What's at Stake

I'd had 3 book orders, so I was going to donate the sales to the Walk. Unfortunately, for some unknown reason, my card was denied, so I'd gone into my Paypal account to see exactly what I had to work with in there and what the friggin' problem was. I still don't know why Paypal denied the transaction, but I did discover that another order had come in that Paypal never told me about. (Bunghole Paypal!) So I just transferred it all to my bank account and I'll make the donation for all 4 from there when it shows up in that account. Redtape and technology eh? Anyway, I'll be adding $32 and 4 new names to the scrolling box in a few days. That'll bring me up to $1900. That other $100 to the $2,000 is already guaranteed, so it's just about time to raise my goal. I'm upping it to $3000, the total of the team goal. I want to be sure Team Nova raises at least that much, because we've made that much of a commitment.

We meet the reporter tomorrow. I'm really not the slightest bit nervous about meeting her and talking, answering questions, whatever. This is the part I'm excited about, this is the part that's important to me. Putting a face (or 2) to congenital heart defects. Statistics are easy to ignore, until they're wearing a sweet little smile and a pair of baby blues. I want the world to look into those eyes and understand that thousands of lives are at stake here.

I don't know how I earned this honor, but I am committed to it, with or without a newspaper story - this is just an extraordinary bit of luck, and I try very hard not to look a gift horse in the mouth.

Of course, I have no idea what to wear...

We did some more school shopping tonight, and I was not so lucky as last time. Four pairs of shoes, a backpack and some school supplies... Grand total, way more than I spent on Kassi and Bren's whole wardrobe. Ah well, they can't go barefoot. I had to get Bren's shoes tonight, since he goes to school in the morning, already. But Kassi's and Kory's went on layaway. Gotta get them while they're hot. Wait another 2 weeks and all that'll be left is flip flops and fashion disasters. The older 2 don't go back until the end of August, so they will live without them for another week or 2.

We've learned the benefit of using the self-checkout lanes at Walmart, and of course, that's what we did tonight. Unfortunately, we forgot that Terra was holding a lollipop and proceeded to walk out with it. You'll all be happy to know that I took it back in and paid for it, thereby teaching the children a lesson about the importance of honesty, and avoiding the woes of having a 3 year old with a $0.47 shoplifting charge on her rap sheet. I mean, as a minor, I'm sure her criminal records would expunged, or at the very least sealed, when she reaches adulthood, but I wouldn't want to take such a chance with youngest daughter's future for the sake of saving a few steps back into Walmart Shopper Hell... Right?