Crescent Moons

The logo of the Pajama Program is a yellow crescent moon on a blue background. When I was in J's antique shop yesterday, one of the dealers had a tall brass candlestick (nearly 3' high) with a large crescent-shaped moon in the center of it. Very large candlestick, and very nicely made, not to mention a nice price tag. When J told the dealer what I wanted it for, she sold it to me for just $5.00....... pennies on the dollar, for goodness sake. I just had to buy it, and I plan to put it on the Welcome Desk when we get our Pajama Program Reading Center. (And I'm saying "when" instead of "if" because I'm staying positive and I know this will indeed happen.)

I have the crescent moon candlestick standing in a corner of my sitting room right now.... I can see it when I'm at my desk here and it's a constant reminder of the Pajama Program.

With that logo in mind, I went to the Dollar Store today because I knew I had seen paper plates/napkins/cups with a crescent moon design.... yellow moons on a blue background, if you can believe that. (Not as deep a blue as the organization logo, but blue enough). I spoke to the owner of the store, showed him my printed-out web-page from the Pajama Program site, and asked if he would donate the paper items to the first Pajama Collection Party for the new Houston Chapter. I told him I wanted the items because they matched our logo, and said I'd advertise his store and/or his name as a contributor.

Well, you would've thought I had asked for his firstborn child. He showed me the "normal retail price" on the packages, told me that each of his items sold for only one dollar and eleven cents.... much cheaper than the suggested price. Well, I can read... of course I knew that, but I thought it wouldn't hurt to ask. I didn't argue with the man. After all, his store had just what I needed and what I went there to get. I smiled and smiled, and told him all about the Pajama Program and explained that everything our Chapter collects would be going to Houston area children, personally delivered by me.

That seemed to impress him, but not quite enough. After a few more discussions, he agreed to sell me each item at just one dollar, instead of one dollar and eleven cents. Then he told the woman at the register to give me the discount on just those paper items, not on anything else I happened to buy. With that in mind, I bought nearly all of the crescent moon paper products that he had there. I could've bought more, but he literally had an entire shelf filled with them, and I knew I wouldn't be able to store that many. I really thought he'd be more generous, given the cause. And I know he runs the store to make money to buy pajamas for his own children, but really.... I don't know how many years that man has been living in Texas, but as far as I'm concerned, he still has the do-or-die attitude of his home-country. (In my humble opinion.) But on the bright side--- he did save me eleven cents on every package.

After the Dollar Store, I went into the local Palais Royal store. They had sent me a $10.00 gift certificate for my birthday...... ten dollars to spend on anything in the store. Well, I don't need any clothing right now, but our Houston kids-in-crisis need pajamas, so that's what I went there to buy. They had a sale rack filled with children's clothes and I looked through that one first. I bought three sets of pajamas for that ten dollars.... all for babies between six and twelve months. Perfect... I now have three baby sets in the plastic bin marked with a bird picture. (Cat pictures on the bins for girls, dog pictures for boys, birds for babies.) When I was in Target the other day, they didn't have any baby pajamas on sale, so I just concentrated on the boys and girls pajama sets. I'm all for buying on sale, for the simple reason that I can get more pajamas for the money.

I called the realty agent for the two store properties in our community here. He told me that the owner hasn't gotten back to him yet. I said that I didn't mean to be pushy, but if he could let me know by the end of the week, I would surely appreciate it. If I get a definite no for this local property, then I will concentrate on the store in League City... which is really the one I'm hoping for. Positive attitude.... positive attitude.

My second "receiving organization" form was approved by Gen at the NY office this afternoon. This organization is in the Katy area of Houston, and I already have a volunteer up there who is willing to collect pajamas and books in that area and personally deliver them to the local children's Crisis Center. My list of contacts keeps growing.... lots of volunteers wanting to help, and all happy to see that Houston now has its own Chapter of the Pajama Program.

As my friend J up in NY told me in an eMail: this program will be helping the kids of Houston, one pair of pajamas at a time.