What a week it's been...

Deleted.

A Movie Rec, an Article and an Earache, Oh My!

If you liked Gosford Park and/or the BBC Pride and Prejudice with the absolutely perfect (NO OTHER Mr. Darcy exists in my house) Colin Firth then you might enjoy 'Easy Virtue' - a movie I hadn't heard of until I saw it on cable a week or so ago. I LOVED Colin in this movie - the perfect amount of sullen suffering and dry wit (reminds me much of Hugh Laurie in Sense and Sensibility a bit, but with more of a backbone) and I also loved the costumes, the time period - the feeling of Gosford Park scenery and the sarcastic servents (the butler is so great!) and well...I even liked Jessica Biel - what a surprise! She never really registered on my radar of good actresses, but boy was she good in this one!! Wow.

The absolute best part of the movie has to be...the Tango!! Firth is dead sexy when he's dancing. As Mr. Darcy or doing a devil may care tango in front of his seething wife.


There is plenty of humor and acidic wit (Kristen Scott Thomas at her best as evil mother/wife), but the romance and Happy Ending....ahhh, those made me love this movie.

An article to read - for those of us who have love/hate relationship with technology and like a bit of humor - Parade magazine's column by Craig Ferguson. Anyone who has gotten a ticket in the mail or knows someone who has will totally agree. LOL

And finally, an earache from hell. I never really suffered from such a bad earache before - is it usual to radiate down and around your whole half of your skull and cause sooo much pain? I can't sleep on that side at all and getting quite a crick in my neck on the other side. I could even feel it trickling down my throat all night and woke with a bit of an upper respitory infection from it and a cough - ugh. Bad infection = lousy weekend. My jaw hurts and it makes eating hard. Eh, I'm whining, I know.
Luckily I've got my antibiotics and pain pills and it is slowly getting slighty better. The cold rainy weather we got this weekend didn't help one iota. Hope everyone else had a good weekend, though. I'm still a bit cranky, though a new book and dvd are cheering me up right now.

Happy Monday, if such exist...

Post-Pat Day Letdown and a Childhood Memory

Missed a dentist appt. AND St. Pat's Day in a haze of pain, painkillers, heating pads and reading Twilight (caved to pop culture pressure - kinda like peer pressure). I turned around doing some boring task and something went click or snap or something and AAAAAUGH! I hurt my back. And hip. What makes it funnier is it happened just after my mother's knee popped going up the stairs on Sunday. Meant we were in misery together and I was the healthier one only slightly in making sure we were fed and had water.

This is the first year we didn't make corned beef, cabbage, carrots and potatoes. I missed that. Oh well. Goodbye St. Patrick's Day, better luck next year, maybe I'll catch a leprechaun.

When I was in the first grade, and very naive - really really gullible, I'm telling you. I believed my First Grade Teacher (Miss Evil - I mean Miss Williams) who told us this thrilling story of catching one on her neighbor's doorstep that morning and then squeezing him until she made a juice out of him, she then passed out cups of green Koolaide and I was horrified and refused to drink it. Is it just me or is that a mean thing to say to a six year old?? My mom was pissed off at her for that because I was almost in tears when I repeated the story to her later that day. Just a funny memory to share of childhood.

She was a bad teacher in a number of other ways and remains my #1 evil teacher of all time, (though I've had worst ones since then), but I attribute my age and childhood trauma to making her so evil in my memory. I'm happy to report she didn't stay a teacher for long, I could tell she didn't like kids so I wasn't surprised. She went on to work with animals and I saw her again at a demonstration in the 5th grade and she was forced to stand in a corner, looking away as the owls and other birds of prey hated her and wouldn't demonstrate their abilities in front of her. See? Animals sense evil - even birds of prey didn't like her. LOL Sorry, just had to share that...

Whoopsy Daisy!

Nearly took a header down the flight of stairs in my house - all due to my bad loose slippers(they are evil and have caused me to hurt myself in the past, I'm through with them now).

I need some that are like ballet flats, glued to the feet and not loose and leaving me twisting my feet terribly like today. I'm so lucky I grabbed the banister as I twisted around. And the banister is loose already so I'm also lucky it held, too. We really, really need to fix those stairs and secure the banister - too many accidents!

So, anyone got a good brand of slippers in mind?? I had some, but wore them out and can't find any decent ones. I'm figuring I'll have to find some online.

Everyone else - be careful, it's actually been only one in a series of several small accidents and bad things today - I'm rather wary now. What else will happen?? *knocks on wood*

So, the whole reason I went up and down the stairs was to get my paint clothes - I'm gonna try out the new paint color we bought for the hall, the soft grayish blue in the main hall seemed dismal and dark - so now we're going for a buttery, sunny yellow - boy I hope this one works, I've painted this huge hall three times already since we bought the house and I'm sick of doing it, but we never get the color right.

Have a Happy Tuesday, and cross your fingers for me. LOL

Poor Fairy Godmother

Just found out earlier today she sneakily had major surgery on her foot she'd been putting off a great long while and that was why I hadn't heard back from her. I'm sending her warm wishes and hopes for speedy recovery - she had a tragic bloody accident afterwards that required more surgery and is now (hopefully) tied down to the bed and not allowed to get up and do such silly things. Shame, shame!! ;) I hope my Fairy Godmother still enjoys her Christmas Holiday, though. I wish I could be there for her as she was for me and my surgery. I'm there in spirit! Listen to your doctors and REST. You know...all the stuff I'm not doing. lol

REMINDER - Giveaway ends today!!!!

I just want to remind everyone that the giveaway ends today. I'll wait til late night to pull out a winner - right now it's six people only - good chances for those that entered, but rather pathetic for a giveaway. No one else likes little red Foxes?? Aww. I feel bad for him.

On an up note, my alumni pool lets us swim for free (something I didn't know before) and I actually got to go swimming again. It was more like a chair lifting me into the pool and me doing pool exercises, but it was enough to just enjoy that feeling again and know I can go any evening I want! Yay!

Would you believe when we called the head of the athletic dept. just a few months ago they told me I'd have to buy a 400+ dollar pass just to swim for a year? And they either were messing with me or someone doesn't know their job at ALL. And I can use the exercise room, too. I'm so happy! :) I want to get healthy and strong and do a better job as a blogger and shop owner. So please don't give up on me yet!!

You can comment here or on original giveaway post to be considered for the giveaway. Last Chance!!

Shop Open Again!

New items coming soon. Please be patient I'm still limited in strength, stamina and flexibility. It's making it hard just to get through the day much less work on my blog and shop. But I want to thank, once again, those who were so kind to comment and encourage me. Every little bit helps, especially on the bad days. And to my family - I could never have gotten through this without you - I am truly blessed. Love to you all!! And Happy Halloween season - I had my boxes of Halloween decorations hauled out and my heart skipped a beat - how I do LOVE this season. :)

ETA: Wow, I made a super fast sale as soon as my shop went back up. Thanks!!! Most of my items expired during my absence and I've renewed some of them and am now working on new items so be sure to check back.

Ode to Halloween

First to set the scene - a dark and stormy morning. The loud thunder is creeping my poor dog out, but it is certainly an awfully appropriate first day of October.

Another sign of Halloween approaching...

The black kitty appears behind the tiny village.

Suddenly a giant pumpkin appears on my front porch bench!!

And upon my brand new Gabaldon book that arrived just the other day (and is sadly way too heavy for me to pick up with this back of mine!!) another pumpkin appears, this time with a wicked loooong stem! Ooooh!

And then amongst the sugar and flour - a vintagey black kitty container appears just begging for some candy corn to fill it! ;)

Any signs of Halloween in your home yet?? I haven't even gotten out my decorations yet, but now that I'm feeling better I plan to do that very very soon!

PS Just FYI, I actually FELL out of my bed in the wee hours of the morning - right onto hardwood floor. Luckily it was more of a half awake scrambled slide and I didn't do myself permanent damage or need to go to the hospital or anything (cross your fingers). It took a long time, but I finally summoned help and made it back on my feet with a lot of work and some curse words. October sure is here with a bang. I last fell badly a few days from Halloween last year (and hurt myself very badly indeed that time), perhaps the month is cursed for me. I better stay on my toes!! :) On the plus side? I'm needing my walker a little less each day and getting by with a cane or sometimes tottering around like an unstable toddler. Baby steps, literally. LOL

A Dose of Austen...

does help the medicine go down. And for an insomniac to sleep. I'm unfortunately keeping my poor family up in the wee hours of the morning and they've found that putting in a movie tends to make me drift off easier - such as Persuasion. My mother put it on and before Anne and Captain Wentworth met again I was out like a light. LOL Also helps to make the weird pain killer dreams less creepy. I've had quite a few nightmares the past few weeks.

So at the moment I'm trying Austen again as far as Sense and Sensibility, but no luck so far - instead I'm fascinated with the wall hangings and carpets, furniture, costumes, Miss Marianne making Willhoughby's silhouette, etc.

It really woke up my creative side again and I am simply DYING to finish my Christmas ornaments I'd started way back in early spring in time to sell them on my blog. I'll have to ask someone to drag one of our little trees upstairs to display and manage to sit at my table long enough to finish them, but I am so very determined to do so. :)

And now I'm awake enough to visit blogs so off I go to blog hop before falling back to dreamland. And if that doesn't do it I'll picture Edward and Elinor riding past sheep instead of just counting them.

Made it!

Surgery was a success and I'm finally home. I had a really rought time in recovery - the pain was unbelievable and feeling subhuman for the last two weeks has been hard, but since I can finally type for a few minutes I think I'm on the road to recovery. Mostly my day consists of waiting for rounds of pills to stave off pain whilst trying to force my slow and uncooperative body around in the walker. I haven't washed my hair in any real way since Aug. 16th so I feel like an orc or something. Tomorrow I maybe be able to sit in a shower chair and get a limited shower and actually shampoo my hair so I'll feel way better then. My dream is to get into a deep bath full of bubbles and soothe my pains away, but that is about a month off I think.

I'm ETERNALLY grateful to my family for taking care of me - I never ever would have made it without them. My docs were great and my nurses were a rather mixed bag, but enough good ones to make me grateful to them, too. Physio therapists are by definition tought gym teachers and mostly I'm happy with them, but the occupational therapist seemeed intent on treating me like my surgery was brain surgery or something and after awhile of being treated like an idiot and being in a lot of pain and repeating myself I got a little short with her so I'm quite glad to see the back of her. All in all, though, not a bad experience. Still, my GREATEST piece of advice for a stay at the hospital is have someone with you at all times that questions what's going on and if the right med/therapy/appt./etc. is going on because the hospital is just FULL of mistakes and you could be harmed without an advocate fighting at your side constantly.

That's all I can stand to type for now before I crash and fall asleep again. Thanks to All you great bloggers and friends out there for your kind wishes. I hope to be blogging fun crafty/artsy stuff again very soon. Happy Sunday!!!

See Ya Later, Alligators...

Tomorrow I go in to the hospital for a central line and then Monday is my surgery so I'll be gone from blogland until I've recuperated a bit. Thank to everyone for their wishes and prayers. I would be lying if I said I wasn't scared, but then I think any sane person on this earth would be scared so no apologies for that.

Frida Kahlo

Just fyi to anyone curious or out of the loop. I have been living with rather severe scoliosis since I was diagnosed at 11. I wore big ugly, painful brace for a year and then had to have surgery the next year. I have three rods in my back along with lots of ugly bolts and screws and it did me well for about 16 years, but now the pain is back with a vengeance and I can hardly walk or do much of anything so I finally dragged myself back to see the doctor and found out my back has degenerated quite badly and part of one rod is broken and I need to extend more rods to hold my whole back in place and all sorts of other disturbing details that I wish I didn't know about so enough said about that. I'll be in the hospital at least a week, possibly more and then recuperating for months afterward.



I have an EXCELLENT surgeon so I'm not too worried about the results. If you would like more information you can visit my surgeon's website. The adult scoliosis link lets you see all types of x-rays of the kind of surgery I'll be having. I do warn the squeamish, though, that they are disturbing to most people so view with caution.

My next post will be the 100th and I'll be sure to have a giveaway when I'm feeling better. I've been working on some pretty cool necklaces and jewelry which I'll save for a surprise. :) See ya guys later!!

Time Flies...

...even when you aren't having fun. A whole week goes by without a post - I've been a bit preoccupied. Wednesday was spent all day in the hospital for pre-op tests (CT scans, blood drawn, x-rays, etc. etc.). I've been x-rayed so much I no longer need a night light - I'm glowing in the dark. The worst part of it all, though is being in nothing but a flimsy hospital gown while one doctor examines me and three more plus a nurse stare at me like a specimen beneath their microscope. Actually it was better than last time - then there were four observing doctors with the nurse and surgeon - all in one tiny little exam room with no room to spare and everyone shuffling around when I'm requested to walk on my tippy toes and then heels and get onto the table. My x-rays were up all over the room like wallpaper for them all to enjoy. Just about the worst nightmare for someone as shy as me. I'm just so darn interesting of a case, the nurse told me. I'm so thrilled to be so interesting...never mind my feelings, doctors. By all means, talk about me like I'm not there. The nurse was the only one that could tell how uncomfortable I was - she was nice. When another person knocked on the door and tried to enter she actually told him to go away - there's no more room! lol

Anyway - enough complaining. I do so hate dreary posts, but I hope you'll forgive me if I felt the need to vent - it was a really awful day. I'm defintely in the mood to forget about the all too near future and focus on some inspirational ideas and photos.

First, Black Apple's post on her Renegade booth - oh how I love her set up. Just the kind I've dreamed about having one day. I covet her vintage red suitcase the most...seems too good to be real...maybe a reproduction?

detail from Black Apple photo - see her blog for more

Which of course got me looking for red suitcases. I'm just drooling over these:

Handmade luxury suitcases from Globe-Trotter

This one, though I forgot where exactly I found it...

Red is one of my very favorite colors...I hope I find a cute vintage suitcase in that color one day. My other favorite for suitcases is maybe white...or green...or, well who the heck am I kidding? I love vintage suitcases, period. :)

Happy Friday, everyone. I hope to finally get to the pool again this weekend - it's been downright cold this month - 70's in July in St. Louis?? Unheard of - it's a conspiracy to keep me from the pool, I tell you.

Getting Closer...

As my operation looms closer it's becoming more and more real to me and just a little bit, okay - a lot - scary. I've had to ask relatives and friends to donate blood for my operation as I will need quite a bit so I'm beginning to feel like a vampire. Give me your blood!! And on Wednesday I go in for a whole day of tests and doctor visits. I'm having a CT scan, blood work, EKG, a bone density test, a visit with the surgeon, and a visit with my anesthesiologist. Whew, that'll be a fun day.

So, to cheer myself up, I bought my first Black Apple print. :)




I'm thinking of maybe taking it to the hospital to have something pretty to look at. And with all that morphine I'll likely have some interesting dreams about the little couple in their terrarium and the house that is too small for them. lol

Off I go to finish painting the pew...it's coming along quite nicely, as soon as it is finished I'll try to take a good picture.

Happy Thursday!!

Blowing dust off the blog...

Happy Belated Easter to all that celebrated last week. My family celebrates 'Greek' Easter which is on a different calendar from the regular Easter and that was just yesterday. Also my birthday was Saturday - dare I admit it was the big 30?? I prefer to think I am aging backwards now, though - so I'm 28 again. ;)

Anyway, despite all that celebrating I've been rather bummed and not wanting to spread it around so that's the real reason for my quiet. Far too often I find myself trying to go to sleep at night and awake thinking of my pending operation and all the hassle, pain, and stress it will cause. But I know I have to go through with this operation as I'm in far too much pain and there is no real future to look forward to unless I try to fix my back.

So anyway - putting that aside. I do desperately need good vibes and positive thoughts. I finally managed to clear some space and time aside again to get back focused on my many, many half finished projects. I think crafting and today's sunshine (it rained ALL weekend) will lift my spirits so I'm ready to jump back in.

Next week I know at least two flea markets I want to go to and a show 'Artopy' which is a Indie type art and craft show by the local Show Me Etsy group. I'm definitely looking forward to that show - the last one, Green with Indie didn't go well for me. I can't walk for more than a minute or two and ended up seeing barely anything at all and the pain was horrible. So this week I'm buying a wheel chair and experiencing the show. If you are in St. Louis then or near enough to come - check out the link above for details. I'll take a few pictures if I can.

(I'm so shy in person that I usually chicken out from taking pictures of people's booths or stores as I think they'll get mad and think I'm stealing ideas or something - does anyone else have that problem?? Should I mention I have a blog and will be promoting their stuff rather than taking away from them? Just a paranoid question from a paranoid person...)

Just a Friendly Reminder

Have you?? Please take the time to vote today if you are registered (and live in the US, obviously) - every vote matters. ;)

Happy November, everyone - it's very warm where I live right now.

And in unrelated news. Yesterday I had to go the Ortho doc for two shots in the back to help with the extraordinary pain I've been having. It's amazing how long the needles were! Ouch. Really gross. It was a fairly long painstaking process and some recovery time, but I think it's starting to work. I've got lots of pain, but some of it is gone and they said it takes up to two weeks or so to feel the full effect. I'm glad I went, though I was super nervous. I just hope to be able to do more now as the pain has taken quite a toll on me lately.

It's scoliosis related, the three rods in my back hold the main part of it in place, but this means the lower back and upper back have a LOT of wear and tear over the last 17 years and I have deteriated discs and bone spurs and pinched nerves. I haven't felt like doing much of anything lately and forget creative stuff. I'm so bummed. But now? Maybe I'll feel better.

Sorry to vent a little - just needed to talk about it and now I'll wish for the best. Maybe wish me luck?? ;) I'm so hoping to be able to paint and work again on new things for my shop and just for therapy, too. It feels good to make things.