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.