We did it! Paypal button is in the side bar!

It only took 6 day of torturous dealings with PayPal on the parts of both the Papa Dude and I, but we did it! You may now purchase a piano key for a donation of $35. or more to support Piano Girl in getting to Interlochen Center for the Arts.

If you would like to help out but cannot afford $35.oo, consider purchasing raffle tickets over at The Foil Hat, or donating a prize to be raffled there.

Thanks for your patience, love, and support. We also hope to see any locals at the Benefit Recital coming up at the beginning of June.

And thanks to Kathy Jo for the help with links and the warning that talking to PayPal would be "interesting". Lady, it sure as hell was!
Proud Mama

Dumb PayPal

GGRRRRR. I am NOT happy with Paypal right now. I am working to resolve the issue, but they are insisting that Papa Dude call them to resolve it, and he is out of town. I know that I could be a big meany who is out to steal all his money by pretending to be his WIFE and all, but I also know that I am not. For crying out loud, we share the bank account in question, and there isn't ever anything in it anyway. All this because his name is on the account I want to use, and he didn't add mine at the time he created it. GRRRRRRR.

Ok, rant is over, I am fine, I know some of you are just itchin' do put in your donation. Just knowing you are willing to pledge is comforting. I just want to get it going. I will put the dang button on the sidebar as soon as it is humanly possible to contact my traveling Dude, and get him to spend ten minutes on the phone with the infamous Paypal.
Proud Mama

More ways to help

1. Does anyone know how I can put music on the blog? If I have a CD of Piano Girl playing, can we use that? What other ways are there to do this? Can you tell that on my other blog I have a computer dolt category?

2. Frequent flyer miles. You can give these to other people, right? If anyone has any they aren't going to use, they would definately help, as my son and I will most likely be flying with her to Michigan.

Thanks for all your help,
Proud Mama

Paypal and The Foil Hat

Hey all,
It seems I am experiencing difficulty with PayPal. I need to call them today to get our accounts straightened out (It seems someone else has my name and we are having problems accessing our accounts.), so until I do, we are still unable to accept donations. There is a donations feature available at Amazon, but they take profits out of the donations, and I really want every penny possible to go to PG, and not to Amazon.

I apologize for the inconvenience. We still have 6 weeks to accomplish our goal, but if you are super excited about this and cannot wait to donate, you can email me at the link in the sidebar and then send a check. Otherwise, I am hoping to have the PayPal issue resolved by this weekend at the latest.

In other news, Amy at The Foil Hat is hosting an auction with proceeds donated to the Piano Girl. Head on over and check it out- Buying a raffle ticket (or ten) it is a great way to win some wonderful soapy prizes (believe me, this is the only soap I have been using for the last 6 months- it is wonderfully good stuff!), and have fun supporting the PG at the same time!

Thanks for joining us on this journey.
Proud Mama

Banner, location, eggs, food

Hey all,
I have contacted Interlochen, and the admissions officer I spoke to gave formal permission for us to hold off payment until we have this event. Yay! She was impressed with our project, and the support of Piano Girl's community. She told me it is kids and families like this that they want at Interlochen. It helped to hear that.

Your responses to this project have been amazing! Thanks for coming to check this out, and thanks to those who have already pledged to sponsor Piano Girl. I am wondering if I should post a list of names, or keep those private for now. If we don't do names, maybe I can at least put a number of pledges there, so we have a way to document the progress of filling in keys. Hmm. What do you think? Keep in mind I have never done this before!

I will put a link to both Paypal and an email addy in the sidebar before Sat. so we can start accepting payments by check or paypal.

I am meeting today with my friend (Thanks, D.) who has taken on designing the banner, and I have friends who own a huge printer, and will let us print them on it.

I have also firmed up the location of the recital. It will be held at the Unity Church of Bellevue**, where the Piano Girl's Fairy Godfather works. It is a beautiful location with a beautiful piano. Whenever we are in the area, or are going out to lunch with the FGF, Piano Girl always stops in to say "Hi" to the piano, and stroke its keys a bit. She is a sucker for a good piano. ;-)

The other thing I need to work on this week is food to serve at the reception following the recital. I did all the work for the last solo recital, and though it was fun (I know, I am crazy in that I actually love to cater events.), I think I would like to have help in that area this time around. Let me know if you want to help on that front.

Oh- one more thing- if you live locally, could you save Piano Girl egg cartons? In addition to the benefit concert, she is selling eggs, and is very short on cartons.

So as you see, we are moving and shaking on this project, and it is going well so far. Thanks again to those in my community who are helping out to make it happen, and to our pledges so far.
Proud Mama

**I will do this again, I am sure, but I want to acknowledge the good folks at B.U. for their gracious and generous support of our Piano Girl. We love and thank the whole staff for being some of PG's biggest fans.

Benefit Recital/Community Fundraiser

If you came here from my home blog, you will know that Piano Girl was accepted at Interlochen Center for the Arts Summer Camp, and how big of a deal this is to the PG. She applied and was accepted last year, but did not get a scholarship, so was unable to attend. We are totally committed to her attending there this year. But there is the matter of the admission fee, the airline tickets, the camp clothing, etc. The Papa Dude and I were worrying and fussing at first, but I decided to give it up to the universe and trust that we would find a way to make this happen. And lo and behold, we have come up with an idea. Actually, we were given an idea (Thanks, B!). Here it is:




We will be holding a benefit recital for The Piano Girl (we will use her name on the flyers/emails/posters) on June 2nd at 2 p.m.. (It will be held in Bellevue, WA. I will give the address soon.) After the performance we will serving food, and there will be prizes and fun for all.

You can support the Piano Girl in many ways. Coming to the benefit recital is just one way. You can also become one of the Piano Girl's KEY SUPPORTERS! For a donation of $35. or more, you can purchase a piano key. We will have a large banner with the names of all who donate to the Piano Girl Music Fund. We would love to acknowledge you as a supporter/sponsor of
The Best Pianist in the World!

Okay, that is basically what we are thinking of for emails and flyers, and I have someone lined up to do the big banners. I need to put an email in the sidebar- gotta figure that out, but leave a comment if you already know you want to support this wonderfully talented pianist, or if you have ideas to contribute to the benefit.
Proud Mama

The introduction: And so it begins........

This blog will be about my daughter, whom we shall call Piano Girl. She is 12 years old, and knows what she wants to do with her life. She was nine when she came to her Papa and I and told us she wanted to be a pianist when she grew up. She was 11 when she came to us and told us she had amended her goal. We both experienced a sharp intake of breath, wondering what she was going to say. Imagine our faces when she announced, " I don't just want to be a pianist, I want to be the best pianist in the whole world."
If anyone can do it, our Piano Girl can.
Needleroozer (the P.G.'s proud mama)