tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-246968492009-11-29T17:02:03.410-06:00"Either stay in the shallow end of the pool, or go out in the ocean" ~Christopher ReeveGwynnenoreply@blogger.comBlogger576125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24696849.post-41152736702242026152009-10-06T23:52:00.005-05:002009-10-18T15:39:12.509-05:00

We had our first encounter with the family therapist a couple weeks ago. I have very mixed feelings about it. I left feeling like it was a good start, open honest discussion about the good, bad and the ugly. But the more I think about it, the angrier I get. Maybe "angry" isn't the right word, but frustrated. I think it's important that we as a family have a forum to discuss the difficult

Gwynnenoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24696849.post-50927430286796995802009-09-25T09:15:00.003-05:002009-09-25T09:31:29.001-05:00

I almost forgot to mention the highlight of last week...I ventured into a real live PAWN SHOP for the first time in my life. And not the kind that's all clean and sterile either. No, this was the kind with bars on the windows and surveillance cameras everywhere and lots of guns and knives on the shelves, in a seedy part of town. Why? Because we decided to do something nice for our daughter

Gwynnenoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24696849.post-57933045772444015912009-09-25T01:06:00.005-05:002009-09-25T01:59:46.034-05:00

I know I'm due for some kind of update around here. It'd be so much easier if I'd just jot down a note or two every day rather than let everything build up inside for a month. Sheesh.Our daughter is out of rehab and back home now, adjusting to the "boring" life again. She says she really, really enjoyed the program and is glad she did it. She admits now to having reservations about it all the

Gwynnenoreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24696849.post-74577698091033448842009-08-30T20:23:00.001-05:002009-08-31T10:48:10.181-05:00

We just returned from visiting with our daughter, Julian’s mother, at her place of recovery, three hours away. She is on day 13 of a 30-day program, and she was given a pass to leave the facility with us for a few hours. It was a very rewarding visit. She is embracing the recovery process and enjoying the people and environment enough to stick with what must be a very difficult process. She

Gwynnenoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24696849.post-74733872928334046282009-08-22T12:33:00.018-05:002009-08-29T13:33:37.212-05:00

Off to Costco, to stock up for the Apocolypse...One Year food supply, for twoFruit supplyVegetable supplyDeluxe Emergency Supply KitYou gotta love Costco. I gave up my membership for a few years because, as good as the bargains were, I always felt broke after leaving their warehouses. Not to mention the difficulty storing the pallets of toilet paper and paper towels. Now look! You can buy food

Gwynnenoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24696849.post-86340856023824591022009-08-21T10:17:00.002-05:002009-08-21T10:31:21.221-05:00

A big reason I began blogging was to spend a little time journaling. I've never been good at doing this, but thought it was important to do and thought by having a public face, I might be pressured to keep at it a bit more. That was a faulty assumption. I'm just not disciplined about it. Lately, there has been a lot of stressful stuff going on, much of which isn't very good blog fodder, but I'm

Gwynnenoreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24696849.post-73024739365889396792009-08-12T11:19:00.003-05:002009-08-12T12:58:47.963-05:00

Well, little Spartacus just sustained his first injury. We've added "Black Eyed Pea" to his list of monikers. And under my very close and watchful supervision, I might add. He's had his share of close calls...1) rolling off the bed (thank goodness it was not far off the ground due to a previous incident wherein the entire bed caved in, and he appeared to have rolled sideways onto his back rather

Gwynnenoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24696849.post-5768260178528954392009-07-31T12:31:00.007-05:002009-07-31T13:59:15.379-05:00

Thursday's edition was delayed because of THIS (I thought life as I knew it was over!):Nearly 2 inches in diameter!Thanks to what I have come to learn is a Funnel Web Grass spider (and not the dreaded Brown Recluse spider that I thought), my entire bedroom was turned upside down and vacuumed, dusted and sprayed in order that I might sleep last night. I caught this utterly despicable creature

Gwynnenoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24696849.post-7817156809031656932009-07-24T07:56:00.005-05:002009-07-24T08:17:06.810-05:00

Good grief! I just turned on the 7:00 am news shows (all of them, in rotation, searching for our local weather report for the day) and every. single. one. of them was busy covering the Cambridge Police vs. Professor Gates vs. President Obama story. And not just a little news blip either, but all of them were going on and on for a good 10 minutes (I know this because I continued to flip between

Gwynnenoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24696849.post-63432569254344314062009-07-16T09:29:00.006-05:002009-07-17T11:19:53.999-05:00

This is sweet. The other day, this little green finch showed up at our kitchen window, flapping its wings, trying to get inside.The reason? Because inside, in its cage, was our European Green Finch singing his little heart out. Now, the one outside also appears to be a male, so I don't know why the attraction, but maybe I'm wrong about that. I haven't heard "him" sing. Now, he's returned for the

Gwynnenoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24696849.post-11203440125557111292009-07-13T09:14:00.000-05:002009-07-14T09:14:02.886-05:00

Okay, okay. Something has to supersede the MJ post. Here we have the destruction caused by a single cute puppy with a death wish (and enough chew toys on the kitchen floor to trip 6 adults at once but apparently not enough to prevent this): Kitchen chairs Kitchen Aid Mixer ($300+)Cuisinart Food Processor ($200+) Jack LaLane Juicer (Three Easy Payments of ??) Toaster $27 (untouched)This dog is

Gwynnenoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24696849.post-77183345833659164932009-07-07T13:46:00.008-05:002009-07-07T15:42:19.638-05:00

I don't mind sharing the limelight with Michael Jackson on my birthday. Really, I don't. I never liked being the center of attention anyway. It's funny to hear the various channels announcing the changes in tv coverage resulting from the preemption...things like Days of Our Lives are being moved around so as not to be missed. Never mind that REAL news has been preempted for the last two weeks in

Gwynnenoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24696849.post-39890307555152329932009-07-04T22:38:00.005-05:002009-07-04T23:05:42.665-05:00

Some people burned firecrackers, bottle rockets and sparklers. I burned up 9 years worth of excessive notes and useless paper from my former day job. I finally hauled home the last of the boxes that were in my old office, knowing that when I did so I would have to go through them and purge a bunch. I tried to save valuable practice aids for my own reference and sent any client pertinent notes

Gwynnenoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24696849.post-68177405166546301112009-07-01T22:14:00.004-05:002009-07-01T22:28:00.295-05:00

On Sunday, while visiting with our daughter (Julian's mother), we went to the Panda Express drive-thru for dinner on our way back to her place. After we finished eating, she was about to throw the bag away and I said, "Wait! There are fortune cookies in there!!" and I reached in and grabbed them both, carelessly handing one to her (normally, we make a point to carefully pick our cookies, making

Gwynnenoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24696849.post-18632767874827560942009-06-28T22:29:00.012-05:002009-06-29T13:10:13.676-05:00

Today was a very nice day, most of which was spent celebrating Julian's birthday again. Our favorite babysitter wanted to throw him a party and invite several other children that she babysits. It was very sweet and for Julian, a rare encounter with his peers. He likes them. He adapted easily and welcomed the pushing, pulling, giving, grabbing and kissing that began the moment we walked in the

Gwynnenoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24696849.post-14292115081669465152009-06-26T17:37:00.007-05:002009-06-27T10:08:19.035-05:00

Let the record show...At last, Little Spartacus is crawling! And pulling himself up! As of yesterday, I'd say, he is able to crawl across the room without pulling himself on his stomach commando style. Once he realized he could do this, there was no stopping him, kind of like a wind-up toy that's been wound very tightly and finally released. The same with the pulling up. He has his own little "

Gwynnenoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24696849.post-28451072013207662242009-06-23T13:30:00.003-05:002009-06-23T13:40:20.997-05:00

I can't believe I needed a recipe for this, but doubtful of my own abilities to just whip up a good potato leek soup, I consulted this book by someone named Crescent Dragonwagon (I've no idea if that is her real name, but I have met her and she's a little out of this world, IYKWIM). Anyway, this is souper simple and very good:Chop up a pound of potatoes (I used small new red potatoes and left

Gwynnenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24696849.post-72219450688072067082009-06-21T09:09:00.008-05:002009-06-21T10:19:08.058-05:00

Dear Dad,Last year, on Father's Day, we were a little busy. For me, it was a reminder of how important is a Father's role. Unlike Julian's father, you have ALWAYS been there for me. Even when you and Mom got divorced, I always felt like the most important thing for you was maintaining your relationship with me and my brother, as our father. You made sure to spend time with us and celebrated

Gwynnenoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24696849.post-41342414208010258022009-06-15T09:41:00.010-05:002009-06-15T10:20:34.333-05:00

From this... To This...One Year Old!Dear Julian,One year ago today, you surprised us all! You were 10 weeks early and we had no idea you were ready yet! Grandpa drove Mommy to the hospital in a big hurry and Grandma came as soon as she learned that you were really ready to come out. She thought Mommy just needed to get some rest, but the doctors kept Mommy in the hospital and put her on some

Gwynnenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24696849.post-10399793542966248162009-06-14T10:19:00.005-05:002009-06-14T10:31:15.009-05:00

While digging in the archives for photos for tomorrow's 1-year birthday post (I can't believe it's been a year already!), I dug deep in search of baby pictures of both his mom and grandpa, to show the similarities, and just for fun. In so doing, I stumbled upon this gem...my husband serving Jack LaLanne and his lovely wife:When he first came to America, back in the olden days, he worked for

Gwynnenoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24696849.post-12740702284751169022009-06-14T09:11:00.003-05:002009-06-14T09:21:49.283-05:00

Our herding champion...he's got one horse mastered, I think. I wish you could hear him talking to the horse in the last photo. ;-)

Gwynnenoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24696849.post-37132524345279698872009-06-12T08:11:00.005-05:002009-06-12T09:59:18.088-05:00

It is amazing how frustratingly difficult the "simple" operation of installing a car seat (excuse me, "child restraint") has become. Last night, I spent the better part of 2 hours reading (yes, I did) the instructions (i.e. WARNINGS, WARNINGS, WARNINGS) and working on the actual installation. Trouble is, the actual install instructions were surprisingly missing from the 39 pages of warnings that

Gwynnenoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24696849.post-50611675619219910112009-06-01T14:15:00.000-05:002009-06-01T14:06:01.508-05:00

Julian's 2nd outing to the pool and still he's looking completely unimpressed with the whole thing. Me, I LOVE swimming so I expected nothing but giggles, splashing and hand clapping. Instead, I got this. Smug drifting, on his ($1 garage sale find!) floatation device. He's looking more like a jaded, can't-be-bothered-right-now, child star than a baby enjoying his first swimming lesson. Maybe it's

Gwynnenoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24696849.post-73279804310722578602009-06-01T13:58:00.002-05:002009-06-01T14:05:18.573-05:00

What in the world is this thing that the dog has dropped at my door?! It appears to have a foot, and maybe a beak. I'm telling you...6 months! I don't think Blue has but 6 months to live.

Gwynnenoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24696849.post-38985292248511198962009-05-30T09:14:00.003-05:002009-05-30T09:25:12.692-05:00

Every morning, he brings us the newspaper. Such a good boy...

Gwynnenoreply@blogger.com3