a huge disappointment - again

So I come home from being gone for two days and once again sending out letters to those I think would support a friend or a relative. And again I come home to no "TNT Donation" e-mails. Nope - just a negative one. "Sorry - met my budget for donations this year" You know what bites more??? That the ones that negative letters come from are those that I have busted my butt in doing things for either them or their relatives for the past several years.

When you watch children at an unbelieveably - can not live on - wages but yet they can't do anything in return. Or those you have volunteer over and over and over again to help out, can't even give yo ua measely drive through hamburger meal of $5. People who you have bent over backwards to assist in the years prior but can't even return a "yes I can help" or "no I can't".

I HAVE $1200 more to come up with and I have a very bad feeling it is coming out of pocket - on top of moving expenses, and other necessities I am seriously going to need. My kids birthdays and Christmas's might be on the line if I can't get this up and going. Am I frustrated?? You don't even know the extent. Those people you think are there for you because they are family or close friends . . . just turn their heads and either say no or totally ignore you. Do I need to re-evaluate my friends and family? I think so.

WOW!

Almost to double digits! I can't believe it! I guess if I had gone just one mroe 1/4 of a mile further I would have hit 10 miles today!! I started out good, and at a good pace. No aches or pains. I hit about mile 4 and my asthma started to give me a bit of trouble. By mile 5 my legs started feeling like dead weights. I kept going and never walked though. That felt pretty good to say! By mile 7 the heavy weight of my legs no longer felt heavy. Actually, I don't think I felt my legs much by that point. My toes however started to feel pinched. I thought for sure I would see blisters when I took off my shoes. Anyhow, I did 9.5 miles today and am pretty proud of myself. My thighs are a bit sore, my abs feel a bit tight, my hips are a bit sore. I guess that just means those are all muscles hiding and trying to come out . . hehehe We started the run a little after 5am (not sure exactly the time) and I finished the run at 7:03. Not bad. Then I rushed off to meet friends at Starbucks at 730am. We then walked across the way to Woodward Park (probably about another mile of walking there) to particpate in a Breast Feeding Awareness 2 mile walk. Plus a mile back to our cars so I'm think I hit about 13.5 miles today in all.

WOW!

So anyhow, my donations seems to have come to a halt - but I want to remind you guys that fundraising is NOT OVER!! I still have just over $1200 to raise and I only have just about 2 months to get it done. It can't be done without your help so don't forget to make your contribution to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society at my page.

Very disappointed and really bummed

So Chandra and I have been working hard (her even harder ) for about a month now on planning this huge event. We had so many people tell us that this Bunco Fundraiser would bring in so much money and it was such an awesome fundraiser. We had so much interest thrown at us with so many people wanting to participate. So we started our planning. Originally we tried to get to use a room at my church. Unfortunately they were booked and directed us to other churches. But by the time they had replied to me, time was being cut short and we needed to get the ball moving and get the word out. So we attempted to do it at my place. Well, we knew we had room for 6 tables - possibly 7. So a max amount of 28 people. We knew Bunco is a well loved game and many people we knew played it. And we figured we would have more interest then 28 people. So . . .we added a second time slot. Our original buy in was $20 with all profits going directly to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. Awesome prizes were to be won. Starbucks, lia sophia jewelry, pizza hut, TGIFridays, and much more. How could we go wrong right?

Wrong. We put the word out. We threw out between 200-300 flyers. We posted on our playgroup thinking we had support from them. We put the word out on Myspace. We put the word out on Criagslist. And so many other groups. We had interest. But as the time grew near, interest declined. We lowered our buy-in to $10. We now put our profit from $280 each (with a full house) for each time slot, down to $140 each. Ok, this sucked but we knew we would at least gain something to help us out. More then we had. How could we go wrong? This information was now in the hands of close to 500 people or so.

Wrong. Today we started getting everything ready. 3pm grew near. Nobody. At 3:15 our first person showed. Ok, we have hope. At 3:20 our second person showed. Ok, a bit more hopeful. At 3:30 our 3rd AND FINAL person showed. Yep. 3 people plus Chandra and I. Not enough to play. We had 12 definite rsvp's. Definites! I guess definite is never definite.

We had one girl give us $20 as she walked out and another gave us $10. The other was going to give us money too but we told her to just hold on to it (she's part of our playgroup - the one person who came). One of our rsvp-ers got in a car accident so she is definitly excused of course.

So today - a month in the planning, tons of computer ink used, gas used (high in these days thank you), $50 plus in food, and now I'm sitting here with an earned $15.

So how do people do it? How do you seriously get a successful fundraiser when everyone you thought supported you . . ignores you? How do those you thought were close to you and would help you out with anything, just ignore you? Frustrating????? To say the least.

back in the groove

So last night a great friend of mine offered to watch the kids while I ran. We met at Starbucks at 5:30 and headed up to Millerton Lake. Chandra (my team mate) and I went with our coaches in their car. We were suppossed to start running right at 6 but the gates weren't open yet so we had to wait out on the main road til they opened. We finally got in, stretched a bit and started our run. The first half was on road but then we hit the trails. Talk about a work out. Trying to not run in the crevaces on this narrow dirt trail was certainly a challenege. Lots of twists and turns and hills. Before I even hit the trails my thighs were starting to burn but I just had to keep going, every step hitting to the beat of my music, trying to maintain the same pace through the workout. It was do-able. I reached the half way point for the half marathoners, had my gatorade and headed back towards our starting area. It was then that I passed my coaches as they were running in with part of the group. One of them turned back and came running with me. She was telling me I'm such a strong runner (since I was leading the half marathon group by a good distance) that I should switch to full marathon. That would be great, but without enough practice time I just don't want to put my body through that. So she suggested I just run with the level 1 marathon runners for practice. So I guess next time I'm out, that's exactly what I'll be doing. After not running for so many years, it's nice ot have someone tell me I'm doing a good job. I really thought that when I started this I would be running with experienced runners and I would look like a joke. I was so self-conscious and was hoping to just meet a few new people. Luckily even the experienced runners don't make you feel like the bottom of the pit. Everyone is awesome and I am so glad to be part of TEAM IN TRAINING!!!

Tupperware Fundraiser

Well tonight I had my Tupperware Fundraiser. I had 8 fantastic friends who showed up. I'm not sure how much I made for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society yet since my party isn't closing until Monday but I'm just glad people came out tonight! I actually saw a few things I am wanting to get so hopefully I can afford it . .lol.

Tomorrow a fantastic friend of mine is getting up at the butt-crack of dawn to drive across town and watch my kiddos so I can run with the team. This will be awesome because it has been a few weeks since I had a sitter to be able to go run. We are running almost 7 miles tomorrow so I'm hoping I can do it and really hoping I don't stop to walk at all. We are running up at Millerton Lake so that should be lots of fun. I wasn't planning on running so I hadn't really prepared today. So now I'm sitting here drinking up some water and will probably have a protein bar. I did however have an instant breakfast today so that gave me some calories and other "yummy" stuff I need to survive . . lol. I will definitly be paying back this friend with a yummy Starbucks. She's gonna need one by the time I get back . .lol.

So tomorrow I'll blog again and let everyone know how I did. Oh . . better run and charge my I-Pod! Adios!

Upcoming Fundariasers!

On July 18th I will be hosting a Tupperware Fundraising party. This will be at 6:30pm at my house. 1244 E. Stuart Ave, Fresno 93710 Please rsvp at 708-8940 if you plan on coming.


Also we are hosting a BUNCO PARTY! This will be held on July 20th. Whether you are a experienced player or you have never played before, please join us for an afternoon of fun! This will be held at my house 1244 E. Stuart Ave, Fresno 93710 at two differnet time frames. Please pick a time that works best for you. We have 3pm and 6pm to choose from. It is a $20 buy-in and wonderful prizes from lia sophia, Avon, Starbucks, and much more will be awarded! Please rsvp at 708-8940 if you can come!

Another Race

Today I ran a 5K for the North Fresno Rotary. It started and ended at Fig Garden Village here in Fresno. This time I started out on a much better pace. Even though I had only a few hours of sleep (thanks to my puppy and my youngest child), I still felt like I was running good. They didn't have placings in this one like the 4th of July run, but I just wanted to get some run time in. I ran the 5K in 21:04 this time. Once again, I never stopped running. I did almost roll my ankle though on a turn. My asthma started to kick my butt though I kept it under control. So basically, I think I did pretty good this time.

Unfortunately our run team is not training in the evenings for a while and only doing mornings. Mornings, that early, are too hard for me to find a sitter. If the hubby was here it would be a problem. But a 12 year old doesn't want to come to my house at 4:40 or 5:40am to babysit. So for now I will just train on my own.