Happy Halloween!!

Happy Halloween all you ghouls and gals - I'm up at 4 in the morning not because of my excitement of the holiday, sadly, but because I'm waiting for my pain meds to kick in and let me sleep. So I figured I'd go ahead and post a few Halloween decorations. Here's what's above my fireplace:


Queen Mary I - aka Bloody Mary portrait. I bought it for myself on my 28th b-day as she had it commissioned on her 28th birthday and I'm just a weird Tudorphile like that. I think she suits the mood what with her bloody reputation.

Also a little tribute to Edgar Allen Poe, my favorite poet. Morbid, I know, but I love hearing the Raven and reciting Annabelle Lee (which my 7th grade reading teacher made us learn and I'm forever grateful for that, though it was a pain at the time). I just printed out his photo and put it in one of those gorgeous Hobby Lobby frames I love so much - so Gothic and perfect. Also the haunted house next to it is Poe's House, but more on that later as I had to take it outside to get good detailed and well lit pics of the inside.

This is my usual apothecary jar of doom - poor little skulls what did they do to end up here??

Is it perverse that in the springtime I put twigs and a nest with little eggs in it?? Oh and don't miss the spider candle - those spindly legs kill me. I put a black tea light in it. I LOVE those candle holders.

Now, these are not great pictures, but you'll have to forgive me as I just am not flexible or strong enough to put up a good setting so I just plunked it down on the railing where my dad just ripped out our overgrown bushes. I actually painted this house last year, but lost interest and time to finish. This time I decided to make the inside interesting, too.

You can't quite tell from the pics, but there are words stamped into the paint which makes it prettier in person - and quite fitting for a poet, no?

And here's my favorite part, inside I placed Victorian black wallpaper (scrapbook paper) and a picture of Edgar, a dollhouse chair, side table and a lamp for him to read by while he hears someone knocking on his door.

I hope this also demonstrates how you can have fun with a little dollhouse furniture inside the houses I make. This is the large sized house, fyi. Also bought the tree at Michaels last week when I felt like going out for a very brief trip. It was worth it as the tree suits the house perfectly.

Is it too Owly?

It's not quite Halloween, but my owl collection wanted to make itself known.
This little garage sale find sits on my mantle.


Another garage sale find sits in one of my geranium pots.

This scary realistic owl sits on my dining room chandelier and can give you a start if you've forgotten it's there.

And of course my little owl on my kitchen towel from Target last year:

And if you're looking for ultra cute baby owlets these are on my heating pad right now. I needed a quick replacement and the fabric was handy and oh so cute. This heating pad is getting lots of use lately. Especially with all this cold rainy weather - boy do I ache.

And that's all for now, I'm totally disoraganized and too tired and in pain to do much this holiday, sad to say. I went in to my post-op follow up and everything's going well. If only I could find an in door pool to exercise in, though. It has to be one that is easy to get into as I'm still healing.

Happy Halloween, fellow witches and ghouls!! Can't wait for Saturday. It's supposed to be good weather, but I'm pessimistic.

Etsy Update

Finally an update - check out these super cool necklaces!!

Also - I have to say my photography skills suck and the pictures are much sharper and nicer than they appear. Sorry for the lack of quality I really do need to practice or have someone else photograph my work. Customers are always saying - wow, it looks so much better in person than it did in the shop. LOL Colors are more vibrant and pictures and sharper than they appear. My favorite right now to wear is my own typewriter pendant and another one I made with a crown and medieval writing which isn't shown here. I had another to sell, but gave it away as a gift.

Edited to add: I've reduced a few prices on my shop as part of an autumn/pay the hospital bills sale. Please do: Take a look!

Pumpkin Goodness

The days have grown much shorter, the air has a chill that's undeniable and the pumpkins and mums are springing up on every doorstep - it simply must be time to bake for the fall!! I've never been much of a pumpkin pie person, but I do so love pumpkin muffins!! I posted about my muffin recipe last year here.

And here are some fresh pictures of my lovely pumpkin muffins to share before they get gobbled up by family and friends...

They have chocolate chips in them as the recipe says from last year, but I just couldn't find the walnuts so I substituted pecans and they are just as lovely - yum!

You could add just about anything to these muffins or nothing at all and they taste lovely, even to people who aren't too fond of Cinnamon, like me. I've made pumpking chocolate chip bundt cake before, too, and that is just DIVINE with a light glaze on top. Sadly I've never been able to duplicate it successfully as bundt pans and I are not friends - they always stick and ruin - drat it!

And while we are on the subject of fall recipes I also recommend the orange cranberry I muffins I made last year - check out the post here. I really must make those again, too, they were a big hit.

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.

Still Here

Still haning in there. I've had three lovely showers so far and every one of them I had to be practically dragged out of as I didn't want to leave that lovely hot water. It's a painful process and rather embarassing to have others take care of you so intimately, but it really does show you just how much you are loved and cherished by your loved ones.



Some days are better than others, but I think I'm making progress. My creative side positively screams for a chance to reemerge and do something, but I really do have a long way to go. Just sitting for a few minutes and typing REALLY takes it out of me. Thanks SOOOO much for all your good wishes. I will be exploring other blogs after a nap, I think. I'm reaching the end of my rope at the moment and must crash. Hope everyone is doing very well and that there's lots of cool stuff going on for me to catch up on.



Happy Fall Everyone!!!!

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!!