donate a dollar to APARN to vote for Hippiechick's pug, Spanky!

which is a summer pug party hosted by APARN.

^sigh

Ginger Bortman was announced as the winner with something like 900+ votes for this round. All I can say is Mommy Bortman and her friends have some deep deep pockets!!!

Spanky did get a certificate and a second place ribbon and the satisfaction that he helped raise money for medical care for lots of his fellow pugs still in foster care. He will also be in the 2009 APARN calendar which is super cool and it will be available free to all (download) I will let everyone know when it is available. As far as I am concerned, Spanky still is the cutest pug. He can’t really help it that his Mom is broke this year. He took it all in stride and partied on with the rest of the pugs and went home with Mom and Dad and took a long long nap.

Thanks to everyone who voted for Spanky!!! It really helped APARN out a lot this summer as there are unusually high medical expenses this summer due to the larger than normal rate of surrendered pugs. Many of them needed medical attention (especially those that were taken from the Kingman puppy mill earlier this summer) and most of them required spay/neuters. APARN was able to raise about $9,000 towards medical bills with the Cutest Pug Contest this summer, so thanks again to everyone for all your help and support!!!

XOXOXO

((((( SPANKY )))))

It’s down to the last voting, and Spanky has made it to the final round – he’s up against his old nemesis, Ginger Boatman. Voting is done through donations to the Arizona Pug Adoption and Rescue Network. The money goes to help pay the veterinary and other fees for the rescued pugs. Each dollar you donate counts as a vote, so $1 = 1 vote, $10 = ten votes, $100 = 100 votes, and so on. The winner will be featured on the 2008 APARN Christmas card, the 2009 APARN calendar, and get a shampoo and beauty treatment before he gets to star in a photo shoot. We all know the power of 43things – now lets show it!!!

You can vote for Spanky HERE

P.S. I forgot to say that voting ends tomorrow night (Sat. September 13th) at 10:59 p.m. 43things time.

I actually slept in this morning, so Mr. Hippiechick got up to check the APARN website to see how Spanky Dawg did in this week’s round of Cutest Pug We fully expected him to not make it any further than 3rd place, but we were good with that. (He “is” the cutest pug by the way, and will be in the calender and we were pretty much just excited just for that.) So Mr. Hippiechick comes sauntering back into the bedroom and proudly announces (like the good pug-dad that he is) “Spanky Dawg mopped-up those other pugs this week”

He really did!!! So this week is the LAST round of voting for Cutest Pug and ironically the voting is between my Spanky Dawg and Ginger Bortman. The final round of voting is this week through Saturday night and then the winner will be announced at the Pugs in Paradise event on Sunday and posted on the website on Sunday afternoon.

I am taking all of our pugs to Pugs in Pardise. I was going to regardless. The pug parties are so fun. Lots of curly tails, smooshed in noses and panting and snorting going on and it’s funny and fun. I am working on some appropriate costumes for them to wear to the event. They are going to be so “Pardise Pimped”

So this is my last week to shamelessly beg for votes for Spanky on the cutest pug contest The votes cost a dollar a piece and are collected via a paypal account. I also think that I forgot to mention that APARN is a 501©(3) organization. Your vote is a donation and is is tax-deductible as well. APARN uses the money to cover medical expenses (of which some are considerable) for the pugs in foster care waiting to be adopted into their forever homes. All of my pugs were from APARN.

So final plea . . . PLEEZE VOTE FOR SPANKY!!!

I can’t believe that I never told my Mom of all people about the Cutest Pug Contest and Spanky being in the running for “Cutest Pug”.

We had lunch today and I was saying how Spanky is in the Top Three, that, as Razz pointed out: Spanky is at the bare minimum taking home the bronze!!! My Mom looked at me for a while and then asks: “What are you talking about?” ooops!!!

So, I told her the whole story and all about that Ginger Bortman Pug and she felt that she couldn’t have her Grandpug being upstaged like that, so my Mom voted for Spanky today . . . $100!!!

Go Grandma!!!

He just barely made it, but he is in!!! Lexy Wood pulled out in the lead over Ginger Bortman. That was really wierd. Spanky is in third place.

APARN hasn’t made as much money this year in the Cutest Pug contest as they did last year and they had taken in so many homeless pugs this summer. I think that this is yet another sign of a depressed economy. No one has extra money. When you are struggling to just buy gas and groceries everything else seems understandingly so, pretty insignificant.

I suspect that this will be his last week. I still think he is the cutest though.

^{Tyical Mom}

You know, the ones who put me with the family that raised me because of the Cold War and all. (yeah that was it) It was for my own safety that they left me in the care of the not rich family, but they need to come back and write me a check right now because all I was able to vote for Spanky was $75. I suspect that my rich parents can’t find me because my father was in the Air Force and we moved around so much that they lost track. They need to get it together and get in touch with me . . . Hello?? Real (Rich) Parents?? Vote for Spanky and write me a check while you are at it!!! Dang People . . . times a wastin’

The final 4 pugs were revealed this morning in the 2009 APARNCutest Pug Contest

Spanky is in the top 4 and of course his most fierce rival Ginger Bortman is in there too. Ginger Bortman has a huge fan base (ie. Mom’s deep pockets) She was in the lead with 200 votes last week. Spanky came in second at 91 votes and the other two are seriously lagging behind.

This is the final leg of the contest where now only one pug will be eliminated each week. It will be the pug with the least number of votes . . . boy or girl.

I wish my “real family” would come and claim me after all these years. You know the rich ones. I need their checkbook for a minute or two!!!

This is the last week where two pugs will be eliminated. After this week’s round of voting is over, there will be four pugs left and only one pug will be eliminated each week until the final vote when the Cutest Pug will be determined. I have a feeling Ginger Bortman will win, but Spanky McCuin is giving her a good run. Things are stressful here at our house. The Pugs are all acting uncharateristically snarky, of course it could be because it is hotter than hell outside, but then again, who “really” knows? How could they not have at least a small amount of jealously over Spanky’s fame?

I was planning on attending the APARN yard sale today and taking Spanky with me when I had this idiotic notion to call Laura (who is hosting the yard sale at her house) and ask if they still needed any help. DUMB MOVE!!! Of course they needed help!!! The Yard Sale is from 6 – 12. We are setting up at 4:00am. See you then, says Laura. DOH!!!!

Well I made it there by 5:00am. I am NOT a morning person. Consequently since I was helping now instead of just shopping, I did not bring Spanky to the yard sale. It would have been too hot and too hectic and I did not want to risk making him sick or upset or loosing him if my attention was diverted for a moment. So Spanky stayed home, sleeping and I went off the the Yard Sale when it was still dark outside for crying out loud!!! I was assigned the kids clothes section where I had to drag out endless boxes and bags of children’s clothing and separate them into Baby Stuff, Girls Clothes and Boys clothes. It was overwhelming. The clothes just kept coming and coming. There evidently is no end to the amount of children’s clothes you can get donated to a charity yard sale. People were buying a ton of them too and there were still a ton of them left when I left at noon. I think they have decided to carry it over to tomorrow, even though it was initially only supposed to be today. Maybe if I wake up in time tomorrow I will take Spanky.

So . . . . . guess who did show up at the APARN Yard Sale . . . . . Ginger Bortman!!! I will have to break down and admit that Ginger Bortman is actually a very pretty pug. She is not the typical fawn color. She is actually more of an apricot color. (kind of reddish I guess) I can see why she was named Ginger. Her picture in the Cutest Pug really doesn’t do her justice. Yet the fact remains that this is the contest is Cutest Pug and not “Prettiest Pug” therefore, Spanky STILL is the deserving Pug in this contest and needs to win this sucker!!! So I have just placed my votes for Spanky for this week and have my fingers crossed that he will make it through another round. (((((SPANKY )))))

While I was there I got to meet two Pugs who were on the Adoption Page. I met Mandy who actually was just picked up today by her new family. Mandy is so tiny and just as cute as a button. Clearly she is Cutest Pug material. Her transfer to the new family was actually made at the Yard Sale. Her foster Mom brought her there and her new family picked her up, but I had the opportunity to play with her for a while while she was waiting for her new family to show up. The other Pug I met today was Petey. Petey and I played fetch for what seemed like damn near an hour. I got tired of it and he was still ready to roll. He has some medical issues and is very dorky and very sweet. I hope he gets a forever home.

So this is my weekly shameless plea . . .

VOTE FOR SPANKY Proceeds from the Cutest Pug contest goes towards the medical bills for foster pugs. Most often when Pugs are taken in by APARN they have medical issues. This summer APARN has had an unprecedented number of Pugs turned over to Pug Rescue like this one where there were tons of sick pugs. APARN has accumulated about $16,000 in medical bills this summer. It is through fundraisers like the Yard Sale and the Cutest Pug contest and other donations and sales that APARN raises the money to take care of these little guys until they are adopted. Vets will often discount their services, but they are never free, so if APARN gets a ton of sick pugs in, like they did recently, the bills add up fast.

Woo Hoo Vote for SPANKY MCCUIN !!!

I am thinking that I might make Spanky a
“Vote for ME”
t-shirt and a
“VOTE FOR SPANKY”
t-shirt for me and go help out at the yard sale.

^{sure hope Ginger Bortman’s Mom isn’t there. Things could get snarky}