the color of hope

This weekend I made Cancer Awareness Bracelets.

Each bead represents a type of Cancer. Obviously there are some repeats.

Orange = Leukemia; Pink = Breast; Teal = Cervical & Ovarian; Yellow = Bladder & Bone; Dark Blue = Colon; Clear = Lung; Lime Green = Lymphoma; Black = Melanoma, and Lavender = General Cancer. I obviously couldn't represent every form of cancer. So I chose the ones that I know have a connection to the people around me. If I missed anyone, well, then it's Lavender for the misc. cancers and I am sorry. Also, I attached a Charm to each. Mine says "Believe." Mom's is "Love." Shannon's is "Hope." and Linda's is "Peace." Stores charge over $20 per bracelet. Are they giving the $10+ proceeds to charity? I hope so. If I decide to market these... My new brand will be called: MAD@Cancer (Mom's initials: Mary Anne Damon). Any interest?

Likes:

1. Having an impromptu Girls Night Saturday evening. Thanks Danell and Shannon!

2. The Amana Colonies in the Fall. I forgot to take any pictures, but it was a wonderful afternoon with the family yesterday.

3. My second to last class of Tai Chi is tonight!!!!

4. Cheesecake! My friend Adam brought me homemade cheesecake for my lunch!!!

Dislikes:

1. Weston's horrible sleeping patterns on Sundays. It does not make for a good week.

2. Lean Cuisine's Pasta with Ricotta and Spinach. It had too much spinach, not enough seasoning. And it is not a friend of my tummy.

3. Uncle Dave is in Germany... so not liking the high Terrorist Threats right now. :(

It's the Weekend!

This picture of Weston was taken at Spring Lake Park in Cherokee, Iowa, on September 11th. It was the Iowa/Iowa State Game and we were visiting Scott's Mom and Sister. Weston was bored in the apartment, so Aunt Carol and I took Weston to the park. And he was so cooperative while I played with my camera. I love this picture of him. He looks so calm.

Likes:

1. Today is Friday. And it's a Bye Week, so no Hawkeye Football this weekend, time to rest and be away from the tv.

2. HuHot tonight!!!! Goodbye cravings!

3. ValleyFest is tomorrow in West Des Moines. It is the premiere marching band competition in Central Iowa. And I'm a Band Geek!!!!

4. We're headed to Cedar Rapids Sunday to see Uncle David off to Europe for work. Then we're headed to the Amana Colonies with Mom and Aunt Linda for Octoberfest Fun!!!

5. I got my test results back from my diabetes appt and I am doing so well!!! My A1C (which is the fool-proof way to tell if I've behaved over the last 3 months) went down from 7 to 5.9!!! And the doctors are usually happy with a 6.5! Yea!!!

Dislikes:

1. Dad isn't feeling too well, plus work, so we won't see him this weekend.

2. Uncle David leaves for Europe. Always a little scary.

Not too many dislikes today. Just the way I like it!!!

... for the game at hand

New rule: If I have nothing to Post, I will post a previously un-blogged picture and my likes and dislikes for today. Because there is one thing I learned from Lowe's... For every problem, offer a solution. Basically work in harmony, for every negative give at least one positive. So... here goes:

This picture was shot on September 5th. We were in Clinton working on Mom and Dad's house, deciding what of our childhood we wanted to donate or keep. (Kept surprisingly little.)
It took tons of pictures before we figured out how to shoot Paisley so that her big, beautiful blue eyes were open. But it was so worth it. So... this is our niece and Weston's cousin, Paisley AnneMarie Damon, age 17 months.

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Likes:

1. Mom is doing so well that she and Aunt Linda spent yesterday shopping (!!!!) at the outlet mall in Williamsburg, and then they went to the Riverside Casino. They were gone almost all day! Just like "old times." (tear. happy tear.)

2. Chai Tea Frappucino with a shot of Sugar Free Vanilla from Starbucks. It makes me amazingly happy. And it tastes like frozen Thanksgiving.

3. Also, I like that it's Thursday and that means a night with Shannon!

Dislikes:

1. How no one really knows that October is Domestic Violence Prevention Month, but everyone focuses on Breast Cancer Awareness. Why can't we focus on both?

2. And Lab Vampires, aka Phlebotomists. Today, a Vampire drew 2 1/2 large tubes of blood from the little vein she found in my hand. It hurt then (she had to keep pushing it in further to keep the flow) and it still hurts like a b#?%"*h now.

Sorry...

For those of you following... I have been so bad lately. I had a really great post going about our Sept 19th trip to Adventureland, complete with pictures. One minute it was there, the next all I had were the pictures. :( So, it's been hard for me to jump back on the wagon.

So... for now, all is well. Mom is doing so great. She went shopping today at the Outlet Mall near Cedar Rapids, she spent a week with Dad in Kansas City, and they visited us in Des Moines last weekend. We're going to try and walk through the Amana Colonies on Sunday. For more on Mom, join her Carepages, it's like my 2nd Mom-centric blog.

For now, I need to get going, but I will come back and put up lots of pictures! ASAP.

Thanks for hanging in here with me.

Carrie Underwood Make-Up Tutorial by Kandee

dinner

So... you'd think that on Labor Day of all days, I would take a break from cooking. It makes sense, right? Not so much really. I saw this as an opportunity to make some big things that i normally wouldn't try on a weeknight. First up, Lasagna Rolls. These fabulous mini lasagnas come from the Back to School section on Betty Crocker (.com) Since I volunteered to try to have 3 meals frozen for my sister (the Grad Student) per week, I have been on the search for freezable meals. Some time when I get time (second weekend in October I think) I am going to make nothing but freezable meals for all of us. I also made Laura Grotelueschen's Stuffed Shells; I froze 4 meals of the shells.

I decided on the fly that we were having the lasagna rolls for dinner tonight. They were fabulous! Get the recipe here. I froze 2 meals of 2 rolls each. One for Shannon, one for me. Each with sauce on the side. So simple. But, I did run out of filling. So, I made Laura's Florentine filling for the shells and used it on the Rolls. Granted, I got less stuffed shells, but I still had dinner for the family. There are currently no pictures of the shells... because they are obviously frozen and uneaten. I'll try to take some pictures before those are devoured.

Below you will find Shannon's dinner. 2  Lasagna Rollups, one traditional with red sauce, the larger one is the Florentine from Laura's filling recipe - also with red sauce. I think Alfredo would also be delicious. I had the same as Shannon.

Scott and Weston had the version below. Everything is the same as the traditional Betty recipe, except that the boys had a meat sauce instead. But Scott loved it!

Shannon left tonight with 5 meals: Goulash, Lemon-Basil Chicken with Mushroom Rice Pilaf, Lasagna Rolls, and 2 meals of the Stuffed Shells. One more to go and I'll have her covered for 2 full weeks! Pretty good haul for a Monday.

New Photo Book: Jones Family Stories; Volume II

Click here to view this photo book.