It's interesting how some things don't really mean as much to you, until it hits someone you know.
There is a woman in my ward that has Breast Cancer. When they found it 18 months ago, it was stage 4, Inflammatory Breast Cancer. I just got back from the fundraiser that the was citywide for her. (Our city is about 3000.... small place).
A little about her. She just turned 30. She's actually a little bit younger than I am. She has 5 kids. Her oldest is around 12 and her youngest is 2 1/2.
The main park is across the street from my house, so my son wanted to know why there were so many people over there. We went outside to check out the 1 mile / 5 K run. He wanted to run so bad. There I am 7 months pregnant, but we went on the 1 mile walk. He ran a good chunk of the time. He was probably about a block ahead of me at one point. I know a lot of the people walking (nice thing about small towns), so I wasn't worried about him. But then he fell and cried walking all the way back to me. Poor kid. Then they had an auction afterwards. It was pretty fun. I wish I needed a new leather overstuffed chair, because it went for $300. A nice vacuumm went for $50. I did donate some money though, so I didn't feel too bad for not bidding on stuff.
A travel agency donated a 5 night trip, park hopper passes, and free airline to go to Disneyland for their family. I can tell there was quite a bit of money raised for her. I'm sure it's exciting for the family to have that much help financially and lifting their burden some. And the trip I'm sure will be fun for all. But I'm sure it's bittersweet too. She definately had a good fight so far, and I hope that without too much pain she can stay around as long as she can.
Her favorite saying is "Every day is a gift, that's why it is called the present."
Her is a link to her blog http://amberchase.weebly.com/index.html . I'm really glad that I know Amber and am glad that they were able to have this fundraiser.
Saturday, November 1, 2008
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
Getting Back in the Habit
I just don't have the motivation to start writing much. Even though we have moved in, things still aren't organized like I would like it. Half my belongings are still in our RV waiting to be sorted and put away.
I think that things probably need to settle down a bit before I can really get into writing again. I still think of ideas for my current novel. Life is busy around here though. I am doing a home preschool group with my 4 year old. My 2 year old is, well, a 2 year old. And I'm 1/2 done with my pregnancy. My son is moving into a different room. But first we need to clear out the extra room. Then set up the crib in my daughters room.
There is a time and a season for everything in our lives. This just isn't my "work to the bone with writing" season. I suppose if I just get what I can out, then I should consider that an accomplishment.
I think that things probably need to settle down a bit before I can really get into writing again. I still think of ideas for my current novel. Life is busy around here though. I am doing a home preschool group with my 4 year old. My 2 year old is, well, a 2 year old. And I'm 1/2 done with my pregnancy. My son is moving into a different room. But first we need to clear out the extra room. Then set up the crib in my daughters room.
There is a time and a season for everything in our lives. This just isn't my "work to the bone with writing" season. I suppose if I just get what I can out, then I should consider that an accomplishment.
Monday, August 11, 2008
There's No Place Like Home
We're home! Finally!
When I find my camera cord, I will try and post some pictures of our home. Because of the fire and having to remodel the front room, we decided to just remodel the whole house. Well, the whole house except the bathroom and one bedroom. But we are planning on doing those two rooms now that we are back home.
Our house was initially built in 1911. It was 2 rooms. There have been two additions since then. When we bought the home, it was pretty ugly, but it was a good price and a home. It reeked of the 60-70's. The kitchen had orange, green, brown, yellow mixed thin carpeting. The cabinets were custom made probably in the 70's, and weren't all that great. The windows were randomly placed and all sorts of sizes. The carpet was worn and ugly. The only thing we had money to do when we bought it was to paint and re-carpet the baby's room.
Because of the fire we finally had a reason to remodel the house. We took the insurance money and did a lot of the work ourselves to be able to spread the money further over the house. We did have some money saved up too, and that helped. We were also in process of remodeling when we had the fire, so a lot of materials were bought, we just didn't have much time with 2 kids running around the house.
We still need to do a little of the finish work. Put up blinds, go pick up our new front door, put doorknobs on a few of the doors, etc. But it is so nice to be home.
We still need to do something to the outside. We need to decide to re-stucco or to do siding. So the inside looks really nice, and the outside looks like we are the poorest, most rednecked people ever. (We have our old toilet sitting in the driveway, waiting to be put in the truck so we can haul some stuff off to the dump.)
Now we just need to remodel the last bedroom. Which REALLY needs to be done by the end of the year, because ..... I'm pregnant. This will be child #3. Baby is due Jan 13th.
Anyway, so now I'm back to hopefully posting more often, and reading all the blogs I used to read often. Which is another reason I'm glad to be home. My parents still have dial-up. And my husband and I use the internet often, play games on the internet, get information on the internet, etc on the internet. I really missed high speed internet.
Anyway, long post again... Thanks for everyone that posted. Things are going great.
When I find my camera cord, I will try and post some pictures of our home. Because of the fire and having to remodel the front room, we decided to just remodel the whole house. Well, the whole house except the bathroom and one bedroom. But we are planning on doing those two rooms now that we are back home.
Our house was initially built in 1911. It was 2 rooms. There have been two additions since then. When we bought the home, it was pretty ugly, but it was a good price and a home. It reeked of the 60-70's. The kitchen had orange, green, brown, yellow mixed thin carpeting. The cabinets were custom made probably in the 70's, and weren't all that great. The windows were randomly placed and all sorts of sizes. The carpet was worn and ugly. The only thing we had money to do when we bought it was to paint and re-carpet the baby's room.
Because of the fire we finally had a reason to remodel the house. We took the insurance money and did a lot of the work ourselves to be able to spread the money further over the house. We did have some money saved up too, and that helped. We were also in process of remodeling when we had the fire, so a lot of materials were bought, we just didn't have much time with 2 kids running around the house.
We still need to do a little of the finish work. Put up blinds, go pick up our new front door, put doorknobs on a few of the doors, etc. But it is so nice to be home.
We still need to do something to the outside. We need to decide to re-stucco or to do siding. So the inside looks really nice, and the outside looks like we are the poorest, most rednecked people ever. (We have our old toilet sitting in the driveway, waiting to be put in the truck so we can haul some stuff off to the dump.)
Now we just need to remodel the last bedroom. Which REALLY needs to be done by the end of the year, because ..... I'm pregnant. This will be child #3. Baby is due Jan 13th.
Anyway, so now I'm back to hopefully posting more often, and reading all the blogs I used to read often. Which is another reason I'm glad to be home. My parents still have dial-up. And my husband and I use the internet often, play games on the internet, get information on the internet, etc on the internet. I really missed high speed internet.
Anyway, long post again... Thanks for everyone that posted. Things are going great.
Tuesday, January 1, 2008
Where there's smoke, there's fire!
Okay, so I dont' really know if there was any fire. We never actually saw flames, but we did have the fire department at our house over the holidays.
On Dec 28th we were remodeling our home. We had the kids go to Grandmas so that when we knocked the plaster down in the back room. the kids wouldn't be breathing in the dust. We were using our wood burning stove (we had used it the day before too). As my brother and brother in law left after helping us with remodeling, they both joked "hey, your house is on fire". We saw a small amount of smoke coming from above the light fixture on the porch. We all actually thought it was just a reaction. The front room was probably 70-80 degrees with the fireplace going. So we thought because it was so cold outside, that maybe the warm and cold was making it smoke, steam, sweat, something like that.
Well, my husband gets back home from the store and I show him the smoke. It was getting worse and he looked outside. The chimney area was starting to turn brownish. We stood in the front room and then heard a crumbling in the wall. So my husband grabbed the cordless phone, I grabbed some documents from the next room, my coat and my camera. All were grabbable on the way out the door.
We called the fire department and first the police came. They had just come from another fire call, but it was a false alarm. No real problem. They looked at our house and said "yes, there is a problem". The firemen came and cut a hole in our roof, cut a hole in our front room ceiling and bedroom ceiling. Then they started axing into the outside wall. That is when I saw a TON of smoke coming out. That wall between the fireplace and the outside was burnt. Some of the wood was completely gone. We never saw actual flames, but it may have gotten so hot that is smolder burnt the wood.
One of our friends grew up in that house and said he had gotten that wood burning stove MUCH hotter than we had it. So it wasn't an issue of the heat, but something just went wrong. We wonder if maybe the birds that have moved into the roof area dropped some nest pieces down the chimney or if the Box Elder bugs went down. Who knows?
Anyway, we have been staying at my parents home. My youngest has no idea what's really happening. Just that we are at Grandma and Grandpas and she is having a blast. My 3 1/2 year old wants to go home. We showed him the house and he kept asking his Dad to fix it.
Things will be okay. It's just stuff. It will be a pain in the butt to figure all this out. But at least I have my family. (WRITTEN JAN 2nd)
UPDATE:
We are in process of cleaning the house. We decided to do the work ourselves even though it will be a lot of work. Today we had: My husband and I, my father-in-law, brother-in-law, his friend, our home teacher, relief society president, her husband helping out. We actually got quite a bit of stuff packed. We are going to go ahead with our remodeling jobs that we had planned, since stuff is in disarray anyway.
We are tired, but actually quite optimistic. This gives us an oppertunity (spelling??) to go through all our stuff. I've thrown out some stuff and it's really giving me an idea of what I want to keep and what I don't want to keep. I am going to take pictures of the place during the different stages, so maybe someday I will post the goings on.
I haven't been able to really catch up on the blog reading. We are staying with my parents, and they have dial-up. !!!!! :( Anyway, Just wanted to let anyone who might read my blog see what's up.
By the way Tristi, I keep trying to check one of your books out from the library, but it is always checked out when I go. That's a good sign for you I guess.
On Dec 28th we were remodeling our home. We had the kids go to Grandmas so that when we knocked the plaster down in the back room. the kids wouldn't be breathing in the dust. We were using our wood burning stove (we had used it the day before too). As my brother and brother in law left after helping us with remodeling, they both joked "hey, your house is on fire". We saw a small amount of smoke coming from above the light fixture on the porch. We all actually thought it was just a reaction. The front room was probably 70-80 degrees with the fireplace going. So we thought because it was so cold outside, that maybe the warm and cold was making it smoke, steam, sweat, something like that.
Well, my husband gets back home from the store and I show him the smoke. It was getting worse and he looked outside. The chimney area was starting to turn brownish. We stood in the front room and then heard a crumbling in the wall. So my husband grabbed the cordless phone, I grabbed some documents from the next room, my coat and my camera. All were grabbable on the way out the door.
We called the fire department and first the police came. They had just come from another fire call, but it was a false alarm. No real problem. They looked at our house and said "yes, there is a problem". The firemen came and cut a hole in our roof, cut a hole in our front room ceiling and bedroom ceiling. Then they started axing into the outside wall. That is when I saw a TON of smoke coming out. That wall between the fireplace and the outside was burnt. Some of the wood was completely gone. We never saw actual flames, but it may have gotten so hot that is smolder burnt the wood.
One of our friends grew up in that house and said he had gotten that wood burning stove MUCH hotter than we had it. So it wasn't an issue of the heat, but something just went wrong. We wonder if maybe the birds that have moved into the roof area dropped some nest pieces down the chimney or if the Box Elder bugs went down. Who knows?
Anyway, we have been staying at my parents home. My youngest has no idea what's really happening. Just that we are at Grandma and Grandpas and she is having a blast. My 3 1/2 year old wants to go home. We showed him the house and he kept asking his Dad to fix it.
Things will be okay. It's just stuff. It will be a pain in the butt to figure all this out. But at least I have my family. (WRITTEN JAN 2nd)
UPDATE:
We are in process of cleaning the house. We decided to do the work ourselves even though it will be a lot of work. Today we had: My husband and I, my father-in-law, brother-in-law, his friend, our home teacher, relief society president, her husband helping out. We actually got quite a bit of stuff packed. We are going to go ahead with our remodeling jobs that we had planned, since stuff is in disarray anyway.
We are tired, but actually quite optimistic. This gives us an oppertunity (spelling??) to go through all our stuff. I've thrown out some stuff and it's really giving me an idea of what I want to keep and what I don't want to keep. I am going to take pictures of the place during the different stages, so maybe someday I will post the goings on.
I haven't been able to really catch up on the blog reading. We are staying with my parents, and they have dial-up. !!!!! :( Anyway, Just wanted to let anyone who might read my blog see what's up.
By the way Tristi, I keep trying to check one of your books out from the library, but it is always checked out when I go. That's a good sign for you I guess.
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