As of today, we are only $95 from the total ticket price!
Jay has agreed to extend his offer of “enter twice, get one entry free” for the remainder of the day today, and tomorrow too! So get those entries in! Remember, there’s an iTouch, $50 gift certificate, and iPod up for grabs! So far, we’ve got less than 25 entries, so chances are good for those who enter!!!
More Details Here: http://growinguplost.wordpress.com/2009/11/03/project-safe-living/
S’up again? – Jay
Girl got asked why I didn’t just fund the whole trip and expenses. Person told her if I can pay for the vet bill and gift cards, why couldn’t I fund the whole thing? For real.
I sent $200 to help with the vet bills those POS’s were bitchin about. Paid off the remainin bill that was owed to those POS’s for the vet/cremation when I got paid yesterday. Didn’t want them comin after her for anything. She owes them nothin! Those two things were right at $500. Gift card another $50. No big. Girlfriend put in a new iPod. That’s why I can’t fund the whole trip now.
Girlfriend and I, we agreed to do this- From NOW til VETERANS DAY, for every $10 donated, we donate $5 in your name and get you free entry into the drawin. You donate $20, we donate $10. Drift got? Why? I’m retired military. If you wanted to know. Like most you, I care.
Raffle Link- http://growinguplost.wordpress.com/2009/11/03/project-safe-living/
Her father stands 6′2″. Her brothers range from 6′2″-6′4″. Her mother is a mere 5′4″. Her sisters are 5′1″-5′4″. Her grandparents height on both side also match with these measurements. Her father is part native american. Dark skin, dark eyes, high set cheek bones. Her mother has dark skin and slighty slanted eyes of hazel. Her grandparents on both sides also fall in line with this. She’s directly in between these heights. She’s several inches taller than all the women, and several inches shorter than all the men. She’s so pale that you can see the blood in certain veins. She burns and never tans. Her eyes are wide and brown.
There are no pictures of her mother pregnant with her. No pictures of a beaming father at the hospital holding his new baby. No pictures of a beaming mother holding her new baby. No pictures of a child getting their footprints taken by hospital staff. No pictures period of a baby in the hospital. There’s no pictures of siblings holding the new baby beaming with joy at the newest arrival. Oddly enough though, there’s pictures of all (siblings, brothers, sisters, mother, father) holding other babies much older than her in the hospital. The most odd of all is there are no pictures what so ever of her before she’s six months old. In that picture, she’s wearing boys clothes, and someone has been cut out of the shot.
Her neices and nephews all have that dark skin and dark hair. Dark eyes. Beautiful children… all 20+ of them. Not a single blonde to be found in their group. Her children (except one) have blonde hair and blue eyes. Pale skin. The one who doesn’t has an oriental father.
Looking in the mirror, there’s NO ONE in her family that she resembles. She doesn’t have someones eyes, lips, nose, or smile. The dimples that show, no one else has. The way she scruntches her nose, no one else does. She was the only one out of six that was physically, mentally, and sexually abused. She was the only one who was abandoned, neglected, and ignored. She’s been told that she only came about to save a marriage.
All of this could mean nothing really. Maybe she really is “just the odd man out”. But she’s so different. Perhaps, though, most telling of all… is her blood type. Her parents both have a certain blood type. She has something totally different. It doesn’t match her mothers. It doesn’t match her fathers. Blood, it tells no lies… does it?
The response for the drawing/donation exchange was awesome. Many people were excited about the chance to win a great possible christmas present for someone! Jay also said hy’s going to donate a $50 target gift card as a second place prize. After telling hys girlfriend about this, and sharing more of what was going on with her, the girlfriend (Becka) donated a brand new iPod nano 4th generation 8gb to the drawing. She got two in a “buy one get one free” promotion that was going on and had been wondering what to do with the second one! So now, we have THREE prizes!!
So after “bouncing ideas” around with a few people, here’s what’s been decided. We’re going to hold one drawing. Numbers will be chosen with using a random number generator. The first number chosen will get first choice, the second chosen will get second choice, and the third chosen, third choice! It just seems easier to do it this way just in case someone has their hopes up for something vs a 1st place prize, 2nd place prize, and 3rd place prize… I think it’s better to allow a choice in the matter!
If you want your name entered into the drawings, the suggested donation is $5.00. So, if you want your name entered into the drawing 5 times, the suggested donation is $25.00. Also, based on what I’ve seen on other blogs, if you link to this post, and leave a comment linking back to your post, you’ll get a free entry in as well! So don’t forget to mention it on your blog and come back here with a link to your post!
The drawing will remain for 10 days, and the first winner will be drawn on Nov 15th. After they choose their prize, the second winner will be drawn, and finally the third winner. Prizes will be mailed out that week to the winners. So with that in mind, you must leave a valid email address or link back to your blog in order to be notified. I’ll post winners here based on the user name given in the comment section. I’ll also email the winners. Winners will have 48hrs to respond, or a new winner will be chosen.
Now, I can’t figure out how to get ChipIn to work with wordpress, so donations can be made via paypal (and to answer a quick question, gifts can be made using either your paypal account or just through a credit card) to the email account associated with this blog: OnceLostBlog@Gmail.com Once again, PLEASE make sure to leave comments with each entry into the drawing so you can be assigned your number! Please also make sure to post the payments as “gift”.
Best of luck to all who decide to get involved. In my opinion, it’s for a great cause, and another step towards final stability for me. In your opinion, $5 could win you an iTouch, iPod nano, or a $50 gift card! Oh, and for those asking, YES the iTouch can be completely restored to it’s original like new form with all songs, games, and data information erased if you want!
**Please keep watch on the bottom of this post. I’ll make sure to post your entry numbers here as well**
Entry Numbers:
1-10 Lee
11-14 Janet
15 Bill
16-20 AnnMarie
21-22 Kerry
23-28 SocialWrkr24/7
I’ve seen them on blogs here, and I’ve seen them on blogs there. Every once in a while, someone will need to raise money for something/someone, and they’ll hold a raffle. I’m thinking, “why not”?
So let me explain what is going on, and why I’m trying to raise money.
I think Jay explained it best when hy (fTm for those curious) explained that someone was asking me to do something that I was VERY uncomfortable with, and that my housing depended on it. Jay said it best when hy said “SAY WHAAATTTTT????” Basically, a very long story turned short is I was asked to have a baby for someone with the thought pattern behind them asking being “well you’ve given kids up for adoption, why won’t you have a baby for me”. The “request” (for lack of better words) was worded in such a way to tell me that the home I was staying in would no longer be my home if I wasn’t willing to follow through with the “request”.
Obviously, I’m not. It was then thrown in my face that they had paid for Prin’s vet bill from 10/22 and the cremation costs that followed- which were over $400 combined (I hadn’t been picking up many hours at work as it’s slow season and I had just recently paid one of her vet bills). Jay sent $200 through PayPal, and I forwarded it onto them. Two days later, I packed up my stuff and left to stay with an acquaintance here for two weeks. I can’t stay longer than that because of her housing restrictions in the community she lives in. I understand, and respect that.
However, what I have found is SAFE, STABLE, NO STRINGS attached housing. This person is someone I know who also was in the foster care system (no, sorry, not Clay), and has already had me call their townhouse leasing office to get added to the lease as a roommate. The only problem is it’s about 1900 miles away. I’ve priced tickets, and it’s averaging $350 for a one way ticket (through airline or train). Now, sure, there’s the option of a bus, but even the bus ticket is $230 and it takes two and a half days to get there.
I have a cute little 8GB iTouch that I got for my birthday (I emailed Claudia from it a time or two hahaha), and quite frankly, I hardly ever use the thing. It’s less than six months old, no scratches, dents, knicks, or the like. I’ve used it maybe for a total of a month. Weeks will go by that I don’t even touch it. It’s got over 400 songs that were sync’ed and downloaded on it, and quite a few games. If you know how to sync without removing them, they’d stay on there. Honestly, it’s a great little tool, but I’m not into it because I’m OCD about fingerprints on things.
I’ve also seen blogs where there are multiple things up for “grabs”. So with that said, I’d also be willing to take any donations from my readers that they’d just be responsible for mailing to the winner. Things that could be added to the raffle include blog makeovers, gift certificates, custom-made blankets, etc. If you have something that you’re willing to donate to be used in the drawing, please leave me a comment that WON’T be posted!
When I’ve entered into drawings before, the host always used a random number generator, and your number was assigned to you based on the number your comment was. You usually made a $5 or $10 donation per entry. You got a “free” entry if you leave a comment that links back to your blog where you’ve posted about the drawing. So you would leave a comment with each “ticket purchase” to give you a different number for each entry to put into the random generator. Some people use ChipIn for the raffles so that people can see how much money has been earned. Other people prefer PayPal.
To make things fair, I’d only allow those who sign their comments with valid email addresses and/or blogs to be in the drawing. I’d give the raffle a week before closing it out and announcing a winner. I think it’d be a good idea also to say that there needs to be a minimum for it to go on, and if that minimum isn’t met, then all monies donated in will be returned. Depending on how many things were included in the raffle, there’s two ways to do things. We could either do a 1st place gets 1st pick, 2nd place gets 2nd pick, (etc), or we could do separate drawings for each item (which could be a little confusing, but 100% do-able).
Here’s what I’m thinking. I’d like to be able to raise enough money through this drawing for the airline ticket and two weeks worth of personal groceries/needs ($100). I’m not sure if that’s completely possible, but Jay has said hy will step in and pay the remainder of reimbursing Prin’s vet bill so that these people can’t come after me for anything, and whatever I can’t raise through the raffle towards the airline ticket/groceries.
So what’s everyone think? Good idea? Bad idea? What? If I do decide to do it, there will be a NEW post to enter in, so please don’t try and enter in through this post if you’re interested. Leave your thoughts, additional ideas, and comments, and I’ll let everyone know what’s been decided in the next day or two!
Remember this teddy bear? It’s the one that she once held in her paws as she lay sleeping. Anywhere you’d find her, she’d have this little guy with her.
Well, this little guy now holds her within his grasp. It’s so very heartbreaking, yet so very comforting seeing them back together again as she loved her bear so!
S’up? Jay.
Picks up the pooches ashes tomorrow. Havin a hard day. People she livin with still pushin her to do what they want in return for her housin. Said she owes them. Throws that poochs vet and cremation bill in her face everytime she turns around. Messed up. Tossed $200 in her paypal this mornin. Told her to give it to them. Hopin they shut up about this owin crap when she does.
Still workin on gettin her out that situation. Pricin out airline tickets. Tryin to find her some work doin somethin temp basis so she can earn the money. She got lots of skills. You know someone who needs a project done over the net or somethin, let her know. Average price for tickets is $367 for where she goin.
Told her it’d be smart for her to pay them f-in people back before she leaves so they don’t start no trouble. Don’t get people like that who can use someone like that. Don’t make no sense!
I don’t really feel much like blogging right at the moment. I’m allowing Jay to handle that.
However, I wanted to take a moment, to share this little video I found on my phone of Princess. She absolutely LOVED her veggies, and would chow down on them any chance she got. So here’s a little clip of her, eating on the bed, off the fork, two of her favorite human foods. Broc and Potatos. I’ll share some more videos as I download them.
I’m also busy working on slowly packing her things up. So far, a foot locker is almost filled. There Her favorite teddy bear though remains on my bed, and sleeps with me at night. It’s not even close to the comfort I had with her sleeping on the bed, but right now, anything will do.
S’up. Jay again. I’ll be shuttin up as soon as she’s postin again. Need to get myself one of these damn things. Friends say I talk too much.
Talked with your normal hostess. Asked her if it was okay to share what’s happenin. Sighed. Said why not. So here’s what’s happenin.
Bout a year ago, she got kind a scattered. Got laid off from her job. Had a hard time gettin back on her feet. After strugglin and bouncin round had to put the pooch in boardin. Told me all about the nets help with that. She got relocated few months back. Old family friends offered a job. It gettin to be low season for the work she’s doin. Job didn’t pay much to begin with and was comin to an end. Did provide room and board. Made up for the LOW wages. They offered her a deal. If she was willin to do somethin for them, they’d let her stay around. That somethin? Somethin she won’t do. Said she shared with a few people on the net what that somethin was. It wasn’t a good somethin. Nothin illegal. Just not a good somethin.
She was takin care of that pooch of hers. Makin sure pooch was stable and healthy. Put that pooch before herself. All the time. She’d go without before she let that pooch go without. Did more than once. Then, she had to put that pooch down. Bout killer her. They asked what she wanted to do with the pooch. Take her home and bury her? Don’t really have a home left. Didn’t want to leave the pooch behind somewhere when she moved. Landfill? Not an option. Cremate? Fine. Cremate the pooch. Vet visit, lab work, chemical panel, euth, and cremation ran about $450. Didn’t have it. People who wanted her to do somethin for her took her and the pooch to the vet that day. Paid it for her. Left her in debt to them. Two days after, they already rantin about how much she owes them. How she’s in debt to them.
Now she don’t have her pooch anymore. Bad as it looks, the pooch not bein around opened some doors. Someone 1600 miles away offered their home. They work for a company that’s hirin. They got the space. They been in foster care before. Know what it’s like to be alone.
We workin on gettin her there. Workin on gettin her in a place she can call home before the holidays.
S’up? Jay.
That girl. Don’t know what she thinkin. She went out to the place that does the cremations today. Took the pooch a tennis ball. Somethin about she wanted the pooch to have somethin to play with at the bridge. That place offered to let her see the pooch one last time. Surprisin, she did.
Said that the pooch looked peacefully asleep. Curled up, eyes closed. Said you could see her underbite like you could when she slept. Said she stayed in the viewin room with the pooch for about ten ta fifteen. Gave her some last pets. Told her goodbye. Tucked her tennis ball in by her side like she slept with it. Said the people there were real nice. Gave her clippins of hair and stuff. Said they were kind. Said they asked lots of questions. Said how beautiful the pooch was. Gave the pooch some pats themselves. Said they were very understandin and all. Good people.
Cremation is Tuesday. She’ll pick her up Wednesday. Said today really helped and feels like a good closure.
Now that the pooch is gone, and that drama is goin on where she lives, we’re workin on gettin her moved some place safe. Some place where there’s no ulterior motives that are really bad. Some place where she can get back on her feet and stable without havin to give in bad ways. Some place that she can heal. Workin on it. Guess I could go into that, but should check with her first.
