This is the one week each quarter where I ask for some small remuneration for my efforts to provide you with the sort of Catholic content, newsiness, fun, and so forth that is this blog. We Sheas live in narrow financial straits. For those who have joined the blog since last quarter, I am a writer (and sole breadwinner) trying to keep two and a half boys (or two boys and one large male who is currently working with the Militia Immaculata doing youth retreats) on a steady income of less than $500 a month (without dental or health insurance), plus what I can make from donations here and freelance work as a writer and speaker<\/a>. My wife is the chief homeschooler and bottle washer of this here enterprise, as well as a human dynamo in a dozen other tasks.<\/p>\n This month, like all months, is tight (and we live *very* frugally). So, I\u2019m here to say that I hope you\u2019ll agree the worker is worth his wages. Yesterday, out of about 5500 visits and about double that number of page views, the response to the tin cup rattle was four people and a handful of book purchases. I deeply appreciate the generosity of the folks who responded very much, but I also have to look at cold economic reality. Time spent writing this blog is time not spent writing for sources of income. So if there\u2019s no response to the Tin Cup Rattle, I\u2019ve gotta focus my energy elsewhere since my kids weirdly insist on food and shelter every single *day*.<\/p>\n So I\u2019m askin\u2019 ya, if everybody who has gotten something good from this blog will kick in some bucks on the PayPal button (I\u2019m not shy, be as generous as you can) you\u2019d be supporting what I think is an eminently worthy cause and saving our financial bacon as we struggle through another month. I always keep good on my word not to rattle the tin cup between quarterly fund drives and shall do so till next quarter. But during the Tin Cup Rattle I\u2019m taking time to say, \u201cIf you like what you get here, then please be as generous as you can and help out with the care and feeding of a unique news, opinion, and information source that you just can\u2019t find anyplace else.\u201d Thanks!<\/p>\n Oh, and remember, you can buy my books and tapes<\/a>! And if you\u2019d don\u2019t trust PayPal (though they are extremely reliable), feel free to email me <\/a>and ask for my snailmail address. I\u2019ll happily take a check instead.<\/p>\n Also, has it not occurred to you how badly you need me to come and speak for your parish, conference or organization<\/a>? Oh yes! Badly indeed do you need me!<\/p>\n And, if you are an editor, you need me to write for you. It\u2019s critical. Your mag will just wither away and die without my prose. As for my poetry, I happen to have the distinction of having prompted the only letter of complaint ever sent to First Things about the poetry they publish. So there!<\/p>\n