stickin it to cancer with local flavor
cancer sucks. it’s a nasty beast that plagues too many that we all know and love.
a very precious friend of mine and paul’s made me aware of a gift drive taking place that benefits young adult cancer patients and their families.
upon getting involved in this project, sarah made me aware that…
our drive is from now until 10 December and we are accepting gifts at the UMD Cancer Center, Mother’s Federal Hill Bar and Grill, and the UCF office in Columbia, MD. If people prefer to make a financial donations they can do so in 5$ increments on the website: ulmancancerfund.org under “get involved/gift drive.”
On December 9th we are holding an event to celebrate the gift drive at Mother’s Federal Hill Bar and Grill, and everyone gets food and booze by bringing an unwrapped gift to the door!
I am asking for unwrapped new gifts for anyone between birth and 36 years old. Many of the patients have had far more challenging lives than I can imagine and will benefit greatly from even the smallest donations. I want to get the word out and promote as much as possible because I know a weak economy and Christmas makes gift giving more challenging for everyone. However, keeping this group in mind is important too.
stick it to cancer with me and sarah and help out either in person (if you’re in the maryland area) or please consider making a $5 donation to ulmancancerfund.org
we thank you from the bottom of our hearts.
for those of you who can’t join us, please leave a comment below and share what activities you and your family are participating in this holiday season to give back and put a smile on someone’s face.
refresh, relax, recharge, repeat (remember)
do you ever have a moment when you stop and take a look at what your inbox consists of?
what your conversations consists of? look at who is in your life?
think about it for just a moment.
i’ll wait.
go ahead.
open up your inbox, click refresh, then take a look at what is sitting there.
still here?
thanks.
i had a moment last week when i was on the verge of a panic attack. i haven’t had one in a while, weeks even, but last week i had a few and some piggy-backed right onto the next one.
so i needed to reevaluate.
and i did.
what i saw was a pattern of ugly. of hate. of discouragement. of sadness.
the news. headlines. lives. pain. anger.
my inbox, twitter stream, chat conversations had become so crazy depressing that i became consumed with anxiety over what would come next.
so i would refresh my inbox, check my voicemails, etc…
do you ever do that?
things come and go in waves. when things are quiet, they are DEAFENING. and then a week like last week (and let’s be honest, the week before counts as well) will happen and i don’t feel like i can be heard because IT’S ALL SO LOUD.
i can’t speak over anyone else and i certainly cannot stop anyone else from speaking.
so i waited.
but that doesn’t mean my anxiety waited.
i spent nights wondering about people i have come to care for, thinking of stories i have been told in trust, and attempting to know what would happen next.
i couldn’t relax.
i still can’t.
but i’m trying to.
because there is good in this world.
there’s a lot of bad. we all know that.
but there is so much more good.
and sometimes i need to be reminded of that.
(the above pictures were taken by me this weekend while i was in nyc with the love of my life… recharging.)
you can’t use a hair dryer on shit
let me tell you, there are few things more frightening than hearing your child yell “hellllllp mom daddy. HELLLLP!” over the monitor (or really anywhere for that matter.)
so when that happened last night at 9:30, nearly 2 hours after jackson had been put to bed (notice i say “put to bed” meaning he was not actually asleep during that time because he had taken the nap of a rock star yesterday afternoon), it was met with reaction.
paul offered to go check on jackson, and after a couple of minutes, a diapered-only magoo came running out to me in the living room to say “nahnight again mommy.”
::BLINK BLINK::
either jackson had stripped himself down because he got hot, which happens sometimes, lest you forget this fun story about me doing the exact same thing… or, paul had to change him because he had an accident.
and that’s when paul asked the million dollar question, “do we have a second pair of sheets for his new bed?”
::DEER IN HEADLIGHTS::
::BLINK BLINK::
“no. why on earth would i have bought a second set of sheets?!?!?! THAT MAKES TOO MUCH SENSE!”
::BLINK BLINK::
::LAUGHTER::
“ok well… uh… it’s not that bad. we can put a towel or something down.”
WHAT IS HE, A DOG?!?!
after assessing the situation, it was apparent that jackson’s bed of piss was actually THAT BAD and i began to remove bedding. paul started reading to jackson to keep him somewhat in sleepy-mode but i’m fairly certain that my uncontrollable laughter did not help that situation.
waterproof mattress cover… check.
sheets… check.
second set of sheets incase of accidents… FAIL.
so as i’m undoing his bed of piss and laughing and talking to paul about how long it’ll take to do piss laundry, he offers an idea, “just use a hairdryer.”
::DEER IN HEADLIGHTS::
::BLINK BLINK::
“really? you think that’s ok?”
“yeah, i mean we can wash the sheets tomorrow.” (don’t you love the “we” there? ha!)
so i get the hairdryer, plug the sucker in, listen to jackson say, “mommy’s goina dry the hair” and get to work.
and i’m cracking up the entire time.
because the learning curve never stops. the lessons of parenting never get put on hold. there is something new every single day. and it’s up to us to find ways to make it work.
last night, at 9:30, the hairdryer worked. and yeah, i had a moment of “YOU WANT ME TO DO WHAT?!?!” but that moment was quickly replaced with laughter.
and at least it wasn’t shit.
my bottle’s up for a modern bird GIVEAWAY
GIVEAWAY IS CURRENTLY CLOSED.
CONGRATULATIONS TO #49 which is… @PrincessJenn of Princess Prose and Designs by Princess Jenn.
please don’t forget that modern bird studios is offering my readers a 15% discount towards an original piece. the discount code is MYBOTTLESUP and will expire on november 22nd.
thank you to everyone who participated and of course to modern bird studios for this fantastic giveaway.
**********
holy smokes kids, make sure you’re sitting down… I’M DOIN A GIVEAWAY!
i don’t do anything, ANYTHING unless it pulls at my heartstrings. i need to be emotionally invested in order to sign on and invest myself, ya know? and y’all, this one pulls and tugs and has me entirely in its unrelenting grip. it hurts so good.
i’m a sucker for original art… pieces that are fresh and cool and authentic… work that i can proudly display in my house, walk past it nineteen hundred times a day and be blown away each time i look at it because it is that damn amazing.
photography has become more of a priority to me since the magoo was born. the emphasis on capturing and then celebrating a single moment in time resonates with me deeply.
enter my friends, megan and gregg deal of modern bird studios, who put “Your Life In Art.”
Gregg and his wife Megan know that most modern art available is enormously expensive or mass produced and impersonal. Consequently, they have decided to expand this new style of art to those who have the same appreciation for hip, modern style and who desire to have something more personal to them to enrich their homes.
after recently meeting megan at an event, falling in love, smacking her on the ass and thanking her for showcasing me in a modern bird interview, i said i would LOVE to do a GIVEAWAY for them.
then they took this…
and turned it into this…
and i gave it a home on my favorite bookshelf…
i know… I KNOW!!! so you want one, right?
here are the deets to ENTER THE GIVEAWAY…
to get your sweet hands on a $200 gift certificate towards your own righteous piece, just leave a comment below with what photograph you would use if you won.
for extra entries, leave comments below, letting me know you have done the following…
*followed modern bird studios on the Twitter
*liked them on Facebook
the GIVEAWAY is open to US and Canada and no previous winners are eligible to enter.
also, modern bird studios is so graciously awesome that they are offering my readers a 15% discount towards an original piece. the discount code is MYBOTTLESUP and will expire on november 22nd.
contest ends at 9 am EST, monday, november 15th.
GOOD LUCK!
battle scars (alternately titled: bits of my crazies)
jackson came home from a birthday party with a mini balloon.
that damn thing is taunting me this very moment. looking at me with it’s over-sized voluminous wonder that excites my son so much but SCARES THE BEJEESUSOFALLTHATISHOLY out of me.
my anxiety level rises upon just seeing balloons. and it’s even worse when i see small children around balloons.
a lot of sweating takes place… A LOT.
because of this phobia of mine, i will never ever blow up a balloon to capacity. i will never test how much i can fill a balloon with the precious air in my lungs before it *POPS* because when it does *POP* so will what few shreds left i have of my sanity.
and you don’t want to be around when that happens.
i’m sure there is a whole psychological theory behind this phobia of mine. i could pay an MD $150 an hour to dissect this issue, discover the roots from which it originates, possibly put me under hypnosis and *POP* balloons left and right and then wake me up when said MD is done and write down “cured” in my file.
i’d rather take that $150 and go to nordstroms.
he’s testing me with it. jackson. he’s running around with it, SQUEEZING the balloon, almost as though he knows how much it drives me nuts.
my heart is racing and i have to look away (which means i look through the slits in between my fingers.)
it doesn’t matter if i’m prepared for the balloon *POP* or not. if it happens unexpectedly, i will scream bloody murder and hit the floor. if it happens and i’m ready for it, i’ll still scream bloody fucking murder and hit the floor.
because truth is, i’m not ready for it. ever.
what if it pops and post-explosion the plastic violently slaps against ones hand (or face in the case of jackson who CONTINUES to squeeze it right next to his face)???
WHAT THEN?!?!
i know what.
then, the balloon shrapnel gets you and scars you for life.
and you’re never EVER able to look at a balloon the same way EVER again.
except those mylar balloons, especially the super big ones that are connected and spell out FELIZ CUMPLEAÑOS.
those are pretty.
the rest are of the devil.
and no, in the amount of time it took me to write this post, jackson has not yet popped his balloon and thus he will continue to torture me until the balloon betrays him and goes *POP*
i’m this same way about snakes, but i’ll save that for another session.
Have a Sip
