Hope4Peyton

As a fairly new member of the blog-iverse, I have been a tad shocked to find some soulmates, sisters, a whole mess of new friends and now?? A niece! I have been formally adopted as a Blog-Aunt to Sienna, newly produced offspring of PapaTV.

Can I tell you how much this gig rocks?

I have these real nieces. (remember? adopted? that’s why they’re all blond and pretty much not-Korean-looking)

But as a bloggy aunt I don’t have to change a single diaper, not one solitary baby shower invite crossed my palms, and the baby barf down the back? You got it! None. It’s awesome. I highly recommend you get yourself some blog relatives.

Perhaps I’ll even find myself an aging, slightly senile blog-aunt of my own who will leave me a shiny new Macbook and some leftover hosting months when she dies…a girl can dream, right?

So I shall now introduce all of you to the ever so yummy, Sienna. Let the cooing and awwwing commence.  And go leave Brian and Ana some congrats on the birth of their sweet new lovely.

Happy Bornday, Sienna.  I’m the aunt that will take you to R-rated movies when you’re 12, hit on your soccer coach to make sure you get more field time, and teach you the proper way to stuff your bra….they have these great chicken cutlet things now, no kleenex for you, missy.

BTW, don’t comment on that whole “missing hand” thing, the hospital swears they will find it and reattach it ASAP.  Good to know.

My weekend.

Had some of this

A little of this

And a whole lot of this

Saturday night Peter and I were given a wonderful opportunity to be a part of an extraordinary event and share the evening with friends who have become family.

Sister Hazel frontman Ken Block lost his younger brother to Lymphoma at 18 years old.  Ken is an amazing man with a heart and dedication for raising awareness and funds for childhood cancer research and quality of life programs.  Lyrics for Life is a concert that his band performs nationwide and they donate the money to some awesome programs, locally benefitting the Children’s Cancer Center.

There was good food, stunning auction items, outstanding music and people….lots and lots of people coming together to open their wallets for pediatric cancer. Amazing.  Ken’s mom spoke eloquently about her life as the mother of a cancer patient, the loss they suffered, the grief that they went through.  It resonated deeply in my heart, how could it not?  Something she said touched me so profoundly (and this is paraphrased, because I can’t remember exactly, but close enough):

“We can’t control the outcome, but we can control how we face each day. We can make sure that we live with happiness and hope until we reach the outcome.”

Their outcome wasn’t what any person would dream, but they knew that they lived each day to the fullest. I have to adopt that. OWN that.

*************

Sunday night was all SPORTS all night!

We were given some great seats courtesy of Mike Alstott to attend his dedication at the Buc’s game.  The game was a blowout and we enjoyed watching an emotional goodbye ceremony to an awesome athlete and a tremendous man.  We’ve had the pleasure of meeting Mike a few times because his heart is also passionate childhood cancer and he’s done some great things for our local cancer families.  It was fantastic to be there on a night to honor him.

The funny thing was how torn the crowd was between watching the game playing out on the field and the critical Rays game playing across the bridge.  The crowd was so jazzed up for a night of Tampa champions. Although I know squat about baseball and I’ve never sat through a World Series, I’m excited for the Rays and their victory and what that means to our hometown.

If you’re a Rays fan and supporter, please consider purchasing an Evan Longoria shirt that will also benefit the Children’s Cancer Center!

I have an awesome post to explain this expression :

But I’m tired and it requires more time and emotion than I have to put into it right this second.

Instead, I have to tell you about my McStupid moment.

“I need four cheeseburgers and I need two with ketchup only and…”

“Ok, so you want two cheeseburgers and two with ketchup only.”

“No.  I need four cheeseburgers normal and two with ketchup only. Six all together.”

“Oh. Ok. Is that all?”

“No.  I need two more cheeseburgers with ketchup an

d pickles.”

“Two with ketchup and two with ketchup and pickles only.”

“And four normal cheeseburgers.”

“Four cheeseburgers.”

“No. Four normal cheeseburgers AND two with ketchup only AND two with pickles and ketchup.  Eight cheeseburgers. EIGHT.”

“So…four cheeseburgers with ketchup…”

“NO. Look at me….” four fingers up on the left hand, “I need 4 regular cheeseburgers…” two fingers went up on the right hand, “PLUS 2 cheeseburgers with ketchup ONLY…” two more fingers on my right hand, “AND 2 cheeseburgers with ketchup and pickles.”

No answer. No expression.  Just an obvious confusion.

FOR REAL.

I am standing in line at McDonalds, making sign language for burgers and you still aren’t getting it?

I need 8 cheeseburgers! 8 cheeseburgers! I will come back and make them myself, just give me 8 cheeseburgers!

“Ok. Is that all?”

“No, I need 2 small and 1….no, no, let’s make it easy, just give me 3 LARGE FRIES.”

“Does that complete your order?”

“Read it back to me please.”

“Really?”

“Yes.”

The girl finally hands me the bag with this look of complete terror on her face.  I opened the bag and unwrapped each and every hamburger (because I am JUST like that) and guess what …they were all plain cheeseburgers, with nothing on them at all.

We both sighed.

“Can I get you a manager?”

“Yeah, that’s probably a good idea.”

Oh, McDonald’s Training Program: McFAIL.

**Also, today I’m over here, talking about how I’m making an effort to not always be the one behind the lens.

Ok, so I didn’t die.

Felt like it. Wanted it. Thought maybe for a few minutes.

But am still alive.

New post coming soon…when the migraine hangover wears off.

I had this great post about Rachael’s first sewing project and how she produced her first piece of clothing…one that you would actually wear, not one of those funky Project Runway concoctions made of toothpicks and dvd cases.

But I have a migraine.

One of the slow creepers that makes my eyeballs pulse and a high pitch whining in my ears.

There is spot over my right eye that feels as if something might be trying to crawl out…and it’s pissed.

I hurt.  So bad.

Nathaniel cooked hot dogs for all the kids for lunch.  LOVE LOVE LOVE All is forgiven for what happened last night (which is another post for when I am fully coherant).

So, this is all the post you will get.

Just this sad plea for sympathy and pity.