We won the makeover!!

It was officially announced last night - the Central Missouri Humane Society won the makeover competition from zootoo.com! Thank you, thank you, thank you to anyone who voted!

This is such a great thing for the animals in our community. I cannot wait to see this all unfold!

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2009-04-26-zootoo-contest_N.htm

Green Thumb

Kyle and I are taking a stab at gardening this year. We've not had the best success in the past with plants, but it's largely due to our own laziness. This year we're really excited - we planted stuff from seed (72 plants, by the way, are way too many for a normal person who doesn't plan on having a massive gardening operation), built a raised bed garden out in the yard, and will actually plant our new little plants outside this week.

Pictures of these adventures in gardening below.

Starting to sprout! The yellow squash and zucchinis are out of control.
Time to build a garden.

Step 1: Shop for wood and stuff.

Step 2: Decide on a location, and lay stuff you bought out.

Step 3: Make Lizzi get to work.

Step 4: Put Kyle to work. Lizzi wasn't very helpful.

Step 5: Supervise closely. Preferably with a frosty beverage in hand.

Project complete (minus the dirt - that will come later)!!

Lizzi, taking all the credit. Brat.

Another Z2 update!

CMHS is still in first! While we gained another 15,000 votes (so we're up by 45,000), the percentage lead we have is closing.

Voting ends tomorrow at 11:00 CST, so get your votin' on at zootoo.com for the Central Missouri Humane Society!!

Winner will be announced April 27, and I can't wait!

Zootoo Makeover Contest Update

The Central Missouri Humane Society is in FIRST PLACE!

They posted rankings today just to update everyone, but the voting goes through Sunday. We have 68,000 votes, and the shelter in 2nd place has 38,000. I'm SO pumped that our volunteers, community, and friends are helping make this completely insane dream closer to reality.

Keep it up please! Head over to http://www.zootoo.com/americavotes/vote, and vote for CMHS!

First Day of School!

Emma and Rocco had their first day of Pet Manners class this evening, and I think it went really well after we got warmed up a bit.

A little background: Emma has been driving me nuts lately. The other day she ate the (very toxic) tulip bulbs. Then she jumped up and snatched a PB&J sandwich right out of Kyle's hands. An hour later, she steals an entire stick of string cheese out of my hands. She's decided that it would be fun to growl at anything that moves near her bowls (food or water). N.U.T.J.O.B.

So, one thing Emma is really good at is focusing, and she won the instructor over within minutes by being so focused on me (read: the treats I had in my pouch). I think he's pretty smitten with her (he kept giving her lovin' during the class with 3 other dogs in it), and even suggested after the class that she should do some kind of competition. On the one hand - yay! On the other, I'm laughing at how batshitcrazy she really is, and how fooled he was by her decent behavior during class! :)

Rocco did decent too. He had to wear a bandana to signify that he's a dog that needs a little bit of space, and that apparently included from the instructor. Rocco did not like him (he's got male issues), but he was able to walk next to him by the end of class without fussing. And since he had to wear a bandana, which I think is for sissy dogs (kidding), I made him wear a badass one with skulls and crossbones on it. My boy's tough.

I'm really pleased with the facility, the instructors, and the message they put out. They're good people, and I'm really looking forward to the next 5 weeks with them! My beasts better be awesome at the end of this, too. :)

Another shot of Emma and Rocco pre-class

Miles wanted in on the photo action

See what I mean by focus? She's checking out my sweet treat pouch.

My little pirate Rockstar.

Have you voted?!

Well, have you?!

As a reminder, log onto zootoo.com (creating an account is simple and free), upload a profile picture, and vote for the Central Missouri Humane Society.

You can vote 10 times a day, every day (through this coming Sunday).

The voting link is a little tricky to find. You can either:

• Click on home (far left button on the top), then click on the little "vote" image on the right hand side.
• Click on "Help Pets" (same toolbar as Home, but on the right side, next to the white parrot), select Shelter Makeover II.
• Or go straight to: http://www.zootoo.com/americavotes/vote
  

So many options. Please vote (10 times a day this whole week)! It's easy, and the animals will appreciate it!

Are you ready to vote tomorrow?!

Don't forget - voting for a makeover for CMHS on zootoo.com starts tomorrow. We just need ten votes a day for 7 little days!

And yes, I've heard about the situation with last year's winner. It's an interesting situation to say the least, but this contest has generated a ton of publicity for us, and any makeover is better than no makeover! It seems that last year's winner expected a million dollar check. That was never the intention of the website (to my knowledge). Basically, they wanted it to be like Extreme Home Makeover - they come into your community and drum up support from within. I personally think that's an awesome idea.

Flowers can be ugly

Beautiful tulips, no (I just got them from a Google image search)? They're beautiful until your dog ingests them, and then you have to induce vomiting with hydrogen peroxide because they're pretty darn toxic to dogs.

Good reference to have on hand: http://www.aspca.org/pet-care/poison-control/plants/

Holy crap!! CMHS in the top 10!!

So, as I've posted about a lot, The Central Missouri Humane Society is in a competition for a million dollar shelter makeover, and it was just announced that we made it to the final phase, where America votes on who they want to be the winner!

SO FREAKING EXCITING!

Anyone reading this anywhere - I need your help. Here's what I need you to do:

1. If you're not already a member, go to www.zootoo.com, create a free account, and add a profile picture.
2. Starting at Noon (eastern) on Monday, April 13, you're allowed 10 votes each day through the end of the day on Sunday, April 19 (my birthday, so do this as a gift to me). 70 clicks from you is all we need.
3. Make sure when you vote, you're voting for the Central Missouri Humane Society!!
   

This is seriously almost a reality. It's crazy!

The ONE thing that makes me sad about spring.

I love spring. Absolutely love it. Warming weather, my birthday, blooming flowers - all of it!

However, the one tiny thing that makes me sad about Spring's arrival is that I won't be able to wear these super cute new shoes for 6 months.
I found them this weekend, and it was love at first sight. I realize I'll wear them only a small handful of times a year, but they make me happy. I want to wear them with jeans and a lovely sweater rich with fall colors. They're officially my Thanksgiving shoes. But alas, I shall have to wait to wear them. But at least that means I'll forget about them over the summer and fall in love with them all over again once the weather starts to get cool again!

A great accessory!

If you wear a lot of brown, this is totally the dog for you!

Really I just wanted an excuse to post a picture of the cute puppy - obviously I'm kidding about the accessory thing. Anyone who would buy a dog as an accessory deserves a swift kick to the ass, and I'll be first in line to deliver it. But if otherwise you're a great home and want a new puppy, she would coordinate quite nicely if brown is a dominant color in your wardrobe. :)

We've had several inquiries on the tiny puppy, but no applications filled out yet. We've got a little time - her spay is scheduled for April 21, so she won't be going anywhere until then. I just hope she'll be heading to her home soon after that!

Adorable

That adorable, roly poly thing is still available for adoption (the brown one, not the white one). If anyone is interested, let me know! :)