Friday Five

Alright, alright, I know it's not really Friday. I am usually SO exhausted on Friday evening that I just barely manage to stay awake long enough to eat dinner. But I like the alliteration, so Friday Five it will remain...even if it really is Sunday.

Here's this week in a nutshell:

1) Another dear friend started chemo this week. I am grateful to have been through this process so that I can answer any and all questions that she has, but her having cancer really makes me angry. This cancer thing is complete crap folks. COMPLETE. CRAP. As in, it's high time we started spending large sums of money on RESEARCH. Not "cancer awareness" but actual RESEARCH. (I will be ranting on this topic another day...I have lots to say). Grrrr.

2) I got an adorable hand-drawn "thank you" POSTER from a student. She was really grateful for the presentation that I gave her class about good books to read. WOW! If that doesn't put a smile on your face, nothing will!

3) The Relay for Life people changed the date, and then changed it back to the original one. There was a flurry of completely unorganized emails from them for about a week. All is settled now, and apologies abound, but they were driving me crazy for awhile. If I didn't want to participate in this SO BADLY, I'd be tempted to try again next year. But all is good, and there's still some spots on the team if you're considering joining!! And the date really is June 7, 2014. And they promise not to change it again.

4) The daughter talked me into doing the Hot Chocolate 5K next Sunday...as in the one coming up in 7 days. Seemed like a good idea at the time. Now it seems like the CRAZIEST idea I have EVER had. Oh, we will be walking this 5K, there is no doubt of that. But we will finish!

5) This week, every book I read was about some kid with cancer (or other life-threatening illness). Seriously, I did not plan this, and didn't really even know what any of them were about when I opened them up. But I definitely cried while reading one of them, and had some flashbacks while reading all of them. And Keith laughed at me for continuing to read them all since I was clearly bringing the punishment on myself. It was REALLY hard to read them, but I also couldn't stop. It's like a trainwreck...I couldn't look away. 

Rescuing the Sloth!

Admitting you have a problem is the first step, right?

I have become a serious sloth. Yes, I have a great excuse, but even the chemo doc says that if I don't do something to build up my red blood cell count now, I am going to regret it. Seriously, most days find me sitting down in the shower after a few minutes.

To attempt to reclaim my life, I decided a couple of weeks ago to start walking. It gets me out of the house and off the couch that has a spot for my ass permanently imprinted on it.

To accomplish this task, I enlisted some friends to force me to walk with them. It's going pretty well. They understand the rules: must be done during the school day because I usually need a nap by 3pm; and under no circumstances will there be walking at 6AM or they will no longer be my friend.

As you would expect in Seattle, there have been some rainy days (and a few that we have decided not to walk because being wet and cold might actually be worse for my health than sitting on my ass). But there have been a few gloriously sunny ones as well. FEELS. SO. GOOD. This is a photo of a recent outing, with my friend doing the 3Day (and all of her walking buddies). I only took a wrong turn once, but I didn't get us too lost, honest! And the sunshine was wonderful!

Thanks to all of you (and you know who you are) for getting me up and moving!