Please take one minute...

This was sent to me via e-mail. I don't usually put things like this on my blog, but this is very worthy. Although breast cancer hasn't claimed anyone in my immediate family, I'm lucky to only have friends who have survived while others aren't as lucky, thier friends passed away. Breast cancer has always taunted me sort of. In my book , Janine's Hope, Janine dies of breast cancer, and we get to see the effects (thorugh the lives of people she touched) of a woman who didn't give up . Who lived and loved and gave life her all. Even though she's a fictional character, I have over the years grown to love her, and believe, all those who suffer from cancer, should be able to do so with honor and dignity, and with love and respect. Thank you for taking just a minute...

Greetings: I've never sent you anything like this before, so please believe that I think this is important. The link takes you right to the voting page and it really takes 30 secondes. Please vote. (OK'd by snopes.com - not a hoax) It's back again. (written by a surgeon) ...

I'll never forget the look in my patients' eye when I had to tell them they had to go home with the drains, new exercises and no breast. I remember begging the Doctors to keep these women in the hospital longer, only to hear that they would, but their hands were tied by the insurance companies.

So there I sat with my patient giving them the instructions they needed to take care of themselves, knowing full well they didn't grasp half of what I was saying, because the glazed, hopeless, frightened look spoke louder than the quiet 'Thank you' they muttered.

A mastectomy is when a woman's breast is removed in order to remove cancerous breast cells/tissue. If you know anyone who has had a mastectomy, you may know that there is a lot of discomfort and pain afterwards. Insurance companies are trying to make mastectomies an outpatient procedure. Let's give women the chance to recover properly in the hospital for 2 days after surgery.


Mastectomy Bill in Congress
It takes 2 seconds to do this and is very important .. please take the time and do it really quick!
Breast Cancer Hospitalization Bill - Important legislation for all women.

Please send this to everyone in your address book.
If there was ever a time when our voices and choices should be heard, this is one of those times. If you're receiving this, it's because I think you will take the 30 seconds to go to vote on this issue and send it on to others you know who will do the same.


There's a bill called the Breast Cancer Patient Protection Act which will requires insurance companies to cover a minimum 48-hour hospital stay for patients undergoing a mastectomy. It's about eliminating the 'drive-through mastectomy' where women are
forced to go home just a few hours after surgery, against the wishes of their doctor, still groggy from anesthesia and sometimes with drainage tubes still attached.

Lifetime Television has put this bill on their web page with a petition drive to show your support. Last year over half the House signed on.
PLEASE!! Sign the petition by clicking on the web site below. You need not give more than your name and zip code number.

http://www.lifetimetv.com/health/breast_mastectomy_pledge.html

This takes about 2 seconds. PLEASE PASS THIS ON to your friends and family, and on behalf of all women,

Thank you.

Summer camp ~ the dance...

Summer Camp ~ The dance….

Sunday morning my almost 9 year old sat beside me on the sofa after he got out of bed and looked at me with his huge brown eyes and flashed his heart-warming smile at me. “Today is the day we go to camp,” he said with excitement rattling his voice.
“Yes it is,” I answered just as excited.
His smile faded just a bit, and his eyes weren’t as large when he looked at me again and said, “I’m not going to miss you.”
<<>> Okay. Now here one might think that would end the beautiful moment between mom and youngest son, but not a chance, in my wacky world of motherhood.

I was thankful he said what he had for several reasons. You see, the way I see it is, he is comfortable enough to go away from home, knowing, he will be returning. He is secure enough with his character to want to spread his wings without me being there to reel him in. He loves me enough to know, a week, is only a week, and the life lessons he learns while being away from me, he could never learn while being with me. He is excited to establish his independence. All this with the decision three pair of underwear is good enough for a week. (I’ve tried the outfit-in-a-ziplock-a-day thing and take it from me, it doesn’t work!)

So I take this as a good sign, even though, I asked him to pack seven pair of underwear. I mean, who wouldn’t want their child to have the opportunity to practice who they are in a safe environment that will catch them if they fall? But then who says they will fall? And who says they need clean underwear if they do?

One of my proudest moments as a mother so far has been of my oldest at camp last year. Friday night is the big dance. He is almost 12 and doesn’t have a true interest in girls yet, curiosity, yes. Interest, perhaps in the next year…oh dear God…. Anyway…he overheard a guy tell a girl he would dance with her next and she smiled, so sweetly. (his words…an 11 year old thought a girls smile was sweet…awwww) okay, So, he was dancing with a young lady who attends our church when he noticed the guy who had told the lil girl he would dance with her, choose a different partner. Then my son saw the sweet smiling lil girl cry. This really bothered him and he told the friend he was dancing with what happened and asked her if it would be okay if went and danced with the crying girl. She agreed. So here my 11 year old, asks a girl he doesn’t know, to dance because she was sad, and he wanted to make her feel better. She said yes and they danced…

And you know what? I never asked if his underwear was clean. Sometimes life is best when you aren’t there to see it.

Today’s drink: Summer Punch
3 bottles dry White wine
1 1/2 cup Creme de Cassis
12 slices Orange, halved
1 pint Strawberries
Ice block
Put a block of ice in a punch bowl. Pour in wine and creme de cassis then stir. Float orange slices and strawberries on top.
Makes about 20 4ounce servings.


Cheers!
Taylor

Princess Complex

Has anyone else been wondering why some women feel they have the right to be treated like royalty when they have done nothing to deserve it?
~Princess Diana contributed her time and compassion to such things as AIDS patients and landmines.
~Sarah, Duchess of York founded Children in Crisis and is an Ambassador for the Ronald McDonald House Charities’ World Children’s’ Day. She has also written several books for children as well as adults.
~Her Royal Highness Princess Royal Ann is the only royal to have competed in the Olympics. This princess also works extensively for the charity Save the Children, along with poverty-stricken African nations.
~An American “royal” if you will, Caroline Kennedy-Schlossburg is an Attorney, an author and an editor. She has written two books on civil liberties.
These are just a few examples of beautiful women who deserve to be treated like Princesses, not because they may actually be princesses, but because they treat others like they are the deserving ones.
Over the last few years it has been increasingly popular to don clothes…you have seen them…short-shorts with princess scribed across the butt cheeks of girls far too young to advertise anything, to women who really ought not wear short-shorts at all. There are t-shirts, purses, charms, wallets, and many more items “blinging” princess. I have a relative who suffers from this complex, and to be frank, I’m sick to death of it. I have mentioned to those who enable this behavior that it is partly their fault she is spoiled, selfish, and inconsiderate, but to no avail. She has trained her court well.
Recently, I was invited to a “coronation” (aka 40th birthday party) for a woman I hardly know. I was instructed to dress as a peasant…because those around her are beneath the Queen. wtf? Granted, this is all in good fun, but is it? I know enough about this woman to know she looks down on those around her, who aren’t just like her, who she thinks aren’t good enough to be around her. In other words, she’s a snob.
I think I only need to mention Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie and you get the gist of the list that would follow. These women aren’t princesses; they are socialites, leaches who give nothing back to society when they have the recourses to make it better. I miss the days when having character meant something more than having you name in the paper, when less was more, and when princesses wore ball gowns and lived happily ever after, instead of short-shorts who live life in the fast lane without a care as to who they run over.

Tonight’s drink: Little Princess
1 ½ oz Sweet Vermouth
1 ½ oz White Rum
Shake with ice and strain in a cocktail glass.

Cheers!
Taylor

14 Interesting things about me

14 interesting things about me:

Scooby Doo cartoons scared me as a child
I can turn my tongue over to the right and to the left.
I hated to read when I was younger
I never drove a car before I had a learners permit
I prefer to wear skirts instead of pants or shorts.
I’m fierce when threatened
I attended thirteen different schools before I graduated High school.
I wish I were a brunette instead of a blonde
Bugs/spiders give me nightmares…screaming nightmares
Famous people don’t impress me
I would rather travel in my trailer, than a 5 star resort
Even though I think snow is romantic, I hate being cold
I learned to swim in the Pacific Ocean
I read only e-books… electronic format rules!

Tonight’s drink: Tequila straight, because that is how I really like it!
\_/ Cheers!
Taylor

What the hell?

What the Hell?

I am not a huge sports nut or fan for that matter. I watch the Arizona Diamondbacks, and tennis (okay the Olympics too). A few years back when the basketball player…what’s his name…Charles Barkley! Yes. When Charles Barkley decided professional athletes didn’t have a responsibility to be good role models and people backed him, that was the downfall for me. True, sports figures shouldn’t be the ONLY role model, but like it or not, they are one of many that children emulate. (I can’t help but to wonder how CB feels about the commercial he has done where the young lady thinks he is the other guys dad; she has no idea who he is…LOL I love personally, he certainly got what he wanted, although I doubt he sees it that way.) sorry, I got off track..
SO…here is my issue. Why does a man like Curt Shilling have to say sorry for speaking his opinion about Barry Bonds not deserving to break Hank Aarons record? It is HIS OPINION! Next thing you know, he’s going to be apologizing because of what’s her name who has been sentenced to jail for 45 days for drinking and driving. That sentence was called a joke. What the hell is the matter here?
Shilling said he was sorry for making the comment because it didn’t only affect Barry Bonds, but his wife, his kids and his family. WHAT? I have HUGE doubts the words spoken by Curt Shilling had anymore affect on that family than say…BB cheating on his wife, his taxes, his team, the game, his family for that matter! WHY does CS have to say sorry? I really wish he hadn’t and had stood up for his right to have his opinion just as much as Barry thinks his right to break a record. You have a cheater, not only in the game but in life who has admitted to using performance enhancing drugs and is ready to break a record by a man who did it legitimately! If you ask me Barry Bonds shouldn’t even be playing the game let alone the opportunity to surpass an honestly earned record. So what if it’s too hard to determine what home runs were honest and which ones weren’t. Guess what? That isn’t our problem! It’s Barry’s problem. It’s his issue to live with for the rest of his life…hmmm….maybe if I hadn’t cheated, I could have broken that record ON MY OWN…but now I will never know and aint that a shame?! Do you think this thought has ever crossed his mind? I doubt it, and I also doubt I will EVER apologize for saying this!
And as for Paris Hilton trying to ask Governor Swarchenegger for a pardon??? Are you kidding me? She broke the law~ TWICE! She doesn’t deserve a pardon…she deserves to serve her sentence and if she doesn’t like it, well then guess what?! MAYBE SHE WON’T DO IT AGAIN!
When is society going to stand up and put a stop to excuses being made for bad behavior? THAT to me is the joke…and not a very funny one.
OH OH OH and while I am at it, what about the dude in Kentucky who refused to serve OJ Simpson in his restaurant? This guy owns like 3 restaurants. HA GOOD FOR HIM! He didn’t want to be associated with him in anyway shape or form. I am glad he stood up for what he believed! When he told OJ he wouldn’t serve him… OJ told him he would leave. The owner said that was the first time he has seen OJ show any class since the murder case. GUESS WHAT? The damn lawyers got involved and are saying the man refused service because OJ is black. What the hell? Am I to believe that this man has gotten away with kicking out every black person who has tried to eat in one of his three restaurants for years? Pfft…go sell stupid to someone else, I’m all stocked up! What the hell is the matter???
Today’s drink: What the Hell!
1 oz dry vermouth
1 oz gin
1 oz Apricot Brandy
Splash of lemon juice
Stir with ice, and drink while asking…What the Hell?!

Set up

Do you ever feel set up? I mean to do things you really weren't expecting to do? For instance...I set up a yahoo360 account...and then a myspace account...and now a blogger account (twice...there is one floating out there somwhere and I can't seem to find it lol). Do you ever feel technology has set you up to suck you in? I do. lol
Cheers \_/
Taylor Voltaire