Ed Helms on the View & the LA Bluegrass Situation

I know; I know. Two Ed Helms posts in one month. That's fodder for a restraining order right there.

But it's rare that I actually catch Mr. H on a talk show, which is just what happened today.

I was up at the crack of dawn, working on a project I was supposed to finish last night, and at the crack of dawn, there isn't much on TV but local news. I'm not usually much of a local news kind of girl, but when I do indulge, WSB (Atlanta's ABC affiliate) is my poison of choice. Per usual, I left said TV powered on when I left the house - I do this to discourage anyone from breaking in*, so if you know of anyone who is planning to break into my house, well, let's just keep this to ourselves - and when I returned home around 11 a.m., I walked in just in time to hear Baba Wawa say something along the lines of, "And from the new animated film The Lorax, Ed Helms."

Honestly, I'm not a fan of The View. I wouldn't watch it for just anyone. All of those women, all of that talking - I'd rather spend a month in Gitmo than watch one full estrogen-fueled episode, but there I sat, suffering through it all, waiting for best five minutes of the hour.

There was a Tom Waits reference. There was Lou Dobbs humor.** And despite the efforts of one of those broads to turn The Lorax into a political discussion***, Helms remained quite diplomatic.

At this point, I was going to link you to a video of said interview, but apparently the fine people who put the videos online felt Newt Gingrich's daughters were of more interest to their website viewers. 

Anyway, one more thing I wanted to mention is the third annual LA Bluegrass Situation. I've wanted to attend this since its inception (and even before I knew Helms had anything to do with it - from what I understand, it was basically his idea), but I haven't for various reasons. Last year, I even made a vow to myself that if they did it again, I'd go, but it looks like that won't happen. It takes place May 3 - 6, and the man himself will be performing ...wait for it... on my birthday. Unfortunately, I already have plans to *hopefully* see Allison Krauss & Union Station in SC the weekend before and then spend a few days in Charleston. I just can't swing two trips in one week right now. You have no idea how much this disappoints me.

But anyway, if you're in the Los Angeles area that weekend, and you love you some bluegrass, I'm sure it's well worth the effort! 
_____________________________

* I actually leave the TV on 24/7 because I live in fear of walking into a quiet room. Don't judge me.

**I honestly don't see/read too many Helms interviews, but when I do, I get the feeling he's a pretty smart, well-informed guy.

***Seriously folks, it's a cartoon. I doubt your six year old is going to walk out of the theater and demand you take them to a sit-in at the nearest Fortune 500 headquarters. While we may not agree on how to do it, I think we can all agree that our natural resources are worth saving. Unless you're a soulless cow. Also, we'd die without them, so there's that. 

And So Goes the Neighborhood...

Sigh.

A few weeks ago, there was this guy walking down my parents' road. As far as anyone knows, he doesn't actually live on the road (and their road doesn't lead anywhere, so he's not taking any shortcuts). Anyway, the day after I saw this guy, I found out he'd not just been walking down the road - he'd been shooting my parents' next door neighbors' dog. I never got the whole story, but from what I understand, the dog was in their yard (with its owner), barked, and the guy shot him in the leg. Needless to say, this left my family and other neighbors on edge for a while.

So, today I found out this guy is not the only person who likes to go around killing people's harmless family pets. Turns out my next door neighbor has the same pastime. 

I know I've explained this before, but I live on a tiny road, about half a mile from my parents. My landlord and her family own most of the property that is on this road (my family owns the rest), which includes their houses and a few rental houses. I live in one of the rentals, my landlord's daughter lives in another, and this weird old couple lives in another. My family and my landlord's family's properties are side by side, so between everyone there is like 30 to 40 acres. We're away from the street, so we all let our pets roam free.

Well, my landlord's daughter had this dog that's fairly old. She was really sweet from what I knew of her and stayed around their house (I rarely saw her). Apparently, a few nights ago, said dog went outside for a little bit and came back inside and died. Long story short, she'd been poisoned. Again, I'm sketchy on the details, but they believe it was the weird old couple, and I would not be at all surprised. They creeped me out. Anyway, that couple will be moving within the next month or so. Until then, I'm keeping my girls on a tight leash...

This kind of sucks, because it's nice to get up in the morning and just let them out the door, but I'm trying to see this as an opportunity to ease back into exercising after all of my injuries. I just have to figure out how I'm going to handle it at night - there is NO light back here. 

So, after hearing about this, I've been kind of on edge all day. I went to my parents' house tonight to watch The River as I've been doing every Tuesday night, and before I left, I told my mom I was going to walk the dogs around her yard and my grandfather's yard, because they actually have streetlights. Full disclosure: I was in my pajamas. I mean, my parents were the only people who were going to see me. So, I go outside, and I'm stepping off their porch, and one of my dogs starts barking like she sees someone. She tends to do this often, so I thought nothing of it. I took another step down off the porch and all of the sudden I hear a man yell. And not from across the street or next door, but from maybe ten feet in front of me. I screamed and ran back up the stairs and tried to get back into the house, but I'd locked the door on my way out. 

I never figured out who or what it was, but needless to say, I didn't walk the dogs.

So, that's been my excitement for the day. It's not like we live in a bad part of town; it's actually a little country road with very few houses, but as the older people who've lived here for years have been dying off, their kids either move in or rent the place out, and I'm not going to knock renters - I am one myself at the moment - but they tend to be bad news around here. Life was so much easier when I lived in the city, but then again, I was a block from the police department.

This Month in Ed Helms

It's been a while since I've dedicated a post to the man who I'm convinced is one of the most talented people in the world, and since he has two new movies coming out, I thought I'd take the time to do just that.

First up is The Lorax. Next to And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street, this was my favorite Dr. Seuss book as a kid. What can I say? I've always been a big tree-hugger. 

(I can already hear my more conservative friends screaming about how Hollywood is trying to brainwash their children and to that I say: get a life. Seriously, I could write a whole post on that in itself, but I'm saving my anti-GOP tirade for a post on gay marriage in the near future.)

But back to the subject at hand. 


Ed Helms voices the Once-ler, which I think is a perfect fit based on how they're doing the story, but over the weekend I learned that he also contributes to the film's soundtrack. How cool is that? From the previews I've seen, The Lorax is a fun, beautiful movie. Betty White, Danny DeVito, Zac Efron and Taylor Swift also star, and it hits theaters on March 2. Sadly, I probably won't go see it unless one of my friends lets me borrow their kids, but I do look forward to seeing it at some point in the future.

Next is Jeff Who Lives at Home. I've been intrigued by this movie for sometime now, and I'm happy to report that it will be coming to theaters on March 16. (I probably should have titled this post "Next Month in Ed Helms.") It stars Jason Segel as Jeff, a 30-year-old guy who lives in his mom's basement, and Helms as his brother, Pat. Susan Sarandon plays their mother. It doesn't look like the typical Segel or Helms type of comedy, but that's why I can't wait to see it. In Cedar Rapids, we got to see what Helms can really do as an actor, and it looks like he gets to show that off even more in this film. I'll shut up now and just post the trailer for you to watch - no one will ever confuse me for Roger Ebert - but I really am looking forward to seeing this one.

On Music, Faith, and Whitney Houston

This week I sold my soul to the iTunes devil.

It may have started with the Grammy Awards on Sunday. While it wasn't an impressive show, it did inspire me to check out some new stuff, such as the Civil Wars and some of Rihanna's new music. I also relived some old favorites, ranging from the Beach Boys to Goodie Mob. The Beach Boys were the first band I loved as a kid, and when my parents tried to take me to see them live, we got rained out. Twice. They reunited to play at the Grammys and they were great! (Even with Maroon 5 and some group that looked like it would rather be Occupying something horning in...)

And then there was the death of Whitney Houston. It irks me when someone dies and suddenly, everyone in the world was their greatest fan, especially when it's someone you haven't thought about in years. I'd just gotten home last Saturday night and was settling in to watch the Charlie Brown Valentine's Day special and work on editing my book when ABC News cut in with a special announcement. I just knew we were going to war with Iran, but no, the anchor dude cut into my Charlie Brown time to tell me Whitney Houston had been found dead somewhere for some reason. I used to be a big Whitney fan back in the day, and I felt bad for her family, but I was not especially moved by this announcement. However, the voyeur in me ended up glued to the unwarranted, non-stop breaking news coverage for the next few hours. So much for editing my book.

I didn't start blasting I Will Always Love You on my iPod after that (though for some reason I did have My Prerogative stuck in my head), but by Monday, I had pulled out the greatest hits album and downloaded a few other songs. I'd heard two days of snippets of all these songs I used to love when I was a kid, and I needed to hear more or my brain was going to explode. It did bring back a flood of great childhood memories. I remembered my best friend Melissa and I laying in her living room floor, watching The Bodyguard and fawning over Kevin Costner. I remembered my cousin Emily and I dancing to some of those songs in my grandparents' basement like we used to do. I remembered driving around Athens and listening to My Love is Your Love during my freshman year of college. Those were nice memories to relive.
 
Fast forward to yesterday, Saturday, the day of Whitney Houston's funeral.

I had zero plans to watch it. I had plans to turn off my TV, shut down my computer, and start marking up my book with a red (well, actually it was green) pen (and technically it was a marker). But my parents wanted to watch it, and they don't have cable, so I went to try to set it up for them on their computer. When I got back to my house, I left it on while I was making my lunch, and because I'm nosy, I kept watching to see if I could see who was there and what they were doing. And then I thought some of the religious figures had some nice things to say and then Tyler Perry was going to speak, so I wanted to see what he would say, and his speech was amazing.. And then I saw that Kevin Costner would be speaking soon, and of course, I wanted to see what's going on with him these days. Long story short, I watched most of the doggone funeral. Sure, part of it was me being a voyeur again, but a big part of it, I realized, was a thirst for something more.

A friend of mine, Jenny Waite, posted this on her Facebook page yesterday: "Whitney Houston made a lot of mistakes, but she had a sincere faith, and her final act got millions of people to go church in Newark in the middle of a Saturday."  (Edited to add: she also wrote about Whitney Houston's funeral here.)

Back during the Tim Tebow craze, my mom and I really got into it because she claimed people were thirsty for religion and that's why they were jumping on his bandwagon. As I've stated, I find turning to him because you're thirsty for religion to be somewhat sacrilegious, but I did understand what she was getting at. So many people in our country are so quick to hate these days. We are in a very polarized place. And not just that, but when I see people argue about certain issues, I am saddened to see that many of them will find a way to push their own faith and values under the carpet in favor of convenience or being what they feel others want them to be or just for the sake of being right. And I'm strictly talking about how individual people live their daily lives here, particularly Christians. It saddens me to see it, but I can't control what other people do. I can only try to be the best person I can be, and I can only try to love everyone else the way I know God loves me.

So many people turned into Whitney Houston's funeral yesterday, and so many people were talking about her faith, their own faith, and the faith of others. I scrolled through Twitter several times and checked out various news and celebrity gossip websites to see what people were saying. They weren't just talking about Whitney Houston and whether or not Bobby Brown was there and how good Kevin Costner still looks; they were talking about church and God and Jesus and prayer. One website, I believe it was CNN, had a picture of people standing in New York, watching the funeral on a big screen,and the headline read, "The Nation Goes to Church." Indeed they did. 

Regardless of how you feel about Whitney Houston's life, her music, her choices, her addictions or anything else, her faith was inspiring. It does seem like people are thirsty for something, myself included. Even if they don't know it. And if it took the funeral of a pop star to get us there, just for a day, then maybe everything does happen for a reason.

I'll leave you with one of my favorite Whitney songs that didn't get a lot of play this week:

The Best Low Carb Website Ever!

I promise you I'm not going to be one of those people who posts about healthy food every day, but I really am working hard to make some changes in my life right now, so I get excited when I find things to make that a little easier. My personal goals are to stop eating so much sugar/white flour/processed food, and seeing as how I hate cooking, that can be a little difficult.

But I just found this website and I think I'm going to have to do a little more cooking in the future: Candice's Low Carb Recipes. Warning: it will make your mouth water. It is mostly baked goods - cookies, muffins, cupcakes, pies and the like, but a Snickerdoodle with only two carbs per cookie? Holy Shiites! She's even got a grilled cheese sandwich recipe, and I'm so trying her lasagna next week. My only complaint is that she doesn't update ten times a day!

Speaking of low-carb eatin', I came up with my own recipe today. OK, so it's not really a recipe, and I didn't exactly come up with it, but it's about as close as I come. It's actually a take-off on a recipe from another one of my favorite healthy eating websites: Dashing Dish. 

I bought these low-carb tortillas at Kroger the other day. They are made of oats and soy flour and have tons of fiber. They're really good - I use them for tacos, fajitas and even in place of a hamburger bun or to wrap a sandwich.     

As suggested in the original recipe, I cut the tortillas into little circles (I used the lid to my Naturally Fresh salad dressing jar, because it was the perfect size.) I put each one of them into a regular size muffin tin and sprinkled some Parmesan cheese on it, and then I put a teaspoon of store-bought pizza sauce, a piece of pepperoni, and a chunk of fresh mozzarella. Mine didn't look nearly as good as Katie's at DD, but they were yummy! And they're so quick and easy. I'll definitely be making them again. (I snapped this with my iPhone before I ate them...)

Happy Valentine's Day!

It's Valentine's Day, which means absolutely nothing to me, but I thought I'd wish you a happy one anyway! Don't mistake my disinterest for some sort of single girl bitterness; when I think of V-Day these days, I honestly picture little kids handing out cards and candy to their friends at school and such, not adult romance.

(I'd make a Charlie Brown reference, but Whitney Houston kind of ruined that this year. Seriously, ABC cuts into Charlie Brown on Saturday night and we're not at war or killing Bin Laden?)

Then again, I'm not really into romantic gobbledygook anyway. My idea of the perfect Valentine's Day date would be maybe a college basketball game and a burger. With the bun. Or Chick-fil-A.

Image courtesy of VintageHolidayCrafts.com

Good Lord, That's Good BBQ Chicken!

In my continued effort to 1) cook more and 2) eat less carbs, I decided to start off this week with some BBQ. The thing is, every BBQ sauce I could find was loaded with sugar. After spending what felt like hours in the condiment aisle at Kroger, I finally ran across a brand called Stubb's. It looked interesting and only had six grams of carbohydrates. At $3.29, it seemed like a decent choice.

Keeping in mind that I do not usually cook, so this may be old news for many of you, but there is a recipe floating around that involves putting ketchup, Coke, and some type of meat in a crock pot and letting it simmer for a few hours. The result is easy, inexpensive BBQ. I combined a few variations of this:



Into my crock pot went:

- 1 can of Diet Coke (that was hard for me, to waste a whole Diet Coke)

- Half a jar of Stubb's Original Bar-B-Q Sauce

- 3 boneless chicken breasts that had been sprinkled with Morton's Low Sodium Season All Seasoned Salt


I cooked it on high for about three hours (until it was done but not yet falling apart), took it out and cut it into smaller pieces, and cooked it for another hour. When I got it out, I wasn't totally satisfied. While it tasted okay, it was still a little chunky for barbecue. I took a piece out and started shredding it with a fork, but then I had an idea.

This is where I think I'm a genius, but really, it's probably something people have been doing for decades. I took out my little electric hand mixer, stuck it in the crock pot and turned it on high. I left it in there for a few minutes and the results were beautiful. (Okay, so my iPhone doesn't make it look too appetizing, but I can assure you it looks better in real life.)



I put a colander on top of a mixing bowl and dumped the contents in. I discarded about 3/4 of the sauce and put the meat back in the rest of it to let it soak and cool down. When I finally tasted it, my first words were "Good Lord, that's good chicken!" Then I realized I live alone, so I stopped talking to myself.

My original plans had been to make a sandwich out of it (I bought some very, very low-carb bread last week), but this chicken was so good it didn't need it. And here's where you might be slightly grossed out, but I usually put ketchup on, well, just about everything, but it didn't need that either. I dished some out onto my plate, got myself a yummy Claussen pickle and had one of the best low-carb lunches I've ever cooked.

Anyway, I was pretty proud of myself, so I thought I'd share. The good thing about being single is that I'll have have enough to last the next few days. The downside is that there is no one around to taste my magnificent work of art. Maybe that should be one of my next goals?

Singlehood, Summer & Shepard Smith

These topics have absolutely nothing to do with each other; I was just feeling alliterative. I'm taking a break from the internet this weekend, so I won't be updating you with the mundane details of my life. Instead, I'm just going to leave you with a great quote, a great recipe involving vodka and some great links to some hilarious websites.


Starting with a quote of the day from my favorite news anchor:

"I don’t understand how people put up with this... on the left and the right. The crap coming out of their mouths right now — it just seems, to me, completely worthless.” - Shepard Smith on politicians

That quote came from this interview with Smith by Nando Di Fino at Mediate. It's a good read in which Smith declares his love for hip-hop (a man after my own heart) and says what was almost my quote of the day, "Sports is a big part of my life” (a man after my own heart). He also talks about how great the Manning family is (not gonna say it again).

Anyway, I couldn't agree more. I'm so disgusted with the whole thing right now. Politics is one of the reasons I'm staying far far away from my computer for the next few days. (Well, that and I'm planning to work on getting my book edited. Woohoo!)


Next up, I've got a yummy recipe I found on Pinterest. I've been hankering for summer lately; I think it's all this warmish weather we've been experiencing in the ATL. Anyway, I had to put together a list of summer cocktails and mixed drinks today for a job I did, and I decided I'm going to be making some of these Watermelon-Vodka Slushies this weekend. Since I plan to work on my book, I may need to go light on the vodka, but then again, wasn't "Write drunk, edit sober" the motto of both Mark Twain or Ernest Hemingway?



Finally, if you're single, you will more than likely find this hilarious, especially if you are a church-goer, but I think it's funny even as someone who hasn't gone to church in a few years: Surviving Church as a Single

Another funny website I stumbled upon last night is the STFU, parents blog. It makes fun of the stupid things parents do on Facebook. You don't necessarily have to be single to enjoy it, but it's probably funnier to those of us who are childless and tire of seeing certain people post their child's every waking moment.

That's it! Enjoy the weekend, kids!

The River and Watching TV

As I've mentioned before, I don't watch much TV. Well, I guess that should say I don't keep up with many new TV shows. My TV is actually turned on 24/7 almost, but it's on news, sports, and occasionally, reruns of shows that are no longer on the air. So, when I began seeing commercials for The River, I got excited. It looked interesting. It looked scary, and I'm easily scared. Seriously, even the lamest of the lame can send me into hysterics. My cousin and I watched Paranormal Activity, and I couldn't sleep in my bedroom for a month. And it just so happens the guy who directed that created this.

The commercials for The River had me so scared that I decided I'd have to spend Tuesday nights watching it with my mom. (I don't watch such things alone. I tried that with American Horror Story, and I was able to watch one episode before finally deciding to just delete the rest from my DVR). So, last night I loaded up the car with my dogs and a few pillows in case it was so scary that I'd need to sleep on my parents' sofa, and I headed up to their house. My mom made some hot chocolate, we turned out the lights, and I settled in with the dogs on either side of me (yes, I'm 30, don't judge me).

What a waste of time.

The show started out pretty slow, and it could have been that I kept getting distracted by one of the dogs and my desire to see who won the Minnesota/Colorado/Missouri primaries, but it was somewhat hard to keep up with. Most of the actors were terrible. The male lead is supposed to be an American who speaks American English, but he kept saying some words with a British accent (turns out he really is British and just can't hold the accent, I guess). The woman who plays his mom was almost just as bad. The "scary" part of the storyline was cheesy from the get-go - think voodoo and devilish spirits. I was hoping for a good, old-fashioned ghost story or something Shyamalan-esque that has you saying, "I didn't see that coming." No such luck. There is one part that had me a little edgy, and the story that went along with it was interesting, though I never understood how it fit with the main plot. I was highly disappointed.

I will give the show another chance, but so far, it's not living up to its hype. I was able to go to my car in the dark, drive home through the woods, and walk to my dark little Unabomber Cabin without so much as an elevated heart-rate. That's saying a lot for me. The other night, what turned out to probably be a deer had me frozen in my car with fear for nearly half an hour. I'm telling you, I scare so easily. This one didn't even scratch the surface.

Aside from that, I haven't really added any new shows to my DVR recording list this spring. As I mentioned yesterday, The Voice is back for a second season, and I do love that show. I've watched American Idol for the last few years, and it just started again, but I can't get into it like I used to. There is The Office on Thursday nights, but with the exception of two or three episodes, I just don't like this new season. It's like the writer's are purposely trying to make it bad so it will get cancelled. For a while, I was watching Once Upon a Time on Sunday night on ABC, and I even started watching Desperate Housewives again after not doing so for a few years, but I can't seem to get into either of those lately. I guess it's a good thing that it's election season, because primary nights and debates always provide me with some much needed entertainment.

Or maybe I should just turn off the TV and read or something at night!

Poor Angel: An Update

Late last week, I put out a call for donations to help an abused puppy get the medical treatment she needed. I know some of you told me you donated and some of you possibly did without letting me know, and I want to thank you all for doing it for such a great cause.

Unfortunately, this sweet little dog must have been more broken than anyone knew. She died last night. I don't have many details, just a quick note from the person who rescued her, but she will be refunding all donations as soon as she gets a chance. As you can imagine, she is simply heartbroken right now.

If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact me, and thanks again for trying to save this puppy's life. I guess God had other plans for her.

5 Things I'm Lovin'

I've had a hard time coming up with something substantial to post lately (seriously, my life is pretty mundane right now, and I'm still having a hard time wrapping my mind around this election), so I'm going to maybe do this once a week? Several of my friends do it, but basically, I'm just going to point out about five things that I like at the moment. Easy enough, right?

1. Giants winning the Super Bowl! I don't always get super excited about the Super Bowl, because there are some years when I just don't like the teams playing. (Cardinals vs. Steelers, anyone?) But this particular Super Bowl gave me 1,000 reasons to love it. First of all, like most of the country, I hate the Patriots. I loathe Tom Brady...almost as much as I dislike Tim Tebow. Second of all, the Giants are my third favorite team. Obligatorily, the Falcons are my first (though I have had a hard time supporting them over the last decade), and obviously, the Colts are my second, but I've always had a soft spot in my heart for the G-men of New York, especially when they're home to a member of the Manning family, another weakness of mine. Last night's game was fun to watch and had me on the edge of my seat to the very end.

2. The Weather! Spring is in the air, my friends, and it's only February 6. It's been in the 60's most every day this week, and I love it. I've spent so much time outside, walking and playing with the dogs. I was driving home the other evening and decided to take a detour, waste a little gas, and just ride around with the windows down and AKUS in my CD player. This afternoon, I had all this chicken and beef I needed to cook, so I decided to fire up the grill and do it all outside. I'm all for having a long spring, but my fear is that it's going to make for a very hot, buggy summer.

3. The Voice I know, I know. Laugh all you want, but I'm a geek for TV singing shows. The Voice is only in its second year (I spent many a night in a South Carolina hotel room last spring watching it), but it's already my favorite. It's so much better than, say, American Idol. I love that they only show talented people. Plus, I'm a big Cee Lo Green fan, so I'll watch him do just about anything...

4. Spinach OK, I know this is a stretch, but I've been trying to cook more lately, and I've been trying to eat healthier. I'm so picky about vegetables, but I bought spinach to go in a recipe I made the other day, and it is so good! Who knew? I've been putting it in everything. I was starving Saturday night, so I made up my own spinach dip recipe. I even put a few leaves in a smoothie I made. Last night, I made low-carb pizza and put it in the crust. I almost ground some up and put it in my burgers this afternoon, but what was left of my little batch was getting kind gross. It's definitely on my grocery list for next week.

5. Bollywood Dance Workout In keeping with the healthy theme, I've been trying to get back into the habit of working out at least once a day (hopefully, twice in the future). When I get up in the morning, I have no desire to move, much less exercise. I prefer walking/jogging/swimming/biking to following videos and such, but I'm trying to ease myself back into everything. My cable company has loads of free workouts on demand, so I began looking for something that didn't require much effort. I ended up on this, The Bollywood Dance Workout with Hemalayaa, and I loved it. I can't dance to save my life anymore, so the poor dogs were probably hiding their eyes under their little paws, but it was so much fun, easy to follow, and I actually felt like I was accomplishing something (my thighs were even sore the next day).

Can You Help Angel?

Back when I doing the pretend journalist thing, I made a number of friends in the local animal rescue community. One of them sent me an email today about a gorgeous little Pit Bull that was adopted from our local animal shelter and returned a few days later with some injuries and a broken spirit. She'd fallen in love with the dog who she is now calling "Angel" but she needs $2,500 to pay for surgery to fix her leg. Currently, the dog is on pain medication but she needs help as soon as possible.

I would never ask anyone to donate to something that I didn't think was a worthy or legitimate cause, and if you are at all hesitant, I can assure you that Lisa, the dog's guardian angel is the real deal. She's helped so many animals in our community in so many different ways that receiving this email from her did not surprise me at all.

Also, I don't know how it works throughout the rest of the country, but in our area, Pit Bulls are usually euthanized before any other dog, so she truly saved this beautiful pup's life. And now she's trying to save her leg from amputation so that she can eventually run and jump and play like a normal dog.

As of right now, she's already raised about $1,000, but if you can help by contributing even a few dollars, it will go a long way. If you choose to help Angel, go to this link, click on the orange "ChipIn!" button and it will redirect you to Paypal so that you can make the donation to the right place.

Have a great last football weekend of the season (sigh) and go Giants!!