I know it has been FOREVER since I posted here. I have been focusing my writing on my weekly column on Triangle Mom2Mom...this week's post is somewhat dark and thought-provoking.
However, when I saw this list on CNN.com, I could not resist sharing it with whoever is left of my readers:
Items 3 and 4...coincidence?
Di
For my local readers, I want to make sure that you know about the HUGE yard sale this weekend to benefit our NC Grange Youth. Lots of people you know in and around Fuquay are involved in the Grange. Many of our kids go to the one week summer camp in July. Here are the details:
Big Yard Sale in Fuquay
Sponsored by the NC State Grange - Southwest Wake Chapter
Saturday, May 2 starting at 7 a.m.
Location: Dickens Insurance, 402 Wake Chapel Rd., Fuquay-Varina, NC
Big stuff, little stuff, clothing...and all sales will go to helping to send our Grange Youth to Summer Camp. For more information on the Grange and their Youth Programs, click here.
We are still accepting donations of items for the sale, so let me know if you have anything. And please pass this info along to your friends...Patti, I mean you...since you have a good distribution list!
Di
If you've been reading my blog, you probably know about my friend Kim who was diagnosed last fall with Stage 4 Inflammatory Breast Cancer. With the help of great doctors, lots of friends and family and lots of laughter, Kim has kicked cancer's ass! Her chemo brought her from a 15 cm. tumor to not detectable. She still faces a radical masectomy and radiation, but the prognosis is nothing short of miraculous.
Kim is a HUGE Boston Red Sox fan. She grew up in Orange, MA and regularly sports some kind of Boston apparel, whether a hat, a shirt or a necklace that our friend Mary custom made for her. She has applied to MLB to be an honorary bat girl for the Sox on Mother's Day. What she needs is votes...so if you are out there and reading this, please click on the link below, scroll down to Miss Kim and vote early and often. Send it to everyone you know. After what she has been through, this would be the biggest moment for her.
Please pass this on to anyone and everyone you know. Kim's team has been busy helping, supporting and laughing for almost 8 months since she has been diagnosed. We want this SO bad for her, but we can't do it without you!
Thanks!
Di
Let me preface this with my promise to be back with several book reviews. I have decided to stop putting it off, thinking that I need to do a detailed, in-depth review that will take too much time. No one probably reads past the first paragraph anyway!
This week presented me with one of my biggest challenges as a parent. A boy in my son's 7th grade class committed suicide. I struggled with how to react and what to say and shared it here:
The funeral was probably one of the hardest things I have done as a parent. My son asked me why I was crying and there were so many reasons...seeing the parents, seeing the middle school kids unable to fathom what has happened, hearing the strains of two beautiful songs played by a guitarist and thinking about all the missed opportunities that may have awaited Jordan as he grew up.
For that hour, there were no cell phones, no texting, no middle school posturing and no fidgeting. I admired the kids for their behavior, but wished that they could have spent that hour laughing with Jordan in the cafeteria or sitting around a table silently with everyone texting each other or whispering about who likes who. That, along with eye-rolling, is what middle school kids are supposed to do.
In sadness,
Di
***This post is dedicated to Patti who kindly pointed out that she was getting a little tired of the Adirondack chairs post***
I recognize that with my multiple color-coded calendars in iCal, I am a bit geeky. But part of my role here at Neer, Inc. is that of master calendar keeper. Saturday morning I got up and all was fine, despite the fact that I stayed out until 1:15 a.m. the night before! Then I got an e-mail inviting my son to a birthday party. I opened my calendar and this is what greeted me for the coming week:
I like to stay busy, but there is something about having something and sometimes several things every day of the week that freaks me out. And there are a couple things that aren't even on there yet. And of course, I have to work! Oh...and while H is in Mississippi, Jason is going to be in California, so I don't even have my emergency back-up system. Keep in mind that there are all kinds of "givens" that don't appear here like cooking, laundry and playing iPhone Yahtzee. Plus I am really hoping that I can get out and play a little golf so I'm prepared for the weekend tournament.
I know...bitch, bitch, bitch. Ooh...I feel SO sorry for her. She HAS TO go see Legally Blonde and probably have a fabulous sushi dinner beforehand on Tuesday. And she simply MUST golf! And I can take a page from my negative TriangleMom2Mom commenter who pointed out that I shouldn't complain about anything orthodontia-related because at least I am fortunate enough to be able to afford braces for my son.
I never said it was rational!
Guess that 2:15 Monday appointment with Cynthia (the greatest therapist ever) will be focused on my calendar anxiety!
Any suggestions?
Three teenagers. The first sunshine in days. What to do?
Adirondack chairs. Paint. Paintbrushes. Spray paint. Art.
Di
Happy nights and hungover mornings are in store for those who keep Kosher. Yes, Martin Silver of Star Industries has announced that Agave 99 will begin promotions on Cinco de Mayo, but it will be available in time for Passover! I can't wait for the promotions...Mexican songs sung in Yiddish! Somehow I don't think Raleigh, NC will exactly be in their promotion market. I'll have to find it on YouTube.
It's really not so crazy...tequila is fun. Hence, the catchphrase of our Mexican vacation, "Mas Tequila!"
Even my Mom, who isn't Jewish and doesn't drink tequila gave it a sip and learned about the correct process...salt, tequila, lime (try not to make squinchy face...it can give you wrinkles).
With this new product, Mom could be the hit of her Mah Jongg group. (Yes, my non-Jewish Mom plays Mah Jongg in several groups in two states!) All you need to go with the Kosher Tequila is:
How simple. And maybe your next dinner party will look like this:
Apologies to the non-irreverent of my readership. Oh, I forgot, I have no reverent readers.
Di
The other day a new warning light came on in my car. I'm used to the one that tells me I'm low on window wiper fluid. The one saying I'm almost out of gas is the only way it even occurs to me to stop and get gas since I drive so little and it's just not in my routine. The one that tells me that someone hasn't buckled in comes on when I put my purse and briefcase on the front passenger seat...either it's way too sensitive or my stuff is way too heavy.
The other day, this one came on:
Do you think it's telling me it's time for a mammogram?
Di
Embarrass is one of those words that I have to look up every time I use it. The two double-letters just confuse me.
Embarrassing your children is an innate skill that actualizes when your kids become teenagers. It's surprisingly effortless as most parents can tell you. I remember embarrassing my son once when I took out my laptop while waiting in the orthodontist's office.
Do you think my son will be embarrassed by what we posted on the billboard we paid for to sponsor his baseball team?
Go to PhotoFunia. You will have so much fun. Thanks to Karen from verbatim for unknowingly granting me permission to shamelessly steal this idea from her blog.
Di