Race for the Cure

I am apparently Widget-impaired.

I gave up trying to add the little thermometer that marks our team progress to this blog. Instead, I've added the links.

So, here's my plea. Click on one of the links. Donate if you'd like. Or, join our team! You don't even have to be in New Jersey on October 5th. You can chose to Sleep in for the Cure and they'll send you a T-shirt and race bib anyway. But, if you are in New Jersey and would like to join us at Six Flags Great Adventure, please go ahead and join our team.

2 Sisters 2 Young 4 This (our team page)

Melissa (my page)

Packing

It's just not fun.

Was it ever fun?

I can't remember. But packing for experiencing 3 seasons in a period of 10 days, plus exercise gear and formalwear and fitting it all in one suitcase that falls under the new strictly enforced airline weight limits, is just not fun.

I like to be over-prepared so this is becoming quite a challenge. Adding just one more complication is my ever changing body. I pulled out the one formal dress I had planned to take on the cruise. Tried it on before I put it in the suitcase. So glad I did! I had forgotten until Rachel reminded me that this dress was pre-mastectomy. It's from my DD/DDD days. It's probably only 2 sizes too big. Maybe 3. Not good at all. I am a barely a B these days. So, then I move on to the dresses I wore on our last cruise. I use a photo of me in the green version as an avatar on several web sites, and another photo of me in it appeared in a published layout about breast cancer, so you may have seen it. It is definitely post-mastectomy and even post-reconstruction. I loved how it looked last year. Now, it's just OK. I could definitely use a size smaller, but no such thing exists in my wardrobe! Oh well. I've already gone out and bought a fleece for layering/warmth and a waterproof jacket to wear on top of that... and new sneakers. But I've needed new sneakers for a good year.

Can't we just travel with our entire wardrobes? It would be so much easier.



Back to the dressing room.


Oh.. and we start our journey to Alaska on Thursday night, so I will be even quieter than usual for while!

A little scrappiness :)

I've been scrapping again. :)

I am very lucky to receive these wonderful packages from Scribble Scrabble every time they have a new release. :) I am going to be using so much from these new lines. Each one has at least one or two notebook style papers in various colors. I know I'll be using them constantly in Rachel's school album. I suppose it is a good thing I am a few years behind. Now, I have just the right paper.

Aside from the layout I did with the Sweet N Sour line on Scribble Scrabble's blog , I also finished two with the Suzy Snowflake collection and Autumn Afternoon. Not too hard to figure out which is which! These lines come not just with the double sided cardstock weight patterned papers, but with a tear strip which is in a coordinating pattern. Plus, there is a sheet of die cuts, a sheet of borders, and a package of chipboard stickers, some of which are flocked. Flocking is a hip thing in the scrapbook world lately, in case you are wondering. :)

This little peanut is my 2 yo niece. She was pretty impressed that we can actually walk outside and pick apples right off a tree. Too cute. She is my sister's daughter. Which brings me to a little update on my sister- she will start chemotherapy next week. She'll do 8 rounds, 2 weeks apart, then she'll get a bit of a break and will have surgeries, very similar to what I did. I've passed on the last of my hats and my last wig. I was never able to part with that one, for whatever reason. Until now. I also sent little Hannah home with some wigs of her own. I had bought some Disney princess wigs long ago. Rachel got good use out of them and we gave several to friends as birthday gifts. I had two saved all this time, so now they are Hannah's. Hannah is still working hard at growing hair, as you can see. I definitely surpassed her and I suspect her mom will too, eventually!

I am in shock

I just got back my oncology visit.

I had blood work done (no results yet) and got weighed. It's the only office where I get weighed on a semi-regular basis.

I've had a good number people ask me how much weight I've lost recently. On my scale, the numbers don't seem to move. I feel like I never make any progress. I keep losing the same 5 lbs over and over again. I know that my clothes fit better (I've dropped at least one full size and my bra band size has changed) and I know I've lost inches.. 1.5 to 2 inches off pretty much every measurement one can take. But, my scale STILL does not move much.

Well, I have to say I like the scale at the oncology office MUCH better. I like their record keeping even better than the scale.

According to their records, as of today, I am officially ELEVEN pounds lighter than I was this time last year!!

I had set a goal to lose 2 lbs a month and felt like I was getting nowhere with that. Apparently, my goal was a bit too much and 1 lb a month is something I can and DID achieve!!

Doing a little happy dance... and now I am even more motivated to get back to my regular ballet classes. :) It IS working, just in sllllllooooooooowwwwwwwww motion.

So easy a child could do it

Digital scrapbooking.

It's a phrase that strikes fear in the heart of many.

Others jump right in.

I didn't care for it at all in the early days of digi scrapping. The pages looked far too... well.. digital!

I also had no desire to give up that whole manual aspect. I actually enjoy cutting, pasting, and creating.

But, as you know from previous entries, I've been dabbling a little in the world of digi scrapping. At this point, it is just about making these 8x8 photo books through Artscow.com. I still play with paper. You can even see my latest paper creation at http://scribblescrabble-scribblemethis.blogspot.com/ which is Scribble Scrabble's new blog.

So, what about that child?

Rachel had a performance today, two in fact. I, being the dutiful mom, went and took photos. In the middle of one of the performances I though how cool would it be to make Rachel one of those 8x8 books from the performance. So, I went about taking even more photos and actually taking photos of the other kids too. :P

We came home and I sat down to get started. Rachel wanted to do it herself. Didn't want Mom to do it for her. She's a big girl now, you know. Truly. Look at this photo from today's show. She's dancing to Blackbird by the Beatles.

.

So, she sat down beside me and I walked her through the basics of digi scrapping in PSE 5.0. I showed her how to create a canvas, chose background papers, add digi elements and how to change their color if need be, and how to save a file in PSE in different formats. We looked through some digi kits and she chose a free kit from Shabby Princess.com .

Here's her title page

and page 1

Not too shabby, eh? She's almost half way through. That's 15 pages done. Not going to say how long it would take me to do the same with paper scrapping. Not going to think about it. And, I'd like to remind she is 11 yrs old. I've now taught her everything I know how to do regarding digi scrapping. Can't wait to see where she takes it next.