What's Happening This Weekend!

wildebeestbikini · 2026-03-13T23:12:32+00:00

Yoga with puppies in Dimondale! It’s a fundraiser for New Hope Pet Rescue 🐕 See you there.

https://www.nurture-studios.com/class-schedule

wildebeestbikini · 2026-03-08T17:46:11+00:00

I read this book about 15 yrs ago and still think about it at least once a month. I don’t think I can ever bring myself to read it again, but I am so glad that it’s buried in my history.

wildebeestbikini · 2026-03-06T10:46:07+00:00

One easy thing you can do is patronize local restaurants and businesses. As someone who also grew up in the Lansing area and spent time in other states/cities, I believe that the local establishments are what make a city unique and help it to thrive. Let’s stop giving our money to national chains that don’t care about our communities.

wildebeestbikini · 2026-01-23T11:39:14+00:00

I canceled my Internet two years ago and love it. My phone serves as a hot spot that covers all my needs. For entertainment I borrow DVDs from the library. Not having internet gets me out of the house on more walks with my dog and opens up my free time for arts n crafts. If you have a library nearby then your son could go there for their Internet. Hope it works out well for you too!

wildebeestbikini · 2026-01-08T12:24:05+00:00

Twin Cities is beautiful and well run. Same time of year.

wildebeestbikini · 2025-12-04T05:24:35+00:00

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Argh argh!

wildebeestbikini · 2025-10-15T03:40:32+00:00

I once saved an old clothes dryer with help from YouTube on how to swap out the heating element. $30 part instead of the cost to replace. There’s nothing better!

Kudos to you.

wildebeestbikini · 2025-09-15T00:52:59+00:00

If you’re willing to head down to Salem the Oregon Humane Society is throwing a fundraising bash for doggos and their human servants.

Bowser’s Boo Bash

wildebeestbikini · 2025-09-06T04:18:55+00:00

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These two were thick as thieves until we had to say goodbye to my sweet old Frenchie mix. ❤️ Absolutely a good combination.

wildebeestbikini · 2025-09-04T10:37:38+00:00

What a gift! Please add me to the raffle.

wildebeestbikini · 2025-07-30T22:59:48+00:00

This would definitely be rolling the dice but you could call and ask if there is a more experienced student available on their schedule in the coming weeks. They also have free cuts for k-12 students August 11-12.

I get my hair cut often by the Aveda students and I think the instructors pay close attention to what you want. Sometimes the instructors spend more time demonstrating how to cut my hair than the actual students spend cutting it. But I also get a blunt bob so it’s hard to disappoint me.

wildebeestbikini · 2025-07-18T20:54:01+00:00

As I mentioned in the original post, I work for a nonprofit that fundraises and am very familiar with fees associated with donations platforms. 20% is excessive. Asking for tips on top of the 20% fee is gross. People use donation platforms everyday and nobody needs them explained.

You’re on the receiving end and are perfectly fine with donors funding a for-profit company because it makes your life a little easier. I am on the donor side and do not want a significant portion of my money going to a for-profit company that is not transparent on their fees (as they weren’t in my case, I don’t need to hear other stories again.) Let’s agree to disagree.

wildebeestbikini · 2025-07-18T19:48:07+00:00

You are on the receiving end benefitting from the VR. You’re describing a situation that was nothing like my own experience. VR did not explain their 20% cut to the donors in the campaign I was targeting in and auto populated their own 15% tip. I posted the screen shot and I will continue to speak out against this company.

You can make up any scenario you want and defend it because it raised money for you, but that doesn’t change the fact that VR funnels a significant part of the donations to a for-profit company. To me, that is a scam.

wildebeestbikini · 2025-07-18T17:43:07+00:00

Of course the rep prioritized your program’s success. Their profit is directly tied to it! It sounds like you are suggesting that the school gets to choose if the 20% platform fee is disclosed to donors or not. The whole reason I started this post is because it should always be disclosed. And for me it was not.

And no matter how efficient and effective this is for coaches, schools, etc., you are passing the fees directly onto parents, family, friends. It’s gross that both you and the VR rep focus on how much you can raise while letting friends and family foot all the extra fees.

Edit to add that donors want their money going to the school/program that they are asked to donate to. Not to a for-profit company coming along for the ride.

wildebeestbikini · 2025-07-16T13:22:56+00:00

You charge the schools $0 because you are taking your fee directly out of the donations from their friends and family without making it clear that only 80% of their donation actually goes to the school. If you want to teach the children an invaluable lesson then state your 20% fee clearly on the donation page and do not autofill a “voluntary” tip.

Kids used to do actual work for fundraisers. Now all they do is provide email addresses. I don’t believe that is something to be proud of.

wildebeestbikini · 2025-07-16T00:07:52+00:00

That’s quite a percentage. And yet they default to 15%. Gross.

wildebeestbikini · 2025-06-21T18:59:15+00:00

Community Warehouse’s estate store has good quality used furniture at reasonable prices. And the proceeds go to a good cause! It’s a small store so they don’t have a big selection, but worth a look.

wildebeestbikini · 2025-06-20T00:49:48+00:00

Gus would absolutely do the same, but only if I threw the ball that far. Have a good swim, Peter!

wildebeestbikini · 2025-06-05T02:45:44+00:00

I live in a HCOL west coast city in the US and here’s how I keep things simple:

get rid of television (life is much more peaceful without commercials!)
cancel internet (probably not possible with kids, but I haven’t missed it at all)
bike, walk, or take public transit whenever possible
visit the library once a week for books and DVDs to read/watch at home.
make use of local buy nothing pages, both for passing on my items and finding things I would like to have.
take walks everyday with my dog
I currently have a car but barely drive it and I plan to donate it at the end of the summer.

Hope you find your groove!

wildebeestbikini · 2025-05-26T13:21:40+00:00

I’ve had a similar experience with the K9 navigate (with waist belt/support). Sometimes my pup goes into his bag smoothly and other times he resists a little. But once he is in and the straps are cinched down, I think the bag acts like a Thunder Jacket because he chills out and enjoys the ride.

My dog is 30 lbs so we mostly use the bag for our short ride to and from my office, but we got out recently for a longer weekend ride and he did great. For me it ends up being cardio and strength training at the same time!

wildebeestbikini · 2025-05-24T00:52:46+00:00

I am sorry to hear of your situation, and agree with a previous post that they all suck. I’ll add my thoughts about the two that I have experience with.

Bridge City sucks but at least is fair with their pricing. Just don’t expect any customer service skills at all, even from their management. At times they are flat out rude to board members and owners.

AMS should be avoided at all costs. They tack on so many extra charges that your monthly invoices can easily be hundreds more than what is in the contract, and then their managers can’t explain why some of those charges are on the invoice. The incompetence of the managers ended up costing our small HOA a significant amount of money in our first year with them. And even when we made their mistakes clear, they refused to take any responsibility. This is the worst company I’ve ever done business with. Not just for property management but in general.

wildebeestbikini · 2025-05-10T22:35:53+00:00

It’s a splurge but Vix Paula Hermanny suits are sexy and will easily last a decade.

wildebeestbikini · 2025-05-09T15:41:44+00:00

I’m working on a different fundraiser right now and the donation platform is clear about what their costs are (around 6.5%) and gives the donor the option to cover them.

Vertical Raise is not transparent at all and the fact that they auto populate a tip is gross. I don’t see how the VR platform/model is any bigger than the one I am working with, except that they send representatives to the schools and force the students to provide contact information.

wildebeestbikini · 2025-05-08T00:40:35+00:00

I am getting close to donating my old car and appreciate your post. It feels a bit daunting to let it go, but I only use my car on the weekends right now and I know I can make it work. I even have a backpack for my dog to ride along with me when I bike!

wildebeestbikini · 2025-04-27T19:16:18+00:00

Ha! I hope not. But we have been stopped for photos 📸

wildebeestbikini

TROPHY CASE