The Phoenix

So was talking to Sienna's teacher and it turns out she was really close friends with the former owner of our home. I had heard from "the welcome wagon" that my house had burned before but I was never able to find any more information. ANYWAY, the story is that Marilyn and her husband had designed this home and it was almost complete. The builder was doing the final touches like flooring and paint. They had moved a bunch of their furniture and antiques into the basement waiting to move in. The builder employed both union and non-union workers. One of the non-union workers decided he was mad that he wasn't getting equal treatment and took out his anger by burning the house TO THE GROUND!! Wow. THey had to start over. So this is my house v2.1. It's almost too bad there was nothing more sinister than that - you know, like a well under the basement or a graveyard that curls my forks and spoons - so that I could be all creeped out about my haunted house. I'd have a hard time getting babysitters and i'd type "All work and no play makes shelby..."
"go crazy?"
"don't mind if I do...BWAH AHA HAH AH HAH HA!"

P.s. you can still donate to our run (even just a couple bucks would help out a lot and you'd be my best friend):
http://pages.teamintraining.org/dm/cmc09/mwellmaduz

Errr Snarl Snort Growl!!!

Anger. I'm riding high on it right now, so my words may be out of proportion to what actually happened. Forgive. 

Mason and Preslie are sick. Like "boneless chicken ranch" sick. They are laying all over the house and it was all i could do to put their limp bodies into the car to take the girls to school. So I dropped the girls off and went to the gas station by my house to get some milk. I park the very front spot in front of the glass doors - which coincidentally - you can SEE through and lock the lethargic kids in their seats in the locked car and run in to get the milk. The milk is probably 15 feet from my car. As I'm walking in, a man who's walking out (on his way to play some basketball with his pals, I think, judging by his hoodie and shorts) says,"you can't leave your kids in the car."

I say,"Yes, I can. They are sick. I'm here to get milk for them."

He says,"You can't leave your kids in the car."

I say,"They are throwing up. I'm not bringing then in the store. They are locked in."

He says,"It's against the law."

I say,"CALL THE POLICE!!!"

and spend less time getting my stinkin' milk than I did arguing with him about it. 

I'm so mad!! How could I have carried two sick kids and milk? He doesn't know. Now I have to growl and snort all day. Luckily I still have a bag of chicks & rabbits. That should help. Also, if somebody could go find that guy and put him on puke duty, that would be great. I'm sure he has plenty of experience with sick kids.

P.s. you can still donate to our run (even just a couple bucks would help out a lot and you'd be my best friend): 
http://pages.teamintraining.org/dm/cmc09/mwellmaduz

You've done so much and here I am asking for more...

Hey everyone!

As you know, this blog was started the week I found out I had cancer... well, even before we knew what it was. It is here that I documented my journey and it is here that I'm asking for your help yet again. As you know, Melanie, Jeff, Jaymeson, Lexi, Sara and I are all running the Nashville Half Marathon. We've decided to run to support the Lymphoma & Leukemia Society. The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS) is the world's largest voluntary health organization dedicated to funding blood cancer research, education and patient services. LLS's mission: Cure leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin's disease and myeloma, and improve the quality of life of patients and their families. Since its founding in 1949, LLS has invested more than $600 million in research specifically targeting blood cancers.

Because of this society's funded research, some of my own treatments were discovered/developed. I owe them so much. Please follow this link, read Melanie's amazing letter and see if you can help us out. A million times thank you. I really believe in this cause. Your donation is tax-deductible and if your business would like to contribute, we are working on t-shirts (among other things) and would love to showcase your logo showing your sponsorship.

I'll be updating our success on the blog. I'm really excited about this.

I love you all,
Shelby

Phew!

A special thanks to Don, the hwy 50 CVS store manager for going into the back room to find Chicks & Rabbits for me. That's customer service.

I ate many and they completed me.

I'll save you a trip...

Even though it's now WAY past VD and even though the universe KNOWS I need these more than anything, they're not yet available ANYWHERE near me. They're not at:
Dierbergs
Wal*Mart
Target
Shnucks
Walgreens
or CVS.
There. I just saved you gas and time and most of all HEARTBREAK.

I'll let you know when things change. Hang in there. We'll get through this together.

Happy VD!

HAppy VD, everyone. Hope you had a good one. Sienna did. She came home from school all floaty and I asked her why. She said that the boy she calls "Comfy Desk" (Austin) came up to her with a gift bag and asked her,"Sienna, will you be my valentine?". No wonder she was floaty. She told him she would. In the bag was a bear and a mug that said LOVE LOVE LOVE. I might die of the cuteness. The next day she wandered around the house singing,"So this is love, mmmm mmmm mmm mmmmmm". (Please don't mock her for it. I'll get in big trouble.)

I remember those feelings. How fun. I remember seeing that happen to girls and being so jealous. Was it in fourth grade? Maybe. I wished on the wishing star that year that Mike Garner would want to be my valentine. I read every card with a very discerning eye... did the Hot Wheels valentine that said,"You drive me wild" from Joey Munoz really mean something more? After all, I had stayed up late choosing exactly which valentine would go to whom and which conversation hearts would be stuffed in the envelope. It was never chance.

Nowadays, there aren't even envelopes. Kids don't write names on them and they're expected to bring a whole box of conversation hearts (which by the way say "text me!" and LOL) for EACH kid. Stupid. I'm glad Comfy Desk still knows the real meaning of that day.

25 Random Things About Camryn

While I couldn't bring myself to do this about me, here are some things Cams would have us know about her... and also it means I don't have to write it down somewhere else. Why all the focus on Camryn? I'm not sure. Maybe it's my way of finding reasons not to put her in time out for the rest of her life. She's a little tricky... ok, more like just plain MEAN to me. But not all of the time and I do love her very much. She got her hair cut today and it's so cute that I'm in love again. Yes, I'm that shallow.

(These are what she told me today)

1. She used to be red fashion, but now she's Red Fashion. (Capitalization used for emphAsis)
   
2. She doesn't like shows that talk to her like Dora or Little Einsteins because even if you say the wrong answer, they say,"THAT'S RIGHT!!" They don't know what you're thinking. How could they?
   
3. Her favorite food is a pumpkin shake made with Splenda. Splenda is her best friend. Ha ha ha. No it's not! You can't be friends with powder!
   
4. The thing that annoys her the most is when people sing when she's mad.
   
5. She says it's easy to tell if someone is cool because they are usually wearing blue. People who aren't cool wear crazy stuff. She never said she was cool.
   
6. She believes a bad doctor is someone who gives caffeine to somebody who has a really hurt toe because then they are going to have to stay awake and feel it.
   
7. She asked us yesterday if we were "republican, democrat or hippocrat".
   
8. When she grows up she wants to be a geologist because she has "been loving rocks pretty much [her] whole life".
   
9. She knows tons of basketball tricks.
   
10. She has never played basketball.
    
11. She likes to start speaking like this,"this is my opinion so don't say ANYTHING when I'm done..."
    
12. She picks her clothes out according to what she wants to be that day. To be a spy she wears all black. To be a rock star, she wears stripes. If she wants to be a cheerleader, she wears a skirt and shirt that are the same color - or close - like red and pink.
    
13. The worst thing ever is Tanner at school.
    
14. The best thing ever is either when she had a pumpkin shake or got a really big crystal.
    
15. She got the "Character Builder" award at school for self-control.
    
16. She has no self-control.
    
17. "Aren't you gonna ask me what my favorite tree is? Because it's a conifer."
    
18. Sometimes she "beeps" for no good reason.
    
19. She can't have sugar but if she could she'd have a chocolate chip cookie with white chocolate chips. She doesn't care that she can't have Hershey bars. Yuck.
    
20. She's really good at math. The hardest problem she can do in her head is probably 48 x 80. She doesn't know what the answer is, though.
21. Her favorite part of her body is... wait! no! Don't put that on your blog! MOM!! (She didn't even tell me anything)
    
22. She likes tv.
    
23. She's President Bush's Self-Proclaimed Biggest Fan.
    
24. She loves California because of the beach and the shells.
    
25. She believes the temperature can be "too medium" outside

She tags nobody.

Snow Days

Last week we had two snow days in a row. You know how I feel about snow days. The first day was horrible. I was trying to get all my work done and the kids were being Satan's spawn and they BEGGED me to go out and sled with them. We have a sledding hill. In the summer it's our roll-the-lawn-tractor hill. With the wind chill it was 9°. No thanks. So I finally let them go by themselves and they were back and frozen a few minutes later. Then they thawed and began wishing for another snow day. There's some superstition out here that if you sleep with your pajamas inside-out and with a hammer or something under your pillow - you'll get a snow day. They got their wish and all of the summer swim people came for winter sledding. The smart moms stayed inside with me. I do not like standing out in the cold and I have never loved all the effort that goes into sledding. Ten seconds down the hill and then ten minutes back up carrying some baby sledder who refuses to walk. Bleh. I made up some excuse about taking the new kitty to the vet and left.

On Thursday, our first non-snow day, the kids begged to go sledding after school. FINE. WE'LL GO. Bleh. We all got dressed up and went out there. At first I took some pictures and watched. Then Preslie (She calls herself "Jaymeson Blue" these days) wanted me to go with her. Ok. One time. We flew down the hill. Then I put her on the sled and pulled her back to the top. That wasn't hard. So I started going with all of them. up and down the hill, over and over. Sienna and I went so fast and far that we ran over a small tree and landed in the creek. We laughed our heads off. No wonder Jaym likes sledding so much! If you have the strength and energy to go up the hill, it's really fun! I never knew. What else have I been missing out on because I was such a wimp?? Thank you cancer. Thank you for making me strong enough to love sledding.

somethin' your weaknesses into strengths somethin' somethin'.