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Whoo hoo!

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I got a new car!  A woodland green, 2003 Subaru Forester!  It is awesome!  I’m been lamenting about the Corolla for some time now – distressed that I was buying it out of a lease and was going to be paying for it forever when I really hated it.  So I decided to swing over to the local Subaru dealer Saturday morning…and four hours later, came home with a new car.  It’s a lot roomier and more comfortable and it’s a smooth ride.  I wish I could be out tooling around in it right now!  This working thing is a DRAG!

Camping???

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Perhaps I have lost my mind.
 
I am starting to plan our church’s next women’s retreat.  Last year was our first and it was in Cape May, which was great (except that it was February and we had a big snowstorm the night before…but that is another story entirely!).  Our church leadership retreat is also in Cape May, so it has been suggested to me that we instead go to the mountains or such and…camp.
 
Anyone who knows me knows that this is not something I would come to on my own.  I have never camped, do not like things that crawl, slither, bite, howl or growl in the night.  I don’t like to be cold.  I don’t like to sleep on hard things like the ground.  I seem to recall sleeping out in the tent in Jessica’s backyard as kids and never making it through the night without sneaking inside.
 
And so, now in my 34th year, here I am, considering camping in the fall for this retreat.  Egads.

Meltdown

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Not much new to report.  My house is a disaster area and I can’t seem the time to clean and get things under control.  I’m on complete overload at work at the moment – between juggling when my boss is on vacation and I’m on workcamp, plus a million simultaneous deadlines…I think the only thing to do is allow myself a complete and utter meltdown.  We all deserve one now and again, right?

Pictures, Pictures Everywhere…

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On Friday night, my friend Kim hosted a Creative Memories class.  I had gone to one Nancy had about two years ago, got really excited, bought a bunch of stuff, and never did anything with it.  I am a shutterbug, so I have tons of pictures that need permanent homes.  And scrapbooking is so much fun – it’s just finding the time to do it.  Michelle, Kim and I are going to try to start getting together to scrapbook. 
 
One thing the CM consultant said really hit home with me – you have to get your pictures off your computer and printed out or on CDs in case your pc ever goes bad.  I do have some on CDs but have almost three years worth just stored on my hard drive.  I would be so upset if I lost them.  So Saturday night I decided that rather than save them on a disk, go to Walmart and stand at the machine forever printing, I would upload them all to Snapfish.com.  The only problem is, as far as I can tell, you have to upload them individually.  I got my 2005’s up quickly (not too many because I thought my camera was broken) and started working on the 239 for 2004.  I still have Sept – Dec to do but I am on my way.    Now I just have to get them printed and sent to me and actually start scrapbooking!
 
Saturday we had a ladies fellowship picnic at Peace Valley Park.  It is so beautiful there.  It was a really nice afternoon – just relaxing and hanging out.  One of the ladies has a little boat so some people went out on it (not moi, the non-swimmer though).  Then Michelle and I did some shopping to boost my workcamp (read:  clothes I don’t care if I get paint on) wardrobe.  Things are really coming together for that and the kids are excited.  Even I am getting excited.  I told Michelle that if I can survive this, I might even try camping! 
 
Yesterday was pretty much a wasted day in terms of getting anything done.  I got home from church early, ate lunch and decided a short nap was in order.  Three hours later, I had to go to our church leadership meeting.  So, my house is a wreck, I got nothing done, but oh well!  It was a good nap. 
 
And now, we are back in the work week.  Sigh… 

Sweltering

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And sweltering is the correct term. No AC in my apartment! It is broken – thankfully, someone is coming out tomorrow to look at it because it’s supposed to be 95 degrees Saturday and Sunday. And y’all know I am delicate flower who can’t stand the heat!!!

It’s nice that summer has finally arrived though. My schedule doesn’t really change but there seems to be a more relaxed pace to things. I hung out talking with some friends last night for an hour after dark, and it was just nice to be able to do that!

Well, I’m off to make ice cubes…….

Nascar Nation

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I am about to reveal what to some may appear to be a deep, dark secret of mine…
 
I am part of the Nascar Nation, baby!  I went to my first race yesterday in Dover Delaware with my friend, Michelle.  It took us forever to get there (and longer to get home it seemed) but it was awesome!  It’s great to watch on tv but being there live is really an experience.  It was so cool to see the paratrooper fly in with a flag, the Blue Angels flying over, the cars all lined up.  We were right by the start/finish line in great seats (many thanks to United Electric!)  I missed Jeff Gordon crashing because the heat got to me early on but Michelle was there to relish it.  I was happy to keep an eye on my boy, Dale Jr, even though he didn’t have a great day.  I was also happy to see Mark Martin moving up in the end and finally Greg Biffle win.  It was so cool! 
 
Now I am trying to recover and rehydrate!  But it was all well worth it. 

Retail Therapy

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Well, the weekend was a whirlwind and I am just now catching up.  Friday was the picnic/fireworks (see post below) and then Saturday, my friend Nancy came down for the day.  Nancy and I have been friends since kindergarten and although we’ve lived various distances from one another since high school, we’ve always kept in touch.  A few years ago, she and her family moved back to the area where we grew up and since I have moved further north of where I’d been for years, we’re geographically closer than ever.  But life always gets in the way (I’m sure no one else can relate!) and this was the first time we had to get together since probably around Christmas!  I don’t think either one of us could believe it had been that long – but it had.  So we lunched at Panera, threw our pottery painting plans out the window and shopped until we could shop no more.  It was a lovely day! 
 
Sunday was the usual whirlwind of church activities.  After service, one of the other adult youth leaders and I took some of the kids to buy fabric for a project we are working on for workcamp.  The theme of the workcamp is the fruit of the spirit (Galatians 5:22-23) and each group is supposed to design a bowl of fruit based on a photo they gave us.  Our group (which by the way, decided to call itself “The Body” – check out Casting Crown’s song to understand…) decided that they would make their fruit as pillows (basically).  So that is what we did for youth group that evening – sewed fruit.  I made a watermelon.  Or for those of you who really know me, I decided I wanted to do a watermelon, picked the fabric, drew a haphazard design and my friend Kym actually made the watermelon.  I did cut out the fabric, stuff it and glue buttons on for seeds.  Sewing is NOT my forte…as Mrs. Gauger from home ec class could attest.
 
After a marathon fruit making, sewing extravaganza, it was Memorial Day and I headed up to see if I could help my mom out after her carpal tunnel surgery.  As usual, though, she is very self-sufficient.  So we hung out and then I headed home…ready to get back to the grind of this week.  And here I am….

Worthy of Yogi

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The picnic last night was a success! Good food, good friends and eventually, good fireworks! I think this might have to be my annual summer event…to complement my annual New Year’s Day extravaganza.

The Terminal

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A couple months ago, I joined Blockbuster Online.  My local store never has any movies I want to see in stock any more, since “the end of late fees” and basically, I am a rather lazy sod.  Anyway, for those who are not familiar, you put a bunch of movies in a queue and they send you three and then as you send them back, they send the next on on the list, etc.  My original three were Shark Tale (blecch), First Daughter (cute) and The Terminal.  I put off watching The Terminal for some time because I love Tom Hanks and didn’t want to risk disappointment.  Now that all of my assorted tv shows are on summer hiatus, I decided last night was the night.  Got the popcorn ready, turned off the lights and…
 
I LOVED IT. 
 
It was such a sweet movie overall.  I can’t say much or I’ll give it all away.  There was one part where I was a little disturbed and another when I was a little disappointed, but I thought overall it was so well done and really neat.  It was a very interesting topic, too…you can’t imagine that two hours showing nine months of someone living in an airport would be interesting but it was.
 
My score….a big thumbs up. 

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Let me introduce you…

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As you probably know, I work for a national network of cancer centers. Our focus is mainly adult patients but a few years ago, my friend Tracey sent me a prayer request for her nephew, Anthony, who was battling Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML). Anthony’s mom, Dina, had set up a website for friends and family to follow Anthony’s journey through Caring Bridge. Caring Bridge is a great organization that allows people to setup webpages for friends or family members undergoing medical treatment. Each has space for updates, pictures and a guestbook for notes and words of encouragement from those reading.

As I prayed hard for Anthony and followed his story through the Caring Bridge site, I came to learn about so many other kids who were also fighting this terrible battle. Anthony has since passed away, but I still have a few kids that I follow. Two in particular that I wanted you to meet today are Kody and Katia. You can click on their names to view their pages. Please pray for Kody, Katia and their families. I can’t begin to imagine the difficulties they face every day.

Another note – some of you who see me regularly may have noticed me sporting some new jewelry recently. One is Katia’s Ladybug Club bracelet – these can be bid on on eBay and proceeds go to the Katia Solomon Fund to help families in need. The other is Kody’s Kicking Cancer’s Butt wristband that says, “Life’s Tough, But I’m Tougher”. You can obtain on of these through a donation to another organization designed to help families in need, Tumbleweed Foundation.

That’s all for today. I’ll introduce you to some more of the kids later. : )