It's August!

People! It is officially my birthday month!

Two months ago, I told everyone want I want for my birthday this year. For my 36th birthday I am raising money for animal rescue. So, for June and July I have badgered and begged all over social media for pledges.

My goal was to raise $496, equal the $ amount for every day of this month. And as of right now, I have collected $703.50 in donations! *que the glitter cannons*

We blew my initial goal out of the water. I am amazed and humbled. But, I don't want to call it good. We still have a whole month. And I'm feeling ambitious. So, I'll still be badgering and begging all over social media for this month. Who knows, maybe we will manage to raise $1000.

If you'd like to donate to my big birthday fundraiser, you can do here: gofundme.com/bigbirthday
Every dollar counts and it's all going to a very worthy rescue.

What I can do.

If there is a day to act on the Love in your soul it is today, it is this moment. ~Mike Dolan

The tragedy in Orlando has me and my husband shaking our heads. We have sat in this very office and talked all the way around the issue, over and over and over.

Why did he do it? Was he part of ISIS? Was this a hate crime? Or terrorism? Who was his intended target? Why was it so easy for him to get such a powerful weapon? Why does this keep happening?

I don't know all the details. And, frankly, I don't need to know ALL the details. Because what it comes down to is this. He was a hate-filled man. And he was able to hurt a lot of people with an easily obtained powerful weapon. That's it.

It doesn't matter what color his skin was. What religion he was. Where he was from. Who he claimed to be part of. What his motives were.

He was a man.

He killed a lot of people.

With an easily and legally obtained powerful killing machine.

So, of course, that leads us right into the never-ending "gun debate".

Why do people even need to own those kind of guns? Just because they want to? Because it's their "constitutional right"? Why can't the government find a way to make it a little harder for people to get those guns? Why does nothing ever change? Why do we keep allowing this to happen?

And that brings us to money. The government body will never move towards any type of bill/law that will hinder the NRA's ability to sell guns (any guns...all the guns). Because the NRA has lined enough pockets with enough money to make it so. As long as that type of bribery is allowed to happen in our government, nothing is ever going to change. And I don't see that happening any time soon.

So, after all of that discussion...when he and I have talked it all the way around..to realize that there is nothing we can do to fix this...I'm left feeling broken, sad, disappointed, angry, and useless.

I keep asking myself...what can I do? What more can I do than change my Facebook profile pic and post my thoughts and prayers (hashtagged, of course)? I have no faith in my government. I have no faith that my vote would ever make any difference (because of the money in the pockets...remember). So, on that level, I am totally and utterly pointless.

But, what I can do is always strive to be better to the person next to me.

At work, at the grocery store, in my neighborhood, on my social media accounts. I can always try and be the love that this world so desperately needs. I can always try to remember to look outside of my self-absorbed little bubble and not be shy about reaching out to those around me.

I can always try to be kinder. To be more helpful. To be more loving. To be more understanding. To be more compassionate.

And, like Jeremy says, 'That will have to be enough'.

Big Birthday Fundraiser

Is anyone else tired of all the bickering on social media? I do not want to see another thing about public bathrooms or gorillas. It's not that I don't think topics should be discussed...it's just that on social media rarely does anyone ever really discuss anything. It's more like a bunch of people being in a big room just screaming their opinion at the top of their lungs.

I want to talk about something else instead. Animal rescue. Anyone that knows me knows that I have a huge soft spot for rescued animals. I don't really agree with breeding or purchasing "designer breed" animals for a ton of money. I am 100% pro-rescue/shelter adoption.

My birthday is coming up....in two and half months...but I need the time to try and get this set up and get the word out. Usually I am a pretty big diva princess when it comes to my birthday. I want to celebrate all month and I want ALL THE PRESENTS. And cupcakes. And cake. But this year, I want to try something different.

I want to try and raise money for an animal rescue. I want to try and get pledges, at least one for each day of the month of August. $1 for day 1, $2 for day 2, $3 for day 3, and so on. If I can get one person to pledge for every single day of August, we could raise nearly $500. But if I get more than one pledge for a day, I'll gladly accept that. More pledges equal more money. After collecting pledges for the next two months, I would set up a Gofundme account to be opened at the first of August and hopefully start collecting the pledged donations. At the end of the month, I would announce how much was raised and donate it to my animal rescue of choice.

And that rescue would be A Place to Bark, located in Tennessee. Bernie is an animal rescuing machine. Along with a handful of worker bees she makes magic happen for many, many animals. Please feel free to check out their Facebook page, read the posts and watch the videos. It really is a worthy rescue that can use every single bit of help.

SSSoooo, that's my big birthday fundraising idea. I'm officially opening up the fundraiser to pledges. Just comment your name, email, and which day you'd like to place your pledge. If you don't specify a dollar amount, I'll assume you are pledging the amount of the day you select (August 6th would be a $6 pledge). Remember, a pledge is just that...a commitment to pay the pledged amount in August. To kick it off, I'm pledging to pay $36 towards my fundraiser..since that's how old I'll be!

Tonight is the night

So...I heard the State of the Union speech was on last night. I mean, I didn't really hear anything about what the President actually said. But I do know that the First Lady wore a lovely Marigold dress (please see my talking point about always dressing cute in my previous post). #priorities #wehavethem

But I don't want to talk politics tonight. Tonight I want to talk about the Powerball. Have you bought your ticket?

1.5 bbbiiiilllllllliiiiooonnnn dollars.

According to ABC News, "If you win the powerball tonight, you will be richer than Taylor Swift, Beyoncé, and Madonna". That's a lot of pressure, yo.

Where would I even begin?

Well, first I'd go swimming in it.

Then I'd buy a private island with it, so I can swim in actual water.

Excuse me, you on the elephant, can you please back away from my island? Kthnksbie

Can pugs swim?

Ok. Good.

And there would be this.

And, ok, some of this (because I'm not totally selfish).

Get ready, people! I am gonna' be fabulous.

The hottest damn president this country has ever seen

This presidential race is getting a little ridiculous. Have you seen the Republican candidate line-up? They have their own baseball team standing up there on stage. And the quality of some of those candidates has me crying and laughing both at the same time.

The sheer craziness of it all got me thinking....if Donald Trump can join this circus...why can't I?

SO...I'm un-officially officially announcing that I will be running for President of the United States in 2016. I'll more than likely run on the Democratic side, but only because the line ups of the parties look like a very sad game of Red Rover. I just want to help even things out.

I know I'm late to the game, but I promise I have about as much to offer as Mr. Trump...so please hear me out.

If I'm elected as President I promise there will be Pugs in the white house.

As your President, I promise to always be dressed cute. I know it did WONDERS for First Lady Michelle Obama to always have your outfit on fleek.

As to gun control, I would make everyone throw all the guns into the ocean. Unless they are pink and glittery. Those can stay.

As President, I would start the tradition of Presidential jewels. Because everyone needs a tiara.

Once elected President, I would decree that every presidential cabinet meeting would have mandatory margaritas.

As President of the United Statues, I would add a 'We are all acting like five year olds' clause to the Affordable Health care Act that would state that "boo-boo kisses" are an acceptable form of treatment by all doctors and or nurses, and will be free under the AHA.

As President, I would offer to sit in the Rose Garden at the first of every month and yell 'OFF WITH THEIR HEADS' at tourists. But just for funsies.

If I am elected President, I would make the salad knife the official kitchen gadget of the nation.

As President, I would make bang trims free for everyone, no matter where you are in this country. Everyone should have access to affordable hair maintenance.

As to immigration, I say let them all in. The more the merrier.

As President, I would outlaw war. Instead, any opposing parties will be required to hug it out.

Considering what other candidates are promising, I think I have a pretty strong platform. And I am no politician. I am of the people and FOR the people...unless you don't like pink and then I'm voting you off the island.

 

VOTE FOR ME IN 2016!

If a rich asshole can do it, a poor asshole can do it too!

 

The Greatest Belly Button Mystery of the Century!

Once again the Internets is all a-buzz about Miss Taylor Swift. This time everyone seems to be talking about her belly button.

Take a second and let that sink in.

There are "news" stories about Taylor Swift's belly button.

A belly button.

.
.
.

At first I was like,

"Really, Internets? There is NOTHING else going on in the world today, so you have to go bat shit crazy about a girls belly button?"

and

"What's wrong with her belly button? Is it deformed or something?"

So, I did a quick google search to find out what all the fuss was about. Apparently, there were people out there who questioned if Taylor even HAD a belly button. Seriously? Taylor Swift is not an alien (I don't think). Turns out, everyone went ga-ga over her bully button reveal because she rarely shows it. Now, isn't that a novel idea. A famous young pop artist that DOESN'T show her belly button. People found this news worthy...because she made the decision to keep her belly button covered up. It's like we've found a fucking unicorn!

Which brings me back to my musings on why people seem to dislike her? I still don't get it. She seems like a class act to me and some of these other little fluff pieces running around Hollywood could probably take a lesson or two from her play book.

Instead we have this:

 

Is anyone still here?

Hi.

I'm Jinny. You may remember me from back in the day when I actually posted regularly to this blog. Work totally and utterly devoured my life for about four months. Most everything outside of work came to a screeching halt. But that doesn't mean that nothing has been going on.

So, let me get you all caught up.

The hallway project we started in March has finally come to a (almost) finish. It's down to painting doors, so I'm calling it finished.

We've started on the bedroom but it's going at a snails pace. Which is fine, we aren't on any time schedule here.

We spruced up our outdoor space. The café table and chairs was actually a surprise birthday present from Jeremy. I went out of town for a weekend and when I got home this was waiting for me. I cried, I was so surprised.

I've been out of town a few times. I went to a wedding in Austin. So, Kenedi, the bride, met my sister when they were both in college. This is how I met Kenedi. Eventually Kenedi ended up in San Marcos and started going to the same church that my cousin and her husband work at. So now Kenedi is practically part of the family so when she got hitched this summer we all had to be there.

I went to Canyon, TX to see Texas, the musical, at Palo Duro Canyon. It was a charter bus trip and my Grandma invited me to go (who says no to their Grandma? Not this girl). It was a fun trip and I had a good time spending the weekend with the ladies of my family. I'm very thankful that my aunt Gail didn't laugh at me while I had a death grip on her hand when the charter bus drove us down into the canyon. It was pretty hair raising.

Aunt Bev, Grandma, Great Aunt Lynette

 My Mom and I went to Dallas to help my sister get her new apartment situated. She's lived in Dallas for many years now but this is the first time she has ever had an apartment by herself. After living with our cousin for years we have jokingly compared it to a divorce. I wasn't sure what she got to keep or what she needed to replace. So we went shopping and did manly things, like put together furniture.

We adopted a new family member! Ferguson, the fish. He's pretty low maintenance, doesn't make a peep, and doesn't need a lot of attention...no nail clippings or insulin shots, no grooming or heart guard meds, no walks or toys required. And he is pretty to look at.

We had to take Harley to get her teeth cleaned. I wouldn't even mention this but her recovery from the anesthesia and pain meds was unlike anything we've had to deal with before. If any of y'all have had to have a pet put under to have any type of work done, I'm sure you are familiar with the little speech the office people give you on the way out. "Keep them quiet", "They might not feel like eating", "They will probably be drowsy", etc. In the past, all of our pets have bounced back from being put under with ease, not even a hitch. But poor Harley girl, she's old and doesn't bounce like that. She couldn't walk, but she sure did try, and when she fell over she would just lay very still like 'I'm just going to stay right here'. She was the funniest little drunk kitty ever. But while it was funny, it was sad at the same time because we could tell her mouth was bothering her. They extracted 5 teeth and noted that there were others already missing. So now we call her Toothless.

So, you see, I haven't been a complete couch potato this summer (although there was plenty of couch wallowing). Overtime at work is easing off, for now, and I really hope to have more time to come back to this space. I've missed it.

 





Where am I? What day is it?

So...hey.


I think this is the longest I have ever gone without blogging something. To say that the last two months have been crazy hectic is a very sorry understatement. I honestly can't remember another time where our daily routine was so jacked up for such a long time. And it's STILL not back to normal.

First things first...

Precious has gone to another foster home. I am a foster failure. But not the good kind you hear about where they fall so in love with their foster that they adopt them. No, I'm the other kind. Precious was really coming out of her shell, but only as long as she was within the four walls of this house and with Jeremy and me. Take her outside the house, and she totally freaked out or shut down. Bring someone else into the house, total meltdown. And, she was feeling so very comfortable in the house that she started chasing our cats. Precious is a great dog, she was very attached to us and loved being with us. And by with us I mean glued to our side and in our face all of the time. We brought her as far as we could in her journey and I knew that she needed someone else to help her along for the next part. Someone who could work with her to socialize her better. Someone with no kitty cats. So, off she went on a new adventure. I can only hope that she is doing ok.

Second....

Jeremy had surgery. It was day surgery, but still surgery. We spent the first half of the day at the hospital. Thank goodness my Mother-in-law came to sit with me. It made the waiting go by so much faster. That was two weeks ago. Jeremy is doing great. All of his stiches were internal and dissolvable, only two butterfly bandages on the outside (which he was already able to remove). Once his incision heals completely, he and I will have matching belly button scars. Twinsies!

Third...

We are still working on the hallway. Jeremy has pretty much completed his part and so it was time for me to do my part. The words...the words on the wall.

We have Sparrows that come and try to make a nest under our patio every single year. The west Texas wind always blows it down, every single year. Not that it keeps them from trying. So we decided to help the birds out and put up two birdhouses under our patio. The sparrows are already building a nest in one.

And, just to wrap it up,...

We finally made it to Enchanted Rock for our 14th Anniversary this month. We tried going two years ago for our anniversary, but we made the fatal mistake of going on Saturday. The line to get into the park was down the road, so we bailed out. This time we played it safe and went on a Tuesday, our actual anniversary, and getting in was a breeze. No line! The weather was perfect, overcast but not cold. By the time we were leaving the park the clouds were gone and it warmed up, so we picked the perfect time to go. I was a little nervous climbing up that huge rock, it was pretty steep in some spots. But there were other people, some younger and some older than me, out there making the climb. So I kept telling myself if they could do it..I could do it too. Jeremy helped encourage me to keep going. And I'm glad I did. The view from the top was pretty amazing. I hope we get to go back some time to explore the park more.

I am hoping..and praying..that things get back to some type of normal very soon.