My scales gave me welcome news last night, another 1.5 lbs lighter. And what did I do to celebrate? Eat, of course. It's telling me the same this morning, so maybe I didn't do too much damage.

I woke up to Big and Rich singing, "Why does everybody want to kick me in the ass?" Mike was laughing and singing along with them while playing tug-of-war with Gus. The silliness of the whole scene tickled me. My usual early morning grumpiness soon progressed to silly-grumpy, and before we went downstairs, the bed covers were in total disarray. We joke about sleeping in the dog bed; today it truly appeared that way. All of Gus's toys are mixed up with the sheets.

I'm expecting a visit from Kim with Project CLUES this Sunday. It's my last meeting with this Univ of Al team researching Caregivers Living Under Extraordinary Stress. Actually, CLUES is an acronym for Caregiver Links to Understanding, Education, and Support, but I like my name for it better. I signed up for it after Mike had his stroke. They have promised to give all the participants a copy of their published findings. I'm wondering if I should give her the link to this blog. It has been a major coping device for me. I worry sometimes that I depend on it too much. Journaling was always great stress relief for me, and this has been, too. Making it public, though, brought a great deal of extra stress in the form of transparency and vulnerability.

I've got Saint Paul Sunday playing as I write this, the June 25th program featuring the Dale Warland Singers. They're doing Lux Aurumque, the same arrangement we did in our choir at St. Philips. It still sends chills down my spine when I hear it. Here's the link.

http://saintpaulsunday.publicradio.org/programs/553/