Great Recipe/Bath Toys Carrying Germs

First off, click here for an AMAZING recipe for some Blueberry Crumb Bars! I can't wait to make them! They look delicious! Some good calories for Lil' Chris...that is IF he would eat them. If not...then more for Mommy;-) lol

Second, do you ever wonder how clean your kids bath toys really are??? Well, watch the video on this other site(I tried to post the video here, but it kept going to the current date clip, sorry)...Click here to watch it, find out more info, if they have PVC in them, and how to clean the toys properly. Also, click here to check out some awesome bath toys that don't have the little holes for mold and mildew to collect, they are called Boon toys. I just might have to get some for Lil' Chris' birthday coming up in June:) With Lil' Chris having CF, I always wondered if the toys that squirt collected mold and mildew, apparently they do! I will be throwing away some of his bath toys, b/c it's not worth the risk of having these bad germs and bacteria around him!! It could mean BAD news for him, for Ayla it may not effect her, but it's still not worth the risk.
M

Rachael got the Call!!/Organ Donation

Rachael Wakefield on BBC North West Tonight from Live Life Then Give Life on Vimeo.

This is Rachael a few days ago. Today...SHE GOT THE CALL!! She is still waiting to hear if the lungs are good or not. I pray that they are, b/c she REALLY needs them!! Please say a prayer for Rachael, her family, and the donor's family as they are grieving.

Now you can see why it is sooooo important to become a donor. You can save up to 7 lives that are desperately hanging on like Rachael. Please become a donor today and spread the word!!

Thanks,
M

Tumbleweed Fundraiser went GREAT/Cough Update

I think the Tumbleweed fundraiser went great today!! We had to do take-out for both lunch and dinner, b/c Lil' Chris' cough has gotten even worse. His nose is still stuffy too;( I called the CF Clinic today and they called in an antibiotic for him. This evening I went and picked up the Augmentin from CVS, and then went and picked up our take-out order at Tumbleweed. I saw one of my associates carry out some take-out and I saw another associate pulling in as we were leaving. She said that there were going to be like 5 of them eating there tonight! YEA!! While Chris was picking up the food, he saw 2 associates that he works with in there too!! I think it is awesome how we have so many that support Lil' Chris and care about him:)

THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO ATE AT TUMBLEWEED TODAY FOR A CURE FOR LIL' CHRIS AND ALL 70,000 LIVING WITH CYSTIC FIBROSIS!! IT MEANS THE WORLD TO US ALL:)

I'll let you know how much we raised when I find out...probably in a few days.

Thanks again everyone,

M

Tumbleweed Fundraiser TODAY for Cystic Fibrosis

Tumbleweed Coupon2

Well, today is the BIG day!! Print the Tumbleweed coupon above and take it to the Wooster Tumbleweed, and 10% of your bill will go towards a CURE for Cystic Fibrosis!! Gather your friends and family and go to Tumbleweed and have some GREAT food for a GREAT cause!!!

I just ate round one;) Mmmmm it was delicious!!!!! I LOVE their food!!! They have the best fries!! Now they have waffle fries too! If you click here, you can get a coupon for FREE Queso Waffle Fries!!

Hmmmm what should I have for dinner.....I think I'll have my second favorite...CHIMICHANGA: Your choice of a beef, bean & cheese, beef and cheese, or peppery chicken burrito, deep fried to a golden brown.

I think I'm going to try the Queso Fries too:) I can't wait;-)

Tumbleweed Fundraiser 3/9/10

Tonight we went all around Wooster and passed out the Tumbleweed coupon for our fundraiser tomorrow(Tues 3/9)!!! I'm so excited!! We passed out lots and lots of coupons, so hopefully we get a lot of people to go tomorrow! I was getting a great response from a lot of people. Some told me that they are going to take their whole family...others told me that they would get their co-workers to go with them...and one told me that they are having a manager/staff meeting tomorrow and that she would have it at Tumbleweed now!! YEA for big groups!! 10% of a big bill like that is a lot of money! I just hope everyone remembers to take the coupon with them. I had a few stores say that they would leave them on the counter for customers to take. Some even went a little bit further and said that they would put them in the customers bags!!! I love it when they do that!!!

Thank You to Everyone that I spoke with today!!! :)

I also passed out a lot of sponsorship forms too. Mainly to all the banks in town. I hope to hear good news from them:) That would be great if they all became "Single Rose Sponsors" or higher!! The sponsorship form varies from a Single Rose Sponsor at $125 to a Site Sponsor at $3,000. I really hope we get a Site Sponsor this year, last year we didn't have one. If you would like more info on how to become a sponsor, just email me at lilcmom@gmail.com and I can email you the form and info on Cystic Fibrosis.

Below is the Tumbleweed coupon again. All you have to do is print it and take it to the Wooster Tumbleweed anytime tomorrow(Tues 3/9) between 11am-10pm and turn it in and then 10% of your bill will go towards a Cure for Cystic Fibrosis! The best part is...you can even turn the coupon in for a take-out order!!! YEA!!! Wanna see their menu ahead of time... click here and call in a take-out order, but don't forget to take your coupon and turn it in;-) Also, if you click here, you can get FREE Queso Fries!! Mmmmmmm!! My favorite dish is...the GRILLED CHICKEN BREAST DINNER: A half-pound chicken breast grilled over a live mesquite fire. Make it saucy with our BBQ sauce or Bourbon Glaze. $9.99 plus get 2 sides. I usually get the veggies and a baked potato...mmmmm it is soooooo gooooooood!!! I LOVE THEIR FOOD!! I can't wait to try these new Queso Fries too:) They look really good!!

Thank you all in advance for making tomorrow a success!!! Don't forget to print your coupon below and take it with you tomorrow:) Please spread the word!!!
Tumbleweed Coupon2 Thanks again. It is greatly appreciated,
M

Tumbleweed Fundraiser for Cystic Fibrosis

This Tuesday, March 9th we are doing a fundraiser at the Tumbleweed Restaurant in Wooster to help raise money for a CURE for Cystic Fibrosis. All you need to do is click the link below, print the coupon, and then bring the coupon in to the Wooster Tumbleweed any time on Tuesday March 9th, and then 10% of your bill will go towards a CURE for Cystic Fibrosis.
Tumbleweed Coupon
For those who are new to my blog, Cystic Fibrosis(CF) is a life threatening, genetic disease of the lungs and digestive system. You can go to www.cff.org for more info. My 2 1/2 year old son, Lil' Chris, has CF and his life expectancy is only 37. Take a look at your child and imagine if he or she only had about 30-40 years to live or less. Would that be enough for you?? Of course not. That is why I do these fundraisers, because CF is not funded by the government like other diseases. It's up to the parents, family, and friends of those effected by CF to raise the MUCH needed money to fund VITAL research for better meds, and hopefully one day.....a CURE!!!!! We keep getting closer and closer to a cure, but it costs LOTS of money to develop these new drugs and test them before they can be approved by the FDA and then released.

Please help spread the word about Tumbleweed and all my fundraisers to help raise money and awareness for Cystic Fibrosis and Organ Donation. In the final days of those with CF, a double lung transplant can add 5-10 more years onto their lives, but this can't happen unless a donor is found. It's very important that everyone become a donor. All you have to do is get it marked on your driver's license and then you can save up to 7 peoples lives. So many young people die from CF just waiting and waiting and waiting for a matching donor. Please become an organ donor today and spread the word as to how important it is.

My next few fundraisers after Tumbleweed, are at CiCi's Pizza in Wooster on March 25th, April 22nd, and May 27th from 4pm-8pm. Come and join us and just put your receipt in the jar by the register and then 10% of your bill will go towards a CURE for Cystic Fibrosis. I will be at each one and we will be having a raffle each time too. Spread the word!!

We are also having a walk for Cystic Fibrosis on Saturday, May 1st at 9am if you would like to join us that would be GREAT!! It will be held at Hewitt Cowels Pavilion of Ida Sue School(by the soccer fields). The address is 266 Oldman Rd. in Wooster. Come join us for a day of fun, free food, and lots of prizes!!!

Thank you everyone for checking out my blog, and feel free to check back often to see more fundraisers for Cystic Fibrosis in town and to get updates on Lil' Chris:)
M

Cayston is Available/Bad Sanitizers/Cold Update

Remember this post where I mentioned a new inhaled antibiotic getting approved by the FDA called Cayston??? Wellllllllll....IT'S AVAILABLE NOW!!! The CF Services Pharmacy has it! That's where Lil' Chris' meds all come from, b/c a percentage of each purchase goes towards a cure for Cystic Fibrosis:) Click here to see the whole article on the CFF website. Cayston is administered with a new device called the Altera® Nebulizer System that allows patients to take the medicine in less than FIVE minutes, a fraction of the time required for other inhaled antibiotics. It is the first new inhaled antibiotic developed for CF in more than a decade. I love this paragraph:) If only they could start making ALL of them to be administered in just 5 minutes...one can dream;) Although, it looks like it could possibly be a reality now:) All I can do is keep raising money and keep praying!! Thank you to everyone who has donated or raised money in the past to make this new drug be available for our precious CFers:)

How’s this for irony – the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is warning consumers to stop using two brands of hand sanitizers because they contain … dangerous bacteria.

That’s right. “Bee-Shield Hand Sanitizer” and “MD Quality Hand Sanitizer” (both made with aloe vera) were found to have high levels of Burkholderia cepacia, which “can cause serious infections in humans,” according to the FDA alert. Click here for the whole article. Kinda ironic isn't it? Sad...but ironic!

As for a quick update on every one's colds:

-Mine is great and was gone in practically 3 days.

-Ayla's nose has been slightly running still and it has been over a week now.

-Lil' Chris' nose never really ran like Ayla's and mine...it just kinda stayed clogged in his nose. Not sure if this is b/c of the CF and all the thick, sticky mucus or what???? Anybody else have this happen with their lil' CFer? Thankfully Lil' Chris doesn't mind blowing it out when we ask him and then he EVEN lets us suction it out, which is GREAT!!! BTW, I have to say a big THANK YOU to my sister, D. She told me before Lil' Chris was born to hold onto the lil' suction bulb that the hospital gives you when you have a baby. I am SOOOOO glad I listened to her, b/c the ones you buy in the store are CRAP! The hospital ones works like a charm every time;-) I even kept Ayla's too:) Thanks D!!!

-Lil' Chris also has a cough still too;( I think it might be from the drainage he might be having down the back of his throat, b/c the mucus is so thick. He has a CF clinic appt on the 31st, so hopefully it will be gone by then, if not, then hopefully we can get some answers. I'm kinda worried about this appt., b/c I think his weight is down again. He hasn't been eating as much lately.

Please pray Lil' Chris and Ayla get well soon!
M
PS. Guess what Ayla is doing now;)

New Nonprofit for CF/New Fundraiser

Thanks to all the good info I get from Cystic Life on facebook...here is another great article with promises of a CURE for Cystic Fibrosis. Click here to read about how a family member of someone with CF created a nonprofit organization called CFRx, to fund research for a CURE. I wish them all the best, and hope and pray that they will find a CURE for ALL people with Cystic Fibrosis.

One of these days when I have more time, I want to put together a list of all the places I have found that will do fundraisers. I can't do them all, b/c they may not be near me or I just don't have the time to do them, but there are A LOT of place out there that will help in fundraising for a great cause. I really want to share them, b/c maybe you might want to look into them or have the time for them. Some places really surprised me that they do fundraisers!

Today, (as I was typing this post actually;) I got an email from a blog reader, Nicole, who said she was encouraged to see another fellow CF mom dedicated to finding a CURE for CF! She saw on my blog how I like to do fundraisers and sent me a link to a place I have never heard of before that does fundraising! It's called Monkey Joe's, click here to see if there is one in your area. It's a cool Play House kinda! It has the big bouncy things, slides, jumping things, all kinds of cool stuff! It's seems like a great place to have birthday parties! The best part, is that they will donate 15-20% to your charity!! That's AWESOME!! I only wish we had one close to us;( Good news is that they have 2 really close to my sister, D!! My sister and her husband are all about fundraising for Lil' Chris and CF! They have raised $185 so far and they just got started!! I know my sister is going to love this place, especially since they sanitize everything, so they say;) She's a sanitizer freak like me;) LOL

Thank you Nicole for telling me about Monkey Joe's!!! I love to hear from my readers and get tips from them:)

If anyone else has any other fundraiser ideas, I'd LOVE to hear them and pass them along!!

On another note, I heard from CiCi's Pizza's Marketing Manager today and I am going to be dropping off 10 packs of Pin-Ups so that 10 of their stores can do Pin-Ups in May!! I'm SOOOOO EXCITED!!! Last year only 3 of the stores did them, so to have 10 this year is AWESOME!!! I wish I could get them to do it nationwide though. Maybe someday:)

If anybody knows of other places that will do Pin-Ups for Cystic Fibrosis, please let me know and I will try to contact them:)

We are all in this together, and we WILL find a CURE for Cystic Fibrosis!!!

I gotta give a big shout out to Jeanette and the 3 girls in her office at Wayne Saving Community Bank for doing Jeans 4 Genes last Friday!! They all paid $10 to wear jeans for CF!! YEA!! They may do it again in a few months too:) They do it once a month, and they each take turns in picking the charity. Jeanette works with me at Kohl's and donated her month to CF. YEA!!

THANK YOU JEANETTE & GIRLS!! YOU ROCK!!

M