Do-over

Reasons why I need a do-over:

1. I've just not been feeling like blogging lately, as I'm sure you can tell. Things are still going on in my head...just not working their way to the keyboard.
2. The month of October just flew by! Maybe I was just too busy to notice, but where did it go? (Happy Halloween by the way.)
3. We had a wonderful time in Cancun - lots of stories to try to remember! Even more pictures to still look through. I love taking pictures, but sometimes I just get overwhelmed there too.
4. I do remember one little "trip" in Cancun. As I'm walking to the restroom, next to the pool, reading the Watch Your Step; I slip. (Literally AS I was reading it.) I knew it was wet and slippery and was trying to be careful, but it happened. Of course it's the same foot that I broke two years ago...and it still hurts. It's not swollen, we've been watching it, but it still pisses me off.
5. I have pictures of Tami's Celebration of Life to share too. I still just haven't been able to finish that post.

Looking forward to November!

Blog Action Day 2010

Blog Action Day 2010 is an initiative to help spread awareness about the world wide water crisis.

Nearly 1 billion people lack access to clean water.

To put that number in perspective, there are only 307 million people living in the United States and only 6.7 billion people living on the entire planet!

Worse still, nearly 42,000 people die EACH WEEK from unsafe water. Many of these deaths are children under the age of 5 who die from drinking unsafe water or from unhygienic living conditions.

What can you do to help?

Leave animal products off your plate as much as possible. It takes 66 gallons of water to produce 2.2 pounds of wheat and 6,604 gallons of water to produce 2.2 pounds of meat.

Use your iPhone less. iPhone's require half a liter of water to charge. Considering there are over 80 million active iPhone users, that's a lot of water!

Say No to Plastic Bottles: The average American drinks 200 bottles of water each year. It takes over 17 million barrels of oil to manufacture those bottles -- 86% of which will never be recycled.

Shop less: That cotton T-shirt you're wearing took 1,514 liters of water to produce. Jean require an extra 6,813 liters.

Conserve. The average person uses 465 liters of water per day.

My individual water use was higher than the average 1,190.5 gallons per day Americans use...not what I wanted to find out. I do know that we are home all day, so that figures in. We do have the low-flow toilets now, but our faucets and shower heads are not. (Something to look in to!) And I do water our yard & garden. We will be doing some back yard renovations this Spring, so maybe the yard will get smaller.

You can figure out your water footprint & make small changes to use less water.

My problem child

I'm sure you're all aware of the problem child Makena can be. (Just kidding Pook, they all know you're an angel.)

Last year, Makena had her "I {heart} Boobies - Keep a Breast" bracelet taken away from her by a teacher at school. Then another one was taken away and conveniently lost.

Yesterday, Makena was asked to change her jeans.

*************

ME: What for?

MAKENA: I don't know, I guess because of one of the holes in them.

You had to change your jeans because they had a hole in them? They let girls wear words on the ass of their pants and you can't wear yours because of holes?

I guess so.

I'll talk to the school about it.

No Mom. (There may have been an eye roll here.)

***************

I, of course, talked to the school about it. They said that they had never noticed Makena wearing these jeans before, or they would have said something then. (I think Makena actually owned these sames jeans last year. Maybe the hole has just grown with her.)

ME: So there isn't anything wrong with wearing jeans with holes in them, it's just this pair?

HIM: No, that holes are fine. It's just that this hole is large and high on her leg.

Because I see students wearing these kinds of jeans every day. I see girls with words on the butt of their pants and that's okay. I see short shorts and that's okay. But, as long as the hole is not too big or high on her leg, it's okay.

Yes. And students aren't allowed to wear short shorts either.

hmmm...maybe that's just during gym then. So we can patch up that one hole and she can wear the jeans?

Yes. Good idea, then she can do some sewing.

Okay, I'll have her fix them then.

**********************

ME: We'll just get a patch a fix the hole in your jeans. Maybe we can find a big one that says "I {heart} Boobies".

MAKENA: That's funny...I thought about that.

And we laughed.

Then, I think to myself, is that good parenting? I think that may just get us both in trouble at the school.

(But it's funny...)

I'm a Research Volunteer

And I have the tshirt to prove it!


If you haven't heard, I was asked to chair a new position on the Relay For Life of Hillsboro Committee. Hillsboro, along with Beaverton & Portland, were chosen as enrollment sites for CPS-3 (Cancer Prevention Study 3) in our area. I'm very excited about this opportunity and will have more information on the blog about CPS-3 in upcoming months.

Do you see the size of that training manual? Yikes! Luckily, I will be flying to Dallas, TX for a couple of days in November for some actual training. I was told that the manual is mine (all mine) and to feel free to write in it. Oh boy will I.

Yes, I'm still planning to captain 3 teams for our event. Right now we are registered as "Tami's Teams" as I haven't yet decided on a name.

And yes, I'm also continuing to do the website. (Pssstt...it's updated if you want to check it out - www.hillsbororelay.org)

For even more fun, I'm also the Advocacy & Mission Delivery Chairs! I know...I know...it sounds like a lot. BUT, I'm very excited about it! I've done registration and accounting for 5 years now and am so happy to be passing that responsibility along. (SO happy!!!) I asked to do advocacy and mission delivery because I feel that they are both very important, but missing from our event. And they both somewhat tie in together as well as with CPS-3.

So, stay tuned for lots more information regarding the 2011 Relay For Life of Hillsboro!

Why I smiled today

Why I smiled today...

Mine and Makena's TOMS shoes arrived!

I love TOMS One For One program.

Each box also has a TOMS flag to take a picture of yourself with somewhere in the world.

Makena's are plum and mine are saffron. They're both corduroy - love them!

TOMS = happy feet.

One of those days.

You know those days when you just want to pull the covers back over your head and *do* nothing? Well...I'm having one of those days. I was having one when I woke up at 6:45am and am still having one 4.5 hours later. I did get up and *do* things, but not the things that I really need to *do*.

I still haven't found a gift for my cousin's baby shower tomorrow.

My yard needs to be mowed.

The dirty laundry had multiplied in my absence.

We need groceries.

Bills need to be paid and monthly statements need done.

I still have 300+ business cards to scan.

I really should get dressed today and *do* a few of these things, but I really (really) just want to climb back in to bed.

Kind of like Moxie did when Makena was asleep in the hotel yesterday morning.

We'll see how it goes.