Walk On Rockstars!

Today is the day we're going into Chicago to register for the Avon walk. Tomorrow morning it starts. I'm spending the day getting the rest of my donations in order so that I can hand them in tonight. As of now I raised $1,869! I'm grateful for everyone who supported me and this important cause. I'm also trying to pack (I tend to leave stuff behind) and "hydrate".
My friend Beth, wrote an amazing tribute to Rachelle on her blog. Please go over there and read about a truly amazing woman....my reason for walking. If it doesn't make you cry there's something wrong with you.
I'll be MIA this weekend, but when I come back I should have some great pictures of the walk.

The Music Man

Growing up we didn't have a lot of money. When my brother and sister and I were little we would play outside all summer long. There was always a certain time of day that my mother would call us in the house though. The time of day when the "music man" made his rounds. You know the truck that drives through neighborhoods on hot, sunny, summer days playing music for the children to enjoy. That's what my mother told us. Never did she mention that the music man also SOLD ICE CREAM. She would call us into the house so that we wouldn't see the other children getting their Dreamsicles and red/white/blue Popsicles. It took us years to figure that out. How stupid were we.

When we moved into this house last July I discovered that the "music man" came to our neighborhood too. I can not tell you how freakin' excited I was. I got a Fudgesicle. It was heaven. I've already heard them once this year, but I couldn't get my change fast enough. I'm making up for lost time.

Also, my pay it forward prize from The Modern Gal came in the mail today.

Look at all my goodies. The book looks like it will be funny. I also especially love the notebook (I'm a list maker) and pencils. I used to LOVE those pencils when I was a kid. It was revolutionary to have a pencil that didn't need sharpening you just pulled out another insert. Very big with the elementary school crowd. And we've already established that I'm an office supply junkie.

Wordless Wednesday--Sprawly Pete

No, I don't know what he was doing.

Preparations Have Begun...

My Avon Walk is this weekend. I'm starting to freak out a little bit. I'm trying to emotionally and physically prepare myself. 40 miles in 2 days is a lot. I'm determined to finish.

I can do this!

My Boyfriend's Blog

Happy Memorial Day to all! I hope you're enjoying it more than I did working 12 hours.

Just a quick post to let you know about my boyfriend's new MySpace page and blog.
John... honey, I love you, but even MY blog is better than yours.

Here Comes the Bride

My family is a blended one. We call ourselves the "Brady's" because my mother had three kids and married my stepfather who also had three kids. We're all around the same age and all pretty close. Yesterday was my step sister's wedding. I was in a much better mood (despite the water retention and monstrous zits--I found that alcohol helps with that) Here are some pics from the reception. Of course I have to start with the cake. It was yummy.
My parents.

The happy couple. My step sister Jan and her husband Sam. They've been together since the sixth grade. How cute is that!
Ok. Seriously? Is this appropriate wedding attire? She looked like a hooker. We were thinking of getting a collection together to get her for my brother.
This would have been an extremely cute pic of Spiderman and I....but look at where his hand is.
My mother/clone and I.
Me, my sister, brother, step brother and his wife. We might have been drinking a little. I'm not sure.

A fun time was had by all.

I'm Losing My Mind--How Are You?

I feel like I'm going crazy. I woke up this morning with not one, but two really large, really painful zits. One on my forehead and one on my chin. They're not the kind you can just squeeze and go on your merry way either. They're the swollen, hard, painful kind. All day I've felt just like those zits. A building up of pressure that cannot be released. My emotions are all over the place and I've been crying or snapping on and off all day with NO warning.
Since starting Clomid a few months ago I've had very few physical changes, but this month. OH. MY. GOD. I started my period today and I feel like with it came a totally different Sarah.
Crazy Sarah.
I know, it's not like I had that far to go.
It also doesn't help that I have to refill my prescription for the Clomid so that I can start taking it again days 3-7 of my period. Since day three would technically be on Monday for me, I called the pharmacy and my dr's office today....to give them time...because of the holiday. What I got was snippy receptionists telling me that they cannot help me until Tuesday. They have NO idea who is on call for my Dr. (he's not available this weekend) I find it hard to believe that no one else has ever been in this situation before. Shouldn't they be prepared for this? Shouldn't there be some action plan in place for this type of situation? Does nobody EVER start their period on a Friday before a long weekend? Will waiting to take the meds from days 4-8 totally screw me up--more than I already am now? Who knows, but I guess I don't have a choice.
A long hot bath and a half a bottle of champagne (we're out of wine) is totally smoothing out the edges though. And watching the diving horse movie.
Tomorrow is my step sister's wedding where the zits and my big water retaining butt will be photographed repeatedly. I can hardly wait. I'm sure I'll be SO pleasant. I feel a little sorry for Spiderman.

A Near Escape

I had a job interview yesterday. It was for a sales position for a large, national, home oxygen company. I hadn't been on a job interview in 11 years. I actually didn't even interview for the job I have now. I was there as a student for clinicals, worked as a student, and they just kept me on...for almost 9 years. As you can imagine I was more than a little freaked. I borrowed a super cute suit from my mom. ( I wear scrubs every day I don't own a suit) I had my super cute new hair-do (thanks again Amber). By the time I actually went to the interview (after a 12 hour shift at the Chamber) my stomach was all in knots. I must have done well because after we were done the guy told me it was between me and one other person. Of course. I'm awesome.
Unfortunately, I'm going to have to tell him that I'm not interested. It would be a pay cut and I can't afford to take a pay cut. But....it was good experience. I'm sure I'll have to go on another interview in the next 11 years and I want to be ready.

My Addiction

Today I went and had my hair cut. I desperately needed one as my hair was WAY out of control. My hair is naturally very curly, coarse, thick, and well....Big. Very few people have the courage to take my hair on. I want to give a shout out to the very best and bravest hairdresser out there. Amber you ROCK!
Look how smooth and straight she gets my hair. I LOVE it! I'll probably even go a few days without washing it just to keep all this gorgeousness. (my hair is also dry and it takes a few days before it gets oily, I'm not gross or anything)
After my haircut I went to Barnes and Noble to purchase a new copy of The Friday Night Knitting Club for the winner of my contest. So really it's all Poonam's fault that I bought $75 worth of books. Thanks Poonam.
So now I have more books to add to my nightstand. At this point who am I kidding, the books can BE the nightstand. I can't help it I'm addicted to reading. I want to read EVERYTHING! I'm actually afraid of dying before I get to finish everything I want to read. It's like crack to me.

At least it'll be a good summer.

I'm Brilliant!

I just got my grades for this semester.

Intro to Fiction: A
Professional Writing: A

I know you're intimidated by my intellect.

Check Me Out!

How Fabulous is my new blog design? Don't you just LOVE it? I totally do! Beth over at Be Design is responsible for all this awesomeness. She knew exactly what I wanted. (Which is good because I didn't really know what I wanted til I saw it!) My favorite colors are blue and purple. Don't you think she Incorporated them wonderfully? I cannot tell you how happy this makes me. I dreamt about it all night! (ok, so I'm strange)
You know you're jealous. It's okay. Go have them redo your blog now.

Simple Question

How long does it take you to chew a piece of watermelon? I mean the little presliced prepackaged pieces.
Just checking. Because apparently if you're 89 years old and a breathing treatment is waiting on it, it takes 3 minutes.

F'ing Friday

Today really sucked. I go into work at the Chamber of Horrors (I still have that stupid head cold) only to realize that we had a call off. That left 2 therapists to work. For the whole hospital. 60 something treatments and 5 vents per person. Plus...37 week twins waiting to be born. I made it through this hellish day by telling myself it was only 8 hours today. I was going home at 3pm. At 2:45pm I was told that "someone" had to stay over. Now I'm not sure if you're aware of this but "someone" at the Chamber is ALWAYS ME!
When I finally got out of there, I headed home thinking at least tonight is the season finale of another of my favorite shows, Moonlight. I made it home at 8pm just in time.
As I was watching/DVR'ing (I like to DVR some shows so that I can rewatch them later) I saw through the Comcast menu that it was the SERIES finale. Series finale? I quickly hopped onto the CBS website only to find it had been CANCELLED! Mother Fucker!!! Quick as lightning I composed a strongly worded complaint email to the CBS people telling them that I am forever boycotting all CBS shows and the entire CBS network because I don't support stupidity. I told them that it's not like they have all that many great shows on thier "old people" network and for the love of god keep Moonlight and not replace it with yet another CSI spinoff.
Maybe I should just go to bed.

And the Winner IS.....

Ok People. It's the day you've all been waiting for. I'm going to pick the winner of Sarah's Super Pay it Forward Contest. It was fun, and maybe I'll do another contest later this summer.
So anyway...I wrote everyone's name on a piece of paper.
And put them in a bowl.
And had Spiderman draw the winner. (so if you didn't win, blame him!)
And the winner is......

Now Poonam, I know you don't have a blog so you have to pay it forward in real life. I'll get you a copy of the book the next time I have a chance to go to the store as I will be working with you all weekend!

Thanks for playing everyone!

The Tissue Issue

I have been using lots of tissue lately with this horrible head cold. I just wanted take a moment and talk about Soft n'Gentle Facial tissue.

1. It is both Soft and Gentle
2. It is cheaper than the other brands of tissue.
3. It comes in all these cute, funky, designs which I Love.
Next time you have a cold, I highly recommend them.

A Happy Place

This is what Kitty Heaven looks like.
All Tim needs in this life is a box and he's happy. A haven away from his annoying little brother. A Happy Place.
I wish I had something like that. I say all the time that Target is my Happy Place, but it's not someplace that is financially smart to go every day. Plus, there are other people....and lines. I wish I had someplace quiet to go when I'm feeling melancholy or just want a haven...like a treehouse in the back yard. My very own box. I already feel this way and I know the feeling will only increase as our soon(hopefully) to be conceived children start arriving. I'm left alone in my house a lot, but it's not the same. In the house there is always something to be done. Cleaning, laundry, paying bills, decorating. I want someplace where I can shut the door on everything I SHOULD be doing.
When I was growing up, all my little friends were boys. Actually, this continued all through high school and still today I relate better to men. I don't know why because I'm VERY girly. Maybe it's because I have a brother. Anyway...my mother was always encouraging me to stop playing Superfriends and Legos with my boy friends and go play with the little girls in the neighborhood.
There was one little girl in particular that my mother was always encouraging me to play with. She was my age, had two brothers, and kind of bratty. I honestly didn't really like her, but she had a tree house. With curtains. And walkie talkies that looked like real phones. A haven! I would take all my little girl junk and continuing story books (remember those?) and spend hours in her tree house.
I wonder if Spiderman would build me a tree house?

Sorry about the rambling post. But I DO want to remind you all that you have until tomorrow when I get off work to enter Sarah's Super Pay it Forward Contest. I'll announce the winners then!

Headache Relief in a handy Bottle!

I woke up this morning with a sore throat, stuffed up head, and runny nose. I was NOT a happy camper, but as the day wore on I decided to roll with it. I am totally using it as an excuse to sit on the couch and watch Pillow Talk, The Lake House and Charmed reruns.

And for all you fellow migraine sufferers I wanted to share a new product with you. It doesn't prevent them, or get rid of them entirely, but it does provide some relief. It's the Bath and Body Works Aromatherapy Headache Relief.

It contains Peppermint and Geranium oil and you just roll it on where it hurts. I usually roll it on my temples and the back of my neck and soon the headache seems to lessen. I should buy stock in this!

The Prize

I finally decided what the prize will be in Sarah's Super Pay it Forward Contest. Today I finished one of the books that has been sitting on my nightstand for a while. It was REALLY good.

I enjoyed it so much that I will give one of you readers a nice shiny new copy of your very own. I must warn you, read it with some kleenex.

Fundraising

This past weeks my team for the Avon Walk has had a few fundraisers. On Thursday we had one at Beef O'Brady's where 10% of the night's proceeds went to the Rock Star Fans.
Last night we had one at my sister-in-law's house.
We had prizes that were raffled off.
And games to be played.
And Princesses.
Many people were there to support our team. With the two fundraisers we were able to raise over $700 for our team and Breast Cancer Research. GO ROCK STARS!
I even won a prize in the raffle....two tickets to a NASCAR race at the Chicagoland Speedway in July.
Overall, a successful night.

I won a Contest and You can Too!

I can't believe I actually won something. I never win anything, but two days ago I won a Pay it Forward drawing on her fabulous blog. So now I am Paying it Forward with a contest of my own. I will send a care package to the winner. I haven't quite decided what will be in the care package yet, but It will contain some of my favorite things!
Here's how it works:
You have to leave a comment on this post, and a week from today I will write all the names down and draw the winner from a hat. Got it?
If this contest thing works out really well, It may become a thing I do every so often.

( Chances are looking good for you mom, as you are one of the few who comment regularly!)

Wordless Wednesday

The Softer Side of Sears

I love my Kitchen Aid Standing Mixer. It makes baking So much easier. It's hard to believe I almost wasn't able to get it.
I had been wanting a mixer since I first moved out on my own, but have you seen the prices on some of those mixers? I just couldn't justify that....especially living on my own for the first time and figuring how to juggle bills with "fun stuff". My grandmother is a great baker and she had a standing mixer. When I would go sleep over at her house she would always pull that mixer out and we'd make homemade chocolate cake or the "best" sugar cookies that I could eat all myself.
I used to go to Bed Bath and Beyond and just admire the Kitchen Aid's in the rainbow of colors. I totally coveted one.
So when Spiderman and I became engaged I thought "Perfect, we'll register for one!" Along with the tons of other kitchen goodies we did. (Spiderman loves to cook too and Bed Bath and Beyond is our mecca for gadgets)
The shower came and went, with no mixer. We had registered for a Hoover Wind Tunnel vacuum (Spiderman has asthma and we have cats...I vacuum almost every day). We got the Hoover, but we also got a Kenmore canister vacuum from his Aunt in Indy. Did we really need two vacuums? No. Unfortunately, his Aunt didn't provide us with a receipt. But I figured Kenmore product....Sears. It's a Sears brand. Chances are VERY good it was purchased at Sears. They also have fabulous red Kitchen Aid Mixers....you following me?
So I send Spiderman to Sears one Saturday while I was at work. They told him no receipt no return. He didn't even ask to see a manager. Men. The next day the both of us went. While Spiderman was waiting in line I was perusing the vacuum aisles until I found it. The exact same vacuum. Same style, same color, same everything. When our turn came I asked for a manager. It took 25 minutes for the manager to come out to tell me that "no receipt, no return". I told her I didn't want a return, I wanted an exchange. The mixer was actually more money and we'd pay the difference. I showed her that they had these vacuums; I even pushed the vacuum next to their display. I told her that we were NOT leaving with the vacuum so they'd better let us exchange it. I wasn't rude about this...I was just firm with my intentions. I wasn't leaving without my mixer.
After about an hour a mortified Spiderman and I left with my shiny new mixer...sans vacuum....and I have been boycotting Sears ever since.
Softer side, my ass!

Happy Cinco de Mayo!

I enjoy cooking. I'm pretty good at it, but man let me tell you...I. Can. Bake. I think I enjoy it so much because I get to eat all the sweets when I'm done. I'm always looking for new recipes to try. Tonight I'm going to a Cinco de Mayo party at Spiderman's co-workers house. I decided to bake a cheesecake and use a new recipe that I found in my Taste of Home magazine. It turned out pretty well and I thought I'd share it with you all.
Layered Mocha Cheesecake
Crust:
1 1/2 cups Oreo cookie crumbs
1/4 cup butter,melted

Filling:
2 tablespoons plus 1 1/2 teaspoons instant coffee granules
1 tablespoon boiling water
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
4 packages cream cheese, softened
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
4 eggs,lightly beaten
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips, melted and cooled

Combine cookie crumbs and butter. Press onto the bottom of a greased 9-in. springform pan. It's important to test the quality of your ingredients. I sampled the Oreos. They were acceptable.

In a small bowl, combine the coffee granules, water and cinnamon; set aside.
In a large mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese, sugar and flour until smooth. I find it easier to use my Kitchen Aid mixer for this job. Remind me to tell you all the story how I got (or almost didn't get) my mixer later. Add eggs; beat on low speed just until combined. Stir in vanilla. Divide batter in half.
Stir melted chocolate into one portion; pour over crust.
Stir coffee mixture into the remaining batter; spoon over chocolate layer. Place on a pan on a double thickness of heavy-duty foil. Securely wrap foil around pan. Place in a large baking pan; add 1 in. of hot water to larger pan. Bake at 325 degrees for 45-50 minutes or until center is just set and top appears dull. Remove springform pan from water bath. Cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Carefully run a knife around the edge of pan to loosen; cool 1 hour longer. Refrigerate overnight.

When finished, it looks like this. You can also add a layer of melted chocolate to the top before serving if you like. It is SUPER yummy!

Iron Man

This post is going to be short. I just came off 2 back to back 12 hour shifts with a terrible migraine. I mean terrible like I thought someone had replaced all my lights with strobe lights this morning ,they were pulsing so much.
Anyway...I wanted to tell you about my Cinimark movie experience...I know you all are waiting anxiously for it. Spiderman and I went out to dinner at Red Robin...yum and then to the movie. The theatre was nice and the movie was GREAT. When I first heard that Robert Downey Jr. was going to be Tony Stark I was like, Seriously? I mean, I Love Robert and all and he's a Fantastic actor....but...a superhero? Seriously?
He did a really great job. I was pleasantly surprised. Tony Stark is supposed to be a mechanical genius. He did such a good job that not only did I believe that he was this genius Tony, but also that maybe Robert is actually a genius as well. That is good acting. The movie itself won't win any Oscars, but it was a good time and had a nice sarcastic wit to it. I just might see it again. Or at least watch it several hundred times when it comes on my movie channels.
I didn't even mind (that much) when the movie was stopped about an hour into it because there was a TORNADO warning. Warning....that means they saw one touch down...and I'm a freak about tornadoes.

Popcorn and Junior Mints

One of my favorite things to do is go to the movies. I especially love going by myself. I usually go during the day, on a weekday. Usually I'm one of only a few people in the theatre. It's like a private showing. I love it!

This past fall, I went to the theatre on an afternoon like this. I think I was seeing "Penelope". Anyway....I sat in the middle seat in the middle row of the theatre. You know which row. The first one after the aisle...the one that separates the lower part from the raised balcony. It's perfect. You don't have to see over anyone's head, and you can put your feet up on the railing...if no one's looking. I had my Junior Mints (perfect movie food) and a nice carbonated beverage and was ready to watch the previews. (I get so caught up in the previews I often forget what I'm there to watch.) This little old lady walks into the theatre and guess where she sits? Yep. Right. Next. To. Me. I turned to her..."seriously? we're gonna have to fight for an armrest in an otherwise empty theatre?" Needless to say I moved over one seat.

So why am I sharing this with you? Because for a little over 2 years my cute little town has been without movie theatre. They tore the old one down and started to build a new Cineplex. For 2 years I've had to drive 20-30 minutes in either direction to see my movies. It's sad. I'm deprived. But no more.

Today the new Cinemark theatre opens and I'm going to christen it! I think we're going to see Iron Man. I can hardly wait!