Fishnets, knee-high boots and charity

A couple of days ago, when I was supposed to be working, I was actually out on a lunch date. The night before, my toddler son had asked me to draw pictures of him and his mommy and daddy. "What's dat?" he asked, pointing to a picture I'd drawn of myself, which, unfortunately for me, resembled an illustration of Star Trek's Spock. (I was a straight-A student in high school, who struggled to get 60s and 70s in art.)
"That's a skirt," I said.
"Skirt?" he asked.
"Yes, skirt," I replied.
"Mommy, you don't wear skirts! You wear hockey skates."
It was one of those smack-me-upside-the-head moments, where I realized that, in fact, I had worn skates more than skirts in the past month:
Skates: 3.
Skirts: 0.
So, with my fishnet stockings, mini black skirt and knee-high boots, I set off to work, ready to take my sweetie out for lunch and play hooky for a few hours.
We met up for lunch at Confederation Place Hotel, where we greeted by the delicious smell of hearty stuffing, loaded with herbs; moist, glistening turkey; and a view of Kingston's snow-sprinkled harbour that's fit for a snowglobe.
I was already seated when my husband came up behind me, put his hand on my shoulder to gently let me know he was there, and then bent down and kissed me, stealing some of my sparkly pink lipstick.
Ah, it was just the two of us …
… and more than 100 Kingstonians who also wanted to give underprivileged local teenagers a Christmas.
Operation Teen Christmas 2008 was a lunch with a silent and live auction to raise money so that teenagers can have a gift under the tree on Dec. 25. Teenagers are often overlooked when it comes to clothing and toy drives. Last year, the Salvation Army decided to do something about it and started this lunch. Tickets were $25. Money was also raised through the auctions. Diners had the opportunity to bid on 10, eight-person turkey dinners that would be delivered to needy families on Christmas Eve.
Fellow diners who attended last year said the gathering was much larger this year. And next year, like any three-year-old, it could be an event that's wonderfully out-of-control, because I tell you, it's only a matter of time before others learn about this event and it sells out.
Sure, you have to sneak out of work for a few hours, but how can anything be bad that feels sooo good?
After a delicious lunch, two cups of coffee, and a few bites of mini carrot cakes and Nanaimo bars – each table had their own platter of desserts with brownies and chocolate-covered strawberries – it was time for my date with my husband to come to an end.
Life is busy, especially this time of year, and everyone I know craves more time with their significant other. Next year, think about turning Operation Teen Christmas into your own lunch-time sneak-away.
It's better to give than to receive, but this event is a win-win situation: By buying a $25 lunch, you're raising money for the Salvation Army to give a teenager a gift so that she can still believe in Christmas magic and you get to go on a week-day date. And be a little naughty. Or nice.
Operation Teen Christmas 2009? I'd like to reserve two tickets, please.
Whoever said fishnet stockings and charity don't mix?

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My $2 donation to charity

The saddest commercial I have ever seen is from my childhood. Children of the '80s and dog lovers will remember a spot where two male voices are coming from inside a house. One voice says, "Where's that puppy?" and another male voice says, "A puppy? He's not a puppy anymore. He stays outside now." Then, the commercial moves to a dog looking hopeful in his doghouse, but you can tell he's freezing in the wicked winter weather. And then a tear runs down his little doggy face. I felt like, at any moment, the homeowner was going to come out and rescue him - but he never did. Every single time I watched it, I thought it was going to end differently.

It made me cry every time I saw it. I don't even know what it was advertising - the humane society? Dog food? Windows? But it got me, because when I was little, I loved animals.

It was also a dog that got me to give my first charitable donation. Before there were Loonies and Toonies, we had $1 and $2 bills. When I was little, I saved up my allowance and Tooth Fairy money. I also got to roll my mom's pennies and sometimes keep a $1. One night, a telethon was on for the Toronto Humane Society. I remember seeing dogs alone in their cages, waiting for someone to love them, and dogs running down the road alone, searching for their owners who'd ditched them. (Remember The Littlest Hobo? That theme song can still make me cry, too.)

I told my mom I wanted to pledge my savings to the humane society so I could save a dog. I ran to my room and got my brown leather wallet out of my end table and pulled out 12 $1 bills. It was my life savings. I remember I called the humane society and told them they could have my $12.

Later, we got our pledge form mailed to us - and there was a horrible mistake. They'd registered me for a $2 donation, $10 short of what I really wanted to give.

I cried. Again. Two dollars seemed too little.

I don't know where that person went for many years. My teen years and my 20s were all about me. Yes, for years, as an elementary and high school student, I brought in my obligatory bags of food for the local food bank and I carried the Unicef box around my neck at Halloween, but I definitely lost that sense of devastation and charity that visions of suffering puppies once aroused in me. For a decade, I basically gave nothing and did nothing for other people. I can't take those years back, but I'm trying to make up for them now.

Every day, we are told times are not good and the world is in a recession. This week, the Kingston area lost hundreds of jobs. Charities are worried. The people who used to give are giving less and, in some cases, the givers may need to become the users.

Yesterday morning, the Kingston Frontenac Lennox and Addington United Way announced that it raised $2,848,000 for numerous local groups, including women's shelter Interval House, Canadian National Institute for the Blind, Kingston Youth Shelter and Kingston Literacy. I went to the celebration breakfast that recognizes the achievements of local giving people.

This area raised $48,000 more than the goal. It's good, but it won't be enough because it's never enough.

I scoured YouTube looking for the abandoned dog commercial. If I ever find it, I'll share it with you because I promise you, one look at the pup and you'll drain your bank account to help the world's most vulnerable creatures.

Don't even get me started on the 1980s McDonald's commercial where a group of children go skating with Ronald McDonald - but then one little boy gets left behind ...

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Beans, beans the magical fruit. They make you happy, they make you t**t

Every year at The Whig, we hold a Chilifest as a United Way fundraiser.
A few years ago, when I was a single gal living in my own little apartment, I made a massive batch of chili according to my mama's instructions.
It was OK, but no one really ate it. There were really good cooks at work who were making steak chili, pork tenderloin chili and chilies with real chili peppers and authentic seasonings. I tossed in a bunch of extra lean ground beef, some chili powder and green peppers.
Last year was a little worse. The husband and I were in a massive, massive fight so I was ticked off the whole time I was making the chili. In between dumping ingredients into our big pot, I was fighting. During one wicked round of arguing, I left the chili, only to discover that all the kidney beans had stuck to the side of the container and had burnt themselves black.
With no time to make another batch, I had only one option: I had to pick out all sizzled-black kidney beans, one by one. Do you have any idea how long it takes to pick two cans of kidney beans out of a batch of chili. Again, no one at work really ate my chili (even though I threw in pineapple to sassy it up a little).
This year.
Well, what can I say.
It has been a nutty few weeks.
There's work, which takes up a bulk of my life.
Exercise.
Toddler.
Errands and the stuff of life.
Plus, I've been doing a bunch of things for our United Way fundraising.
(We also spent a night this week at the Wiggles. See previous post).
So, it's Thursday night, chili is due the next day, and as a member of the United Way committee, I have to have it done. I have all the ingredients: Lean ground turkey, peppers, onions, chili powder, (pineapple, maybe) and beans.
Except, by the time I got home from work at 6:30, I still had a column to write for work, movie capsules to finish off for the Saturday paper, Halloween stuff to get ready for the next day, and dinner to make.
And, yet, being the superstar mother, wife, baker, cook, leaf-raker woman that I am, I got my pot of chili done and still had time to watch CSI at 9 p.m.
How'd I do it?
I'd like to take this moment to thank Campbell's, maker of wonder soups and Chunky CHILIs. Four cans of chili, plus one can of beef soup to alter the consistency, plus some hand-cut green peppers and I had chili. Which no one ate again. But chili it was. And on time. (Don't tell anyone. My United Way chili committee would be "a-gassed.")

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