The Weekend to End Women's Cancers

HEY THERE!

On September 11th, 2010 I've committed to walking 30 km through the streets of Toronto to benefit The Campbell Family Institute at The Princess Margaret Hospital -- fundraising for a CURE for women's cancers.  This will be the highly successful Walk's 8th year, and my first time personally participating.  This is also a milestone year, because all previous Walk's have been called "The Weekend to End Breast Cancer" -- and this year it's changed to "The Weekend to End Women's Cancers".

With my mom, bff Mel and Mel's mom, we've formed a team --- aptly named "Couch Potatoes For The Cure" (it's all of our first times participating).  I've written about this before, I've added the banner to the end of my posts, and I'm writing about it again.  I'll continue to write about this as our team tries to raise a collective $5000 --- although I'd personally love it if we could go ABOVE what we are "required" to raise (which is $1250 each to participate), and I'd love for us to raise $8000 as a team --- OR MAYBE $10,000!  I'm aiming high!

My grandmother's sister, my Great-Aunt Sunny (whose real name wasn't 'Sunny' but she was called that as a little girl and it stuck with her for the rest of her life) died in 2004 after having been diagnosed with Ovarian Cancer (which rapidly spread after her diagnosis to many other areas of her body).  Right now, my mom's best friend's sister-in-law is battling Breast Cancer -- and has had to stop chemo because her heart isn't strong enough to handle anymore right now.

We haven't had a lot of cancer in my family history, THANK GOD, but I rapidly see it more and more.  It's effecting MORE people I know, and I want it to stop.  For my female family members, for my female friends, FOR MYSELF -- I want to know we're doing SOMETHING to medicate and eliminate this horrific disease.

I'm excited to be a part of it.

For starting a team and referring new walkers, I've earned credits towards my personal goal from the organization -- so I now have $420 already raised (also thanks to some sponsorship!).  My team still has a long way to go.  Fortunately, yes, we have time to raise the money, but I want to keep this message out there.

For your mom, for your aunt, for your sister, for your best friend, for your wife, for your daughter, for YOURSELF -- please think about donating to myself or one of my team members, by clicking this link to our Team Page.  It's easy to donate -- having your credit card ready, click on a Team Member's name, and follow the easy steps.  You will receive a tax receipt for donations of $10 or more, and you can donate even if you are NOT Canadian (The Princess Margaret is one of the TOP FIVE Cancer Research Centres IN THE WORLD).  Any and all donations are GREATLY appreciated.

I appreciate your generosity towards this important cause!   I'm walking 30 km on September 11th, 2010 FOR A CURE -- what are YOU doing? 

For Direct Access To My Personal Site, Click The Banner Below (but again, donating to ANY of my team members is greatly appreciated):

Damn, I've Got Nuttin'

I am determined not to miss a day of NaBloPoMo, but I've seriously got nothing right now.  Martin is visiting and we're watching "Bruno" (which I do find hilarious in all its grossness, I will admit it -- I also loved "Borat").  We had pizza for supper, caught up on our sitcoms that he has missed over the past few weeks.  It's been a lovely, relaxing, hang-out-ish evening.

I want to explore the idea of Men's Anxiety vs. Women's Anxiety further (from my last post), but for tonight I just want to enjoy my Friday evening! :-)  Feel free to read my last post and comment, I'd love to hear more thoughts!

I hope you're all enjoying your Fridays and weekends too!

Women's Issues

I feel like being a part of BlogHer means I should write something about women's issues.  You see, it's not enough that I am a "HER". Oh no! Not for me!  Now I feel I've really got to make a big deal about it. 

Should I write about the time when my best friends from University and I ended up with actual synchronized periods after spending HOURS together DAILY in our residence hall and in classes we made sure to schedule together?  It is NO JOKE, folks, THIS REALLY HAPPENS.

Perhaps that's a little TOO much information, though.  Do you wish you could go back and UN-READ that last paragraph?  TOO LATE SUCKA'!

Maybe instead I should write about the ENDLESS PRESSURE I FEEL TO GET MARRIED AND HAVE BABIES.

... Except, I don't feel endless pressure, per se.  If anything, I think MARTIN feels that pressure.  From me.  Because I pressure him.  (OMG, Martiiiin /whine).  I pressure him constantly.  I'm probably the only one pressuring him, but damnit, pressure I do.

Hm. So.  Not exactly valid as a women's issue for me.  A valid Martin issue, perhaps.  He needs a Blog so he can vent about me, it would be very therapeutic for him I'M SURE.

I mean, I have issues (ahem, clearly), but I'm not sure they're "women's issues".  Although, hmmm.  Let's discuss that.  I wonder if men experience the same type of Generalized Anxiety and Hypochondriasis that I experience?  I'm sure some men do.  I'm sure they must.  This can't just be something only a woman would have to deal with (of course, I'm resigned to the fact that it very much could be something that only Steph The Wonder Worrier deals with -- which would render this entire post moot, by the way).  I've worked with male students who had terrible anxiety -- but I never figured out if the anxiety was the same as mine, if the worries were like mine at all.  I've also never really spoken to adult males about it.

Do men who aren't fathers yet worry constantly about the decision to have a child, worrying that the child might end up sick or injured or have some other major issue before you're even CLOSE to actually bringing a child into this world?

Do men worry that every little ache might be cancer or some other form of deadly disease, and you probably won't even make it to have children let alone see them grow up, and somehow THAT'S the thought that stops you from worrying about your child getting sick -- because you're worried you won't even be there to see them get sick?  But then you worry that your spouse won't be able to adequately take care of the child if something happened to you... and on and on and on.

AND AGAIN, the worrying man is a) not married and b) not close to having a child?

Do men get overanxious about sickness, death, health issues, family issues?  Are any men out there afraid of the dark, of being home alone -- like I am (yes, even as an adult)?  Or perhaps men experience Generalized Anxiety in different ways.  I don't have a large following of male blog readers, but I'm still curious. Do men and women have the same anxieties, or do some anxieties fit into gender domains much like playing with Barbies or playing with Trucks would -- as in, SOME males or females are exceptions to the rule, but for the most part, anxieties are fairly gender defined/stereotyped?

I'm so curious now.  What do men worry about (Wonder Worrier style worrying)? Do your male family members or friends open up about anxiety issues to you?  If you feel comfortable sharing and you are a male, what are your moments of panic/anxiety like?

Blog Business

Hey friends! Exciting new things happening here at The Wonder Worrier, I'll tell ya. First of all, if you're reading this in a Reader, then come on over and check out my new layout! Totally a new look. I liked what I did with my blog when I changed it before, but I've since gotten tired of it. This is more appealing to me, colour-wise. What do you think?  It's definitely a bit "busier" than before, but I sort of like it!

You may notice one significant change -- or maybe not, but here it is: I'm now a member of the BlogHer Ad program! I have my very own BlogHer banner now for my blog! I applied long ago, but they weren't accepting new members at the time. This past week they contacted me, I got myself all set up, and I thought what better time to launch a new layout than now! I'm very excited to be joining the BlogHer family.

Also: For a little while now I've been sorely neglecting my book review blog: The Wonder Reader. Which is sad to me, because I really do love keeping up with it and I have been reading A TON of novels. I've started updating it again, and I do hope to keep up with it more regularly now. Please be sure to visit, I'd love to discuss books over there with anyone who has read the same ones! I'm also always looking for new books to read, so please feel free to leave me comments any time with a reading recommendations!

BlogHer! Woo!

What's Cooking?

This post is brought to you by tonight's dessert.

I'm not much of a cook. Living at home with a grandmother and mother in the house would be the reason for that. Sure, I could take over... but then it wouldn't be up to par with our usual meals and they're really more than willing to do it. When I do have to fend for myself, I find I usually make pretty simple meals, choose something canned/prepared/just-need-to-heat or turn to my staple, Kraft Dinner (yummmm - BTW: I only eat the original, and I eat it with ketchup and pepper and it is GOOD).

(Furthermore: I do not care if its unhealthy or contains hazardous materials in order to give it its neon orange gleam, I will eat Kraft Dinner until the day I die, and even then, I hope I'm buried with a box for the afterlife.)

Ahem. Where was I? (Kraft Dinner, Kraft Dinner, Kraft Dinner). Ah, yes.

The only time I try to cook a good meal is if Martin is visiting and it's just him and I being domestic. I really want to turn out to be a good cook, but I think that will come with living in my own place, with my own kitchen, when I'll be primarily making meal and grocery shopping decisions. I don't dislike preparing meals, I just don't have the practice doing it.

Lately I've been more and more interested in collecting recipes that I want to try out someday. One website that I LOVE, and not only because they are the reason this world has KD to begin with, is actually the Kraft Canada Website. I receive their emails full of great recipes that aren't difficult to make at all, and I also receive their What's Cooking? magazine in the mail, which I save favourite recipes from and store in a notebook (later I want to transfer ones that I find are worth keeping into some sort of recipe box). I don't think you can sign up for the magazine anymore, Mel pointed out that they're probably phasing it out and are trying to go paperless.

My favourite things about these Kraft recipes are:
a) they include products that are easy to find on my local grocery store shelves (so I don't have to figure out what an equivalent product would be, I can go pick up EXACTLY what I need very easily)
b) there's a handy-dandy "Make It Now" tab on the side, where you enter ingredients you already have and it lists recipes that include those ingredients, and
c) the recipes are SIMPLE! and are typically FAST!

Making cooking easy is exactly what I need in order to be motivated to try it out. I hope to collect favourite family recipes as well, but I'm also enjoying collecting these Kraft recipes for later use. Totally recommend this website if you've never checked it out.

Tonight my mom made the Peanut Butter Cup Pie from the What's Cooking? magazine (but click the link there to see the recipe online!).  I'll have to let you know how it tastes -- it definitely LOOKS delicious!

(Final Thoughts: It's gotta be KD, amirite?)

Awesome Words That I Totally Love, For Obvs Reasons

"Damn": used in a variety of forms. Out of frustration - "DAMN!", or as a nice starter to a sentence like, "Damn, that sounds great", or perhaps to show enthusiasm, "Hot damn!", or "that is damn cute!". Sometimes the variant "Damnit" makes an appearance as well.

"Awesome":  used in any positive moments, "That's awesome!", "It's awesome that you got a new dog!", "That ice-cream tastes awesome!". Many situational variants are used, such as "awesome-sauce" or "awesome-town".

"Epic":  the most perfect descriptive word for nearly any moment. An event can be Epic, an object can be Epic, you can also have an Epic Fail or an Epic Win.

"Clearly":  what started as a joke about Steph2's fiance and his overuse of this word led to MY OWN overuse of this word. Clearly Patrick and I both need an intervention for the use of the word CLEARLY. Clearly.

"Obvs": a shortform to "obvious" or "obviously", I just think it's damn cute. ("damn cute", see entry for "damn" above)

"Legendary":  heavily influenced by Neil Patrick Harris' character "Barney" on How I Met Your Mother, "legendary" has now worked its way into my regular vocabulary. Much like "awesome" and "epic", I use it to show enthusiasm for anything and everything. An event can be Legendary, and object can be Legendary, a movie can be Legen - wait for it - dary.

"Totally":  this word just rolls of my tongue so nicely. I love to qualify sentences with a "totally", examples being "that totally went well", "I totally wasn't expecting her to show up".

"OhEmGee": stems from the Internet acronym "OMG"; this is how I say Internet acronyms out loud (I am also known to say double-you tee eff for WTF and bee tee double-you for BTW).  This is a good filler for times when one might feel an "Oh My God" coming on, and I just like the sound and look of it.

"Random": the obsession with the word "random" started in high school, from a friend who used to always start the trends in our vocabulary.  "That's random!" is often stated, about many things, followed by a hearty chuckle.  I love when life is "random" and unpredictable (as long as the random thing falls within my 'safe zone' of anxiety-triggers), and I love using the word "random" for anything that happens unexpectedly or out of context.  I have a blog tag of "random" that I use for posts such as this one.

What are some of YOUR favourite words these days?

What Martin Does When He Can't Make It To A Party

He sends a Cardboard Cut-Out Martin in his place:

Cardboard Cut-Out Martin enjoyed a reading from a fine piece of literature:

He also shared a dance with our friend, and Collingwood Radio DJ, Jeff:

After a few drinks, he even got a little frisky. Bad, Cardboard Cut-Out Martin, bad!
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Hey! DID YOU HEAR?! Next September I'm walking 30 km through the streets of Toronto to raise money to cure gynecological cancers. Click below to donate to this worthy foundation (The Campbell Family Institute at The Princess Margaret Hospital). Thank you for your support!