Archive for the ‘Club 17’ Category

Before I get to the whole ‘go feel your boobs’ part of this post, have y’all been reading Jeana’s posts about her family’s days in London?  FANTASTIC.  Don’t miss.

Now. Boobs.  Time to do the monthly self breast exam, leave a comment on this post saying you did and thereby gain entry to a contest. Winner of said contest gets something cute.  I vowed to start saying WHAT you win ahead of time, but then I forgot.  Well. I didn’t ‘vow.’  I said.   

Hmm. 

Okay, winging it here.  This month, if you’re a gardener, I can send you a few daylilies or cannas from my EXTREME ebay shopping spree.  Boxes of big brown earthy smelling bulbs and tubers arrive daily on my doorstep. Nice! 

And if you’re not into plants, there will be other, unnamed cuteness for your prize. (not that tubers are cute. nothing called ‘tuber’ could be cute.  you know what i mean.) 

Sooooo.  As a reminder, we do this monthly thing just to remember these things are important and have a fun incentive in order to stay on track.  Because it’s a once a month thing, I also use it as a reminder to do the Rid-X and bug Mike about changing the air filters.  (Yes really. Once a month.)  Because no one gives me a prize for remembering to do the Rid-X or bug Mike about the air filters - and because I don’t have to remember to GIVE a prize for these things, I tend to forget. But it’s a good system.  In a ’not really working’ sort of way.  Which probably means it isn’t a good system.  Hmm.  Moving on.

BSE. Then report back. Win earthy smelling potential blooms or Mystery Prize.  Feel health conscious.  Better than self conscious.  Although I suppose you could easily feel both. 

I think I’m tired. Goodnight. Good luck! 

Yea for Stacey at Purling Dervish!  (LOVE that name) 

Honorable mention to Seasonal Learner who did her very first BSE and lived to comment about it. YEA!  (of COURSE there can be Honorable Mentions. Making this up as we go along, y’all.)   

And while I’m clarifying, let it be known that of course you can win over and over again. The whole point is that you do these BSE’s and keep doing them, so repeated wins work for me.

The following will make sense in a minute. Really.

LaLa and I were the only kids in our family.  Everyone in our family called us simply, “The Girls.”  Our names, it seemed to us,  were often not uttered for long periods of time. “The Girls” sufficed.  Well, for everyone else’s purposes - for our part, it drove us completely nuts.  We were individuals, and everyone lumping us together like that just ignored that fact. Or so it seemed to us. One time I remember LaLa protesting this oversight and someone (sorry J-Mom, but I think it was you) saying, “Well, what SHOULD we call you?”   In her LaLa way, she probably said, “WHAT DO YOU THINK WE ARE, THE NORMAN LUBOFF CHOIR?“  Or more likely, “OUR NAMES!” 

In any case.  I have a personal lifelong aversion to the phrase “The Girls” which apparently, none of you share.  For ages I’ve been somewhat surprised at just how many of you affectionately refer to your breasts as “The Girls.”  Perhaps I’m not big on personification in general.  Also, I have no problem admitting I do not have pet names or occasional endearments for any of my body parts. The only exception to this is during times of pregnancy when the baby bump deserved names. (But that’s hardly the same because it was a baaaaaby.)  

I am ALL for whatever works for you guys, but it certainly has made me laugh. Forever. Since every single comment section of each Club 17 post has this theme, and it’s apparently a code you ALL speak which I gladly forego.  And Shalee even calls hers “Irish Lassies” on St. Patrick’s!  WOW.   

Y’all.

Y’all are funny. 

So. Don’t get me wrong. You call them whatever you want, as long as you BSE each month. It won’t bother me at all.  It’ll completely crack me up, and just make me feel all the more justified that LaLa and I protested ever being referred to as The Girls.  

(If you’re wondering, of COURSE I call my 3 boys The Boys. All the time. None of them seems to mind, or take it as an offense against his individuality.)

Okay, team! Quickly go do this month’s BSE (breast self exam) which you OF COURSE do every single month. Then come right back here and leave a comment saying “i did it!” or something like that. Then you might win something really cute. This month it’s a sweet little red leather and silver Brighton keychain.

Last month my Real Life Friend Karla won. Yea Karla! She took pictures of her February Club 17 prize, and wrote about it here.

Julie,formerly The Desert Diva, created the cute blog buttons. Her blog is more recently known as One Mom’s Lifesong, and you can find out how to get the buttons here. Please do!

( All questions are most likely addressed here. )

According to my new friend, the online random number generator, Karla is our winner! YEA! I actually know Karla in the real, nonvirtual version of my life.

I’ve taken the last days to write, so I was surprised to see the comments and prayers going on here. Thanks to all of you. I checked bluepaintred’s site and (hello? she’s crazy funny. did y’all know that?) I think the preliminary report is that everything is okay. I emailed just now, but haven’t heard for sure.

Jodi, would you keep us updated on Telesa, please?

Now.

I’m signing off again, where blogs and ebay cannot beckon me away from writing. Just lately, I’ve found that Bocelli in the background is fantastic. I’m not distracted by the words, since I don’t understand Italian anyway, but the romantic vibe comes through loud and clear.

Sigh.

It’s that time again. If you’ll kindly go do a BSE and return right here and leave a comment that you did, you will be fantastically health conscious and eligible for a wonderful prize.

We meet here each month, holding one another to a highly informal level of accountability for doing those all important self breast exams. For all of you who start googling ‘ HolyMama’s Club 17′ on the 14th and 15th of each month, you might want to take a second to bookmark this page. Another option is to consider subscribing, either with Bloglines or just by clicking that option over there to your right. Then you’ll know you won’t forget next month.

If you’re wondering why I do this, it’s a long and painful and lovely story dating back to a very dark period in my life in which I was sure death beckoned. You can read it here, if you’re really interested.

If you would like, please help yourself to this button for your own blog.

If you’ve BSE’d 6 times or more, take the one with the tiara, because that’s awesome of you. (Isn’t she cute?)

If blog buttons confuse you as much as they do me, head over to this post at Desert Diva’s. She created them, and explains how to make them work.

In the past, I’ve never publicized what the prizes were. There were two reasons for this. One, I rarely had them ahead of time. Two, it just didn’t occur to me that if I told you it was something great, more of you might feel yourselves up.

I’m rethinking that after participating in Shannon’s last Bloggy Giveaway. The power of the prize is now crystal clear. Got it.

So.

I need to make some more truffles since I promised some to Shalee. This month the winner will receive truffles and….? And something truly weird that I got for free from Sephora. Free, meaning, they sent me an email telling me that shipping was free during the Superbowl and so I fell for it and spent way too much and ended up with this *free* thing.

But I like it. It’s a lip gloss ring. Not a ring made of lip gloss, that would be dumb. This is like the sort of ring you lift up the plastic ’stone’ and inside - where you could also store poison if you were starring in that sort of play - is a pretty pink lip gloss. Fun! Click here to see it. It’s still in the box, since somehow I have resisted the urge to wear it.

If you win and you are on a diet and do not want a huge caloric load landing in your mailbox, then by all means please tell me. I will gladly come up with something else that is fabulous that can accompany the lip gloss cocktail ring all your friends will be fawning over.

So. In review. Get a blog button if you’d like. Do a BSE. Leave a comment. Possibly have truffles and jewelry sent your way. Go, team!

I’ll draw a winner in 4 or 5 or 6 days, because precision is everything.

I’m not big on New Year’s resolutions. I make resolutions all year long, constantly, so I intentionally avoid the whole build up that accompanies the January 1st variety. But! If I could make one this year for Club 17, it would be to figure out the Mr.Linky thing, and manage to include that with each Club 17 post. I think it would hep, but it is far beyond my limited technical skills.

Anyway! Club 17 simply means that we all have crucial, but laidback framework for accountability in doing those monthly self breast exams. I find that without sucha system, lots of us forget. Or just won’t.

Got questions? Click here. (It’s also where you can find out how to get a cute little Club 17 ‘button’ for your sidebar.)

Basically, you do your BSE, leave a comment on THIS post right here, and then in a few days I announce a winner and send a prize.

I’m in San Diego for a few days. The strangest thing happened ont he way out here. I really, really think Tim Gunn was on one of my flights. Which makes no sense whatsoever, since why would Tim Gunn be on a Southwest flight from Las Vegas to San Diego? Not likely.

Also, my mother and sister read this magazine article about people who can’t recognize faces and it’s entirely possible I have a mild form of that and could therefore never be a reputable source of Tim Gunn sightings anyway. If he’d only spoken i would have known instantly. Or if he’d said to the pilot, “Make it work!” Yeah, that would have been a total giveaway, no facial recognition necessary. So I discreetly studied him, and his nose turned up at the end just a tiny bit, which I’m now thinking is less Tim Gunnish than I first thought. And a gold wedding band. That was surprising. Oh, now I don’t even believe it.

There was the one time a few years ago I went to meet my dad for breakfast. I was supposed to pick him up at his hotel. I arrived early and when a man with dark hair came into the lobby I ran at him and came INCHES from throwing my arms around his neck. The only thing that stopped me was the petrified look on the guy’s face. That look was NOT saying, “Oh, here comes my excited daughter. Yea. Hug her.” Did I mention it was 6:30 a.m.? He was probably afraid it was a bad dream. Anyway, I managed to slam the brakes on in time, and said (oh so wisely) “Oh! I thought you were someone else!” To which he said, “Yeah. I… got… that.” And then I noticed the man looked NOTHING like my father. It was slightly easier to notice this since i was ALL UP IN HIS FACE and all. Oops.

Okay. New policy. If I ever think I saw someone exciting, let’s just agree that we don’t believe me. Not even if I think it was my own dad, unless I’ve seen a photo id.

Go do that BSE! And spread the word!

I’m back! Did you worry, or were you all so busy yourselves you barely noticed? Yeah. That’s what I thought.

So! The winner for Club 17, December is…. Shannon over at Rocks in My Dryer! YEA!!!! Cuteness to be mailed your way soon, Shannon!

If you didn’t BSE, what with holiday chaos, do it now anyway, ‘kay?

Did you think I’d forget? Soooo busy with J-Mom and LaLa visiting, that I wouldn’t remember…? Of course not.

The 17th of each month is special here, because y’all faithfully do your BSE’s and say you did in the comments. THen one of you who did just that receives a fantastical prize in the mail from me. And all of you who did feel wonderfully proactive and health conscious for remembering to do the monthly self breast exam that really everyone should do and so very few remember. (Except you!)

Got questions? Answers here.

Everyone is waaaay busy this time of year, so would you do me a favor and spread the word on your own blog, if you have one? It would be especially appreciated this month even more than usual. Thanks!

Please go say hi to Candice! She’s the lucky winner this month for doing her BSE! Yea, Candice!

I couldn’t find any biscochitos (and didn’t realize that Mike had tried 6 grocery stores already in his quest to get them for me), so it will have to be a prize without cinnamon-y goodness. It will, of course, have tons of non cinnamon-y goodness.

In response to a few comments on the Club 17 post:

Grim Reality GIrl, will you keep us updated on your best friend?

Tinkerkaye, a crown surely awaits.

Everyone stop just a minute and clap your hands 5 times please. Thank you. Merci, that round of applause was all for you, girl!

Elena, I did know someone once who that happened to. She swore off underwire forever, if I remember correctly. And she said it was AWFUL.

Millicent, it TOTALLY counts!

Don’t forget that if you want a cute lady for your blog sidebar (that Julie at Desert Diva created) you can get it here!

In response to all the comments on the ’soooo not festive’ post, thank you. No knives were present at the table, as all turkey arrived ‘magically’ in perfect, bite sized pieces. It didn’t go well, but it could have been much worse.

Hello, from the Land of Biscochitos. Or not, since we can’t find them ANYWHERE, even though Maria Rosa’s Traditional Biscochitos seem to be manufactured right here in Albuquerque. Note to Maria Rosa: WHERE ARE THEY?!

Keep it up on the BSE’s y’all! I’ll give you a couple more days before drawing a winner, so be sure to read the post below, do that BSE, and leave a comment very soon. YOu might be rewarded with a super-rare biscochito delivery if I can ever find them.

So we’re here for therapy and for a visit with Kim-13yr. Mixed feelings. Stress. TMJ acting up. (Which means that my jaw will be so sore on Thanksgiving there will be no massive pigging out for me, which is not necessarily a bad thing.)

Just a couple months ago we were here and Kim-13yr’s therapist had her draw a picture of the scene where she kills me. Nice. Stick figures. She with a grin, me with tears, in the kitchen. Big Freaking Knife. Lovely.

Now there’s an exercise in empathy for ya. Have your kid draw THAT, and then your job is to totally focus on how difficult and painful and scary that must be for her.

That was two months ago, but just this week she’s been deemed as ‘backsliding’ in her progress. Backsliding? From the knife in the kitchen scene? Great. It was hardly a great place to be, with very little room behind to slide, you’d think. But no.

On Thanksgiving, we’re having our first Day Pass in almost a year with Kim-13yr. Perhaps the timing of this could be better. Perhaps the knives in the kitchen will be removed. Perhaps the TMJ won’t matter at all, because would you really feel like eating?

And yep. This is why I usually don’t talk about this.

On the bright side, if your relatives are really driving you nuts on THanksgiving, you will so easily be able to think, “Well…. it could definitely be worse… At least Uncle Bob is just annoying with that crazy laugh and I THINK I could just die if he touches me again, but at least he doesn’t have a Big Freaking Knife.”

I don’t mean to seem ungrateful for all of life’s blessings. I’m just really not looking forward to the holiday where we express such thankfulness, gather around with the kids, and wield a big turkey carving knife.