I can't believe August is really over and we're headed into Fall. Jerks keep posting things on Facebook reminding us there's only 17 more Fridays until Christmas. Yipes! Here are my photos from the final week of The August Break.

Here's a sneak peek at a gift I made for my baby nephew, Logan. After several failed attempts I discovered a new technique for doing lettering by pinning down twine and then shellacking it into a semi-solid form. I think I'm onto something!

Ironically on "lines" day both Lucy and I ended up wearing stripes.

On "nature" day for some reason I really wanted to photograph a dandelion, but I couldn't find one and Lucy wasn't in the mood to go hunting. I settled for the sun setting over our front yard.

Look what I found on "soft" day!

Goooooooood morning. We were all out of real milk at work again and I just cannot bring myself to use the powdered creamer.

And the final day was "love." I love that they put up with me and all my photo shenanigans.

The photo prompt this week for my self portrait class was "my heart." Here she is with chocolate on her chin.

And I can't enter September without mentioning its significance and why so many more people need to know... September is Pediatric Cancer Awareness Month. I know it is an unbelievably sad topic, but that's nothing compared to the sadness experienced by the families touched by it.

The thing people need to know is that pediatric cancer is in desperate need of research funding. Like so many others I always turned away from what was too sad until I couldn't. It was no longer a St. Jude's ad I had no connection to. The flaming wrecking ball that is pediatric cancer hit the beautiful daughter of a former co-worker of mine. Jennifer was diagnosed on her 6th birthday and died just three and a half months later. What I dug out of the ashes was glitter. Facts that stuck to me in Jennifer's honor and because of my heart, my Lucy.

Cancer is the #1 cause of death by disease for children in the US.
Pharmaceutical Companies fund 60% of all adult cancer research, but less than 1% for childhood cancer BECAUSE IT'S NOT PROFITABLE.
In the past 20 years, only two new cancer drugs have been specifically approved for pediatric use. By contrast, in one year (2012), a total of 23 drugs were approved for adults.
The American Cancer Society only gives one cent of every dollar raised for pediatric cancer.
Less than 4% of the NIH cancer research budget goes towards pediatric cancer.
The average age for a child diagnosed with cancer is 6. For breast cancer, it’s 61, and for prostate cancer, it’s 63. Average number of years lost for the adults that die is 15 years… for the children that die, it’s 69 years.
46 children a day are diagnosed with pediatric cancer
7 children a day die from pediatric cancer

If you are still reading, if you haven't looked away because it is "too sad," please help. I'm not asking you to dump a bucket of glitter on your head. If you have the means, donate. Perhaps if more funding goes toward finding cures for the most difficult to treat cancers--pediatric cancers--perhaps all cancers might unravel.

Spread the glitter.

xo Becky

Much of the private funding comes from parents and family members grass root efforts