Happy Birthday Juliette Gordan Low

Today is Girl Scout founder Juliette Low's birthday. She was born October 31, 1860. Which would make her 148 years old if still alive. I do not think I need to explain the impact Juliette Low has made on the United States and the world. Today 3.5 million members belong to Girl Scouts.

Girl Scouts is not about cookies and camping, it's about creating leaders. In fact, 64% of the woman leaders today were, you guessed it, Girl Scouts. Every year, on October 31st, Girl Scouts across the country celebrate Juliette Low's birthday! It's a Girl Scout tradition! In fact, I am helping to organzie a big birthday event on November 8th in my community.

Juliette Low died of breast cancer on January 18, 1927. She was just 67 years old. In 67 years, she made the world a better place.

A friend from high school, Lisa, (oh my, was it really 20 years ago?) sent the following email today. Lisa has always been a runner, and is currently putting her running shoes to good use:

"Thank you to those of you who have supported me in this current season and in the past. These are trying times for our nation and exciting ones as well. In a few days we will have the opportunity to make history, either the first African-American president or the first woman in the White House. Our economy is shaky and people feel as though the future is unsteady. But for some the future is more than unsteady, those suffering from cancer and their families.

"A few weeks ago, we had a celebration of our "Cause", our honorees and they announced that a little honoree from Silicon Valley passed away after a valiant battle with leukemia (she was just 5 years old). This news really struck me since Rebekah is 7, and I couldn't imagine her not being with us. Then last week, I watched the TV show "Extreme Home Makeover" and they were working on a home in Arkansas where the little boy (10 years old), battled leukemia and while he was in remission from that, the treatments caused him to require a double lung transplant and he was wheelchair bound. I sat and watched and thought about how difficult the treatments are on the body to rid it of the cancer. Sometimes, the treatments are much harder on the body than the cancer. How can we keep these things from happening (children dying, people struggling after remission because of treatments), we can donate to organizations like The Leukemia Society. They guarantee 75% of all donations to be returned to research. They have funded the research of Gleevac, a drug that is responsible for many lives being saved.

"How can you make a difference in this trying world? You can donate to my fundraising campaign so together we can make a difference in people's lives and become their hero. We never know when our lives will be changed by a single act and wouldn't we want someone to help us if we were diagnosed with these diseases.

"I am going to challenge you to donate at least $10 to help find a cure for other children, like Mickey, Teagan, and Dylan. You are more than welcome to donate more but I am asking that everyone donate at least $10. I am also asking that you send me 5 names and addresses (email or snail mail), so I can pass on this challenge to a larger group of people or please pass my email or snail mail address on to people that may help us in this fight.

"Please use this link http://pages.teamintraining.org/sj/honolulu08/lloder to donate online quickly and securely. You will receive a confirmation by email of your donation and I will be notified as soon as you make your donation. Please make checks payable to The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. I have committed to raise $2,340 for the Society but my fundraising goal is $2,500 (I have currently raised $624.50) I would like to reach my commitment goal by November 15th, so I can concentrate on my final weeks of training.

"On behalf of The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, thank you very much for your support. I really appreciate your generosity! Please remember that 100% of your donation is tax-deductible."

While Leukemia and Breast Cancer are much different forms of cancer, a cure can be found for both. I encourage you to make a donation to either BreastCancer.org or The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society in honor of Juliette Low, or someone else that has touched your life. Like Juliette Low, you can make the world a better place, too!

Oh and...

I Don't Like Ike, Day 5

Day 5. Still no power. Stores are opening and the gas lines are getting to be less than ridiculous. My husband, Shane ventured out early this morning and found another cooler. I was relieved. It's hard to keep that much food cold when there is no room in the cooler for ice.

The "boys" (our employees) are coming over today to clean the backyard. They need money and it's the only work we can give them right now. We call them boys because we are old enough to be their parents. Boy, does that make me feel old. None of the boys have running water at their houses, so they will all take showers here.

A dear friend came over yesterday to fill up water jugs and take a shower.

I am running out of busy work to do. Today I am going to tackle decluttering my office. It's a big chore and a little difficult to do without power. Not only is it full of work stuff, old trade magazines, etc., I also have a huge section of Girl Scout related stuff that needs to be boxed up and moved to our new meeting location. I'll give it my best WAHM effort.

My neighbor bought a generator yesterday that is big enough to run the wash machine. She said I could wash a load of towels today. Thank goodness. A shower is wonderful but what's the point if you have to dry yourself with a stinky towel?

The other two major chores that need tackling are decluttering my closet and my daughter's closet. Those might wait until tomorrow. My office is a doozy.

Yesterday, my daughter and I ventured out to find ice. I had to visit two PODs. Found it at the second POD. FEMA really is doing a remarkable job with the PODs. Lots of city employees, fire department and police were working the distribution lines. KUDOs to FEMA and the City of Conroe!

Anyway, on our adventure we saw a caravan of 15 work trucks with backhoes and other heavy equipment from Georgia. We also saw a caravan of electric company trucks (bucket trucks) parked on the side of the road just a mile from our house! There are electric trucks from as far away as Canada here working to restore power! It's wonderful! I can't wait!

I can't log onto the internet in the afternoons. It's too much of a power drain on the neighbors generator. So, until tomorrow morning... This is Kandas the SuperWAHM, reporting in from Hurricane Ike Central. :)

Belated Fantastic Friday

Yesterday I was celebrating Independence Day with good friends, brisket, beer and fireworks. So, I'm a day behind! But, it looks like Diane missed her day, too. So, I feel no guilt. Mwhahahaha!

I found the following article today while "stumbling" and thought it was worthy of sharing with my WAHM friends. We need to EAT HEALTHY TO BE HEALTHY! So read on to discover the
The 11 Best Foods You Aren’t Eating By Tara Parker-Pope.

By the way... you can plant a couple of these in your garden.

We are running a 10% off bed sale over at Shaka Studios through July 6, 2008. We only put beds on sale about twice per year. So, if you are in the market, pop over and check us out!

I'm taking my daughter to Michaels today for The Knack event. Kids crafts are offered for $5 on the 1st and 3rd Saturday of each month. We've never gone so I can't tell you much more but anything to get the kid out of the house during summer is good. Although she was at Girl Scout camp all week so she's probably tuckered out, especially after staying up so late last night watching fireworks.

Girl Scout camp must have been awesome. She went swimming everyday, horseback riding twice and earned SEVEN badges! Oh, I wish I was a kid, again.