Champs

Here we are this past Sunday afternoon at my home doing what we do best. Knitting! These are the gals that make up our Champs group. Champs stands for "Chicks having a movie and potluck". The "s" is because there are more than one of us. Lynn, the gal on the right in blue jeans and white Tshirt, is the one that came up with our name. We try to get together at one of our homes once a month. We eat a little (okay so maybe a lot), watch a chick flick and knit till we drop. It usually starts at noon and goes until 5 or so. We also meet twice a month on a Sunday for a couple of hours at our favorite knitting store "Knit Wits". We started out as 5 and now we are 8. These are a great bunch of gals and I enjoy getting together with them. Anne, the one in the rocking chair is one of our newest additions. Sunday was her first day of learning to knit. There are a couple other gals that were there too, but I can't seem to get their pictures to go where I want them. Alas, I guess I will have to put them in another post.

She Does Exist!

Hurrah! I heard from my secret pal! I actually got a three page, count it three page, letter from her on Saturday! She lives in Cleveland and is a transplant from San Francisco. She asked a lot of good questions, which I immediately sent the answers to via e-mail. She really sounds fun and I think this will be a great experience. I wonder what she will do next? Hmmm......

Relay for Life Cancer Walk

What an experience I had this past weekend. I stayed for the full 24 hours of the relay and walked approximately 24 miles total. This is the first year that I have actively participated in this worthy event and count myself abundantly blessed for doing so. The little girl on the left center picture is Jasmine. She is one of the beautiful people I met at the relay. She is 10 years old and a cancer survivor. She was diagnosed with cancer at the age of 3 years and has had 3 stem cell procedures. She is a survivor and a beautiful young lady. She charmed our whole relay team and adopted us for the weekend.

The picture on the left is our whole team. We all did our part from obtaining donations, taking turns walking laps, running errands, selling raffle tickets, etc. What a great bunch of gals I jazzercise with. Again, I was abundantly blessed.

The picture on the right is the booth that we set up for the relay. We sold tickets for numerous baskets of goodies and a lapsteel guitar. We brought in over $800.00 just for our raffle sales (all going to cancer research). Our total sum that our team was able to raise through donations and raffle sales was a little over $6,300.00. We were not the top team in donations, but we did receive a certificate for the "Best Rookie Team".

The one lap that I will forever be touched by was the 9-10pm luminaria lap. A bag pipe player, fully dressed in kilt and all led us slowly on the first lap playing Amazing Grace. I tried to get a good picture, but it was too dark and it is hard to make out. Please just close your eyes and try to visualize it hearing Amazing Grace in your head. We all cried and were touched deeply. I am actually tearing up right now as I remember the moment.

My mom had breast cancer and went through a double massectomy. She also had two sisters that had the same type breast cancer. My mother was a survivor and so are my aunts. My mother did pass away 5 years ago due to her heart, but not due to the cancer. Cancer research is something that I passionately support. I will always have a link to the site if you want or need more information about cancer research and the Relay for Life. Our team is already set to sign up for next year's walk. It is scheduled to be the weekend of June 9th and 10th. I would not miss it for the world.

We were told at the closing ceremonies on Sunday that the total amount that was donated from our area Relay for Life event was a little over $330,000.00. Well above the goal that was set for our area. They said that donations can still be sent in until mid August, then it will close and the next year's event will start taking donations the end of September.

I encourage all of you to participate in this worthy charity. In whatever capacity you are able. If you can even just go to observe the Relay for Life, I would recommend it. You don't have to be a participant to attend. If you can only go for a short time, then I would suggest that you either go for the very first lap (only survivors can walk that lap) or go for the luminaria lap. Your life will be touched in a way that you would never imagine.

I hope that I have shared my experience enough for you to visualize it for yourself. It was my honor to do so.

What a day!

I just got home from a day that could have been worse, but was bad enough in itself. I am a little disappointed with my bosses, but I guess Iwill get over it. They came out at 4:30 and said I could go home 1/2 hour early today. Yipee! That was one of my issues that I brought to their attention thismorning that they shot down. Oh well, guess they were feeling a little guilty after all. Enough of that, on to bigger and better things

Tomorrow is the Cancer Relay for Life that I am participating in. My goal was to raise $400.00 towards it and at last look see, I have raised $435.00. Thanks to all my friends and family that sponsored me in this charity. As most of you probably know, my mom and two of her sisters had breast cancer. This is my pet charity that I do support heavily. I have alway financially supported the Cancer Society, but have never participated in the relay before. I joined the team that my jazzercise class put together and I plan on being there for the full 24 hours. I am signed up to walk the track from 8pm to 9 pm Saturday night. It is the patriotic lap (apparently they have named each hour) so I will be wearing my American Flag T-shirt and blue shorts. I can't express how much I am looking forward to being a participant.

On another topic, I talked to my oldest son last night (the one that just got married in December and recently moved with his family to Idaho). They have found a house and he started his new job Thursday. I told him that he needed to call me once a week to keep in touch, and he was shocked. He kept saying "once a week?" Of course I was a wonderful mom and made him feel guilty and insisted that it was the responsible and loving thing to do. I will let you know how well he does at it. Of my two sons, he is the worst at keeping in touch. So, I figure that I will be the one making the contact on most occassions. But that is okay, I am the mom and I am the one that wants to make sure the relationship flourishes. Gosh do I miss my little granddaughter, Kaylee. They will be coming back in August for a visit and baby shower (for the new baby that is due in October) . I am looking forward to their visit.

Last piece of news is that I got a call from my oldest sister who informed me that my niece, her youngest daughter, just got engaged on Tuesday. Her fiance gave her a two carat diamond platnum ring. My sister said it is gorgeous and Sarah (my niece) is floating on clouds and all giddy. If you knew my niece, you would know how different that is for her. She is a very focused, career oriented, no nonsense gal (Police Officer in Southern California). So congrats to her, Auntie is very happy for you.

I guess that is the end of my updates and news. I am still trying to get a good picture of my fat cat "cuddles" to post. But she isn't cooperating.

What you lookin at?

I went looking for a picture of my fat cat to post as I wanted to share who she is, and instead I found pictures of my son and his girlfriend's cat Nikko. The three of them lived with me for about one month (May) while they were waiting for their house to be finished. Anyway, I came across these pictures and thought they were so cute and wanted to share them with everyone. The picture on the left is at their old house and the picture on the right is at my house. Animals can be so entertaining. Wonder what they think about us. I will have to go take a new picture of my cat Cuddles and post it a little later so she can have her 15 minutes of fame too. I never left any of my knitting out while Nikko lived with me. I am sure you can figure out why. He is one curious cat.