While mom's away.....

...the daughters will do major yardwork/manual labor! Ugg!!!

So, my mom has been on a well-deserved 3-week vacation in Seattle with my dad's sister. She has most definitely deserved this vacation and I am so happy for her! She's ending her trip with a long weekend in Ohio to see my dad's brothers. So she'll get to catch up with everyone.

What have I been doing, you ask?! Well...yardwork...yes, yardwork. Something that I so am NOT a fan of! I'm also pretty sure I gave the neighbors something to talk about though! Imagine a "landscape artist" doing yardwork in shorts and a tube top! Yes, a tube top...hey! I have to work on my tan somehow! I surely am not getting any color sitting in an office all day Monday thru Friday! And that Jergen's stuff just wasn't cutting it for me anymore, orange just isn't my color!

On to the yardwork...I started on the 18th bright and early (well, 11:00...that's early) and dug up this little garden that my dad put in the front yard that had somehow overgrown out of the little box and had also acquired many Lillies of the Valley. I was so naive going into this project...I never realized that those little puppies had roots! I thought I could just rip them up and dig up the dirt and be on my merry way. Boy was I wrong! Those things have roots! Deep roots! I dug that stuff up for a bit and then went on to my next task of destroying these barrel type things that were in the yard too. They're like planters, but they pretty much just had weeds in them. There were 4 and they came apart quite nicely. I only took apart 3 of the 4, as the 4th one seemed to have what looks like a snake hole in it...so I left that one. I don't do reptiles...or whatever a snake is classified as! After destroying those things, I moved on to weeding the gardens to prepare for my next task....mulching. Woo hoo!!!

That following Tuesday, I ran to my mom's house during lunch to find a bird on the front walkway. I attempted to scare it away, but it would not move. I tried to avoid the thing, as I thought it would attack me if I got too close. Before I left the house to go back to work, to checked out the front door to check on it and it was still there. I ended up leaving through the garage. After work I had to stop back at my mom's on my way home and the damn thing was dead! Great! Another thing to deal with!!! Ugggg!!!! That poor thing stayed there until the following Saturday, I didn't have the guts or patience to deal with disposing of the dead critter during the week. I was kind of hoping that the boy that cuts the grass would find it and dispose of it, or that the guys who delivered the mulch would have found it and disposed of it...wishful thinking, huh?

Now on to this past Saturday...another "early" morning drive to my mom's. Today was dispose of dead bird and do the mulching day!! Wahoo!! The bird is now resting peacefully in the over grownness of crap back by the shed...RIP Birdie. And now the fun began! Let me tell you a little secret...with all of this yardwork, I had NO IDEA WHAT I WAS DOING the whole time! Just a little disclaimer. Luckily, I had a little helper for the mulching in the form of Sarah G. Patram! I was so happy to see her. Until she started making fun of me for wear jean shorts and my toes not being in the best condition, but I digress. We had a ball mulching together. And the gardens look fabulous! I think our mom will be very happy with the end result. After mulching, I attmepted to dig up more of the one garden that I destroyed the week prior to not much avail. Oh well, it'll get done eventually I suppose. I'm just glad we got the mulching done and everything looks pretty.

My mom is, as we speak (I think), getting on a plane to return to the East Coast area. Well, she's on her way to Ohio for a long weekend. And Sarah and Tristan will be leaving for Ohio tonight/early Friday morning to go retrieve her. Speaking of Sarah...the poor girl has had the 2 weeks from hell. She got picked for Jury Duty LAST Tuesday, and has been busting her butt between Jury Duty, work and Tristan. To make matters even worse, a tree fell on her house yesterday! There were some pretty craptastic storms in the area, and her house was one of the lucky ones to get a tree to fall. Luckily no one was hurt and there was no major damage (that has been found) to her home. Ugg...poor kid.

Adventures in Knitting

I've started to knit. I know, I know, I'm 28, not 88. But it's actually fun and relaxing! And not too difficult. A few weeks ago, my mom and I were at Barnes & Knoble and we picked up Knitting for Dummies. It's quite a good read, I must say! Although, we honestly didn't read it much, my mom taught me what I needed to know and I just watched her. She needed the book for a bit of a refresher, as she hasn't knit in quite some time. We started a 'practice' piece and I did a bit on that, and then decided that I should stop working on that to start working on what I really wanted to make. I have two friends that are expecting babies in the next couple of months (well, one in September and the other in October) and I thought it'd be nice to make them blankets for the new babies. (I'm not sure if they read this, and I do believe they both know that I'm not very good at keeping a secret, so it's okay if they find out. I actually think they may already know about said blankets as I have made it my Facebook status that I am knitting.)

So, I'm still working on Blanket #1. I've now started the damn thing three times!!! Oops! At least I wasn't too terribly far along either time I took it apart. I also decided, when taking it apart once, that I should probably roll the yarn into a ball, as to make it easier to use while knitting. That took me about 3 hours one night...what a mess that was!! Yarn was everywhere and so were the knots! I'm not doing too bad on this blanket, I just hope I can finish it soon and figure out how to crochet a border around the outside. Maybe I'll hire my sister to do that??? Or maybe they have Crocheting for Dummies?! That'll be fabulous!

I'm not going to lie either...I've been sneaking in some knitting at work lately too! It's been kinda quiet in the office, and when the bosses are out, it's something to occupy my time. It's not like I'm doing anything terrible...you know, like looking at porn or anything like that! I also have been doing it when at lunch too. I just drive to a parking lot and whip out those needles and get to work! It's calming...I like that...the calm. It's also something I can do while 'watching' television. Bud thinks I'm a nerd, and he tells me that at night when I'm knitting. I usually attempt to come back at him with a whitty comment...usually not so whitty, but I try!

I think once the baby blanket making is done, I might start to make Prayer Shawls for my Church. They just recently started a new Ministry and it seems like something nice to do to give back to the Church community. We shall see though...I'm not sure how much my fingers can take!

Four Months To Go...

Wow! Only four months left. Seriously, I can't believe it. I have been telling myself that I have so much time to plan and figure things out and save money and make decisions...now, in a short four months, all the planning will be over and it will be THE day! Let's see...a lot of the big things are done, now it's just the final touches and final decisons and meetings. Oh the meetings! Man! That's going to take up a lot of time. We have to do three one-hour sessions with a counselor, meet with the photographer and DJ, meet with the people at the William Penn Inn (for the food and for the flowers), and I'm sure we'll have to meet up with the preist at some point. We still need to get the invitations addressed and all ready to be sent out to the guests. I hope my NEW gown comes in super quick. Yes, I said new...it TWO SIZES SMALLER!! YAY!! And then the alterations for that puppy...hopefully that won't be too painful. Hmm...how am I going to wear my hair?? I have no idea! Right now it's not long enough to get it all up, hopefully it will grow in the next couple of months and I'll be able to get it all up somehow.

I must say, this whole planning experience has been great! I'm lucky to have a supportive family, and in-laws-to-be who have been great in helping with the planning! I'm so lucky! Now, I just need to get on the ball with all the other details of the planning! Wish me luck!

A Post...

Hi...so, I'd really like to write a meaningful and exciting post here on this blog, but I cannot seem to think of anything earth shattering to say here...maybe someday soon...stay tuned.

2008 Breast Cancer 3 Day

Please note...I wrote this a long time ago! Like in November or something and just figured I'd post it today. I'm not proofreading it, so I'm not sure if everything is in there. So read on and I hope it makes some sense!





What an amazing experience! That pretty much sums up the 3 Day for me. So many tears were shed, stories shared, spirits were lifted and new friendships made. This wonderful experience began bright and early on Friday, October 17. My dear sister and nephew drove me to the Willow Grove Park Mall for the Opening Ceremony. The sun had yet to come up, but with the excitement of what was to come, it really didn't matter. I met up with my teammates after putting my luggage on the appropriate Budget moving truck...yes, I said moving truck. That is how the Crew moved our bags.

Here is my youngest, and quite possibly, cutest supporter. This was after the Opening Ceremony and on his way to school.

The ceremony was just lovely, and of course I cried...I think pretty much everyone did. Around 8:00am , all 3,000 some of us started on our 60 mile journey. Walking through all those towns and hearing the cars beeping their horns and yelling out the windows really makes you see how important it is to get out and do something like this!








Day One we walked through the Abington area and into Chestnut Hill. Chestnut Hill was just beautiful and the people there were great! I don't ever remember seeing that many people outside on the sidewalks cheering anyone on! Seeing the posters made and held by small children thanking us was enough to make anyone cry! Lunch was at a nice location with plenty of room to sit down (albeit, there were no chairs, but the ground was just as good at that point!) and relax for a little bit and check our feet. After lunch, we were back on the road. At this point, we were now half way done with Day One. It felt pretty gratifying to say that we were almost done the first day. Our first day ended with our campsite. I suppose you could say it's a site for sore eyes...better yet...sore feet. We camped out at Belmont Plateau. It's a beautiful location, and looks even better with thousands of Pink Tents set up! We grabbed our gear and set up our tents for the weekend. We were home. We then headed to dinner...ate with 3,000 of our closests friends, and now family members. After dinner it was time to hit the showers. Yes, we were able to shower on this 3 Day excursion. We showered in the back of a tractor trailer! Sounds crazy, I know, but it works. After we were all clean, it was time for bed! After such a long day, bedtime was at about 8:30pm. Although it was colder then I had expected, I was ready for bed!

Here is my team, The Sweet Peeps, at Pit Stop 2 on Day One:

Day Two took us through the Fairmount Park area and into Manayunk. Did I say I got teary eyed through Chestnut Hill? Well, Manayunk was so much more moving then that! I got so incredibly emotional walking through town that I almost had to take a few breaks. At this point, my foot was bothering me and I didn't think I could push on. But the cheers and the smiles of those who were out there on the sidewalks helped me push on. It seemed like the whole town was out on the streets to cheer for us! It was simply AMAZING! After Manayunk came beautiful Kelly Drive. Such a beautiful city we live in/near. Especially in the Fall...seeing the leaves changing is just so beautiful. We continued on toward Love Park for a Pit Stop. Being that October is Breast Cancer Awareness month, and we're lucky enough to have the 3 Day during October, the fountain in Love Park is dyed pink! Check out how amazing it looks!

Again, we stopped for lunch, then continued on our journey, back to camp. Saturday night went the same as Friday...dinner, showers, then bed. Although, Saturday night there was a Frost Advisory. Luckily, my teammate Melissa's husband was willing to bring us some extra blankets for the evening. We were very appreciative of him for doing that! I slept with my fleece jacket on that night too!

Day Three! We are now in the home stretch!! Our last day! I know that at this point I was looking forward to a couple of important things. Here is my list of things that I was looking forward to doing:

• Flush a toilet



• Sleep in a bed/on a mattress



• Shower in an actual bathroom



• Sit in a car



• Sit on a comfortable chair



• See my family and friends

My team decided to skip the provided lunch. We decided that we would rather eat real food and maybe grab a beer in celebration of completing the 3 Day. We went off the beaten path and stopped at a little restaurant/bar only 3 miles from Closing Ceremony. This is the point where I got to do one of the things on my aforementioned list...actually, 2 things. I got to sit on a comfortable chair AND I got to flush a toilet! It was simply amazing! After our detour, we got back on the correct path. Those last three miles were definitely a killer! But we've come so far and we were all determined to finish this as a team!

Breast Cancer Awareness Month

I cannot believe it's already October!! I find it funny being that it is October and I'm still wearing sandals and other open toe shoes. Aren't we supposed to be wearing sweaters, or at least long sleeve shirts and long pants and shoes that cover our feet completely?! I am not complaining, I just find it very odd.

Well...this month we "celebrate", if you want to call it that, Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Breast Cancer has become so big over the last couple of years, with the amount of research that has gone into beating this disease. Each year, there are 14 (next year there will be 15 ~ they added Denver to the list!) 3-Day walks across the country. Each of these walks bring in millions of dollars to help fund continuing research as to how to beat this disease. Hopefully, one day, a cure will be found and no one will have to walk to find a cure anymore.

I went to Giant the other day to grab a salad for lunch. Upon walking into the store I spotted a display of Pink Ribbon items. It's amazing to me the amount of everyday items that are now for sale with the Pink Ribbon symbol on them. At this particular store's display they had candles, the car air fresheners, small hand brooms with the little dust pan, dish washing utensils (the little scrubby things), and Rubbermaid water bottles. Now, I'm not judging, because I own A LOT of Pink Ribbon items, Bud actually said, one day, that I'm going to turn into a Pink Ribbon. He actually has even attributed to the plethora of Pink Ribbon paraphernalia that I now own, as he so kindly bought me the camping chair along with the cooler for my birthday. Such a doll, isn't he?

I just checked the Giant website (http://www.giantpa.com)... it's not just these items that Giant has that are promoting BC Awareness, but also the food items that they sell. It seems as though everything they sell, a portion goes to BC. I just think that's awesome amazing at the same time! I also know that Giant isn't the only area grocery store that's promoting Breast Cancer Awareness. Last year Acme had those reusable shopping bags that cost $1. Giant also has them this year. I use my acme one for travel purposes, although I should really use it for grocery shopping purposes, I suppose. If you go to the Giant website, you must look at the Weekly Circular...there are 2 full pages of items that have the Breast Cancer logo on them. TWO PAGES, can you believe that?!

Another AWESOME thing I saw, BC related, was from Edible Arrangements (http://www.ediblearrangements.com/). Here are their 2 arrangements promoting Breast Cancer:

Aren't they beautiful?! Proceeds from the sale of these, also go to the fight against Breast Cancer.

I hope everyone has an enjoyable October. Go out there and purchase yourself some Breast Cancer labeled items...you never know when you may be affected by Breast Cancer, and those research funds are being used for you or a loved one. Also, be sure to Feel Your Boobies and get your Mammogram! Be well! ~ Megan

Breast Cancer 3-Day

This year, I will be participating in my second Breast Cancer 3-Day and it's only a short 31 days away!!! I've been training and fundraising for quite sometime now. I'm very excited to take part in this amazing experience again this year! The walk starts bright and early on Friday, October 17th at the Willow Grove Park Mall at 7:00am with a very moving Opening Ceremony. After the Opening Ceremony, we start our trek through the beautiful Philadelphia area. It's such an amazing experience (yes, I know I already used amazing, but it just is!), we walk through such great places and see great things. Also just meeting new people is part of this great experience too! Especially hearing stories of those effected with the devastating disease and how they over came obstacles and are survivors. It's just...it's just...AMAZING! (There I go again. Maybe I should get myself a Thesaurus?!) It's also fun to hear the other fundraising stories of those walking. In order to participate in this event, you must fundraise a minimum of $2,200. Some may say this is easy, while this is quite a task for others.

During the course of the 3 days, each participant stays at an undisclosed campsite. It's a sea of pink tents! Here is where the real commrodery takes place. You get to meet new people and relax and share stories. There's a meal tent, medical tents, remembrance tents, shower trucks, and many port-a-potties. On day 2, we start from this location, and walk the predisposed path, which will lead us back to our base camp. On day 3, we again start from this location, but will end at the Closing Ceremony. This year, the Closing Ceremony is going to take place at Villanova Stadium. The actual ceremony begins at 5:00pm, but walkers will probably start arriving around 1:00pm that afternoon. The Closing Ceremony is also very moving. The whole weekend is just one big moving experience!

My team (which is composed of 5 other extraordinary women) have had a few fundraisers this year. Our first was selling tickets to the Philadelphia Soul AFL games. We went as a group to one game and had a fantastic time! We had another fundraiser at a local VFW. It was dinner, with entertainment and raffles. Unfortunately, I was not there, but the event was quite successful! Our last two events took place at two local restaurants ~ Bones' Grill in Lansdale, and Houlihan's in North Wales. Both of these events were successful as well. We gave coupons to friends and family, and a portion of their meals were donated to our team. We're actually planning on doing something like this again to raise some more money for our walk.

When you sign up for the 3-Day, each participant is assigned a Personal Page. This page is used for fundraising, sharing your story as to why you're walking and to keep those who are interested up-to-date with your fundraising activity. To get to my page, simply click on this link. It will take you to my page. You can check on my progress and even donate if you'd like!! At this very moment (according to my page), I am shy of the $2,200 mark by a mere $833. Every dollar counts! If you're interested (or able to), please feel free to donate. Your help is very greatly appreciated!

After the walk, I will be posting another blog...with pictures too!

Thank you for your support!