A Repost...go ahead and do it to....

Just saw this on Gidget's blog and needed to repost this.  I agree with the power of positive thinking so maybe we can all help out here...
I saw this on someone else's blog this morning. It warmed my heart, even though it's sad. It's the holiday season, y'all. Help a bleep in need.


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My name is brandy. And I have a blog.

And a plea.

I use my blog to showcase the crazy I meet everyday, share the stories of the kids I teach and document my love for tequila, dairy products and the abdominal muscles of Ryan Reynolds. Rarely do I talk about personal issues on my blog- as personal as the dude that I adore (who I actually met through my blog- single ladies, let that be a very good reason to blog, the possibility of meeting someone as wonderful as my man), but I need your help. And it involves my dude.

He’s a guy who made math comics for my class, so they would love learning about addition. He’s the kinda guy who sends my friends gift cards when they are having hard times, who remembers every story I ever told him, who was the first person I celebrated with when I got a teaching job. He’s the guy who sent flowers to me at school- dozens of my favourite pink roses just because he loves me. He’s a guy who has spent a year patiently explaining (and re-explaining) everything there is to know about football during the important games when silence is preferred. He’s made me word puzzles and comics and stayed up late playing Scrabble with me (even though I beat him almost every time). He’s listened to me cry about school and family and jobs. He is everything I never knew I needed and everything I always knew I wanted.

The holidays have hit us hard. He’s recently been told he may have something called multiple myeloma- an incurable cancer, that gives a person an average of five years of continued life. Though this news has came as a shock, he continues to be exactly who has always been- spending his time worrying about me, rather than worrying about himself. He’s the most selfless individual I know- (he stayed late on Christmas Eve to work, so his co-workers could leave early) and a post like this would never be something that he would promote or encourage but when I’m overwhelmed and feeling helpless, the blogging community has always given me tremendous support and comfort, two things I desperately need at this time.

As I write this, the future is uncertain and we aren’t sure what’s happening. He’ll need to see an oncologist soon, to verify what’s going on in his body. My hope is that everyone who reads this think positive thoughts and if you are a person who prays, could you add him to your list? (You can refer to him as ‘brandy’s hot awesome dude’). If you don’t pray, please keep him in your heart.This cancer is only a possibility and I believe that the prayers and positive thoughts of people can make sure it never becomes a reality.

I want to give a big thank you to the blog owner who scraped their original blog plans and graciously put this up. My goal is to get as many people as possible to see and read this post. If you are reading this and want to help, copy and paste my plea into your blog or send a link through twitter, so more people can keep him in their thoughts. I would be so very grateful (even more grateful than I am to my friend who first showed me the picture of Ryan Reynolds on the cover of Entertainment Weekly. If you haven’t seen it, google it. You. Are. Welcome).

I realize this all sounds dramatic, a Lifetime movie in the making- but this is life. Right now. And I’m throwing away any hint of ego and am humbly asking for you to pray or think kind thoughts. If you are able to pass this on, thank you and if you know anything regarding MM- please email me (my email is on my blog). This isn’t a call for sympathy or a plea for pity. It’s just one girl hoping you can think positive thoughts for the person she adores. If my current heartache provides you with anything, let it be with the reminder that life is short, love is unbending and no one knows what could happen next. Maybe it is silly, but I really do believe that positive thoughts can make a huge difference. Thank you for reading this and if you haven’t already? Please tell someone you love them today.

I did.

A boss, a gopher, and all around craziness...

I owe you, my dear bleeps (all 7 of you), an apology. I have been holding things back from you. In my defense I’ve been holding back this information because I didn’t want to whine and complain to all of you. I now realize, however, that by depriving you of my whining I am also depriving you of some pretty hilarious stories. So here goes nothing…


I work in a loony bin.

First, a bit of background. I have always worked in loony bins. I taught high school science for gosh sakes! Last June, to my dismay, I was laid off from my job and was left unemployed about two weeks away from my wedding. Sweet. Now, my master’s degree is in curriculum design and I was a bit jaded about the whole laid off thing, so I decided to take a job that involved me being out of the classroom designing curriculum and programming for teachers. I thought it sounded amazing. I pictured myself brainstorming with equally excited teachers to develop kick ass programs. I saw myself kindly guiding teachers through these programs and helping them to become better teachers. I saw lots of excited students involved in these programs. It was heavenly.

Fast forward to today….I work in a cubicle (I should take a picture) in a small department of 5 people (including myself) who are possibly all certifiably crazy….with the exception of myself, of course . I figured today I would just give you a brief introduction to two of the cast so that as stories come about I can tell them to you quickly and hilariously (because if I laugh at them it seems so much happier around here). I’ll introduce you to the other two cast members tomorrow so that this doesn’t turn into a super long post.

First there’s The Boss. The boss is a bitter woman who is approximately my mother’s age. She has kind of been in education most of her lift, although she has never taught. She mostly dealt with their technology setup….and now she’s giving the green light (or more often the red light) to our programs. She is most famous for bellowing from her office when she needs one of us. If you don’t answer right away, she doesn’t get up, she just bellows louder…in her deep, somewhat manly, voice. She is also notorious for her high standards…that change on a daily basis. Put together a fantastic summary of a program for her that she throws praise at on Monday and on Tuesday it’s a virtual piece of poop. Never can tell what you’re going to get with the boss…

Then there’s The Gopher. The gopher has been with the company for longer than any of us with the exception of the boss and is kind of my superior (though that’s never been totally spelled out…just a notion that I get). The gophers cube is directly behind mine and no matter how I angle my computer he can see what I’m doing…if he pops his head up…which is all the time (hence the name). In his defense, I think he’s just lonely. He’s in his late 20s, lives by himself, and spends every weekend at his mother’s house. And judging by the amount of time he talks, he must not have anyone to talk to at home. Kinda sad. What’s even sadder (more sad, whatever) is that normally I love to talk. But with the gopher you can’t get a word in edgewise. If you could manage to get a thought out in the middle of a conversation with him, I’d pay you lots of money…because it just doesn’t happen. So you just kind of sit there, smile, nod, and think about what you’re going to be doing after work that day.

Stay tuned tomorrow…for the second two cast member who are equally (if not more) bizarre.

I Heart My Hubby

For lots of reasons, but this weekend has been one for the books.  Hubby and I tend to take on a bit more traditional gender roles...not that I mind.  So this weekend has been filled with gift wrapping, cookie baking, cleaning, and cuddling with the kitties in my nice, warm, cozy house.  For hubby this has meant braving the outdoors.  We got some snow last night and as we speak this is him...

I on the other hand am plunked in front of my computer, coffee in hand, pjs on...hmmmm.  And yesterday my dad and hubby installed new garage doors for us.  Here's the before.  They were original to the house (so 1965....or 56...my dyslexic tendencies are kicking in) and were in pretty rough shape.

This is dad and hubby working on the new doors in the frigid cold.  Really.  The temps were in the teens and they were handeling metal...with their bare hands.  What men!

And thanks to their hard work...we have beautiful new doors....

I just re-read this post and realized that I sound like a complete lazy a#@.  So in my defense I did do quite a bit of work inside and cheered on my tough guys with soup and hot chocolate along the way.  And as a side note, if you're in the CT area and are looking for a good garage door guy, I could easily recommend one to you...he does good work!

Science Friday: It's Back!

I figured that I'd bring back this little tidbit of knowledge on Fridays because I (maybe) have some sciency people that are reading this that may be interested.  So, without further ado....

Hunger-Stopping Smells

If you don't feel like reading the whole thing, the jist is that scientists are looking at how smells influence how full we feel.  The idea is that if certain aromas trigger us to feel full then by making foods have more of these aromas we will eat less.  Ah, the power of chemistry.  A few things about this concern me though.  What about those people who eat normally and don't have issues with stopping their food intake (certainly not me!)?  Will this cause them to eat less than they should?  The other thing is that the human body ceases to amaze me...it's super adaptable.  Would this have any effect on how we eat food or want food?  And last but not least...my biggest concern...

If we make foods smellier...will we all have awful breath all the time?  Ugh....

My motto

MamaKat's Writer's workshop this week was to describe your personal motto.  For anyone who knew me back in high school you would know that I had my "philosophies".  I would scour quote books and the internet and write down any inspirational quotes that I came across on little pieces of paper in colorful markers and tape them to my bedroom walls.  I wish I could find a picture because (looking back) it was pretty funny.  The moral of that is that I LOVE quotes.  So I sat down to think about what my mottos was....and then I looked at my blog title.  Duh!  Guess that kind of speaks for itself. 

Dream Big became my motto a few years back when it became my liscense plate.  I was fresh out of college, had just moved in with then-boyfriend/now-hubby, and was living away from mommy and daddy for the first time.  Life was a big, new, exciting world.  So Dream Big it was....and dream big I did....

I find it a little harder to dream big sometimes these days.  Don't get me wrong, life is good.  I am a happily married, new homeowner with a great job.  Nothing to sneeze at.  But with all of the real life hassles (bills, work, big girl problems, did I mention bills?) I sometimes lose site of dreaming big.  Sometimes reality can get in the way of all of those dreams.  But, despite that, I think it's important to always dream and think big...after all...."Reach for the moon....even if you miss you'll still be among the stars!" (Yeah for old high school quotes there!)

Any of you have any mottos???

I have a dream...

…to be a runner. Dream big, right?

I was always an athlete growing up. I was a gymnast and a springboard diver and I enjoyed a lot of other sports recreationally. I’m the kind of person that isn’t the most amazing athlete, but can hold her own in most athletic endeavors. Except for running….
I have always envied the lithe people that jogged along the road and looked all light and springy on their feet. I envy the people who love to run so much that they drag themselves out of their toasty warm beds at ungodly hours of the morning and run in the rain/snow/sleet. I envy the cute little running outfits that they wear and the fact that when they wear their cute little running spandex you can’t see their entire leg jiggle and quiver. I want to be them…
….and I’ve never been one to back down from a challenge. Those who know me know that when I get my mind wrapped around something I will plan for it excessively and will more than likely see it through to completion (barring any unforeseen circumstances). I’m the girl that had her entire college course schedule planned out her first week of freshman year. So here we go.

I’ve decided that I want to run a half marathon. I’m not quite crazy enough to try a full marathon (yet) but figure a half will be a good thing. And the more people I tell them more likely I am to actually do it. So I, KRadz, will be completing the Iron Horse Half Marathon on June 6, 2010. There. I said it. I’ve even signed up to run my first 5K race already!

I told hubby that I was going to be doing this and I think he was actually a bit proud. He even brought it up in conversation with some friends randomly. I have also wanted a cute, kicky, short hairstyle but have never been able to do so because I carry around a bit too much extra weight in my already-very-round face. So….I have decided that when I finish my half marathon I will be getting that cute, kicky hairdo that I have always wanted.

I’ll try to keep this blog from turning into an all out running diary, but I can’t promise anything. I’m sure there will be plenty of hysterically funny stories that I can’t help but share with you all….and I'll probably need some encouragement from time to time, too. Wish me luck…

Holy Crap I Won Something....

So for starters I am a completely unlucky person.  Sure, I snagged one of the best guys in the world for my husband, but that's about the only think I have ever won (and I've entered many a contest).  So I recently took a bribe  entered a contest on Jill's blog and won!  If you haven't checked out her blog you really need to head there.  She's good for a smile pretty much any day.  So to my whopping 5 followers....go read her stuff....funny. And thanks Jill...wooh!

(Maybe I need to do one of these follower bribe things....would anyone let their buddies know?)

Irrational Woman...

I realize that I just posted about two minutes ago, but I needed to share this story with someone (preferably with people I don't see on a daily basis).  Let me preface this by saying that normally I am a very sane, intelligent, reasonable, independent person.  I can change my own tire, mow the lawn, teach a classroom full of high school students...you name it...i can handle it.  But sometimes when I am home alone....I lose it!  Fast forward to about 20 minutes ago...

I'm perusing people's blogs, reading about other people's lives and I hear this awful booming noise....sounded like a plow going by.  I look out the window...nothing.  Now remember, I'm home alone and also a new homeowner.  I immediatly think that maybe my pool collapsed (I know...no idea where that came from).  Check in the backyard....still standing.  Maybe something happened with the heat and there's now smoke or water or some other bad substance filling my house.  Check the whole upstairs....nothing.  Well if it isn't up here then it has to be downstairs.  Oh god!  My furnace must have exploded!  I tiptoe downstairs, dreading the ghastly scene that surely awaits me.  Of course, nothing there.  At this point I figure that I just need to get my heartrate back down so that I can think rationally, so I come upstairs and put on the news....just in time to hear the local weather man talking about thunder storms in the area....oh jeez.

I think this is in my future tonight...

Catch-up

First let me apologize for my lapse in blogging.  The holidays always seem to make me a bit frazzled.  Here's a quick catch-up of what's been going on around the Radz household.  We have our tree up....

We went to get out tree with my brother in law and his girlfriend at this massive tree farm in Northern CT.  It was more acres than I could accurately estimate and had so many trees.  As I stood and looked out over the rolling hills full of Xmas trees and watched all of the little rosy cheeked kiddos happily tree hunting I couldn't help but be in the xmas spirit.  About an hour later and probably 50,000 trees later I just wanted to have my tree.  The others had already found theres and I was tired of wandering aimlessly through acres of lovely smelling evergreens.  I had Keith hack down the nearest tree and I think it turned out quite nicely (maybe a little small, but it works).  The cats also seem to love the tree and have taken to watching tv from the tree skirt.  Either that or playing with the tree skirt to the point where I wake up in the morning and the tree skirt is in the kitchen and my living room is covered in little needles.  But they are just so darn cute!

We also had our first significant snowfall today!  Its so pretty out.  This is the first winter, however, that I don't have snowdays....and boy, oh boy, do I miss them.  I was looking at all of my teacher friends facebook statuses today and cursing the fact that they were in their cozy houses, making cookies, reading by the fire, or just plain old sleeping....grrr....

The bright side is that thanks to my lovely hubby I didn't have to shovel our driveway!  Being a homeowner isn't too bad (although he may think differently).  As for tonight, hubby is in NYC to watch the UCONN game and I plan on plunking on my couch to watch so you think you can dance and glee and finishing up all my xmas cards.  And with grilled cheese and soup for dinner, snowy New England days don't get much better than this :)

Just re-read this post...holy randomness....sorry!

Christmas Spirit

I feel like a lot of people are having trouble finding their christmas spirit this year.  I feel like everywhere I turn people are saying that this xmas is tough to get into.  I personally am having a ltitle bit of trouble, too.  Normally at this time of year my shopping is done, my house is decorated, and my xmas cards are all filled out and waiting to be mailed.  I have put my tree up (which we actually cut down from a tree farm), but that's all that I have done in terms of decorating.  I have purchased exactly ONE xmas gift so far.  Horrible!  And I just started my xmas cards last night.  I'm not sure if its just been a hard year for everyone or if the weather is making it tough, but I thinik we all need to scrounge up some xmas spirit.  Now how to go about getting that done....

Any suggestions?