DIMyself!

Friday, October 5, 2012

F**k Cancer

As you know, I am a well-known hater of cancer.  I know this is a controversial opinion, so in my defense I will say: cancer is awful and sucks. You know who gets cancer?  It's exclusively bad guys who are super old and did horrible things like say close down an orphanage to build a shopping mall or something, right?  Wrong.  You couldn't be more wrong.  Geez what is wrong with you?  You're so stupid. People get cancer who are perfectly nice and wonderful friends and family members who have always been great.  Sometimes those people are only 26 and they have already beat cancer one time. 

Also, another thing about cancer is that it is very expensive, even if you have health insurance you still pay thousands and thousands of dollars out of pocket which is super cool right?  I love this healthcare system we have now and it definitely does not need to be changed or anything at all.  So first you get cancer, then you get slapped with a whole bunch of debt, then, hello, you have to have even more radiation later on which, great, also costs money.  Plus the whole having to have radiation thing.   

This is what happened to Liz.  Because radiation is awesome, she wanted to have some more, which is going to cost $7000 just in deductibles alone, plus she will have to miss a bunch of work.  Oh, and she's also trying to get married on top of all of this.  And did I mention she's only 26? 

Here's a link to a fundraising page Liz's friends set up for her:
https://fundrazr.com/campaigns/2N1H4

It's been up since last night and already over $4000 has been raised by friends and strangers and it's really touching.  If you scroll through the comments, it's amazing to see the outpouring of love and support.  It really makes you feel good about humans again, especially after your grandmother told you that she no longer is interested in helping orphanages because they just take anyone these days and some of these kids have parents they're just in jail or too addicted to drugs to take care of them. (The nerve of these fake orphans!!!) This is just an example of course, not something that happened to me.

Anyhoo, if you are someone who has a little spare cash laying around and you'd like to throw it Liz's way, that'd be excellent.  Like, maybe the money you had earmarked to give to an orphanage before I just opened your eyes to the ugly truth of orphanages.

Another cool way to help would be to head over to reddit and upvote this:
http://www.reddit.com/r/pics/comments/10zw2p/my_friend_liz_26_year_old_redditor_beat_thyroid/

Upvoting turns out to be fairly easy once you figure it out, I guess.  Not that it took me a long time or anything.  The internet is hard, guys.

A third cool way to help is to share both of these links and get the word out.  You have facebook.  You have a blog.  And I know you tweet.

And finally, if you are someone who prays, then think of Liz.  If you are someone who meditates, think of Liz.  If you are someone who sends vibes, think of Liz. 

And my aunt Susan.  And my friend Jen.  And the thousands and thousands of people beating cancer that need our help and support and care.  Because cancer really sucks and we love brave people who are fighting it.

Tuesday, October 2, 2012

Tutorial Tuesday: Fall Wreath

I would wish everyone a happy Fall, but let's get real, no one is happier than I am that it is fall!!! There's maybe 1.5% of me who is sad the vegetable gravy train is coming to an end but other than that, I am ALL ABOUT FALL.

Also this Fall, I have challenged myself to do one activity from my Pinterest "I Could Make That..." board seen here: http://pinterest.com/anna_girard/i-could-make-that/ each week.With 639 pins, I should have plenty to choose from.  The idea is that I can do these projects during while I watch Sunday football, and then blog about them on Tuesday!  But the road to Hell is paved with good intentions, and full disclosure, I am already a week behind.  And also this one was pretty simple and probably doesn't warrant a tutorial.  But hey, I'm trying.

So, ta da!


I didn't really have a direct inspiration for this one, but it's more of a conglomeration of wreaths I saw on Pinterest, and my neighbor's wreath which is clearly Pinterest inspired.  I do not have a picture of that because I feel like that'd be creepy and I already recently took a pallet from their garbage.  And some shelves. But this is pretty close: http://boutiqueginabeana.blogspot.com/2011/03/birthday-gift.html

 First, I gathered some supplies.  A grapevine wreath from Hobby Lobby for $4.99, Wooden Letter $3.49, small project can of spray paint in sun yellow which was $3.27 I think, and some various fabric remnants from the remnant shelf which is nerdily one of my favorite places in the world. 


Okay, here's the end result:


I spraypainted the letter yellow.  It was a bit more yellow yellow than I was anticipating but I liked it.  The fabric flowers I made following this fabulous tutorial: http://www.weddingwindow.com/blog/diy-fabric-flowers/ which I found by searching for "diy fabric flowers" on Pinterest!  Then I just hot glued everything to the grapevine wreath and suddenly it's Fall on my porch!  And also everywhere else.  Especially my heart.

Here's a sneak peek at next week's project, which is really last week's project so if you're my facebook friend and you've already seen the final result, don't tell anyone.  Snitches get stitches.  And I have a sewing machine.


P.S. Want to go on the Pinterest Fall Challenge either along with me or actually with me??  That'd be great!! I generally require accountability buddies to get things done.  Just let me know you're playing the home game.