Out For Blood

Hello??

Yoo-Hooo? Knock-Knock!

Anybody out there?

Cuz those photos of you all donating blood aren’t exactly filling my In Box! Is it because you are all out there RIGHT this minute getting those veins popped? Come on! Please don’t be scared!

I was thinking of ways to make it even easier for you, and aside from me driving over to your house, picking you up, and taking you to the Blood Center, holding your hand, I’m not sure what else I can do? I can call you while you’re in the chair, sing you a little ditty while you’re getting your blood drawn, maybe something like this:

I promise you that it won’t hurt!

It’s just a teeny tiny little squirt!

The blood really won’t ooze!

You’ll save a life if you choose!

How would you like for me to sing that to you over the phone? I will! I swear I will! And you can bet there are more verses just brewin’ up inside of me. Don’t make me break out in Blood-Donatin’-Song-And-Dance. Cuz… You know I will.

And come on! After you send in your picture of you donating, I’ll call you, and we can talk about your experience and then I’ll blog about it and that way you’ll be able to tell everyone how simple it really was! It’ll be fun! We’ll chat! And if you live near me, maybe I’ll go with you when you give blood. Would you like that? Or would that maybe freak you out? I could wear the wig! You know, go incognito!


Thanks to all of you who have linked to this cause! You rock! And to those of you who have tagged onto this contest! For instance, Hope for the Hopeless is getting involved and is giving away TWO steak dinners if you donate! Well, she's not sending you the actual steak! She's giving away two $25 gift cards to either Outback or Lonestar. So you have two chances to win! One here, and one over at her site! So after you donate, send your picture to me and then to her, and not only will you win money here, you can also win a gift card toward dinner! And there are some other bloggers who have come forward with the intent of donating to the cash prize so come on, roll up those sleeves! Don’t be afraid!

And today I fielded my first call from a reporter! I didn’t tell you all this, but I wrote a press release with the heading:

LOCAL BLOGGER BLEEDS FOR CAUSE!

I sent it to some of the papers in the hopes that I will get more people involved in the cause, because if I can load up a car with six kids and take them all with me to get my vein deflated, surely a few others can! The reporter said she really wants to write the story, and she was looking for a personal angle and it just so happens the paper is in the town where I went to high school, so hopefully THAT’S enough of a tie-in and she’ll call me back for the story. We’ll see.

I want to thank those of you who already donate on a regular basis. You already know how amazing it is that you do this, and how great it makes you feel, and how many lives you do save! And thank you to those of you who have tried to donate but are unable to.

I’ve thought about the fact that I’m giving away my own money for this and then I wondered if I’m maybe a little crazy. Aside from the fact that I already am regardless if I'm giving away money or not, I don’t think I'm crazy for doing it if people donate blood. Many people donate to charities or good causes all of the time.

This is my charity I want to contribute to, and it’s two-fold. I’m donating money, but I’m also hopefully going to get YOU involved in this, and hopefully you will feel so good afterward that you’ll continue donating on a regular basis and it’ll explode from there. You know, that Clairol hair commercial--telling two friends, and so on... So many people need your blood. I was thinking of it this way as well. If you had extra food, you’d share. You have extra blood available. You can share that too. What's a little blood amongst friends?

I don’t want my blog to become a Blood Donating Soap Box, so don’t worry, it won’t, but please consider it. I’ll make it fun. Send in a goofy picture of you donating blood. If you’re nervous about it, I seriously will call you and talk you through it. I’ll sing you the song. I’ll make up another verse to another song. Heck, don’t make me break out a youtube video cuz you know I will! How YOU doin'?

Start sending me those photos at manicmommy@comcast.net, and for complete contest details, read the previous post HERE.

In OTHER NEWS:

Today I started my “Sit-In-Chair-From-Noon-To-1:30-And-Write-Book-No.-2” Campaign, and let me tell you, honestly, I have been scared shitless and very anxious over this new quest. I have no idea why. I've already written one book. I love to write. I WANT to write. I NEED to write. But the thought of making me be responsible four days a week is really scary.

And I woke up this a.m. with a raging sinus headache because it is 62 degrees on January 7 in Chicago and overcast and the barometric pressure is way outta whack and so is my head, so I’m thinking, how am I gonna write with such a bad headache? But I pulled through, got Tukey on the bus at 11:40, and sat down to write at 11:57.

And I felt like a writer. And pulled up my WIP, which I am now calling a NOI (Novel-Of-Intent), which you can read the first teeny bit HERE, if you haven’t already. And I got a big ice water, shut my office doors, ignored the phone that rang three times, took one bathroom break and got reacquainted with my long-lost characters. I wrote a little, not a lot, but enough to find me liking what I was doing and not feeling so scared anymore, and thinking that I could probably get up and do the same thing tomorrow. So, that in itself was an accomplishment.

Next thing – The WW Update. OK, so I started back at WW on December 1. Mr. Manic said I was crazy to start back then. Who does that? Start back right in the most hellish time of desserts and eggnog, and Bailey’s Chocolate Mint and Chocolate Caramel flavors debut, and filet mignon, and cakes and cookie exchanges and caramel corn, and all that yummy stuff that only surfaces in the month of December. Who does this? I did.

And I managed through it, and still ate all of that yummy stuff, and never felt sad or deprived, never cried late at night in bed because I didn’t get to have a piece of French Silk Pie, and guess what?

Since December 1, I have lost 7.6 pounds. You can line up about 30 Quarter Pounders and look at that pile of beef and bun and then say, “That’s how much fat has dropped from Manic.”

Yep, that’s how I look at weight loss. Pretty whacky, but that’s the way I stay on track.

So, Blood, Writing, Watching my Weight. That’s what I’m focusing on right now.

In the meantime, I think there’s a needle out there with your name on it, and I’m waiting for those pictures! I want my In Box all clogged up with your blood-spilling veins and your smiling faces!

Peace UP!