It’s that time again,  FREE RICE FRIDAY where we learns us some words while feeding the world.   Because of Leap Year, today we get an extra day in Feb, thousands of babies being born around the world are getting ready to have confused birthdays for life, and WGWaFA fans get an extra post!

Today’s Word:  BELFRY = BELLTOWER

 Okay so the term ‘Bats in the Belfry’ makes so much more sense to me now!!  And is far less dirty….  Just to officially set the record straight here are the origins of the phrase:

The allusion is to bats – the erratically flying animals, and ‘belfries’ are the bell towers often found at the top of churches. ‘Bats in the belfry’ refers to someone who acts as though he has bats careering around his topmost part, i.e. his head.

It might sound English in origin. It certainly has the right imagery to crop up in any number of Gothic novels based in English parsonages or turreted castles. In fact, it comes from the USA. Nor is it especially old. All the early citations are from American authors and date from the early 20th century. For example, firstly from the American author George W. Peck, in his Peck’s Uncle Ike and the Red-Headed Boy, circa 1901:

“They all thought a crazy man with bats in his belfry had got loose.”

Figures that a common term for crazy, eccentric people is 100% AMERICAN in origins.   Leap that!

Feb 29th.  It only comes every four years, a whole extra day out of nowhere.   Yeah well great.  I was all excited to do something fun and special with this Leap Day. Go dancing.  An extra day to work on my script.  Invite my secret crush to go make some copies with me. But it’s been a long month, and now today just seems extra cold.  

So instead I choose to shop! Something WGWaFA never does.  I’m kinda cheap, not as cheap as some I know, but not a big spender.  Combine that with hating trying on clothes because of my FA, and trying to find shoes for my freakishly big feet with narrow ankles, and shopping becomes a laborious pain.

Today if you spend over $29 dollars, the Hunger Site is offering 29cent shipping to celebrate this extra day.  And each purchase you make provides cups of food to the hungry. If you don’t want to shop, go there and Click to give Free Food.  Because I know you are totally curious about all that is WGWaFA, I got some Large Yoga pants (fingers crossed they fit) and a pretty red Blossom Bangle Bracelet made by a fair trade Organization in Bali, Indonesia. Oddly I have very tiny hands and wrists, the only tiny part of my body, and rings and bracelets are my shopping oasis.  The Hunger Site has this category called GLOBAL GIRLFRIEND which is full of wicked awesome stuff.

Go. Leap. Buy for Good.  

    WGWaFA wants to invite you out to eat on Sunday March 3rd.  Please don’t turn her down flat like every guy she ever met in High School.  Well except one, thanks Trump! 

Time Out for Hunger is where Time Out New York partners with 80 restaurants who will donate 10% of the days proceeds to help hungry New Yorkers thru the Foodbank for NYC.  You can check out the participating places here: http://www.foodbanknyc.org/index.cfm?objectid=6ECD2E9D-FF43-391F-1C835B67E0621E04

Hey, you’ve gotta eat anyway right? And if you are like me, drink heavily too.  So why not for a good cause? I will be at one of these fine establishments and if you donate $100 to my Charity Badge and send an Ecard to wgwafa@gmail.com, I’ll even tell you when and where I’ll be eating.  I know zillions of you are dying to meet WGWaFA. But considering the number of you that searched ‘Phat White Ass’ or ‘Big White Gurl Ass’ and hit this blog, a public forum is probably best.

CLICK HERE TO DONATE

**Note: The money is donated through an online Charity Badge hosted by Network for Good and it goes directly to America’s Second Harvest.  Also, unless you send me an Ecard all donations are completely anonymous.  A friend of mine was worried about donating only $5 because she is strapped for cash.  Not that I would ever judge, but I don’t know who donates what so if $5 is all you have PLEASE take the time and CLICK HERE.  And pass it on!

 

Why would I post my bare bottom on the Internets for $5231 donated to America’s Second Harvest? There are alot of inherent questions here:

1. Why did I ever think posting my bare bottom was a good idea?
2. Why did I change from $1523? and thus why $5231?
3. How on earth am I going to raise that much money? Is my FA really worth that much?

Here are the only answers I have:

1. I honestly don’t know if it is a good idea, in the beginning I really didn’t think it through.  But 12lbs and $600 later, it is a reality. Do I want to be known forever as the weird girl her sold out her bare bottom to raise money for hunger relief instead of wallowing in totally unproductive self-misery?  Yeah, I’m okay with that.
2. $5231 is the amount I wanted originally.  But I thought I was being foolish and it would be impossible to raise.  So I used some sort of Price is Right mentality of switching around the 1 and bumping the other numbers over to the right.  5-23 is my birthday and this year during Bare Ass 2008! I will turn 31. I could be getting married, or having a baby, climbing the corporate ladder, or buying a home of my own.  A life completely devoid of all these functional people distractions, to accomplish raising this money for America’s Second Harvest while conquering my food issues would be amazing.  Foolish or no, this is my dream for my 31st year on this planet and I am going after it full force.
3. I have no frakking clue how I am going to raise the money but I will work up some goals and ideas. If you think my FA is worth that much PLEASE CLICK HERE TO DONATE and send me an Ecard to wgwafa@gmail.com to let me know!  Or I will cry. 

 So the news is in:  WGWaFA has raised her goal amount to $5231 !!

This blog is about improving body image and health while raising awareness for hunger relief. I am raising the goal amount to prove to myself that I can set the bar high in all areas of my life.  But part of the reason is also because of a letter and email that I received from Vicki Escarra the President and CEO of America’s Second Harvest.  This was my call to action.  If my tasteful heiney shot isn’t yours, maybe this can be:

89,944 bags so far, 3.1 million bags to go!

Dear WGWaFA,

She has $50 in her wallet.  That’s it for the rest of the month.  The cupboards are nearly bare, and it’s so cold in her house she can see her breath.  She bundles the kids up in every blanket she can find, but they just keep shivering.

Does she use that $50 to get the heat turned back on or does she buy groceries with it?  How can she possibly choose only one?

WGWaFA, I wrote to you a few days ago about a great need to help struggling families this winter.  I really need your help.  So far we’ve raised enough to provide 89,944 bags of groceries to struggling families.  But we still have 3.1 million bags to go!

Across America right now, temperatures are freezing.  Parents are trying desperately to find a way to pay the bills and have enough left to feed their children.

You can help! Every dollar you give multiplies to provide $30 worth of food and groceries to families in need enough for 4 bags of groceries.  And it does so much more it gives them hope for a better day ahead.

Please, won’t you give a gift today?

Sincerely,

Vicki Escarra
President and CEO

P.S. If there was ever a time to help families in need, it’s today.   This is such a difficult time for struggling men, women, and children and we really need your help to reach them. Remember, every $1 = 4 bags of groceries.  Thank you for your support.