Karwoski Life

It will likely not come as much of a surprise to many of you that no-so-deep-down-inside I long to be the perfect housewife, the hostess with the most-ess, the envy of all my friends who wish they could cook, or wish they had the time to cook. I look through the shiny pages of my Julia Child cookbook (and yes, occasionally I smell the pages) and dream of having hours to bake all her delicious concoctions. I’m terribly old fashioned – my girl-power friends would be ashamed of me if they knew the depths of my desire to spend my days wearing an apron, frittering about in the kitchen. My admiration for Martha Stewart, Betty Crocker, June Cleaver, and the legendary Julia is embarrassingly strong. I pride myself on all the home cooking I do. I smile (and possibly giggle in delight) when things turn out as beautiful in person as the photos in my cookbooks. I spend time each week surrounded on the couch with my cookbooks, reading recipes and making grocery lists, and day dreaming about all th...

It sounds a little cliché to say that, I realize, but sometimes it really sums it up. This past week, life has been moving on in our little household, without our sweet Penny. And amazingly enough, we’re doing pretty well. Up until the day of her appointment, I was a wreck. I felt torn inside – questioning if we were doing the right thing, if there was more that we could have done. I felt horrible, knowing what was coming. Even though we did our best to make those last few days and moments happy and full of love – at the same time my heart was breaking for Penny. And then, after she was gone, I grieved for the loss – but I felt so much more peaceful about the decision. I couldn’t help but think back on the past year and how much she had deteriorated. It had been a long time since her spunky, playful side was able to be free. She struggled so much, getting up and walking to the door…and even standing to eat her food was a challenge. She had to have been in a tremendous amount of pain –...