I play online games to give my mind a break.  And now I can do it and feel like I’m helping a charity.

The model behind Games That Give is simple: people play really cool games, for free, and by doing so, help generate donations for our partner charities.  That’s it.  No catch.

How do they do this?

The games are sponsored by advertisers, and they donate 70% of the ad revenue generated to the charities.  If you do the math, that has the potential to be a lot of money for some really terrific causes.

Their charity partners include The Wilderness Society, the United Way, the US Fund for UNICEF, DoSomething, and about a dozen others.  We have limited the number of charities that we invited to be on the platform, because we wanted to help raise a massive amount of money for these groups — we have learned the lesson of other social and game platforms trying to raise money for charity and won’t dilute the experience by allowing every nonprofit in the world to participate.

Their advertisers, to date, include Dominos Pizza, Pepsi, and Mastercard.  And in addition to their advertising presence, all our advertisers will be offering coupons or incentives for people to play.

Helpful Hazel… signing out… to go play some Wordsearch or try to complete a Sudoku.

Website dedicated to helping you buy, sell and trade local produce.

Now I have another solution.  It is a new website called Veggie Trader.  Their goal is to link up people who want to buy, sell or trade local produce.  This is great for me.  I don’t have the room to grow some things that I love— now I can find people close to me who do.  AWESOME!!!  Another thing is that I’m not good at growing carrots… yea… I know carrots are easy.  Mine always seem to come out super stubby or get eaten from below.

Oh…. I’m so hoping someone will have extra herbs for me to buy. >XXXXX< Fingers crossed….

Be warned… If you want to buy stuff today… it is not likely that you will be able to find something close.  This website has only been up since March 28, 2009.  But sign up anyway… as you are waiting for your little sprouts to go in the ground, then you can dream of all the bounty you can trade… and perhaps sell.   And in these economic times… a buck saved or earned makes a difference.

PS:  Check out Veggie Trader’s Blog, Sprouting Off — for more details on how this works.

Drop a Note To Your Congress Person

I know that our President ran on a platform of “Change.”  However, I am quite cynical and discouraged that even the most well-intentioned individual will be corrupted by the atmosphere in Washington.

As a friend of mine said, I’m just “Fed Up” with the politcal process.  I’m no longer contented to just elect someone on a platform and let them move to Washington (far away from me) never to return or even think of me again.  My New Year’s resolution was to badger my Senators and Representatives to do what I want them to do.

Now, this is not going to be a rant on politics and what I think is right and wrong.  I just want to encourage you to write your Congresspeople and give them a piece of your mind.

Things to know:

1.  Most congress people don’t give out email addresses.  Instead, they use web forms to contact them. (Links to follow below)

2.  To find your US Represenative’s form, you will need to know or locate the 4 digit extension to your zip code.  You can look it up here.

3.  When you write your notes, avoid ranting.  Instead, tell your congress person how you want them to vote on bills or issues in which you are interested.

4.  When possible, point out what you think are the contributing factors to the problems at hand.  This is especially important considering the current atmosphere of “Throwing money” at a problem without any really “Change” in the situation that actually caused the problem.

5. Gently find away of reminding your Congress person of their campaign promises and that you are holding them accountable to them.  Example:  “I was encouraged by your campaign promise of working with the other political party to reach a bipartisan compromise on issue X.”  OR  “I voted for you because you promised to do This, That, and The  other. “

Getting in Touch

Everyone loves mail, right?  Here are quick links that will help you contact Senators, Represenatives and the White House.

Click here for the White House

Click here to find your Senator (Use the “Find your Senator” tab in the upper right corner)

Click here to find your US Representative

However, I grew up in a home where my mom was allergic to shellfish and hated fish in general.  So I never learned the fine art of cooking seafood.

Here are a few easy ideas (recipes), if like me, you need a little inspiration.

1.  Shrimp Marinara over linguine:  The beauty is that this takes only 25 minutes to cook.

2.  Key West Penne:  Shrimp, Scallops, sundried tomatos and marinated artichokes make this super yummy.  Again ready in 20 minutes.

3.  Shrimp and Sugar Snap Peas:  Another quick pasta dish that combines sweetness and a little heat (or alot if you so desire).

Manga!  Manga!

Doctor and The Letter D

Here at Hazelwood, we don’t roll with the total organic thing.  However, we do drink organic milk.  As a previously lactating woman— it just ain’t humane or normal to be given hormones to produce milk.  So– I don’t like the idea of cows doing that for me and my family.

Here’s the interesting fact that I didn’t realize until the Hubby pointed it out:  Organic Valley Whole Milk does not have vitamin D added to it.  The 2% does have Vitamin D.

This little realization came about after me taking my text that calcium is best served with Vitamin D.  Don’t believe me????  Click here to see what the CDC says about Vitamin D.

So… when the Hubby pointed out that I had purchased milk with out it… it was time to see if Milk went well with Crow.

Update (3/5/09 at 4:30 pm): Please be sure to check out the comments to this post.  A kind fellow from Organic Valley filled me in on their whole milk product selection and how they do make whole milk with Vitamin D added.  It seems as if I just picked up the wrong carton or my store does not carry the conventionally pasturized version.

Turning Crafts into Compassion

OK– my mom and my grandmothers tried– really they did— tried to teach me various forms of needlework. Sewing, crocheting, knitting, cross stitch, needlepoint— even hook rugs. It just never took. I’m a bit of a perfectionist… so waiting it out for my skills to get better is somewhat akin to spending a week in Hell.

Looking back, I really wish I had tried. I think about picking up some craft and trying again, but I fear that it is really true that you cannot teach old dogs new tricks.

However, I know there are plenty of you who are out there who are great at needlework stuff. A friend of mine recently invited me to join a social group that gets together to work on needlework pieces — individual and group projects. After telling her that I had no such skills, we entered a discussion about joining a cause to the get together. She was all for it and thought it would help unify the group and grow it.

So in my helpful fashion, I offered to look up organizations to whom they could donate their goods. So if you are a crafter, consider making items and donating them to an organization that will distribute them to folks that need them.

Some organizations that I found that do this are:

Tiny Stitches: Georgia-based org that distributes goods within their state.

Binky Patrol: Uses a network of chapters to distribute blankets.

Project Linus: Uses a network of chapters to distribute blankets to children

Warm Up America Foundation: Distributes all sorts of handmade items to people in need.

So consider turning your crafts into compassionate gifts for people in need.   And unfortunately, it is not hard to find people who need something as simple as a little snuggly item of their own.