Playful Actions (Photos)

Playful Actions

As background for the following, I invite you to take a look at my Current Activities page, which I’ve incorporated into my About Me area on a separate page, here. Also, I'm delighted to report that as of Wednesday, 19 September, after enormous effort, I posted the most detailed summary of my worldview that I've yet displayed on this website, here.

Still busy... with shoveling, caregiving, the Speech Therapist's visit, the Occupational Therapist's visit, kitchen cleaning, wheeling carts to the curb for garbage collection, CCRC at church, laundry... and more, of course. I did manage to listen to NVC Live! audio relating to mediation while doing housework.

Gratitude

I'm grateful to myself for completing all the forms of housework that I did today. This helped meet my needs for order and progress.

I'm grateful to Cherita and Aliana for their companionship and communication.

I'm grateful to Cherita for her productive, professional work and economic support.

I'm grateful to Cherita for her help developing my website.

Today, among other things, I:

• cleaned and organized in the room Cherita and I share
• did laundry (cleaning, sorting, folding, putting away)
• maintained notes about what I've done and want to do
• did blog catch up
• wrote to a friend
• searched for and didn't find a driver installer for a digital voice recorder (Olympus W10)
• shaved
• facilitated the handyman's process of installing hand rails for stairs, potty rails for one toilet and a grab bar for the shower
• homeschooled with Aliana about genealogy, biology and anatomy
• chatted via text messaging with my friend, Fran
• helped Dad get up
• prepared food and prescriptions for Dad
• added material to my draft of this blog entry
• read email responses to my requests for help
• wrote a check for Dad
• returned to the library video materials that Aliana had selected
• shoveled snow
• read about a current, Objectivist controversy
• napped
• on my mp3 player, listened to parts of Barbara Branden's "Principles of Efficient Thinking" lectures from the sixties; the Atlas Shrugged unabridged audio book; and Leonard Peikoff's "Philosophy of Objectivism" lectures from the seventies
• ate and talked with Cherita
• washed dishes
• moved laundry
• highlighted text for Dad
• looked at Aliana's scary creatures creations
• discussed plans with Cherita
• prepared prescriptions for Dad again
• prepared Dad for bed
• did laundry (drying, sorting, folding, putting away)
• recorded pedometer data
• talked with Aliana about plans for tomorrow

Mourning

• lack of dedicated exercise
• lack of progress with fitness equipment

Gratitude

• to myself for my efforts helping those in my family
• to myself for my efforts helping Aliana with her homeschooling
• to Cherita for closeness and support
• to Aliana for her questioning and learning
• to Fran for chatting

Today, among other things, I:

• spent time with the Occupational Therapist, Speech Therapist and Dad
• recorded pedometer data
• washed dishes
• prepared food and prescriptions for Dad
• made a trip to see Dr. Jeff, chiropractor
• called Dad's doctor and rehab multiple times
• did laundry (cleaning, sorting, folding)
• maintained notes about what I've done and want to do
• did blog catch up
• on my mp3 player, listened to parts of Barbara Branden's Principles of Efficient Thinking from the sixties and Nathaniel Branden's Seminar 28 from the early seventies
• spent quality time and chatted with Cherita
• composed and sent requests for help to friends
• composed and sent a monthly reminder to a friend
• prepared Dad for bed

Mourning

• lack of dedicated exercise
• lack of progress with fitness equipment
• lack of contact lately with one, dear friend

Gratitude

• to myself for my efforts helping those in my family
• to Cherita for closeness and support
• to Aliana for her questioning
• to Dad for his rehab progress
• to his therapists for their help

Today, among other things, I:

• spent time with the Physical Therapist, Home Health Aide and Dad
• spent one on one time with Aliana including homeschooling
• gave the kitchen a major cleaning
• made a trip to Comcast digital cable to pick up a replacement remote
• made a grocery trip for bread
• drove to the library to return DVDs, enjoy a walking timeout, and read part of my worldview text
• did audio editing and preparation for listening on my mp3 player
• worked in the garage/fitness annex (doing an assessment and making progress with the safety mats)
• did laundry (cleaning, sorting, folding)
• did blog catch up
• on my mp3 player, listened to parts of Barbara Branden Principles of Efficient Thinking, Galt's Speech read by me in its entirety, Nathaniel Branden Seminar 28 from the early seventies, various Rush music
• chatted with Cherita
• prepared Dad for bed

I enjoyed facilitating the Open Forum Discussion at church and I also enjoyed the church service, which included a sermon by the Religious Education Director for the church, Colleen Vahey.

Today and yesterday, I did something I've done nothing like for quite some time. I decided to read my Worldview Summary, which I had not done for a while, probably not since very close to the time when I originally posted it.

I did so because I really wanted to refresh my memory of what I had written. I also wanted to take the opportunity to make some small corrections, revisions and additions along the way in order to more fully meet my need for clarity.

Because I've been so busy with my father's caregiving, I was able to read and make corrections only in brief intervals. Nevertheless, across yesterday and today, I did manage to get through the whole summary and I'm happier with it than I expected to be. Even so, I'm still experiencing some longing to expand the summary into a book length presentation in which I feel confident I could much more vividly clarify what I'm attempting to express.

I'm grateful to myself for having contributed to the fulfillment of such needs as progress and self-expression by devoting some of my time over the course of the last couple of days to this process of reading and revision.

In addition, I would love it if some of those who visit my site were to read my Worldview Summary and write to me about their reactions. In the Introduction to my Worldview Summary, I spell out more specifically what I would enjoy reading in such readers' comments.

Playful Actions (Photos)

Playful Actions

What a day!

Today, among other things, I did the following.

• I helped my stroke-surviving father with caregiving and such assistance as helping him get out of bed.
• I did housework.
• I assisted when a Home Health Aid and Physical Therapist dropped by to help Dad.
• I took a nap.
• I retrieved A/V items from the attic.
• I assisted Dad with his Physical Therapy.
• I assisted Dad in getting ready for bed.

I'm grateful Dad makes progress especially with his Physical Therapy!

Playful Actions (Photos)

Playful Actions

What a day!

Today, among other things, I did the following.

• I helped my stroke-surviving father with caregiving and such assistance as helping him get out of bed.
• I loaded recyclable and nonrecyclable garbage into the minivan for transport to the dumpsters at Countryside Church, where I received authorization to drop off this material.
• I deposited a check at the bank for my dad on the way to church.
• Arriving much later than usual, at church, I attended only the coffee and conversation hour that follows the worship service.
• I drove Aliana to the local library and we checked out some items together.
• At her request, I drove Aliana to the playground and we swung on the swingset together.
• At her request, Aliana and I spent time in the wide-open, grassy area of the reservoir at the same park at which the playground is located, and we did some running there. (We spent time at the park even though, in our estimation, it felt quite cold today.)
• I drove the two of us home and took a nap.
• I assisted Dad with his Physical Therapy.
• I composed and sent messages to participants in various groups for which I facilitate at church, endeavoring to make requests with "Santa Claus energy" (an energy of willingness rather than of guilt induction or out of any sense of duty or obligation). I requested additional assistance for our family during this challenging time.
• I assisted Dad in getting ready for bed.

I'm grateful Dad makes progress especially with his Physical Therapy!

Life has remained extremely busy and stressful for my family and for me. In some ways, however, I do believe we're making progress in the realms of our communication and mutual understanding.

I'm grateful for all the help that several individuals have given us during this difficult time. We've come into contact with most of them through our participation in Countryside Church. Even so, it's amazing to me how overwhelming and disruptive this experience has proven to be, even with all the help that we've already been given.

For those visiting my site who have missed my recent, prior two entries to this blog, the stress to which I refer has been stimulated by my dad's having suffered a stroke on December 3, 2007.

Recently, I developed an expression (or perhaps I heard it somewhere previously) which I found running through my mind on several occasions: "struggling with juggling." It's continued to run through my mind lately.

As I indicated on my blog entry for December 13, my father suffered a stroke on December 3. He has since been discharged from the hospital and continues to recover at home. Even so, he's continuing with acute rehabilitation therapy, including occupational, speech and physical therapy while at home.

I have been overwhelmingly busy ever since.

Even so, I hope to post more soon.

I'm grateful for your patience during this difficult time.