Pawsible Dream 2008

Last weekend Chad and I attended the biggest fundraiser of the year for the Lawrence Humane Society, the 14th annual Pawsible Dream Benefit Auction. We pretty much go to the auction every year as long as we're in town, and it's always a lot of fun (although this year I missed my friends JoAnna and Brenda!). Most of the time I usually bid like a crazy person on the less expensive but still fun silent auction items, but after I won a bunch of things last year that I have yet to use, Chad made me promise to be a little more responsible about bidding--as in I could only bid on stuff that I would actually put to use. This time I only bid on 10 or so items, and I came away with only one: a black hand-knit scarf made by none other than our former mayor. She donates bunches of lovely scarves for the auction every year and this year I finally got one!

Normally we're not actually active participants in the live auction portion of the evening, but this year there was so much really cool Jayhawk memorabilia from the Orange Bowl and National Championship that we actually bid on quite a few big ticket items. One of them was this huge digital collage of basketball pictures that was like 6 feet by 4 feet. Since our basement is decorated with a KU theme, it would have been perfect for our house. We started bidding, got into a war with one other bidder, and when we had the high bid the auctioneer egged and egged the other people to keep going up--which they finally did after much prodding. Chad and I gave in, and only after that did Chad realize the collage wasn't of the 2007-2008 championship team--it was the year before! I had kind of realized that right as we started bidding, but still thought the collage would be neat. Chad, on the other hand, would have never bid that high had he known it wasn't from our winning year!! When we lost and he realized it was the wrong year he about had a heart attack knowing that we came about $50 from getting it! I think it was a definite blessing that we lost!!

I also bid on a framed cover of Sports Illustrated, with a picture of Mario's miracle shot, signed by Mario himself! I had taken Chad home and come back to bid on it without him, hoping that I could get it for a Christmas present. When the bidding went up to $175 over the listed value, I decided to bow out. I was bummed! I guess at least my bidding wars upped the total dollars for the shelter a little!

Speaking of total dollars, I don't even know how much money the event raised this year. I was at the shelter on Sunday and Tuesday, but I never even thought to ask. Strangely, the newspaper doesn't seem to have run a story on it either (besides the one before the event), which I think they usually do. The auction usually raises around $30,000, but it really felt like this year people were much more reserved in their bidding. Understandably so, since the economy is totally in the tank!