My weekends always start on Friday. Did you know that I only work Monday-Thursday? Yep, it's true. LOVE it! Anyway, I'm almost ashamed to admit that I didn't even get dressed on Friday. But wait! I was productive while I sat on the couch and caught up on my Oprah episodes from the week!

If you've spent much time around here, you know that J.P. and I have done some work with a local animal rescue (dogs, cats, bunnies, birds, guinea pigs, even a horse once!). A few weeks ago, the director mentioned to me that they're changing their org structure to accommodate the growth they've had, and she wondered if I'd like to volunteer in one of the newly-established roles.

Now, I'm all for helping with the rescue. But see, it's like this: the farther I can stay from the actual animals, the better it is. For me, and for my marriage. Do you know what would happen if we became a foster home again? For starters, I think J.P. would divorce me. And then I'd become the crazy dog lady, taking in all the dogs I could handle. And maybe even a cat or two. Nope, no fostering.

K. offered me a volunteer position as a case manager. Case managers get all the info about a pet, handle emails and phone calls that come in requesting more info about the pet, make sure the paperwork is in place, etc. Frankly, that sounded like more commitment than I wanted.

Then there are the people who do the home visits. Once a potential adoptive family's application is approved, someone from the rescue visits their house to make sure it would be a good environment for the pet. This was actually the first role that K. offered me. I thought about it for a while, then told her no. She said, "Are you afraid you wouldn't be able to say no?" I said, "No, I'm afraid I wouldn't be able to say yes." What if they expected the dog to stay off the furniture? What if they never allowed it so much as a bite of pizza crust or a kernel of popcorn? How could I say yes to a home like that?!?

So I created my own volunteer position. We needed a good way to communicate with volunteers, adoptive families, and supporters of the rescue. Initially, the director sent weekly emails that included adoption stats, happily-ever-after stories, and other news about the rescue. But as she got busy with the work of finding homes for animals, the communication dwindled into once-in-a-while emails. So . . . I started a blog!

I actually got everything up and running last weekend, and so far the feedback we've gotten has been very positive. It's nice to be able to include photos of the animals, especially when the pics have been submitted by the adoptive family. Everyone can see how happy the family and the animal are. For example, here's a pic that I posted last week:



The ears totally crack me up. Apparently, this guy doesn't have any teeth, but someone fell in love with him on Petfinder.com and adopted him. And his new "grandma" made him a rodeo shirt.

By now you may be wondering how this entire post relates to Friday's day of leisure on the couch. Well, I couldn't stop with the blog. The rescue also has a Petfinder home page, and while I don't proclaim to be an expert in web programming or design, it definitely needs some help. So Oprah and I put together some graphics and worked through the home page redesign.

I still have some work to do, but Dr. Phil and I should be able to take care of it tomorrow night.

This entry was posted on Sunday, February 19, 2006 at 6:52 PM.