How to Spend Money

Like most Americans, you have a lot of extra money to spend.  If you're like me, you get paid way too much money for the work you put in at the office (or restaurant or coal mine or cruise ship or wherever you actually do work).  You've probably also found that the cost of living is incredibly low nowadays.  Mortgage and rent payments are practically nonexistent.  Healthcare is nearly free.  Groceries almost pay you to take food off the shelves.

Or maybe not any of those things.  But maybe you have a few extra dollars to put toward a good cause anyway?  I, for one, am a sucker for a good cause.  Show me 30 seconds of sad cat and dog faces set to sad Sarah McLachlan music and my wallet practically opens itself.  Allow me to present you with a good cause:  The A-T Children's Project.  I'm running a couple back-to-back races in August (a 10k on Saturday and half marathon on Sunday) in partnership with the organization and have committed to raising money to support research and the search for a cure for ataxia-telangiectasia.

Perhaps you're not convinced that you should put your hard earned dough towards this endeavor.  Well, my friend, I scoured the internet today and have compiled a list of things that you could buy that are worse than donating to charity.  Without further ado:

1.  Baby Mop
2.  Crafting with Cat Hair
3.  Canned Unicorn Meat
4.  Mildew Perfume
5.  Tortoise Cozy

It's not that I disagree in theory with putting your baby to work or making sure your turtle is ensconced in something that does not look like a turtle.  It's just that I think you can put those things on a birthday wish list or christmas list so your loved ones know what to get you on those special days.

On a more serious note, if you're still unconvinced, take a second to peruse these blogs.  They are written by parents of children with A-T.  It's an illness that few people have heard of so if you are interested in connecting with the cause, I'd urge you to read a little so you know what the kiddos (and their families) are dealing with.  It's a pretty raw deal.  Your donations would mean a lot.  The blogs I've linked to below are not affiliated with A-T Children's Project, which is the charity I'm supporting via your donations.  I'm just including them because they helped me put faces on a disease I had never heard of before partnering with A-T Children's Project for my races.

Bradenwinks
Ameliasproject
Jillshope

Here's one last link and it's an important one... the link to my fundraising page.  I appreciate anything and everything.  I'm hoping to raise quite a bit of money and am pretty far from my goal but I'm still optimistic.  Click here to go to Erica's A-T Children's Project Personal Fundraising Page.

Peas and Love,

Erica