I'm thinking about canceling our home phone (land line) to save $50 per month. This prospect worries me a bit because I like the idea that my kid could call 911 if I had a stroke or something. This, folks, is called "free-floating anxiety ( Read more... )

OK. So I admit I was scared. I am scared of a lot of things, so in those instances I do my best to jump in head-first; I am what you might call a studious thrill-seeker! I was probably a little quiet during my second rafting trip down the south fork of the American River yesterday. I was content to enjoy the banter going on around me. I laughed at ( Read more... )

( Read more... )

Last week Lucas attended a Fine Arts Camp through Fair Oaks Rec and Park District. It was four mornings, 9 to 1 p.m. He painted with watercolors and acrylics; he drew with sharpies on foil, and with melted crayons, watercolor pencils, "soft pastels," and oil pastels; he used paper and fabric. He came home with about 13 pictures, all of which are ( Read more... )

Thanks for the encouraging words everyone. They help.

"Worry is a misuse of imagination." -Dan Zadra

Interesting quote by Peter McWilliams (but I don't know who he is):


"To use fear as the friend it is, we must retrain and reprogram ourselves...We must persistently and convincingly tell ourselves that the fear is here--with its gift of energy and heightened awareness--so we can do our best and learn the most in the new situation."

My dad is being released from the hospital today!

It's wonderful, wonderful news!! Mom is going to the patient recovery class today to learn more about how to take care of him at home, and then she's bringing him home this afternoon. It's going to be a long, challenging road for him. He cannot drive for six weeks, for example. He's not supposed to ( Read more... )

Thanks for all the love, support, emails, comments, and phone calls. They help ( Read more... )

Surgery was yesterday. It was complicated--more complicated than they had anticipated--but it went well. It took 6 hours; they ended up replacing one valve and also having to repair the other. There was an area of his heart beneath the aortic valve that was constricted, so they actually removed some tissue to open up the space. They decided while ( Read more... )