Playing catch - up

Wow, I haven't been over here to blog since May!! I've really been slacking! Heck, I'm not sure if anyone knows I'm still out here :o)

Let's see. . .since May, what has happened??

• I started at the end of May to train for the 1/2 marathon in San Fran thru Team In Training, raising month for the Leukemia and Lymphoma society. I started off strong and accomplished some training and running goals that I never dreamed I would do. . .while fighting a nagging back and some foot numbness. I did some PT for my foot and changed the way I ran in the meantime and cured the numbness but focused the PT on my back. I tried to push through the pain and finish softball and continue training . . . until I could not deal with it any longer. I saw the doctor who tried different things...steroids, anti-inflammatories, more PT, pain medicine and when none of that worked...sent me for an MRI - which revlealed THREE bulging discs and some arthritis (all at age 32!). So, then came the epidural spinal steroid injections - 3 rounds of 2 injections each time. These have been, well, a pain! The day of the injection and the following day are truly hell - horrible "flu-like" aches in my lower half of my body. Then weak legs for a few days and no real relief. My last round of them is tomorrow. Thankfully!!! I just wish I would have gotten more relief as they thought. Because nothing has worked to date, the next step is to see a Neurosurgeon to see about surgery and if that would be of any benefit to me in order to clean up what's going on in there and be able to function normally again. December 17th is THE day! We shall see! Til then, I hope and pray that round 3 of the injections provides some relief and that time goes quickly! Oh, well, needless to say, I could not do the 1/2 marathon in October, however, I raised $2,024 for LLS! I did end up transferring $1,600 to the Capital City 1/2 to be raced on May 1, 2010, in hopes that I am well enough to participate in that 1/2 marathon! I will do it someday.
• I finished another season of 5 softball teams..one less than last summer. I was able to fully participate during the summer and played the fall season minus the last 2 regular season games and the two playoff games. Sunday summer finished the season in 2nd and the tournament in 1st! We always split those w/ the FU team..two years in a row now! The Wed coed team finished 2nd in the tournament. The fall coed team finished 2nd in the tournament and season. Great people and great games!!!
• Coming up on the Thanksgiving holiday, I was not sure that I would be able to make the 4 hour drive home having injections a day before I usually make the trip. Because of this, and the fact we usually go out to eat on Turkey Day, my little brain got to thinking....how about I just make my own traditional feast? Great idea. And what was even better is - invite some of my great friends over to join me!! I have met some new friends and gotten closer to even more of my friends over the last several months and we really have a great group that is really close w/ one another these days! So, I sent out a text, got all accept replies and set the ball in motion for our 1st Annual Thanksgiving at my house yesterday....I say 1st annual because it has already been decided that we will continue this tradition! Everyone had a great time...and we are all so very thankful to have one another in our lives! There were 7 of us... each came throughout the day, at different times. It really made for a "family day" for sure! There was cooking in the kitchen, snacking at the snack table, football-watching, feasting, and RockBand! Does it really get any better than that?? I don't think so at all! After dessert, we planned our Winter Holiday gathering and drew names for a little secret gift exchange. We will be celebrating both Christmas and Hanukkah on December 19th, where we will enjoy snackie food, great company, games and gifts! I can't wait! (I will post pictures later, when this actually lets me!)
• I think that's it for the last few months of the year. I will returning to school in January to finish the last two classes I need to be eligible for the CPA exam! Yikes :) I will do my best to keep this updated . . .

Fighting Together!!!

Today, May 21, 2009, marks the beginning of my journey towards the finish line in San Francisco October 18, 2009 for the Nike Women's Marathon to fight blood cancers! I have joined Team in Training, sponsored by the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, to train for this huge event...where I will run/walk a half marathon (yes, that's 13.1 miles!!!) and raise money to support LLS and cure blood cancers that affect so many!!!

By joining this team, they will train me to be able to run in this event (I need the help since I can presently run maybe a couple minutes....no where near one mile, let alone 13.1...) and in turn, I will pledge to raise money to go towards their efforts in finding cures! What a win-win situation! I've always wanted to run...and now I get a chance to train the proper way and help in the fight for all those affected by these horrible diseases!

Remembering the loss of my sister 12 short years ago yesterday has sparked a fire inside of me that's burning bright! I got my page up and running today and already received my first $100 donation within hours! I couldn't be more excited and anxious to keep the funds coming for this amazing organization and opportunity!!!

I ask that you kindly visit my fundraising page and make any sort of donation that you can....every little bit and lotta bit helps! I'd give all the money I ever had to make it possible for no one else to have to go thru what these amazing patients go through..and their families...and everyone who knows someone who's been affected by these! Though, the next best thing is to raise awareness, get running, and get raising funds so that someday, no one will fight the battles of blood cancers!!!!!!!!!!!!

http://pages.teamintraining.org/coh/nikesf09/jschriner_LTN

Also, please bookmark my page, check back often and spread the word. I will be planning fundraising events w/ my team and doing all I can to see that we all reach our $4,100 goal to make it to the San Fran 1/2 Marathon!! What a way to start off my running goals!!!

Together....anything is possible!!! Please join me in the fight!!!!!

xoxox

May 20, 1997 - May 20, 2009

Twelve years ago today, I lost my best friend, my sister!!! I look at this picture and remember as if it were just yesterday we were taking pictures together before she went to Chicago for her 2nd bone marrow transplant. I hoped and prayed that the 2nd would be as successful as the first, just four years prior. However, there was another plan...she became an angel in heaven after her 25 years as an angel on earth! In six days from today, we will celebrate her birthday and rejoice in the life she lived! There are so many wonderful memories that we all hold in our hearts! She touched ALL who knew her.

So on this day, twelve years later...I miss you Jen just as much as I did then!! I hope that you are watching all of us that love you and I will be waiting for us when we reach heaven.

I LOVE YOU!!!!!!!!!!!! XOXOXOXOXOXO

another summer of Softball!!!

Well, week one of summer softball 2009 is behind me! Out of my four teams...the record is 1-2, with one rainout! Not used to losing, so that's definitely a rough start in my book, but it definitely is absolultey fantastic to be out w/ my friends again the majority of the week doing something that I LOVE!!!!

....side note...I just need to get a bit better about sunscreen....although I did apply it today before leaving the house...it didn't prevent me from coming hope quite lobster-like for the second day in a row...guess I still have a lot to learn! But...I am doing just that...L.E.A.R.N.I.N.G....and at almost 32yo....it just goes to show that it's never too late to learn :) (I heard my Momma in my head all day - "make sure you use sunscreen" :D

a possible insight into it all?

I'm not sure where to even begin or even if this is the right place to be writing. I started on a piece of notebook paper but figured that I can type much faster than I can write...and when I should be doing homework, it's probably the smartest way to do it.
I have had so much going on lately and I notice more and more as the months go on that I'm internalizing so much and am not as outgoing as I used to be. I think it's because trust has become such an issue over the last months and year or so that maybe I'm just a bit more careful with whom I share things with. Sometimes, it's just easier not to share at all. This blog isn't out there to too many people, especially to those I see and interact with everyday...which is why I'm posting here...to get my thoughts out without worrying about who sees...maybe once I write them, I can begin to process them and go forward.

It was brought to my attention today at lunch with a very close friend that we are in very much the same boat on a personal/relationship-type level. We both have been in the relationship that we knew we would spend the rest of our lives with...the one that was to be our forever...THE one..we gave it all...put everything we had into the relationship that we had physically and emotionally and spiritually and in every other aspect we can think of. ...only to have it slip away. Maybe "slip away" is the wrong term...but it ended just the same. and we fought..and we cried and tried and hoped and prayed....but yet in the end...it was truly that, the end and time to go our separate ways. And so we did. both of us. But as we talk each day and experience different things in our lives, it's like we are living the same situation. Trying to move on w/ someone that can be completely good for each of us individually....yet it doesn't work because we are still just worn down and exhausted and even angry at times that we don't have anything left to give this new person. We get annoyed at the new person for the stupidest things...because it should be someone else. There's a difference there ... I'm in a relationship with a new person and she has the potential yet can't make that step. Regardless, at times we act and react in ways that we shouldn't, if you would take away everything else that we've been through.

So how do we get past this? I thought I was over the last relationship and had come to terms with the fact that it's over and "everything happens for a reason"....but with today's lunch talk, it appears I'm not over "having it all" even if I'm over the "ex". It's like I'm hoping and wishing to find it over again and doing what I can for this one to be the right one. Each day I think about what it is in life that I want...the house, the family, the loving partner and children....but have I truly given myself the time to heal and reconnect with myself on a much deeper level? I'm sure I know the answer......and I do.....but it's hard to face the reality. Steps I've taken to move forward will prove to make taking time out for myself to reconnect to "me" more difficult....

...all I know is there's got to be a way. and finally, after much heartache and hurt and confusion and pain, I'm reaching out to a professional....and I'm definitely not ashamed. it's a crazy and intense world we live in now...with many different struggles thrown at us each and every day...it's time for me to get a grasp on my life and all that's in it and start on the healing path to happiness, the kind that I know i deserve.

April 2009 already?

Wow, so it's been many many months since I've posted last...since November to be exact! I never know what to post...I never think I have anything interesting so I don't. Then, time gets away from me and it's April before I know it!

Yesterday, I played softball outside in shorts and a t-shirt...68 degrees.
Today, it's raining and snowing...34 degrees.
This, my friends, does NOT make for a good April!

However, I'm positive great things are going to become of this month...
*the current school session will end! F.I.N.A.L.L.Y.! Intermediate Accounting II and Fed Tax I have not been the greatest to take together for 15 long, drawn out weeks!
*softball is starting...another summer full of 4 teams of fun! Have had a couple practices and it appears losing so much weight has done wonders for the ol' hitting! who'da'thunk?!
*a new baby nephew will be born rather soon! I absolutely cannot wait!!!

....and then it's back to school...but mixed with softball it's got to be better than this winter term has been! Hopefully the sun will come out...tomorrow...whew, sometimes I just break out into song! (I think I get this honestly, right Mom?)

Ok, well enough of me blogging for now. There is a "not-so-fun Int. Acct II" test in my near future...like tomorrow! Blah! Any takers?? :)

xoxo