Guilt Free Shopping

You may have noticed the button on the top of my sidebar. If not, here it is again:



Isn't it pretty? Doesn't it make you want to do good things?

BandBackTogether.com, in case you don't read my Twitter or Facebook feeds, is my favorite site on the interwebs. It is a safe place where anyone can tell their story, no matter how difficult. It is a place of healing, where anyone can read and/or write and not feel so alone. And it is chock full of awesome resource pages that were not created by drug companies, politicians or churches but instead by the amazing founders and editors, as well as the Brains Behind the Band.

So what does this have to do with the pretty button that says "Auction"?

The auction is for Band Back Together as we (okay, really that should be "they", because I have been no help in that department. My help has a lot more to do with taking email threads off on tangents. What was I saying?) work on non-profit status. Did you know that it costs a lot of money to get non-profit status? Plus there's hosting fees and helping people and I believe we may need a cake ball field trip.*

So, if you'd like to help, you can click on the pretty button and go to the auction. Then you can bid on cool art and jewelry and other fun stuff without any guilt, because you're not shopping for yourself - you're helping the Band. If you don't want to shop, you can always just go to the regular Band site and find the "donate" button in the sidebar. Although why you don't want to shop is beyond me. The holidays are coming and I'm sure you haven't bought all of your gifts, have you?

*I am just kidding. Your donation will not be used for cake balls or field trips. Unless you'd like it to be. :)

Take The Pledge

So there's a new button on my sidebar.



And even though all of the buttons on my sidebar are fabulous and worth your time, this one might be worth a bit more.

This pledge has nothing to do with allegiance to the flag or the refusal to drink human blood (any True Blood fans?). This is a pledge for mom bloggers to stop bullying. To stop putting down parents who don't adhere to our parenting ideals. To stop leaving nasty comments. To remember that we're all adults here and that it is okay to disagree. To realize that making your infant go through the "Your Baby Can Read!" program is not child abuse (just an enormous waste of time. But what you do with your time is totally not my business). To set an example for our kids so that they don't turn into bullies.

I think it goes really well with another button on my site.



This site was started by the fabulous Aunt Becky as a place where anyone could share their stories and get support. Some of the stories are extremely painful to read. And yet, at the end of each one, you realize that the writer has survived. And was brave enough to share.  And there are the wonderfully supportive and loving comments on each post. It's not that everyone agrees with everything, or that there's always an expert to give advice. It's that each person comes from a place of kindness and respect.  It is a beautiful community.

I think it's quite possible that if we all took the pledge to heart, the whole mommy blogging community could be that beautiful.

And then we could take over the damn world.