Highlowaha: Bunny Bunny and Blog-a-thon

So much to cover, so little time! I'll be quick and we'll have the usual announcements at the end.

Today we will start with Rabbit Rabbit, Bunny, Bunny. For months I have committed to sharing this idea and for months I wake up and suddenly it's the second day of the month. Too late. Not this month. This month, come #!@* or high water, I will remember to share this fun little monthly tradition.

I have no idea the origin of Rabbit Rabbit, Bunny Bunny... what, if any, symbolism there is to this activity, or even how it came to be. All I know is that my sister and I engaged in this ritual on the last night of each month. Call it mindless fun. The idea is simple. On the last day of a month, make the last words you speak before going to sleep be "Rabbit, Rabbit." Then, when you wake up the next morning on the first day of the next month, make the first words out of your mouth be "Bunny, Bunny." It is supposed to bring you a month's worth of good luck.

Of course, as is the case with siblings, fun revolved around trying to make the other person talk after having said "Rabbit, Rabbit." All kinds of tactics were applied... making funny faces, hanging upside down from the top bunk and pulling hair... you can imagine. In the morning, however, we were on the same side. We put our creative resources together to develop a fool proof method for remembering to say "Bunny, Bunny," before saying anything else. We wrote notes and hung them on our bunk; Wrote the words "Bunny Bunny" in all capital letters on our chalk board, and employed our mother to wake us up holding cue cards. Neither one of us was willing to risk finding out whether the myth was true.

So, tonight give it a whirl. Say "Rabbit Rabbit" before you and your kids go to sleep and then greet Wednesday morning with an emphatic. "Bunny Bunny." Parents... an added bonus is that for this one night out of the month, "Good night" might actually mean good night, after tucking your kids into their beds.

Next topic... BLOG-A-THON. This is big. This is really big. I'm sure to Jerry Lewis this is a pittance... nothing even worth mentioning, but to us here at highlowaha, this Highlowaha Blog-a-thon is a BIG deal. It's a big deal for a lot of reasons.

First, it's sole purpose is to raise money for the Helping Hand family we adopted for the holidays. There are five kids in the family and in to make their holiday's magical, we will need to fundraise with a purpose!
Second... this is an exercise in creativity! Our blog readers are setting out to write a scary story...together! I cannot wait to see what how the collective creativity of our group works together to create something of note. Employing or creativity for the good of community. That is what we're all about.
Third... we are thinking big. To live the spirit of #218, we have to believe we can do something extraordinary. Anybody can beat the bushes trying to raise money. And anybody can sit down and attempt to write a story. But to write a story, while having 24 consecutive hours of participation, with the sole purpose of helping a family in need,... now that is something. That is the spirit of #218.

But this will not happen with a lot of effort on our part and a lot of coordination on my part. Today, 25 days before the event, we begin joining efforts and coordinating blog-a-thon details. Continue to check the link on the top right hand side of my blog labeled, Blog-a-thon for ongoing information and details (it's not there yet, but keep your eyes open).

The most important task for us to begin tackling today is registration of blog-a-thon participants. Participants in the Highlowaha Blog-a-thon should know we are operating on Central Standard Time (CST).

Blog-a-thon Goal: The goal is to have 96 - NINETY SIX - people register for a 15 minute block of time, beginning on Friday, October 24 at midnight (CST) and ending at 11:59 p.m. (CST) that same day. Thank you, reader SUSAN for volunteering to get our story going at 12:00 a.m. on Friday morning! That fifteen minute slot is taken. Only 95 more to go.
Raising Funds: We will raise money because each writer will secure at least one person to sponsor their fifteen minutes on the blog, at the rate of $1.00 per minute. Of course, you can secure more than on person to sponsor your time on the blog. That would be icing on the cake. If, however, everyone got the minimum sponsorship then we will have raised 96 x $15.00 = $1,440.
Fifteen Minutes of Fame: When a person commits to taking a 15 minute block, he/she must be on www.highlowaha.com for the full 15 minutes. He or she, however, DOES NOT have to be writing the entire time. Participants could, for instance, read the previous posts for 1o minutes and then write for five minutes, in the end totaling 15 minutes.
Recruitment: To make this work, we will need to employ friends and family who might also be willing. Lurkers, we really need you to come out of lurker status, if only for a day. On an average day we have 50-60 people who each check in 2 or 3 times a day. For this one day, I will trade the repeat visits of loyal readers for 96 people who visit (and post) one time for 15 minutes.
International Friends and Readers: Who do we know oversees? Some of the blocks of time will be hard to manage if we don't solicit the help of some of our international readers and friends. I have a friend in England. Rest assured, I will be calling her to take a time slot. Who do you know and will use please invite them to participate?
Sign up: To get the time sheet going, claim your time slot by simply posting your preference in the comment section.

Announcements:

Picture of Your Pet: IMPORTANT! If you have a pet, please email a picture of your pet to CSPgrad at kkolkmeier@gmail.com, by Wednesday at 5:00! Don't miss out on the fun!
Highlowaha Creativity Basket: Sue asked me to inform the everyone that Highlowaha's Creativity basket was a hit. It raised over $104.00 and helped toward the larger achievement of raising an estimated grand total of $10,000.
Check into Helping Hand Link: All this talk about the Blog-a-thon reminds me... Please check out the link to the right labeled, Helping Hand, to learn more about our holiday initiative and to learn more about the family receiving our thoughtful gestures. Ages and sizes of the five children are listed, along with a short list of things they would like from Santa.
Good Neighbor Day: Different people went to different lengths on this day. Me... my attempts were feeble... smiley face balloons attached to bottles of coke. The notes read, "Have a Coke and a Smile. Thanks for being my neighbor." CSPgrad on the other hand... she is a maniac. CSPgrad baked batches of cookies for the residents in her building at James Madison University. The kicker... her oven is small, allowing her to only bake THREE cookies at a time! Now that's impressive!
Paint Your Town Red: I painted my town red with coke bottles for Good Neighbor Day in an effort to generate more donations for Heather's friend, Julie. Remember, we are collecting Coke Reward Points and sending them to our "Regional Directors," so they can gather points by region. Maybe Heather will be kind enough to post regions and current tally's some time today in the comment section. Regional Directors... feel free to chime in with an encouraging or motivational word of your own