Just an update, I'm shaking the tree so all the beautiful blossoms come floating out and visit.
I miss engagement with actual people, I am very good with that. While I'm certainly not a luddite, quite the opposite, I have spent far more time in the forest than screening, so I'm still getting the hang of it all. I have had a web presence since there's been a web, it started with convenience, I was teaching a comparative religion class. Some of the people from that class decades ago still use the internet and my websites to stay in touch. Still others have offered their own content ideas. The result is a web presence with multiple personality disorder.
Until the pandemic hit I was mostly a Hoblogger (Hobby Blogger), I never even considered donations, it's still odd to me as I will always happily help people out in the myriad ways I have over decades for free. Currently, there are circumstances, detailed in my blogsites, that have me in a tight spot. It certainly isn't the first time. It is the first time, however, that a global pandemic has closed a lot of the doors usually open to me for making enough money to survive. While I can guarantee to my readers that I am doing all I can with the tools I have and I am doing the work, I know there are a lot of scammers out there and you have no reason to trust that if you donate to "My Cause" it will be legit.
To that end, Let me just say first off that there are ways to reach out to me and verify that I am real, don't hesitate to use them.
Donations go to:
Food/Water (we don't have plumbing)
Keeping phones on.
Necessities; For example, my daughter wore her shoes until there were holes all the way through the bottoms. Clothing, soap and such.
Laundry- we have to take it to a laundromat. I know that folks who don't have to use a laundromat are often under the impression that it just costs, "a couple a bucks," to do laundry there, but that isn't the case, it's around $10.00 or more to wash and dry a couple of loads.
Gym- Since we have no plumbing we share a gym membership and go there to shower, so long as they're open, though the pandemic has made it inconsistent to say the least.
Essentials- just basic stuff, this is the bullet point for all the things I'm forgetting.
This lovely feral cat that came to us half starved and looking sickly. We call him Speck, he's looking healthier all the time under our care. His ear is clipped, so I think he's fixed. I'd love to get him his shots though.
We aren't frivolous people, we aren't taking donations to get our nails done, we're ultimately the "hand UP" kind of people, not the "hand OUT' kind of people. Only yesterday my daughter started a better paying job with more hours, making more money. We aren't looking to live for free, we're looking to get out of this place and into a place where we can help rather than needing to be helped. I'm better at that anyway, I'm trained for it and have done so for decades.
If it was just me or if my daughter didn't have a good job in the city, I'd head for the mountains, alas, we are staying in town and making it work.
Part of the reason we aren't making ends meet more quickly could be that we aren't able to get that "hand up" from organizations allegedly designed to help people to get back on their feet. We aren't alcoholics or recovering alcoholics, we aren't drug addicts or recovering drug addicts, we have no mental impairments and we're basically healthy. For those reasons, those programs aren't set up to be of use to us.
At any rate, I won't go on and on about it. I know times are tough for everyone right now and to be honest, it's just as important to me and just as appreciated if you engage a bit with my content or offer ideas and suggestions should you have any. I listen with an open mind and an open heart.
To all the people who have already helped out through BMaC or just by visiting my sites, reading and engaging with my content, I offer you my unending gratitude. To anyone thinking, "Oh why not? I'll go have a look..." I thank you as well (even if you don't actually go, lol.)
Maybe a like? A retweet? I am grateful for ALL of it, even the criticism, usually the critics just aren't looking at the big picture, I can help with that too.
At any rate, hoping you and yours are healthy and well and stay that way!
~Hanna