Summer is FLYING!

Wow. This summer has just been flying. I can not believe for the life of me that tomorrow is July 1st. That is just out of control. We've had jam packed weekends full of fun family stuff, or being busy around the house.

Dave has been busting his butt like you wouldn't believe. In the last few weeks, he sanded and re-stained the bay window sitting area. He of course put the shiny finish stuff on it too. Then put up a new front door, a new storm door to go with the front door, painted the door, put up new blinds for the front door, and yesterday he painted the nursery. In addition to what he has already painted, he will be painting our bedroom, the hallways and the dining room (I think) in the next couple of weeks.

Before painting the nursery, we had to clear that spare room out. Let me tell you, that was not an easy task! Before we could move the furniture OUT, he had to help his parents shuffle furniture around so they could accommodate our spare set. This was not an easy feat. This also required us to empty the drawers. Let me just tell you, I have a ZILLION clothes. I seriously don't know where they come from because I don't feel like I've bought that many clothes in the last few years. I'm constantly giving them to my nieces or the Salvation Army. Last year when I was pregnant, I gave an abundance to Tasha...But they multiply! Now, Dave and I are sharing a single bedroom set in our bedroom. Plus, I have a closet & drawers upstairs, and a closet in the basement. Poor Dave. Of course, these are all "skinny" clothes. You know the ones, the size 4's I might not be seeing for a while. UGH.

In addition to that we had a garage sale that we did pretty well at! But, that took a lot of time to set-up/tear down. However, I think it was WELL worth it! I'm hoping someone else we know (hint hint) has one...so we can put our stuff in with theirs. I did drop a lot off at the Salvation Army...just so it didn't make it's way back into my house. But, we still have a few items that are priced and ready to go.

We registered for the baby stuff. Ordered the baby bedding. My dad has brought over two of our four bedroom pieces. I've cleaned those up, although Lori has warned me, the best is still yet to come....THE CRUSTY CRIB. And by CRUSTY...it means I'll have to whip out a toothbrush and clean the spindles really well. The bedroom set is AWESOME. And once the room is done, I'll post some pictures.

So there you have it. Our boring YET busy life right now. I'm not thinking it's going to slow down anytime soon. We have this list that doesn't seem to end. We're enjoying it all though. OK, at least I am. Dave's doing all of the hard labor, I'm just a cheerleader :)

George Carlin

I was so bummed to wake up this morning and find out that George Carlin had passed away. I saw him perform live in Las Vegas at the MGM Grand in 2001. He was SO freakin' funny. Definitely a bit outrageous, but absolutely hilarious. He was prepping for one of his HBO Comedy Shows, and he literally practiced his jokes on the audience. If he didn't think we laughed loud enough, or he didn't like the way it flowed, he would read the joke again, but change it up a bit.

A really funny and talented guy. A bit crude, but definitely funny.

When I was reading some of the stories online today, I found one that captured a comment he made about the Janet Jackson Super Bowl debacle a few years ago...

Asked about Janet Jackson's "wardrobe malfunction" at the 2004 Super Bowl halftime show, he told the Associated Press, "What are we, surprised?

"On that Super Bowl broadcast of Janet Jackson's, there was also a commercial about a 4-hour erection. A lot of people were saying about Janet Jackson, 'How do I explain to my kids? We're a little family, we watched it together ...' And, well, what did you say about the other thing?"

Just a funny guy pointing out some obvious things.

Book Review

Well, it's summer, and a lot of people find time to read in the summer...so I thought I would share a book suggestion.



A few weeks ago, I finished a book that is currently on our Book Club list. It wasn't the current book, but I thought I would read ahead. Any how, the book is called, "Pretty is What Changes" by Jessica Queller.



I have to be honest, I could not put this book down. It was fabulous. Interesting, educational, and thought provoking. An all around excellent discussion piece. I did not feel overwhelmed by medical jargon, and it never made me cry. It's a very touching book.







Here is a short description of the book:

TV writer Queller (The Gilmore Girls) was 31, single and healthy when her mother succumbed to ovarian cancer at the age of 58, having battled breast cancer six years earlier. Queller chronicles her mother's long and anguished struggle in vivid detail. After her mother's death, at the suggestion of an acquaintance, Queller opted to discover whether she carries the breast cancer gene; indeed, she tested positive for the BRCA-1 gene mutation, which gave her an 87% chance of breast cancer before age 50 and a 44% chance of ovarian cancer in her lifetime. With this knowledge in hand, Queller began the journey toward her pivotal choice: a prophylactic double mastectomy at age 35. Along the way she traveled between the West Coast and New York City, seeking medical opinions, information and unsuccessfully—but not for lack of trying—a man she can love who will father her children before she follows up with voluntary surgery to remove her ovaries. This Hollywood writer's story is seamless and gripping; readers will be rooting for Queller and her heroic decision to confront her genetic destiny. (Apr.)

I am a need to know person. At least I say that now. One will never know what they would do, or what they are capable of, until they are actually faced with those decisions.

I took a personal interest in this book for many reasons. I would love for every female family member, friend, and colleague I know to read this book. To gain some knowledge, share the information with another friend, and just be aware.

If you do read it, let me know. I'd love to have someone else I know read so I can chat about it with someone. Dave can only fain interest for so long :)

Busy

I haven't posted in a WHILE. I was in California for a week for work. That was fun, but the weather wasn't so fabulous.

Mostly, I've been working on some chores at home.

My biggest task has been to sort through the two GIANT buckets of pictures I have in my attic. The kind of bucket that over time has become so full of miscellaneous pictures. The first bucket was brought down on Tuesday by Dave. I spent a few hours Tuesday night starting to sort them into multiple shoe boxes (Family, Middle School, High School, College, Friends, Dave and I). That took me Tuesday & Thursday night. Today I sorted through family pictures. Separating the duplicates into piles for the Sherman's, Jolliffe's, my parents, and me. I have a lot of pictures. The sorting took almost three hours!!!!

Fortunately, since the era of digital pictures...I have less duplicates, and less pictures for that matter. All of my digitals are stored on discs. I give copies of the years pictures to our families for Christmas, and put a copy in our safety deposit box.

I'm not looking forward to sorting through the rest though. Even though they're already organized into boxes, it's tough to decide which pictures to keep and which to pitch. I guess it's easy when you don't remember the names of the people in the picture. This helped me immediately throw out a bunch from my College Business Fraternity. I guess that says how active I was.

Well, the goal is to thin my two BIG boxes into one. If I can accomplish that, that will be amazing. My life goal would be to just scan them all onto discs and throw the rest out. But first I need a scanner, and endless hours.

This weekend we also cleaned out the dressers in the spare bedroom that will soon become our nursery. This requires Dave and I to share a bedroom set in our main room, and then move "extra" clothes upstairs.

Do you have any idea how many clothes I have? I swear, I pack up bags for nieces and goodwill ALL THE TIME. I don't know where they came from. I can honestly say that over the last few years, indulging in shopping for new clothes is just not something I do anymore. Especially in the last year when I was pregnant, then not, then pregnant again. I haven't wanted to invest too much in new clothes, because of all the changes, and pending changes to my body. Make sense? I thought so.

So, that's what I've been up to. Dave and I have lists of stuff to do coming out of our ears. While it's fun stuff, and needs to get done, sometimes it can get kind of boring...and I wish I could snap my fingers and voila...done!

Have a great week! And maybe by my next post, I'll have finished my pictures! Or at least made a lot of progress....

More Music

In 2003, Dave went to L.A for a Cisco Conference. While there, they attended a show performed by a co-workers friends daughter (Did you get that?). Her name is Marie Digby. A few weekends ago, Dave and I were coming home from running an errand, and he heard her on the radio. Almost five years later, this girl is getting some much deserved air time.

Her voice is gorgeous! And so is she. Too cute for her own good. Anyhow, she posts a lot of her music on YouTube, and recently was added to iTunes.

Take a listen, you'll be really impressed!Here's some of the songs she has covered, but if you look her up on YouTube, you'll see she has a bunch of originals too.

Rihanna - Umbrella (Acoustic)






Britney Spears - Gimme More (Marie Digby Acoustic)





Marie Digby - Stupid For You (Original Song)

Song.

I bounced over to my friend Karen's blog tonight, and she had the link to a video that I think I've put on here before...maybe.

This song and video will knock the wind out of you and probably bring you to tears. But it is absolutely gorgeous. Maybe because this week is tough. Maybe because I'm starting to get nervous for our ultrasound on Thursday. Whatever it is, this song just took my breath away tonight.

The song is called "I would die for that" by Kellie Coffey.

Here is a link to Kellie Coffey's story

Karen is a private person, but she shared in her post related to this video about some of their fertility struggles. All I can say is that life is not fair. Please keep her in your thoughts. I know that extra prayers never hurt anyone. Karen's original due date was July 17, 2007. That is the same day that Angela was born. An unfortunate, but special tie in our friendship.

More OI Info

Lori called tonight to tell me about an article that she saw on her CNN local section, that happened to be on Cleveland.com. The article was about a family from Bay Village (where I'm from) that battled OI. Unfortunately, they have a genetic history.

Here is the link: http://blog.cleveland.com/health/2008/04/family_adjusts_to_life_with_ra.html

I just can't believe how much OI has been on my mind lately, and then to be made aware of all of this new information/articles is crazy.

He has a blog (he needs to update) and a foundation called "Special Bones Foundation". I've added both links to my blog and website favorites. I let him know that I would be interested in helping him with any events he helps put together. Something close to home that I can actually contribute to. The oif.org site has events too, but they're never local.

Read his story, it's very interesting, unfortunate, but insightful.

Who knew my blog could be so educational!?