Back from S.F.!

Hi hi~!

So I haven't been blogging for the past couple of days because Dash and I took an exhausting trip down to San Francisco!

As you may recall one of my New Year's Resolutions is getting the kids their Spanish citizenship.
Well, upon receiving the final missing piece of documentation needed for that the other week, we were able to have a successful appointment with the Spanish Consulate! :D

The long ten-hour long drive down was actually quite a treat since I got to talk to my older sis for her 35th birthday, and with Kathy-neechan constructing more of our story.

Things went without a hitch at the appointment, and now all we have to do is wait the long 6+ months for the Consulates in New York and L.A. to verify all the documents relevant so that we can get a Libro de Familia, and then start the process of getting them their Spanish passports. PHEW!

We were able to make the most of our three-day trip (two of which were all driving) by seeing friends and family!

Martin let us crash at his place while he was at E3, and it was good catching up with him Tuesday night before he left. He and Kathy-neechan really seem to be thriving despite (thanks to?) their long-distance arrangement -- he's taken up shooting pool, hiking, and watching whatever movies he wants without having to make sure Kathy would be interested in it first ;D

We also got to see some dear friends/coworkers at VIZ!

The happenin' Hope Donovan~

We ate a tasty little lunch as we braved the blustery winds of Market Street. Woo-ee!!

Awesome Alexis Kirsch!!!!

I had to take this particular shot since one of my Japanese tutee, Ayden, likes Bakuman. and introduced it to me. :) Alexis even gave me Bakuman. volume 5 because that's the one volume our library doesn't have, and which is keeping me from getting to enjoy the entire series!! SO generous, not just for me but for all of the Corvallis community~!! ♥︎

We also saw Fawn Lau and Marlene First and Mike Montesa and everyone seems happy and well. So that was good~

Lovely Lea Eidler~!!

We also got to see my prima Lea!! After meeting her at her work place, we hit up Zeitgeist, a pretty hip lesbian bar, where we got to catch up. Last time I saw her was in February and she seems to be getting along smashingly in S.F. -- living the hip single girl's life!!

You may be wondering "where were the kids during this whole affair?"
Well, believe it or not, they didn't even have to be present for this appointment with the Consulate, so they spent three days and two nights with the Sansomes!!

They're settle right in like one of the family :D

We'd been a bit curious/worried about William, in particular, since this was his first time ever staying somewhere without Mama and Daddy, and he wakes up every single night to crawl silently into our bed some time around midnight.
But would you believe that he never once did that with them??
Dear God, please that pattern persists here at home!!!!!

And another huge thank you to the Sansomes for so generously taking them in and caring for them so long -- especially just before their own big trip to 日本!!

And with that, we are back at home and stoked because tomorrow is the official last day of school for CWS~! More on that later ;)

Until then, thanks for stopping by, take care and Happy Back from S.F.!!

Lessons Learned

Hi again!

Phew!
I woke up at 5am today, because of a mixture of having had a wee bit too much margarita to drink last night, and also just plain old nerves.

Yesterday, as I'd shown, was a huge haul and now that most everything's sorted, I'm undergoing the long process of posting items up on the CFGE and trying my darndest to really spread the wealth and coordinating all the different pick-up times that work with people's schedules. Lots of work, but also so rewarding knowing that these items will be much appreciated in new homes and rescued from the landfill.

I thought I'd be getting more calls to come and get things from Greek houses again, but apparently not yet... So today was all sorting/posting/coordinating. Phew!

But besides all that, today's post is going to be dedicated to all the lessons I've learned in my first attempt at this Greek House-oriented move-out effort. In no particular order, here they are:

1) Hold the Summer Swap after Commencement weekend

Next year, I really ought to time the Summer Swap to be the Saturday following Commencement, because holy cow it'd be a lot easier to just bag/sort/bring all the items there for Swap attendees to peruse and take at their leisure. Rather than having to photograph and post, say, every pair of shoes and such.
So yeah, mos def gonna do that next year!

2) It's really only a couple of days of having to collect items

I'd had this idea that starting on Monday, I'd be getting called to the Houses to start taking items away because residents would be moving out. But it wasn't until Wednesday, finally, that Chi Omega had me come in to take away a few bags. Really, the majority of students move out Thursday and Friday, especially since some Houses officially close up Friday evening. But some Houses are also left with poorly cleared out rooms which they have to tackle later, even up through the following week, as one House warned us. But in general, it's not the 6-day-long endeavor I'd thought it would be.

3) Greek Houses are a world all their own

When I initially reached out to all the Greek Chapters of OSU, I didn't realize that there were such things as un-Housed frats/sororities, so although I sent out 43 emails, of them, probably a dozen were actual Houses that this effort really works for.

Also, there is a chain of command as to who should be contacted to coordinate of an effort such as this. I simply emailed all the Presidents because that's what I saw on the website, but there are also House Moms/Dads, and facilities managers/directors. Presidents might deal with more social stuff, while the facilities managers deal with how the House is physically run (repairs, clean-ups, etc). So this is right up their alley.

Also, not all fraternities close for the summer so they don't have the same big move-out the way the sororities did.
In fact, I was told by the guys at Sigma Phi Epsilon that it'd be best for me to try getting in touch again in the fall instead, because that's when they do their major clean-up effort. Go figure!

Different houses disseminate information in different ways. For example, Pi Kappa Phi didn't really hand out the move-out kits. The House Dad just took a photo of one of the move-out kits and posted it to their Facebook page. It would be awesome to not have to spend so much money/time on the material side of the move-out kit, if telling them digitally is the way to go.

4) Doorhanger element not as crucial in the move-out kit

I'd had this idea that the move-out kits would go on every resident's doorknob in a given House, so that if the person is away, they could come home to find the move-out kit greeting them right at the door. But Kappa Alpha Theta's facility director told me that she had the board president pass it around at one of the House meetings that all the residents attend. And they had the best turnout of donated items of all the Houses I visited! In fact, I ended up gathering up a lot of leftover/unused move-out kits yesterday, so evidently it hadn't seemed appealing to my contacts there to distribute them doorknob style.

With all the leftovers I have, I think I'll have enough to supply the need for next year's Student Exodus, and what I'm going to do is just chop off the top part that has the hole and the slit to fit over a door knob. It'll be easy to do and will make them look so much tidier :)

And if I have to make new move-out kits, I will not go through the incredibly redundant task of having to punch the 1 1/2" hole and snip the slit. I did that to 1000 of these babies. @_@ So much work! HA!

5) Better signage for the House's designated spot needed

As my previous lesson demonstrated, I really took an individual-by-individual approach with this move-out effort, and there was no other signage anywhere in the House to inform/remind residents who might have, say, misplaced their move-out kit or something. Next year, I think I'll give my contact at the House a nice big sign that just says like "CORVALLIS FAMILIES GIFT ECONOMY DONATION PILE SITE" (or something obviously better than that :D )

Anyway, just something so that even if a resident doesn't have his/her move-out kit information doorhanger piece, they'll at least recognize the donation pile area (be it in the lobby or kitchen, they tended to be a spot with high traffic, thankfully), and be constantly reminded that it's an option for them when dealing with moving out.

Chi Omega and Kappa Alpha Theta's house managers made their own signs for their donation pile areas and, again, they really did have the best piles of generously donated items :)

6) Need to start at the top

Next time I do this, I want to coordinate with the lady in charge of all Greek Life, Leslie Schacht Drey. If I can meet her in the fall, maybe she'll let me make this cause known right off the bat to set the year right for all the new Greek residents that move in. I believe "move in day" is something of an event -- maybe I could get a booth or something?? :D I honestly am very clueless about how this whole Greek community works...

Aaaaaaanyway, so yeah. Lots learned, and lots more to learn I'm sure~!

On a lighter note, I just wanted to share here, for archiving's sake, a couple photos from the GT story that I particularly liked ad were a little more on the hidden side since they weren't the main page one, nor even the second or third :D

I don't quite recall to whom were listening in this shot...

All photos taken by Anibal Ortiz, by the way~!

That clipboard has been my life for the past week :D

I just love all the red going on -- Dash, me, and the bricks in the background in the first shot, in particular. I hadn't realized we were wearing matching colors, Dash and I!

Well, having woken up so darn early, I'm pretty bushed.
Going to turn in early for the night.

Thanks for stopping by, hope you're doing well, and until next time: Happy Lessons Learned!!

Greek Chapters Run :)

Yo yooooooo~!


So today was a big day!
A day I've been looking forward to (dreading) for the past 6 months at least.
The day I go out and hit up all the Greek Houses on my list to see about saving items that might otherwise end up in the dumpster. So instead I can salvage them to be utilized with great appreciation by local families. :)

Accompanied by my wonderful husband and close friend, Angie Weeks, we were a trio to be reckoned with ;)

We hit up eight Greek houses total, mostly on 26th street, and accumulated all these goods to be rescued from the landfill and redistributed to local families:

All women's clothes -- and we're not even done sorting yet!

Shoes, shoes, and more shoes!

Bedding stuff and hats/scarves/gloves box

Quite a bit laundry detergent!! Considered "gold" by any household with young children :D

Thank you, Sigma Kappa, Delta Delta Delta, and Alpha Gamma Delta!!

The main venue for redistributing will be through the Corvallis Families Gift Economy, and anything not posted/claimed will go to the wonderful Vina Moses. While school supplies (pencils, binders, etc) will go to the Jackson Street Youth Shelter.

Kappa Alpha Theta was an incredible resource -- the facility director, Jen, was so on-point in getting all the move-out kits to the residents and designating a spot in their dining hall for items to be dropped off as donation items.

Yesterday, I was able to pick items from some sororities and it resulted in a bunch of postings to the CFGE page with items to be donated (mostly women's clothes!). This weekend will probably be the same :D

So happy that the Gazette Times wasted no time in getting the story out there so as to get the word out about alternatives to throwing items in the trash.

The challenge now lies in distributing items to families in need and helping some of the houses really clear out the leftovers the residents couldn't take with them.

We live in a society of abundance, and that has been made all too clear in this tiny little move-out effort alone. Let us all remember that, next time we feel we need/want something, we look to alternative sources that spare the earth even further consumption of materials and energy.

Thank you for checking in and until next time, take care and Happy Greek Chapters Run!!

Rose Ceremony

Hi hi!

So today was a sweet ceremony at CWS.
The Rose Ceremony is an opportunity for the first graders to give thanks to their 8th Grade Buddies who will be graduating from CWS, by presenting a rose to them in the same way that the 8th graders had presented roses to them in the fall.

The 8th grade class with corresponding 1st grade buddies in front of them

Ella's 8th Grade Buddy was Kayley, a super confident and smart and talented young lady with whom I feel Ella had an instant connection. Kayley's really into birds and is an excellent artist. Her 8th Grade Mentoring Project consisted of learning all about falconing and it seems she really got into the culture of it and became quite an expert herself! I have a feeling this girl is going to go places!! :)

Ella and her classmate William shared Kayley as their 8th Grade Buddy

I didn't see it, but Ella apparently cried a bit during the ceremony.
The class recited a blessing/poem for them, and the whole time Ella was looking right at Kayley.
I really hope we can stay in touch even after she moves on to high school!

As I'd mentioned before, I'd been working on making these origami stars for a gift to the 8th graders I am most acquainted with, so this morning Ella and I strung them into crowns and gave them to them at morning drop-off.

My hope is that they'll want to wear them at graduation and look like the shining stars that they are! :)

Well, until then, thanks for stopping by, take care, and Happy Rose Ceremony!!

Roller Coaster Day

Hello again~!

So today started off super low, but ended pretty high, so I'm here to share with you the ups and downs of this hump day ;)

I started off the morning with volunteering with the OSU Recycling Center's on-campus move-out efforts from 8am to 10am.

It's equal parts admiration for how tight a system they have in place to deal with all the potential waste...and disheartenment at how much consumption and subsequent mindless disposal of material goods takes place. And that's just from what I saw on a Wednesday morning at one campus. When I start thinking about all the other days in the year and locations all over the planet where landfills are being injected with perfectly good items that others are hurting for...well, needless to say it can leave me feeling a little despondent. ;_;

So although I was volunteering (which is supposed to be a good thing) and having a hand in the move-out efforts put on by the campus (a personal passion of mine), it did put me in a bit of a sad mood.

Then I had to come home and work on this grueling manga which had been taking up a lot of my time when what I really wanted to be doing was getting items from the Greek Chapters I'd been in touch with. I was starting to wonder "is anything going to come of all the energy I've poured into the donation drive move-out with them?" A few of the houses have been impossible to get a hold of, and the others keep insisting nothing's really been gathered yet, and to wait for Friday/Saturday.

On one hand, I dread that it'll be a piddly little turn-out, and I'll have hardly made any difference.
And then on the other hand, I dread that it'll be too big for me to handle and end up with me embarrassing myself and nobody wanting to work with me again. ;_;

So yeah, I was a bit of a mess.

But here's where the upturn came in:
In the middle of the afternoon, I got the okay from the Chi Omega sorority to come and pick up some items that had been accruing in their little donation pile.
I drove the car up and this is what I was able to pick up!

A couple of boxes and six bags full of clothes :)

My contact lady there, the facilities manager "Miss C." was such a sweetheart, saying how great an idea she thinks this is and how everybody she tells always agrees, and it just made my heart swell to hear that :)

The moment I got home, I sorted the item and started posting them on the Corvallis Families Gift Economy page. It feels so great to know that these are items that are willingly being parted with by people who honestly didn't want them anymore, and they are finding homes with people who are enthusiastic about receiving them.

Later, after working with the Wednesday night drawing circle (for the last time until the fall!) I started to go about with my "guerilla-style PSA posting" mission. Mind you, it was 9pm when I got started, so I only got 200 posted around before I felt terribly tired, hungry, and cold. >_<

Oh, well. I will go out again tomorrow night, me thinks~!

OH! And the icing on the cake, was getting word back from CWS that they'd accepted our tuition adjustment plea so that both kids can go to school there again next year :D Yaaaaaay!!!!!

Phew!
So yeah, what a day of despair and hope, frustration and progress.

Thanks for stopping by, and until next time, take care and Happy Roller Coaster Day!!

Student Exodus Progress

Howdy howdy!

So today was another super scorcher, and as I sit here typing, my nape is throbbing with a sun burn ;_;
D'oh! I try to be so good about putting on sun screen, and did my face and arms but didn't realize how exposed my nape was during all my bike riding today... Oh, well. I've applied aloe vera so I'll hope for the best!

Anyway, today's highlights included the passive but larger outreach effort I'm making for my Student Exodus endeavor: business card sized shout-outs!

The front of the card

The back

These will be taped to (by?) the doors of student-filled apartments in the next couple of days.
The idea being that students will take the minute or two it takes to make a curb alert post on CL and leave their items on the curb, rather than chuck perfectly good things in the dumpster.

The QR code brings you directly to a Corvallis Craigslist new post form.

I got 1000 made, and when I think about just the apartments on 11th street, it makes me wonder how far I'll be able to stretch these things :D

Besides that, I am now going to start listening to "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?" on audiobook while I make more origami stars. This batch of origami stars will be for my goodbye present to the CWS 8th grade graduating class ^^

Will post photos of that when they are all done!

Until then, take care and Happy Student Exodus Progress!!

Summer 2016 Clothing Swap

Howdy hoooo~!


So today was the 2016 Summer iteration of the Corvallis Family Clothing Swap.
I swear, with every Swap I can feel the machine of it running smoother and smoother.
I have a dedicated team of volunteers who go above and beyond to make sure the Swap is going as well as it can both during and after all the attendees are there.

I love these ladies!!!!!!!

I felt that today's crowd was maybe a little smaller than usual, with both new attendees and veteran ones alike :D
Must've been the sweltering hot weather (99 degrees here in Corvallis!) that made people decide to lie low and be more subdued...

A lot was brought in but a lot was taken out too so that by the end we didn't feel overwhelmed by the mega piles of leftovers or anything :)

Mandy S. was such a dear, looking out for my and my sister's clothing needs and finding many a good professional pieces for Kathy-neechan down in VA.

So thankful to our sponsors, as always.
I had this vision that Dash would go around and take video testimonials of happy Clothing Swap goers so that we could send them to our sponsors, but the shyness bug took over. So he opted, instead, to take photos of happy folks on their way out. I think I'll make something of a collage/PPT for our sponsors using that instead. ;)

It was cool to talk to certain attendees who'd been attending since their little ones were in utero and who are now wee little babies sitting in their baby carriers. Talk about an intergenerational experience :D

It was too hot to try on my new finds to showcase in a fashion show style, but trust me I have found a couple treasures~!

Well, til next time take care and Happy Summer 2016 Clothing Swap!!