The poppy count has been slow since Friday’s launch. In fact, it was so slow that I ended up counting poppies I saw on tv screens (mostly News & hockey games) on Friday and Saturday. I also counted the poppies we saw on people at the Oiler’s hockey game on Sunday.

I had thought that counting poppies at a venue with over 10,000 people in attendance would result in a ridiculously high number and a donation tally that we couldn’t afford to pay.  That’s why I’d placed a caveat on our poppy count plans; planning not to count at designated sporting events we’re attending between the poppy launch date and Remembrance day. 

That wasn’t the case at Sunday’s game. We’ll revisit the non-counting policy at giant venues while at the Esks game on Friday.

Current poppy count stands as follows:

• Oct 28 = 14
• Oct 29 = 15
• Oct 30 = 34

Donation tally, as of yesterday, is only $6.30 (per charity).

Of all the places we’ve lived, Edmonton has been the most pro-military and supportive community. I’m hoping to start seeing an increase in poppies worn over the next few days.

launched today…

Per the press release, poppies will be available for sale to the general public on October 28th.

Edmonton, you’re on notice. I’ll be counting poppies beginning on Oct 28th to determine what the $$ amount of my charitable donations to Movember, Kids Need to Read, Boomer’s Legacy, WoundedWarriors.ca and CaliCan Rescue Foundation will be this year. Make some fabulous organizations very happy by sporting your poppies for the next 15 days.

Many of my friends are participating in #movember this year. Since I’m not, I’m planning on counting poppies and making a donation to one of their campaigns. The big challenge is trying to decide whose #movember campaign to donate to. EEP!

I’ve decided to make my friends work for my donation. I’m cool like that.

If you want me to donate to your #movember campaign leave a comment on this post telling me how you plan to celebrate Veteran’s Week this year. Leave a link to your #movember donation page and I’ll randomly select someone’s campaign to donate to. No comment = no chance at donation.

Of course, I’ll then expect you to carry out your Veteran’s Week plans…

Veteran’s Week takes place from Nov 5-11 and this year Veterans Affairs Canada is asking Canadians to Make remembrance more than something you feel. Make it something you do. (2011 theme was How will you Remember?).

Shamelessly stolen from the Veterans Affairs website:

“Your challenge is to make remembrance more than something you feel. Make it something you do. There are many ways you can show that you remember and honour our Veterans.

• pin a poppy above your heart;
• attend a local Remembrance Day ceremony;
• follow Veterans Affairs Canada on Twitter;
• download the “We Remember” mobile app;
• listen to Veterans talk about their experiences;
• create a mashup and share it on the Veterans Affairs Canada YouTube channel;
• visit the Veterans Affairs Canada fan page on Facebook, write on our wall and share how you remember;
• change your Facebook profile picture to a poppy, write on your wall about how you remember or create your own remembrance fan page.”

In 2010 I decided to donate funds to friend’s Movember campaigns based on the number of poppies I saw people wearing as I randomly walked through Edmonton. In 2011, I expanded my list of charities to donate to (Movember, Kids Need to Read, Boomer’s Legacy, WoundedWarriors.ca and CaliCan Rescue Foundation). I haven’t yet decided who the beneficiary of my 2012 poppy count will be.

As always, I’m donating $0.10 to each charity for each poppy I see people wearing as I wander around Edmonton & Ottawa from the Poppy Campaign’s launch date until November 11.

I will be counting poppies on my way to work, at work, and running normal day-to-day errands (shopping, bill payments, etc.).

I know 10 cents per poppy doesn’t seem like much, but I’m since I’m planning on counting poppies for approximately 20 days and will be attending the Remembrance Day ceremony at the War Memorial in Ottawa this year, I expect the dollar amount to add up quickly. I’m optimistic; hoping to see far more poppies in 2012 than I did during my previous counting experiments in 2010-2011.

Why no donation to the Royal Canadian Legion you might ask? My husband and I are Legion members and donate to their programs throughout the year. I also have an annual tradition of purchasing a new poppy each day of the campaign. And Honestly? I suspect that the Legion’s poppy campaign will benefit more from my poppy purchase traditions than from my poppy counting project.

– side note –
In 2010 I also decided to try and collect photos of poppies on people’s jackets from the date the poppy campaign began until Nov 11. Instead of randomly photographing strangers, I asked friends and family to send in a picture of themselves wearing a poppy. Sadly, my collection was tiny and the project was a bust. I received less than 5 pictures of people wearing poppies.

I think I need to reconsider how I’m collecting the poppy photos.

After two terribly short weeks at home, hubs has started his journey back to the sandbox. These next few days are always the worst for re-adjusting back to life as a military spouse with a deployed partner. Just when you get used to sharing your home and life with someone again, they have to go back to the mission. Tour breaks pass far too quickly.

I will have to get used to bowing to the wishes of my feline and canine overlords once again. Having someone else to get up in the middle of the night to let the dogs out was kinda nice…

And of course it’s snowing again. For the two weeks hubs was home the weather was nicer and it didn’t snow. The morning he left it began to snow. I spent a chunk of my day shoveling. I’m back to pretending that pushing snow around and lifting a shovel in minus gawd awful temperatures is exercise I enjoy.

On the bright side the basement has been mostly fixed (post flood). I have a new floor and desk but we didn’t get around to putting up new baseboards in my office. I’m sure I’ll survive without them.

All the light fixtures have been fixed and hubs wired new lights in the laundry room so it’s easier to see when doing laundry.

New curtains have been hung in the bedroom and all that jazz.

Too bad we forgot about fixing the weather stripping at the doors. Guess we need something to do once he comes home.

Tonight I whine. Tomorrow I begin prepping for my exams. Think I’ll keep my phone off the hook until exams are over (late next week) so I can study uninterrupted.