divide and conquer

Divide and conquer. That is our motto for the day.

So much to do...and we slept in until 10:30 this morning.

We partied hard last night and worked our tails off with the rest of the county to raise over $109,000 for the American Cancer Society. (Remind me to do a post later and share a few of my favorite quotes from the night!)



In fact, much of the past 2+ weeks has been spent finalizing details for the event, so a lot of work around the house has been neglected.



Time to get caught up.

Today's to-do lists:



Guess I should add "Grandma's Marathon Recap" to my list of to-dos, huh?

Check back in later to make sure we got it all done!

relay for life recap

Yesterday morning I tried to get my thoughts about Washington's American Cancer Society Relay For Life event down on paper(okay, okay - down in an email). I wanted to email the "higher ups" in the organization about the Relay and why it was so successful this year, instead of having them pull a report to see what our projected income would be.

Here's what I wrote - I do no justice to the event.

Good Morning!

I am sure by now, some of you have pulled a report to check out this weekend's Relay numbers and know of the huge success in Washington County, but I thought I would try to get some words down to truly convey to you just how amazing Washington County is. These words will not even come close, though, so please multiple their effect by about a million...


Over two years ago, Karen V.O. and the RFL committee set a goal of raising $100,000 for their 10th Relay. A pretty lofty goal for a smaller county, but the committee kept their eyes on the prize (so to speak) and did what they could to try to achieve this goal. As a staff partner, I of course encouraged them to go for this goal, but wasn't too sure they would meet it, for in FY09 they raised about $72,000.


Their success began in January when a very passionate volunteer, Angie V.G., set the precedent for all Coaches v. Cancer events in the state, raising over $8,000 at a boys and girls basketball double header. This then ballooned to many other athletic events in the county and students, parents and booster clubs raised approx. $16,000 to support the Relay.


$16,000? We can work with that! However, I thought that since parents gave to this event, they might not dig as deep when it came time for Relay and I was apprehensive to up my projected income...


Boy, was I ever wrong. This past weekend, the community came together. They came together to honor and remember. They came together to fight back against "stupid cancer" and to tell it to take a hike, because they, Washington County, were sick of it. They were sick of it making their kids sick - kids who looked cancer in the face and told it, "I don't think so, stupid cancer. You are not going to hurt me!" They were sick of it taking their loved ones. But event through all the loss and hardship, cancer did not scare Washington County. Cancer made Washington County fight harder.


And fight they did. The team captains, members, businesses and residents of Washington County came together to raise over $125,000 on Saturday. They blew their $100,000 goal out of the water and gave cancer a clear sigh that they were not going to back down. Because of Washington County, we are a huge step closer to finding a cure.


Sadly, Karen V.O., was not there to see her and the committee's goal achieved. Karen passed away a few months ago after a lengthy battle with cancer. But her spirit was with everyone on Saturday, and their thoughts were with her.


These are just my words, and they do Washington County and their Relay no justice. I am sure sure anyone slept after the Relay because of the huge high I am sure they were on.


Here are a few photos from the event. 

My state director and the mayor

Kids from the "WE Team" who raised over $500 just singing Happy Birthday to people at the event. They started off asking for 25 cents and ended the night raising $100 for each performance!

walks with maia

So remember when I said that I wanted to start waking up earlier to get the pup out for a walk? Well for the past month or so (minus a few days) we've been doing just that! I love beginning the day with a walk, I feel like it sets the tone for the entire day.

Some days, however, Maia is a complete brat (insert another "b" word here) on the walk and I end up in a crabby mood when I get home. Maia is a puller and a roller. She always always pulls when walking, but since we have stated using the extend-o-leash, things have been better. My arms still get a good stretch when Maia SQUIRREL sees a rabbit or a SQUIRREL! And she is a roller! Mid walk all of a sudden she just plops to the ground and rolls on her back - weirdo.

Anywho, this morning was a good morning with the pup and we even managed to run a bit during our 3 mile excursion. Such a good way to start my SHORT SHORT week!

The iced coffee I had on my hour commute to my office helped start the morning off right, too. When I got to the office, I broke into my overnight oatmeal cookie topped with strawberries. Yum!

































What's an overnight oatmeal cookie you ask?

• 1/4 cups oats
• 1/2 mashed banana
• Raisins
• Cinnamon
• Splash soy milk
• 1 T chia seeds

Don't knock it until you try it - so good!

Lunch was packed last night and I am looking forward to breaking into that as well!

Tomatoes and carrots from our CSA, (sorry Nic, that is all the tomatoes from the box!) cherries, and a new nut butter and rhubarb jam thin bun.





I am heading up to MN tomorrow evening! So looking forward to a quick break from work (after such a huge success this weekend!) and spending some time with the families and friends. Who am I kidding, I am really only looking forward to meeting the newest addition to the family, Sylvia May!

Speaking of our huge Relay success this weekend - if you want/have time, you can hear part 1 of our Relay recap on today's edition of the Washington Page from KCII when it is posted later this afternoon.

up all night & sleep all day

This weekend I had my third and final Relay of the summer, thus ending my three weeks of Relay. THANK GOODNESS! This weekend's Relay was my only overnight event and you'd better believe that I stayed up all night with my volunteers - because I am a good staff partner! I did get a hotel, but only went there twice, for a total of about 30 minutes to take a shower!

The Relay ended at 6AM and I planned to crash at the hotel until check-out at Noon. I must have gotten my 4th wind or so of the night, and decided I'd sleep better in my own bed and drove the hour north home. I got home at 7AM and didn't wake up until 3ish. A well needed rest after a long night.

We had some friends over for dinner a mere 4 hours after I woke up. On the menu - BBQ smokedgouda/fress mozzarella chicken sandwiches, salad and yummy pineapple zucchini cake. After dinner we played a game of "Sorry!", enjoyed a bonfire and then headed back inside for some more (drunken) "Sorry!" Nick, our friend and Nic's co-worker brought over some of his homemade wine, which I will call from now on "Fire Water." Man, does that wine pack a punch! (for the record, I did not drink any of Nick's wine this weekend. Rather, I drank a bottle and a half of some less potent stuff!)

We must have been tired or something - we went to bed about 1:30AM and didn't wake up until after Noon Sunday. Whoops - there goes the day! It did end up being a lazy Sunday, full of naps (what?! really, naps after sleeping for 12 hours? Yes.) and reading. We also worked on our budget. I am proud to say that besides student loans and our house, we are debt free (we never had that much, just a little that was needing to be paid off) and plan to stay that way! We are working on a plan to increase the size of our rainy day/our cars suck fund, as well as pay off our student loans a bit faster than planned. Then, we'll tackle the house.

I am looking forward to this week rushing by as we are spending this coming weekend in Rochester. Saturday we have a BBQ for Greg, and will be staying with Becky and Curt - and their cute daughter, Kiera or Elizabeth as most people call her. :)

The following weekend we are making the trek to MN to see EVERYONE! Yeah! Clear your calendars people - you are spending the weekend with Kier and Nic!

The following week will be s short one for me as I am taking Wednesday - Friday off to celebrate my GOLDEN BIRTHDAY! (You haven't forgotten about that, have you?) I just don't know what I will do with all that time off...hmmm. Maybe Nic will get me an awesome present that I can consume my time with....!

Holy crap - and then it is SEPTEMBER! Where has the summer gone?

Relay For Life of Des Moines County

After a rough start to the day, we had a beautiful night for the 2009 Relay For Life of Des Moines County. Storms rolled through the area until about 3PM, but was clear skies for our survivors picnic and opening ceremonies. More than 750 people were in attendance as we celebrated, remembered, and fought back against a disease that takes far too much. Over $92,000 was raised, just shy of their $95,000 goal.

5K Time and Relay For Life

Since Janelle's guess had to be thrown out because she cheated (posting her guess after the race where she was standing at the finish line....nice try though!) MOM WINS! With a guess of 26 minutes, she was about 1 minute 20 seconds off.

My time - 24 minutes 39 seconds! That's 7:56 mile pace. WOOT! I believe that time got me an 8th place finish over all, third place female finisher, and 2nd in my age category.

So Mom wins a candle from Backyard Candle Co. Which is seriously the best place to buy candles! Come to Iowa...you will see!

Today, all day we have the Relay For Life of Washington County. If you'd like to support the life saving mission of the American Cancer Society, you can visit our team site. TEAM KCII! Thank you to those who have donated already.

Relay For Life 5K TONIGHT!!

Relay For Life 5K is at 6:30 tonight! Be the closest to guess my time and win something awesome!! (Like a candle from Backyard Candle Co.!!!) PS - a 5K is 3.1 miles...

Relay For Life of Washington County

This Saturday Nic and I will participate in the Relay For Life of Washington County.  Nic has been involved in the planning process of this Relay for four years now, and it is the one Relay I get to enjoy as a participant as opposed to a staff person.

We Relay in memory of Dad, Uncle Ted and Grandma Janet.  We Relay in honor of Grandpa, Aunt Linda and all others who can proudly call themselves SURVIVORS.

I am certain that with the progess that the American Cancer Society is making, we will find the cure for cancer in our lifetime. 

We appreciate the support of our family members and friends.  If you would like to donate to the Relay For Life of Washington County, click here.