Grab a tissue.....

I want to make a difference in this world. I want my daughters to know a world without breast cancer.

Menu Plan Monday (2/23)

Monday: Mac n Cheese/Hot Dogs

Tuesday: Subway?  This day might be a permanent "kids choice" since DH is starting to play guitar on Tuesday evenings with a friend. He's not home for dinner, so that makes things a bit easier in choosing the meal. 

Wednesday: Leftovers - Ash Wednesday - 7pm Mass

Thursday: Chicken n Dumplings, salad

Friday: Meatless Pizza, salad

Saturday:  ???  just can't decide! 

Sunday: flank steak, confetti orzo (very colorful!) 

What's on the menu at your house??

Breast Cancer 3-Day Walk - Update 1

So I attended the "Getting Started" meeting last Saturday. In that week, I have raised almost $400, switched walk cities, and gained several team members! 

Lets begin at the beginning.   I signed up at the meeting to walk in D.C.  Some of my LM friends told me they would come and walk with me.  I was excited - the D.C. walk is my birthday weekend (October 9-11).  I thought that celebrating a birthday by helping other people simply have another birthday would be a good thing, yes? 

So maybe 2 days later I was wandering on facebook when I noticed my brother's fiance had started a new website for their upcoming wedding (which they had not set the date for).  You see where I'm going with this, don't you?  Yep.  They've set the wedding date for October 10. When I'm supposed to be walking in D.C. WHOOSH! Wind went out of my sails completely.I won't even go into the fact that he/she didn't bother to let me know about the date (my mom didn't know either and when I asked him he said he had told us).  Had to vent to my fabulous friends, who are the voice of reason in times like these, and they had an immediate solution.  Walk in PHILLY!   October 16-18!  Brill!  And the BONUS, for changing the walk weekend, is that 2 friends who would have been unable to walk in D.C., will be able to walk in PHILLY! I called the 3Day Coaches number and got things underway to switch to the Philly event, along with my friend Stephanie, who was already signed up in D.C. also. 

Fundraising.  Intimidating, sort of. Overwhelming, a bit.  Necessary? Definitely.  I sent an email to nearly 200 people in my gmail address book and have gotten several donations totaling just under $400 so far.  Others have emailed saying they will donate, but by mail, so I am printing forms for them.  I'm thinking about some other things I can do besides the email, and have some things on mind - including asking for donations from businesses I frequent on a very regular basis. I'll wear their logo on my shirt (during the walk) for the donation.

Team: Awesome. Encouraging. Sarah, Jen, Stephanie, Tini:  You guys motivate me!   Hoping a few more folks join us - a couple are waiting in the wings...I'll update you when they do! :)

Do you have anyone who motivates and inspires you? Tell me about it! 

Menu Plan Monday (2/16)

Whew!   Almost forgot this was Monday!  Having a holiday messes up the calendar for me. You?

Monday - DH and I had Chinese take-out, and the kids had macaroni/cheese and hot dogs.  Mmm. Everyone enjoyed their dinner! :)

Tuesday - The kids and I are hitting Subway! DH is heading to a buddy's to play guitar. They are planning to play some open mike dates. Someday soon I'll tell you how famous he's become and sell his CD here.  ;)

Wednesday - Breakfast for dinner. Pancakes, sausage, eggs, fruit.

Thursday -  Spaghetti, italian sausage, radiatore pasta,  salad

Friday - PIZZA & salad

Saturday - DH and I are going out (our "Valentine's Dinner") - not sure what the kids will have, but I am likely to enjoy a nice, rare, filet, a baked potato, and a yummy salad with basil vinaigrette dressing. 

Sunday -  Flank steak (Dream Dinners), baby baked potatoes, steamed broccoli

Hope everyone has a great week!  What's for dinner at your house? :)

President's Day Goodness

So hopefully you're all out there celebrating your favorite president.  Not me,  I'm prepping for a trip to the local WW meeting for a weigh-in.  I am not sure what to expect this week. It has been a bit of a crapshoot lately, some weeks a gain (.8),  some weeks a loss (1.4), and even a week in there where I didn't go anywhere at all!  I only have about 5 pounds to go...

Later today I have to take Charlotte, our littlest sweetie, to the pediatrician.  It seems she may be allergic to shrimp!  WHO KNEW?  Last night she went to dinner with DH and ordered fried shrimp.  Almost immediately she was telling DH that her throat was itchy (so much that she tried to stick her hand into her mouth to scratch the itch in there)!  Tongue itchy too. Red blotchy face.  I need a little emoticon of a shocked person.    So he called me - and I directed him to the Benadryl in the medicine cabinet.  When we got home a short time later, her face was still noticeably blotchy, but most of the itchy mouth was gone.  THANK. GOODNESS.   We called the pediatrician last night just to make sure we'd done everything we needed to do, and got the on-call service.  They assured us that we had, but recommended we follow-up with our doctor - so that's happening today!  

What are you up to??

Breast Cancer 3-Day Walk

So check out the side bar over ---> there to the right.  See the pretty pink widget? Today I went to a "Getting Started" meeting for this event. Why?  I don't have a mom with breast cancer.  My grandmothers didn't die of breast cancer. None of my aunts or cousins have/had breast cancer.  I am so very blessed.  I totally get it!  I think I wanted to do this, because I would want someone to do it for me.   So click on the widget, head to my fundraising page and make a donation. THANK YOU! :)

Today marked the beginning of this journey.  I drove 45 minutes to the Herndon Fortnighly Library on Center Street.  I met about 25 other women wanting to participate also.  A woman named Shawn was to take us through the process of signing up and preparing for the walk. Immediately I felt very emotional about the whole thing.  Apparently that's normal - there were boxes of tissues all over the place!   I was on the verge of tears nearly the entire 90 minutes I was there, and I can't explain why.  Could I blame it on "female hormones"?  Probably.  But then again, is that why everyone else was crying too?  

So the details:   Raise money and train to walk 20 miles in a day (for 3 days).  Hard to say which one is more intimidating, but I'll jump in to both items wholeheartedly.   The fundraising I can (and will) start right away.  The training, on the other hand, I don't plan to begin until late April, at the earliest.  I've signed up to run a 5k (my very first) on March 21, and so my training for that must take precedent.  I inquired today about my running and was told that it really won't count for the walk training, because I need to prepare my body for walking a long distance. Something about slow-twitch muscles vs.  fast-twitch muscles...  The training log provided in my packet gives a 24-week training plan and a 16-week plan.  I plan to start the 24-week plan loosely (in April), but not stress over the LONG distance walks until the 16 week mark. 

I'll be using my blog here to share more about this process as I go along.  Check back to see what's going on! :)

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!

Hope everyone is having a good day - I am!   The morning started at 5 a.m. when Linus (our geriatric mini schnauzer) woke up needing to eat and have a walk.   I guess bladder issues plague old dogs like they do old people! LOL! 

So about Valentines:  We gave each of the kids a Webkinz and a book.  I made Jason a little album of photos of us using the Lifetime Moments kit from January 2008!  Yes, I did say 2008!  I couldn't decide what to use the kit for back then, and after seeing a project done by my friend Beverly for her DH, I knew that was what I wanted to use the kit for!  I spent all year collecting photos to use, and completed it during a weekend of cropping in January. The "journaling" was the lyrics from "Everything" by Michael Buble.  I'll try to add pics here later - the camera battery needed charging this morning.  Jason gave me a really sweet gift - a pink Ironman watch! :)   Since I started running in the fall I have been running mostly on the treadmill, which has a readout right in front of me - but I'll be moving outdoors once the weather warms up, and needed a watch to give me an idea of how fast I'm going and maybe motivate me to pick up the pace (every now and then).   So kudos to my sweetie for giving me a really thoughtful gift! 

So have a wonderful day, whether you celebrate with hearts and pink stuff or not! :)

Menu Plan Monday (2/2)

WHEW!   Almost let the day go by without posting MPM! 

Monday - We had the most scrumptious mac n' cheese from Dream Dinners!  MMM!  Steamed broccoli topped off this yummy dinner!

Tuesday - Breakfast for dinner (pancakes, sausage, eggs, fruit salad)

Wednesday -  Sub sandwiches, chips and veggies

Thursday -  Spaghetti with italian sausage, salad

Friday - Pizza, salad

Saturday - leaving this day open, as Jake and Jason are going with the Boy Scouts to visit the Capitol Building in DC! Not sure when they will return.

Sunday - Sesame Chicken (Dream Dinners)

Super Bowl 43 (no Roman numerals for me)

So, a super quick post about the big game today. Part of the FUN of watching the Super Bowl (in my opinion) is the pre-game hype.   Which, you may know, I am missing today because I have to go to a training session for Girl Scout Leaders.  Who decided that?? 

Anyway, since I have to leave for that meeting,  I'll just say that I pick the Steelers to WIN. I hope it is a close game, because they're more fun to watch. ENJOY! 

Google Reader, where have you been all my life? (AKA: the longest post I have ever written)

OMG!   So last weekend (Jan 23-25) I had a few friends here to scrapbook for a couple of days (hi Nicki, Sarah, and Beverly!).  Picture this:  4 women in a room together, 3 of whom had laptop computers, emailing each other and also posting things at the LM message board.  Oh, yeah, we were talking a bit too (and cropping, eating, laughing...).  So ANYWAY, about Google Reader: Beverly and Sarah were talking about catching up on the blogs they follow, which immediately gave me hives, because it takes me all day to do that...and *POOF* they were both done checking blogs.  I'm thinking, "They obviously don't read too many blogs", but then Sarah wanted to share with me one of the funny things she saw on a crafty site and I actually SAW her screen and how she checks all those blogs so QUICKLY!  It was like Christmas and my birthday all rolled into one! :)   Basically at Google Reader you can "subscribe" to blogs you read, and the new posts all show up on the same page!! GENIUS, I tell you! So go here to change your life (possibly an over-statement).   I have so much free time now!  Gives me the chance to update my Project 365 photos! 

I'll check in later for Super Bowl pre-game analysis.