RTT: Not really feeling the random

• I’ve only turned my computer on twice in the past five days.  I have 615 unread items in my RSS feed.  I was hoping a good chunk of that was due to a Woot Off, but no such luck.  No worries, those posts aren’t going anywhere.
• I’m spending most of my time speed-crocheting an afghan from this book:

• Please keep this lovely family in your thoughts and prayers.  I’ll say it again: cancer sucks.
• See you when the afghan’s done!

RTT: Star Wars Day, Skating, and Stupid, Sucky Cancer

• May the 4th be with you!  Happy Star Wars day, everyone.  If you don’t celebrate, feel free to skip this bullet point.  I’m not sure I really do much to “celebrate,” either, other than typing “May the 4th be with you!” on various social media sites and my blog.
• Have I mentioned that I’m a bit on the geeky side?  Embrace it, I say.  Besides, It’s much less perilous being geeky when you’re 35 than when you’re in high school.  Anyway, I hadn’t really blossomed into full-blown geekhood back then.  I suppose being in marching band was enough to put that particular nail in my coffin, though.
• So we went to a birthday party at the ice rink on Sunday.  The last time I ice skated (and I use the term loosely), I was 18.  I was thin(ner).  (“Thin” just doesn’t describe my body type at any weight.)  I was in much better shape.  Even then, I couldn’t skate without holding onto my friend, Kelli’s, hand – or the wall.  You can see where this is going.  I’m really, really glad I have an appointment with the chiropractor tomorrow.
• On a related note, I’ve decided to sign up for ice skating lessons.  Seriously.  (You may stop laughing.  Now.)  It’s a good workout…it’s a particularly good workout for someone very overweight and out of shape.  And, dammit, I want to beat this thing.  Falling hurts too much not to learn how to skate around the rink and remain upright.
• Cancer sucks.
• Cancer really, really sucks.  We are getting more and more bad news about what cancer is doing to people we love and people our friends love, and it’s making me angry.  I am still taking donations for the Relay For Life…please click that link if you can help.

Let’s Fight the Good Fight

I am so very, very lucky.

I’m lucky, because I’m the daughter of a cancer survivor.  Mom was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma in December of 1982.

It’s thanks to cancer research and great medical support that I still have my mom.  Without that extensive research, this photo never would have been taken:

Christmas, 1983 ~ Mom had just finished all her treatments

This photo never would have happened, either:

Mother’s Day, 2001

I know I’m lucky, because I have friends who were not so lucky.

Mom and the boys singing songs around the “campfire” in the living room

We need more research, so little girls and boys don’t have to grow up without mommies or daddies, and mommies and daddies don’t have to lose their babies.

Mom and Dad ~ April, 2010

And so more couples can celebrate their 42nd wedding anniversaries – and beyond – together.

Next month, I’m traveling to California to see a friend graduate with her master’s degree and to join her at the Relay For Life.  I’ve set a modest fundraising goal – $100 – but I need your help to get there.  Will you please donate?  Whether it’s $5, $15, $50 or $500, it all makes a difference.  Please click here or on the Relay For Life button to give what you can.  Thanks so much!