Today I woke up and saw that the grass was greener on the other side of the street.

Luckily, it was green on my side as well, and really the whole point was that it was green. Not brown,not cracked and gray and looking sad and defeated, but a real, springtime, St-Paddys-beer color of green. There might not be any leaves yet, I haven't seen a flower yet, but I can see life in the green grass and in the fact that I wore flip flops to school yesterday (and then yes, soaked my bare feet in a March thunderstorm - but it's ok, i painted my toenails hot pink and so it's hard to get me down). All the plants in our house, which are kept alive and thriving by Joshua only, are having growth spurts. The calla lilies that I had no idea were annuals are suddenly 6 inch shoots. I really thought we were keeping that planter of dirt on our windowsill because we were being too lazy to throw it away.

In much more important life-affirming news, my foxy mama is just fine and CANCER FREE. It was a bit of a scary appointment because her first mammogram showed a very large area of density that apparently sent the radiologist into a panic attack. However, on the second, more precise mammogram (which sounded pretty painful and involved some nasty breast-smushing techniques), that dark area turned out to be just dense breast tissue that hadn't been flattened out enough to get an accurate picture. The only bad news is that my mom will probably have these terrifying, "get back in our office before it spreads to your bones" kind of call-backs after her mammograms every year now. The areas of density may change in size and shape and location and she will probably have to always have the Mammogram of Torture to get good pictures. But she is WELL, and healthy.

And then this morning I was reading the news and discovered that Elizabeth Edwards' breast cancer has come back, and is now in her bones. She has two young children and a husband running for president...and just yesterday the doctors told her that at this point, her cancer is no longer curable. Just treatable. Just treatable is an incredibly devastating and inevitable thing to hear. I immediately had the selfish thought that I was so glad my mother was not the one who had THAT appointment yesterday. Then I had the much more appropriate thought that no one's mother should ever have to have that appointment.

Even before my mom's scare, and before Elizabeth Edwards' terrible news, my best friend Amy and I had decided to walk these 60 miles in August. In order to participate in the 3 Day, you have to raise a minimum of $2,200. That's a lot. But I think it will be worth all the letters and phone calls and training and sweat and of course,the absolute psychosis of attempting to walk SIXTY MILES over three days. In AUGUST.

Also, I have these new shoes? These ones?



They are absolutely amazing. I have been working out like crazy, because running in these babies is similar to springing on air (or, what I imagine that to be like) and I think these shoes can take me sixty miles. In fact, I wear these shoes everywhere now and if you know me, I am not exactly a sneakers and jeans kind of girl. Or a tennis shoes and jeans kind of girl either - and they are NOT for tennis and I resent that entire Midwestern term!

In non-cancer and running shoe related news, we've been trying out this radical new lifestyle. It's called...Save Money. I know, it's shocking. We have actually eaten every lunch and dinner at home since Sunday, which has quite possibly never happened before in our lives. Have we eaten a little too much pasta? Yes. But have we also eaten more fruits and vegetables and whole grains than ever before? YES! Unfortunately, the downside of this great marital experiment is that the house looks like a tornado blew through, so I should probably attempt to fix the chaos before my wonderful husband comes home and really starts asking questions about what I do all day.

Which is, of course, work out in my new SNEAKERS and then browse the internet, interspersing homework here and there. SHHHHH....