Susan G. Komen Global Race for the Cure

For the 5^th year, I am walking on Saturday in the Susan G. Komen Global Race for the Cure with Team Melissa’s Rainbows, in honor of my friend Eric’s sister, Melissa, who died 5 years ago of breast cancer at age 32.  Each year, in addition to soliciting donations by email, Eric's wife Niki and I bake cookies to put out at her dental office.  Niki's patients have been quite generous over the past few years, helping us contribute hundreds of dollars to the cause.  In fact, last year I was at Niki's house baking cookies the day I discovered I was pregnant with Micah.

More than 50,000 people will all gather on the National Mall on June 6 to take a stand in the global movement to end breast cancer. Each year, up to 75 percent of the Komen Global Race's net income stays in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area to fund local screening, treatment and education programs for the medically underserved. The remaining dollars support the Global Promise Fund, a program of Susan G. Komen for the Cure, which is dedicated to reaching underserved people in areas where breast cancer mortality rates are the highest.

Over the past five years, our team has raised over $20,000 towards fighting breast cancer. I need your help to continue our goal of raising another $6,000 this year.  You can give online by clicking here to visit my personal fundraising webpage and make a donation.  Without a cure, an estimated 25 million women around the world will be diagnosed with breast cancer - and 10 million could die over the next 25 years. That's why I'm joining the fight. I hope that you'll support me.

Thank you in advance for your generosity!

I'd rather strangle her than sing along

My playgroup decided to join a "Singalong with Karen" class on Thursdays.  This session is only 4 sessions in July, and it really is perfect.  I got a note from the other mommies this weekend confirming which class, so I went online to sign up last night (I was told by the other girls they had contacted Karen, let her know we were joining as a group, and we were all set).  When I got to the website, it said that there was a $15 late fee for registering after May 15.  I sent Karen a note saying that I was part of the group that contacted her, and since she just confirmed that the 10:30 class would be age appropriate for our group, I was ready to sign up.  She very politely responded and told me that she had a late fee policy, and it was unfortunate I did not contact her sooner.

I couldn't help myself.  The price per class session is about $15, so a $15 late fee is the cost of another session.  It isn't that I cannot afford the $15, but the principle of it was irritating me.  I sent her another note, again explaining that I DID contact her earlier as I was part of a group who initially contacted her in April.  Here was her response:

Hi, Jessica!
I'm delighted that you would like to join us, and I have a wonnnnderful Sizzling Summer '09 Session planned, too!  Everyone who you have named (except for one), is already is enrolled, and each enrolled individually (they rushed in their registrations).  It would be wonderful for the two of you to join us in our Thursday 10:30 class!

Please know that I always offer Early Bird Savings deadlines, and I've mentioned our next one is June 20th.  In fairness to everyone who has registered early to gain savings, I need to be consistent.  We still have room for you in our class, but there is a $15 late fee after May 15th.  (If it makes you feel better, I too am paying late fees for the camps I am placing my children in this summer, as I did not register them early on.)

I am holding your space through the end of this week to allow you ample time to mail in your summer registration.  As I'm sure you understand, I can only hold spaces for a few days.  Let me know if you have any other questions.  My best, :) Karen

I have to say, I'm annoyed.  I understand she has a late fee policy, but I do think that in this instance, she should waive it.  Especially since I am certain that several of the girls in the group registered late, but did not pay the late fee.  So, in fairness she really should waive the fee this one time.  In this economy, most people/places are just happy to fill spaces in their classes!  And to risk someone not enrolling over a $15 fee is ridiculous!  Especially with the word of mouth we could create.

So, now I'm caught between a rock and a hard place.  I think the $15 fee is outrageous, but Karen is clearly not going to waive it.  All of our other friends are going to be in this class, and I think it will be good for Micah.  So, it is a choice between standing on principle or doing something because it will be good for Micah.  I'm probably stuck paying the $15 because I do want to have Micah participate with his playgroup, but I can assure you I'm going to do everything in my power to convince the ladies not to enroll in another one of these classes next session since Karen was so uncooperative about this.  There are so many other teachers and classes, and I think any of them would be a better choice.

What would you do?  Am I being ridiculous about her attitude towards the late fee?

Shattered

As I often do, I managed to break another glass last night.  I think I need to buy an extra 18-32 glasses to keep in the basement so that I can be sure I'll have enough when we have a big dinner.  Do most people go through a few glasses each month?  Lately, I think I've been going through a few each week.  I think between the granite countertops and the hardwood floors, I'm breaking them more often. 

Without fail, I always break the glasses late at night, while I am barefoot, and the glass is ALWAYS full.  I went to refill my water glass last night, and I'm still not sure what happened . . . I think it must have committed suicide.  The glass just threw itself off of the ledge where it was resting.  Not surprisingly, it didn't just break, it SHATTERED.  The glass shards managed to cover a 4 mile radius, I think.  Okay, maybe only 15 feet, but still, I'm always impressed by how well glass travels.

So, here is how the cleanup routine happens.  First, the dog comes running, excited to try and eat all the glass on the floor.  Have you ever tried to fend off an eager dog while standing barefoot surrounded by glass?  It takes a special kind of talent.  Then, I need to obtain help because it is impossible to move when standing barefoot surrounded by millions of glass shards and restraining a dog.  Last night it was particularly challenging - have you ever tried to scream quietly upstairs for your husband's attention while the baby is asleep?  Yeah, not an easy accomplishment.  After I get Elliot to help, we have to figure out how to mop up the wet.  He likes to use dish towels, however, I prefer to use paper towels because of all the glass (I don't think it is a good idea to track glass through the house on the towels or put it through the washing machine).  We have an obligatory tiff about wasting paper and ruining the environment, and then he gets me the paper towels to clean up the water.  After picking up the few large shards, drying up the water and getting some shoes on, we usually attempt to vacuum up the glass.  The cleanup process took us 40 minutes last night!  We'll probably be finding glass shards for weeks to come . . . well, at least until the next glass I break. 

Have you ever noticed that some objects just want to be destroyed?  In college, I had bottles of nail polish that I swear used to jump off the shelf to their demise on a regular basis.  Have you ever had an object "commit suicide" on your watch?

Playmat Possessed

I am not one who generally believes in possession. I'm not even talking the demonic kind here, just simple possession by an inanimate object of some type of spirit. There have been two times in my life I believed an object was possessed - my first car (a 1984 Chevy Cavalier) and my son's playmat.

My Chevy Cavalier was undoubtedly possessed. I would drive to school in the mornings, and very bizarre things would happen. Sometimes, the car would just decide to accelerate. All of the sudden, the accelerator would depress, and car would speed up and attempt to slam into other vehicles. For those of you wondering, I did not have cruise control on the car. I also noticed that on Thursdays, if I put the turn signal on while the radio was playing, the windshield wipers would turn on. What was particularly difficult about this is that the wipers were in the OFF position, so I had a hell of a time getting the wipers to stop! Also, if it was raining and you hit the brakes while turning left and the windshield wipers were at a certain speed, the blinkers would start flashing. Yes, the car creeped me out. I came home from school a number of times telling my mother about my possessed car. At one point, she was so irritated by my insistence that she agreed to take my car for a week to check it out. Her prognosis? My car was possessed! We took it to the car dealership, and after running a complete assessment... they informed me there was nothing wrong with my car. A few years later in college, my entire electrical system crashed and it turned out that Chevy recalled the computer chip because of similar problems. They also had to install the cruise control stick on my car . . . because the manufacturer default setting inadvertently had the "inactivated" cruise control feature set to on, so every time I hit a certain speed, the cruise control would try to "resume." Regardless of these logical explanations - I still firmly assert that my car was possessed.

My son's playmat is one of those Tiny Love Gymini Lights and Music playmats. It has all kinds of animals on it, and there is a little section of the mat that lights up and plays music if you turn the switch. Well, there enlies the problem. You see, it still plays music (randomly) when it is in the off position. Late at night when we are all upstairs (and the mat is off) it will suddenly start playing. Sometimes when Micah is sleeping or playing on it and it is off, the music and lights will start up again. At times, when the dog walks across the mat and it is off, the music and light show begins. In fact, we rarely turn it on anymore - the randomness of the mat when it is off is FAR more entertaining! The only logical explanation I have? Possession, of course!

Have you ever believed an object was possessed? If this entire post worries you, don't bother to call the authorities. They already know I'm nuts - remember my talking breast pump?

Sneezes in Threes

Since the day Micah was born, when he sneezes, he generally sneezes in threes... atchoo, atchoo! atchoo! I love it - when he starts sneezing, we usually count 1....2 (silence) (wait for it)...3 (there you go - all done)! What I find particularly interesting about this observation is that I also sneeze in threes, and have since I was a child. As my mother and I have often discussed (and just did again last night) it is obvious to us that we are born "hard-wired" (to some extent) to do and act in certain ways. I wonder how that works? Is it genetic? Is it a matter of how our brains grow and develop - caused by the random timing of how the cells divide and connect? Is it just something accidentally learned in the womb as we grow, or because of the positions we adopted in utero (a movement brushed the head in a certain way, so the baby keeps repeating the action and it becomes a soothing action)? How are we wired for certain behaviors?

Since my niece was born, she pulls on her ear when she is tired. Every single time. It is completely unconscious behavior - she just does it absentmindedly. We have always known when she needs a nap because of it. She is now almost 3, and (as my mother says) she will probably do that her entire life. Micah sleeps on his side - he rolled to his side the very first night in his crib in the hospital - and has pretty much slept on his side every night since (he rolls back and sleeps on his back during the night, too, but he is clearly a side sleeper like his mommy). When he needs some soothing and comforting, he sucks his thumb and uses his other hand to play with his hair. I'll bet he plays with his hair like that his whole life when he gets agitated or upset. Ironically, Elliot sort of scratches his head when he is agitated or upset, too.

My mother and I have many of the same mannerisms - I wonder how many of them are learned versus hard-wired? My grandfather used to sleep on his back with his one arm above his head. My father sleeps that way, too. I've noticed that when I sleep on my back, I also tend to put one arm above my head.

Have you ever noticed the hard-wiring in your life? Tell me about it!