Disaster Relief for Oklahoma

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Butterfly plays softball for Cruces Pride and we will be going to Oklahoma later this month for a softball tournament. For the last two months we have planned activities and saved to make this a family vacation to remember. That all changed after watching the news the past few days. Tornados have devastated huge sections of Oklahoma. Moore, the community most affected, is just a few miles from the softball complex where we will play.

My daughter’s first reaction was “What can we do to help?”

It turns out, we can do a lot. When I told Chrisann Karches, President of Southwest Hazard Control, that we would be going to Oklahoma and wanted to help she didn’t hesitate. Not only did she agree to let us use a trailer to haul supplies to the affected areas, she pledged $250 in donations. So, now we have a good start but we can do more. Our goal is to fill up the trailer with items that they need the most.

I spoke to Christi with the Center for Children & Families, Inc. and the most critical need is for babies. They need formula, diapers and wipes. Four of the teenage mothers in their program have lost everything! I can’t even imagine the overwhelming hopelessness that many of these families are experiencing right now.

CCFI is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. #73-0933253

Southwest Hazard Control will be accepting donations for the Center for Children and Families in Norman, Oklahoma to assist with disaster relief for tornado victims. Join us at Wal-Mart on Valley Drive in Las Cruces on Saturday May 25 from 12-3 to drop off donations or call (575) 202-0450 for pick up. Items most needed are as follows:

bottled water,
Gatorade/boxed juices,
baby food
formula
diapers and wipes.

All donations are tax deductible and you will receive a receipt from CCFI if requested. I am personally going to deliver the items to the agency so anything donated will go directly to the people who need it the most!

Please share this information with your family and friends. Right now, a case of water at Walmart will cost you just a couple of dollars. For families without access to water, it is priceless. I appreciate any and all the help you can give us.

Sincerely,

Kristal

An email from Christi Mackey, May 21, 2013:

From: Christi Mackey <cmackey@ccfinorman.org>
Date: May 21, 2013, 10:30:04 AM MDT
To: Kristal Armendariz <kristyk.org@gmail.com>
Subject: RE: donations

Kristal – Thank you so much for your support! We just had a staff meeting to discuss immediate needs for our clients. We are currently determining what exactly our clients are specifically requesting for immediate needs, but it is difficult with limited cell phone and internet services. However, a few things our families are in need desperate need of are diapers/pull-ups, wipes and formula (Gerber Good Start – Gentle). If you would like to focus your collection on these things, please know it will be put to great use. Once we know more of additionally needs of our clients, I can shoot you a quick email.

It is truly remarkable what wonderful things we can accomplish with support from people like YOU! Thank you for thinking of Oklahoma during this time of need!

Sincerely,

Christi Mackey, MA, MPA

Resource Coordinator

Random UPDATES

PHOTOS: This one via my phone, pretty much the only way I ever take pictures anymore. I’m saving up for a new DSLR but life always gets in the way. You can find my photos here: Flickr, Findery, Instagram.
BLOG: It kept getting infected. After three times of going in and removing the offending code from each page I gave up and switched to a different theme. I am unhappy because it is not customized and doesn’t feel personal at all. However, I don’t have time to do anything. It may be ugly, but at least it’s not broken. Any suggestions for an awesome (clean,simple) WordPress theme welcome!
KIDS: They are growing up too fast. Mikal just turned 18 and is graduating next month. Bleu turns 16 next week and starts his college classes this summer. Butterfly is taller than I am. Jon and Echo are still my little boys, athough I have a feeling Jon is going to start another growth spurt soon.
WORK: I love my job and work with some amazing people.
SCHOOL: Graduate school is tough, mainly because of the time investment. I’m taking four classes this semester: Advanced Quantitative Statistics, Women and Work, Assessing and Evaluating Online Learning and Emerging Technology Tools.
HEALTH: Going downhill fast. I pretty much feel like crap from the moment I wake up until I go to sleep: hypothyroid (cannot seem to find the right dose, gaining weight like crazy and tired all the time), fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome, liver problems (NAFLD), IBS, arthritis, depression. I am going to try a gluten-free diet and see if that helps. Celiac disease runs in my family so this could be a contributing factor to all my other issues.
LOVE: Unconditional love is just that – unconditional. People that withhold love in order to punish you or control your actions don’t really love you.
TIME: Is precious. I miss this crazy community that I’ve created over the years blogging but there is just NO TIME to keep up with it. Until I get back to blogging on a regular basis, catch up with me on Facebook, Instagram, Vine (Kristal Armendariz), Twitter, Flickr, Findery or Skype (kristal.armendariz).

Artist Statement

Kristal Armendariz (°1972, New Mexico, United States) is an artist who mainly works with photography. By experimenting with aleatoric processes, Armendariz formalizes the coincidental and emphasizes the conscious process of composition that is behind the seemingly random works. The thought processes, which are supposedly private, highly subjective and unfiltered in their references to dream worlds, are frequently revealed as assemblages.

Her photos feature coincidental, accidental and unexpected connections which make it possible to revise art history and, even better, to complement it. Combining unrelated aspects lead to surprising analogies. By parodying mass media and exaggerating certain formal aspects inherent to our contemporary society, she often creates work using creative game tactics, but these are never permissive. Play is a serious matter: during the game, different rules apply than in everyday life and even everyday objects undergo transubstantiation.

Her works are saturated with obviousness, mental inertia, clichés and bad jokes. They question the coerciveness that is derived from the more profound meaning and the superficial aesthetic appearance of an image. By taking daily life as subject matter while commenting on the everyday aesthetic of middle class values, she makes works that can be seen as self-portraits. Sometimes they appear idiosyncratic and quirky, at other times, they seem typical by-products of American superabundance and marketing.

Her works are characterised by the use of everyday objects in an atmosphere of middleclass mentality in which recognition plays an important role. Kristal Armendariz currently lives and works in Las Cruces.

Created with 500 Letters, via Heather. Make yours here.

chasing balloons

We get a lot of hot air balloons in the sky over Las Cruces, but it never gets old when one lands close by. Whenever one touches down in town, it always attracts attention. This time, we had a couple of extra observers… snowmen left over from our first snow!

Good morning!

I’ve been trying to coupon more. My kids go through food like nobody’s business. Even though Mike and I are both working, it is still tough to make ends meet. Today I’m getting a box of items ready to donate to the women’s shelter… stuff I got couponing but don’t need/use. I hate to pass up a deal, especially if it is free. I might as well give it to someone who will appreciate it, right? This year I really want to work on building a stockpile. Nothing major, just enough to last us a few months if something were to happen. In the process, I plan on donating more as well. We’ll see how it goes!

Today I needed milk so I made an early run to CVS. No sense wasting the trip:

Milk on sale for $1.99
2 Dawn on sale for $.99 each + (2) $.50/1 coupons
Trial size Clear shampoo $2.49 (free with coupon from cvs.com)
Clear shampoo and conditioner on sale for $4.99, BOGO + (2) $2.00/1 coupons
Used $.75 reward from my last shopping trip.

Including tax, I paid $3.93 out of pocket and received a reward for $2.00 off my next purchase. Not bad.

Adios 2012

It’s the end of another year… time for a little self reflection.

I turned 40 this year… but not before earning my BA! This was something I have been working on for over twenty years, so it was a huge personal accomplishment. After finishing up this summer, I started graduate school. I am working on my MA in Sociology as well as a Graduate Certificate in Online Teaching and Learning. I also started working in May. A part time job has grown into a full time position. It is hard to juggle everything sometimes, but it is also rewarding.

Over Thanksgiving, we went to visit my brother and his family in Texas. It was probably the best vacation we’ve ever taken…

The year ended on a high note, with a new addition to the family. Mica gave birth to Sophie Jolie on December 13. She is absolutely beautiful. The only bad thing is that they live three hours away and I haven’t gotten to see her outside of the hospital. Spending some time with my new granddaughter is high on my priority list for the new year!

Overall, it was a good year. I’m not making any resolutions or predictions for 2013. I’m going to go with the flow, take it one day at a time and be grateful for the blessings in my life.

Here are some inspirational quotes for the new year:

Appreciate what you have, before time teaches you to appreciate what you had.
When you choose to see the good in others, you end up finding the good in yourself.
No matter how many mistakes you make or how slow you progress, you are still way ahead of everyone who isn’t trying.
If a person wants to be a part of your life, they will make an obvious effort to do so. Think twice before reserving a space in your heart for people who do not make an effort to stay.
The smallest act of kindness is worth more than the grandest intention.
There are things that we don’t want to happen but have to accept, things we don’t want to know but have to learn, and people we can’t live without but have to let go.
If you don’t like something, change it. If you can’t change it, change the way you think about it.
Choose to be happy.

I hope the new year is a wonderful one for each and every one of you!

KRISTYK.ORG

my life, my words, my pictures