A few months ago, Valerie told us about this really funny comedian who she had seen on a DVD at a friend’s house. So we looked him up on YouTube, and after watching a few of his routines, everyone in our house was a big fan of Brian Regan. At about the same time, Steve and I had been talking about looking for opportunities to lighten the atmosphere…or as Steve calls … Read More »

When our garbage disposal stopped working on New Year’s Eve, I figured I would just wait to get it taken care of until after January 4th when everyone is back in work mode. But when I made a phone call to the plumber and found out that he could install a new one that afternoon, Steve encouraged me to go ahead and get it done that day which I did. Practically, … Read More »

This Christmas I really enjoyed seeing what our children bought for their siblings and Steve and me now that they can do their own shopping. Each gift showed that they thought about what the person likes and then combined it with their own interests. Some highlights: Ethan, our 21-year-old son who is a film production major at San Francisco State, went next door to State to shop at Stonestown Galleria. Ethan … Read More »

It was our yearly Christmas letter that got me started writing a blog. One year when I was late getting the cards out, several friends wrote back to me saying that they missed getting our Christmas letter and they hoped they were still on our list. Their reaction, with added encouragement from Steve, prompted me to start writing a Christmas letter every week…or in other words, to start writing a … Read More »

Our family really enjoys outings into San Francisco to take a break from our intense…with the emphasis on “tense” when the stress starts getting to us…focus on work and school. So when I saw that Costco was selling tickets for the King Tut exhibit at the de Young, I thought that would give us the opportunity to plan another day-cation into the City. Plus, I had fond memories of the … Read More »

I am quite sure that there are 609,000 teenagers who are in a better mood this week. That’s the number of high school seniors who submitted their applications to the California State University system by the November 30 deadline, and if they are like my daughter, Valerie, they are relieved that at least one of their applications is done. Valerie is especially happy because she submitted her applications to the other … Read More »

One of the things I’m thankful for this weekend is that Valerie, our high school senior, has completed her college applications. When she clicked on the “Submit” button on the online app for the last school, there was a huge sense of relief that this time-consuming and often tedious task was behind us. She has done the work and now whether or not she gets accepted is in the hands … Read More »

Last week, I wrote about preparing to say goodbye to our 11-year-old German shepherd, Xena. It turned out that our goodbyes were short and sweet. While we were at the park on Saturday, she turned sharply and it was as if the thread that was holding her deteriorating hip joints together snapped. She couldn’t get control of her right back leg and her condition worsened on Sunday. By Monday morning, other … Read More »

Sometimes when were sitting on the couch and our three cats are happily snoozing on our laps and our dog is contently stretched out across her dog bed, we’ll comment on how amazing it is that people choose to invite animals into their house…and how much we love them in spite of the snags and spots in the carpet. So it’s a sad day for us when it becomes apparent that … Read More »

As our daughter began the college application process this fall, I was surprised at the many letters she got in the mail from colleges near and far encouraging her to apply to that particular school. All the letters were crafted to make the schools and their academic and social opportunities sound as attractive as possible. Some of the letters even started to resemble the credit card offers we used to get … Read More »