The Gala.

Gala ..... gala ..... g-a-l-a.

It's an annoying word - kinda sounds like you're going to gag on something ....

I digress.....

So last weekend Myself, M and S headed into the city for the big GALA for the JDRF. We had our gowns packed, make-up, hair shit and wine. We were all set for the big night.

We drove in Saturday afternoon and got all settled into our hotel room and started getting ready. The place where the event was taking place was attached to the hotel, so we didn't even have to leave the building to get there *bonus*. The girls who run the JDRF office in Wpg came over to our room to get ready (they had been at the CC decorating and such all.day.long. so needed somewhere to go to get ready). We all laughed, chatted, had some wine and got ready. The three of them had to be back there well before we had to get there.

S, M and myself were assigned a job at the gala. At this event, many fundraising activities were taking place. There was a silent auction (with fantastic items up for bid - very PRICEY items up for bid), a live auction and the Funds for a Cure Auction.

We were given the job of working with the silent auction. There were two closing times on the bids (10:15 and 11:00). At each time, respectively, we were to go to our assigned table with the items up for bid, and grab the clipboards with the bids on them and take them to the "teller". Top bidder got the item. Apparently in the past, they didn't have volunteers to do this and people got miffed when the closing time came, and someone "thought" they were the top bidder, and then someone else would come along and out-bid them. With us grabbing the clip boards out from under them - that wasn't possible.

Only problem with this scenario, was that while this was our first time being there, there were many people there that had been there many times in the past and hadn't seen this happen before and were upset that these "strangers" were grabbing the clipboards at closing time.

M got yelled at over a watch up for auction. T - the volunteer in charge of us - saw this happening as M stopped, paused and didn't know what to do when the lady flipped out on her. T was at another table, grabbing clipboards and was yelling over the crowd, "JUST GRAB IT!!! JUST TAKE IT!!!!".

It was a bit of a gong show ....

Anyhow, that was just one part of it.

M, S and myself were seated at a table with complete strangers.

Not that this was unexpected. We didn't know a soul there except for the girls who ran the JDRF office.

We were placed at a table with a group of young, very, very, wealthy jewish couples. As the night wore on, we found out a few things about them .... status was very important (ha ha, and here we were, a group of girls from Brandon *which, btw, I've discovered over my years of living in Brandon that a lot of winnipeggers think Brandonites are all farmers. I find this tidbit of information damned hilarious seeing as I'm not originally from Brandon myself and now live there. I'm slowly learning these things ....* So I can only imagine what these couples were thinking of us when they found out where we were from. We also found out that they live on one of THE wealthiest streets in Winnipeg. The women (who were younger than me) were discussing having a block party - inviting the "chip truck", "Dickie-Dee's Ice Cream Man" and having a bouncy castle. The one dood was a corporate lawyer. A shifty kind of guy who couldn't sit still. His wife took it upon herself to ask M many, many personal questions and we found out that NONE of them knew what the fuck Type 1 Diabetes was.

Turns out, they were there because one of the organizers of the event sold them tickets. See - their kids go to school with HER kid.

It was all about status.

We later learned that this particular gala is one of the most prestigious ones that is held in the city every year.

I guess it's best, when you have money, to look good, rather than know why the hell you're there.

It was a mixed feeling for me though - because I found that a lot of these people were annoying the shit out of me. Rude - for the most part. Mike Kelly - head coach for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers got up to speak to the crowd. See, his daughter has Type 1.

No one listened.

There was so much chatter and talking in the room, I could hardly make out what the hell the guy was saying.

Then they played a video about the upcoming Funds for a Cure auction. Mary Tyler Moore was on it - a bunch of kids talking were on it - as well as some adults. What the hell they were saying though, was beyond me because I COULDN'T HEAR WHAT THEY WERE SAYING.

I wanted to jump up on my table and yell, "SHUT THE FUCK UP YOU IGNORANT ASSHOLES!!!" But really, who does that? (It's just what my head was screaming.) So, I didn't hear the video, either.

None of the speeches were well received.

I think people were just there for the fun of it.

I know that's definitely part of it - but as a parent with a child with this disease, I was highly insulted by these people's ignorance. They were trying to educate them - it just wasn't being received.

But then something crazy happened.

They started the Funds for a Cure auction.

Basically, what this is is that the auctioneer starts at $5000 and asks WHO wants to make a donation to the JDRF for that amount to help find a cure - and it's held in an auction-style.

People were bidding left, right and centre.

You could have picked up our jaws off the floor.

Despite the rudeness that was taking place just moments prior - these people dropped $45,000 in about 15 minutes just on that auction alone.

I suppose there are a couple of ways to look at it. Maybe these people with money felt that it made them "look good" to do it. I do know that there were people there that WERE there for the cause for sure, but whatever the case - we'll take their money!

It was incredible.

I haven't heard what the final tally of the night was (silent auction, FAC and live auction totals) but they had 500 people there and each ticket cost $175 - some of that was even a donation.

Crazy stuff.

Definitely not my scene - I don't hold up well hangin' with the wealthy for long periods of time. But it was definitely something for the books. I did enjoy myself. M, S and myself were goofy - I mean, you gotta lighten up - right? We had fun in our own way. The band that played there was fantastic and we even got up and danced.

There were a few drunks at the end of the night - but it's all good :) They made the night more interesting. Even the old man who kept hitting on M.

Poor M.

So that was our night out ..... then I came home the next day and at dinner time my seven year old got sick. Good ol' puke flu - and she's still home from school today from this gawd awful virus. We joke about it being the swine flu .... *sigh*. But I'm positive she's on the upswing today and I know I'll be sending her back to school tomorrow - three days home is enough (and I've had enough puke to clean up for awhile too).

I just hope that Dani doesn't catch this one .....

Well whaddya know ....

I've been down and out for a bit. Internet speaking, that is. Apparently, unbeknownst to myself (or my husband), we did not have any antivirus protection on this computer and it caught up to us the other week.

We did the usual pointing of the fingers *it's your fault, not mine!* - back and forth, then ultimately blamed our ISP because it made us feel better - but really, it WAS our fault. We just assumed our ISP had installed some antivirus protection on this thing when we switched providers late last summer. It maybe should have clued into us that the thing never did updates .... ever. And it never, ever caught anything or asked us anything .... in my stupidity (and here's the part where you laugh and say "you're such a dolt!") I thought that maybe, in some way, the viruses and such were being intercepted at "headquarters" so-to-speak.

Yes, I'm that naive. What do I know about antivirus software?

More now, thank you very much.

I'm protected up the whazoo. And $140 later my computer is cleaned up too. The shakes were minimal as I was cut off from the world. I actually had to resort to phoning people and speaking to them vs emailing for once. *gasp*

Anyhow, we're back in cyberspace and all is right in the world now.

I'm off to the gala this coming weekend. All three of us have our gowns secured (there was a bit of a crisis with M this past weekend but it's being taken care of .... really, who has a dress that fits on Saturday, but will NOT fit on Sunday??? She had to scramble to find a seamstress to take care of THAT mess.) Shoes purchased, accessories purchased, even the little evening bag purchased - yeesh. Good thing I am only doing this once (well, may do it again in a few years, but not next year, that's for sure).

I'm a little nervous about the spray tan we're going for on Friday night though. You see where I'm going with that one, don't you? I don't want to be white as a ghost (which I am) but I don't want to be orange, either. So there may be a story for this blog after involving that stupid spray tan I agreed to.

Well, I suppose I should sign off here. My kid wants to do something "fun". I think we'll go investigate the toy box and see what lingers at the bottom. It's like Christmas, you know, when you dig to the bottom of that thing and reveal stuff they haven't seen in months *sigh*.

Till next time ....

More hours in the day ......

So, in my ignorance I figured becoming the co-chair of this years walk wouldn't be so bad.

*this is where I snort*

Dear freakin' lord. I don't know how one person did all this last year. Honestly. It's like taking on a full time job, except you're not getting a paycheque for it.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not looking for a paycheque - the reward in this case is how many show up at the walk and the $$$ that is raised in the end - but FRIK it's more work than I thought.

I think I'm starting to get in panic mode - only 2 months to go before the walk and it seems like now we really need to start getting things done. Then again, it's like this every year. We can't do much UNTIL those last two months anyhow. It just feels high pressure, that's all.

More so this year because we actually have JDRF people coming out the walk this year (they never come because the Wpg walk is always the same day - this year it is NOT) and we want to make ourselves look good. Yeesh.

We've hit brick walls on every aspect of the childrens entertainment. Face painter - having foot surgery. Bouncy castle - business was sold to an out of town person. Clown? They moved to Wpg. I shake my head.

I think we'll still manage. We're struggling, but we're finding some alternatives. It's just giving me a grey hair or two more to deal with, that's all.

Everyday I'm emailing people, begging for stuff. I'm printing off letters, begging for stuff. I'm so not good at this stuff to be honest with you. BUT, just trying to focus on the big picture here ....

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I apologize for my rants - it makes me feel better.

In other family-like news, my youngest lost her first tooth yesterday. Oh the drama! The thing was literally hanging there by a thread and do you think she'd pull it out? She was having trouble talking and everything because this tooth was dangling out of her mouth every time she spoke.

Finally I had enough of it and told her it was coming out. Then the freak out started. I asked her if SHE wanted to do it and she shook her head. Then I asked her if she wanted ME to do it and she agreed. So, two minutes later, with tears streaming down her face (and a few yelps) I had the darned thing in my hands. It was like someone flicked a switch. She went from "freak out" to bouncing off the walls because the tooth fairy was now coming to our house and she was going to get some money.

Funny kid.

Now when she smiles she looks like a hockey player - and darn it if that tooth beside the one that just fell out isn't loose now too .....

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The Easter bunny went shopping this afternoon.

This particular Easter bunny doesn't really like shopping for Easter treats when there's a kid with Diabetes in the house. I ran around the store reading ingredient lists for gluten and non-gluten containing treats, then read the carb content and what was easiest to measure out when the big day arrives. I really, REALLY cut back on the chocolate this year and they're getting more toys/trinkets and clothes this year as a result.

Oh well, the Easter bunny only has their health in mind here - hope they understand that. They'll still have little chocolate eggs to search for, and isn't that the main thing anyway? (just no big 2 lb choc bunny to eat afterward.)

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Well, I suppose I should go and organize a few more things here before hitting the hay. I want to enjoy the Easter weekend w/o thinking of the walk/sponsors/donations or any of the sort. Leave it until Monday :)

Have a good one!