I'm Alive (sorta)
On Sunday, August 15th, it was my parents' 45th wedding anniversary. On that same day, a wildfire took out their house, their shop, and everything they owned. Thankfully they got out with their dogs and are basically camping out on their burned out property in a motor home. The did not have insurance.
So I'm asking you to share their GoFundMe on your social media accounts. I know money is tight right now, but if you could just take a moment to share it would be so appreciated.
https://gofund.me/925fa051
*sigh*
What I've been doing lately
Painting painting painting
This one was a wedding gift. I'm going to try and be on LJ more. I miss you guys!
Edited to resize pic because dammit.
Want to Help a Family in Need this Christmas?
"Due to the overwhelming need in our community we are giving away at least 2 more vehicles to help families in need! Thank you all for sharing your stories on our page and being a part of this! Because we are adding additional vehicles into the giveaway, we will extend the voting period 3 additional days. The voting deadline is now December 21st. The winners will be contacted and announced before Christmas!"
The cousin of a girl I went to High School is trying to win the van. Here story is here (FaceBook Link). All you have to do to vote for her is like the status and perhaps share it if you feel moved to. A "like" counts as one vote, a "share" counts as two. The votes can come from anywhere. The post has at least made it to France and Spain but every vote helps! Here is her story if you want to read it before clicking the link:
"I would like to nominate myself and my little family. I am a single mother of 4 beautiful kids, I work hard to provide for my family and to make sure we have what we need. And what we need more then anything right now is a vehicle (and good health) My family has been through so much these past few years, and can't seem to catch a break. It seems as soon as I save almost enough money for a down payment on a car, something comes up. My 5 year old daughter was diagnosed with Epilepsy, so we have many ongoing doctor appointments in Spokane (we live approx. 40 mi away). My health isn't or hasn't been well since 2011, I was diagnosed with Graves disease and just recently went through radiation treatments for my eyes. After the treatments I received more bad news, having to go through surgery to remove cysts and cancer spots from my cervix and ovaries. And just recently my youngest child was hospitalized for some health complications caused by a recent surgery he just had. With everything going on, we all remain hopeful and positive. Having lost my 6 month old son back in 2009, I have learned to count my blessings and be grateful for what I have, but not having a vehicle has been hard on us. I work full time, and to get to work I have to get my babies up and ready early in the morning, we walk to catch the local bus to bring us to their daycare, then I walk from there to work. This is our daily routine, and with this cold weather, it has been a bit rough. Winning a van and food will take so much weight and worries off of our shoulders, it will help us in so many ways. But... Win or lose I will still be hopeful that good luck will soon find us. Please vote and share to give us a chance!! Merry Christmas"
Thank you to anyone who helps out with this, and feel free to signal boost if you want to!
-
hopeful
My Latest Creation
-
hopeful
Help Please?
I was hoping y'all could do me a really big favor and fill out some surveys for a friend of mine. She's gathering info for a business idea she's had and the more feedback, the better (feel free to signal boost this, if you want). Anyway, the surveys are completely anonymous and would help her out a great deal, and I'd really appreciate it as well! I'm just going to copy and paste her FaceBook post here:
"I'm posting this again since I'm still trying to gather responses. Please feel free to like, share my status, and comment, because the more feedback I get, the better I can develop my concept. Don't hesitate to send it to anyone, healthy or otherwise. These are anonymous, and ask 20 questions total, so they should take about 5 minutes.
The gist of my business idea is that it's exceedingly expensive to get certain medical care in the USA and that many people have been priced out of the surgical market. In response, many people travel internationally for care, but most of it is for "luxury" services such as plastic surgery OR by people who already have direct ties to first generation immigrants so it's easier for them to return to a country of origin for care. Since there's so many important things people need, I'm trying to see if it's possible to reach out to people who are in need yet lack first-generation ties, and what they'd think about the idea, even if it's negative. To this end I've written two surveys in the hopes that I could capture some feedback on this idea:
1. Demographics of Healthcare Seekers
- https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/6GL…
2. Determining the Needs of Medical Tourists
- https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/DZN…
If you would respond to these surveys and comment when completed, that would be incredibly helpful. If you'd like to ask questions, feel free to post them or IM me. If you share them on FaceBook, please remove the URL preview, since it stops people from noticing the second survey.
Thank you so much for the help!"
Thanks from me too (and if you do have questions, feel free to ask me and I can be the go-between)! My friend used to have an LJ (way back in the day) but she's long since stopped using it.
ETA: Responses from outside the US are welcome!
-
hopeful
Northern Washington Fires Fly Through 8-24-2015 @ 12:30AM PDT
This video focuses on WA but before they zoom in you can see just how many fires are burning in Oregon, Idaho and Montana. This is crazy. It really puts it in perspective.
-
distressed
Fire, Fire Everywhere
In case you hadn't heard, Obama officially declared a state of emergency for Washington State, which is on fire. Three firefighters died in a horrific accident when flames overtook their vehicle, and that hit very close to home for me because my older brother is a wildland firefighter. The flags here are flying at half-mast today, to honor them. The state is so low on firefighters that they've recruited the military troops from Joint Base Lewis-McChord and asked for volunteers for the first time ever. The air quality here is so bad that it's at 287 (300 and over is considered hazardous). I'm pretty safe where I live in the Spokane city limits, but it's still so scary. The city smells like a campfire, no matter where you go. The light from the sun is distorted into an eerie yellow haze that makes it impossible to tell if it's 9 AM or 5 PM. I feel suspended in a smoky, timeless limbo. It's very unsettling.
Australia, New Zealand and Wisconsin are sending firefighters to help out with the chaos. That's amazing to me, and it's so very appreciated. That's a long, long way to trek to help out, and I know they'll probably never see this post, I just wanted to put my appreciation out there.
-
anxious
Stolen From a Bunch of People
| Rank | Name |
| 1 | Magical Connection (telepathy, etc) |
| 2 | Amnesia |
| 3 | Royalty/Arranged Marriage |
| 3 | Enemies to Friends to Lovers |
| 5 | Fake Dating/Fake Marriage Accidentally Turns Into Feelings |
| 6 | Age Difference (possibly due to time travel) |
| 7 | Seemingly Unrequited Pining |
| 8 | Vampires/Werewolves AU |
| 9 | Trapped in an Elevator/Snowed-In Cabin/etc |
| 10 | Reincarnation/'25 Lives' AU |
| 11 | 'Groundhog Day'/Karmic Time Warp |
| 12 | Friends to Lovers |
| 13 | Espionage AU |
| 14 | Coffee House AU/Food Service AU |
| 15 | Loyalty Kink |
| 16 | Soulmate Identifying Marks: Tattoo, Red Thread of Fate, etc |
| 17 | High School/Uni AU |
| 18 | Fake Out Make Out |
| 19 | Sex Pollen |
| 20 | Rivalmancy |
| 21 | Hurt/Comfort |
| 22 | Found Families |
| 23 | Role Reversal AU |
| 24 | Adopting/Raising a Baby |
| 25 | Selfcest (possibly due to time travel) |
| 26 | Actually Unrequited Pining |
| 27 | Incest |
| 27 | A/B/O |
Haha, nice! My top two are my two big bang stories. Guess that means next on my list is a royalty/arranged marriage fic.
-
amused
