Wish us luck!

Morning All. Wish us luck today. Today is the big day! Today is Jacob's pancake breakfast benefit. We've sold 300 tickets to the event and hope to sell a few more at the door. There are over 100 donated items for the silent auction and lots of goodies for the bake sale.

It's amazing to me what people can do when they set their minds to it. No one had to help us with this benefit, but they did. People from all over went above and beyond to help a little boy that they've never met. Or probably will never meet. And it means the world to Jacob and his family. It's proof that there is still some good in the world. Sometimes we just need someone special like Jake to remind us of that. Even though he's spent his most of his short life in the hospital and struggled with each moment of his daily life, he's always smiling. A bright reminder that life is precious.

We wish to thank all of those who helped with this benefit. From the cash donations to the lady at the car wash who donated her employee car wash certificates because the corporate office had a policy about donations. We couldn't have done it with out you! Because of you and your generosity, Jacob, Jill, Todd, and Jenna will have some help that they desperately needed.

Wish us luck today. And Hopefully you'll all have as good as a day as we do!

Reffie

Awww Nuts!

Today I look like side show freak from the circus! I am allergic to nuts and accidently got some walnuts at lunch today. Stupid chicken salad! I take one little bite and BAM! I even spit the stupid nut out. Now my face and lips are swelling and one eye is working it's way to being swollen shut. I have hives like you would not believe. It even itches under my finger nails. I took as much benadryl as the box said I could and am planning on trying to sleep it off. I'm going to skip exercising tonight and make it up tomorrow.


Other than that, today has been a decent day. Nothing really exciting happend. The local radio station started playing 40 Christmas songs in a row today as well. I like Christmas so I don't mind listening to 40 Christmas songs in a row the day after Halloween. But even I, the person who starts the countdown to Christmas the day after Christmas thinks November 1st is a bit early to start playing Christmas music on the radio. If it were me in charge, I'd at least wait until the day after Thanksgiving.

We're putting the finishing touches on Jacobs auction today and tomorrow. We did get a tich of bad news on that front as well. Jacob will not be able to attend his benefit due to trouble with his immune system. There will be too many people there and there is too much of a risk of his getting sick. He is scheduled for a surgery to insert a feeding tube on the 19th, so its important that he stays as healthy as possible. At the last count, we have raised just over $1,000 for him and his family. And we haven't even had the benefit yet.

Well gang, I'm off to a benadryl induced coma. Talk at ya later, Reffie

Tuesday's Rambling!

I have been so tired lately. It seems like no matter how long I sleep it's not enough. Other than a slight headache that's been dogging me for a couple weeks (probably sinus related) I'm feeling great. No hacking cough, no flu like symptoms, not even a case of the sniffles. I fall into a deep sleep every night and even take naps sometimes. Must be the weather. Something about it being colder outside always makes me want to sleep. I cocoon myself in my 7 blankets that I keep on my bed and its lights out Jo Jo until I'm forced awake by one or more of my 4 alarm clocks.

So far this week has gone fairly well. (Yes I know it's only Tuesday!) While today wasn't as good as yesterday it still wasn't terrible. Work was ok. Lots of phone calls to deal with today. I had to beg, borrow, and promise my firstborn to get all the therapy offices in our system in the phone book this year. And do you think anyone even looks at it. NO! I swear I transfer at least a third of the calls that come in each day to other offices. So, with 3 phones with 2 lines apiece it makes for a long day of answering the phone. BLECH! And to make it all the more fun, the construction crews accidentally cut my bosses phone line so we had to answer all her calls as well.

Jacob's auction is coming along well. A bunch of us got together last night and combined a bunch of the little items that were donated into bigger baskets. For example, we put the one night hotel stay, a gift certificate for Bennigans, and the bottle of wine together to make a "date night" basket. 2 of the free video rentals and some gourmet snacks together to make a "Video night" basket. I even got a Certificate from Damon's Restaurant in the Mail today to add to the list. The local newspaper did a really nice article about Jacob and the auction today. It even made the front page. You can check it out by going to http://www.ourmidland.com/ an clicking on the story on the health page. (Baby born with rare birth defect, displaced organs.) The benefit is this Saturday, so we're hoping for a large turn out. So if you happen to be in Midland between 10-1 this Saturday, swing by and join us for some pancakes, fun, and maybe get one of the fun auction items. (I have 3 extra tickets if anyone needs one.)

And for today's just for a laugh moment, I'm a winner again! I got a call telling me that I'd won a T-shirt in the Coca Cola drawing that they held at work. That makes 3 times in the almost 5 years that I've worked at the hospital that I've won the coca cola prize. There was the tailgating package (portable grill, 4 cases of coke product, and certificate for food) and the all inclusive trip for 4 to Club Med in Florida. Maybe I should go out and buy a lotto ticket like everyone suggests. That's 2 wins in 2 days, Not bad odds if I do say so myself. It's been said that good and bad things happen in 3's.

Well gang, I'm off to exercise and then settle in for the Wings game tonight. Hope you all have sweet dreams and a good day tomorrow.

Reffie

Not Bad for a Monday!

Well for a Monday, this one wasn't half bad. I had stayed up way to late last night watching the Wings play Vancouver. Those 10:30 pm games are killer when you have to get up at 5:00 am. And, though it pains me to say this, the refs did a decent job too. I rolled into work late and expecting the worst.

But, much to my surprise. No one had called in sick, the order printer didn't get shut off, and the radio came in nearly static free for most of the day! We got a good report on little Jacob. My co-workers baby that we are doing the benefit for this coming Saturday. Jacob has made it up to just over 16 lbs. (see picture above.) He's cutting 2 teeth and turning into a little stinker. He's still fighting a lung infection and they had to cancel his stomach surgery because of it. The doc's even cleared him to spend an hour at his benefit this Saturday. Normally, he can't be out in public often due to his little or no immune sytstem.

As for the benefit, we've sold about 190 tickets and have a little over $1,000 for him in ticket sales and donations. We hope to raise more with the bake sale and silent auction. The silent auction has a list of about 72 items ranging from free coffee at Mcdonalds to the Autographed Red Wing hat/puck that I got signed at the Wings training camp this last September. (Thanks to my family and everyone who donated items!) The local media is starting to report on the auction now, so maybe that will help with the tickets sales. The Midland Daily News Newspaper will have an article in tomorrow's paper if you want to check it out. Just go to www.ourmidland.com and look in the health section.

After putting in 8+ hours at work, I came home and checked my emails. I had entered a contest on an authors website and won a autographed copy of her book. I even had time to sneak in a quick nap this afternoon. Monday's don't get much better than this. The only way it could get any better is if Ed McMahon showed up on my door saying I'd won the sweepstakes for a Million $'s.

Hope you all had a somewhat decent day as well. Here's hoping tomorrow goes as well as today.

Reffie