Just amazing

My word of the day.

The boys are currently down for their nap, so I have a teeny bit of selfish time in between laundry loads... Let me tell you how I am spending my time. I am spending it AMAZED. Yes, amazed. I'll explain. One of the blogs that I frequent...in fact the only one I read every day (except my own) is by a woman named Ali Edwards. She is the creative editor for Creating Keepsakes magazine (scrapbooking magazine), and she has a five year old son with Autism. In the beginning of February she started something which has ended up being just amazing...here is her post from Feb 2nd.

Here we go : www.SixDegrees.org Many of you have sent me emails and left comments wondering how you can help in getting the word out about autism and fundraising. This morning I received an email from Stephaine (thank you) who let me know about a new social network set up by Kevin Bacon (yep, the Kevin Bacon) called www.SixDegrees.org in partnership with Network for Good. Here's the basics: www.SixDegrees.org is social networking with a social conscience. Through this web site, you can learn about and support the charities of celebrities and your friends, as well as fundraise for the causes close to your heart. By creating a Six Degrees Charity Badge you have an opportunity to raise even more money for your favorite cause! Your charity(ies) could receive a matching grant of up to $10,000. The six badges that have the most number of donations between January 18th and March 31st at 11:59pm ET will get a matching grant from Kevin Bacon. Multiple donations from a single individual to the same Six Degrees Charity Badge will only be counted once. The process is easy; all you have to do is created a Six Degrees Charity Badge and you will automatically be eligible to receive the matching grant. Once you have created your badge, post it online or send a link to it (sample) via email to your family and friends so that they can help to support your effort. Over on the right side of my blog you will see my badge to raise money for Autism Speaks. I really think that we could get enough donations to receive a matching grant. Here is your chance to make a difference. And, thank you.

About one week into her endeavor she made a bold request...to get 1000 donations! Well do you know that as I type she is at 1950!! She will no doubt roll to 2000 by the time I finish writing. Here is her blog for those of you who may just want to take a peak. And for those of you who want to see the contest progress... check 6degrees and click on the top 10 badges. She has been in the #1 position for the last few weeks, but the contest ends tonight at midnight and it is really heating up! Kevin Bacon was even on the Ellen DeGeneres show and mentioned her name!

All of this is on the heals of Comfort Keepers having our "Burger Burn" outside Sam's Club yesterday for The American Cancer Society's Relay for Life. This is our second year having a team and raising money. We raised about $375, but even more amazing than that was just the amazing generosity and PASSION people had. From the tons of people who baked in their kitchens and donated goodies, to the people who came out yesterday morning in the 35 degree wind to help us sell burgers, to the many people that told us to "keep the change" because it was for a good cause, or those who couldn't eat meat because it was lent, but donated anyway! Wow...how very cool.

To see people having a passion for what they believe in and sharing it, is just amazing (if I may use that word just one more time).

I'm going back to laundry, and to cheering on Ali, whom I have never met, but has inspired me in many ways.

Have a passionate weekend everyone!

Another sign of warmer weather

Pajamas with NO FEET!! You may not think much of this, but in our house this is a very big deal! It's like being able to go outside without a coat.

Is there anything better than fresh babies right after a tubby?

I think not.

80

80

as in degrees.

A day to wear pink

A day to break out the bikes

A really great day to be a little boy

Lessons learned

As part of our marketing efforts at Comfort Keepers, we bake homemade cookies and deliver them to our referral sources, clients & friends a couple times each year. So it was time again for the Comfort Keepers Spring bake off. In attendance were myself, my niece Kate (see post lucky 13), and my dear mother. 8 hours later with sore backs and hungry stomachs we managed to bake approx. 20 dozen cookies. Yes, I said TWENTY dozen cookies! We made butter toffee squares that melt in your mouth, we made chocolate snaps which were the perfect blend of crispy on the outside and chewy on the inside, we also whipped up a batch of orange squares which gave a sweet burst of citrus in every bite, and to top it all off, we made about 20 dozen hockey pucks. Now mind you, they were very pretty hockey pucks, in an array of pretty spring shapes and colors, but hockey pucks all the same. These were arguably the worst cookies ever produced out of K's kitchen. It was my fault...I take full responsibility. The recipe did not tell you how much flour to put in, just "add enough flour so that with flour you can easily roll out the dough". What kind of recipe is THAT? Around 6 1/2 cups later, I decided to called it quits. In retrospect, I think I should have topped off somewhere around 4- 4 1/2. As you can imagine, I was terribly upset, I mean all that hard work, wasted. But if you recall, I vowed to make March a month of "finding the good". So my sweet husband has gratefully come up with some other ideas for my cookies so all our efforts do not have to be wasted. 1.) Heat reflector tiles for the space shuttle 2.) Use in place of clay pigeons for skeet shooting 3.) With a little grout, they could make for an interesting back splash in say...a kids bathroom? 4.) Coasters 5.) Driveway pavers The list keeps growing, but I think you get the picture...

Happy SWEET Monday everyone.

Another Birthday

Happy 37th Aunt Bryn!

We hope you have a wonderful day.

Sneak peak

Aunt Barbie was cool enough to forward some "sneak peak" photos of U2's band practice that she was lucky enough to get to see. Rumor has it, they are going to put on a show at her house real soon!! Barb's email; Between their busy special Olympic commitments and their jobs, Aric and Tripp find the time to practice their U2 Act! Note the hand made microphone that Tripp made as well as resemblance of Arics "costume" to that of the actual drummer. The moment was more than adorable!!! They were so sincere!!! I'm bummed I couldn't video tape it!

Stay tuned for concert dates and locations :-)

As promised...

Hey, what do you expect? He's 3 and only 3 feet tall---from his angle, we were lucky our heads were in it at all! And it really did start out being just John and I, but Duncan came running "me too, me too". Watch this weekend for concert pictures sent by Aunt Barbie...

Why not?

My sister in-law sent me this email... We love the Blog Andria! Just looking at pics on the "ca-puter" with Bru. Hello from us. We want to see a picture of you, and John too! Funny she should mention pictures of John and me. I JUST had a conversation with my sister about how I never hang/display pictures of myself unless my kids or maybe someone else is in the picture with me. I don't think I'm the only one who falls into this category either. Why do we do this?...or better question "why DON'T we do this"? I mean, we all have pictures of ourselves that we like, right? Is it presumptuous to display ourselves? A little egotistical? Why? If we enjoy a nice piece of art, a painting say, then why is it SO bad to enjoy a good picture of ourselves? I mean I can see where excessive photos, sculptures, paintings and overall shrines of oneself may be pushing the vainglorious limits. But a photo or two? What's the big deal? Well Aunt Lynne, you challenged me. So this morning on my way to work, I asked Cooper to take a picture of Mommy and Daddy. He did. I uploaded it, fixed the red eye, emailed it to work, got here, and well, it's not here... You don't believe me do you? Well I promise to post the picture tomorrow. But for today...just to say I did it, here I am, at my desk. Luckily Bryn had her camera here at work and I made her snap a photo... Can I challenge you all to pull out a photo of yourself? One you really like. And display it? Come on...why not!

Lists

Hhmm, lots of thoughts this morning... First, apparently I was in a bit of a daze yesterday because my post said "happy Monday"...and it was...Tuesday! I have no intention of editing the post though because I think it reflects a bit of the mess in my head these days. Thank you so much for the comments though...I was laughing very hard this morning! Book club was last night, which means a NEW book. Check it out. I am looking forward to this one. It won the Pulitzer Prize. Robert Penn Warren was the US's first Poets Laureate and the reviews are wonderful. I am still trying to figure out how to have you click on the picture or the title and have it take you to Amazon or Border's or something... I'll keep working on that one. Next thought...I have lists. Lists everywhere, lists of all sorts of things...do you all have these? I have grocery lists, things to do lists, scrapbook idea lists, bills to pay lists, you name it, I have a list for it. Most lists I write down, but there is one that is continually running in my head. It's a "things I want" list. It changes and updates daily. Sometimes I feel guilty for this list, (which is probably why I don't write it down) but then I accept that it's just human nature to want and I let it go. So would you like to hear my list? 1.) I want this camera 2.) I want this bed 3.) I want this mattress to go with it 4.) I want one of these 5.) And I want a pair of these 6.) I really could use this in both white and navy 7.) I want a new pair of these 8.) And wouldn't I look pretty wearing this or I like this color too. Okay, so you get the picture right? The good thing is, I am really okay with just one of these... and one of these... and this...

Happy Spring everyone!

Use your imagination

Many of you know my brother in-law Teddy. Some of you are even related to him. Nice guy. Cute guy. Smart guy. Teddy is, how would I put it, resourceful? I'm not sure if that's the best word? Let me explain. Teddy doesn't waste ANYTHING...(much to the dismay of his wife). Teddy always fixes the old, rather than buying new. A $2.oo patch on a pair of jeans is clearly better than buying new jeans. Teddy LOVES a good dumpster to riffle through. He can see the "potential" in just about anything. Teddy may prefer to call it "restoration"...we call it cheap. Now don't get me wrong, many times we love this quality in Teddy; we all have our weaknesses which are usually also our strengths. Teddy's wife has always said "if I was ever stranded somewhere, I would want Teddy there"...because, well, he is so resourceful. Okay, so, Teddy calls me last week and tells me about this building for sale that he looking into buying. Maybe I would consider putting Comfort Keepers in it (I'm looking to move), he is thinking of putting his peanut roaster in it and maybe having a little store... The conversation went something like this: He described the building's location - (which is Newberry by the way). Hmm, isn't that kind of a depressed area Teddy? The optimist replies "some say it's really making a come back". Does it have heat? "There is an old oil burner AND a wood stove for supplemental heat". Okay, that's just scary, but I go on. How about parking Teddy? He didn't have a great reply for this one. His sales pitch has it as a great location, very visible from the highway. He told me to check it out. He also told me I had to use my imagination... Are you laughing? Are you using your imagination? Notice the oil tank...that must be my heat source? Now I don't know about all of you...but I'm thinking I need more than imagination? Something more along the lines of magic? I will say, it does look to have good lighting. And Bryn mentioned that with that big garage door we would probably be handicap accessible... Yes, well, something to think about. Have a great Monday everyone! 122.5

Ouch!

Saturday night Cooper had an unfortunate accident... One minute he is playing and giggling, the next he is screaming and blood is running down his face. Poor little guy. He wouldn't let us put ice on it, so about 6am Sunday morning he comes to crawl in bed with us and says "mommy, I can't open my eye". I click on the light and sure enough his eye is swollen shut. By last night (time of picture) the swelling had gone down a bit, but man does he have a shiner.

Good thing he's so cute...and he looks good in purple :-)

Enough

Okay. Enough snow, enough blizzards, enough cold. Time for some good ol' "fun in the sun" goofiness! Thank you guys. I feel warm just looking at you.

And for those of you out there who have no idea who these crazy woman are...the left is Aunt Lynne (John's beautiful sister), and the right is cousin Amie (Barb & Teddy's gorgeous daughter). Lynne lives in Florida, Amie is visiting from Maine.

Happy SUNNY Sunday everyone!

Just sad

We decided to head up to Grammy K's because the snow would be awesome up there. We had big plans to sled ride, build a snowman, take some great snowstorm pictures and, well, things didn't go exactly as planed... The boys were very excited. So excited in fact, that while John was outside getting the sleds together and I was upstairs getting dressed, Cooper decided to help out and put on his and Duncan's boots. Very sweet thought, only he was wearing Duncan's (on the wrong feet), and Duncan was wearing his!

So we get the boots straightened out, and we make it to Grammy K's. Well, isn't the wind is just whipping and howling, and the snow is so bright that is it burning my retinas. But we are troopers and we give sled riding a try...

Yeah, that ranked about a -5 on the "fun factor", so we decide to make that "proper snowman". Ugh, our attempt was pathetic at best. The snow just would not pack. We couldn't find sticks, Grammy didn't have any carrots, John finally scrounged up a couple pieces of coal, but not that it mattered, because... well...

I know, he's just sad isn't he? We hope we made you smile today :-)

Let it snow!

I can't find any definite storm totals, they were calling for 8"-14" by morning. I would just walk out and measure but I'm still in my pajamas! And as of yet, we have no snowman...maybe this afternoon? John is out snow blowing the neighborhood, next he'll head up to Ma Jane and Pop's, so maybe we'll see him some time around lunch? For those of you in Florida...I know I promised I would post your pic's today, but scroll down and you'll see why I had change today's post material...

And the BEST part of every snow storm...the HOT CHOCOLATE!!

The last hoorah?

It hit 70° on Tuesday, so it's appropriate that it should snow on Friday. It IS March :-) I just walked to the bank - this is the view looking down 4th street today. Well maybe the boys can at least build a proper snowman today? If they do, I'll be sure to post pictures! Thank you to everyone for your kind words and encouragement on the blog thus far. I am really having fun with it. It is kind of an "online scrapbook" for me. I am still learning though, so bear with me! For all of you who check the blog for pic's and updates on the boys, I wanted to share something that my Aunt Carla e-mailed me last night; Thank you SO MUCH for doing this! What a wonderful gift. I put the picture of the "clean boys" on my desktop... I so enjoy spending my day with these little guys. They are both so precious. I have a picture on my phone of them today as they cuddled up together on the couch and watched Clifford. They really are the best of friends already. Today at snack time Duncan was feeding Cooper part of his snack. They each sat on one of my knees (it was their idea..they said they do this with Daddy) so I got to kiss their heads alot. They are both the most kind and caring children. You and John are doing a wonderful job! Thank YOU Carla! And really, during a big snow storm, is there anything better to do than curl up in mom and dad's bed and watch The Tales of Peter Rabbit with your brother? (Check the nuks...Dunc's is in upside down!!) This was taken last night.

Tune in tomorrow for fun pictures from Florida!

An otherwise Yuk kind of day

Here is the view as I drove to work this morning. Yuk. "Wintery Mix" has got to be the cruelest joke Mother Nature can play on a city. But March is about Finding the Good. So here we go...scroll down... 1.) The beautiful daisies at Wegmans (even though I'm too cheap to actually BUY them)

2.) Boys that eat their veggies.

3.) Work that I love

4.) My mom came home last night

5.) Carla comes today

6.) Duncan pee'd on the potty

7.) Just confirmed we are going to the beach in July

8.) Baseball season is coming

9.) John put away ALL the laundry last night

10.) Salmon for dinner

There you have it. 10 good things on an otherwise yuk kind of day.

What is your good today?

Signs

of Spring. I think the red must be the tulips and the green are the daffodils? I guess we'll know soon enough! The birds were even chirping this morning. But don't get me started on the 35° /snow weekend forecast.

123.5

Lucky 13

Happy 13th birthday Baby Kate! I love you sweetheart.

Clean at last

The boys FINALLY got a bubble tubby (as we call it in our house). (They were overdue!)

Aunt Jessica and Uncle Richard chickened out of giving them a bath Saturday night...I can't imagine WHY they didn't want to put two very rambunctious and wild toddlers in a tub full of water and bubbles? Except that possibly they enjoyed being dry?

Aunt Jessica and Uncle Richard (or as Cooper calls them "Aunt Bobby and Uncle Buchard") came to watch the boys so John and I could go to Mary's 50th birthday party. Yup, another March birthday.

Another positive for March - at least starting in 2007 - Daylight Savings! - love the longer days. Except getting up in the dark is harder...sunrise this morning was 7:26. But subtract about 2 minutes every morning and it won't be long before it's light then too.

Tomorrow's forecast...64° If I could do a back flip, I would.

Pruett

Happy birthday Pruett! Another great thing in March.

Don't wish it away

This was taken 2 years ago...this month...March. Maybe I shouldn't wish any days away? Even those in March.

123

It's not the size that matters

Might he be the smallest snowman ever? Might he be the cutest?

Coop, Dunc, Russ and John managed to build him out of snow that was NOT snowman snow. But he is something great about March. Oh, and Bryn told me that last night was the last of the single digit nights.

123 - hmmm?

Find the good

I hate March. Oh maybe "hate" is a bit too strong. But it is very hard to find anything redeeming about this month, at least in Pennsylvania. I got up this morning and we had 2 inches of unexpected snow, and it is currently 15 °. I love living in PA, we have real honest to goodness seasons. We have the postcard/calendar Winter, Spring, Summer and Fall. And I can find something beautiful about every month, except...well...MARCH. So, my goal is to find something beautiful/inspiring/positive about this month every day. If you know me, you will probably agree that I am positive, most generally all the time, so this shouldn't be all that hard for me...and then possibly I can look back next year when February 28th rolls around (or will it be the 29th?) and have a different outlook about the impending month to come.

• The forecast for a week from today is 61°
• The spring JCrew catalogs are showing up
• There is no snow in the 10 day forecast

On a different note. This morning...123.5 Yesterday 124.0 ...testing my theory