Race for the Cure 2009-OC Komen @ Newport Beach, CA

This year marked my 19 1/2 years as a breast cancer survivor while walking in the 2009 OC Komen Race for the Cure in Newport Beach. The previous 5 years I walked with various family and friends who came to support this cause. But, not until this year was my son and his family able to walk with us as they have always lived out of the state or been out of the country during the walk. (We walk…don’t race…as we are usually pushing at least one or two strollers.)

The day started out actually the night before when Brian, Caila and Hudson arrived at our house to spend the night. I just love it when they come and visit. I’m so happy that Hudson knows that Grandma Murphy’s house is his house too, with his own crib and special toys…the Little Tykes Rescue Fire Co. car being among his favorites. Of course he always makes sure to gather up all of his Hot Wheels and Match Box cars and trucks to ride along with him while he is saving the day.

Sunday morning we got up before the sun came up as we live about an hour and fifteen minutes south of Newport Beach in Carlsbad. Early. Kevin and I got ready and headed to Melissa’s house to pick her up and also meet my friend Dee and her son’s so that we could caravan. Brian, Caila and Hudson left a few minutes later to drive directly to the race site as they still needed to register and pick up their racing shirts.

Once at the race site we headed over to the Survivors Hospitality Pavillion. There they have all sorts of goodies to eat prior to the race…fruit, muffins, cookies, yogurt, donuts, coffee, juices, water…all I can say is YUM and thank you to the sponsors that donate all of this stuff.

Kevin, me, Dee, Daniel, Matthew, Hudson, Brian, Caila and Melissa

Once we were done eating then it was time for me to line up for the “Survivors Parade”. This is where all the ladies in pink that are breast cancer survivors are each given a pink rose, donated by Proflowers.com and they walk to the area of the “Survivor Tribute” to the cheers of all of our family and friends that are there in support. Every year I wind up meeting someone new as I wait in line.

It’s quite moving when you see just how many people breast cancer affects, whether it is as a patient or a caregiver.

The beginning of the Survivor Parade

All of the survivors then sit on the steps of a nearby building to listen to the many different stories of other survivors or their family members.

Survivor Tribute

After the tribute it’s time for the race to begin.

And we're off!Hudson walked over a mile or so before he started riding on Daddy's shoulders. It was amazing. He was having such a great time!Caila, Brian and Hudson

Here are a few of the photos that Melissa and I took along the way.

Three Generations of Murphy Men

Caila, Brian and Hudson

Kevin and I pushing strollers.

Dee and Caila pushing strollers.

Melissa and the rest of us in the background.

Caila and Melissa

At the Finish Line

Finishing the 2009 OC Komen Race for the Cure 5K

Kevin, Tom, Testosterone and the Wii

Kevin and Tom playing doubles with Wii Partners

Tonight we had dinner with our friends, Tom and Sue. For Tom’s birthday, Sue bought him a Wii. Tom had been wanting a new Cannon digital camera so he wasn’t absolutely thrilled at the Wii game. It sat in the box for a few days unopened until he finally decided to pull it out and see what all the Wii was about. Well…he’s hooked…and now…I think Kevin could be hooked. The guys spent the evening playing Golf, Bowling and Tennis. They hardly wanted to break for dinner…and it was steak and baked potatoes, every man’s favorite!

I learned something about my husband tonight…he’s brutal. His partner in the doubles tennis match was a little dark haired women that the computer assigned to him. He had no problem at all letting her catch most of the tougher shots, even if it meant she had to crash on her face! Hmmmm…maybe that’s why I don’t play tennis with him?

Anyway, it was a fun night watching the two of them battle it out…the testosterone was definitely rising!

New Moon … Beauty and the Beast

Ok…I have to admit I am a “Team Jacob” fan. There’s just something about the warm blooded canine/human characters that I can’t resist. It doesn’t matter if it is a werewolf or a beast. I was also totally caught up in the “Beauty and the Beast” television series with Ron Perlman and Linda Hamilton that aired in the late 80’s. I think it was mostly “Vincents” voice, the music and his usage of a more romantic style of speaking that hooked me.

Why is it that the canine/human characters seem to have the pained, denied love, romantic streak in them? Both characters are strong and gentle at the same time. Both will protect their love to the death if necessary. It’s very, “Knight in Shining Armor” that every princess dreams of.

I am looking forward to this next movie in the Twilight series. But…if you just can’t wait for a fix of the strong, warm, romantic and furry type romance story, go to your nearest Barnes and Noble and pick up the T.V. series of Beauty and the Beast. Sigh….

Josh Groban, Savannah and Oprah

Today on my Facebook I saw a comment that someone wanted to know who Josh Groban was and why were all the girls fainting over him? She must have heard or saw Oprah’s show today.

I watched the Oprah show on t.v. today and saw all the surprises that she coordinated for people. I always joke around that I cry at Hallmark commercials I can tear up so easily but todays show was just one of those “Feel Good” kind of shows. My favorite segment was when Oprah surprised a girl in the studio audience. Her name was Savannah and when she was 18 and had gone to see Josh Groban in concert (front row seats) her sister had made a bright pink sign for her asking Josh Groban to go to her Prom. It didn’t work out…but…4 years later Oprah heard about it through her Facebook and arranged with Josh to surprise her in the studio and sing a song to her while she sat next to his piano. To watch it made me feel like I knew what she was feeling there was so much emotion on her face, she tried so hard to look calm. Josh was so sweet and he would look right at her and just get the nicest, sparkly smile. I’m sure Savannah will never forget it. The thing that I liked about it though was that Oprah said that Josh Groban really was the nice guy that he comes across as being. How nice that he took the time out to come to Chicago and serenade a fan. Great guy.

Coin Collecting…a fun little hobbie.

I have been going through some of the coins that we found in Kevin’s mom’s house and came across this penny. According to information that I’ve found online this is kind of a neat penny. Not a real scarce one, but one that is not real common either. Well, I showed this picture to a coin collector when I was picking up some of the little card board folders to put the pennies in and he scoffed at it…(made me feel kind of dumb) and said it was no big deal because it looked like it had been cleaned. (Cleaning lowers the value.) Now that’s funny…a penny, found where we found it…that looked like it’d been cleaned? Oh well. So much for the “discovery”! Fun anyway, clean or dirty to me! I think I could get into this coin collecting thing…except for the fact that to sit over a bunch of coins and look at the dates, etc., is so hard on the neck! I did find that it was much easier to see the fine detail if I used my digital camera on macro-zoom. Almost as good as a microscope! Here is a sample of the zoom!

 

 

Even though we didn’t find a million bucks, it was still fun to find the neat old pennies that we did.

 

Another cool kind of penny that we found were the Indian Head pennies. It is so neat to have an old penny that is 137 years old. And to think that our ancestors held it. I figure that Kevin’s Grandma for sure had it first as she was the collector…maybe even his Great Grandma? Here is the Indian Head Penny.

 

 

 

 

 

I’ve guess I’ve just found another little hobby to do every now and then…and you can bet that I will not pass up any of the pennies that I find lying on the ground…as if I ever did!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Farm…or should I say…The Old Home Place

View Larger Map

I finally figured out how to find our farm on the Google Maps and put in a link to it. Kevin’s mom left us 200 acres in Earlsboro when she passed away. I can’t wait to go back out and walk around it again. We try to get there as often as we can when we are back for a visit. I’d really like to walk the fence line and really get a feel for the layout of the land. We have walked parts of it but never really spent a good amount of time there lately. I want to try fishing in the two ponds and see if there are any fish. I know there are snakes because Kevin remembers them when he was little and how the snakes even scared his Grandma’s dog, Lady, out of the pond. (Smart dog.) There are lots of cedar trees on the place, a lot of which eventually should be taken out as they kind of take over after awhile. One of these days…I have lots of dreams and plans for this place. It’s just so pretty and it makes me feel good when I think about it and all of the fun that we could have. I think one day I’d like to name it “Murphy Meadows”. That sounds like it would be a great name for golf course. Now that would be something fun to do with it. Or maybe build some little bungalows in a few of the meadow type areas and make it like a B&B Get-away. Hmmmm…so many possibilities.

Married 30 Years!

Kevin and Teri

Kevin and I just celebrated our 30th anniversary. Originally we had planned on making a trip to Ireland where we both have our ancestral roots. However with the economy in California the way it is, me being laid off last October and Kevin working in the construction industry, we decided it would be more prudent to put off such an extravagant trip until a later time. That’s OK though. We make our own fun no matter where or what we are doing.

One such thing is working on the houses that his mom left to him upon her passing. One house is in OKC and two houses are in Shawnee. No one has lived in the Shawnee houses since 1980 and before. So they have needed quite a bit of TLC. So, for our 30th anniversary (not really, because of insurance issues the timing just coincided) we worked to get the Shawnee houses rental ready.

We could not have done this without the help of my amazing family who worked on the houses in their spare time in sometimes terrible, grueling heat, 110 degrees +++!!! But it is amazing! What was once a house is now being called home. I really like these houses. The neighborhood is “Old Downtown” … some houses are refurbished, some run down and some in the process of being refurbished. They have great front porches that are so nice to sit on and hang out. The surrounding neighbors have been great. I really like Joel, our next door neighbor and love chatting with him about everything. He has great stories to tell.

Kevin and I have spent the past 30 years raising our family and just trying to have the best time possible no matter what might be put in front of us. It hasn’t always been easy but I think it’s been a full life with lots of wonderful and interesting memories. We love hanging out with our kids and grandson, nothing can beat that.

I’m looking forward to what the next 30 years has in store for us. For that matter, the next 30 days!

Garbage, Ice Cream and Hot Dogs, What more could a Boy ask for?

Hudson and Daddy playing with a couple of Hudson's Garbage Trucks

Why is it that it seems all little boys go through a phase of garbage truck fascination? Is it the size of the trucks? Is it the fact that they are very noisy and pick up big containers and dump the trash into their bodies and crush everything inside? I really don’t remember any little girls that I know showing that much interest in garbage trucks. I know of at least 4 toddler boys right now, my Grandson Hudson included, that are just fascinated when ever they see a garbage truck of any kind. It isn’t that their parents said, “Look at the neat truck!” It is usually the toddler pointing out the garbage truck in a very excited voice and then the parent agreeing that, yes that is a very neat and big garbage truck. I also know that whenever the garbage trucks are making their rounds in the various neighborhoods picking up trash or recycling that the drivers are usually very sweet and patient and wave to the little guys as they are doing their jobs. I know that the boys can hear the sound of the garbage truck coming way before I do. It’s like they have super, human hearing for the sounds of the rumbling engine, the loud brakes and the part of the truck that rises in the air to dump all the debris into the trucks body. They get as excited over the garbage trucks as I used to over the neighborhood ice cream man or the Helm’s Bakery Donut truck that drove around our neighborhood when I was little.

Well, being the doting grandparents that Kevin and I are, for Hudson’s second birthday we decided that we would (with the help of our friend Dee) search for and get every possible garbage truck for Hudson that we could. Kevin even contacted a work associate at Waste Management to see if they had any of the actual trucks for sale. She came through with flying colors! She brought him a scale replica die cast of a real Waste Management garbage truck. This is one of Hudson’s favorites. It is very special as it is recommended for children 14 and over so Hudson only gets to play with it when Daddy and he can play together, but how excited he is when he does get to play. He loves putting the little dumpster on the arms that raise up to dump into the body. He also loves throwing away “trash” in the back end of the truck. Hudson calls them his “Dabage Trucks” as anything that starts with a “G” right now comes out sounding like a “D”.  Hudson and Daddy can spend hours just driving their “Dabage Trucks” around the town on the Home Depot rug that Auntie Mel got Hudson for his birthday. Sometimes the “Dabage Truck” stops for ice cream at the ice cream shop and sometimes they stop for hot dogs at the hot dog stand.  Garbage, ice cream and hot dogs. What more could a boy ask for?

My Sister … The Romance Writer

My sister Cindy has written many romance novels and is continually writing more, at times working on multiple stories at once. I have the privilege of helping her put them in an MS Word document as her writing style is “long hand”. We all think she should hurry up and find an agent and get published as the couple of people that have read some of her work agree that she writes in a way that we really enjoy and we want the world to also have the pleasure. But alas that is one of the hardest things to do I think for someone as a writer. Put your work out there for other people to judge, try to change, share your characters with strangers, etc. So, so far Cindy just keeps writing. She and my dad’s wife have some kind of an agreement that Cindy will submit a “Query Letter” and Judith will … I’m not sure what Judith will do … oh yeah … have an art gallery showing of her photographs … she is a photographer. I think they have about 6 months left to get those things done before their “bet” expires.

Well, I still want to share some of my sister’s talent with the world, and since she left it as a comment in response to my blog about the Scottish Highland Games  as a public comment then I thinks it’s OK for me to share. (Everything else she writes is strictly ‘top secret’ until such time that she is published!)    HERE IS HER COMMENT:

Oh my gosh…it has Highland Romance written all over it! I wish I could have tagged along with you guys. It looks and sounds like you had a blast. And though we all love a big burly man in a kilt…I think I might have enjoyed one of those turkey drumsticks almost as much. YUM!! Talk about INSPIRATION!…give me ten minutes in that atmosphere and I guarantee you, I can come up with a book. How’s this for a beginning?… It was insanely hot as Maggy O’Malley walked through the crowd nibbling on an enormous turkey drumstick. What she wouldn’t give for one of those tall frothy ice cold mugs of beer everyone else seemed to be drinking. But she never touched the stuff. No…she would settle for lemonade. Now if she could only just find a vendor that sold it! There were 3 beer vendors to every one soft drink vendor. Seriously! Ah! Luck of the Irish! Her next turn presented what she was looking for. Only before she could take another step, she found herself shoved forward from behind, knowing she was going to fall flat on her face…and lose her drumstick in the dirt and grass! Dang it! These rude, pushy people! All she saw was her thick juicy drumstick flying through the air along with a pair of tartan plaid covered thick, admittedly attractive calves and thighs and…oh good Lord! That answers that question! They really don’t wear anything under them! HAHHAA!! LOL Have fun w/ that one, surur! Love ya!!

I so look forward to the day when Cindy is a published author and everyone else can see for themselves what a talent she has to tell a story.

Bill Handel from KFI 640 Talk Radio

On Saturday Kevin had a hair cut appointment at the 8-18 (?) Salon in the Irvine Spectrum. So he and I went to the Spectrum, I was going to shop while he got beautiful. Afterward we decided to go by the Sleep Number Bed store as a popular (well I should say…well known…as some may beg to differ) talk show host was making an appearance at the store to promote the Sleep Number Beds.  Kevin and I enjoy his weekday morning talk show and also his weekend show…Handel on the Law. He’s just a crack up and has a quick but sometimes blunt sense of humor…just up our alley. This is a picture of Kevin and Bill Handel at the store. We also met his wife as she was telling me some of the advantages of one of these beds as Kevin and I lay on a model in the store. I basically was overheated and the salesman said it would also “cool me down” as it had some special kind of fabric. I think my BTU’s were more than it could handle. Mrs. Handel was such a nice lady. Their twin daughters were also there and you can tell that they have (or at least one of them) has inherited her papa’s wit as she was trying to bargain down with one of the salesmen to get a discounted, new bed. No shyness there! All in all it was a fun little jaunt.