Snapshot - Abundant Life Cruise-In

Saturday Snapshot is hosted by Alyce @ At Home with Books. The requirement of posting pictures I actually take myself without the requirement of becoming a photographer first means... "near torture." The good news is, it's just pix, so you can skim quickly. Lol.

I honestly tried to take a lot of pictures of the Abundant Life Cruise In that we volunteer for. I did try. I did not succeed.

So first... from my own camera, I give you, the awesome possum Raffle that I worked my tail off getting prizes for:

Let's just gaze at that in awe for a few minutes... Aw..............

All those papers on the board are gift certificates.  Before anyone starts saying anything embarrassing like "all by yourself" lemme clarify that I am one of three people gathering stuff - or four, really - and I don't get the most stuff. I try to get flashy stuff (like the flowers) so everyone thinks I'm getting "so much" stuff. (Work smarter, not harder, right?)

I bought about $30 worth of tickets and passed 'em out among the kids. Dash got the winning hand - out of his set of 10 tickets (from me and probably 5 more begged off dad) he won, like, 8 things. Some people have all the luck!!  The other kids and I didn't win anything.  So, naturally, I confiscated a few things from Dash. "For the family." *cough*

Here he is winning that green t-shirt hanging up on the board:

He's the kid in the black car show t-shirt. Not that you can see it very well, but that was our show shirt that we all got to wear. There was a contest among the artistic ladies as to who could cut up their shirt the coolest. One lady had red ribbons tied and the shoulders and another woven through the bottom. My favorite sliced up the sides and tied them in knots, so the t-shirt was kinda fitted and textured. I cut off my sleeves neckline, but "fashionable" I was not.

Car show?  

I forgot that part. Obviously, I was rather "into" the raffle. *ahem*

There were some nice cars, too... I walked around a little, even though it was 100 degrees and all us Oregonians were withering in our black t-shirts.

See that big tent in the background?  (Hint: Past the General Lee and previous show winners.) That's the food tent with lots of deliciousness. The food guy (he has a name, I think) believes we set up the car show to compliment his food court.

Now I'm going to steal some pix from my honey, who focuses on the cars. (Weird!)

Well... and the goofy guy selling sno-cones. (He's a friend. I can call him names.)

We held the award ceremony inside the auditorium, which was a huge relief from the heat. It was fun sitting next to the Judge Coordinator as he monitored the crowd's response to his judge's choices for best cars in 40 different classes. (We had 240 vehicles enter the show, so 40 categories is not as excessive as it sounds. Or, maybe it is.)

The vehicle that won Best in Show got quite the cheer, as lots of people agreed with my Cool, Man's choice. Drum roll, please!

This '63 Impala was IMMACULATE. The paint is tri-stage with pearl, both the red and the white. The white leather interior is beautiful. The engine compartment is squeaky clean and shiny. Even the undercarriage (judged, too!) is clean. This vehicle was outstanding all 'round, which totally thrills me 'cause '63 Impalas TOTALLY ROCK!!

Next week I'll share some football fun. I experienced a lot of "conditioning camp" this week which included the "bobble head" league, which are 3rd graders. Lol. They wore their helmets, but not the rest of their gear, so the name is very appropriate!!

Volunteering -n- Stuff

Phthewp!  I dropped off the edge of a cliff... books & blogging & eating all out of sight. PHTHEWP!

(Go ahead... that noise is super-fun to make. You gotta try it!!)

I just thought I'd pop back in for a sec although my tummy's growling and chat about Volunteering.

Everyone should volunteer somewhere. It's a great opportunity to dump loads of time into something and get warm fuzzies in return.  There's no time limit... no required lunch breaks... all structure just tossed out the window for the sake of a good cause.

Makes ya wanna stretch, doesn't it?!

My voice is tired from talking on the phone... and I HATE talking on the phone. My fingers ache from scribbling notes. My brain is fried from throwing myself in front of the Rejection Train over -n- over. (When I get the "no, thank you, not right now" schpeel.)

I FEEL GREAT!!! 

This is our fourth year volunteering for a car show. My Cool, Man is all about judging the classic rides, being an awesome car guy-type. I'm all about the donations for the raffle and goodie bags.  My experience in owning a business gives me a fun twist... 'cause I know WHY it's worthwhile for businesses to donate to our Cruise-In... and I let 'em have it (my abundant opinion.)

Curious?

Cheap, focused advertising.

It's like one of us getting a booth at a book con or slippin' our blogger business card in a goodie bag handed out to all the paying attendees. Yea, that awesome.

So... I made over 50 phone calls today and got commitments for over 25 donations right off. Here's my MESS:

(The only quiet place was the bedroom... on my totally awesome quilt.)

Fun stuff like decorative planter pots imported from China, fresh pies, gift certificates to all kinds of restaurants, funky garage signs, free rounds of golf, oil changes, hand bags & salon baskets (for happy wives!), free lattes, hanging flower baskets....

*sigh* It's enough to make ya wanna buy tickets to this raffle!!!

Tomorrow I have over 25 stops to make, picking stuff up and dropping off flyers (with the tax ID & all that fun stuff.)  I fully intend to stuff my Suburban to the brim in one day. *cough*  Some sleep... some dinner, maybe... and I'll be fresh -n- rarin' to go!!  (Not in that order. Food first. *Growl*)

It's a long time since we chatted about Volunteering. Do you volunteer?  Are you careful to limit your time or do you go crazy (all of a sudden), like me?

Personally, I think that taking care of a house-full of kids for the summer should count. Lol. Which would mean I'm double-timin' it!

We picked up Minecraft yesterday for the Xbox, however, so I can't take credit for entertaining them today. I haven't seen 'em since they figured out how to play all four of 'em together at once!!  You won't catch me complaining about four kids playing happily together. Are you nuts?!  We'll discuss limiting screen time and getting some exercise tomorrow... with the beginning of swim lessons.  M'k?