Car Pool

We live almost 30 minutes from my daughter's school so I feel like I am either in the car or trying to kill time a lot during the school year. This is the first time she is going five days a week too so I really have been dreading this daily commute. My husband and I have thought about moving closer and would really like to do that but unfortunately we bought our house only 2 1/2 years ago at the height of the market. Soooo, in light of the current housing slump we will be staying right where we are for a while and doing a lot of driving back and forth. Luckily for me I will doing a lot less driving this year though thanks to my new car pool. I am so excited about it. This is my week to drive and already I'm far more productive than I have ever been before. I got the kiddies to school with a few minutes to spare even. I stopped at the grocery store on the way home, got in and out really quickly. Came home, touched up some spots on the walls downstairs that I had primed this weekend. Then I went upstairs and painted all of the cutout in the new bonus room (that's a whole other post). I also decided that I hate the color we painted the accent wall last night. I ate lunch, I put away groceries, I swapped over some laundry, I took out the dogs, I talked to a friend, I emptied the dishwasher, I even had a bit of time to watch The View and write this blog. I still have another 45 minutes or so before I have to leave to pick up the kids. Just imagine how much I'll get done on the days I don't have to drive. Love it!!

In other news, I watched Stand Up 2 Cancer last night (I had taped it from Friday night) and I thought it was wonderful. I heard today on the radio that it has raised 100 million dollars so far to fight cancer. I think it has potential to be so powerful. One of the people they profiled on the show was someone who was diagnosed with Stage IV, her2 positive breast cancer only three years ago I think and she was given 2 months to live. She became part of a clinical trial for Herceptin and she is still here today thanks to this drug. Fast forward just a very few years and Herceptin is the standard of care for her2 positive patients. Just think how many people still have their mothers, their wives, their daughters because of this one drug. One of those people taking herceptin today is my aunt who is a wonderful mother, a wife, a social worker, a vibrant woman who is such a gift to this world and I am so glad that this drug is now available to help her fight her battle with breast cancer. The money we put into cancer research can mean very real results in our lifetime, in just a matter of years, months in some cases. With 1 of every 2 men, 1 of every 3 women getting cancer; 1 of every 8 women getting breast cancer it is very naive to think that it won't hit close to home at some point in our lives if it hasn't already. How much would it mean to you to have the drug or the technology available when you need it? I know I am thankful that my diagnosis ocurred now instead of ten years ago. The type of surgery I had wasn't even available just a few years ago and it still isn't the standard of care - many doctors aren't even doing it yet. Where we put our philanthropy dollars really does matter and it is something I didn't realize until cancer came knocking on my door. I know I got a lot out of the Stand Up 2 Cancer special and I hope others did too. So, now I'll step down off of my soap box. I'm not usually very preachy but I do get fired up about this. Well, I better go enjoy my last few minutes of quiet before I have to go pick up the kindergarteners.

Kindergarten

My baby started kindergarten on Tuesday. I am so happy for her but just so sad about the whole thing at the same time. I cried my eyes out in bed on Monday night and I barely kept it together through the drop off on Tuesday morning. Since then the week just feels kind of weird - not horrible but just off somehow. I have really enjoyed being home with her the last five years and kindergarten is the end of that part of our lives. I know we'll have summers and school breaks but I just don't think there's going to be much time to do all of the other things that we like to do together. Don't get me wrong - I am enjoying the time with my other mommy friends who are in the same boat. I went to breakfast with a group on Tuesday, to lunch with my husband on Wednesday and to lunch with a couple friends today and it was nice. I've been to the mall and actually got to go in to the stores I wanted to visit. I even came home today but my cleaning lady was here this morning so I wasn't here by myself and we chatted quite a bit. I think I'm a little wary of being home alone without my daughter and with all of my thoughts but I am going to try it. My husband joked yesterday that now I can be a lady who lunches. I have a friend from college that started working part time from home a few years ago shortly after she married and when she did that she said "It's not like I want to be a lady who lunches or anything". Madison was a newborn at the time and I responded that I did want to be a lady who lunches and she fessed up that she secretly wanted to be one too but that it just sounded so aweful. So my husband and I have joked about it since. I know that's not all that I am but maybe this week that's all I am aspiring to.
In other news, we decide to take two bedrooms and turn them into a bonus room and we started this past weekend. So, I thought it would be completely done by the end of the long weekend but that isn't the case. I have stuff EVERYWHERE!! All the crap (and I do mean crap) from those two rooms has been split among the other three rooms upstairs and it is driving me mad. I need to go order the flooring tomorrow and depending on how long that takes it shouldn't be long before it is done. I also need to pick paint. I really wish there were people who read my blog because I could use some help in this department. I have no idea what to do with the room. I liked a lot of what Tori Spelling did in their house. Of course my husband said I'm a big dork for watching her show but I was really hooked. Well, I better get to bed. I have a big day tomorrow involving dropping off my kindergartener at school, going to a volunteer meeting and then to a friend's house for coffee - hmmm no lunch plans yet!!