And you thought I wasn't coming back.....HA!

My good people, after two solid weeks of no real news popping up on this page, I am immensely happy to report that I just got home from wagging a pile o' people over the river and through the woods to the mall, where toy shopping was our prime directive.

Mission accomplished! The next batch will go in two weeks.

In the meantime, there are photos and stories to share, but I am wiped out and wobbly tonight. Hopefully, an already-full weekend will allow for some uploading and more posting sometime tomorrow or Sunday.

Thanks so much, you people. You are inestimably wonderful to have helped put toys in the hands of children who lost (in many, many cases) every comfort item they own. The looks on the parents' faces, OHMYLORD, were oftentimes even more fabulous than the expressions the children were making. Blessings on you.

(not disappearded)

Just wanted to update and say, "No, I've not forgotten that there's a website devoted to this cause, I've just been crazy-busy with phone calls and faxes and coordinating this and that with him and her and him over there."

Bureaucracy. LOVE it.

It's looking like the first (smallish) group of kids will be shopping this Friday evening.

Now I'm off to go round up some paperwork to e-mail PayPal in order to convince them that this is a legit endeavor. This has all been a great learning experience for me personally, and is preparing me in a great way for any charitable fundraising I'll undertake in the future.

I leave you with a quote and an image that I fell across last week:

"A makeshift relief collection and distribution center popped up in the Toys-R-Us parking lot, Toys-R-Us generously lending about half its lot for the disaster relief efforts. This little girl, Breanna Sutton, and her sister were mostly smiles while I talked to their grandma. Children should have toys. It adds some normalcy to otherwise anything-but-normal times."

The emphasis, of course, is purely my own...based on the donations and questions and interest to date, however, there are lots of people who agree with that little bit of sentiment.

Skillzy: Crazed Fan

The Skillzy: Crazed Fan challenge is onnnnn.

"I’ve got a challenge for all of you. This weekend the (beloved) Red Sox have a 3-game series in the heart of darkness, (evil) Yankee Stadium. Here’s my pledge:

"For every run that Boston scores in the series, I will donate $5 to my favorite hurricane relief charity, up to $100. For every game that Boston wins I’ll donate another $5, and if they sweep the Evil Empire another $25 goes in, for a potential total of $140."

More on that here. If you're a huge baseball lunatic fan, Skillzy has a place for you over here. If you support anyone but the Red Sox (and ESPECIALLY if you are a 'Spankees' fan) you will likely be mercilessly mocked. You been warned, pal.

Please take a new button:


...and please also note that the same generous person supplying the button also set us up with our own domain, WOO! We're so close to being Oh Fishull that I may just have to buy a skirt and a mean look. Wait, I already own a mean look.

I got big news yesterday. Stay tuned; I'll post more on that as soon as some things are ironed out.

Couple of things.

I got word yesterday afternoon that people will be housed about twenty minutes from here in the state park. After the Gadsden refugees are taken care of, I will make an effort to serve the families housed at Guntersville State Park. Estimates say that a minimum of one-thousand people will be taking up residence there. If the numbers are running consistent with other places locally, that means there will be between two-hundred fifty and three-hundred fifty children to be served.

I will dance a jig if you people link this place like crazy and talk all of your friends and kinfolk into donating a little something. No really. I will.

Speaking of links, the very wonderful people packaged as Joelle and Dan have showered buttony love on the project! Feel free to take any of these






and link back to this here page.

I love it when a plan comes together.

So I'm at the office this morning, gettin' mah work on, when I get a call from a gentleman named John Keats. He works at the KBtoys home office, so I wasn't surprised to be getting a call, per se. What did surprise me, however, was the way that he identified himself: "I'm John Keats, and I'm the Director of Smiles for KBtoys."

Now normally, all you people, I'd laugh someone off the phone for telling me something like that. This fella, though...this fella was so kind and wonderful and gracious that I cannot bring myself to mock the corny title. Number one, because it's not untrue; he made ME smile. Number two, because he told me the very great news that not only will they be giving us a twenty percent discount off of the top, but that the company wants to cater to us so that the children can have the best shopping experience possible.

This means they will have extra staff at the store and make the store available solely to us on the day(s) and time(s) of our choice. I don't know how many of you guys are aware of how retail operations go, but this is unheard of. Not only will most retail chains NOT staff extra people (equalling payroll dollars they have to shell out) but I've only heard of the rich and famous having the run of a store. KBtoys has even offered to open up to two hours early if we'd prefer to get there when there is light foot traffic in the mall.

Dig that!

Shortly after I got off of the phone with Mr. Keats, the District Manager, Tom Edwards, called me. This man is on vacation, you people, and he called me. He even gave me the number to his mobile so that I can call him at my convenience. You know what he said right before we hung up? "It'd be really good if you are able to give us at least a couple of days' notice, because we'd like to have extra things at the store for the children."

He was talking refreshments, I know for sure, and then he threw in a cryptic 'other things'. THESE PEOPLE ARE GOING TO LET KIDS SHOP AT A DISCOUNT, HAVE THE STORE TO THEMSELVES AND THROW THEM A LITTLE SHINDIG. KBtoys is doing all this, and they don't want a shred of press for it. To quote Mr. Keats, "We just like to help."

All of you are welcome to drop an e-mail letting them know they are wonderful (be sure to mention all these people's names, as well as Aurelia's...she is the assistant manager where we will be shopping and is a pure-d sweetheart). You could also shop there regularly. I did before, but I am most assuredly a loyal customer now.

Oh yeah, hit the button, buy a kid a comfort item! And now that we have a system in place, those of you that would rather buy gift cards and mail them/have them shipped to me are more than welcome to do so. Please email me at JettSuperiordon'tputinthispart@gmail.com and I'll give you any information you might need.