How to Save a Life

Who knew that I could run 10 miles in a couple of hours?! It was an amazing accomplishment for me. Sure, I might be sore and my right knee is bothering me, but that's nothing compared to what blood cancer patients go through. This past week I ran for two victims of blood cancer: Matthew Thompson, cousin of Sonia Samora (Gabe's football team mom) who died of ALL at the age of 18; and Esther Turbyfill (Shane Chaney's mom) who died of leukemia in 1998.

75 cents of every dollar you donate benefits the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society and its mission. More than 823,000 Americans have leukemia, Hodgkin or non-Hodgkin lymphoma or myeloma. Every five minutes, someone new is diagnosed with blood cancer.  Every 10 minutes, someone dies.

I still have a little less than $1,250 to raise with only one week to go. Your contribution of any amount is greatly appreciated, and of course, tax deductible. To make a donation to this great cause, please go to my web site at http://www.monicatarantino.com/ (a secure site). We are all facing difficult times financially, but just remember...you're donation will help save lives. Now is the time to donate!

I'm training to participate in the San Antonio Rock 'n' Roll Marathon & Half-Marathon (13.1 miles) as a member of The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's (LLS) Team In Training on Sunday, November 16th. All of us on Team In Training are raising funds to help stop blood cancers from taking more lives. I am completing this event in honor of all individuals who are battling these horrible diseases. These people are the real heroes on our team, and we need your support to cross the ultimate finish line - a cure!

I hope you will visit my web site often. Be sure to check back frequently to see my progress. Please pass this email on to any of your friends and family. Every effort counts.

*Did you know that Mary Travers, from Peter, Paul and Mary, has been battling Leukemia since 2004?*

Thank you for your support!

Random quote

Soren Kierkegaard - "Life must be understood backwards; but... it must be lived forward."

Tweets...

Something new that I've been doing lately...twittering. Yeah, it's not a verb yet, but it will be. Feel free to be a follower if you'd like. Very much like updating your status on Facebook, but independent of that. Know what I mean? :)

Anyway, become a follower and have fun learning Web 2.0.

4-0...

Just sayin'...I got me some fantasy football skills. :) Hahaha

1	Team Tarantino	4-0	W4
2	Team Biggers	3-1	W2
3	Team Patterson	3-2	L1
4	Team Wiedower	2-2	W1
5	Team McCurdy	1-4	L4
6	Team Holliday	0-4	L4

Updating the numbers...

A month...
Tomorrow will mark another month that has gone by. I know, I know. I probably promised to do a better job of updating my blog in my last post. No excuses here. I let time slip away from me.

Instead of powering up the computer at home, I go lay on the couch while the hubby designs; slip into some comfy PJs and open up a new read (which just happened for the first time this week); or I wander around my house looking for something to do that will satisfty my need to be doing something. When I do power up the computer, I log into ebay and just look for some random things or read blogs about design, music or paper. Always amazed at the prices people will pay for things. Always amazed at how certain blogs can capture my attention for hours. I should be emailing people about making donations to my Team in Training website (only $1270 to go!)...but I suppose it's my time to decompress. But hey, no excuses. ^_^

I know I will get better with it in due time. Perhaps when I become a stay-at-home mom (my dream job), I will be able to create a schedule that will allow me time to blog. :)

Enough about my blogging...
Today, a healthy, little 6 pound, 9 ounce, baby boy was born to my bestest friend in the whole wide world! While childbirth is something I have yet to experience (and there's a slim chance I ever will), I look upon it as the most experience a woman can ever go through. The miracle of life is just that...a miracle. Bringing a life into the world...whoa! (Sure, you can tell me that adopting a child is like giving them another chance at life, but it's a different kind of miracle. The miracle is that you don't kill a kid for being a booger. heh.) So today, all my love goes out to Moe and her family. May God continue to bless & protect them. (She always wanted to be surrounded by men.)

Friendship...
What is one to do when the phone goes silent on the other end? Wait for the dreaded disconnected signal? Continue to wait thinking it will be a matter of moments before the other comes back? Eh. It's hard to say and it's hard to tell that person waiting what to do. There's a reason certain people are in your life, and there's a reason why they are in your life at a certain time. It might not make sense now, but looking back you'll figure it out.

The kid...
Moco has had some amazing moments during the last month. We took a visit to Goodwill to find items to make his costume. We found them all and are now working on the details of the costume! Getting 4 A's and 1 B on a progress report...he had never done that before "in his whole life!" It brought a tear to my eye as well as to others because he was so amazed at himself. His first visit to a pumpkin patch. Talk about craziness - he couldn't contain his eagerness to run all over the place. We got into a car accident last week and I thought the kid would be tramatized. Still doing great in football.  His social schedule is just as bad as our's. :)

The wrap up...
October is very much the doorman to the holiday season. The foliage begins to change colors, the temperature lowers (a wee bit) and I begin to go through my closet trying to find clothes that might make it past the fashion police. Pfft...I've got some serious work to do there.

In the meantime, I'm off to bed to dream of what may come tomorrow. Peace out.

Points...

Hi. This is Mango reporting live with coverage from this weekend's fantasy football match ups. The season opener began with Team Biggers taking on Team Patterson. With incredible upset, Team Biggers won the game with 208 points; while Team Patterson lost with 136 points.

Other weekend match ups included Team Tarantino vs. Team Holliday. Team Tarantino dominated the game with 203 points compared to Team Holliday's mere 105 - the lowest of all the teams.

Teams McCurdy, Andrade & Wiedower all received byes this week.

What happened in the Biggers versus Patterson game? Well, Team Patterson had some bad luck with Brady injuring his knee and going out for the season. In a recent Facebook interview, Team Patterson owner Heidi stated that she has " some other tricks up [her] sleeve." The UCB Fantasy Football league can't wait to see what she plans to do.

Again, this is Mango with League UCB's Fantasy Football Follow-Up.

30 days...almost

Sheesh...where do I begin? It's been forever and a day since I've had time to blog. It's almost been a month! I'll guess I'll do some highlights.

• Moco started football! It all started Aug. 1st. I didn't post anything because I didn't know if it was going to stick. Day one of practice had my kid dancing instead of doing a grapevine. (He really didn't know what they were talking about!) A month later and the kid is still going strong. He is on the defensive line. Impressive since he is the youngest and shortest on the team. He's been tackling others that are much larger and have had more experience than he does. Sure - he's got days when he looks more like a tackle dummy than an actual football player...but he's out there. Our first game is on Saturday. I'll keep you posted...
• Moco's first day of school! He started his first official day of school with us on Aug. 25th. Yes, he started school last Spring here, but like he said "It's not the same. I was just the new kid. This is first day of school!" Two weeks into it and we're doing okay. Just started homework this week and no major issues...yet. I'm thinking those issues have passed, but he's still an 8 year old kid.
• Labor Day weekend was spent with me being sick the entire time. It was the first weekend in I don't know how long that Mike took the entire time off...and I was sick. Horrible. We did manage to go out on Friday night to celebrate his 37th birthday. We had tons of fun with friends and family. :) Other than that, we spent the weekend watching T.V. and resting. It was awesome!

That's about it for us. I'll try to do better on posting. A tough thing to do - but I will try. :)