good things {this week}

- a perfect score

- compliments

- my new laptop

- that I had to buy said laptop {makes expensive purchases so much easier!}

- new recipes that turn out yummy

- this pin on Pinterest... I love it.

condo

This afternoon I found myself thinking about the condo. The condo really wasn't a place of many good memories. In fact, I pretty much hated it when we moved in. Everything was in turmoil. I loved the townhouse we'd lived in and the ward.

Despite all its shortcomings and unpleasant memories and the circumstances under which we moved out of it, when I thought of the condo this afternoon, I had a really warm feeling. Especially right before  her diagnosis (if only we'd known what was coming!), we would spend the evenings lying on her bed watching movies from the library. It was cozy.

Until recently, I've had a lot of time on my hands. A lot of potential to miss Mom more than I'd think was possible. Even with the increased demands on my time (thanks to graduate school and resulting lack of time to do nothing), I find myself missing her more lately. I think part of it is that I don't get to share the happenings of my day with her anymore. Another is probably that she was always really supportive of all my school stuff and I miss being able to  share the good moments of that with her.

Just a few thoughts.

good things {seven moments in seven days}

-surviving 7 whole days as a grad student & realizing that my brain still works

- starting temple prep

- an older brother patiently teaching me how to tie double windsor until understanding (sort of) dawns

- pesto chicken and peach cobbler

- an auntie suggesting milk for the wood stain splashed all over my legs . . . and it succeeded where both body scrub and washcloth failed

- tears instead of imploding upon the realization that 9 months have passed

- good deals on necessary purchases

take early action & live

This post was originally going to be about my adventures as a newly-minted grad student, but something has been on my mind the past few days and I decided I wanted to share this instead.

September is NATIONAL OVARIAN CANCER AWARENESS MONTH

I've never been a crusader for anything. I'm still not, but obviously this is something that's impacted my life a lot recently. I always knew that the survivability rate for ovarian cancer was WAY low just from things I've read, but since I'd never known anyone who had had ovarian cancer, I didn't think about it much. I think about it now.

Since the mama passed away I've seen ONE commercial for ovarian cancer awareness on TV. Granted, I don't watch a ton of TV and what I do watch is mostly on DVR . . . but, I've seen countless commercials, internet ads, products all promoting breast cancer awareness. It makes me angry.

Now, there's nothing wrong with promoting breast cancer awareness. It too is a horrible disease. Too many people lose their loved ones. However, statistically speaking, ovarian cancer has a much higher fatality rate because there is no early detection screening like there is for breast cancer. Too often the symptoms for ovarian cancer are diagnosed as something else until it's too late. Mama was a victim of this and while I wouldn't change anything because it was a blessing for her to be free of pain for so many reasons, I cannot even begin to express how much I miss and want my dear mama back.

Just like pink is used to promote breast cancer awareness, the color teal represents ovarian cancer awareness. TEAL is also an acronym: Take Early Action & Live. I think the color is fitting. It was one of Mom's favorite colors.

http://www.whyteal.org/#