40 days to help the strays, take 2

first things first, oh my word at the new faces! i took a bit of a facebook break over the weekend while i had family in town for nash's big birthday bash (seriously, when did he turn 2...and how did this happen?) and when i got back on this morning i saw TONS of new faces here at brownie-goose. welcome to all of you, glad you came and hope you stay!

so the season of lent is with us, and for some reason this tends to be probably my favorite part of the church calendar. there is something refreshing and renewing about lent to me. i have yet to put my finger on it, but i love all the self-reflection time and time to just allow myself to step back from it all and look at the larger picture. i know i could do this any time of the year, but for some reason it doesn't work the same unless it is actually lent for me. :) i am very obedient like that. hehe.

well, this year as i thought of things to "give up" i kinda got stumped. 3 years ago i gave up fast food, that was awesome considering it helped me shed a few lbs and got me out of a unhealthy habit. however, i have since gotten back on the french fry train and have found that i have a VIP seat on the caboose. oops. the next year i gave up dairy. oh dear me, that was the hardest. i love my milk and cheese, so that was a good year working on self-discipline and learning about reading labels. last year i gave up meat. and honestly, that was way easier than i thought it would be. however, i missed my hamburgers and found myself sometimes looking at cows in a very unhealthy and non-animal loving way. then, on easter i treated myself to half of a cow at 5 guys and was much better. ;) so this year, i flirted with the idea of giving up swearing and saying bad words. sadly, i thought this might be harder than giving up dairy. oh my. i toyed with the idea, and my sailor strongly butted heads with me - and i decided instead just to have a more watchful eye on my sailor and keep her tame. she's not liking it, but i told her she could walk the plank if she gave me lip.

so, where am i going? when i couldn't put my finger on something to do or give up, i decided instead to follow suit of something i did a few years back with BG. i started 40 days to help the strays, and donated a portion of my sales during lent to a no-kill animal shelter. i really liked this since i tend to be one of "those" animal people that see no difference between human children and animal children. i researched a few of the shelters in the area and landed on one that tugged my heart strings more than anything can. yep, you guessed it...it has something to do with labradors. my WHOLE entire heart.

 

this is the girl behind BG and lucy on the left (goose) and mallard on the right (brownie).

i decided for lent this year to give up my profits of BG. being self-employed, profits aren't much to write home about anyways, but at the end of the 40 days of lent this year -  i will be writing a check to atlanta lab rescue for a portion of these sales. atlanta lab rescue is a fabulous organization that is run strictly by volunteers giving their free time to help save labradors in the area. they find them in shelters, abusive homes, abandoned on the sides of the road, etc and take them in to their homes to foster, nurse them back to health, love them and scratch their furry ears until someone takes them home forever. these people, in my eyes are angels. while i would love to have a back yard full of labradors running around, wagging tails, shedding and chewing up all the tennis balls in a 10 mile radius...byron doesn't think it is such a good idea. no worries, i am working on brainwashing playing subliminal messages on his pandora stations convincing him to see my brilliant side of it. :)

so, anyways - that is it. if you are a huge animal lover like me, grab something out of my etsy store during lent and smile knowing a portion of your sale is going to help a sweet labrador in need. 

also - just a quick shop announcement. you may have noticed my bundle patterns are gone. confessions of a lazy shop owner right here...my instant download service didn't deliver the patterns purchased in bundles and i was having a hard time staying on top of delivering the patterns. so, i took the bundles out of the shop - but i reduced the price of all of my patterns to reflect what they would be as a bundle. i didn't feel you needed to miss out on account of my laziness. hehe.

and as always...

 

peace out, love the girl behind BG.