Happy Halloween!

We started celebrating a little early this year. This picture is from the 5th grade dance I chaperoned on Friday night. It seems to be the only photo I have with me in it out of the 200 I took that night. Thanks to Patria for grabbing my camera and getting it done!

No, no pink wig for me this year. :P It wouldn't fit on my head once I had more than a 1/2 inch or so of hair. It was actually a kids costume wig I found at Target. What's funny is that in my right hand in the photo is a witch's hat trimmed with a purple boa. All us chaperones were going to wear one. I couldn't fit mine on my head thanks to my hair.

I should mention that I actually have gotten a hair cut. I went to someone who only cuts curly hair. He totally thinned it out so no more Afro for me. It's probably a little flatter than usual in the picture because I had tried several times to wear that hat! LOL

And the super observant might notice that Rachel is wearing the Warrior in Pink scarf from last year. It was a gift from one of my chemo angels last fall. I sometimes cannot believe it was only last year.

Miss Rachel is considering wearing a different costume for Trick or Treat tonight. So many other years, she's worn something different to whatever events occurred before Halloween, saving her "real costume" for the actual day. Now, she a big Middle Schooler and there are no costume events on the actual day for them. She's undecided between being a dancer from A Chorus Line or Minnie Mouse. I vote for Minnie Mouse. She looks like a dancer several days a week already! That's not a costume! LOL

Keeping it light

There are so many entries I have composed in my head but I'm keeping it light this morning.

I've been tagged by Andrea

*4 JOBS THAT I'VE HAD
- Character Performer at Great Adventure (also ride operator and costumer!)
- Easter Bunny
- Technical marketing Specialist for HIV and Hepatitis Diagnostic Products (did that one while going to med school)
- ob/gyn

*4 MOVIES THAT I CAN WATCH OVER AND OVER
- Hairspray (the original)
- Hairspray (the new version)
- Dead Again
- The Princess Bride

*4 TV SHOWS THAT I WATCH
- Grey's Anatomy
- Biggest Loser
- Big Love
- The Riches

*4 PLACES I HAVE LIVED
- Manalapan Township, NJ
- Troy, NY
- Long Beach, CA
- Princeton. NJ

*4 FAVORITE FOODS
- Jelly Belly Jelly Beans
- Lobster (probably because it was a forbidden fruit when I was a kid)
- fresh pineapple
- creme brulee

*4 FAVORITE COLORS
- deep red
- sage green
- purple
- pink

*4 PLACES I WOULD LOVE TO BE NOW
- a quiet full service resort on a Carribean island
- Kona Village in Hawaii
- London, England
- I'd like to do a tour of the west and see the Grand Canyon, Yellowstone, Bryce canyons in Utah, etc.

*4 NAMES I LIKE, BUT WOULD NOT NAME MY CHILDREN
- Sarah (already in use in the family)
- Jeremy (OK.. I probably would have used this had I had a boy)
- Michael (already in use)
- Rebecca (this was in the running for Rachel, but did not work with our last name)

I'll have to figure out who to tag later! :o

One more try... Race for the Cure photos!

If the photo above is actually visible, here's the who's who!

Top row- Joi, Lisa, Debbie, Debbie's parents, John and Patria

Bottom row- Katie, Sarah, Me, Rachel, Kendra, Devin with Robert behind him

Sleeping in the stroller- Marco

Race for the Cure

********************Don't know why the photos are not showing up. I think Blogspot was having a bad day when I uploaded them. I noticed there are some other photos that were once present that are missing from some older posts now too. I'll try to re-upload everything later.

Joi, Lisa, Debbie, Debbie's parents, John and Patria (Top row)
Katie, Sarah, Me, Rachel, Kendra, Robert and Devin
Marco (sleeping in the stroller)

I am actually a little taller than the 10 yr old girls in the photo! My knees are bent. Really! I am bending down a little. :P

I thought I had a picture of my sign. Sadly, it was hard to fit in everyone's names. Mine listed ME (of course), my cousin Sally and her mom Rose Claire, my other aunt, Phyllis, plus Stef, Steph, Dana and all my YSC friends.

Here's to Friday!

Tomorrow is my last official day. :) Starting Saturday morning, I go back to my normal world of just working nights and weekends instead of working days, nights and weekends, all 12-24 hr shifts.


Tomorrow is also the day Rachel comes home! My "baby" has been away at The Farm School in MA for the last week, slopping the pigs, feeding the cows and chickens, clearing brush, cooking, cleaning and whatever else needs to be done on a real working farm. This is not the first time she's been away from home (Space Camp in August 2006), but it's the first time she's been away this long without any phone contact at all. We're lucky that the school has posted daily updates, including a few photos. I pulled the last two off the site. :) At least I know she looks good and has taken to wearing her hair in pigtails! LOL. Can you spot her in the second photo? Yes, she has coordinating hot pink boots to match her hot pink headband. Those boots are a whole other story. We'd been shopping for muck boots and finally found a pair at Walmart. Silly me, I didn't know to look for Wellies. Never heard of them before. They sure are cute, but I didn't discover them until I had already bought the so called "ugly black boots for BOYS" (can you hear her saying that? LOL). I told her she was just going to have to live. I even offered to paint them. Then, she wore them to school for a day (teacher's suggestion) and ended up with blisters. Yikes. It was too late to order something on-line, but we learned that Nordstroms carried cuter boots. Sadly, they were not in her size. The clerk did find Croc boots in her size though. He came out and apologized that they only had hot pink in her size. Rachel's response was "YES!" So, she is now the proud owner of the much more comfortable hot pink Croc boots.

And, now my final plug for the NJ Race for the Cure. THANK YOU so much to all that have supported our little team, Breasts are for Babies. We far surpassed our meager goals due to your help! Can't wait to see those of you who will be joining us there too!

What? It's not September anymore?

I was right.

September flew right by. Once again, I feel like I have missed so much, but at least this time around, it wasn't because I was stuck at home with 4 drains, unable to drive or do much of anything for myself!

I have one more week of full-time plus work left. 60 hours to work this week and then life returns to normal. Sort of. Life then jumps into in a catch-up period. I have medical appointments galore for myself and Rachel has several dental/orthodontic related appointments. All things that couldn't fit into the schedule while I was working these crazy hours. I admit I have enjoyed this time, at least while at work. I don't enjoy missing what I've been missing at home though. It will be nice to get back to my normal part-time schedule for a while. At least until I figure out my next step professionally.

One more plug for the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure.

My team page is here .

I think it may be too late to register on line, but you can still help. :)