quiet

tuck has been quite sick. it's been 12 days now. 12 days of coughing, sneezing, suctioning, stress, fear, angst, heat, exhaustion. it's just an upper respiratory thing brought on by seasonal allergies that has gotten out of control. the air quality index around here as been alarming high and he just can not tolerate whatever it is that is outside right now. i use to joke that he was on lock down; but seriously that kid is not going outside until the weather improves. he has no fever, but an uncontrollable cough. try coughing 12 days straight in a row with very little relief. try listening to it as a parent and not be able to stop it. he cannot take any sort of codeine to quell the cough. finally yesterday, as a last result, i opted to put him on steroids since the cough is more inflammatory. today, so far, we have very little coughing. on the downside, the steroids will affect him and give him that "roid rage" as i like to call it. with tuck it will manifest itself through his body tone, which will get tight and rigid.
my friend, kim, is here visiting so i am dividing my time between showing her around, going to flea markets, etc. all at the same time as trying to maintain control of the fearful feelings i have when he is sick. it's very hard to put on a brave face and she was sweet and asked my to stop trying to be so brave. i appreciate that.
today we are going to do some art and we all know how therapeutic that is.

another artist is suffering

from my friend Lesley's blog:

Good Morning Everyone,

Tina Wright, a friend, fellow artist and one of the creators of Paper Cowgirl in Waxachie, Texas, recently found out she has advanced stage colon cancer.

Tina has such a beautiful spirit and her determination and bravery in fighting this disease truly inspired me to want to reach out to this blogging and online community to ask for your help. The costs of the tests, treatments and surgeries are just another stressor for family already having to deal with a diagnosis such as this so I have set up a Chip In for those that feel compelled to help.

I know that we have all been in those positions where someone has reached out and helped us and perhaps this will be seen as a time to pay that forward to Tina. Every dollar helps so please give as you are able to.

I would also like to ask that if you blog or have a website that you place the Chip In Widget there as well so that we can get the word out to as many people as possible. If you cannot get the widget on yoru blog please send your bloggers to mine so that they might also have the opportunity to help Tina.

Here is the link to Tina's Chip In Page: http://flatwoodsfolkart.chipin.com/mypages/view/id/1428447d1b777db4

You can grab the html code for the widget on that page as well.

Please go here for Tina's Blog: http://tina-wright.blogspot.com/

Go Here for Paper Cowgirl: http://papercowgirl.blogspot.com/

Remember...every prayer, every bit of positive energy, every positive thought and every cent counts.

Blessings to you all,

Lesley

get out your box of kleenex

just read this story online.

Quiet despair

I'm feeling a little sad tonight. Tucker's not feeling well and you know how much that bothers me. It's a helpless, anxious and horrible worry feeling. I hate it when he's ill, it makes sad and angry at the same time. I took this photo of a water fountain in San Diego at a garden nursery. The way the water splashed onto her face, made it looked like she was crying. Thought is was a good visual to describe my feelings.