Number 88 - Enter a soapbox Derby-type Event

Date: August 29, 2009

Ooooo, Oooo, Oooo!!! I just found out that the Red Bull Soapbox race is going to be in Atlanta this year!!! Sending in the application today!! Check it out

http://www.redbullsoapboxusa.com/races.aspx

Now for the important stuff:

1.Pink paint...Check!

2. Fuscia Ermine...Check!
3. Cerise sequins...Check!
4.Tiara...Check!
5. Lime-colored rhinestones...Sheesh, no. Don't wanna be gaudy!
6. Mechanic/Companion...Dr. M (acceptance pending)
7. Find out how to make a car... Okay, better do this first

Update June 6, 2009 - Sister Jean has requested a spot on the Pit Crew and suggested that the vehicle should be constructed to resemble a breast cancer ribbon. How very apt! Will finish and submit the design sketch today. They only choose 40-50 teams so cross your fingers for us!!

Finished the plan and will submit it in the morning. Rick took one look at my blueprints and pronounced them unsound. We will see about THAT, sir! Well, Here's the outside of the car, anyway:

Update: June 9, 2009- Dr M. has agreed to be my adventure companion on this adventure even though I didn't give any details on what will be involved. What a good sport!! I guess if I had to describe what the role was in one word, I'd say "ballast."

UPDATE June 24th, 2009 -We're in!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Just got this communication:

Congratulations! Out of approximately 160 applications, your Team was selected for one of the coveted racing spots to complete in Red Bull Soapbox Race Atlanta! Come August 29th, you will be speeding down 10th Street near Piedmont Park in hopes of attaining Red Bull Soapbox Race glory. I will be in touch soon to confirm details and discuss your submission.
Teams… start your building!

It was intolerably hot in the garage so I took over the den for awhile to build the car.


We named our car the Betty D. After of friend Betty who was just beginning chemotherapy for breast cancer the day we left for the race.


Update August 25th - Dr. M will not be able to attend due to an orthopedic issue that requires immediate treatment. Fortunately, cancer pal, Nancy will fill in with her daughter Christina! The car will be finished tonight and ready to go! We are pretty excited about the race and our trip to Atlanta!!!


Update August 27th - Sister Jean arrived from Florida with the truck. Nancy assembled our cheerleaders, Meg and Paloma, and the finishing touches were put on the car.
Adding fluffy feathers and a ponytail to our parasol the night before we left. My den is a MESS!

August 28th- Jean and Rick loaded the car into the truck with a tarp in case it rained. We picked up Nancy at her school and we were off! Christina and the cheerleaders were in another car; they were going to stay the whole weekend in Atlanta. Nancy and I talked and giggled the whole way while Jean drove. She did a spectacular job! It was pouring rain the whole way!!. The car didn't get wet at all but some of the parts made of old pizza boxes, like the fins did warp a bit for the moisture, but for the most part, the car arrived intact. We went to a team meeting and met teams from all over the country. We ate dinner with the Mad Hatters from Canton, Ohio and Keeping it Wheel from Jacksonville, FL. Nice buncha guys. They told us only 50% of the vehicles make it to the finish line - yikes!! Then Jean and I hit the hay and Nancy and pals hit the town.

August 29th- Race Day!!! This thing was HUGE. We had no idea what a big deal it was. It was like a gigantic carnival and silliness was the word of the day. We touched up the car, had a safety inspection and then posed for pictures and did interviews for about three hours. It was like being a movie star. What was really cool is that we got hugs for lots of other breast cancer survivors. That right there made it all worthwhile.

We walked around and looked at the other cars too. There were some really creative work put into these cars and costumes!

So, how'd we do? This article from our local paper, The Coastal Courier, written by Patty Leon, explains it all:

Team Boobie-Do Crosses Finish Line on Foot

Fort Stewart school teachers Dr. Edith Allison and Nancy Cintron made the voyage to Atlanta on Saturday to race in the 2009 Red Bull Soapbox Race, but crossed the finish line on foot after a slight problem forced them to improvise.


"Sadly, we didn't get to fly with our Red Bull wings," Allison said. "We jumped into the car like we were Batman and Robin and heard a crack. We tried to go on but lost a wheel."

Allison said Cintron just grabbed her by the arm and said "Let's
go."

"We ran for the finish line hand in hand, "Allison said. One of the judges, Michael Knight from 'Project Runway' gave us a score of 7 (out of 10) just for style, I suppose. They wrapped up the wheel we lost in a ribbon and gave it to us as a 'booby prize.'"

Allison and Cintron are both breast cancer survivors.

After she was diagnosed in 2006, Allison decided she would beat the disease and challenge herself to live life to the fullest. Inspired by the book "101 Things to Do Before You Die", she made her own list.Driving in a soapbox race was the seventh item she has completed on her list.
Allison's sister, Jean Marie, helped her design the car by incorporating the breast cancer awareness symbol, a pink ribbon.

Allison embarks on her next adventure this weekend at the 2009 Dragon-Con event in Atlanta. She will dress up like a female Klingon and compete in a beauty pageant. Allison isn't sure what she'll complete after the pageant.

"The way it works is that I draw out the next adventure from a jar and the name of someone who has agreed to be an adventure companion with me from another jar and then the fun begins," she said. "We don't get to pick. Fate throws us together. I have been taking ballroom dance and Argentine tango lessons. That's kind of ongoing."

Follow Allison as she tackles her list of 101 items at:

http://edidod.blogspot.com/2009/03/welcome.html

Nancy and I race for the finish line in our crash helmets

Related article:

Coastal Courier: http://www.coastalcourier.com/news/article/16141

Number 23 Reach my Goal Weight

Date: August 24, 2009


I got the O.K to engage in weight-bearing exercise now so it's time to get rid if some of that pudgy, doughy stuff that accumulated during my sedimentary time. Here is my proclamation:

I, Edith, will lose 25 pounds of jiggle between June 1, 2009 and August 24, 2009 (dammit!)

That's 12 weeks. Here's how I am guaranteeing my success:


1. I had an unwilling, unnamed helper (under duress) take 12 very unbecoming photographs of me in a very unflattering and unforgiving swimsuit - one picture for each week of this project.

2. If I make my weight goal for that week, he will destroy one of the twelve offensive photos.

I put this

in front of

the TV

(for now).

Thought that

might help

3. If I do NOT make my weight goal for the week, he will post one of the photos on his Facebook page, tagging me in the photo, causing it to be sent to all my Facebook pals, thereby causing me great shame.



I blew the dust off
this thing in the
corner of the Man
Cave. I had to change
all the settings back to
"Wimp"





4. I have enlisted the help of several of my Facebook Pals to react strongly upon seeing these photos and to state, in no uncertain terms, how disgusted and grossed out they are by the pictures, further deepening my shame. Although they are my friends, they have promised to be brutal even begging "Please, dear God in Heaven, lose the weight! I DON'T want to see those pictures!"
If all goes well, none of us will ever have to view the pictures. I haven't even looked at them.

5. At the end of the twelve weeks, hopefully, all the pictures will have been destroyed and I can get back into those favorite jeans.



I've decided, that if I make it, to reward myself at the end of the twelve weeks with this lovely frock that I have been eyeing




UPDATE June 11, 2009 - CLUNK! CLUNK! That's the sound of my hand weights dropping. I ran into cancer-pal, Nancy. She has developed lymphodema and tells me she has to wear a compression sleeve for the rest of her life and warns me not to do any lifting . I looked around the Internet and found several medical sites state that doing any resistance training on an arm after lymph node removal is contraindicated. Hey!!! How come nobody told me this????

Lymphodema

I guess I'll have to find another way to get rid of this jiggly stuff on the back of my arms.

************************************************************************

Here is the chart that will be used to keep track of my success (Check back weekly)

Date/ Weight Loss

1. June 8 - 4.5 Pounds!! Our eyes are safe (for this week). One picture deleted!!

2. June 15 - 2 Pounds. Just barely made it this week. One more of the Sentient Bean's chocolate croissants and you'd be screaming in horror now. Two pictures deleted!

3. June 22 - Another close one!!! One more horrid picture gone AND I forgot I was wearing button-down shorts and accidentally pulled them off without unbuttoning them. Now THAT'S progress!

4. June 29 - Almost halfway there. 10.5 pounds lost so far and no one has had any eye damage

5. July 6 - Halfway there!!!!!

6. July 13 - Okay, this is going to be tricky. I lost alot of weight this week but it was a result of the stomach flu so I don't think I should count it toward this goal. What I'll do is average it out after I stabilize. I won't destroy a picture until after that happens.

7. July 20 - All stable and averaged out and I am still on track. Two more pictures gone and four inches gone from my body!

8. July 27 - Still on track!! Another photo obliterated. Can't tell you how good that feels!!

9. August 3- I don't wanna talk about it ;-(

10. August 10 - Okay, back on track!! Your eyes are safe!!!

11. August 17 -Going back to the gym is really making a difference! I'm still on track and a little bit ahead!

12. August 24- Can we do it? YES WE CAN!! Made it with two pounds to spare!! Stayed tuned for pictures in my new dress

Number 100 Beat a Life Threatening Disease

January 3, 2008


Here I am in my second least favorite place in the world* - the hospital - battling cancer. I had a super team of doctors and wonderful nurses and technicians who brought me back from a really bad place. Just four months after this photo was taken, I was walking the Survivor's Lap in the Relay for Life (I'm the one in the white hat that my friend Tonia made for me)

*Once in the army, I was naughty and they made me clean out a (very) used trash barrel. It was really big so I actually had to crawl inside to do it and found out, in a very personal way, the meaning of the expression "bottom of the barrel." While this was not as life threatening as cancer, I WANTED to die so I will have to call the inside of this trash barrel my least favorite place in the world.

Number 101 Continue your Gene Pool

I already had two children when I started the list (Becky and Rick, below) and the chemotherapy fried my ovaries so this was a tricky task. Fortunately, my daughter and her husband, Josh were expecting a baby when I became ill. Toby Logan Gullage (T Lo G, if you're friend) was born during my very first cancer treatment giving me a reason to live. He and I have a whole lifetime to live together now full of horsie rides, and playing fly-fly and watching "Bunge Bob."I can't wait!

Number 8 Realize Your Childhood Dream

July 20-July 25, 2008

Like the rest of America, when I was a kid, I was in love with the Mercury astronauts. I was sure I would become an astronaut and couldn't wait for my turn in space!! The Teacher in Space Program brought it even closer for me. Well...I'm pretty sure I couldn't pass a flight physical now so I had to make an adapted version of the dream - I went to Teacher Space Camp and I had a blast!!!

(Left)I was selected to be the Mission Commander. Here I am at the controls of the Endeavor simulator. Really, this is not as easy as it looks, I was a sweaty mess by the end of the mission.

(Right) This is me with the rest of the Endeavor crew. I found out it takes every person doing the best job they can do the get the mission completed. We had a great crew and their commander didn't crash the shuttle! Whew!

I also learned cool stuff to take back to my class. Here, I've made a model of a satellite out of candy. We also learned to make REALLY cool bottle rockets, got to meet some astronauts, built some solar shields and I even ran into a former student of mine!

We took the same training that the astronauts take. Here I am escaping from a submerged helicopter and swimming to meet up with my team (right). We also took anti-gravity training (cool!) and were tortured by this cetrifuge (didn't care for this... BLURP!)

(Below) This was kinda cool.

This is me riding a zipline

This is an actual space capsule that went to the moon

Number 54 Make a HUGE Purchase

August 13, 2007

I grew up an army kid and was raised in military quarters for a good deal of my life so home ownership was a big deal for me. I also figured that, if I had a mortgage, it would be really impolite to die without paying it so this was a bit of a life insurance policy for me. ("Study first propriety: for she is indeed the polestar" - Calverley). So this house was my HUGE purchase.

Okay, it needed a little work but I fell in love with this house as soon as I stepped into it. The owner lived in Washington D.C. and had been using it as a rental property. He wanted to get rid of it quickly, as his ad indicates:

REDUCED! Large home with fixer-upper potential on the 18th hole of the C******* R*** Golf Course in a great neighborhood in H*********. Priced well below market value! Quick access to shopping and F*** S******. Sold as-is. * Heated Two-Car Garage * Picket-Fenced Yard w/Jungle Gym * Large Screen Porch * Wood Burning Fireplace * Side by Side Refrigerator, Range/Oven, Fan Hood, Dishwasher, Disposal

Owner Facts:
·Single family
·4 beds
·2.0 bath
·2084 sqft heated space
·Lot 22,651 sqft
·Built in 1976
At-a-Glance Features:
·Attic
·Ceiling Fan
·Fenced Yard
·Fireplace
·Lawn
·Patio

It also had a really odd floorplan:

Still, some paint, a new A/C system, some plumbing repair, upgraded electrical....it was still a bargain! To quote Linus from A Charlie Brown Christmas, "Maybe it just needs a little love". Wise words indeed. I'm having fun fixing it up little by little and...it's mine!!

Number 35 Play a Part on Your Favorite TV Show

May 9, 2009
I went to college with one of the producers of "My Name is Earl." He was a real honey and arranged for me to have a small walk-on roll on one of the episodes. Here I am on the set with my brother. They treated us like royalty! It was what my brother described as "mother-fricken awesome"- really that's how he put it. It was really incredible!!

I was on the episode "Inside Probe, Part 1". I played "Woman" ( I AM WOMAN - RAWR!!). In this episode, we are watching on surveillance video where Randy had been trying to steal videos from a video return bin and has his head and arms stuck in it. I walk up to return a video and, finding the opening blocked, shove the video down his pants. One of my son's friends caught it off the TV airing

They let us play on the sets too. I sat on Earl and Randy's bed in the motel and messed around in Joy and Darnell's trailer (They have a waterbed!) and went to the Crab Shack and even posed on Catalina's stripper pole in Club Chubby. We got to take pictures with the cast (the ones who were there filming that day) and they gave us an autographed picture of the cast and an autographed script. A really super day!!!! (Thanks for this, Michael)