Lil Canoli's Home!!!
- Witney Nielsen
- 2 days ago
- 6 min read
Howdy howdy howdy! I feel like this whole saga needed a bow on top wrapping everything up so here we go!
The fine folks over at Dakota Recreation Repair returned Lil Canoli last Friday afternoon all spiffed up and ready to make his debut back into society!! I cannot even tell you how good he looks! Good thing photos exist I guess... but yeah they did an AMAZING job! Sweet. Baby. Angels.
I immediately grabbed his brand new spiky, punk collar.. and it didn't fit. Not even close.
Turns out Canoli has like a thick Channing Tatum neck... good for him! So I decided to throw it on... but yeah that's why I was wearing a big ole spiked dog collar in my last interview. My dearest, love-of-my-life, super annoying butthead of a husband Mr. Andy Nielsen has latched onto this and will probably make fun of me forever :)
No worries! I still got Canolz decked out in his new tags and locks for his chain. That makes me sound like a monster. Chain locks...
We had his welcome home party on Sunday and it was a blasty blast! Furry Friends came with several of the cutiest adoptable puppies and I got to give them all the kisses and I love them so much!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ...and breathe... But yeah we had a fantastic turnout, which is a miracle because the address on the Facebook event was incorrect... GREAT JOB WIT. Turns out it defaulted to our home address and my dingle butt was too busy congratulating myself on actually making an event for once to notice.
So yeah, most people were driving by our house, seeing the cookie car (that needs a jump because I haven't driven in soooo long, if anyone wants to come do that :) ... ) and then the obvious lack of party. THANK GOOP that people are much more industrious than I am and googled our address to find us!!! If anyone gave up after going to our house I'm SO sorry! Good news is: you have our home address so you can come egg our house for revenge! Silver linings everywhere!!
Speaking of silver linings, a gorgeous goddess angel at the party pointed out that we were lucky it was sending everyone to our house instead of some random person who probably (and rightfully so) would be suuuuuper annoyed. Ha!!
Party Pics!
Aaaaaanypoop, we had a hoot and a holler and nearly sold out of cookies! We only had 8 tiny canoli cookies left when all was said and done!
We raised $549 for Furry Friends Rockin' Rescue (is that tacky to say???) and Lil Canoli got to shine!! He even got to play in the playpen with the puppies!
I wanna give some shout outs to the many many many people who were a part of this whole tale! I was so bummed when it first happened and it has spiraled into a worldwide phenomenon (ummmmm how dare you call me an exaggerator, Facebook told me there were people from like 9 different countries looking at it. That counts as worldwide. periodt.)
Jody Kerzman!!!!!!! You vivacious rainbow of joy! You were literally working on your days off every single time you covered something for this! I don't think I would be overzealous in using the word 'hero' when describing you. Where would Canoli be without your tireless efforts to get the word out?! I shudder to think. Seriously you are the best and so freaking fun! Let's start a YouTube channel where we solve local lawn ornament thefts. We can call it Lawn and Order!!!! OMGod...
Here are the links to the YouTube clips of the segments if anyone hasn't seen them!
She flawlessly tells the story from beginning to end!
Watch them! They're fabulous! Jody is a qween and the camera loves Canoli!
***If you missed my other blog (blerg) about the whole story from his dognapping through finding him you can read it HERE***
My next shoutout goes to Sheena Horob who was the valient savior that spotted Lil Canoli while taking her kids to school! His leg was peeking out from under the blue blanket he was dumped in on the side of the road. Sheena you are a paragon and the video you sent was straight up Dateline worthy. Keith Morrison would be proud. Chef's Kiss mama! Sheena I have your reward cookies whenever you want them!!!
I cannot possibly give shout outs without mentioning Miranda and Cody Dachtler from Dakota Recreation Repair They reached out within an hour of Lil Canoli being found and offered to repair him! I was planning on using wall spackle stuff and cabinet paint from the Cookie Haus basement to try to fix him up, so needless to say I jumped at their offer. Saying he is now better than before he was stolen is an understatement. They did a phenomenal job completely out of the kindness of their hearts. You guys are freaking cool.
Restoration Pics!
The next shoutout goes to the mystery sugar booger who made Tiny Canoli!! This seriously was the sweetest thing and he was there waiting for me the very next day after Canoli was stolen. I love him so so so much! Thank you!!
A big thank you to all of my neighbors (including BHS) for putting up with this nonsense and for getting us surveillance footage from several cameras! I feel confident that my murder would be solved within 48 hours with all y'all around :)
Shout out to Angie Marquardt and the entire team at Furry Friends Rockin' Rescue for being SO wonderful!! (in general and also specifically about this event) I gave like a week's notice and they jumped right in! You are such an amazing group doing amazing work and the Bismarck area is beyond lucky to have you.
If you missed Canoli's party, but still want to grab some swag and help the FFRR cause, you can get Canoli pins and stickers HERE
Thank you SOOO much to all of my friends and family who helped with the event. Shelly, Rose, Mother Dearest, Colie, Scott and Juni!! Anyone and everyone I'm forgetting at the moment and will be devastated for leaving out when I remember.
Anika Kleingartner you saved my butt (again) and I literally could not love you more. It's actually kind of disturbing how obsessed I am with you. Clown face emoji, heart emoji (sorry I don't know how to do those on here but they were absolutely necessary)
Justin Cancilliere (I never feel confident when spelling your last name) thank you so much for manning the cotton candy machine at the party! Some day I will learn how to do it and you can actually enjoy a party. You are a precious magical unicorn! ***Also also thank you for always printing cookie cutters for me last minute when I'm panicking because I broke my 3-D printer again... Check out JJU's 3-D printing!
Andy Nielsen. What can I say? You are the Felix to my Oscar, the Ricky to my Lucy, the Patrick to my David Rose. You keep my tooter in line (as much as anyone can) and you are definitely the reason all of this is possible. You have put up with my nonsense for over a decade and that is unbelievable. Let's kiss!!!
***As some of you know Mr. Nielsen works for/with/partially owns maybe?? (I can't be expected to retain every little shred of information about this dude's life) a fantastic company called the 373 Brand. They are doing amazing things including helping tons of animals with Soregone for Pets. They are generously donating $1 from each jar sold to Furry Friends Rockin' Rescue. Check it out it is seriously amazing!
K... I don't know how this spiraled into me giving an Oscar speech and saying nice things about Andy but it needs to end now.
Love love love you guys!!! Stayed tuned to UNCO for exciting announcements and big upcoming changes!! (I've oversold it...)
XOXO,
Wit
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