So its July 31- a deadline my grant writers came up with a long time ago. We are applying for some money to get our science play space pilot project started. One of the original grant writers had a family emergency and got off the committee (though she has put some time into it still). In any case I've put quite a bit more time and energy into it than I expected after the three of them said they would do it. We've also had a fourth person contribute.
Is the grant done? Its very close, and just needs a few more things. The things actually are not things we have much control over, so really its pretty much done, but its not getting turned in today. One of the things is that our deadline, applies to a grant amount that is smaller than we eventually decided we needed. Now we have to apply at the end of next month. By then we better have all our stuff ready. We can only hope that the landlord who promised (and continues to promise) to donate space will actually tell us the location of the space!
And then the grant has to be approved by two different grant funding agencies. I'm also scheduling a meeting with them in August in hopes that a discussion will result in any changes needed to get the thing approved.
And then... and then we have to make it WORK. Most of my committee members will then be teaching and have a lot less time for this project. On the other hand, it will be a whole lot easier to advertise something that actually exists!
And, then I an donate and glean for stuff. We are completely out of room in our house/garage for storing stuff. The college was giving away old desks that would have been useful for a check in desk, but I have no space to store such a thing. I went to an "estate" sale in our neighborhood last week, and got some stuff dirt cheap. It had put it in the garage, covered up. The garage is water tight even with its dirt floor, but has a very active critter that I believe is a snake, and there are droppings everywhere. I don't really like storing things there. Also the garage is kind of full with lawn mover, stroller, bikes, garden cart and tools and such. We don't even bother keeping the car in there. That is mostly because it has such a huge lip that we probably would break the car.
We need to get some work done on our cellar access, and we got somebody to look at it. He said it needs more concrete than you could easily do with bags, but less than you'd want to order in a truck. I thought, ahh, the perfect opportunity to get a floor in the garage. I'm not sure we could afford it though. And what would we do with all the stuff while it was being fixed?
Speaking of stuff, it seems people are very personally attached to stuff. I admit, I have some stuff attachments too. However, I was a little unprepared (or just stupid) for the reaction I received when I mentioned to someone that the toys I said my son might (or might not) like the toys they were giving us (I was picking them out), but that they could be donated if they were not right for him. Mostly the not right for him, was, he would like this a little bit, but we really don't have the space for it.
The giver for the most part did NOT want those special toys to end up donated to faceless kids of our county. They toys belonged in the family, to the next family member that might have a kid soon. I kind of understand this... I guess the toys are kind of special to people, and some toys are more special than others. Sometimes the giver spent a bit of energy to find that particular toy. But for the most part, I think toys should be used, not stored away in some basement or attic hoping that a family member will want them sometime. After all, there are always new toys out there to get a family member if you want to give a child a toy and there is a difficulty of transporting old toys to the family member since we don't all live in the same town. Also who knows if the kid will actually be interested in the type of toy you liked as a child. So, for the most part, I don't think this attachment to particular toys makes that much sense. But who says emotional attachments make sense? As a family member I just need to honor them.
Is the grant done? Its very close, and just needs a few more things. The things actually are not things we have much control over, so really its pretty much done, but its not getting turned in today. One of the things is that our deadline, applies to a grant amount that is smaller than we eventually decided we needed. Now we have to apply at the end of next month. By then we better have all our stuff ready. We can only hope that the landlord who promised (and continues to promise) to donate space will actually tell us the location of the space!
And then the grant has to be approved by two different grant funding agencies. I'm also scheduling a meeting with them in August in hopes that a discussion will result in any changes needed to get the thing approved.
And then... and then we have to make it WORK. Most of my committee members will then be teaching and have a lot less time for this project. On the other hand, it will be a whole lot easier to advertise something that actually exists!
And, then I an donate and glean for stuff. We are completely out of room in our house/garage for storing stuff. The college was giving away old desks that would have been useful for a check in desk, but I have no space to store such a thing. I went to an "estate" sale in our neighborhood last week, and got some stuff dirt cheap. It had put it in the garage, covered up. The garage is water tight even with its dirt floor, but has a very active critter that I believe is a snake, and there are droppings everywhere. I don't really like storing things there. Also the garage is kind of full with lawn mover, stroller, bikes, garden cart and tools and such. We don't even bother keeping the car in there. That is mostly because it has such a huge lip that we probably would break the car.
We need to get some work done on our cellar access, and we got somebody to look at it. He said it needs more concrete than you could easily do with bags, but less than you'd want to order in a truck. I thought, ahh, the perfect opportunity to get a floor in the garage. I'm not sure we could afford it though. And what would we do with all the stuff while it was being fixed?
Speaking of stuff, it seems people are very personally attached to stuff. I admit, I have some stuff attachments too. However, I was a little unprepared (or just stupid) for the reaction I received when I mentioned to someone that the toys I said my son might (or might not) like the toys they were giving us (I was picking them out), but that they could be donated if they were not right for him. Mostly the not right for him, was, he would like this a little bit, but we really don't have the space for it.
The giver for the most part did NOT want those special toys to end up donated to faceless kids of our county. They toys belonged in the family, to the next family member that might have a kid soon. I kind of understand this... I guess the toys are kind of special to people, and some toys are more special than others. Sometimes the giver spent a bit of energy to find that particular toy. But for the most part, I think toys should be used, not stored away in some basement or attic hoping that a family member will want them sometime. After all, there are always new toys out there to get a family member if you want to give a child a toy and there is a difficulty of transporting old toys to the family member since we don't all live in the same town. Also who knows if the kid will actually be interested in the type of toy you liked as a child. So, for the most part, I don't think this attachment to particular toys makes that much sense. But who says emotional attachments make sense? As a family member I just need to honor them.
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