Sooooo tired....and excited.

Who knew that a week off from the regular routine could leave me so exhausted? Seriously, the kids were back to school today and it was a bit of a relief to get back to the regular routine. Mid-winter break is a godsend, though, especially now that they are deep into High School. These kids work hard!!!! Poor Erin, she got sick with a cold and was laid low for a few days.
Because of all the time we had to just make each day what it would be (I love that kind of lifestyle) I found myself working even more than ever. We took boxes and boxes of stuff to the new office (which of course meant I threw my back out) and then we moved the tables and chairs in. I have already made three separate shopping trips to buy supplies for the office. One to Office Max, one to Target, and one to Shopko/Office Max. It is very hard to resist the urge to spend, spend, spend and get it all up and ready to roll. So far I've been limiting myself to staples, labels, trash cans and scotch tape, but the itch to go hog wild and get a fancy desk chair is barely tolerable. And don't even get me started on a computer. Man, that's keeping me up at night! Besides getting the office open I've been busy on our next big project: the Mother's Day Walk & Run. For those who don't know, it is the 25th Anniversary of the event this year, the third year we've been involved, and a whole mess of work, no matter what way you slice it. It requires that I wear many hats from fundraising and data entry to graphic design and technology guru. Seriously, those are two words I would never have associated with myself: "technology guru". After all, I am the woman who kept her own diary of native plants and the dye colors each would make (usually yellow/green if you must know) and had her own homemade Navajo style loom. Didn't know that? Oh, yes, I'm very complex! Anyway, I have been working like crazy on the computer...it got so bad that the other day I realized it was 3:30 in the afternoon and I hadn't gotten up to change out of my pajamas....just another plus to having an office: I have to put on clothes to go there. (Yes, even if Duluth's unofficial title could be "City where you can wear slippers anywhere!") Now I need to get ready to go to Dallas for four days. I am going with seven other young survivors from the area to the Conference for Young Women Affected by Breast Cancer. This is the 9th year the YSC has had the conference, but the first time I'll be going. I am really looking forward to it, although I'm not sure I know what to expect. I know it will be very powerful. Each year the Conference keeps getting bigger, and last year there were at least 800 young survivors there. I am so proud that we are providing scholarships for so many women to go this year. It's going to be very exciting!!!