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.

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!

Puppies and Pedicures

We held our first fundraising event for West Texas Angels for Animals on Saturday. Putt for Pups was held at our local putt-putt place. We had hot dogs and face painting, we were selling home made dog treats and t-shirts. Raising money for the animals and promoting adoptable animals that are available. For our first event, I think it went well. Maybe a hiccup or two, but over all..a very good turn out. It was great to see so many families bring their own rescue pups out for the event.

The AFA crew.

My sister even helped out.

AAnnndd, as you can see from above, my sister was in town for the weekend. Yes, we DID just see her earlier this week when we went to Dallas for the concert. This is probably what it would be like if we lived closer together.  We went to see our friend, Benita, in a play on Saturday night. It was held in a modular theatre which really gives the audience the chance to get up close and personal with the stage and actors.

Sunday was fun day! We continued our family tradition of having lunch at the church's spring festival. The brisket is NOT to be missed. Every year for as long as I can remember we have gone to the spring festival. My Grandpa use to help make the sausage and brisket and the women in my family volunteered in the arts and crafts room or in the dining hall. It's just one of those things that has always been.

And then we went for pedicures...with wine! Because we are fancy.

 

 

   

What I did this weekend

I'm sorry that a weekend wrap up post is all I can manage for y'all lately! Life has been hectic with the addition of our first ever foster dog. She is learning all about crate training and going potty outside and NOT growling at the cats. It's been..crazy and exhausting. But I know it will be worth it in the end to see her find her forever home.

Precious loves sitting in laps.

On top of that, my sister came for a visit this weekend. And she brought her dog along, as usual. So that made two cats, three humans, and four dogs (one who is still learning that people and cats and dogs and the outside are all ok) in our little love cottage for the weekend. We made it work, but I'm really, really sleepy.

My sisters dog, Lula, in the shirt I bought her.

  We, the three humans..I mean, tried out the new burger place in town. It was good, but nothing like the Sunset Grill (which is closed..and I'm still not over it). Last night, my mom came over and my sister made us all pizza. She was going to try a "clean" recipe, but that didn't quite work out so she ended up making normal pizza. We didn't tell my mom that it wasn't "clean" until she was already eating it. She is a bit of a picky eater..lol. We watched Dallas Buyers Club while we had dinner. It was good, not the type of movie I normally go for, but I can see what people are talking about it.

Seester makin' tha pizza.

Yeah..this was my weekend.

Today Jeremy has been working on the hallway. The weather was beautiful all weekend and a yucky cold front moved in over night. So, I've been practicing my couch potato routine all day..watching a marathon of Flashpoint (thank you, Netflix) and taking Miss Precious out for her bathroom breaks. And Jeremy has been playing Mr. Handy man. I can't wait until it's all finished.

It's always the prep work that gets ya.

New runners for the hallway.

Oh..and my seester brought me a present. A new mug to add to my ever growing collection (actually, one seems to break right before another comes into my life). It's too pretty to put away so it's currently displayed on the kitchen counter.

Kinda looks like my new rugs.

Maybe this week I will be able to find the time to tell y'all about how my sister and I got a lost dog back to it's owner. It was pretty unbelievable how it all went down. I hope y'all had a great weekend!!! Until next time....

What I did this weekend

You know those weekends when you get to lay around in your PJ's and do nothing? This was not one of those kind of weekends. I've been busy, busy, busy.

Saturday morning marked the first official meeting for the West Texas Angels for Animals Project. I didn't manage to snap a picture of us because I was too busy eating and/or talking. In a two hour period I don't think there was a moment of silence. We were hashing thoughts and ideas so fast I was lucky to get notes down on paper before we were on to something else. Feel free to like our Facebook page (linked above) if you like. We are open to networking dogs out of San Angelo to surrounding areas so if you are a Texas reader and you love animals, we'd love to have your support.

After the meeting, the husband and I went to see a new piece of public art. We have an organization in town called 'Art in Uncommon Places' and they have installed several pieces of art all around town from sculptures to murals. This new piece is at the base of the Lone Wolf Bridge and its called 'Forever Love', a large metal heart to put padlocks on..ala the Love Bridge in Paris.

On the back of our lock it says 'Beyond Forever'

Today we went to the carnival with my in-laws and our niece. The rodeo has been in town for the last two weeks and that means carnival time. When we were growing up, the fairgrounds were THE place to be during rodeo time. It was always crowded and the rides all seemed so large and loud and lit up. You could run around with your friends and ride your favorite rides over and over again, eat food that was terrible for you, and laugh at the silly side shows tents they had set up. I remember one year it was the snake lady. You would give up a ticket to go into this tent and there was a (fake) coiled up snake body with a (real) woman's head inside this (mirrored) box. Of course, the woman was able to talk but she couldn't move the fake snake body. Anyway, we haven't been to the carnival since we were dating. And there were no freak show tents.

I picked up the baby goat even though the sign said not to. Breaking the law!

Dolly riding the merry-go-round

Nanny had some crazy hair on the slide

She got a sno cone AND cotton candy

Dolly and I riding the caterpillar roller coaster (twice)

I tried a deep fried snickers for the first time ever. Y'all didn't want to see pictures of that. It was probably the worst thing EVER for me, but it was pretty dang delicious. Between the sunshine and the fried food I was worn out and I came home to nap for an hour.

Even though I enjoy my 'lay around and do nothing' weekends, this was a pretty awesome weekend!