Not the Shitty Shrimp!

Have you ever had one of those days when you just can't seem to get out of a bad mood? I've tried all my usual remedies:

• chocolate (do Pop-Tarts count?)
• looking at people who've got it worse (which quite honestly was most of America, if I were to be truthful)
• remembering that work sucks for everyone and that there's no need to get stressed about something that just plain sucks
• punching and throwing things in an empty room to release the frustration
• hugging a friend until it gets awkward

The only things I haven't tried are drugs, liquor and the batting cages. I must try at least one of those when I get home.

Anyway, I wanted to take a second to introduce something that's actually good, easy and won't bitch to you. Igive is a web site that gives money to charity for shopping. I've sent out an email about this, but I wanted to spread the word a little more. You sign up, pick a charity and just remember to use the Igive home page to get to all the places you'd normally shop. There are about 300 online stores on there including Barnes & Noble, Circuit City, Amazon, Lands' End, Gap and on and on.

You click the link from the Igive page and when you purchase something you would've bought anyway, the vendor will donate a percentage of your purchase to your chosen charity. You don't pay anything additional at all! I did most of my Christmas shopping this way and earned more than $30 for my charity just on that.

What charity?, you ask. Not the one you probably think. A friend of mine and her husband in Nashville had two children within 2 years of each other. Both of the children were born with the same congenital heart disease and both of the children did not live past 10 months. Well, Carisa (my friend) set up an organization, the Kaylen Foundation, that raises money for children's heart research and also gives car packages to families who have children that are at Vanderbilt's Children's Hospital. It's a great cause, and if you don't have a participating charity at Igive, feel free to click here and sign up to raise money for the Kaylen Foundation.

Okay, I'm starting to feel better already. Maybe it'll just take a beer and a kiss to get me better instead of the black tar heroin I was planning on.