In years past, I have given up caffeine (more on that in a minute), but after discussing with a colleague at work, I have decided this year that I will give up eating on campus. I spend a lot of money and eat a lot of calories that are all unnecessary. So, for 40 days, I will be eating what I bring from home, for both breakfast and lunch.

Now, you may have noticed that I haven’t posted anything in quite some time. I haven’t figured out how to break the news that I have fallen off the wagon, perhaps permanently. Yes, I have been drinking coffee, coke, coke zero and loving every sip. The caffeine free life just isn’t for me. However, that doesn’t mean that I have given up on the idea that you can make a big difference with a small change. So that’s what I’m going to do with this years lent as well.

Every day, I buy my morning coffee, breakfast and lunch at the cafeteria at work. This adds up to be both calories and money that I don’t need to spend. So, I’m committing to avoid that cafeteria for the next 40 days.

All money saved from bringing my breakfast and lunch to work with me everyday will be donated to a good cause.

Which good cause? Well, Handsome has made me kind of partial to Pit bull rescues at the moment, so all savings will go to a reputable no-kill shelter. You can double that amount if one can take in my precious Handsome dog.

I came back a few minutes later with a bowl full of food and lots of treats. But when I saw him, I could have cried right then. Not only, was this dog even more emancipated than I first realized, but he had a very large, deep wound on his rear end. And what’s worse – I could see the pit bull breed in him. Now, even though I have two large dogs, and I grew up with large dogs, I’m a little timid around strange large dogs. As I sat the bowl of food down, I quickly realized that was a mistake; he was eating way to fast and was going to make himself sick. I got brave. And before I could even think about what I was doing, I reached down and took the bowl of food away from a starving pit bull. And his only reaction was to look at me, wag his tail, and use his eyes to beg for me to give it back to him. I did – in handfuls at a time this time.

Luckily, for this dog, the local animal shelters were closed due to the holiday (the boys that were with him when I first saw him, had already called). I tried to call the humane society, but received the same message. I called my vet – to see if they would board him for the night, until I could call the humane society the next day. Unfortunately, they couldn’t take him because of the risk to other dogs in the kennel (since he may not have been vaccinated). Finally, as a last resort, I called my mom to see if he could stay in her backyard for a night. She said yes, but before taking the dog over there, I called my vet one more time, to have his wound checked out. At the vet, he weighed 40lbs. He received antibiotics and a less than optimistic outlook. Basically, I was told that any shelter would put him down immediately, if not based on the fact that he had pitbull in him, then the combo of being a pitbull in his condition would be certain immediate death. I cried right then and there for a dog I had known less than an hour.

The next day, I begin the search for a rescue. To my disappointment – it wasn’t as easy as just calling the humane society – they couldn’t take him. In my ignorance, I didn’t even realize that they turned dogs down. The vet had told me about some rescue networks nearby – again, as emails went out to hundreds of people, I was rejected again and again. I began to really worry about what I was going to do with this poor dog.

To make matters worse, the dog learned how to escape my parents backyard. Now, Pit Bulls are banned where both my parents and I live, so if he escaped and was caught, the would not fair well in the wrong hands.f I spent 5 days driving over to my parents every morning and every evening to feed and care for this dog – a task far more exhausting than I could have imagined. I became more and more stressed as his prospects became more and more bleak.

Luckily, a girl nearby had emailed me about the dog. She offered to take him on herself – as an absolute last resort. The next day, I emailed her with the devastating news. As I arrived at my parents house the next morning, I was so devastated to find that the dog was no where to be found. He had escaped – presumably for good this time.

As I arrived at work, I emailed my new friend to give her the bad news. To my surprise and joy – she demanded to know where my parents lived and promptly went to look for this poor animal. Even more to my dismay – SHE FOUND HIM!

Handsome, as she calls him, has been in her care since. He has gained 23 lbs and his wound is now the size of a dime. However, that’s not where his story ends. He still needs a permanent home. He still has to spend the majority of his time in a kennel as his new caretaker has a husband and other dogs as well. My husband and I have been helping fund his kennel stays – in hopes that there is someday a happy ending for this handsome dog.

Handsome - after gaining 20lbs.

Handsome eating one of the first handfuls of food I gave him

A picture I took of Handsome one of the first nights at my parents house

After about 2 weeks...

this year, you can adopt an angel online through jcpenny. i must say that, so far, this has been a frustrating experience. the angel search does not bring back accurate results for gender (for example, when searching for both boys and girls in the area, i was only given girls, but these girls were requesting boy clothing… a bit suspicious). I finally settled on a 5 year old girl. jcpenny’s also has their site set up so that you can buy everything your angel needs right from their online store and ship it for free to the appropriate place. that sounds great, but when i click to shop for girls 4-6, the sizes do not match the sizes that my angel requested. there is an option for a gift card, which sounds so appealing right now, but i feel as though that is a bit cheap.

despite my frustration, i still believe the angel tree is an excellent and worthy cause and i hope everyone will think about those in need this holiday season.

check back at the end of the month to see where the rest of this month’s money is going. also, i’ve been thinking about doing something special for the holidays so stay tuned…

and the worst part is that i’m not sure i’m going to go back to coffee-less-ness. for a couple of reasons. 1) because i like coffee. 2) coffee actually has some nutritional value – antioxidants and whatnot 3) because I was craving more and more sugar as a replacement for coke and caffeine and gained nearly 10 lbs since I quit drinking cokes 2 months ago! since I started having a cup of joe every morning i have since lost almost 5. As superficial as it may be, I can deal with headaches and cravings… but not with extra pounds.

so, the coke thing still stands and I will continue to donate my savings (even the savings that I would see if I quit drinking caffeine). but for the foreseeable future, i’ll be drinking coffee.

and just for fun… hurray coffee and 15 things you should know about coffee

» read this before you reach for your next coke

I am somewhat of a bleeding heart. Especially when I see people who are unable to help themselves and are struggling through no fault of their own. But my empathy extends to all walks of life – dogs, cats, you name it. Whether neglected, abused or homeless, animals in need are helpless and in need of rescuing.

That’s why, this month, my saved coke money went to the Humane Society of Pulaski County, Warm Hearts for Cold Noses. They provide a safe home for up to 200 animals and have saved over 50,000 in the history of the organization.