Scentsy Fundraiser

Last week I posted something on FB and on my blog about a 15 month old girl named McKenna being diagnosed with Stage IV Neuroblastoma. She's at the Phoenix Children's Hospital and was just diagnosed in the middle of February. One fundraiser that they are doing is for Scentsy products. SCENTSY IS AWESOME!!!  They're wickless candles and they have some really amazing scents.  Pomegranite is my favorite.  I recommend medium or large warmers. 

One of their reps are offering to donate 100% of their commission to McKenna's medical expenses through the end of March. Shipping charges are +10%. Please check them out!

CLICK HERE TO CHECK OUT HER WEBSITE AND TO ORDER SCENTSY PRODUCTS FOR MCKENNA'S FUNDRAISER!!!

Help for McKenna!!

We're going through a lot of our "stuff" right now trying to get everything packed up for our big move next weekend and I decided to sell a lot of Brynn's ladybug things from her room.  I put it all on craigslist and shortly after, I received an e-mail from Kristine. 

Kristine has some family friends who received some devastating news a couple weeks ago.  Mike and Brittany's daughter, McKenna, was diagnosed with Stage IV Neuroblastoma.  Kristine (and others) are trying to put together some fundraising ideas and one of them is a raffle.  We're going to give her Brynn's ladybug stuff for the raffle instead of selling it. 

This is McKenna:

HERE IS A LINK TO MCKENNA'S STORY.

HERE IS A LINK TO MORE INFORMATION ON NEUROBLASTOMA.

They are from Chandler, AZ and McKenna is only 15 months old.  For some reason, this hit really close to home for me.  Maybe it's because she's such a cute little girl?  Or because she likes ladybugs?  Or because she's not too far away from us?  Or because Brynn's had two eye surgeries at the Phoenix Children's Hospital where McKenna is receiving treatment?  Or because they're my age?  Or maybe it's just because if I were in Mike and Brittany's situation, I don't know what we'd do.  From what I understand, Mike also lost his job in December.

On the link to McKenna's story, you can make donations.  Or if you aren't comfortable doing this, I would be more than happy to accept the donations for you and make sure that they get to Kristine or McKenna's family.  I really want to do what I can to help this family out. 

You can mail donations to me at:
Amanda West
PO Box 1512
Queen Creek, AZ 85142
Thank you!!!

Nie Day At Habit Salon

This morning after swimming lessons, we decided that we should probably take Brynn to get her hair trimmed. We were going to take her one of those places for kids but then I remembered that today was "Nie Day" at Habit Salon, which was right down the street. All proceeds today from 7am to 7pm were donated to helping the Nielson's. We decided that because it was such a good cause, we should go. I wasn't planning to get mine done (as you can tell, I still had my sunglasses on my head while she was trimming Brynn's hair) but we figured what the heck, why not?

Here are some pictures from our fun morning (Chad even thought it was cool!), it was a neat salon and as long as our budget permits, they've got some returning customers in the West family. I'm sure they raised quite a bit of money, they were pretty packed when we were there. They were also selling some "Nie" gear and had some raffles. We bought a ticket and won some children's books (Chad was excited, he was hoping that we'd win those for Brynn)!!

She did really great while she was getting her trim, I wasn't sure how she'd do since she's only had one other hair cut and it was by Grampie Don last year!! For whatever reason, she was super cuddly... I think she was getting sleepy!!

I'm so excited that they did this special day for the Nielson's!! Like I'm said in my previous posts, I've never met them before, I've only read articles and blogs but I think that Stephanie would really like that salon. It seems to have her sense of style, antique-y and sophisticated. Super cute. Hopefully she'll be able to make it over there sometime to check it out.

Article On The Nielson's

Click HERE for details of their story and a few updates.

Team BELIEVE!

Click HERE to visit my friend Tiffany's website and to support her team in the fight against breast cancer. Within a three day period, they are going to be walking a total of 60 MILES!!



(Um, yeah... not a flattering one of me...)

Perfectly Happy

Reading THIS STORY and briefly reading through THIS BLOG have made me realize just how lucky I am and that I am perfectly happy with having only one beautiful, healthy little girl.

In a matter of hours, this family's life was completely flipped around. I don't even know what we would do if we were in their situation. All I have to say is Scott is one tough guy. It's amazing how families pull together through things like this.

The story mentions that their medical bills are already exceeding $2,000,000. There are donation links on their blog as well.

My thoughts are with them...

The Nielson's

Remember when I mentioned this a couple weeks ago? The Nielson's (YAY! I DID IT!!)



WELL, I found out that Stephanie's brother Topher's wife Lisa's brother is James Valentine from Maroon 5! (I'm supposed to be getting ready for work and I'm running out of time - I'll attach a link later!) Awesome.



I also added a donate button to the right side of the page if you're interested. They're expected to have over a million dollars in medical expenses and if you're like us, there's no way that you'd be able to cover all of that by yourself. Stephanie's sister Courtney is keeping everyone updated through her blog.



I am so excited that I figured out how to hyperlink! This will be MUCH more fun now!! YAY!!

NieNieDialogues

I've added another link to the blog... Tonight, AOL actually had a link to a story about this young couple who live in Mesa that were in a horrific plane crash a few weeks ago. I LIVE IN MESA and didn't even hear anything about it. Stephanie is "Nie" and her husband's name is Christian. The pilot of the plane was killed, she has burns over 80% of her body and Christian has burns over 30% of his. They have four kids. They are recovering slowly.

I don't know these people but I thought it would be nice to at least put a link to her blog on our page. They're in my thoughts.

C Jane is her sister...

Go get a fire extinguisher for your car... and have some common sense.

A long one.



Today we went to Jared's to have some of our jewelry cleaned and as we were pulling onto the little side street off of the main road to get in to the parking lot, we saw a conversion van on the side of the road. We looked closer and noticed that the van had just started to catch on fire as we passed them. Chad got out his phone and we called 911. We parked at Jared's and Chad backed in the van (in a parking spot out of the way) so he could keep an eye on everything that was going on. I let the people who were standing around the van know that we called 911 and that they were on their way, I asked if everyone was ok and if they needed anything and they said no, they were ok, thanks. In the meantime, one of the guys that was in the van grabbed a big 5 gallon water jug and tried to put the fire out. It didn't work. The fire started to spread fast. Another guy was pulling stuff out of the van (a lawn mower and other landscaping tools) and Chad yelled "Get the hell out of there!!". The guy didn't realize how fast the fire was spreading.



I went inside to drop off my jewelry but as I walked in the front door, everyone that was working in the store that wasn't already with a customer started hovering at the front windows and doors of the store. I heard one of the ladies that works there say "Yeah, they've been broken down for atleast an hour out there!!" One of the ladies that was at the maintenance/repair customer service desk where I needed to drop the jewelry off saw me walk up to the counter, made eye contact with me and then went to the window to watch. What the hell?! What kind of crappy customer service is that?!?! Seriously about a minute later, a manager walked by as he was looking out the window, and I asked him if I could get some help. The eye-contact girl came out, still gawking at the fire and didn't say anything. I told her because they were so busy watching the fire, I would be right back. I went to check on Chad to make sure that everything was ok and then I checked on the people who were in the van again to see if they wanted any water or anything. They said that they were ok. NO ONE that works inside that damn store went to check to see if they were ok. The only employee that went outside was one who needed to move her car!



Chad said that he saw the coolest thing while I was in finally getting the jewelry taken care of (after I went back into the store)... he said some random lady pulled over and gave one of the guys standing by the van a hug. How neat is that? There were also lots of other "Looky-Lou's"... like you'll see in the video that Chad took. The lady in the black outfit was the Jared's employee who was going to move her car.







I'm just annoyed that no one even talked to these people to make sure that they were ok besides me. Seriously, I was watching!



After I came back out from the store, we headed to WalMart and we picked up some fire extinguishers for our cars. Better safe than sorry.



This is the second car fire that I've seen, (the first was in Ohio) and about the 12th time I've called 911 since I've lived in Arizona.

Treasures By The Pound

I received the paragraph below in an e-mail from a family friend of ours and was hoping that all of you who read this would help her out.

I have a favor to ask. Would you consider going to this site -- http://myfoxcleveland.cityvoter.com/contests/akroncanton-hot-list -- and voting, in the pet supplies category, for Treasures by the Pound? You may have to register with the site, but that's free and carries no obligation. Your vote gives our little boutique, which benefits the Wayne Co. Humane Society, the chance to win advertising money, and it also helps get our name out there. Your effort could really help us in our struggle to stay afloat.

When we were in Wooster for Christmas we made sure to stop by and visit, so that she and her hubby could meet Brynn!! (They're patiently waiting for some grandkids of their own!!) We were hoping to see Amy and Jill but they had already headed home to California by the time we had a chance to make it over there!! Marilyn and Jim have one of the neatest houses ever... they took their old barn and converted it into a house. Here are a few pictures from our quick visit with them at Christmas!!







P.S. Marilyn... had to post a picture with your favorite dog EVER in it!! ;o) JUST KIDDING!!! To everyone else, Marilyn has a column called "Piece of Mind" in Wooster's "Daily Record" newspaper on Sundays. This is a copy of a recent article about their dog pictured above... (I completely understand what she's talking about, I have owned a Jack Russell before and will NEVER EVER own one again. He was a pain in the ass, mean dog.)

Oh, I get it. First I was the Doyle clan's baby girl. Then I was the vet's wife. And now I am -- are you kidding? -- the JACK RUSSELL LADY?? For only four months, I've owned this dog and suddenly I'm the Jack Russell Lady after more than a half-century of striving to attain my own identity?

I don't even LIKE the stupid dog.

That's a lie. But I reserve the right to use a bit of poetic license here, if it serves my purposes. The fact that I love this pup doesn't alter the truth that he's brought on more anxiety, sleep deprivation and cloudy- mindedness than all three of my kids did when they were babies. Love hurts, but that doesn't mean I have to like it.

Besides, it's my husband who owns him. I refuse to accept the blame.

Yet everywhere I go, everyone I see comes up to me and asks either, "Aren't you the Jack Russell Lady" -- or -- "How's it going with your Jack Russell?" Whatever happened to "Hi. How are ya?"

Let me give you a little advice. If you're a reasonable, pet-loving person who has gently transitioned into your mature years with docile, intelligent, people-pleasing dogs that would never dream of, say, waking you up in the morning by jumping on your face and inserting his toenails into your eye socket or using some kind of mysterious psychokinetic power to draw an elastic exercise band off the dresser into his adjacent crate and chewing it into thousands of rubbery little snowflakes, do not, I repeat, DO NOT get a Jack Russell puppy.

Forgive the run-on; I'm a bit overwrought.

You read me right. The woman who can never seem to get enough "fur therapy" has just about maxed out on this spazzy little Brillo pad that's rubbing my nerve endings raw.

I hold out hope it builds character, but I'm thinking it's a stretch to link this to self-improvement.

I figure the race is on. He's nine months old now and most normal dogs calm down a bit when they reach maturity. Neutering is supposed to help too, so by golly, we took care of that little matter tout de suite. So, the deal is -- will he grow up before I lose my mind or vice versa?

And allow me to say at this point, no one -- not even a lifelong Jack Russell owner -- has indicated that these guys EVER grow up. So there's a lot of ungrounded faith and pie-eyed optimism on my part.

Why? Because I have no choice. My husband, my Prince Charming of 30-plus years, is absolutely crazy about this dog. That's why I'm hanging in there, although sometimes I get the impression he's just holding out until I'm absolutely crazy, too.

He probably doesn't have long to wait. I mean, he's the one who coined the phrase, "This is like living in a pinball machine."

But when that dog is around, there's a smile on Jim's face. In fact, most of the time he's laughing. So in good conscience, how can I continue to resent something that brings such joy to the person I love most in this world?

BECAUSE I AM COVERED WITH BRUISES, MY STUFF IS COVERED WITH LITTLE TEETH MARKS, AND I'VE FOUND MYSELF UNCONSCIOUSLY DRAWN INTO THE FETAL POSITION IN A CORNER SEVERAL TIMES RECENTLY.

But don't worry about me. I'll carry on. If it doesn't build character, at least it's a free class in self-defense techniques. That is, if you don't count the cost in material loss.

I wonder if there's insurance available for Jack-Russell damage. Seems like a natural disaster to me.