Flying my Flag

This past Monday would have been my parents’ 35th wedding anniversary. Instead, today we reflect on 8 years without my Mom.


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People ask why I continue to be involved with the Komen 3-Day for the Cure.


It is so difficult. So exhausting. So emotionally draining. Why continue to walk, to fundraise, to captain a team?


That first year I set out with a singular, significant purpose. I was walking to honor the memory of my Mom, a woman taken too soon from this life. I was able to raise over $6,000.00 that year as I walked with her on my heart. I made a statement of great value to my family and me, raising $1,000.00 for each year she’d been gone.


I walked a difficult road that first year to prove that my Mom was worth it. Her life had value and would NEVER be forgotten.


While my involvement in the Komen 3-Day for the Cure is never going to change the past, I continue to do what I do for the future.


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I continue to support Komen and their efforts because there are still things we don’t know about Breast Cancer. There are still questions that remain unanswered.


My mother had Inflammatory Breast Cancer. Never heard of it? Neither had I. IBC is a small 5% of total breast cancer cases. But while breast cancer overall has a 5 year survival rate in the 95% area, IBC’s 5 year survival rate is less than 50%.


IBC isn’t always a clear cut lump, and there are still Doctors out there who will dismiss the symptoms as having nothing to do with the potential for cancer. Changes in the skin, being, red, warm or dimpled like an orange can all be symptoms. Itching or pain in the breast can often be brushed off by both Doctors and patients as being nothing to worry about because they can still indicate other things.


Some may say that we’re all aware of breast cancer, but until Doctors and patients understand all of the forms this disease can take, I would argue we still need more awareness.


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We all have some thing, or some things in our life that we plant a flag over. Something that causes you to stop and say “this is important to me.” To some it is Autism Awareness. To others Heart Disease. Equal rights. Matters of faith. Social justice. We each have a flag. Some big, some small. My flag is Breast Cancer Awareness and Research.


Our flags may not match, you may not agree, and that is okay. But please, today, in honor of the woman who lost her battle with breast cancer 8 years ago, promise me something.


Promise me you’ll take care of your body. Have a physical yearly. When you get to the age recommended by your Doctor or dictated by your personal family history, have the screenings you need. Get your cholesterol checked, put up with your pap smears, and yes, have mammograms. And this is so important, know, really know your body. If something changes, see your Doctor.


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Mom, you are loved and so very much missed. I can only hope you are proud of the way I've lived the last 8 years of my life without you.


K

Eau de Peanut Butter

Once when I was a young child of, I don't know, five maybe, I decided that I wanted a new necklace.  Having been the creative type from well, birth, I decided to make my own.  So, I chewed up some gum, took it out of my mouth, stretched it around my neck and stuck the two ends together.

Viola!  A necklace!

A necklace that I didn't want to pull apart and ruin, so I took it off like you take any large necklace off.  Over my head.

Well, I tried anyway and as one could guess, I got that necklace pretty well stuck in my hair and my darling mother, may she rest in peace, had to control her anger while wielding what seemed like a gigantic scissors to cut that gum right outta my hair.  

Not the smartest idea I've ever had.

And, you know how parents sometimes mutter things under their breath to their children?  Things like "I hope someday you have a child just like you" or "Someday, someday you'll be in this same situation, and you know what I'm going to do? I'm going to watch and laugh as you try to parent through it with grace and patience."

Yeah, yeah, I know, and I know that my mom has been laughing from above as I've tried parenting through my own little gum situation with grace and patience.

No gum in the hair in our house, but unfortunately my little gum problem wasn't something I could just grab scary scissors and cut out.  

My gum problem was a sticky, linty, streaky mess through the inside of my dryer.  Oh no.

Oh yes.  Somebody (me) didn't check the pockets of clothes belonging to someone else (probably my six year old son) and I had an epic mess on my hands.  Well, not on my hands.  On my dryer, obviously.

I considered my options.  Clorox wipe?  Fail.  Goo-Gone?  Flammable solvent into my dryer, probably not such a smart idea.  Ice and a chisel?  I had neither.  So, while I have never needed this secret tip in the past, I decided to give peanut butter the ol' college try.  (And by ol' college try I mean try it for two years, five days and then quitting and never looking back.  Oh look, my mother just rolled over in her grave.)

I sat on my basement floor dabbing peanut butter all over the inside of that relatively new and oh so necessary appliance.  I talked nicely too it, telling it how much I love it and appreciate all of its hard work and if it could come clean I would never forget to empty its lint filter again.  You know, typical deals with the devil dryer.

A tablespoon of peanut goodness and 30 minutes later, plus some elbow grease and a few wasted paper towels, and the inside of my dryer is back to its sparkly white nearly new condition and I can get back to climbing Mt. Laundry without a harness or ropes. Heaven help me.

And as a bonus, this little problem could make me irresistible.  Cocoa butter legs and peanut butter clothes will make me a walking, breathing Reese's Peanut Butter Cup. 

Let the Countdown Begin!

The 2010 Susan G. Komen 3-Day for the Cure season is underway.  Boston and Chicago have 60 miles under their belts and Michigan kicks off in under 48 hours.

The Twin Cities event begins in a little over a week and there is so much I could tell you, I'm just going to go with bullet points, rapid fire.

• Team Boobs, Sweat & Tears has topped $20,000.00 this year and I am so incredibly proud of each and every person we have called a member of the team since we started on this journey in 2008.  To date we have raised over $60,000.00 in the fight against breast cancer.  
• I had a conference call with my crew team captain and some of the other members of our crew team to discuss last minute details and I'm really looking forward to getting to know this great group of women on event.
• But, I've really struggled with my decision to crew this year, especially with six walkers on my team.  I want to spend 60 miles laughing and crying and generally having a blast with them.
• Another but...but, two of my favorite people have been a balm to my soul, reminding me that while I won't be encouraging the six of them every step of the way, I will be able to encourage each and every walker as they head out onto the route in the morning and return to camp in the evening.  I have very wise teammates.
• The Posing for Pink calendar is amazing, and does it ever deserve a post of its own.  If you want to purchase one you can do so here, or if you're local, let me know and I can meet you and sell you one in person!
• My fundraising goal, even as a crew member was to meet the walker minimum of $2300.00.  While my involvement looks very different this year, this isn't any less important to me.  If you want to help support me, big or small, you can do so here.  Every dollar makes a difference.
• I need to start packing this weekend because these next few days are going to fly by and crew day is going to be here before I know it.
• I'm hoping to be able to tweet while I'm on event and my plan is to get a list up of all of the walkers that I know will be tweeting during their 3-Day journey so you can follow them too.

Lots to do before my favorite 3 days of the year!

A Zig, A Zag and Why I Quilt

I love quilts.  I love designing them.  I love creating them.  I love admiring them.  But perhaps most importantly for myself, I love to snuggle under them.

While I admire people who create art quilts and have work hanging in galleries and homes, I want the quilts I make to keep babies warm.  I want them to host picnics, and transform a child into a superhero when worn as a cape.  I want the corners of my quilts to dry tears during sad movies, and to remind faraway family of home.  I want the quilts I make to make the recipient feel my love or the love of the person that had me create it for them.

My latest finish was a gift from my sister to the new baby of one of her college roommates.

It is my sincerest hope that this quilt gets spit up on during tummy time.  I hope it cushions her back during diaper changes.  I hope it gets dragged along by a corner when she learns to walk and I hope she naps with it when she is sick, sad, or just plain tired.  I hope it always gets packed when she goes to Grandma's house, and I hope that she someday packs it away in a box as something worth keeping from her childhood. I hope this quilt is not just loved and admired but is a part of her life.

Details: I used the half square triangle method of doing a zig-zag quilt.  Amy has great directions here.  I helped my sister chose the fabrics to match the baby's nursery. 

O Baby, It's a Birthday Shirt!

Last week I met Allison from O My Family at a coffee shop somewhere between her house and mine.

At said coffee shop I handed her this:

And when she opened it she found this:

And on the back side of this:

She found this:

All to help celebrate O Baby's first birthday.  

And while I can take pictures on my lawn, Allison got to take pictures on the O so adorable O Baby on his first birthday in his birthday duds.  Go check out the adorableness that is that boy.  Seriously.  My womb is fluttering.  Again.

I really enjoyed making O Baby's 1 onesie, and while Allison wasn't expecting a matching (and reversible!!!) bib, it was fun to surprise her with it.  While I love to quilt, I also love these smaller projects that I can sit down and finish in a single sitting.

And, I did buy the onesie in a four pack, so maybe, just maybe, there will be an Etsy shop in my future.  What do you think?

Keeping Busy Without Plans

J and I are in a small group at a church we're, ahem, not attending.  But, attending the church or not, we continue to meet every month or two with four other families.

The last time we met one couple had their hands full with two young children, and another was just two months away from the arrival of their first child.  They were talking about the challenges of finding time to do necessary tasks around the house, things like yard work, decorating, and basic house cleaning.

Despite facing our own challenges to do some of those things I immediately offered to watch the set of siblings for a Saturday so Mom and Dad could have an entire day to do what they wanted to cross things off their to-do list.  It seemed like a nice thing to do and was well received until I said this: "Every weekend in May is open.  Pick one."

That statement was met with incredulous stares, open mouths, and more than one "what?!?!? How can you not have weekend plans for the entire month???"    

You see, here in Minnesota we take our summers seriously.  You never know when spring is going to end or when fall is going to arrive, so we have a tendency to book our calendars until there is no empty space left to maximize what we get.  Last summer we had three weddings in two weeks in July.  Add in training for the Susan G. Komen 3-Day for the Cure, weekends at the lake, a marathon training husband, and a holiday or two and the summer is gone.  

Not this year.  I'm crewing the 3-Day this year, so no long training walks for me.  We've deliberately not booked out our weekends and it is wonderful.  I love spending relaxed time with my boys.  I love getting a text from my niece and meeting them at the in-laws pool in an hour.  I love last minute trips to Sonic for Limeades and Slushes.  I love getting a call from my Dad asking if we can come to dinner in two hours and actually being able to go.

I've been really busy at work these days and I need my weekends.  And this, this summer without commitments, it may be our best summer yet.

Exceptional Parenting, I Swear

I'm a Mom who spends her days working outside of the home, and as much as I'd like to say that each day I come home fresh and ready to spend hours with my children on educational play, fine and gross motor skill development, and emotional nurturing, that just isn't the truth.

Some days I come home and head right back out into a sprinkler or a hose fight.

But sometimes I come home exhausted and I sneak a quick nap before I need to think about dinner.

Some days I come home and lavish my boys with kisses and tickles that turn into a mommy wrestling match on the living room rug.

And sometimes, I come home, we eat, and then...

Wait for it...

Keep waiting...

I watch television with my children.

Not even going to apologize.

Here are a few shows that we love to watch with the boys.

Electric Company: Hey you g-uys!!!  The original Electric Company was a little before my time, and belongs a bit more to people my husband's age.  However, I love the new version, and our 6 year old is an equally big fan.  The hip hop beats and silly lyrics really get him thinking about how letters interact and work together to make sounds, and he'll be the first to tell you that "silent e is a ninja."  Actually, he won't tell you.  He'll sing you the song.

Wipeout: Seriously, this show gets the wiggles out of our kids.  They laugh hysterically at people taking massive spills into the pool, and then they jump from ottoman to chair to floor like they are conquering the big balls themselves.  With a summer to play and a slip and slide at the ready, we're all dreaming up plans for our own backyard obstacle course Wipeout style.

America's Got Talent: I love talent shows, they always make me cry.  Something about people realizing a dream gets me every time.  While I'm especially fond of the musicians featured on the show, our boys love the more physical acts.  They love to watch the magicians, the jugglers and the martial artists, and the hip hop dancers never fail to inspire j into showing us his moves, slip sliding around on the hardwood floors.

Minute to Win it: Have you caught an episode of this game show yet?  Not only is it hosted by the huge personality of the Food Network's Guy Fieri, it is crazy cool.  The idea is that each challenge has to be completed in a minute, and each uses things you probably have in your house, which means you can watch it on the show and then make your own attempt.  Our boys were especially entertaining as they tried to slide nuts (nuts and bolts kind of nuts) off of a pencil and into a stack.  Even the 3 year old got into the act, concentrating with the tip of his tongue sticking out of the corner of his mouth just like his mama.  This is another show that will probably translate into our own family games this summer.

So, I fully admit to watching the boob tube with my kids.  (Why do people call it that???)  Will you admit it?  What are your favorite shows to watch with yours?