Friday, March 1, 2013

Paws for A Cause Kick Off!!



I'm kicking off my week of Paws with a Cause with a story about my baby, Rusty.

I got Rusty after my first cat passed away. I love my first cat, but I'm one of those people who needs a cat in the house. I do.

DH had been away for work and Mr Man, the first cat, passed away from kidney failure. It was the worst Monday of my life at that point. He was a present from DH to keep me 'safe'. I loved him. Still do.

But he'd passed. I wasn't sure I wanted to get another cat, but I missed the little guy. So BIL told me--he was almost as crushed as DH and I, and he helped me bury Mr. Man--he'd take me to the APL to "get you another kitty".

We went that Friday. I wanted to look a while. I wanted to choose carefully. Turns out, this one chose me.  I walked past his cage and he pawed at me. Stuck his paw right out and tapped me. BIL took him out and his friend in the cage tried to come along. In hindsight, I should've gotten both of them, but I didn't. I picked him. Or rather, he picked me. He looked a lot like Mr. Man, but had some goofy name I didn't like. DIL wanted me to call him, Mr Man Jr. Nope. That wouldn't work, either.

I took him home and knew exactly what I'd name him. Rusty, after my favorite NASCAR driver. I have no idea if he liked it, but he loved being called Ruster Duster. He loved to crawl into the cupboards and was right there when we'd work on home improvements. He played fetch and used the night time hours to sing or play Marco Polo... one of the two, but he was noisy.

My favorite story about Rusty? We'd moved from a small house to the bigger house. Well, we brought the cats with us when we moved, but first we brought them over to get them used to the house. Rusty got loose. Not out in the yard loose, but loose in the house. I freaked out. COMPLETELY freaked out. I thought, goodness, he jumped off the balcony... did he run into the woods.... Couldn't find him anywhere. I went home. DH stayed at the new house. Still no Rusty. We put out food and waited. Turns out, he'd crawled into one of the heating ducts and hid. DH found him when he came out to eat the food. I was never so happy as when DH called to tell me he'd found Rusty.

Sadly, Rusty passed away a couple of years ago on DH's birthday. He'd been having issues with his tummy and used my couch (Don't have the couch now) for a potty box. Turns out, he had stomach cancer. I sat with him through all the IV treatments and the pills. He dropped to less than 5 pounds and his fur looked worse for wear, but I loved him. I held him when he passed and I'm glad DH was there with me. I drove home and DH buried him. He was my baby and I loved him very much. I'll never have another Rusty, but I'm grateful for the time we did have.


Paws With A Cause® enhances the independence and quality of life for people with disabilities nationally through custom-trained Assistance Dogs. 
PAWS® increases awareness of the rights and roles of Assistance Dog teams through education and advocacy.  Founded in 1979, Paws With A Cause is dedicated to helping its clients who are challenged by many disabilities, such as Cerebral Palsy, Muscular Dystrophy, Seizure Disorders, and Hearing Disorders to name just some.  Each of our dogs are trained to meet the specific needs of our clients. Tasks may include opening and closing doors, picking up objects, pulling a wheelchair, turning lights on and off, and alerting a person to particular sounds like a telephone, doorbell, smoke detector and many others. Our dogs change lives by enhancing the independence of our clients. By just opening a door, a dog opens up the world for a person with a disability and your donations will go to making that happen.  PAWS thanks you so much for your donation and allowing us to open more doors.
 
Paws With A Cause
4646 South Division
Wayland, MI 49348

How to donate:
2. Click on "Make a Donation"
3. Enter a amount you wish to donate. Everibbon will add a small fee to your donation for processing. My fee for donating $5.00 was .49 cents. So keep this in mind when deciding your donation amount. You will receive 1 entry into the giveaway for every $1 you donate.  
4. In the box that says "on the behalf of" please put your name. This is the name that will be listed on the everibbon website so put a name you do not mind being visible to everyone. Do not check the box to make a anonymous donation because I will not be able to track your donation to enter you into the giveaways.
5. Next it will ask you for your credit or debit card information. 
6. Then it will ask for your email address to send you a receipt. This is so that you can submit it for tax purposes.
7. Ta Da! Your all done making your donation. Now you need to contact Danielle to enter the giveaway.
8. Please email Danielle at RomanceBookJunkiesDanielle@Yahoo.com with the name you used to donate your money. For example the name I used to donate on behalf of was Romance Book Junkies. Do not send me your name off your credit or debit card because I will not be able to see this. Along with the name you used please tell me how much you donated and if you live in the US or are International.
9. Your all done. Thank you for donating! 

Warning: Do not try to email Danielle the name and donation amount of another person that is not yourself. If Danielle recieves more than one email with the same persons name and donation amount she will have to ask for your copy of the receipt from everibbon to verify that you are the correct winner. Thank you.

We will have 3 winners for the main giveaway.
We have 2 $65 gift certificates to any online book store.
Also we have a huge box of books and swag from Romance Book Junkies for US residents only.

Good luck to all and thank you for helping make this fundraiser a success.




4 comments:

bittenbyromance said...

I love tabby cat's. I'm too have to have a cat in the house all the time. We recently lost our 20 year cat and it wasn't 6 months before I was begging my hubby to have another cat. I still miss Patches and she will always be in my heart but I just can't live without having a cat.

Wendi Zwaduk and Megan Slayer said...

I totally hear you. I couldnt' handle not having a cat in the house.

Melissa (Books and Things) said...

Love the kitty! Those kitties are so lucky to have you. I would love to have another kitty, but alas.. my malemute would not have it. So, I'll virtually pet yours!

Debby said...

This is a wonderful fund raiser.