjoyable to watch.  Or should I say listen to. 

(you may want to go to the bottom of the blog & turn off the tunes before playing the video) 

I apologize.  I wanted to re-record the drawing, but my husband insisted I post this one. Unfortunately this IS my life.  I mean I love my life.  But unfortunately there is an awful lot of crying from the baby, and an awful lot of non-cooperation from the 4 year old.  Too bad my 6 year old daughter wasn't here to throw a little attitude into the mix.  

It's fun stuff.

Anywho.

The winner is...

I should let you all know that despite Brandi being a rebel and a rule-breaker who entered like 25 times in one day, she only got her name in the basket once.  Yet somehow she still managed to win.  I hope your grandma enjoys washing dishes a little more with her sassy new gloves =)

Send me an e-mail so I can get these in the mail to you!

Thanks everyone!  This was fun.  

Not the crying drawing part.

But the commenting and seeing who's out there reading this blog part.  

Monica Monica Bo Bonica...

Fee Fi Fo Fonica...

MONICA!

(a different Monica than last time)

Is the winner!!!!!

Congrats to you!

And a bigger Congrats to Becky & Billy!

You are already so loved here in America, that people are willing to pay some ridiculous prices for a handmade bag from a Nobody, just to get you here!!  

That.

Is.

Awesome.

Thanks y'all for another EXCITING auction!  

And don't be gone long, because there is

MORE TO COME!!!!!

Monica~ You can click the "Donate" button on the right of the blog, OR you can send a check if you want the tax deduction.  Drop me an e-mail to touch base and so that I can get your address to send the bag.  My e-mail is listed in my profile.  Thanks so much for bidding!

oh, and this is totally premature for me to say this, but I'm going to anyway.  It looks like we might be having some real art to bid on in the near future from a guest artist....

a friend of a friend of the Berry's I believe.  

This would be a welcome little gift in this house....as I do believe my husband feels like he is playing second fiddle to some  little blackberrys halfway around the world =)

Hee hee hee.

But, shhhhhhhhhh, I didn't say a word.....

It was frozen!

If you've been checking this blog, wondering when I was going to update it.  You should know that my blog was frozen in cyber-space.  I accidentally deleted my google account (Bloggers - NEVER do this to yourselves - learn from my mistake), and lost all access to my blogs.  This one stayed up (minus the pictures), but I couldn't access it.  My other blog came down completely.  After much research and agony, I thought they were gone forever.

THANKFULLY some of the Blogger Support Team at Google had mercy on me, and restored my account!  It took a lot of doing, and some persistence on my part, and the help of some friends (& strangers) for my case to get to the right people.  

So here I am.  I'm baaaaack.  And I have a few updates.  But no time right now.  So I will be back soon!

Auction #6

If you're looking for the "Give-Away" post, just scroll down to the next post.  

Up for auction is a custom bag/purse, hand-made by yours-truly.  I knew I wanted to make a bag, but I wasn't sure on the design.  As I was standing in line to get my fabric cut, I noticed the girl in front of me had a really cute purse.  I asked her if I could take a closer look, and I even snapped a photo with my phone.  So this is my rendition of "girl from the fabric store's purse".

It is made with a heavy decorators fabric, with contrasting prints.

Inside you get 4 pockets for phone, keys, pacifiers, pens, etc.

On the opposite side of the pockets I stitched a little Africa with a heart for Uganda, to remind you of your sweet donation that helped give 2 precious children a family.

Me holding the purse so you can see it to scale =)

Auction Rules/Details

The auction begins NOW, and ends Thursday 9:00 pm PST. 

YES! THIS IS ANOTHER A 2-DAY AUCTION!!!!

You place your bid by posting a comment in THIS POST with your bid amount. Please bid in increments of $5 - and higher. Let's start it out slow and give everyone a chance to bid. I LOVE my high-roller bidders, but I don't want people to start thinking it's not worth it to try! Whoever is the highest bid at the time the auction ends (9:00pm - thursday) is the winner.

Shipping costs are covered to anywhere in the 50 states.

The entire amount of the winning bid will go directly to the

Berry Family Adoption Fund. 

(If you're just tuning in to this blog, the Berry's have been friends of ours for many many MANY years.  I so believe in what they are doing, that I can't help myself from helping them - even though they never asked!)

The winning bidder can give the donation via the "donate" button on the right side of the blog (if you don't care about a tax deduction).  Otherwise I will give you details of where to send the check.

Let's start the bidding at $15

Let the bidding begin!

Give- Away!!!!!! Drawing!!!! Freebie!!!!

This is long over-due!  I promised a give-away quite a while ago, and have had good intentions....

but, well, I got a little side-tracked with 2 adorable Ugandan kiddos, and working on bringing them home =)

What you see here are some fancy-schmancy dish-washing gloves.  If you gotta do the dishes, might as well look pretty while you're doin them!

These are hand-made by me (although they are not an original idea by me).  They are Mr Clean Nyplex Hypo-Allergenic gloves with vin

yl covered cotton fabric on top.  The gloves are size medium.  I have pretty big hands and they fit me great with some room to spare.  

To enter the drawing all you have to do is leave a comment in THIS post.  Here's the cool part.  You can enter more than once.  You can enter once a day until Friday.  Just leave a new comment each time.  You don't need to say anything more than your name and hometown.  Preferably your first name and last initial.  If the hometown thing freaks you out too much, just leave your name.   I will put all entries in a basket, and on Friday 1:00 pm PST I will draw the winner.  If I can, I will even video the drawing and post it on here.  

Just to clarify...

these are free.  A gift.  For anyone reading this blog.  Whether  you check in daily or it's your first time here.  Everyone can enter! (And guys don't be shy.  You can always give them as a gift to your wife, mom, sister).  

Shipping is covered to anywhere in the U.S.

Any questions?

Winner Winner Chicken Dinner!

WooHoo!

The Winner is Monica at $75!

So exciting.  So so exciting.

THIS was a fun auctio

n to watch.  

I am completely humbled and in awe, that so many of you GET IT.  

Thanks to all who watched and bid on this auction.   Because of you I am SO motivated to keep on going with this.  

Well you, and them =) 

You might have noticed that I have a new little "donate" button on the right.  That is just to make it easier for you to make a donation to the Berry Adoption at the end of the auctions IF, and only IF you don't care about receiving a tax deduction for your donation.  If you want your tax deduction, you need to send your donation via check to 

Calvary Life Fellowship

· Mission: Berry Adoption

· PO Box 1161,

· Brea CA 92822

DO NOT write in the memo of the check who/what the donation is for.  Just a little sticky note will suffice.

Thank You again =)

More to come, so keep checking back!  

Blog Auction #5 - The First Noel...

Here it is folks!

A handmade "Noel" banner that would be really nice hanging from a fireplace mantle. Not only is it handmade, it is hand-SEWN - my poor little raw fingers will attest!

It is made from layers of quality felt with cotton applique, embroidery & ribbons. Each of the "flags" on the banner is approximately 10" tall and the length of the banner is approximately 4.5 ft (from "N" to "L") with lot's of extra ribbon on the ends to make it longer.

I can't find my camera (lost in the Halloween madness!) so my poor iphone pictures will have to suffice until I can get some real pictures. The colors are a bit off - these photos make the green look a bit darker than it is.

Once again, the entire winning bid will go to the Berry Adoption Fund. If you are just now visiting this blog for the first time, check out this post for an explanation of the BlackBerrys =)

Auction Rules/Details

The auction begins NOW, and ends Friday 9:00 pm PST. 

The auction has been extended in light of my  google/blogger disaster!!!!

You place your bid by posting a comment in THIS POST with your bid amount. Please bid in increments of $5 - and higher. Let's start it out slow and give everyone a chance to bid. I LOVE my high-roller bidders, but I don't want people to start thinking it's not worth it to try! Whoever is the highest bid at the time the auction ends (9:00pm - thursday) is the winner.

Shipping costs are covered to anywhere in the 50 states.

The entire amount of the winning bid will go directly to the Berry Family Adoption Fund. I will give you details of where to send the check.

Let's start the bidding at $15

Let the bidding begin!

Huge blog snaphoo!

Well if you're here, you obviously found me! 

Yesterday I made a fatal mistake when I accidentally deleted my Google Account.  I lost all access to my 2 blogs.  I spent literally like 10 hours online trying to fix the problem.  It's not fixable.  Not unless someone inside Google decides to undelete my account out of the goodness of their heart. They don't restore accounts.  It's possible, but they don't.  (I was so desperate persistent, that I actually contacted like 60 google employees through facebook asking for assistance.  Unfortunately, of the 4 that got back to me, none were any help).  So if you're reading this, and you know a Google employee, feel free to plead my case.  

So here we are.  New blog address.  And no one can find me!  Unless of course you are on my e-mail distribution list.  But anyone who found the blog through the web, and who had book-marked it, it has just vanished.  So here's my plea to you.  If you have a blog, would you do a little post with a link to this new blog?  Maybe some of my old readers will find me that way.  

Above is the latest auction item.  I don't know the best way to handle the auction since the blog disappeared mid-auction, and had about 5 bids.  I guess the only fair thing to do is start the auction over.  

Oh this has been a sad 24 hours.  I have a lot to do to restore this blog.  And it's going to take a loooong time.  Insert sad face.  

Anyhow, scroll down and check out the latest auction.  Again, any help on getting the word out about the auctions would be greatly appreciated.  It's hard to have a blog auction with no readers.  Thanks in advance.

The First Noel, the Angel Did Say.....

Go check out the latest auction over HERE

Water For Christmas

The auction is coming up in the morning.

In the meantime, go check out this post over at jodyrlanders blog.  It's something to think about if you are looking to simply your Christmas, and make a big impact in LIFE for others.  

I love this gal's blog.  I love her heart.  And she does things that make a difference.  

Sneak Peak - auction 5...Project BlackBerry

  I used my iphone to take a picture so I wouldn't have to make the scary trek to the office in the dark.  So, please excuse the horrible quality!

The big reveal will be Monday morning....or maybe Sunday night, as I like to keep y'all on your toes!  

Any ideas as to what it could be?  Feel free to post your guesses.  Maybe there will be a prize if someone guesses right.  Maybe.  =)

And here's some food for thought.  

As we start thinking about the holidays, I can't help but think about all the MONEY that people  will be spending.  All the thoughtless buying (okay some of it is thoughtfull, but lets face it, there is always an awful lot of "I don't know what to get Aunt Fanny, so I guess I can get her some more smelly bath salts...." type thinking, right?  Right?) The obligatory gift giving, and the crazy, insane SPENDING just doesn't sit well with me anymore.  Not when I think about all the people who are dying of hunger and curable diseases, being enslaved, and being abused.  Not when I think about how far our money can go to save a LIFE, can I mindless buy over-priced smelly bath salts.  

So here's a couple ideas floating around this empty head of mine.

*I'm going to do my very best to make home-made gifts, or buy only from companies who give their profits to causes I believe in.  You've seen the TinyRockStar.com label on the right of the blog.  You buy a shirt and feed an orphan for a month at the same time.  Well there are lot's of other companies doing this.  I'm going to be compiling a list and will start sharing them on here periodically.

**Our extended family does a gift exchange every year.  You know the drill - you place everyones name in a hat, draw a name and buy them something off...THE LIST THEY GIVE YOU.  Ha!  Think about how ridiculous that is.  Next people are going to start registering for  Christmas presents.

Well this year another family member and I are suggesting we each make a list of 3 charities/organizations/causes that we are passionate about.  Then the person who draws your name picks from the list to donate what they would have spent on the gift to that org.  Not ONLY will we be able to give some money to some great charities, we will all be able to learn about these charities, and what each person in our family is touched by.  

Please post a comment if you and or your family have any ideas on how to boycott the usual commercial holiday season, to make it a more meaningful time, and avoid frivilous spending.

Sneak Peak coming

I'll have a speak peak of the new auction item later tonight.  The next auction should be up Monday morning, and will just be a 2 day auction this time!  

So come on back.....