family

DianaK

Appreciations 4.210 – being alive!

mood ring(From 3/18) The awesome mood ring Katie and Cina bought for me. It even has my name so I will remember who I am. 🙂

Super fun day with the kids including delicious breakfast, fun shopping at IKEA and movie night.

Being alive! When my heart went into v-fib (which caused cardiac arrest), my ICD came to the rescue and shocked me back to life! And then when my heart decided to try out a-fib and my heart rate spiked at 230, the ICD sprang to the rescue again. I am so grateful for this device. I am also so grateful for the lightning-fast ambulance response and the amazing EMTs, doctors, lab techs and everyone else who helped us through that night.

DianaK

Appreciations 4.195

IMG_4051It is interesting to me how quickly I adapt to some things and how slowly to others. When we have an unusually warm day amidst a bunch of cold days, I switch to warm weather thinking almost instantly and feel surprised when it’s cold the next day. But for things like having unpredictable energy levels… well, I don’t adapt so quickly! Even though it’s been almost 3 years since the onset of my heart failure, I still wake up every day assuming I’ll be full of energy! 🙂 Some days I am – and some days, not so much. My expectation that I’ll have tons of energy never really seems to change, though. I guess I kinda like that little optimist inside me who keeps thinking that. 😀

Meanwhile, I am incredibly grateful that I have a comfortable bed and a schedule that allows me to do as I did last night — get jammied up by 9 and climb into bed, ready for sleep before 10 — and stay there until 8:30 this morning. Very grateful for that!

I just re-read a bunch of entries from the old Caring Bridge page Pat and I set up (I was trying to remember – has it really been 3 years?!?) and am reminded again of how amazing you all are. When all that craziness happened all at once for us, you showed up with love and food and laughter and hugs and support in every imaginable way. I am so grateful to you all for being the most lovely friends a person could want. 💗

Looking forward to hanging out with Sammy today. It’s so nice to get to play with a dog now and then… but not have the responsibility of taking care of him all the time. 😉

DianaK

Appreciations 4.192 redux

Awesome first mastermind meeting. So many stellar ideas and lots of fun. Yay!

Dinner with Debb and Michelle at Punch Pizza. Great conversation and amazing-OMG-so-delicious pizza. Their gluten-free crust is even delicious! My new favorite pizza place.

Visting with Debb. Always such a treat!!

DianaK

Appreciations 4.182

Wodehouse’s use of language makes me giggle. This (of a man being hit by a car – don’t worry he doesn’t get hurt): “He received the automobile in the small of the back.” How did he think to use the word receive?!? It’s just so delicious.

Working in my tidier, more organized office. I love the feeling of things being more settled.

Another fun visit with Jeff this afternoon!

DianaK

Appreciations 4.175 – magic warmth

Nice visit with my folks today! Got to figure out the staging plan for Women of a Certain Height improv show next week, fixed up Mom’s iPad and FB issues, got some computer stuff done, and had a nice visit. Plus I came home with gluten-free goodies from Mom. 😀

Things magically fixing themselves — at least temporarily. When I got home, the house was freezing (60º), but when I cranked up the heat, we only got cool air. By the time (about 30 minutes later) I called to schedule someone to come out, the furnace decided to start blowing warm air again. Thank you, furnace. Nice to have a warm-ish house (it’s up to 64º now!) for sleeping tonight. Makes me really appreciate all the cold days when the furnace works so well I don’t even have to think about it.

The fun of listening to Earthtones tracks from 2002 (I wanted to add some music to our website). I was so happy – and so scared – that first year! 🙂

DianaK

Appreciations 4.171 – the concert

WheeIt’s a little hard to find words to adequately describe Ellis‘ CD release concert last night. 💗💗💗 The open-hearted joy passing back and forth between Ellis and the audience was palpable. Her unbelievably beautiful music, with her strong, clear, gorgeous voice, perfectly balanced accompaniment, and soul-stirring lyrics bewitched us and transported us to some new level of joyful in-the-moment living. What a treat to watch her and Rad playing together and having so much fun as they created a new kind of magic. Every song was amazing in its own way and Ellis’ stories made us laugh and cry and whoop and holler with glee. And OMG the Desdemona-Ellis-Nina Simone folk rap mashup! O. M. G. No words – you just had to be there. 😀 The night was made even better for me, by getting to share it with people I adore! So many fun moments of shared joy and love. 💗 It was an incredible night and I am profoundly grateful for having been part of it.

Sunshiny Sundays.

Naps. 😉

DianaK

Appreciations 4.161 – short and sweet

Some days I like to wax poetic when I do my appreciations. I never lack for people, experiences, and things to appreciate and it can be so fun to roll them around in my brain and see which pretty things float to the top. (Well, I think that’s how it works. I can’t actually see inside my head, so it might be a different sort of process…) Some days it is 9:15 and I am ready for sleep, so I just make a little list and go to bed. 😉

Snow.

My brothers.

A newly swept floor.

DianaK

Appreciations 4.159 – good, good, good

Good work. Good friends. Good visits. Good night.

After a nice, solid day of work, I got to spend the evening with the Delaneys. So lovely! First dinner with Ellis and Ruby, then coloring, reading and cuddling with Ruby at bedtime.

After Ruby went to sleep, I had time to do Qi Gong, finish re-reading The Tao of Pooh and start reading The Journal of Best Practices: A Memoir of Marriage, Asperger Syndrome, and One Man’s Quest to Be a Better Husband, which seems like it’s going to be a great read.

Then, I got to enjoy a wonderful visit with Terri. Even got a few minutes to visit with Katie at the end of the day! What a brilliant night. ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️

DianaK

Appreciations 4.156 – so many things (mostly people)

Ah ha ha – last year’s appreciation for this date – I don’t even know what it means! 100 bonus points if you read this AND know what the heck I was talking about!:

“…Most excellent game of the wolf/panda/bunny/telephone operator, the loving hand, and the tent. Hahaha!”

It’s probably some improv thing, but I seriously don’t remember. 😛

The excellent chart for choosing book titles posted by the Toronto Public Library.  I LOVE that my book’s title is “Tender is the Ha Ha Ha (book one)”! Don’t you think I really should write that book? I kinda do!

Such a wonderful day of connecting with people! Started out with a short, but super sweet coffee time with Sara. So so so great to see her again!

Then, my first Qi Gong lesson. It was fantastic! So amazing and fun! I am excited to make this part of my days. So so so good. 😀

Then, a lovely visit with Pam. Oh, we have so much fun and talk about such wonderful things. My heart feels so full and happy after we visit!

I love the people in my life so very much. I am unbelievably lucky. 💗