Buddy update

Thank you, thank you, thank you to all who were so generous and gave to our dog Buddy. We've got all the money we need for his surgery! He goes in on Aug 14th, and will stay with the vet and recover for two days, then comes the long hard road to full recovery and healing.

We have some wood at home that I intended to make a garden trellis, but I'm going to use that to make him a suitable crate instead. (rather than spend over $130 to buy him a new one that's large enough for him)

His healing time isn't going to be fun, but we're going to do everything we can for him to heal as well as possible.

Again, thank you so much for all the help!!!

I'll update his status again as we get closer to surgery, and keep everyone in the loop. He's been getting plenty of massage to keep his muscles less tense. We've been trying to keep him as mellow and quiet as we can as we get closer to surgery date.

Buddy update -Sevan

Oh my goodness!! What a (wonderful) whirlwind the last two days have been!!

First I wanted to thank, thank, thank those 62 people who have reached out and helped us. We've raised 7/9 of the money we need for Buddy's surgery! Most of that has been in $5-$10 amounts...so that is ALOT of love for my sweet boy!

While we're almost there...we're not there yet. So if you have any money that you could spare to help Buddy get a surgery to repair his left ACL tendon and help him walk without pain...that would be amazing.

Any extra money we get will go to a local charity to help families who need assistance getting medical bills paid for their pets.

*Thank you, thank you to all who have helped us!! I've removed the donation button because we've met our goal!!!**

My buddy needs your help ~Sevan

Cyndi and I don't have any children...we were both sterile before starting transition, and we're certainly sterile now after years of transition hormones. 

We do have fur babies though. Our oldest is Lily (dog) and she's been through just about everything with us. She's our therapy dog...always helpful, always happy, always cuddly. 

We've got two cats; Mo and Meep. Funny as cats always are. 

Then there's Buddy. Buddy came to us by accident. Running around a busy street. We took him in and started to find his home...to no avail. We looked around for a foster home, or shelter that might take him. None would without putting him to sleep because he's part pitbull. We couldn't let that happen. He was such a sweet adorable guy...friendly, smart and playful. He didn't deserve to die!! 

So we kept him. He's been a great pal to me in my darkest times and in my happiest times. He's my hiking pal, he's my snuggly guy, he likes to sit in people's lap (all 95lbs of him!!) he'll lick your face and he's a gentle giant. 

We never planned to add him to our family...but the Universe has provided for him, and we've loved him. Now he's gone and wrecked his body a bit as he ran around in the sun....he's completely torn his ACL ligament in his knee. He needs surgery...and soon.

I know that these are tough times right now...and everyone is hard pressed for money. We're selling what we can, and saving where we can to afford this surgery for my boy. The sooner we can get his surgery taken care of, the better. It will cost us $900, and we're about 1/9 the way there so far. He's in pain...and it breaks my heart. That money will cover the cost of his surgery, his stay at the vet after surgery and his post op visit.

If you can find it in your heart to donate anything...even just $5 we would be eternally grateful.

It's so hard for me to ask for help. It's not like me. However, one can never expect help if one can't swallow pride, and ask for help. So this is my plea. For my boy. 

*No more donations are needed! I've removed the button because we've met our goal. Thank you, thank you to those that were able to help us!!!*

Soon I'll also be offering "Friends of Buddy" patches that I'll make and offer in my Etsy shop. That way, you can have something for your $, if you wish. I'll put a link up for them as soon as I'm done with them.

Thank you for reading, please share this so as many people can see it, and hopefully we can get Buddy taken care of as soon as possible!

Any funds we recieve above and beyond Buddy's needs will be donated to ASPCA

*EDITED* I just got a call from the vet and Buddy has surgery scheduled for Aug 14th. I really hope we can raise enough funds by then. Thank you so much to those who have already donated, and/or shared this post!!!

Shaving done right!

To get a really close shave: before you shave do a hot moist towel pack over your face for about 3-5 minutes. If the towels are cooling down before you feel a distinctive tingle in the skin then have an extra hot towel ready. After the tingle starts (feels good doesn't it?) then apply your shaving cream/gel/oil or whatever you use and start shaving. Men's facial gel is meant to keep the pores open and "masculine" which certainly is not the look our ladies are going for. I like Aveno because it keeps the redness down and does not open the pores.


After the shave, use some witch hazel. Yes, there is a very mild sting on the places you have nicked yourself. (don't nick yourself, use a good razor)

5 minutes after you have used the witch hazel you should start to feel some dry tightening in the skin. This is the time to apply your moisturizer. Wait until the drying tightening before moisturizing, as this is your pores all closing up, which is good because you do not want to moisturize with the pores open as this leads to zits and black heads.

If you plan to use make up wait 10 minutes after moisturizing before you put on your face.

If you do all this, you will get the closest shave of your life.



Now let us talk your razor blade...it should be a man’s razor as women’s razors are crap, designed to be only good for a couple of shaves and they dull fast. It should be at least a 3 bladed razor. The Gillette Mach 3 is a good disposable that will last a number of times before you throw it away. The Gillette Fusion and the Shick Hydro are both good razors that will provide many uses before they crap out on you.

Hackers suck

Seem that someone tried to hack this blogger acount last night and failed.

Looser!

Sorry I haven't been posting

I am sorry that I have slacked off on posting here on the corner.

I will try and cook up a new post soon.

Just life has been busy. Pride month, Sevans birthday coming up, support group meeting, online advocacy and mentoring, and counsiling a mom of a 10 year old MTF that recently came out of the closet and my days have been full.

Hugz and luv,
Cyndi

Facilitating ~Sevan

Let me first say...that I'm in no way posting this because this is the *only* way to do things. Some of these ideas are just things that are working for me as a facilitator...and I want to shed light on some of the "background" things that are involved for me, as a facilitator.

The first, and I think most important...is to cultivate relationships with the people you facilitate. Get to know what they like, what they're about. The larger the group...the more difficult this really becomes. However...one can always try.

Our local group has a facebook group that's attached, and I always make sure to "friend" everyone that's part of our facebook group so that I can see what they post about, and get to know them better. If I haven't seen them for a while at the meetings; I'll message them on facebook, or email and just check in with them and see how they're doing.

When you know the people in your group that you're facilitating then you know their strengths (or can try to..) and play to those strengths to get them more involved. When they're involved they can feel like they have partial ownership of the group and contribute to the outcome.
Who knows tumblr really well? Who enjoys photography and can create pictures of events? Who's good with Html and can help with any web presence? Who's warm and inviting and can act as greeters at meetings?

One thing that I try to do...and it may seem very small but I think it's important...and that's to show your own humanity. I never pretend to be perfect. I never even try. If I feel like I'm being put up on a pedestal...I try to take that with grace, but remind them all that I'm human. I fail. Plenty. I think that's important because if you're up high on a pedestal...it's a long hard fall when you do fall...and you will...because that's being human!!

Networking is very important. Getting to know other facilitators and leaders of other similar groups in your area is really important. As facilitator of a trans* group we've gotten to know the board of the LGBT center quite well, the board members of OutSpokane (the organization that puts on PRIDE, among other events) etc. We've also created relationships with other trans* groups around our state so that we know how they do things.

I've created a sign in sheet that includes birthdays. I make sure to remember when birthdays are coming up, and bring that to the attention of the group so that we can celebrate, or at least get a card and recognize their important day.

Look forward to events. Make sure to plan ahead with plenty of time. We started planning for our first Pride booth about four months ahead of time. That gave us time to create educational materials, posters, a banner etc without stress. It also gave us ample time to slowly accrue the cash for those things. Transitioning isn't cheap and I never want to add financial stress to group members (if I can help it..)
As not all trans* people are gay/lesbian/bi it's a good idea to look for events that aren't LGBT geared. There's a diversity celebration in Aug locally that we're planning on participating in.
We're also planning to invite other organizations to join with us in creating our own event for Transgender day of Remembrance. Our local community is supportive and accepting and welcoming them to help us create an event gives them the opportunity to show that support in a visible way. I think it will likely go very well. :)

I'm sure I'm missing a number of things but that's a good enough list for now.

Above all...be open, be present and be available to listen and encourage people to share. Giving people a chance to feel really heard is sadly rare...it's a gift.