Rest of the process...

Well my DH (Darling Hubby)... is recovering and has gotten the stitches removed from his neck and tomorrow gets the ones removed from his chest at the doctor's office. This has been a long and slow recovery process...but with each day of healing and strength returning to normal...you have to give God His props! :)

My DH just celebrated his 50th birthday on July 31st...which was also just declared National Dance Day by the Dizzy Feet Foundation and SYTYCD (So You Think You Can Dance)...makes ya want to dance a jig when someone you love, who has been so ill, starts to recover.

Life doesn't always hand us the cards or deck that we want in every moment...but at least we know the King is in there somewhere :)

Still here....

If you know me personally and have been following my Facebook posts, you will know that my DH had to have two surgeries recently- which started with a trip to the ER 2 1/2 weeks ago with a fever of 104! It has been a long and bumpy road since 1984 for him, as he has Short Bowel Syndrome- so we are bound to have these potholes of life from time to time. He is getting better, but we still have to do the Lovenox shots twice a day for now (Man, do I hate needles!)....ahhhh, the things we do for love!

I pray that someday he can have a successful small bowel transplant- but to date that has not been an option; and he has been TPN dependent for 26 years now. Although in the last 9 years, he has started to get infections and he is meticulous in the cleaning and care of his Groshon central line.

I just thank God that he is still here and that we have had this mouch time together. I usually don't get into all of this personal stuff, but I am feeling kinda sentimental and reflective today and just downright thankful and lucky to be alive and to have a wonderful, loving husband :)

Think...Reflect...Ponder...Remember...

I just finished the altered book for my oldest daughter Tiffany's college graduation and she loved it!...I can't wait to see it filled with pictures from her Nursing School and Clinical Adventures!

It made me think and reflect about those moments in life that matter the most. Like your "firsts"...marriage...your spouse...your children..family & friends...vacations..."favorites"...and all of those everyday "life happens" memories that we talk about and those that we forget about over time.

We need to start taking time to be more intentional...to take the time to think, reflect, ponder and remember those moments that are special, funny, sad, make us think. etc... Start writing them down so that when you are old and can't remember, or have grandchildren you can share what your thoughts and feelings were when you were their age.

I find it fascinating to know how much a loaf of bread or gallon of gas was when my parents and grandparents were my age or younger. How fashion and technology has changed over the years....hairstyles....fads... trends...home decor...fashion. We would not be able to compare these things and more over the generations if someone had not taken the time to document and take pictures of what everything had looked like back then.

The same holds true with our own lives... thoughts...likes/dislikes...family photos...recipes...how well will our children and our children's children know us when we are no longer here. When someone says to them that they look like you or act like you...will they really truly know what you thought...what you looked like...how you felt or what you liked? They will if you take the time to sit down from time to time to think...reflect...ponder and remember what is important to you and take the pictures and write the words to convey YOU to everyone else who will look at them and read them later...scrapbooking and book altering helps me to accomplish this.

I challenge you to make time to document those important things in your life.. the good, the bad and even the ugly...so that your soul will be heard....long after your voice is silenced this side of Heaven :)

Visiting the Library...

I sparked some curiousity with one of the librarians at my library. They used to hold an annual book sale and loads of people would show up to get a paper bag of books for $3.00 or pay .25 per book based on what was going on at the time. Well... they got smarter this year and to avoid the LONG lines of people, "line ditchers" and just downright rude people---they now have books for sale for .25 a piece (magazines and paperbacks are free)...DVD's and CD's, while they are a rare find, are about .50-$1.00 a piece.

As I am getting into altered art, books and assemblage...I find these all to be "rare finds" and often the librarians look at me, but never say anything about the amount of books that I buys on a weekly basis. They are probably just glad to get rid of them and make some $$. One day, one of my favorite librarians, Jackie, asked me what I did with all of the books that I purchase. I laughed out loud, as I thought no one had noticed but me that I generally buy about $5 worth at a time! :)

I told her my dream of having my own "shop" someday...where people could "create art"...read...etc...and that I also altered some of them. She had a puzzled look on her face, and I didn't know if she was having a mild heart attack or what at the thought of me tearing and deconstructing books. She said that she had heard of book altering, but was having a hard time comprehending what an altered dictionary would look like.

I took about 8 books in to show her yesterday...including the dictionary that I am working on. She was pleasantly surprised and amazed and thanked me for sharing my art with her. I hope that I left her as inspired as I felt. Thanks for your kind words of encouragement Jackie! ...see you soon :)

GLEE!

The GLEE "Madonna episode" TOTALLY ROCKED!....Fox will be showing it again tomorrow night. I love this show! I was in Honors and Show Choir and Ensemble when I was in High School....so it brings back fond memories of the fun times that me and my pals had. We had our own "Curt" too....so it brings a smile to my face when I tune in to see what happens next. LOVE the cast and the "comraderie" between Sue and Will...LOL! The songs are modern and they make them uniquely their own. Plus it doesn't hurt that the kids have a HOT teacher either! :)

Altered Books and Other Things...

I am currently working on altering some books. Old training books that were headed for the trash at work...books that I have purchased at the library book sale and I am working on altering a Red Lobster menu into a scrapbook (a gift from a waiter who shall remain nameless, but is the COOLEST waiter EVER!...you know who you are Queen!) LOL! :)

My DH bought me a new camera for Christmas, so I will post photos soon... the darn blasted thing did NOT come with a memory card OR a USB cord!...so much for meeting the needs of your customers SONY!!- way to make the consumer pay EXTRA in this already sucky economy...oh well... I have a memory card now, but no USB Cord. So if any of my gal pals have an extra Sony Cybershot USB Cord lying around because you now have a new camera...send it my way!...(hint, hint Ellen & Kimberley)

As soon as I get the photos on my memory card and/or a USB Cord...I will post the pictures to my blog...but for now...I am off to get the porkchops and potatoes out of the oven cuz my good friend Ellen is coming over for dinner and to watch last night's Madonna episode of GLEE. (I almost watched it without her...but I waited!)...after that I am going to work on my books and will have pics up soon.

I am altering an old Zagat restaurant book...a computer manual a novel, a dictionary, and turning a chunky kids board book into a mini scrapbook for my oldest daughter who just graduated Nursing School.... so...stay tuned!

Hump Day!!

It's WEDNESDAY! Affectionately known in the work place as "Hump Day". I am not sure why this is referred to as Hump Day...but I know that it falls in the middle of the work week...so...like a camel, whose hump(s)is/are in the middle...maybe that's where it originated. OR....maybe, as my friend Robin pointed out today at work...maybe it's because Monday is down and then you go up to Tuesday and then Wednesday is at the top and you are on the downward slide toward Friday!??....If anyone has an answer to why it's called Hump Day, please feel free to let me know! :)

I do know that I am NOT a Monday morning kinda gal (which I have blogged about before; although I do LOVE any Monday morning that I get to stay home from work)...but back to the work week... I do get excited when Hump Day gets here because it means that I only have 2 more days until my favorite time of the work week arrives....5:00 pm on Friday...YEA!

Funny Video- How to Make a Pie

I was perusing Amazon.com today at lunch for some cool Assemblage and Altered Art Books and it lead me to "How to Sew a Button: and other stuff your Grandmother knew". There was this video at the bottom of the book list, along with another one on How to Tie a Tie. I thought this one was so funny that it made me laugh out loud...hope you enjoy it as much as I did...and I just might purchase the book because of the funny video! LOL!...Enjoy! :)


http://www.amazon.com/gp/mpd/permalink/m2Y4A0E70OW35R

Monday Mornings...

I guess I should be excited about Monday Mornings...but I'm NOT! Mondays are like the day of the week when you haven't had that first cup of coffee yet. You have to wake up, get a shower and drag your tired butt into work after getting the kids off to school. Once you get there, you are supposed to promote a positive attitude because you work for Corporate America...and we are supposed to always be "politically correct" in today's world--(even though there is nothing "correct" about politics!)

It gets better after I have those first 2 cups of morning java...but that kicks in late morning/ early afternoon. I am just NOT a Monday morning type of gal. I am somewhere still stuck in my "Country Tyme Lemonade Lazy Sunday afternoon" leftovers. Still stuck under those covers and sleeping in late until I want to crawl out of my warm sanctuary to brew that hot liquid love in a cup. I guess you know by now that I am having a love affair...with coffee! LOL! :)

The weekends are just too darn short and the work week waaayyy too long! I guess that once I get through this Monday, it means that I only have 4 days left until glorious Friday evening at 5:00 pm gets here...and I can once again yell "Woo Hoo! It's 5:00 girls, let's get outta here!"

She Did It!...and we are so PROUD!

Our oldest daughter Tiffany has graduated from Nursing School and has had her pinning ceremony. We are sooooo HAPPY...EXCITED...and all of those other joyous emotions...for both her and us. It seems like just yesterday we were reading books at bedtime and snuggling on the couch/recliner! Now #1 is a BIG GIRL with a HOUSE and CAR of her own and a COLLEGE education and even a REAL JOB! She put in an application at a local hospital one day...they called her to set up an interview the very next day...and she was told that she has a job the day that she had her interview. That's incredible! She has a job in Critical Care with a $5 shift diff for the 7p-7a shift waiting for her as soon as she passes her State Nursing Boards. We are also EXTREMELY PROUD of her as she was the Nursing CLASS PRESIDENT on top of her studies and working at Kroger Pharmacy to pay for school. I am truly ENAMORED at all that she has been able to accomplish and know that the world is HER oyster....but she is a DIVA and already knows that...(you know that I love you Tiffany Lynne)...seems like just yesterday that I was singing to you and rocking you in the rocking chair when you had your days and nights mixed up as a baby...and now here you are....as I get older and headed for the rocking chair for myself...LOL! :)

I LOVE YOU!!!!!...Mom