Too Much Stuff!

Dang, things accumulate to quickly!  Decided to try to have a garage sale - thought make it easy, just bring the boxes up from the basement & say everything was a dollar.  Holy cow, I underestimated how many boxes of stuff there was.  May just have to do what I can and give away the rest.  Then I can bring home all my teacher stuff - save it for a year and see what happens.  Then have another sale if needed with all of that stuff.  Hope we do make some $$$ to use on our trip to Mayo Clinic.   Would help!

Memorial Day

Went to Olathe to hang out with our long-time friends.  Good food, good drinks, good times!  Jason used to be a chef (ie head chef at Harry Starkers) so when he cooks---we EAT!  Got a chance to catch up with all the latest with the old gang.  The kids all played hard while we visited.  Then we went to the pool to work off lunch.  Finally dragged ourselves away from there around 7pm.  Finally headed home around 8 pm.  If our kids hadn't had school today, we probably would have just stayed out there.  Oh well, they aren't moving now we found out (yeah!) so plenty more time for other evenings.  

Live Great Memories event

Wow!  What a turn out for the church's Memorial Day event yesterday.  Can't even begin to make a guess at how many people were there.  The rain held off also!  Had Zarda BBQ - yummy.  The kids loved all the inflatables - Ty really liked the Sumo Wrestling Ring and Jousting Arena.  He even gave the Mechanical Bull a try!  Morgan liked the Obstacle course-style moonwalk the best.  And she got her face painted (course she picked the style that covered her whole face with paint.) Watched some of the games and home run derby.  Visited with lots of ppl.  Ended up getting burnt to a crisp - hopefully it will turn to tan.  Todd helped Tim with security most of the day and then stayed until 9pm until his relief came for the all-night shift.  Full day, plenty of sun, lots of fun = exhausted!  Slept well and now ready for a fun day at our friends' house.  

GoodTimes

Went and saw our "old"neighbor's new house  - Wow!  It was awesome.  Has a pool and gazebo outside and an awesome area to entertain in downstairs.  Then had some friends over tonight.  Great night, good weather.  The trampoline was a big hit.  Someone was jumping on it at all times it seemed.  I think we got our money's worth many times over already!  Tomorrow is a big day at the church.  Hope the weather continues to hold out.   Maybe I'll even remember to take pictures like I meant to tonight - lol!  Want to start posting them.

So many movies...

...that I want to see!  Some that are already out - like Indiana Jones & Prince Caspian.  But more to come this summer like Ku Fu Panda, Don't Mess With The Zohan, and The Happening!

Why Perseverance

     This word means a lot to me.  It is one of the "life skills" we teach in TKD.  I never realized how much it is a part of my character until this past year.  I persevered in my training to get to my 2nd degree black belt, to earn my certified trainee collar, become a state champ in forms, weapons, sparring, and XMA weapons, compete in the top ten my first year as a black belt, and continued my training for awhile basically on my own as some things were going on during spring of '07.  

     THEN perseverance saved my life and continues to do so.  After World Championship last year, it was discovered that my lungs & liver were dying due to vasculitis.  I also have a brain tumor.  July 20th, 2007 my life changed in an instant.  Things became clearer, found out who were the "real" people in my life, and what was most important.  As I continue through my chemo & steroid treatments to put my vasculitis into remission, sometimes perseverance is all I can hang onto.  Plus, I know it will get me through my brain surgery with flying colors! 

     It was ironic - yesterday at a reception they had for us at work who were not returning next year, our principal spoke about each one of us.  He said he thought of a word that came to mind when he thought of us.  The word he said reminded him of me was PERSEVERANCE!  He said I had an inner strength that was pretty amazing and that I would persevere through everything.  

So as I thought of what to name my site, I chose perseverance since it is so much a part of me!

Finally...

Got this thing started.  Now let's see if I can keep up with it.  Hope to keep up with this as much as possible.