New Year's Eve

My friend Jenn posted this quiz over at TSR and I thought it was beautiful:

One year from today, I hope to have:

Learned- To use Photo Shop. (I know, I should say something profound but I really want to learn PS)

Changed- my hair color at least three times.

Figured out- How to get Brayden to focus, Avery to read (for pleasure) and Trenton to slow down when he eats.

Completed- a 5K

Stopped- Taking pain meds

Started- Drawing and painting

Acquired-A little note from the bank saying our 2nd Mortgage is paid in full

Given up- Questioning my abilities as an artist, crafter and writer. Such a waste of time.

Visited- My friends in PDX and maybe my new friends in AZ.

Left behind- Concerns about my spine, for good.

Leave a comment filling in the list with your answers :-)

Come join me on a year-long adventure through the alphabet. For starters, CLICK HERE and visit the website I started to share ideas.

Don't know what I'm talking about? The posts are HERE and HERE.

It's going to be a blast!

Bombshell Hippity-Hop

It's time for the Bombshell Stamps blog hop again. All I can say is WOO-HOO! These girls all have talent to spare and I consider myself ridiculously blessed to be be counted among their numbers and to have them in my life.

The December Bombshell sketch was made by the uber-talented Kathi:


Gorgeous, no? I can see using this again and again!

Here's my take:


How sweet is that Cosmo Cricket paper? It just said, " Bombshell Angel" to me so there we go. Just a mommy aside, Brayden (my youngest) bought me the pom-pom trim for christmas. Isn't it cute? I feel loved just looking at it.

Check out the other girl's blogs, they've been up to lots of great stuff too.


Mary G.

Ms. December - Erika

Kathi

Kas

Gabby

Miss Magoo

Terra

Leave a comment and you could win this:



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In case you are on the fence about joining me on a year-long adventure through the alphabet, you should CLICK HERE and visit the website I started to share ideas.

Don't know what I'm talking about? The posts are HERE and HERE.

It's going to be a blast!

A-Z FAQ

Wow. First off, thanks everyone for the overwhelming response to my little suggestion that we shake things up in 2010. Yay. Crazy ideas are always way more fun with friends. In the spirit of making new friends and sharing ideas with other A-Zers I created a Ning community. You can join us HERE

I started with about a dozen groups (hint, click "see all" or select "groups" from the top menu to access them) so people with specific interests (books, food, kids, art, photography etc) can inspire each other.

Several questions have popped up repeatedly so I thought I'd dedicate an entire post to them. Sorry to bore those who aren't intrigued.

Where did you come up with A-Z Year?
I was reading the paper in Portland, OR and there was a feature of a local restauranteur who felt her life needed a little more zest. She decided to plan her year around the alphabet and did everything from adding something appropriately alphabetical to the weekly specials at her cafe all the way to taking new routes home from work to go down "B" roads. She salsa danced, speed dated, tried Bikram Yoga, went on road trips... I was inspired! May I also point out that she was unmarried and didn't have any kids. Which brings me to question two~

Maybe if I had kids, but I don't think I'd do it for myself. This is a family thing, right?
Yes and No. It can be a family thing. Or a singles thing. Or a group thing. It's a PEOPLE thing; a fun idea for anyone who wants to break loose of the daily grind. Where families tend to organize their grocery shopping around a letter, singles can plan road trips, shots from A-Z, sky diving - you name it. If I didn't have kids, I'd probably be able to do more, not less.

Isn't it a lot of work and planning? I lack the bandwidth right now.
Last time we did it, I moved three times and we still had fun. For me, "B" is going to be for "Back Surgery" so I probably won't be playing billiards or bowling but I bet I'll be eating Braeburn Apples and reading Beowulf. To say it again, in the simplest terms, ask yourself, "In the next two weeks what can I eat, watch, read, listen, do?

Do I have to do every letter?
Life is hard and busy and often unexpected. Sometimes there isn't time or energy to think of one more thing. I suggest doing every letter you can but feeling free to skip if you need to. Whenever I feel too locked in, if I miss something it's like I broke it and then I'm free to quit altogether. I don't want you to quit - I want you to play along as much as you can.

Anything else?
I really recommend starting a journal, blog, scrapbook or plan to make daily/weekly updates to Facebook, LiveJournal, Twitter - share what you are doing so you can inspire others to throw off the mantle of boredom as well. Also, tell your friends and family what you are up to. It's fun to have them join you on this year of adventure.

If you have any other questions please leave them in a comment so I can share them - of you're wondering, other people probably are too :-)

My Big Idea - You Must Play Too!

This is a reprint of an article I had published in a parenting magazine. It lays out the gist of my proposal. Hopefully reading this will inspire you to join us. It is the easiest way to build some memories, creativity and romance into 2010.

Our A-Z year

When you think of the alphabet, sweet-faced five year old’s singsong voices and Sesame Street come to mind. What we did was something else altogether.

In an attempt to sidestep the rut that inevitably comes from soccer practices and dinner at six, our family decided to devote two weeks of the year to each letter. This allows us to get through all twenty-six in one year and to have a broad range of new experiences.

We broke down our plan into categories: music, movies, food, fun and learning, chores/household/health.

At the start of each fortnight we brainstormed activities to fit into the two weeks ahead. We made play lists, sifted through our DVDs to find ones with titles or actors with the right initials and skulked through the grocery store aisles looking for the letter perfect ingredients.

Suddenly our life was full of possibilities.

This alphabetic emphasis led us down many unexplored paths. Instead of going to our usual pizza hangout, during B we went to Brick Oven and invited our friends the Bellows. M was a mish-mash of movies, mini-golf and visiting a nearby mine. S was a sweet surrender to Snickers, Skittles and Starburst. During D we baked donuts and tried duck and disco dancing. When planning our summer vacation, our boys suggested forgoing the usual theme parks and inquired if London was a possibility, being L fortnight, and if not, maybe Las Vegas.

We also read by letter. For years I have had a reading list and the accompanying guilt of never getting through it. H heralded my success - I managed to read Hemingway. My kids saw me struggle with not getting into a story but making the effort to read it anyway and learned a lot from my satisfaction, and I admit, enjoyment that came from entering into that particular “great conversation”.

We scheduled annual necessities on the calendar by letter as well: C was for check up, D for dentist and diet, G for garage, O for optometrist, S for stocking our emergency supplies - you get the picture. This spread the chores and maintenance over the year and freed up my mental space, as I no longer needed to worry about putting off activities that are vital to our health and welfare.

Another bonus of the A-Z year was connecting with long distance friends and relatives. I admit, we fell down a bit on this task but our intention was to contact the folks whose last name falls during the current fortnight. People loved getting letters and cards outside of the usual Christmas/birthday time frame and it felt wonderful to nurture those relationships.

I bet you’re thinking, “ That sounds like a lot of work and I’m already pretty busy.”
I can assure you that you can spice up your routine without making too big a dent in your mental bandwidth, honest!

During F week, ladle your famous tomato sauce over farfalle instead of the usual spaghetti. (Pasta is an A-Z Goldmine. You can get from ‘acomo pepe’ to ‘ziti’ without any trouble and it really helps to have Udon and Quadrefiore in the back of your mind when those tricky letters come along.)

During S rent Sleeping Beauty and Spy Kids, sing in the car, send email, smile at everyone, and spend time together.


It can be as simple as filling out this list every two weeks and trying to make it happen:

Eat:
Watch:
Read:
Listen:
Do:


Here are some ideas to get you started:

A: Anne of Green Gables, Aladdin, Amazing Race, artichokes, astronomy, anagrams, acrostics, alfredo sauce on angel hair pasta.
B: Benji, bowling, billiards, beef and broccoli, the Beatles, baking, bananas, baba ganoush, baklava.
C: cinema, camping, cookies, Cranium, chess, checkers, clean closets, costume party, charades, calzone, coc au vin, corn dogs, crepes.
D: Dim sum, Dumbo, Dippin’ Dots, duck, deep dish pie, deep-fried ice cream.
E: Eggs, Ever After, Eragon, ecology, emergency phone list, edamame, elephant ears, eel.
F: Fishing, flossing, fair, Ferris Beuller’s Day Off, fire drill, fossils, fondue, fudge.
G: Gardening, gallery, Geocaching, games, gingerbread (it is so fun to make a gingerbread house “off-season” you should try it.), graham crackers, german chocolate cake, goldfish.
H: Hockey, hiking, hair cuts, Harry Potter, home show, clean your house, hook-a-rug, hot dogs, honeydew, horse riding.
I: ice cream, Internet, insects, ice-skating, Italian food, icing.
J: Jam, jelly beans, Juggle, Jungle Book, jacks, johnny cake, jicama, jerky, jambalaya
K: Knot tying, kite flying, Kit-Kat, karaoke, karate, knock-knock jokes, Klutz books, knitting, knead bread, kegels, key lime pie.
L: Little House on the Prairie, linguine, lasagna, library, Lego, lemons, limes.
M: Museum, make a mobile, plan a menu, marshmallows, Malomars, mints, macaroons, magic, Monopoly, manicotti, marmalade, maple syrup.
N: Make a newspaper, New England Clam Chowder, nuts, noodles, newtons, nachos.
O: Octopus, observatory, origami, organize, Operation, orchestra, oranges, Oreos, orzo, oatmeal.
P: Pie, pizza, puppets, Pirates of the Caribbean, make paper, pap test, painting, picnic, polka, pumpkin, pork, penne.
Q: Queen Latifah, quiche, Quincy Jones, quesadillas, quilting, quick breads, quiz shows, quarters.
R: Risk, road Trip, recycle, redecorate a room, romance, Redwall, roller coasters, river rafting, read, red licorice, ravioli, rice pudding, risotto.
S: Scrabble, Solitaire, simplify, sushi, Star Wars, scavenger hunt, SuDoku, Sleep over, swimming, salsa dancing, scrapbooking, salmon, Saganaki.
T: Tango, table tennis, teepees, typing, tap dancing, tic tac toe, tie shoes, trampoline, trek a trail.
U: Ugli fruit, unpack, Uptown Girls, Untamed Heart, Uno
V: Vin diesel (The Pacifier), vineyard, vermicelli, vacuum.
W: Water park, wash windows and walls, write a letter, walk, wink, wrinkles.
X: (e)xercise. X-men, X games, (e)xtreme sports, roman numeral for ten.
Y: Yahtzee, yo-yos, yogurt, yakisoba.
Z: Zoo, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Zaire, Zoom.

Don't forget about the adults in the house, this idea works equally well for mom and dad as it does for the kids. Watch the sunset for S, give each other a massage for M, have a candlelight dinner for C. Weave alphabetic romance into your life, your whole family will benefit.

Be sure to start a journal, blog or scrapbook recording your adventures, You'd be amazed at how many people will be interested in joining you as you celebrate the year from A-Z. Our online journal became another way for us to keep in touch with friends and family.

Try it; an alphabet of experiences is waiting for you.

This week I'll be posting updated suggestions - more adult pursuits like crafts, reading lists and even some sexy ideas to make this year great for your relationship too.

Please sign up in the comments section and let me know if you're interested in playing along with us. If enough people decide to join in the fun I'll start a little community for us with weekly email and ideas plus chatting and discussions. Don't stress, this is actually really easy. For example, the week I have surgery we'll probably set our iPods to the appropriate letter and call it done. YOU CAN DO THIS!

Keeping it Green

I got the coolest sewing calendar for Christmas:


and I couldn't wait to get making something from it. At lunch we made a big industrial sized can of tomato soup ( with lots of sickies in the house we'll go through it) and there was a project for covered cans (see it on the cover?). I bopped over to the Elsie Marley blog and got to work.

So imagine a tomato soup can and snip, sew, glue... I made this:


Here's the backside - my "obvious stitching" was a little rough:


I did make a few adjustments to the pattern, I'm one of those weirdos who paint the back of things so I covered the inside of the can with fabric as well as the outside. To do that, I used a longer piece for the top edge cover and glued it inside the can all the way to the bottom. I can see making a lot of these. Fun, not too tricky, great use of scraps.

The challenge over at Get Sketchy this week is to take something bound for the trash can and make it magnificent. I think this fits :-)

Upcycling

Benjamin is the sweetest baby I know. His smile and good nature cause people to flock to him - me included.

On a recent trip to New York, Benjamin was riding the subway on Halloween and an elderly lady pressed a dollar bill into his chubby little fist. Benjamin held on tight and his mom and dad asked me if I could find a nice way to preserve and display that dollar.

The last money project I did was the "In Case of Emergency Break Glass" frame and I wanted this project to be more charming and worthy of the adorable subject. I found an AOL box (love those, hope millions are still circulating and en route to my alter bag) and covered it with pics of the baby and made a rosette with the dollar.

Sorry the pics are sub-par. It was dark when I finished and I wanted to give it to our precious friends right away.




Merry Christmas, Everyone :-)

New Diagnosis

I saw the super-duper fancy-pants neuro-surgeon today and he was awesome. He looked at all the evidence and said that I'm a "fringe case" meaning that all the facts don't add up very well. He said in these circumstances he looks for something more rare. He guessed I may have Tethered Spinal Cord Syndrome. He then flipped through the layers of my MRI and low and behold - there it was. My spinal cord extends a good four inches beyond where normal cords stop. It's a deformity closely linked to Spina Bifida and nowadays it's the sort of thing an OB would look for in an ultrasound.

Since it wasn't treated at birth I have adult-onset symptoms. Typically a person rapidly goes from having some pain to completely debilitating pain. The next stage is even worse, you lose bowel and bladder control and then you have total loss of feeling and paralysis. Fortunately I'm not there yet. The other symptoms are things I've dealt with my whole life. It's funny to think back to health problems I had in third grade in light of this rare disorder. It's odd to have lived with poor health as long as I can remember and now see how TSCS was the cause of a lot of it.

On January 22, 2010 (Friday) I'll be admitted and the doctor will perform a laminotomy in my mid-back. Here's a picture of a vertebrae - he's cutting off the front triangle piece (the lamina). Then he'll dig a trench down along the spinal cord cover, cut through it at the appropriate part and insert a microscope in my spinal cord. At some point he'll inject a powerful coagulant hardening that spot on my spinal cord and then he'll sever it. That will "untether" my spinal cord and should resolve my issues.

I have to lie perfectly flat for 36-48 hours and then I'll have two more days in the hospital getting back on my feet. After that I can come home on Tuesday and I'll have to rest for two weeks. Then I'll have no doctor directed restrictions - basically I can do whatever I feel up to doing.

This is a wildly different recovery than the year of healing with the coccygectomy. It's also a much scarier "bigger" procedure. Dr. Awesome has done fifteen in the last three years and has been asked to write a paper on it. He's definitely the guy to go to. He's very comfortable with this surgery and was glad to find this rare disorder that puts all the puzzle pieces together.

As for my two broken bones - both are old breaks and they have healed reasonably well with no spurs or arthritis. He thinks removing the coccyx would be a poor choice and may have made things worse.

Thanks everyone for the prayers. I am excited and terrified about going forward with this. Severing my spinal cord sounds like something you avoid, not something you make an appointment for *grin*

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas :-)