what's in you wednesday

Oh, hey there!


How are you doing?

Me?

I'm great!

Other than my running has taken a total skid and I've been living off a diet of frozen pizza, bagged salad, Ginger Ale and chocolate chip cookies. But whatever. I figure everyone is entitled to a week or so of nothing but junk food and severe inactivity.

Sadly, the one real meal that I made this week, (french toast and tofu sausage) was put on a plate and stuck in the oven to be kept warm and enjoyed after I took a shower. But I've had so much on my mind that I completely forgot about it until two days later when I opened the oven to stick in yet another sheet of cookies.

What happened?

Why the loss of momentum?

I'm not really sure.

Everyone in our household is sick with a cold. Children are sleeping even less than they normally do and, they've gotten in to this tricky habit of taking off their night time diapers in the middle of the night and since they don't yet know how to wake up to use the toilet ... we have been awoken from a sound sleep on more than one occasion by howls of, "I AM SOAKED!"

Followed by, "I AM, TOO!"

Followed by, "I AM, TOO!"

Followed by a baby that screams, "MAMAMAMA!!! APPWLES!!!"

Work has been a little crazy. There is a lot of discussion over a possible relocation and lots of soul searching as to what we need and want to do. The relocation wouldn't be to the northeast. It would be to Texas. Houston to be exact. This coming summer. Circa July.

Isn't that the equivalent of moving to Alaska in January?

I tried to go running on Thursday of last week and I could only run for two minutes before stopping to walk. After starting and stopping, I would set my sights on something like a stop sign a few hundred yards ahead and think, "I'll make it to that sign and then I can walk." But I'd start running and only cover a distance of about 10 feet before having to stop again.

It seriously took every ounce of my strength to not lay down on the ground and draft a note for those who found me.

My legs were lead.

On Saturday, Charlie and I drove out to meet our Team In Training group for the eight-mile run. And for the record, the acronym for Team In Training is T-N-T.

(Whenever Charlie read on someone's blog [who shall remain nameless] about training for a T-I-T endeavor, he fell in to a laughing fit so badly I thought he was going to stop breathing.)

As it turns out, we were an hour and a half late. And even though we still could have done the run, we took one look at the hilly course, and the rising sun, and the two double strollers that we needed to push and we decided that a morning spent at IHOP sounded like a much better proposal. So that's just what we did.

Heck yeah I'll take a Rooty Tooty Fresh 'N Fruity!

Today, I was thinking that perhaps the reason I have been feeling so tired is because I have almost completely cut meat out of my diet the past six months and my body is in dire need of protein. So for the next few days I am going to eat nothing but steak (and peanut butter cups) and we'll see how that helps.

Oh and yesterday?

I met with a podiatrist who gave me a pair of inserts for my running shoes and told me that if those don't work with my feet falling asleep, he wants to schedule an angiogram and MRI.

Hot diggity!

Cookie anyone?

Now I know you didn't come here to hear me complain. Unless you enjoy seeing someone who feels like they are getting run over by the train of life.

So now I want to share some awesome news about Deana.

Today, she wrote on her CaringBridge site that the doctors have told her the chemo seems to be working. Two weeks ago, Deana was told by her doctors in California that she had a few weeks left to live and she needed to call in Hospice. And now, her doctors in Texas are telling her that she may be released as soon as Friday or Saturday as an outpatient. Granted, Deana still has a long road ahead of her ... but for now ... the chemo seems to be working.

Can I get a Hallelujah?!

Charlie, Margaret and I will finish the 26.2 miles. As for me, personally, I might walk 25 of those miles, but I will cross the finish line. All three of us will also meet our minimum fundraising goals, and hopefully, exceed them by at least a thousand or two.

When I met my fundraising minimum last week, I received a (form) e-mail from the President of The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society in which I learned that since its founding in 1949, The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society has invested more than $600 million in blood cancer research.

They have funded more blood cancer research than all other voluntary agencies combined.

They have been directly responsible for developing Gleevec, a pill for Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia (CML). Now, more than 95 percent of newly diagnosed CML patients survive more than five years with a good quality of life. AND, they were instrumental in the development of Velcade, the first new treatment in more than a decade to be approved for patients with multiple myeloma and mantle cell lymphoma.

This is the exact reason we are participating in this marathon.

This is the exact reason we are raising money for research.

Because RESEARCH leads to DEVELOPMENT of new MEDICATIONS that SAVE lives.

Can I get a Hallelujah?!

So even though I have legs of lead and my doctor thinks that I have a circulatory problem within my calves that may require surgery, and we have four-year-old triplets and a one-year-old toddler and we both work and we don't sleep nearly as much as we'd like and yada, yada, yada ... we are so PUMPED to be doing exactly what it is that we are doing.

Infact, I am planning to compete in the Ovarian Cancer Research triathlon in October and in November, I am planning to complete the 3-Day Breast Cancer walk. (Provided of course we don't move to Texas in the middle of July.) I'm currently in the process of pulling together a walk team and thus far, I have three people who have said they would walk with me.

Granted, two of them had consumed two cocktails when they accepted the invitation ... but I'm sure they'll be out there with me.

Right, Jessica and Jeanmarie?

And Debbie? I'm expecting you out there, too.

And Lorie. You're not getting out of THIS one.

Do you live in southern California and want to walk with us?

OK then, you're invited.

I don't know how exactly I am going to do it, without giving away the farm, but my lofty goal is to help raise $50,000.00 this year for cancer research. As of today, between Margaret, Charlie and I, we have raised over $6,000.00 (not shown on our fundraising pages are several checks that need to be deposited in to our accounts).

So that leaves $44,000.00.

Have you bid yet on the Melissa & Doug easel?

Did I mention it is one of our children's favorite toys and even I, who tends to prefer activities of the non-messy variety, really loves this thing? Probably even more so than I love our PBK beanbag chairs?!

Speaking of which ... the winner of the personalized beanbag chair is: Maggie Nixon!

Maggie, please send me an e-mail to: TheAmazingTrips (at) gmail.com and let me know what solid color slipcover you would like for your beanbag, and also - the name you would like to have embroidered and which font selection. Here's the link to the PBK website to help you in your selection process. If you could also confirm the mailing address where you would like the bag shipped, that would be great.

For everyone who participated in the beanbag contest, thank you so much.

You helped to raise almost $1,000.00 for cancer research. Even though you didn't win a beanbag, I hope that you get a lot of satisfaction from knowing that you are providing an opportunity for people like Deana to live a longer life.

And hey, there is yet another contest coming up this Friday and it is guaranteed to be the biggest one yet. (Shhh. Don't tell Charlie. He might put a freeze on our bank account.)

Hopefully, once my fellow cancer crusaders have met their minimum fundraising goals, I will stop stuffing my face with cookies and see if perhaps I can get excited about running.

running.

COOKIES!!!

running.

COOKIES!!!

I fear I have a looong way to go.

How are you doing with your goals?