AWESOME news!!

My friend's husband came into the store yesterday and told me that her last PET/CT scans came back with really AWESOME news! (You'll remember SHE visited me a few weeks back and made me so happy!) Her bones are showing cleared of cancer, her liver spots are VERY diminished as are her original sites (breast) and her lymph nodes are also almost clear! She'll continue treatment through December, but things are looking VERY good and VERY promising!! YAY JEN!!!!!

And in honor of all women (and the 1000 men who will be diagnosed with breast cancer this year), will you click each day at this site to grant mammogram's for under-privileged women? Thanks!!

Breast Cancer Site

Half Marathon Weekend

What an AWESOME weekend with some AWESOME friends! Friday night Jolyn, Victoria, Tiana (Li'l T), Kent and I drove over to Leavenworth to meet up with John and Linda, Jill, Trevan and Toriana, Donna and Terry, John and Gill, Sue, Jan, Kate, Becky, Mary, Kateen, Big T(Tiana), Robert, Justin, Elaine and Gentry so that those of us in italics could run/walk the Oktoberfest Half-Marathon the next day. We got in fairly late, but still had to "carb-load" at our favorite German restaurant -- Andreas Keller. It was quite rowdy with the beer flowing for most people, but the accordian player was having all sorts of fun getting people moving, laughing, singing, having a general great time! Just after we received our salads, Kateen, Justin, Big T and Robert walked in and we had them join us at our table! What a great way to start our weekend! From there we were off to the KOA campground where we had a total of 4 cabins and a tent site reserved. Poor Justin and Robert had to stay in a tent in the rain! Bummer for our s'mores fest, too! Trevan did manage to put together a roaring fire so that at least a few marshmallows were roasted! Saturday we headed off to the start line where Dave (and some extra support group!) joined us. At 9:05, with great anticipation, we started out running. It doesn't take long for the course to put a few paces between us! Dave, Justin and Kateen ran the whole thing -- as a repeat of the weekend before! --and Jill and Trevan tried to keep pace with them. The rest of us did plenty of walking. Poor Jill's knee didn't allow her to finish. (very sad face here!) For my part -- I'm very happy to say that I PR'd (personal record) this year by shaving a full 43 minutes off of last year's showing!
Due to the rain, I have no pictures to share with you, but maybe Donna wouldn't mind me pointing you to her blog. This is our whole group minus Jill and Trevan (sorry we didn't get any of you!) We should have made sure to get all of the support group, too, but well, NEXT YEAR!

KLUTZ ALERT!!!

Ok, what a day! So I was scheduled to go into work at 12:30 today so I was super excited to get to walk in finally! It's been awhile and since the 1/2 marathon is next weekend, I thought it would be a GREAT opportunity to get at least 4 miles in. Well.... The best laid plans, I guess, are meant to not happen. Before 7:30 even I got a call from my manager that someone hadn't shown and was not answering her phone -- could I come in early. Well, work I did, for almost an hour longer than I was originally scheduled. Oops! There goes the labor budget! So, I get off work and think, "YOU MUST GO FOR A RUN!!!!" (In my terms, that's a walk/run, but I like to put the greater emphasis on the run part.) So, anywho, I head out get a good pace goin', enjoyin' the sun on my face, get up to the wood-chipped trail, start the run part and BIFF!!! There was a root hiding under fresh chips. Down I go! So embarrassing! And right on the main drag, too! I have to say, though, my pride bounced back with my extremely quick recovery and continued run! All that was really damaged was a bit of "road rash" on my elbow! No knee injuries, no nothing! I completed the just over 4 mile course in 55 minutes (with a nice 2-3 minute stop at the stop light!). Not too bad. Unfortunately, it's a bit shy of the 13.1 mile mark that I'm aiming for, but... well, last year I did the whole 13.1 fairly cold, as last year the dog had pulled me over and damaged my knee pretty badly just two weeks before! In the two weeks prior to race day I didn't walk one mile, so I'm sure that these 4 mile practice runs will help a lot! Anyway, had to go ahead and share the klutz story of the day!

A ray of sun!

Today at work I had the most awesome ray of sunshine on a cloudy rainy day! My friend Jenna came in to get a cup of iced green tea. What's so remarkable about that you ask? Jenna hasn't been in the store more than maybe 5 times in the last 4½ months because she is battling stage IV metastasized breast cancer. Wednesdays are usually some of the worst days for her because it is the "hit day" post chemo on Mondays! She drove herself in today (she said it was only the 2nd time out alone!) and she looked GREAT! It made my day to see her and to know that she is doing so well despite and in spite of this thing called cancer! I know she is doing the best she can to support conventional therapies with good nutrition and quietness and a very strong, positive attitude. I applaud her and continue to wish her the very best and am thankful to be a part of her circle of friends as she fights this! It truly made my day to see her so perky today! What brightens your day? Pull up a chair, grab your cup of tea, or coffee, or hot cocoa, or diet Coke and share!

So much fun!!

What a FUN evening we had! Gordon, Ivona and kids came for a "small" dinner! We had nachos, salad, enchiladas and "killer" blackberry (and raspberry) crisp! (Oh, and Lainey -- I think I have to hate you again! That crisp is too good!!)
How I LOVE those little ones! They are so cute and so sweet and the closest "niece" and "nephew" we have! Since Ivona has no closer sisters, we claim each other as sisters and thus we claim our children as nieces and nephews, too! Tiana and Emily had fun playing dress up in some of Tiana's old clothes that are now used as doll clothes, or some that mommy just couldn't get rid of when they were outgrown! As we were cleaning up the dinner dishes, all of a sudden we heard the most "beautiful" music coming down the hall way! And who should appear?...



Later while the girls kept playing some more, Jonathon entertained us with his bright blue eyes while he played on the blanket in the living room.


It seemed the evening passed so quickly. Guess that means we need to get together more often! I'm thinking there are a few other babies around that we don't know well either -- hint! hint! J & T!!! Oh, but 'til almost soup weather so we'll be able to start the fire and have soup dinners! AHHH! I LOVE that part of fall! Hope you'll be able to join us!

To see the full evening's entertainment, click here

So, whatta ya think?

Should I update this blog or leave it as is? Alright, an update is in order. What a busy couple of weeks! School has brought untold little things -- more supplies, open house, babysitting 3 nights a week, drama, you name it! And it's getting worse! Tonight it involves shopping before open house so that next week's Spirit Week Twin Day will truly allow 2 girls to be twins! Oh, boy! The weather has been so much nicer than during the summer and that means the girls are wanting to be at the park all the time -- um, what about homework?!?! Thankfully, the homework load has been fairly tolerable so far -- at least that's what we are being told!

A couple of weekends ago I had the AWESOME first-time-in-over-13-years privilege of a couple of days (mostly) and a night alone by myself, no hubby, no daughter, only a bunch of other girls (AND DAD!!). WOW!! I might have to make a "habit" of that! It was rather refreshing to say the least. I drove to Mom and Dad's and helped mom with Amy's bridal shower. What a fun night and happy occasion!!



Must also tell you about my crazy dad that weekend! His company was having a Western Themed company picnic, for which costumes were encouraged. So, my dad built this stick horse on training wheels out of plywood and frayed rope. The horse's name is Sliver (no, not Silver) and Dad's cry was, "Hi Ouch Sliver!" And (please, don't take offense here -- it's really a funny pun!) he said that Sliver was a narrow-minded (read: single sheet of plywood!), pain-in-the-butt (hence his name!) horse!! Dad also wore his Pixie (dachshund) shirt and put a piece of tape on it that said "Loong little doggie"! (Said, of course, with a western twang!) What a goofball! Here he is riding Sliver!


The next week found Kent flying to California to help his mom pack up her things and move to central Oregon to be near her sister. Tiana and I then drove down there on Friday after school to help with the unloading and unpacking. That let Tiana have time with some of her favorite cousins and we got to enjoy time with them, too. We got mom moved into her cute house (notice I didn't write "little" here! It's bigger than our's!!) and even somewhat unpacked! It was a busy weekend, but wonderful and the fellowship was as sweet as the friendship!




Now we're back to the grind stone. I really need to do the mundane laundry bit, make some cards, MAIL some cards(! Funny how many get made and then sit around forever!), make some zucchini bread (bless those whose gardens produce!), and get a walk in. Only 2 weeks until the big half marathon again! Oh, and gotta make some more plans for that! Wow, the pressure is on! Anyway, hope all is well with you and we look forward to hearing from you!

Oh, and, as a post script to the bridal shower -- Congratulations to Amy and Larry as they start their new lives together!

School Days

I smell a difference today! I think it is the start of a new school year! Alarms went off this morning in every room of the house, it seems, and then sister left with a huge brown growth on her back! She left kinda early for her, too! I'm not used to seeing her out of bed before about the middle of the day! The cool thing -- it means breakfast a little later, or maybe just consistently about the same time every day! In the summer I have to eat SUPER early if dad feeds me (mom wouldn't dare wake me up as early as she's up!!), or super late if everyone sleeps in! Now my tummy will be happy!

It's been a long time since I was here! Boy, let's see, I've chased a TON of squirrels, barked at lots of people and dogs in the park, tasted a few of the blackberries that are ripening all around us, played with Pixie when Grandma and Grandpa came to visit this last weekend, rode in the car to the hamburger place (they forgot MY order!), slept -- A LOT!!! Seems sister had her friend here a lot, too, so that gave me a new face to lick! She's also going to have another little friend visit a few days a week after school. I'm so excited! I really like the younger set! Their faces are closer to my licker!!! WooHoo! Funny, though, mom gets after me! I don't get it!

Well, I don't know what else to say. Seems summer is gone and fall is beginning and maybe you just need to see these pictures to know what I'm talking about:


Typical pose -- phone at the ear!



"Oh, MOOOOM!! Do we HAVE to do this?!?!"



"Don't make me laugh!"