Health Outlook Update

Yesterday I had my weekly doctors visit and it didn't go well. Fortunately I was all done moping so I was able to bring my happy, positive mindset to the appointment. Not to go into it all, but if any of you have experience with pain clinics and chronic care plans/teams please contact me. I'm on the emergency ~ See Her Now ~ list so it shouldn't be long before I start down this new path. Thank you Cathy for the lovely card. Your work is even more gorgeous in person.

A month or so ago I changed my outlook on this bone disease. Initially I stuck with a "wheel chairs are not an option" mantra and it has worked for me for the past four years. This past four months though, that hasn't been enough and as my mobility has been reduced, a little voice kept shrieking, " It's only a matter of time". So I changed my perspective to a less positive but a lot more fun one. My new plan has been to do everything I can while I still can, no matter how hard it is. Now I say, " Imagine how much harder this would be if I was in a wheelchair." I came on this thought when I was pondering if a doctor told me I'd lose my sight in one year, would I spend the year learning braille and set up my home for blindness or would I go and see the pyramids, the Taj Mahal, my gorgeous home province of British Columbia and try to cram in a lifetime worth of seeing to remember in the years of darkness.

With that in mind, I've been doing hard things. I'm terrified of bridges but when we were in SanFrancisco I walked across the Golden Gate Bridge. Yes, I nearly had a heart attack for fear and my legs buckled, my back spasmed, I had a really hard time. But I did it and I wouldn't have missed the view for anything in the world.


LOL. Okay I could have missed that part of the view - it was a LOOOOONG way down.

Here's some proof that we did it:



We also went to Timpanogos Caves. It's this killer hike straight up nasty, nasty switchbacks to a pitch black subterranean caving experience. It's not "limited mobility friendly" in the slightest. Chris and I were both sad that we never took Dad to the caves before he had his stroke and we wanted to learn from that mistake. So up we went. I fell five times, my legs completely canned out on me and my back said, "Uh, uh. Not gonna do it" But then I factored in the thousands of steps it took to climb Timpanogos and five bad steps didn't even make up one percent of the trip. Good thing I have a big strong husband with quick reflexes. He's getting good at catching.

They call this a trail!


The family


Inside the cave:


I'll have to think of something else too good to miss to do this weekend :-)

Tomorrow is Pioneer Day in Utah or perhaps it's called Days of '47... I've heard both. We aren't big celebraters of the Mormon pioneers but it will be nice to have Chris home for a long weekend.

The crop yesterday was a ton of fun and the winner of my challenge is Adeline Brill. Congratulations, Adeline

Crop Hop: Let's Hear It For The Boys

Good Morning Everyone.

Today I'm hosting a challenge for the 24 Hour Crop Hop at Scrapbooking and Crafting Friends. My challenge is to make a layout, card or altered item for a guy. Boys, men, males, husbands, fathers, crushes, bosses - we all have them. Making a cute card for us ladies is easy peasie, but boy stuff can be a real headache. I'm hoping that the entries for this challenge will give us all lots of ideas for the next time we're stumped when we sit down to make a birthday card for that someone special.


Rules:

1. No ribbon, bows, sewing, butterflies, buttons, bling or glitter of any kind.

2. Use at least one piece of fabulous texture to make your project special.

3. Post a link to your completed project both here on my blog and post a pic at Scrapbooking and Crafting Friends on THIS thread by 11:59 EST tonight.

I'll be choosing a winner and sending two fun guy-friendly page kits plus some other goodies.

Have fun and happy crafting.

P.S. To make this card, I drank a delicious clementine Izze and then cut the can into a flat panel. I ran the metal sheet through my cuttlebug using an embossing folder (little squares - can't find the name), trimmed it to a rough rectangle and matted it on black cardstock. Then I added black brads to the corners both for additional adhesive support and to look cool. I took a piece of corrugated cardboard (thanks Amy from Gauche Alchemy ) and bent it in half. It makes a mighty CRACK sound - this is okay, just make sure the smooth side is on the inside and the bumpy side is on the outside. Trim to the size you want your finished card to be. Stamp images. Mat on black paper, attach to metal card front. Using glue dots, affix card front to cardboard card base. This card is thick so make it about a quarter inch smaller than the envelope you intend to use.

Tobor The Great and more

I finished my second stool. Only one to go :-)


Do you know it took me months to realize Tobor is Robot in reverse?

Tomorrow I'm participating in a 24 Hour Crop Hop for Scrapbooking and Crafting Friends. I'm posting at noon EST and my challenge will have something to do with the guys in our life. The prize is two page kits:



Plus I'll be throwing in some cardstock and other goodies :-)

Hope you pop in and check it out.

Oh, wow! Yay! Yippee! Stephanie Corfee posted another GORGEOUS free digital image? You can get it here, but only for the next three days.

Did you notice some changes around here? A few weeks back I added "follow this blog" and I would absolutely love it if you followed me. It's really thrilling to watch the pictures grow. Yesterday I changed my header and finally filled in the "About Me" profile jibber-jabber. Since I've been here over a year I thought it was about time.

See you tomorrow~

Bingo-licious (It is what it is)

This project has been like a bad relationship. I keep trying to make it into something it's not. So here, in front of the world, I'm facing the fact that I made a nautical, patriotic, BINGOLICIOUS beach tote that would rock the socks off seniors centers everywhere. No amount of sequins can make this project any less geriatric. So, hooray. I plan on making one of the octogenarians in my life very happy. Sometimes something just is what it is.

Shiny Sparkly Goodness:


Details:


And while this isn't exactly my crowning achievement, this sweatshirt is going to be awesome. Sometimes a new technique needs a couple of tries before you get the groove:


So, you want to know how it's done?




For close ups click Page One, Page Two

Image used with permission by Bombshell Stamps
Embellishments: Gauche Alchemy
Tutorial idea and inspiration: Crafty Chica

Thanks everyone for all the good wishes last week. I think I'm back on my feet, even if they are a little wobbly.

Life is Hard

Hey All ~



One of my personal strengths is great mental health. When things are good I'm happy, when they aren't I can be appropriately unhappy for a reasonable amount of time. I consider myself lucky beyond measure for this. I'm also very much in support of the concept that it is okay to wallow, for a set amount of time and then dust yourself off a get back to living. It helps you not bottle up the ouchies and then explode in a glum grenade and need serious help pulling it all back together.

So, I'm wallowing. My doctors appointment last night was a real downer and now I'm looking down the barrel of stuff I really don't feel like dealing with. So today I'll mope. In fact, I've reserved through Sunday if need be. Then I'll dust myself off, remember it's nothing personal - life is hard, deal with it - and get back to my perky self.

Until then, have a great weekend.

Underwire

Underwire

You find on occasion
near trash cans at bus stops
and on checkered floors in restrooms:
stray metal crescents that have escaped
the confines of a brassiere.

How fares the breast now unsupported?
Will it dribble down the torso
like fat sweet drips on an ice cream cone?

Or will the mesmerizing orb
girded by years of upward thrusting
fulfill it's elastic destiny
and cling with gravity defying delight
to the upper third of the chest?

And how do these bands spring to freedom?
One day with an anarchists cry
do they hack through seams
with a mighty push and pop
break loose. Jabbing a pit
in retaliation for years spent toiling
in sweaty servitude?

Or is it something less exotic?
Too much laundering.
The slow demise of a workhorse.
Are these flat silver slivers merely
evidence of a woman's strength expended?

So... a lot of you ladies know me as a crafter, but before that my main hobby has always been writing. I've finished several novels, wrote a glut of bad poems and my articles have graced the pages of Family Fun magazine and several international homeschool publications. Why am I bringing this up? Because I really don't write as much as I used to. When I ran rateyourwriting.com there was always writing, editing and reviewing to do. Spare moments were filled with words. But writing is a hard thing to do in snips and bits. I need time - full hours even - to get back into the swing of it. Crafts can be made while talking my kids through their lessons, gabbing on the phone - glue dries while dishes are being done. It's a whole different set of requirements. I'm a creative person and as long as my need for expression is met, I don't really care if it's through writing, scrapbooking or stool making.

Still, it would be nice to get back to being a person so inspired by the everyday that I have to write about it.

Front Room Table

We all really like having some of our games in the front room where we play them. Since we've been wanting to chop our hideous, thirty-dollar garage sale brown coffee table into pieces, I thought altering it and having some fun wasn't too big a risk.

I spray painted the frame black and then decoupaged dice fabric to the top, center panel. I'm still covering it with coat after coat of varnish but snapped this pic so I could share:



Here is a close-up of the distressed top:


I'm itching to get back to small precise crafts like card making - hopefully soon :-)