As I mentioned on my About My Life page, one of my life experiences included working as a caregiver for the elderly. For five years, I was employed by Comfort Keepers in Huntington Beach, California. This story uniquely shows how cats help elders. The Tootsievention… Read More »How Cats Help Elders
Time And Energy Management This is my Tough Cookie take on how to value and manage time. This is also my annual pep talk to myself. If interested, please also check out my 2023 version of How To Survive With Passion And Purpose. Since it… Read More »How To Value And Manage Time
Which Will You Choose? In deep sorrow, choosing Peace or Grief seems like a no-brainer, but it is not. Your heart leads you one way while your mind takes you in a different direction. After our son’s diagnosis, I often felt like I was losing… Read More »Peace Or Grief
The Neurologist The three of us went to the neurologist appointment. Pete and I had no idea this appointment would be the continuation of a four year diagnostic process to determine whether Hayes had Duchenne or Becker muscular dystrophy. The neurologist was great with Hayes,… Read More »Four Year Diagnostic Process
This post is the second in a series following previously published Diagnosis And Death Certificate. All I could feel was an urgency to go to the Muscular Dystrophy Association office. The ride from the pediatric orthopedic surgeon’s appointment to pick Hayes up from the Mother’s… Read More »Muscular Dystrophy Association
Nobody ever thinks this will happen to them. This survival tale is what I call The Day of Diagnosis and Death Certificate. I guess every house has a history of smiles and tears. We had lived in our fixer-upper emerging home for four years, as… Read More »Diagnosis And Death Certificate
If you read All Dogs Must Be Irish, How To Make An Informed Decision When Choosing A Dog, and How To Adopt A Dog From A Local Shelter Or Rescue, welcome to my dog adoption reveal story! Petfinder On April 14, I joined petfinder.com, Purina… Read More »Dog Adoption Reveal
If you have read my blog stories from the beginning, you know I have been in survival mode since I was a kid. There is little freedom in never feeling seen, heard, guided, or encouraged. So, what’s a Tough Cookie to do? Writing to heal… Read More »Freedom
This is the third post in my journey about how to adopt a dog from a local shelter or rescue organization. The two previous posts were All Dogs Must Be Irish and How To Make An Informed Decision When Choosing A Dog. Whenever I walk… Read More »How To Adopt A Dog From A Local Shelter Or Rescue
In a previous post All Dogs Must Be Irish, I wrote about wanting a dog now that I have gone through the grieving process of my last pet Mickie. This post is part of a series about how to make an informed decision when choosing… Read More »How To Make An Informed Decision When Choosing A Dog