Fall

SO, I am now halfway through fall semester and ready to decorate the house with warm fuzzies!!! This is by far, my most favorite time of the year. I start feeling the sentimental tug on my heart strings and start missing my family being close. I miss my dad a lot during the holidays. I miss him all the time, but it is more so when I remember our last Christmas with him. I recorded that Christmas on video, but all you hear is his voice, you never see him, and that makes me sad :( I miss having both of my girls with me during the holidays too. But this year, I did get to travel to Denver to see my baby girl and her new husband!!! I am so happy for them both. They eloped and did it all by themselves and I am good with that. It is all about them and what makes them happy. I admire them for doing things their way. Why all this mopping and boohooing about the holidays here at the end of September you ask? Well, my BFF Amber and I made a trip to our brand new HOBBY LOBBY yesterday and went cookoo for crafts!!! We bought Fall and Christmas crafting project supplies to work on creating some amazing treasures. Yes, I will post some pictures when they get done, and yes, they will be done before the holidays!!!

getting there

I am finding my crafting mojo again. Since I started culinary school last fall, I have had no desire, inerest or motivation to craft anything but a nice long nap :( I am happy to say that for the past month I have really been in the mood to play in my craft room and come up with something I never thought I could do....come up with something original. I go from site to site, friend to friend and place to place looking for ideas, and always say "why didn't I think of that", or "why do I always have to use someone elses inspiration". Well, for our craft club in February, I got to come up with an idea all on my own!!! I even searched the web to see if there were others out there..but nope!!! I got to it first!!! What a proud moment it was!

WHAT!!!!!

Not a question, but a comment!!! What, as in what in the world has been going on and where in the hell have I been? Well, let me tell you, I am in culinary school studying baking and pastry and culinary arts!!! I have gone from being a good cook and good baker to creative culinarian and experimental pastry chef too be!! I have been introduced to some great chefs, some weird ass foods, and some incredible new creations!!! I am no longer hesitant to experiment with new ideas in the kitchen, and sometime now, I just take and old favorite and make it a gourmet meal! Let's see, what else? I have a brand new craft room!!!! I LOVE IT!!!! If I can figure out how to post a picture on here, I will do that! I have given up on my Cricut Gypsy, with no thanks to Provocraft! Sooooo.... I bought a new Cameo Silhouette and I LOVE IT!!!! I took a weekend trip to West Virginia with my sweet daughter Jeni and 2 of my grandsons (one was in GA) to a family reunion, and we had a blast! I am taking all 3 grandsons camping there in August :) And....the most awesome thing since I was last here.....My baby girl, Heather (whom I have always called Fred :)) married the man of her dreams...Lucas! Boy oh Boy!!! Maybe I shouldn't wait so long to check back in!!

Blah Blah Blah

That is how my motivation to get started on a billion projects (highly exagerated) is going right now. I have all these tools, all these ideas and all these materials to work with in an amazing craft space....and NOTHING! I have been sitting up here the past few night for hours, rearranging stuff, trying to organize my stamps and other treasures. But, for some reason, I just can't get going on anything. I am gonna be here at the eleventh hour trying to get it all done at once like I always seem to do. I curse myself every time, and vow to never do it again. Kinda like when you drink to much and throw up and vow if you can just go to sleep you will never do it agin...yet there you are, on the floor hurling up your guts and maybe a hotdog or two. Yep, been there, done that!

I WIL GET THESE PROJECTS DONE! (Eventually)

He was my Bestest Friend

In this picture, Picasso was about a year old, and had been out in the yard rolling in a mud puddle...he loved to dig holes and lay in the cool mud to keep cool. He was so cute!

My bestest friend for over 13 years died yesterday and left a giant hole in my heart and my world. Picasso was born on July 3rd, 13 years ago. He was 6 weeks old when me and Jeni and Heather brought him home. I remember the day we went to pick him up. I had seen an ad for free puppies posted at Petsmart in Conyers, GA. The woman who was giving the puppies away worked at the store, and didn't believe in paying for animals. She wanted the puppies to go to good homes, so she held interviews for prospective new parents. The ad was for mixed puppies from an AKC female Shitzoo (Poochie) and an AKC male Lahasopso (Pablo). I took the girls with me to pick out a puppy. Well, the little guy they chose was the most active one of the bunch, and he went home with us that night. Being that his parents were Poochie and Pablo, I had the perfect name for him..thus Picasso came to be the newest member of our home. During his first few days he got used to us, and the potty training was almost complete when we got him, so he would go outside, potty, then come right back in. For years, I never saw him potty, this was his private matter.

He loved to ride, in fact, from the time he came to be with us, he rode in the front dashboard of my minivan every day when I took Jeni to school. As soon as I picked up the keys, he would launch himself at the door, ready to go! Picasso also loved to bark at the horses and cows that we would pass on the way. One day, he and I were riding around in my little 280Z with the t-tops off and the windows down...I was going real slow, about 10mph, and pointed to a field of animals and he was in the passenger seat when I said, hey Picasso, look at the horses...wow..he leaped over me and right out the window he went to chase them...My heart stopped, the car stopped and the door flew open. There he was, on the road looking dazed and confused. He got back in the car, st in his seat, and didn't move all the way home! He was just fine, scared to death, but fine. He never tried that trick again. He was content to bark at them through the window after that day. He went to jail twice for going to the school across the street to play with the kids, so he did some time. :-)

It wasn't until we moved to South Carolina that I ever saw him potty. He had no choice here. We lived in an apartment, and he had to be walked on a leash and he was so embarrassed, it was a couple of days before he would poop while on the leash. He did it in the house. He finally got tired of being punished, that he finally did it outside from then on. Then we met Mike! The best daddy ever! Picasso wasn't to sure of him in the beginning, but he realized how loving Mike was, and became as attached to Mike as I did.

On Picasso's last day, he got to do what he loved the most...He got to go for a ride with daddy!

I will miss him everyday. He was always there for me, when there was no one else. He knew all my secrets and fears. He was there to share all my joys and sorrows. He loved me unconditionally. He was my bestest friend and I will never forget how much love and laughter he brought to my life. I miss you Picasso and I love you so very much~~~~momma

How Hard Can It Be?

Apparently, Pretty damn hard! I referring to me and the inability of all these freakin doctors not being able to figure out why I am having so much abdominal pain. It is pretty pathetic when you have to go online, and refer to your friends and family to get a freakin diagnosis!

I was completely unaware that a non function gall bladder was not urgent enough to call in a nuclear scan technician in to perform a damn test..."sorry, you will have to suffer in agony until the three day holiday is over"! WTF! Isn't that why they are "on call", so they are prepared to be clled in to work on a three day weekend. If the gall bladder doesn't function properly, the pain is pretty fierce, and they tell you not to take any narcotics or pain meds because you can get constipated! BULLSHIT!!! I can take a laxative or do a freakin enema, but I am not laying here suffering for three days because you told me not to take anything for pain. I took my pain pill, was able to sleep, and took a big healthy shit!

So, doctor beware, the web is putting you out of business, and don't be surprised that a patient actually knows their own body and when it hurts, we are gonna find out why, with or without you!

Been a While

SO, yes I know it has been a long while since I posted anything, but life gets busy, then you have your hand cut open! Yep, I had hand surgery a few weeks ago, and still have some swelling, but the numbness is gone!!!! I don't have much grip yet, but it's getting better everyday.

It's almost time for our annual trip to Charlotte!!!!!! So excited that me, Brandy, Amber and Renee will be on our way Wednesday afternoon!!! We don't have to be at the first crop til Thursday at noon, but want to get there early to get settled in before the merriment commences!!!!!! We crop from noon til 5pm on Thursday, then I get to volunteer at the first class that night and my voucher for $30 worth of goodies!!!! (and whatever people leave behind I will snag!!!!) Then Friday..SHOPPING!!!!!!!!! Then volunteer for door prizes ...another $30 voucher for GOODIES!!!! Then crop Friday night!!!! Then Saturday......yeppperoooooooo more SHOPPING!!!!!!!!! For our final night we get to CROP AGAIN!!!! Then Sunday, we are hoping to head to Donna Downey's Studio about 15 miles away. Still waiting to hear back on a special time for someone to be there since she is closed that day.

Arggg!

Well, after a great start to the day with the grand kids at the Firehouse Museum and lunch, I was all set to spend the afternoon cropping and then the evening at the baseball game. The cropping NEVER HAPPENED! It was a nightmare event that left my heart hurting and my commitment in a weird place. How in the hell a business with the worst customer service can survive is beyond me. Being nasty to ones own spouse is bad, being nasty to ones mother is awful and shameful, but being nasty to employees and devoted customers is how you loose business, especially when you are doing all of the above in front of everyone!

Finally!!!!!

I finally have a 3 day weekend with my amazing husband!!! I have nothing else on my calendar but spending the weekend with him....doing whatever we want to do!!!!! No feelings of being rushed or overwhelmed by life....I am so happy to just be!!!!

keep on keepin on

This week has been something else...I will be having surgery on my right hand in July, and what a scary thing to think about seeing how my entire career is my work with my hands, so all I can do is pray that all goes well and two weeks later I will be back and running. I asked around and no one else knows of a massage therapist to have this surgery, but thanks to the rear end collision 2+ years ago...this is what it has come down to. I hope it won't affect the CK convention in August.

Being Productive

Finally.....9 hours into my 72 hour crop weekend, I have started to work on my projects!!!!!

I had to eat when I got here, had to do some visiting with everyone, do some shopping at the Avon vendor table to get my Skin So Soft to keep the bugs away, shopped with Artful Legacy and got some beautiful treasures, and found out Keri Lee's class was cancelled so I was inspired to take Artful Legacy's class on an AMAZING techniques journal!!!! SO AWESOME!!!!

So, now I finally got settled in and organized....only toook 9 hours! I am working on my recipe cards for the card swap, and then on my fathers day cards for the other swap. Feeling very perky and productive!!!