Just a quick note of thanks for your good wishes and prayers. My sister’s surgery went well. Because they started about 2 hours late and her post-op pain was significant, they ended up keeping her overnight. Yep. We live in a world where a mastectomy is considered an OUTpatient procedure. BUT, they transferred her over to the main hospital around 7 pm Monday night. She went home Tuesday afternoon and is dozing well in between doses of pain meds. …
I’m headed out soon to sit vigil during my sister’s mastectomy. If you could throw a spare good thought our way today, the girls of Champion of My Heart would much appreciate it. …
Again, you have my apologies for the missing posts and general absence lately. I’ve been thinking a lot about how best to handle stress and worry when it comes in relentless waves for months on end. (My childhood friend’s mom died very soon after a cancer diagnosis. My mom fell again this week. My sis meets with the surgeon Friday.) This being a grown-up thing is often for the birds. So, should you find yourself mired in non-stop drama of any variety, here is my best coping advice. …
All winter we had virtually no snow. Then, came spring, and it would not stop snowing. Now that it’s essentially summer, we’re getting rain most days. It’s the greenest it’s been around here maybe ever. So, here are a few shots I thought you might enjoy. (P.S. We had a big bear run through our back pasture, mere feet from our back door last night, but my camera is s-l-o-w to turn on, and I missed getting a shot of it before it ran off. Very cool, though. I’ve never seen a bear before.) …
Pardon a little tangent today. I’m sad to say that my former colleague Anna Worth, VMD, died May 16 from cancer. I offer this little story as an example of who Anna was. More tributes here. …
Again, my apologies for the absence this week. I had stockpiled those video clips for last week before my mom’s medical emergency. That’s how I kept up, but then I got very behind … not just on the blog, but everything in life. Here are a handful of updates of the non-training variety. …
It’s been a tough week here, with my mom in cardiac ICU, after she blacked out, fell, hit her head, couldn’t stop throwing up and later in the ER went into V-tach (a scary and deadly heart rhythm) several times Tuesday. They had to zap her two seperate times to save her. So, I’ve been working as much as I can and running up and down the mountain to the hospital. It may take me a while to catch up with life, so don’t worry if we don’t post for a few days. …
If you have anyone in your house who is at all sensitive allergy-wise, DO NOT switch laundry detergent willy-nilly. I bought some Gain recently because it was on sale, and I practically poisoned Tom. He was sick for three solid days (over last weekend). He couldn’t breath. His eyes were bright red. He sneezed and sneezed and sneezed. Unfortunately, I’d done a whole day’s laundry while he was gone on Saturday. It wasn’t until Sunday morning we figured out the cause. …
I’ve added a new category called “Foodie Tangent” since it seems I’m in the mood more and more to give you insights into my food obsessions and cooking methods. Today’s entry is all about holiday breakfasts. Growing up, as I’ve mentioned, in a big Italian family, I learned early that food and holidays go hand in hand. So, for New Year’s Day, I present the holiday frittata that I ate every Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year’s and Easter as a kid. …
I originally wrote this essay for a charity holiday book that never got off the ground. I might be able to sell it somewhere, sometime … if the way-ahead-of-schedule life of holiday pieces ever sinks in. But, for now, I’ll take a break from our usual Friday training updates and do my best to entertain you with my own brand of holiday charm. This essay is based on actual events from a couple years ago. …
