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!

The red headed man with a witch for a wife

As we've been watching the Outlander series on Starz, Jeremy has found himself connected with the character of Murtagh. He is no nonsense, extremely loyal, has a robust disdain for all things froofy, and he likes to settle minor disagreements with a good punch in the face. Jeremy says, 'If only all disagreements can be settled that way. One punch and done.'

So, I updated my Facebook status with "Jeremy's spirit animal" and shared this photo:

And shortly after I received this text from him:

{insert a bunch of heart-eye emojis here} *swoon*

 Someone has been memorizing the '10 tips for husbands if your wife is obsessed with Outlander'. 

All the beautiful words!

Let's talk about the Outlander series, shall we?

Many, many years ago...I was introduced to the Outlander series by a coworker who was listening to them on tape (yes, tape!). At work, this series started a conga line of woman impatiently waiting for one coworker to hurry up and finish listening so it could be passed down to the next person on the list.

It starts off as a story about a woman, Claire, who travels back in time through magical stones in Scotland and ends up married to a very dashing Scotsman named Jamie. I know it sounds a little out there and really like your typical romance story. But it is just way more than that.

When I found out that they were doing a TV series on the books, I was beside myself with excitement. I know fans had been asking for a movie for a really long time. I am so glad that they decided to take it to TV instead of a movie. There is just NO WAY that they could have done this series justice in a movie (or even a handful of movies). And I have to say that so far, the show is doing an amazing job of bringing the story to life. Jeremy has been watching it with me and even he is held captive by the twists and turns of the story.

So, I decided to re-read the books...or I guess read the books for the first time since I listened to them the first time. We are up to eight books in the series...with the possibility of more. I know...it sounds kind of crazy, right? Who on earth could keep a story going for more than eight books? We'll see if George R.R. Martin strings us along that long.

I managed to wrangle one of my aunts into reading the books (she has read them all twice now). I have another aunt who I just loaned the DVD's for Season One of the show. AND a third aunt has now ordered the books as well. Plus a cousin who is also watching the show after I introduced her to it. I'm starting my own mini-fan club.

My mom keeps saying its because of the sex. And while there is sex...and I do read many, many, many romance novels that do revolve a lot around the sex...these books are so much more than the typical romance novel. I don't think I could have kept myself interested for eight books if it was just about the sex.

No, this series really has everything. It is an epic story which spans over a lifetime for the main characters and many of the secondary characters as well. This story has you in several different countries, during several different wars, during a couple of different time periods.

But through out the different plot lines and side stories, it always comes back to Jamie and Claire and their love for one another. It is a love story, to its very core.

I'm getting ready to start reading the books again. Jeremy was like "Again?! But you just finished!" Yeah, and?! They are just that good.

Let it Shine

#flipthescript #letitshine #lovenothate #itstartswithme #imnosinger

A video posted by @justjinny on Nov 16, 2015 at 1:29pm PST

Facebook really has me down today. So I'm trying to cheer myself up. I don't really like to sing in front of anyone, but I thought it was worth sharing. #singwithme #idareyou

S is for...Simple

Day 19. What makes you happy

This guy..this guy makes me happy.

My babies make me happy.

 

Our love cottage makes me happy.

My family makes me happy.

 



Conversations from home

Me: I'm going to get a pedicure this weekend. 

Jeremy: I know.

Me: How do you know?

Jeremy: Because you chipped the paint on your toe. 

Acting like he knows me or something. 

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.

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!

Thanksgiving {In Photos}

Just a friendly game of Candy Land.

Our fabulous cooks.

 

It was a peel-off. Who's peeler works better?

 

One hungry lumber jack.

My purple and red turkey. Original art from Dolly.

Star and Dolly.

 

Birthday celebration #1.

The love of my life.

Mom and Tiny Girl (aka Lil Mama).

 

Two cute red headed dudes.

Birthday celebration #2

Pops entertaining the kids.

Shopping on Thanksgiving?! Crazy.