Love You Through It

To all my friends and family who were there to love me through the most challenging time in my life…  Especially to you, Mom & Dad… Thank you.

I’m Gonna Love You Through It–Martina McBride

Lucky Me

Lucky me!  I received a blogging award!  Now I really can say I don’t think this award is deserved as of late because… well because I haven’t been blogging… but I would like to send out a big Thank You to Jen over at Blenifer Uncorked for the award! She won the award and passed it along to 15 of her favorite blogs and as the rules of the award go…

The rules for accepting The Versatile Blogger award are:
1. Thank the person who gave the award and link back to them in your post.
2. Share 7 things about yourself.
3. Pass this award along to 15 recently discovered/favorite blogs.

Here are your 7 fabulous Friday facts about yours truly…

1. I have been a very bad blogger as of late because of 3 reasons… the first being the NEW job!  I fly in or out every Wednesday and between flights I work 80 hours and go back to the terribly slow hotel internet and then have a glorious 6 days off between to fit in time for the other 2 things…

2. One of which is training for the Tampa 3-Day!  I am so far behind on training because of travel it’s futile at this point to try and make up all the miles BUT I will train all I can in the next 10 weeks and have a smile on my face through every blister because kicking cancer’s a$$ is so worth it! (fun little factoid of the day… the first 4 3-Day events in 2011 have raised over $15 Million towards finding a cure and there are still 10 events to go!)

3. Which leads me to the other fabulous thing that has been taking up my blogging time… a certain Southern Gentleman.  He’s sweet, caring, thoughtful, supportive, generous… and most importantly… he makes me happy. :) (yup, just went public with that one)

4. I am getting very close to having to purchase peanut butter and laundry detergent for the very fist time in my life.  Yes you read that right… I am used to a fully stocked shelf at the “Grandpa Store” that is open anytime I need to replenish my emotional or peanut butter needs!  Love you and miss you Grandpa!  I need to plan a trip home soon!

5. I have 2 “kiddens” named Gilbert Sullivan (aka:Goose the Moose, Gilly Goo) and Moses Jean (aka: Chloe, Mokes) 

6. I was raised in The Mitten but am now a transplant living down in the Appalachian mountains of The Volunteer State!

7. I am a cancer survivor of a little over 2 years now.  I’m doing everything I can to fight back and am just waiting for the magical 5 year mark where I can say I am 100% cancer free and cured!

So there you have it – my 7 fabulous facts!  And here are some of my favo

rite bloggers for you to check out…

Coconutter Strutters	Dr. Grumpy	Dream Big. Stamp Often
DUTCHbeingME	Filling Our Bucket	Following Him
iHeartOrganizing	Hines-Sight Blog	In This Wonderful Life
Meanderings of a 3-Day Mom	My Big Girl Pants	Not Quite Legally Blonde
On Joyful Wings	Starving, Insatiable	Soaring on Wings

I Surrender!

Nothing like getting a piece of mail that makes you feel like a criminal within the first sentence.  I recently received a letter from the city clerk’s office in my former place of residence and the very first sentence was this:

“We have been notified by the Secretary of State that you may have surrendered your Michigan drivers license...”

Is anyone else a little put off by the use of surrendered there?  I read that and at first I thought I was in major trouble and started racking my brain trying to figure out what I might have done wrong!  Then I read it again and realized they were just referring to me handing over my MI license when I got my new TN license and were wanting to confirm that I wanted my voting privileges revoked. 

Thank you state of Michigan for temporarily freaking me out!

Real American Idol

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Happy {Early} Valentine’s Day

I had a surprise waiting for me when I got home tonight…

Happy Valentine’s Day from my mom & dad! 

World Cancer Day

Every year 12 million people receive a cancer diagnosis.  Of those, 7.6 million will die of their disease. 

I am one of 12 million who heard those words in 2009.    It’s amazing how isolated you feel when you hear those words yet there are 12 million others that have heard the same thing within that year. 

Reading the statistics above, I feel extra lucky today that I am a survivor.  Did you do the math?  Those numbers mean that over 60% who have cancer die of cancer. But it is estimated that 30-40% of those deaths could be prevented and as many as one third could be cured through early diagnosis and treatment.

It’s time for us to fight this global epidemic. Click on the logo above and sign the declaration urging our global leaders to come to action.

A cancer patient will thank you.  I thank you.

A Day of Thanksgiving

As I was getting ready this morning, I overheard a news piece about the busiest travel day of the year.  And then it struck me that this time next year, I will be one of those doing the travelling. I may be heading home by plane, I may be heading home by car but it will be a lot longer than the 20 minute drive I have tomorrow.  It will be such a different experience.

With the weather calling for rain, sleet, & snow in the next few days I find that I am thankful that I will be so close.  I am also thankful that I have a family that makes getting together a priority.  I am thankful that we will have plenty of food to eat.  We will be cooking 55lbs of turkey, 20lbs of potatoes, 5lbs of stuffing and a whole lot of other yummy stuff!  And I am thankful we can get together in a warm home and that I will be seeing 27 of the people I love most.

I have a lot to be thankful for this year, but I want to know…

What are you thankful for?

To Mom & Dad

I know I've said “thank you” countless times over the past months… It just never feels like enough.

How can I begin thank you for being there for me through everything?

I know at times all of this was just as hard for you to take in as it was for me. I know I have given you information overload with all my research and been frustrated when I couldn’t explain all I had read.

You were there to visit when others weren’t. There to go with me to support groups and Dr appointments, there to listen even I didn’t know what to say, there to listen to and calm my fears, there to remember the things I forgot.

You did my laundry, got my groceries, cleaned my house, dropped off my mail, took out the trash, cleaned up after the “kids”… called the doctors back, relayed information when I couldn’t, recognized when I was past my limits before I totally crashed, and risked radiation exposure to drive me to and from treatment.

You were with me when I laughed, cried, worried…

So “Thank You” mom and dad… I don’t think I will ever be able to adequately express how very much you both mean to me.