Teeth update: No fall color for you!
I had a $50 Sephora gift certificate. I thought, hey, why not get some Kat Von D eyeshadow? (I love the Beethoven palette for it's mod vibe and versatility.) They were sold out, but I noticed the new Urban Decay lipsticks. The manager helped me find a shade that looked fabulous, Gash, a subtle maroon. They even had a matching lip pencil!

I was very content, and then I remembered that tomorrow I am getting evaluated for braces. Lipstick + braces = bad idea. You want to keep your lips natural and attract attention to your eyes. I was a little sad to put back the pretty lipstick. I guess I'll hang onto the certificate for when they restock the eyeshadow.

(If you don't know what all the fuss and charity surrounding my teeth is about, check out the official donation page on my site to see some rather disturbing pictures of the inside of my mouth!)

I know I should be happy about knuckling down to the braces thing, but it's really scary because I don't have a job. Mom and Leigh tell me not to worry, to use the $7,600 of donations to cover the braces and stop putting it off (that jaw is still thinning, after all). But I know that the surgery will cost at least $10,000, and donations have cooled off, with last month accounting for less than $100. I worry about being able to swing through it. The braces alone are an additional $5,000. It just scares me a bit. I want to make sure I don't stop half way because, oh, I didn't have enough for the surgery. Then I will be even worse off than where I started. I just can't go about it half-cocked.

We are currently at $7,637.21 in donations for the teeth. And even though I'm sorry it's not growing as fast as it was earlier this year, I realize that the fact that it's growing at all is still stunning. I shouldn't feel down unless no one had donated anything to begin with, and for that reason, I'm still fairly positive that this can be done. The kindness of so many people is, after all, allowing me to get the braces and start this thing even though I currently have no major source of income. (Yes, I'm working on that!)

Some good news from the other side of the country!
The wonderful Barry Deutsch of Hereville (read his comics!) was kind enough to take the charity sketchbook Leigh started (back at MoCCA in New York City) all the way to the Northwest to gather the art of great comickers like Patrick Farley, Steve Lieber, Derek Kirk Kim. It just came back in the mail, and I still have to go through it and post a list of the people who have contributed. There are so many!

Leigh started the sketchbook at MoCCA, but I think the artwork from Oregon is very impressive. My mother has offered to help auction it off on eBay. The account will loop into the special PayPal account that Leigh is monitoring.

The sketchbook isn't completely full yet. What should I do with the rest of these blank pages?