My aughties in review

The first 10 years of the '00s were a busy time for me. A lot of stuff went down. I:

• Left four jobs (2000 [layoff], 2001, 2004 and 2009 [layoff]);
• Filed for unemployment (2001, 2009)
• Moved twice (in with M in 2000; 2002)
• Got married (2002)
• Bought a house (2002)
• Turned 30 (2003)
• Saw M's grandmother, grandfather and uncle die (2000, 2001), as well as my uncle (2009) and other loved ones.
• Went to Italy (2004)
• Found out M has lupus and went through chemo with him (2005; worst year of my life)
• Won a large amount of money on a scratch ticket (2006)
• Cruised to Bermuda (2006, 2009)
• Hit 1,000 posts on this here blog (2007)
• Had a baby (2008)
• Became a working mom (2008)
• Lost power for four days in the ice storm (2008)
• Became a SAHM (2009)

Busy, busy. It's a new dawn, a new decade, and I'm feeling good. I just wish it would stop snowing before I pull a Jack from the Shining. I haven't left the house (except to pull the Boo around on his sled for 10 minutes) since New Year's Eve. Which was also pretty much spent in the house.

Now nothing seems as strange as when the leaves began to change

Love you, Kid Rock.

Lupus Walk was good, if wet -- yes, they had the walk anyway, despite the rain, and I was soaked to the bone at the end of it. Hey, if my husband can go through chemo, I can walk three miles in the rain. We raised more than $700 for lupus research. That's all that really matters.

This weather is glorious. Absolutely glorious. I have long sleeves, long pants and boots on. I love it. No air conditioning at night, no sweating. You cannot beat fall in New England.

Lupus Walk 2008

It's Sunday. If you know me IRL and want to sponsor me, shoot me an e on how to do it.

The Lupus Walk: The good, the bad and the ugly

Lots of good. Gorgeous day, with a beautiful view of the Charles. Lots of free (donated) food and other goodies, and tons of nice people. And the best part: I raised more than $900 for lupus research. Thanks from M and me to those who helped out.

The bad: Finding Soldiers Field Road on a Sunday morning with my mother-in-law (who has no sense of direction) as my copilot. Getting lost in Brighton (no, not you, Trish) on the way home and getting directions from someone who doesn't know where he is either. Man, I am really rusty about driving in the Boston area. I much prefer the saner people and rolling hills of Central Massachusetts.

The ugly: Me after walking three miles. I'm beat, but it's a good kind of beat. This is the third year in a row I've done this walk. All told, I've raised more than $3,000 to help the Lupus Foundation of New England find a cure for this disease that affects the person I love most in the world. On that happy day, I will gladly take the orange wristband stamped with Life Without Lupus off my right arm.

Until next year...

Lupus Walk

I'm doing the Lupus Walk on Sunday. If you're interested in sponsoring me, shoot me an e and I'll tell you how.

Anna Nicole Smith had lupus?

I had a bunch of things I wanted to blog about today, but a friend emailed me about this and I pushed them all aside. Apparently, in case you haven't heard, a friend of the late Anna Nicole Smith is saying she confided in him she had lupus. That would explain her up-and-down weight -- prednisone, a steroid that damps down the immune system and is used short-term in lupus control, makes you bloat.

As someone whose spouse has the disease, I can tell you it is a baffling, difficult, lifelong disease that can be managed but not cured. I love my husband with all my heart, and I've told him if I could take his lupus from him, I would gladly take it on. His response: "I wouldn't let you take this."

I always felt bad for Anna Nicole. Now my sympathy has a new dimension. Anna, rest in peace. I hope you're not in pain wherever you are.

In case you're curious about lupus, here's a press release released about it in the wake of this news.