We're in the final hours....

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....before the Big Shave. Thank you so much to those who have donated and/or linked this info to their blog. Stud didn't quite hit his lofty goal, but he still did great. Right now he's at almost $1,200. Yay! If you're interested in making a donation, but can't do it before tomorrow, remember that donations can be made even after this event. I will leave the link to his page on the sidebar indefinitely. Be sure to check back tomorrow for the after photos.

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I know I've been AWOL for a while, but there's been lots going on around here. If you read Smileygirl's blog, then you know that one of my uncles has been in the hospital. Things have not been good with him, but that's all I'm going to say about it for now, other than please send your prayers and good thought out for him.

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Actually, I had two uncles in the hospital last week. The other is an uncle on my mom's side. He's home now, but has a laundry list of things he has to go back for in the next month or so. And, where was he today when I tried to call him? At work!!! WTF?!? He needs to have 3 separate surgeries in the next few weeks, and he went to work! Oy!

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Last week one of my friends lost her aunt, who was more like a mother to her, so that's another reason I haven't really had a chance to post. This friend of mine is the mother of Stud Muffin's best friend, and this friend was incredibly close to this aunt. She was his godmother, and more like a grandma to him. I can't even get into all the details, but suffice it to say, this was a HUGE loss to both my friend and her son. Stud and I were with them for the entire wake, and then the next day for the funeral and luncheon. After the luncheon, Stud went back to their house and hung out for the rest of the night. Aunt Shari was far too young to have died (she was 62) and the rest of the week, I was really in a funk, and thinking about my own mortality. I was definitely NOT in a bloggy place.

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Things at work have been insane, but I'll have to come back later for a proper post about it. Let me just share this little tidbit, though. A little piece of me died today when New Principal pulled a Big Cheese. She put a memo in a mailboxes about some professional resource books that she has available, and she actually wrote "fill free to borrow the books...." FILL free!? Holy crap! It was like the Big Cheese was right there!!! (Believe me, this wasn't just a simple typo. It was written on two different memos that way, and at least three people read these damn memos BEFORE they were copied and then stuffed in our mailboxes!)

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The last few days with my babies have actually been pretty wonderful, so stand by for some posts about that, too. I already miss them, since I won't see them again until Thursday. I'll be volunteering at the St. Baldrick's event at Stud's school tomorrow. They have really been pretty damn sweet lately, and they all wanted bear hugs at the end of the day, and they all whined that they're going to miss me tomorrow. I stopped and bought them a treat for Thursday, assuming that they're going to get a good report from the sub. It figures, just when I'm start to REALLY fall in love with this group, we're about to go on a two week spring break. Don't get me wrong, I'm DYING for this break, but I'm just afraid that they're going to come back and we'll be at square one again. Ok, no more negativity. Moving on...

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On a positive note, it's been GORGEOUS here in ChiTown!! Today, it was about 65 and sunny when I came out of work. Woo-freakin'-hoo!!! The windows and sunroof were open before I even pulled out of the parking lot. I've been walking around without a coat for almost a week here, and lovin' it! One of my cousins from California, and his wife, came in over the weekend (mostly to visit our uncle in the hospital, but he said he came to see all his uncles) and of course, they thought it was a little cold. They were wearing coats and scarves, etc. Then, I walk in to my parents' without a coat on, and they thought I was nuts! This beautiful weather is supposed to last all week. Yay! Do you remember last week when I posted about the funny news tease? Well, it happened again last night. "Joggers, you'll be breaking out the shorts and tank tops this week. We've got mid-60s coming!" This afternoon when Stud and I stopped at the store, I did see a couple of nutjobs in tank tops. One particularly white-trashy-looking young thing was in a tank top, capri pants and flip flops. OK, it's nice, but COME ON!! Then, Stud made me laugh even harder because he asked me if that was tattooing on her legs, or just lots of leg hair. Tee hee!

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Well, that's enough bitchy-judgemental-ness for one night. I'm off to bake some shamrock spritz cookies to share with the other volunteers tomorrow.