Archives for April 2008

I just got done watching a revision of “The Last Lecture” by Randy Pausch that he gave on the Oprah show awhile back. Randy Pausch, if you haven’t heard of him, is a professor at Carnegie-Mellon University and has terminal pancreatic cancer. The concept of a last lecture was apparently part of a series, where top academics were asked what would they tell the world, if they had the opportunity. His lecture was given for his kids, a lecture about achieving childhood dreams.

If you watch the video clip of the lecture – his wisdom is simple, but something that many of us overlook every day. I have not yet watched the full-lecture – only the excerpted lecture (which is about ten minutes long) but I was extremely moved. In fact, just before posting, I watched the clip for the third time and still found myself wiping tears from my cheeks when it was over. He has a book that will be coming out tomorrow – I’ve already preordered it from Amazon.com.

Something Randy Pausch said is that “time is all you have…and you may find one day that you have less than you think.”

I found out this morning that a former co-worker of mine passed away from complications due to cancer. This was a woman who embodied the very things that Randy Pausch spoke of in his lecture – and what I hope to find in the book as well. If ever there was an example of living one’s life with grace, it would be Ann, and it’s hard to mourn her death knowing her faith and joy that she lived life with here on earth is probably just as abundant in her life beyond. She was very faithful to her church and was a pastor in addition to the work she did with the company I work for. She was very engaged in volunteering to help others and ministering to others, and she was very invested in knowing people and about people and letting you know how much you were on her mind. In her work area, she kept a picture of my daughters posted – she always asked about them, always talked about them. The kind of friend who hangs up a picture of your kids… that’s a good friend.

She never let her cancer get her down. In fact, she told so few people about it. She had faith in the plan and she had faith that things would be the way they were supposed to be. She didn’t wait to die, she lived her life every day – making every day matter.

I know that I won’t be the only one who will miss her, and I grieve for her family for they have lost the strongest branch on the family tree. I am comforted knowing that I have another angel looking out for me and my family, though, and I know that she is.

“We cannot change the cards we are dealt, just how we play the hand.”
– Randy Pausch

Over on the right hand side, where all the little link-jobby-do’s are, I added a link to my profile at Twitter. Yeah. As if I needed one more Social Networking site to play with. Oh well. It’s fun. If you Twitter (tweet?), feel free to follow me…

Pumpkin slept through the night last night which is enough to make me a tremendously less cranky mother today than I have been the rest of the week. She’s even napping now (!) which leads me to proclaim, “Let’s hear it for albuterol!” I woke up at 6 and realized that none of my children were up. I then proceeded to lounge in bed reading a book until The Princess came in at 6:45. Wow! Is it Christmas?

Because it’s now spring break, we didn’t have any other kids coming to chill at our house this morning (and by chill, I mean, come over, argue a lot and tattle on each other about every.little.thing). This gave me and my kiddos a chance to veg on the sofa, watch some ‘toons, and move in slow-mo.

Around nine-thirtyish, we ventured out to our local grocery store (which is also the home of Starbucks and the closest Ticketmaster outlet). The girls noshed on sprinkle donuts and I sipped a truly nasty cappuccino (Honestly, I don’t know why 20% of the coffee I get from that particular Starbucks is not quite right). We wandered around killing time until ten. At ten, we were first in line for…

COUNTING CROWS/MAROON5 TICKETS!

Ah yeah.

I got ’em, I sure did. I am so over the moon stoked about it. I haven’t seen the Counting Crows in concert since 1996 (I think). Of course, you all know I *heart* Counting Crows, so I’m pretty excited about getting to see them in concert again. It’s funny, I really haven’t been to many concerts since I’ve been with Hubby – the last one was (don’t laugh) Lilith Fair in 1997. Of course, I’m not counting the Aerosmith concert he took me to at the beginning of our relationship – true, he bought the tickets as a gift “for me”- I don’t really like Aerosmith and I’m pretty sure I didn’t enjoy the show. Silly man. And I’m not counting the Hannah Montana concert I caught in December, either.

I’m pretty hungry today – it’s grocery day and the cupboards are looking a little bare. Had I known, I would have bought something besides DONUTS at the store this morning. Ah well.

1. Pumpkin has caught a bug. Lovely. The fun thing about daycare is that even when your kid is sick and can’t attend, you still have to pay for it. Even if your child attends only two days per week – daycares still typically won’t offer an alternate day so you are not just out $40-some for nothing. That kind of pisses me off. (Note: Pumpkin has a virus along with an asthmatic cough which the doc has told us to use albuterol syrup to ease — here’s hoping it works – we have not slept in about two days).

2. Today is the last day of school before Spring Break. The Princess will be home all next week, and I’m trying to think of things to keep us busy, because she gets bored being at home. Already on the agenda is going to see “Horton Hears a Who” with a friend of hers, and a trip to the dentist.

3. Less than two weeks from now, tax season will be O-V-E-R!

4. When you look at my hair in normal light it looks pretty much the same – in the sunlight, it’s pretty red. I guess that’s what you get when you mix Mahogany and Roxy Red. Huh.

5. Yesterday I hurt my toe and The Princess said to me, “It’s just a toe, Mom. You have…NINE more.” Niiiiiiiiiiice.

6. So glad to see Ramiele get the boot on American Idol last night. She looked all nervous and squishy. The music industry would have chewed her up and spit her out.

7. Books! I’ve got books! I put several books on hold and was able to pick some up from the library this morning. I’m so glad to have something to read again.

8. I think my new favorite song these days is “Come Around” by Counting Crows. I really love that song.

9. I found a guy I knew in high school on Facebook this week. Let’s just say he’s done a 180 from the guy he was 15 years ago. Sounds blissfully happy, which is awesome, but that life o’ his took a whole new direction than I’d ever have predicted. Huh. Just goes to show you, you never really know.

10. The sun is shining today – I can’t wait til Hubby gets home and I can get outside for a walk. The weather is still a bit chilly, but should be warmer by the time he gets home. I love being able to walk outside again!

I hate April Fool’s Day. I really really do. Partly because I’m kinda sorta gullible (by the way, that is Urban Dictionary’s Word of the Day), and partly because I just don’t find practical jokes to be even remotely amusing. I have a quirky sense of humor, and sometimes it can be razor sharp, but something about practical jokes – they seem almost cruel to me, and even more cruel if I’m on the receiving end.

Which brings me to the fact that there is even a day for making other people look stupid – of course, it’s not my favorite day of the year.

Oh well.

In other stuff, but still April related – I cannot believe it’s April. I’m not entirely sure how it’s here already. It was creeping, creeping creeping and now… Voila. It’s April. Two weeks from today is the end of the nearly four-month hell-a-thon known as tax season. It’s hard to believe – but I am relieved nonetheless. Two weeks from tomorrow, I will have my four hour bliss-a-thon at the dayspa – can’t wait. I still need a lift – so tomorrow my sister is going to dye my hair again (let’s see what happens this time!). We’ve picked two shades of red to mix together – and I wish I could remember their names (aren’t the names the best part!?). They are from the Shades EQ line from Redken, which means it only deposits color not lifts my color – so it will basically be a wash right over the brown. This is probably why we struggle to have it “show up” – but it’s also good because it’s only temporary. Someday, I’ll get brave enough for a real change.

But not tomorrow.