Baldies' Blog began originally in the UK by a 26 year old journalist with a blood cancer on a mission to inform the world about bone marrow donation.

He has since died, and I took on the cause of making cancer care more transparent for everybody.

Cancer is a disease that will touch everybody through diagnosis or affiliation: 1 in 2 men will be diagnosed and 1 in 3 woman will hear those words, "You Have Cancer."

I invite you to read how I feel along my journey and
how I am continuing to live a full life alongside my Hodgkin's lymphoma, with me controlling my cancer, not my cancer controlling me.

I hope that "Baldies' Blog" will prepare you to handle whatever life sends you, but especially if it's the message, "You Have Cancer."

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Monday, May 23, 2011

SUCCESS!

Success! I'm claiming success for The White Tiger's Relay For Life Team's very first Yard Sale, Craft Fair, and Volleyball Tournament.

Beautiful quilts made by my mother-in-law, Becky Ford:
table runners, place sets, lap blankets
I watched the weather closely last week. What the weather showed was rain, rain, rain, Sunday- sunny, 10% chance of rain, 73 degrees (what I say is the perfect temperature), then rain, rain, rain. We've been having record rains. VT has flooded to a state of emergency. On Sat., the day I'd hoped to do the event, it poured on and off with thunderstorms. X's baseball game had to be canceled. Sat. would have made a very bad day for the event. But Sunday, the weatherman was right, what we had, a cloudy but beautiful day.

Even with the short notice and minimal advertising we had five teams play, people lining up for the yardsale before we unloaded or making several rounds of buying and raised over $700+. The final tally isn't in, but that $ number reimbursed all our costs and bought pizza for lunch for the event.

Handmade Bottle Cap Earrings by Jill & Brit for $10
you can't go wrong. Check out their website:
http://jillandbritsbottlecapearrings.webs.com/
The success of yesterday means this is the only fundraiser we will have to do for our Relay Team, but we'll discuss doing more. I don't want to have another week like the last one where I felt overwhelmed planning for my friend's birthday, getting my jewelry together, and an event. I tend to overcommit myself. It's a result of my anxiety, my constant feeling that I have to accomplish everything I ever wanted RIGHT NOW.

I'm working on finding my "inner silence." There is a great portion of "The Anti-Cancer"

Everything went great. I had such a fun weekend.

My BFs from College, Colette and Laurette, came up early Sat. morning (2:30am) with Colette's son Arty. Sat. we had a "pottery party" at a new studio that Shelley Saylor opened in Charlestown. She just opened. We were her first party, but she has earned our repeat business. My NY friends want to come back in two weeks to finish their work.  Xander is asking when we'll be going.

We had so much fun learning how to make "cylinders" by rolling out slabs and decorating them with objects and stamps. Killy, the birthday girl, made a bud vase, Vincent, her husband, made coasters, Laurette made a mug, Colette made a kitchen utensil holder and a hand print memory plate with Arty, and I made a small platter, some beads, and the beginning of a clock.
Our Bake Sale featuring some fabulous chocolate lollipops
created by Cakes By Sara of Charlestown.

The best part, Shelley's very polite young men offered to watch two year old Arty! It was so relaxing.

Getting ready for the next day was daunting, but I barely had to communicate with Michelle and MegAnne I had such confidence they had taken on and covered their portions. It was amazing, and everything did fall together.

Jon was a big help running around doing errands, packing the car and organizing the tournament. Lexi came over that evening to see my friends and help with the organization so both the kids (our relay team's captains) were helpful, but I was so happy the day of the event I wanted to cry.
Playing to cure cancer, what could be better on a
cloudy Sunday?

My father-in-law made it to the park on time, ready to move. Unfortunately he was the only one. Next year the Volleyball Tournament is absolutely NOT starting at 9am, and we'll post signs directing to the event the day before.

I made it about 8:20. He was a great help unloading everything and setting up the tables. Jon showed up with Lex and X not too much later. Lex started organizing the goods on tables like a pro while X helped Jon measure out and set-up the field.

Then the cars just started coming and didn't stop! People driving in with their donations to the sale. People ready to shop that were so exciting watching the new loads of cars coming in. IT was so busy that since the court wasn't ready I recruited some friends to help organize and move things. The money was still rolling is as we were picking up in the afternoon! It was amazing.

Our t-shirt options from The Ink Factory
on Pleasant St. in Claremont, NH or
http://www.inkfactorynh.com/
Gabe's team, which Jon happened to be on, won the tournament claiming the champion shirts. The Ink Factory on Pleasant St. in Claremont did a great job designing and creating them. They even donated the printing fee for us! We love The Ink Factory and go to them at least once a year to create basketball uniforms. They're quick, efficient with fair pricing and a very talented graphic designer. You just have to bring in images or image ideas and they can be recruited. We'll be headed back for our team shirts for the Relay.

A friend donated a beautiful Simon Pierce glass paperweight that is going to become our trophy. I just have to work on getting a base.

 Having money roll in and making cash to cure cancer was great, but the best part was looking around and realizing most these fabulous people had shown up to support me. They knew this was important, it was something I had been wanting to do for years but could never accomplish, and they made it happen! I am so lucky to have the people surrounding me I do. Again, I'm a lucky woman.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I HAD SO MUCH FUN AND LOVE DOING THIS EVENT EVERY YEAR, AND THIS EAR WILL BE AMZING..WE HAVE THE BEST TEAM :) I CANT WAIT TIL THE RELAY ITS GOING TO BE A NIGHT OF AWESOME FUN :)

Anonymous said...

oops forgot my name.. Michelle :)