29 June 2009

I'm Still Alive and Kicking!

Whooo hoooo! I'm very tired of having to retell this story .....again! I've told it numerous times already.....but you all won't know what has happened unless I retell it once again. Forgive me if it's a rather boring read as I've run out of pep to talk about it!

I didn't make it through the weekend without seeing the doc one more time! Early Sunday morning Susan was taking me back to the ER as I was in exceptional pain after having had my morning constitutional. I thought I was dieing, it hurt so much!
All that pain was good news though. No kidney stone. Yeah! What happened was the ovarian cyst they found on the CATscan I had Friday burst. And it hurt like hell!!!!
All's well now though. I slept for 14 hours straight, relatively pain free when I layed down to sleep due to the Lortab I had taken earlier. I'm pain free this morning. The bleeding has stopped and I do believe my medical woes are done with for a bit.
I do not have to go see the gynocologist cause there is nothing there now for him to see. I do have to go see the urologist still though as I had blood in my urine still yesterday morning. They've not figured out the cause of that anymore.
I am glad to be past this drama! Looks like you all are stuck with me for a bit longer! LOL Thanks for hanging around! :)

I shall come yap at you all later when I get the artwork scanned that I have to show you all. I have inchies, ATCs and Chunky pages for you!
Peace
831

27 June 2009

And the Medical Saga Continues...

The CATscan showed no kidney stone. I really didn't think there was one! What it did show is an ovarian cyst but doc says that wouldn't make me bleed like I am doing.
I just came back from Saturday Clinic. I saw the ARPN, Joann, over there and she's quite concerned about this ovarian cyst I have. She says at my age, 48, I shouldn't have one of those. She says young women are more prone to them than old birds like me. So I'm to see the OB/GYN this coming week. Gotta call to make an appt on Monday. They will fit me in sometime during the week. I gave them some blood to do some sort of test that must be sent off to be read. They wanted to get that ball rolling so the results of that blood test are in Dr. Fort's hands when I get in to see Dr. Fort this coming week. (I've no idea if Dr. Fort is a woman or a man. Not that it matters one way or another...)
Today they took another urine sample. I have blood in my urine still as well. They seem perplexed as to WHY there is blood in my urine. I'm to call, again on Monday, the urologist to get that figured out.
I'm still in a bit of pain and still bleeding like a stuck hog. Joann tells me if the pain increases or the bleeding increases, I am to get my hide to the ER as soon as possible. She asked me if I felt as though I should be in th hospital. I didn't think that was necessary as I really don't feel unwell. I just have some unusual pain (unusual for me... I'm always in pain somewhere on this old body) and I feel out of sorts. So.... no news other than this to report on that front. It will all get sorted out eventually.
I shall come yak at you all again either later today or tomorrow. I have art to scan to show you all. Inchies were made yesterday and I have a couple of chunky pages and a couple of ATCs as well to show.
You all behave yourselves. I have no choice other than to behave cause I've been grounded by Joann! She says I'm to take it easy this weekend! So take it easy I will!
Get your hugs!
Peace
831

26 June 2009

It's Friday! Whoo Hooo

I say "It's Friday! Whoo Hooo" with much sarcasm cause all the days of the week run together for me. Weekends are just as special as any other day!

I got the test results back from the bone density thingy. It all looks good is what they tell me. I don't know who typed that letter up telling me about the good news of the bone density test, but they need to proofread! The letter was only 2 paragaphs long...short note actually. There were four mistakes in it! I thought that very strange! But the test results are good so that is ultimately all that matters.
I still haven't done the 24 hr urine test for calcium. Well, yes, I did do it, but it didn't count and I have to redo it cause the lab neglected to draw any blood when I took the urine sample back to them and apparently they were supposed to do that. Had someone told me a blood draw was needed to complete that test, I'd of stuck around for a blood draw that day. Now I can't do the test right now cause I have some issues going with my bladder....Not really sure it is my bladder. I went to the ER the day before yesterday at the request of my regular doc (she isn't in the office or a couple weeks cause she had surgery) cause I was having some pain and bleeding when I shouldn't be bleeding. The doc on call at the ER is convinced I have a kidney stone. I have very little pain and they said I would be in great pain when that stone passed. I don't think there is a kidney stone, though doc said the lab saw crystals in the urine sample I gave them at the ER. I don't know! I'm bleeding as though it were that time of the month but that time of the month has already come and gone for June. I am waiting for my phone to charge to give the ER doc a call and discuss this with his nurse (or him if he's available). Someone left the phone off the cradle way too long and run the battery down! (That would have been me, btw!) So until this issue is resolved, I can't take the 24 hr urine test for calcium.
If it ain't one thing, it is another!
I feel pretty good actually. Not in any more pain than I am any other day. I'm alittle tender in my lower abdomen but nothing severe. Still sleeping weird hours. I got up at 3 a.m this morning after going to bed around 7:30 p.m. Nice little sleep.
I don't have any art to show you guys today. I have cards that need scanned but that is not happening today. I will wait till I finish my Fortune Cookie Fortune cards. I also have two more marker cards to do and 3 landmark cards to do for swaps I signed up for this morning. Couple of days and I'll have some stuff to show you all.
I got a fantastic assortment of art stuff in the mail this morning in trade for some ATC blanks and 4x4 blanks I sent to a girl in California a couple weeks ago. I got the best end of that trade! She was more than generous! Thanks Kati! I will put all of that stuff to use sooner or later. A lot of it went the box of stuff I'm gathering for a handmade book that I intend to turn into a journal.
I've been organizing things in the deskroom this morning. I need to clean off the light table and the painting table. The light table has been buried for months. I got it cleared off and now its covered again. I'd use the light table more if it wasn't buried beneath a pile of things. There are things on the painting table that need cut into smaller pcs so I can fit in them in the boxes where they go. I organize things by their color, each color has its own box. I also organize things by holidays...ad some of the things can go either in a color box or a holiday box. That's the stuff on the painting table. I should have that done sometime today.
I really need to do some inchies! I haven't done but 1 inchie all month long! That goal needs to be kept up with if I'm to accomplish it by the end of the year. It is damn near July already! Where has the time gone?

Just got off the phone with the doc's nurse over in Pville. Looks as though they are going to do a CATscan sometime today to figure out what the devil is going on. They are still looking for a kidney stone with this CATscan, but I don't think they are going to find one....Just my own opinion there. I'm no doctor by any far stretch of the imagination, I just know my own body!
Doc is right on top of things this morning! Just got a call and that CATscan is scheduled for 10:30.. that's in about 40 minutes so I better go get dressed. Can't be going to the hospital in my jammies!
I shall yak at you all later today and let you know what happens!
Have a great day! Get your hugs! Have a few laughs...laughs are as important as hugs!
Peace
831

23 June 2009

Miss Blue's Eulogy

Miss Blue came to live with me when she was about six weeks old back in June 1994. Her sister, Pippen, came with her as well. Pippen met her demise on the highway out front of the house when I was living in Nickerson and Mother was taking care of my cats for me.

Miss Blue died this afternoon. She had been losing weight yet still eating, drinking and using the litter pan up till yesterday. She died sleeping on Fred's pallet on my bedroom floor.

She was a wonderful companion for the years she graced my life. She gave me love, laughter and a hard time every now and then. She loved Fred. She loved almost everyone she ever met. If Miss Blue didn't like someone, and there were only a couple, I knew those people couldn't be trusted. Visitors, whether they wanted or not, were greeted by Miss Blue the moment they sat down. Up into their laps she went.

She was a pure white ball of fluff when I brought her home to the house on Pine Street. Those blue eyes are the reason for her name. Her mama was grey calico farm cat whose name I don't remember and her daddy was large siamese that answered to the name of Luther (when he wanted to. ;) ). The older she got, the more the siamese in her came out.

Miss Blue was actually fine, except for having lost a lot of weight over the last couple months up till yesterday when she just gave up... least it appeared that way to me.

Here are a few pictures of my long-lived 'old woman' of the bunch. She will be missed.


Miss Blue asleep in a toy truck box on Christmas Day of 2007. She dearly loved boxes of any shape. They were especially nice if the fit was rather tight.


2005 Sleeping on the sofa.

Pondering life's mysteries.... We had just moved into the new house and she was getting used to the new surroundings.



"I guess this will have to do." she seems to be saying of her new accomadations. She is in the bathroom in this picture. She loved to sleep in the bathroom for some unknown reason.


June 2005 in the house on Elm Street. This was our temporary residence after the house out east burned. She's wondering why that food bowl is empty!
This house on Elm Street was familiar territory to the cats as we had lived in this house for five years before moving out east of town.


Outside on Elm Street, enjoying the sunshine.
She is buried in the pet cemetary out under the clothesline in the backyard. She joins numerous cats, dogs and a rat or two in her final resting place. She is good company with many other beloved pets from years past.
Seems so very quiet here in the house tonight... no Blue's meow to cut the silence. Fred, Doob and Billy all seem to understand that Miss Blue is gone and she won't be coming back.
I shall miss her terribly.
Rest in Peace comrade.
831

Art As Promised!

I only have two chunky pages and four ATCs to show you all. I do have two more unfinished chunky pages and two more ATCs that need to be scanned before I can show them to you. No one has seen the two ATCs so don't feel deprived.


Red Fish Floyd- Chunky pages really don't have names, you know. Floyd is handmade paper dusted with red glitter and googly eye glued on in the appropiate place. The background is a page from a novel that I am altering, red head scarf netting, eyelash yarn, plastic netting from an onion bag, bronze colored silk ribbon, gold thread, yellow cording and fake pearls. The base is a cork coaster from the Wolf Creek Nuclear Plant here in Kansas.


Blue Fish Bruce-- Bruce is a piece of balsa wood cut into a wonky shaped fish and dusted with blue glitter. A googly eye has been glued to him. The background is security envelope insides, several layers of lavendar colored netting, gold thread with four large sequin shapes tied to it, a metal swirl shaped doodad, blue cardstock, eyelash yarn, little plastic disc with a resin seashell glued to the top of it, red cording and gold microbeads. The base of this page is also from the Nuclear Plant.

Sleeping Out ATC-- sharpies on linen textured cardstock. This is the only card I traded this weekend. In return for this card I will receive a digital print of a kaleidoscope image of some orange flowers. Very cool. I don't generally trade digital for hand drawn... but I like Kristin's kaleidoscope cards! I have a few of her inchies already but this will be the first ATC kaleidoscope I have from her.


Lonely Flower ATC- sharpie on linen texture cardstock

Fall Trees ATC- sharpies on linen texture cardstock. This is a detail of an oil painting I found in my book about landscape artists. The oil painting outshines my version by bunches!


Three Trees ATC -- ink pen on linen textured carstock.
There's the extent of the artwork you're going to see today.
I need to scan some inchies... not sure how many of them are in that little baggie in the inchie box. A dozen or so it appears. I need to do some more inchies!
I didn't say a thing about all the critters in the last post. They are all good and fine. Well, as far as can expected.
Miss Blue is getting more senile by the day. She has decided to live at Susan's house for some reason. When she's home she sleeps in the bathroom... I put on the bed, under the fan this afternoon and she promptly went to the bathroom. It is hotter than the hubs of hell in my neck of the woods and I did not have air conditioning until late this evening...fool cat didn't want the fan on her, I guess. Doob does the same thing though... she sleeps beside the tub in the bathroom.
Bill spends most of his time outside. He ain't no dummy. He knows it's cooler outside than in the house! Even with a/c in the house, he will still spend most of his time outside. Coming in only to eat and MAYBE take a short nap during the day. Billy's a strange cat.
Fred hasn't gone swimming all weekend cause I didn't have wheels all weekend. RW and Lou borrowed my van from Saturday night into Monday. Their's broke down. I think I already told you all that!... so Fred didn't get to go swimming. He seems none the worse for not having gone though. He was conversing with a pack of coyotes last night. They were across the highway, he was in amongst the plum bushes. It was probably around midnight or so... they're over there in the field baying at the moon, howling, making a hell of a ruckus and Fred was on his side of the highway telling them whatfor! I made him come in the house and shut up all that noise he was making! Fool dog can't be arguing with coyotes! They outnumber the boy for one thing. They're a lot tougher than he is too.

RJ informed the temperature on the bank clock at 9:30 on Monday evening said it was 87F out. It must of got up way past 100F then. Even though I slept Monday away, I know it was hot! I took a shower this morning and climbed into bed in the suit I was born in and still sweat like crazy all the time I slept. I'm thankful RJ and his buddy put the a/c in the bedroom and even more thankful they put the one in the deskroom in as well. It is nice and cool in here right now!
Alright! I gotta go drag some laundry to the laundry room and sort the mess so I can start the laundry and have some clean clothes to put on later this morning. I got to make a trip to Plainville and I think I might stop at the courthouse on my way home and renew my registration for the van as well. It expires on the 30th. Gotta see if I have enough money to that though...
You all have a terrific Tuesday! I'm going to give it a good shot!
Get your hugs! Get your hugs! Get your hugs!
Peace
831


Tuesday Morning, Early

I won't be able to read this in yellow on a white background in the posting window here, but I'll try not to make too many typos and make it easier on the reader to understand these ramblings of mine!

I feel like yellow this morning for some reason. Yellow is a happy color...makes you think of warm summer days, green grass, flowers and happiness. Least that's what it makes me think of usually.

Not much of anything has happened since the last post. I do have some art scanned that I will post after this post... some ATCs and a few Chunky Pages. I participated in the all types of art-a-thon this weekend over at AFA (the link's uptop on the left). I mae two chunky pages, seven ATCs and one inchie. I have two unfinished chunky pages laying on the other side of this room on my painting table. I only call it the painting table...I do all kinds of art on that table.
I traded 1 ATC all weekend. It wasn't a very successful a-thon for me.

I would show you the ATC I drew for Ma for her birthday, but I forgot to scan it before I gave it to her. It's a cute little gray and white cat sitting in a round room. I had made it for a-thon, not necessarily for Ma. If truth be known, I had forgotten it was her birthday on Saturday and I needed to give her something quickly. There was no time to go buy something and I didn't have any extra funds to go buy her something anyway. She loved the cat and that is all that matters, I suppose. Ma is now 74 years young.
We had fried chicken, mashed potatoes, gravy, corn, brocoli in cheese sauce and ice cream sandwich cake for dinner over at Susan's house. I didn't know about this little wind-ding until I was waked by my sisters to attend the wing-ding. No one bothered to call RJ or RW and invite their families to the wing-ding. I took offense to that ommision.
It all worked out alright and I have gotten over that offense.. it wasn't intentional on the omissioners' parts, I'm sure. I didn't say anything about it at the wing-ding, just asked why RW and RJ weren't there. They hadn't been informed of it. Simple as that. Sometimes it is just best to let things slide.
RW and Lou spent most of Saturday evening with me anyway. I saw RJ late in the evening while RW and Lou where still here.They helped me do some badly needed housework, Lou helped me change the sheets on my bed (finally got rid of hat cat hair covered green sheet! and finally found someone willing to help me do it!). She did the dishes and RW cooked supper of spaghetti. We had a great time together. RJ dropped in for just a moment and he was gone again.

On Friday I went to a ball game in town. Girls softball. A's team was playing the Hill City girls. Our team won! Yeah! I got to see my favorite people on Friday... sat with B on the tail gate of their van while H was in the stands. I was an hour and half late for that game. Missed the first game completely actually. Doesn't matter though, I still had a fabulous time out in the sunshine with good friends. And our team won both games! So all is good.

The lab called me about my urine sample this afternoon. They screwed up and I have to repeat the test. They were supposed to draw blood the same day I took the sample to the lab. They didn't do that so, oh lucky me, gets to pee in a jug for 24 hours again. No biggie. Just delays finding out the results of that test longer. Haven't heard a thing about the bone density test at all.
I still don't feel all that great either. No energy. Sleep all the damn time. 15 hours straight yesterday.
I'll let you all know what I know when I know it on this front.

Guess I'll close this post out for now and go download some pictures of artwork for you all!
Remember to be good to one another... it is so very impotant! Even when you don't feel like being nice... do it anyway. Two will benefit!
Peace
831

19 June 2009

Friday .....what will it hold?

Almost a week since I was here to yak at you all.
Not much of importance has happened in those six days I've been away from blogging and I'm not even sure why I am blogging this morning.
I have read two books this week, which have been added to the list. The Shack by W. Paul Young and The Reader by Bernhard Schlink (Translated from the German by Carol Brown Janeway). I am way ahead of that goal of 50 for the year.

The inchie goal, on the otherhand, has not progressed so favorably. I'll get back on it soon though cause I've not given up on that goal. I discovered a new way to do collage inchies and I'm going to give that a shot in the next week or so. I discovered it by talking to others who make inchies. I forget who actually said it...you'll see the results if they turn out alright.
I have been to the state lake with Fred in tow three times in the last six days. It has been hotter than the hubs of hell in Kansas most of the week. We had storms blow through with some rain a couple days ago. Nothing severe, just rain, lightning, a bit of wind and lots of thunder. Though there is a big tree down at the lake from the storm that came through the day before yesterday. It was standing with its feet in the water, not a stable environment at all... and when the winds came through... they were reported to be 60 mph winds, the tree went down. I suspect some day they (whoever they are) will go out there and clean up the mess so you can drive all around the circle drive out there. The tree prevents one from doing that right now. The road to the state lake washed out as well in that storm but they fixed it the some time yesterday. I think it blew a lot harder 4 miles from home than it did at home. Yesterday when we went to the lake, we had to take the long way around to get there because of the road being out.
I took my sample to the lab yesterday and later this morning I go for my bone density screening. We'll see what comes of that. I should hear something in a few days I would hope.
I haven't been feeling well, physically, all week. I just don't have any energy! I'm doing laundry this morning only because it needs to be done if I want clean clothes to wear. The dishes were stacked early this morning as well. I doubt they will get done today though. I'm worn out from putting a load in the washer, taking the sheets out of the dryer, emtying the livingroom and kitchen trash cans and stacking the dishes. I've been awake since 4 pm yesterday as well and that doesn't help any when I cannot sleep. I'll crash later today. And I do mean CRASH.
I have to go to Pville at 9 for the bone screening and then to Pburg later in the day to take Susan to get her car out of the shop. After I come home from Pburg I might get some sleep. I tried to sleep last night but all I did was lay awake in the dark with my mind running a million miles an hour and sleep simply would not come! So I got up and played a game of Cave-In, and then sat on the back steps in the dead of night with the dog and all three cats, watching the stars, listening to the crickets sing and watched the fireflies blink off and on. Only in the country can you sit on the back steps in the glow of the yard light in your nightgown and not worry that someone might see you. Folks driving by on the highway are going 65mph, they don't notice what you're wearing if they even notice you there. And it was dark to boot.
Round about 5 a.m. I went to Susan's with a cup of coffee in hand. I knew she was up cause I could hear her music playing. Not real well, but I knew she was up cause I could hear the bass and I heard her talking to the cat. Heard her well talking to that Maddy cat.
I have done a bit of artwork this week as well but nothing to show you all today cause none of it's been scanned. I have two ATCs done for the fortune cookie swap and two chunky pages done for Evelyn's book. I am very pleased with the two pages for Evelyn's book and one of the ATCs for the swap. The other ATC leaves a bit to be desired if you ask me, but I'm usually wrong on those assumptions so it is going to the swap. I have no choice but to send it in cause I only have six fortune cookie fortunes to work with and I will need all six of them. If another fortune shows up before they are due at the end of July, I'll make another ATC to go instead of the one I am not happy with.
It will probably be a very warm day. It's 6:30 in the morning right now and it's already pretty warm out there. My thermometer says it is 67F outside and 79F in the livingroom. It's even warmer in the deskroom where I am cause the window isn't open, and it won't be opened cause I'd just have to wrestle with closing the danged thing when it rained. I'll be dragging a different fan out of the closet cause the one RJ gave me from Edna is all messed up and it won't work at all. Edna is an 80 yr old woman, she's RJ's grandma...she 'fixed' the fan... put a new cord on the end of it. It has a black cord till you get to the end of it where the plug suddenly turns hot pink. I'm thinking it's time to retire that fan or have RJ or RW refix that cord. Maybe get the cord off that box fan that is out in the junk heap? Not sure why that fan ended up there.....at any rate a fan will be dragged out of the closet today as well.
I just took a look out that closed window... looks like rain clouds to the north. I can't see any other direction out that window so what it looks like to the south, east, west... I haven't a clue. The wheatfield out that window looks wonderful! Thick, lush, golden ... just aswayin' in the stiff breeze out there. I said it was already warm... it isn't warm outside. It is beautiful outside and if I could take this pc outside with me....that is where I would be at the moment... but taking the pc outside is not possible so I must sit here and sweat a little.
My choice! The boys asked me if wanted the a/c put in yesterday and I told them it was not time to do that yet. I may change my mind about that in the very near future. I could care less if they put the a/c in my bedroom, but the one for the deskroom is a necessity. I spend a great deal of my waking life in this room. I could sleep in the hubs of hell, the heat doesn't bother me when I'm asleep when I have a fan blowing on me. I've had that fan going for weeks already.
It is now 7:06 a.m. I just got back from folding the load of towels from the dryer and putting a load of clothes in the dryer. I had to go out to the van to retrieve my green sweater to put it in the washer with my hoodie, cape and another sweater. I'm wore out again.
Sometime today I'm going to have to commandeer someone to help me change the sheets on the bed. The clean ones had been in the dryer for over a week. It's time for a change! Besides that the dark green sheet there right now attacts cat hair like a magnet attracts steel! It's awful! I won't be putting that green sheet back on my bed. It's easier to just not use that sheet again than trying to convince that cat who gets her fur all over my sheet not to sleep on my bed. I'd do it by myself but it would take an hour to accomplish it and I'd pay dearly for all that upward arm motion it takes to change sheets on a bed. I'll pay a fair amount with a helper.
It would be great if I could convince one of the boys to vaccuum the livingroom for me. That vaccuum kills me! I don't touch that machine very often.
I've rambled on long enough this morning! You all have a fantastic Friday! I'll try to be back in a day or two to show you some art. Don't forget to get some hugs today! I have a hugee in mind! :)
Be good to one another. It matters.
Peace
831

13 June 2009

Picture Saturday Rolls Around Again!

It's poker at Susan's house tonight apparently. Least that's what they tell me. I've only about an hour to get this post done.
We are having pictures today!!!!! Oh yeah! Enjoy the commentary!

There's a date on the photo of Brenton asleep on my bed with Doobie. I can't read it as I type though...it's too small. Been awhile back. Doobie doesn't like anyone but herself most days and to find her asleep on the bed with Brenton was a rarity, indeed! You can see the rats' cage at the top left of the picture. The rats are now living at RWs house. Well, one of them is. Annie died a couple months ago. She was an old rat though and rats don't live too awfully long. And check out all those books on my headboad!


Another old picture. Fred (dog) and Brenton in the backyard looking across the wheat field to the tree line. Brenton had his binoculars out. I believe there were deer out in that field this day. Brenton was 5 in this picture.

RW, Me and RJ. I do believe I was going to smack that RJ boy. Look at him laughing! The pair of them are always giving me a hard time! I guess that is what your sons are for? This one was taken at Mother's 70th birthday party. She's fixing to turn 74 this year...next Saturday.


This is a dead carp out at Webster Lake. I liked the designs of the fish scales and the gravel. Just an interesting picture is all. Least I think it is. People, when they catch carp, usually just throw them up on the bank and leave them to die cause they aren't really useful. I don't agree with that cause I've eaten carp and it was mighty tasty. This was a pretty good sized fish when it was thrown up on the bank. It was supper for some critter though by the looks of it.


Sumac in the fall turns this brilliant red color. The ditches along the highways and dirt roads are lined with sumac. It isn't near as pretty in the summer when it is only green. The berry heads come on and it gets a little more character to it...but when it turns red....it is simply gorgeous!


Ornery The Buzzard Chick eating pork chops and peas off a dinner plate.


That's me and Doobie in the summer of 2005, shortly before the house burned. Doob looks none too happy to be in a bear hug to get her picture taken!


Bob Seeger. Pen and Ink drawing I did in 2004 or 2005. Not sure exactly when. I sent this drawing to my friend, Stucky, up in B.C. Canada.


Butterflies on Lilac Flowers. I drew this one sometime in 2004-2005 also. The original was lost in the house fire unfortunately


Sunflower field over by Plainville.


We talked some about the fire with the drawings gone missing. This is what the front hall bookshelf looked like when the fire was put out. All my first editions were located in this bookshelf.


Another casualty of the fire. My antique tube radio. There were mineral specimens that sat atop this radio. Every one of those mineral specimens disappeared. Never laid on eyes on any of them after the fire. Not even during the clean up. They simply vanished!


This is the kitchen of the burned house days afte the fire. The cabinets fell off the walls and made a terrible mess! My nice red and cream colored kitchen turned black, more or less....the only thing still intact in the kitchen is the ceramic tile floor.


This is a picture of the front yard with the burned house in sight. My new house sits right next door. You can see on the side of the house where the little windows are towards the front where the smoke damage is on the outside of the house. That has since been painted white but the house is still unlivable and probably always will be despite the fact RJ thinks it will be livable sometime in the future! Better win the lottery if that's to happen.

Sperm and egg. I really liked this picture when I discovered it in a Google Image Search. I painted an ATC in acrylics based on it.



Questions In My Mind
While inside my mind
I ponder questions
to enlighten my querying thoughts.
Where in this universe
do I find my unique spot?
Is it somewhere I've already been and
I just didn't notice the loveliness within?
Or is it somewhere I've yet to go?
In dreams I have seen
the skies open wide
to reveal the questions
I've held deep inside.
From whence do the gods
conjure up my path?
And where will I go
when the end comes to pass?
Auroras shimmering in the abyss
calling to me of centuries
I've yet to encounter.
Touch with my fingertips,
I've tried unwittingly to accomplish
and dreams only lead me
to more questions.
Is there another universe to explore
deep within my troubled soul?
Does happiness radiate from deep within?
Does sorrow reflect all of our sins?
Moons and stars, like long-lost kin
patiently waiting to let me in.
Someday I'll leave this realm behind
and I'll find all the answers
to these questions in my mind.
************************
A little poetry to go along with the picture! This poem was written for a picture challenge on the poetry site I used to frequent. This poem took second place. Voting being done by the members of the site. March 2006 is when it was written.

Molds of anthills. How cool is that???



Snow Crystals.

Omni. She belonged to a friend of mine. I painted this picture of her for Bryan's birthday one year...2004, if memory serves me correctly. It is by far the BEST painting I have ever done! No clue what became of it or Omni when Bryan was killed in a car wreck later the same year I gave him this painting.

I've smoked the last cigarette in the house. I need to get dressed as I'm late for the poker date. I added two more books read to the list. Finished one of them last night. I have two on the headboard ready for reading. Susan gave them both to me. She's read them and now it's time for me to do so.
I shall come yak at you all again another day. Perhaps there will be artwork to share, perhaps there won't.... I just don't know! You all be good to one another because ultimately... it really does matter!
Get your hugs!
Peace
831

12 June 2009

Five Days Away!

And what have I done in those 5 days? slept a lot....
I went to Topeka on Wednesday to talk to the endocrinologists. That would be Dr. Win (that's not how you spell you his name...only how it's pronounced.) and his assistant, I believe she's his ARPN (?), Kelly. They've come to the conclusion I need to pee in a jug for 24 hours and let them send it to the lab guys to see how much calcium I may be eliminating. They also want me to get a bone density test. OK, no problem! Well, yeah, there IS a problem, sorta. I didn't get either of those tests set up since I got up on Thursday.
My parathyroid (PT) is once again on the rampage...so it seems...and the tests will determine if it is indeed on the rampage. I feel no different, physically, than I have for a long time. If the parathyroid is on the rampage, shouldn't I have other symptoms? I don't know! Maybe I do have symptoms and they mimic the aches and pains I already have. Anyway, I'll not get any more news about the PT until I have a 24 hour urine sample tested for calcium and a bone density test preformed. I'm sure you all will hear about it!
I had a great time on the way to Topeka and home again...it was a fun trip all around! Aunt Sherry and Ma took me. We got there way ahead of schedule and played in the park for a bit. We drove around the big city... around a very small part of the big city....We went shopping. We laughed a lot. We stopped to see my sister, Kathy in Abilene. K showed us her shop at the plant nursery. She doesn't sell plants. She sells second hand goods. I brought home a whole bag full of stuff. She wouldn't take my money cause the bag she put my stuff in, came out of a case of 500 of them that I had just given her. She has a pretty good set up. She works at the nursery as well so it's double pretty good!
I slept most of the way home. It rained most of the way home.
I slept all day yesterday and played Cave-In all night. Read some blogs I follow and didn't feel like talking to anyone.
I went to a softball game on Tuesday night. H drove to Ellis and I tagged along at her request. A's team was playing. Girl's softball. Our team lost both games but they tried their best. They almost had it at game one: 8-9. Four innings. Second game ended at 11-7. Four innings is all they ever play.
I've another softball game to attend this evening. It is here. At the city park in town. I think Susan may come along for that one.
I've read another book since the last post as well. I will add it to the list later as I don't have it in front of me and I've no clue who wrote it, and I'm not certain of its title either...but I did read it~! I read it on the way from Topeka to Junction City. Obviously, it's not a very thick book.
My phone is broke. I've no dial tone, those calling in get a busy signal. I've arranged for the phone dudes to show up sometime on Monday to fix that problem.
I'm glad it wasn't broke on Wednesday! I found a lovely message on my machine. Two messages actually! LOL Lovely might not be the right word for that first message...though I did feel all warm inside! And the second message, from the same voice... it made me laugh hysterically. Not at the content of the message...but at the messenger. Wish I'd of been home to further the discussion at the time the messages arrived.... nothing came of having called the messenger back two hours after the messages were left.
I've no art to show you. None has been made since the last batch you saw. This deskroom looks like a tornado went through it! I really need to find the energy to clean this mess up! Someone needs to do those dishes again too. I just can't do all that physical labor...it wears me out! I never catch up with it.
I have an hour before I'll go to the town to the ballgame so I'm out of here for now. I need some food in my belly and I really should stack the dishes while I'm at it!
You all have a stellar Friday! Get your hugs!
Peace
831

07 June 2009

Weekend Art

Those raindrops falling outside my window sound like they are pretty big! I haven't seen any lightning though. Those raindrops sound like HAIL! I better go take a look out the front door. I might have to post this and shut down and come back later to edit it.


Okey Dokey! Rain's gone and I'm back. Nothing exciting with the rain. A bit of rain, a little wind and some rather loud thunder. Nothing Little Ol' Me couldn't handle.
It got a bit chilly pretty fast and I closed all the doors. The weather gurus were on top of it. I went to the local station's website and got up to the minute reports on the storm in my neck of the woods. I didn't know I could do that until tonight. It was a good discovery!


I warned you all there would be more art. My muse ran out on me shortly after I got up this afternoon. I did the first two you see here this afternoon. It took forever for the glue to dry! Kitty still has gooey glue on that one whisker set. The others were done before I went to sleep last night.


CAT Black Cat -- foreign newpaper print, plastic sheet from a package of fake rhinestones, plastic letter stickers, distress rub on, googly eyes, black dimensional paint and some aluminum wire. It's all attached to that game I can't remember the name of. I got a lot of ATC blanks out of those game cards! Nobody wants this one yet.
I have made lots of these kitties, but never a black one before. I like how he turned out! I need to find the next size down in googly eyes though. I have tiny, medium, large and extra large....but no small. Small would work better on most of my kitties like this.


CAT Blue Fish Ted--I've decided to start giving my fishes names of distinction. As opposed to the fish you all saw yesterday which is simply called Pink Fish. Here we have black nylon head scarf material, lavendar colored netting, irredescent pink glitter, eyelash yarn, the fish is made out of handmade paper dusted with blue glitter and then dusted with pink irredescent glitter. I got some new specialty yarns in the GAT (Goodie-a-thon) trade last month that will begin appearing in future fish. No one wants this one either. Not yet anyway.
The handmade paper that fish is made out of came in the GAT as well.



CAT 29 Cents-- 22k gold replica of a US Postage Stamp in a little clear plastic case attached to that base from the game I don't know the name of with cardstock strips. There is some gold lame ribbon, a gold paper seal, blue sequin, gold sequin and a gold half sphere atop the seal. Gold star sequins, big gold sequins and little brass dohickeys that I've no clue what to call other than dohickeys. Oh, and there's some security envelope insides behind it all. I'm really surprised no one has jumped on this one!



CAT "What About You?" -- magazine cutout, white mulberry paper, blue mulberry paper, 2 squares of cardstock, drywall screen tape, clear plastic corner stickers, a wooden dragonfly (it was already stamped with the design) and text from a novel I'm altering. This one is going to Finland.


CAT Planes- security envelope insides, copy paper, an airplane cut from a brochure and a plastic dohickey with the word "PLANES". Not very exciting. It hasn't got a new home either. I don't think it will be going anywhere anytime soon.


CAT Orange Zebra 2-- same as the zebras of yesterday... I'm lazy tonight. Don't feel like typing it out again. This one is going to the United Kingdom. His crown kinda disappears into the background. I should have used pink irredescent glitter for his crown instead of the same color as the background. UK Girl said he looked fine to her though. He is my least favorite of the zebras.

Pitter patter on the roof,
splashes against the windowpane.
Thunder rolls in the distance and
the dog snores on the floor.
Verses escaped when the rain started getting pretty heavy...which was just after I opened this page to make this post. You know if you put pictures in a post all your typing goes to the bottom of the post, right? Well, that's why this is in the middle of the post. I found it here.
Wait a second! This is the end of the post.....anyway....there it is.
Enjoy!
I haven't written much poetry here of late.
I added another book read to the list the other day. Swell: A Girl's Guide to the Good Life. And now that I've written that, I remember telling you all about that already. I'm still reading Quincunx and will be for sometime to come, I'm afraid. It's a very fat book! I only have a few pages left in another book though and I'll be adding that one real soon.
I seem to be on top of things with this goal. I'm halfway there and the year is half over with.
Can you believe that the year is half over with??? Where did the time go??? I think the older I get the faster time seems to go. ...and no way to retrieve it. That's why you have to get those hugs on a daily basis!
There is Star Trek offers plastered all over my Cheez-Its box! I find that strange. I know they do it to make money and promote the new movie, but I just find it strange to put things of that nature on food boxes.
Now you know I've been eating Cheez-Its! I'm drinking coffee as well. It's one o'clock in the morning. I've been up since noon yesterday. I'll be going to bed soon. I think I'm running out of things to talk about...
But then, maybe not. I've told this story three times already and even though it is hilarious, it gets a little more boring evertime I tell it. I laughed my ass off when it happened though! I was laughing so hard, I found it difficult to drive straight! I had taken the dogs to town with me. Fred in his usual spot in the back seat and Pug hanging her head out the passenger's window. She stepped on the button and rolled her head up in the window. When she got trapped she jumped, lost her footing and was hanging there for a split second by her head. She was making an awful racket too! I quick like rolled the window down and released the fool critter! She looked at me like I had done it to her. I petted her and talked to her, laughing like a mad woman the whole time, and got her settled down a bit. She kept peering over at the window as I continued down Main Street. Didn't stop her from sticking her out on the window on the way home though. She rolled the window up, without her head in it, when I was in JMart getting me a soda. Silly dog!
The Kids will be home tomorrow and she can go home with them. Fred needs a break from the little terror and the cats will be glad to see her gone! She's such a cute little thing though, you can't help but love her! We will dog sit again when the kids need us to. I say we, cause Fred is in on the dog sitting business to. He sits on that dog's head when she bites him on the back of his back legs.
Go get your hugs today! You know you want them. You know they're good for you and good for the recipient. Make someone smile today! Be good to one another. It does matter!
I'll come yap at you all another day!
Peace
831

06 June 2009

Picture Saturday, CAT Going On and It's A Warm One!

I've been busy with artwork this weekend thus far and tomorrow looks like it will be filled with the same. We've a collage-a-thon going on over at AFA (link in the upper left).
This ugly butterfly was done back in May. I don't think you all have seen it. Though it's not much to brag about either! We have lots of zebras in this post. Put on your sunglasses! There some wild stuff coming up!

Zentangle Butterfly- markers on recycled flash cards


Cactus- CAT June 09- handmade paper dusted with fine sand, wooden cactus cutout painted with green ink and sharpie, some more handmade paper dusted with fine sand, irredescent glitter and micro beads. All attached to stiff board from a game I can't remember the name of. This one is headed to Maryland.


Play Time- CAT June 09-- security envelopes insides, plastic gold coin with a jester on it, paper words, chipboard Free Spin, chevron from a uniform, interactive dot to dot game from a Cracker Jacks box. All attached to stiff board from a game I can't remember the name of.


Pink Fish- CAT June 09-- red tissue paper, ironed easter grass, rick rack, eyelash yarn, handmade paper dusted with irredescent glitter, googly eye and micro beads all attached to a blank cut from a Blue's Clues Game box. This one is going to Michigan.


Zebras- CAT June 09-- security envelope insides, picture of a baby zebra, chipboard word from a kid's Scrabble Game (sentences instead of letters), chipboard circles colored with sharpie, sequin stars and micro beads. All attached to that stiff board from the game I can't remember the name of. This one is going to Washington State.


Purple Zebra- CAT June 09-- zebra paper dusted with irredescent glitter, cardstock crown with little star sequins, paper zebra colored with bic marker, a bit of lace across the lower left corner. All is attached to some more of that game I can't remember the name of. This one is going to Australia.


Orange Zebra - CAT June 09-- zebra paper dusted with orange glitter, cardstock crown colored with bic marker and dusted with irredescent pink glitter, paper zebra colored with bic marker, chipboard circle, gold sequin star and micro beads. All is attached to....you guessed it! a piece of that game I can't remember the name of. This one is also going to Michigan.


Green Zebra- CAT June 09-- zebra paper (it doesn't show the stripes much at all!) dusted with green glitter and then dusted with irredescent glitter, paper zebra colored with bic marker, cardstock crown colored with bic marker, a chipboard circle colored with sharpie, a blue sequin star and microbeads.


Blue Zebra 2--CAT June 09-- zebra paper dusted with blue glitter and then dusted with irredescent pink glitter, cardstock crown colored with bic marker and dusted with purple irredescent glitter, chipboard circle with a blue sequin star and a micro bead. All attached to that same game as the others.


Blue Zebra 1-- CAT June 09-- zebra paper dusted with blue glitter and then dusted with pink irredescent glitter, cardstock crown with little star sequins, paper zebra colored with bic marker, chipboard circle with a blue sequin star and a micro bead. All attached to that same game as the others. This one is headed to NSW Australia.

The CAT goes on all through tomorrow as well. I have only one card completed that isn't already shown here. I need to make many more! My muse has kinda taken a hike for some reason...Might be cause it is so darned hot~! Not a breeze to be felt....
I'll be back again before the weekend is gone to show you all the rest of the cards that get made.
You all be good to one another. Get some hugs!
Peace
831

03 June 2009

Wednesday Is Here!

Every artist dips his brush in his own soul, and paints his own nature into his pictures. Henry Ward Beecher

There's your quote for the day! Yeah I know you already get one when you read this blog but sometimes those change before you get to see them. This one wasn't a quote of a day from the gadget above. I found it elsewhere and thought it 'fit'. So here it is!

It's a nice warm Wednesday at 11:35 a.m. That's the time as I begin this entry. It may be hours from now when I finish it.

I've been awake for about an hour. The phone rang shortly after I hauled my butt out of bed. It was RJ calling to ask if I would let the grandpup spend the weekend here. I told him, "Sure, bring Pug on over. She can spend the weekend terrorizing the cats and Fred." That little dog really isn't a problem...she's just a nut case!

I went out to the burned house to gather a few things together for RJ and T to take to with them this weekend. They are headed to other parts of the state and wanted to stop in Abilene to talk to RJ's aunt and give her a few things for her second hand shop. She will be pleased with the assortment I've gathered for her. She wasn't home when I called to make sure just what it was she wanted but she should call me back sometime pretty soon I would guess.

I'm just sitting here drinking coffee and yapping at you all.

Not sure what is on the agenda for the day. I know the dishes need finished before they pile up out of control. There's only a sinkful and two pans at the moment. If I let it go much longer, there will be a boatload of dishes and I'll not want to do them! Laundry should be started again as well. Laundry is never ending!

I think the trashmen have already been here ..... I should have emptied all the trashcans in the house yesterday. Too late now. Guess the trash will just have to sit in the bin till next Wednesday.

I have another book to add to the list of books read this year. I finished To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee the night before last. I was reading on the www the other week about this book and the racial slurs that are contained in it. They use the "N" word with regularity. That's not a word I want uttered in my presence and it's a word I forbade my children to use in any context when they were little. The debate about the book and the "N" word was that is was hateful and just plain mean to use it in literature in this day and age. I think those in that debate forget that the book was published in the early 60s and the story was set in the 1930s. To take that word out of the book, which is what the debate was essentially about, would take away from the story the book tells. The feelings toward negros in the 1930s were quite different than the feelings towards them today. I'm not even certain that calling black people negros is politically correct. I know calling them the 'N' word sure the hell isn't correct and never should have been but that is something we cannot change. To Kill A Mockingbird is an excellent book. It's a story about a white man who defends a black man falsely accused of raping a white woman. Atticus does his best to get Tom Robinson off of the charge cause he did nothing wrong. It is a good book with a good story despite the "N" word scattered among the words. And if you took the "N" word out of it, it just wouldn't have the same impact as that wretched word left in does.

The kids were here and left the grandpup with me. She's in the locked in the bathroom at the moment as the kids just left and she'll follow them down the middle of the highway if I don't lock her up till they are well out of sight. She sounds like someone's beating the daylights out of her, but she's quite fine locked in the bathroom for a few moments. The kids will be home on Monday or Tuesday.

They have asked me to go pay their lot rent and check on their house up in Pburg cause RJ can't remember if he closed the front door or not. So looks like me and the dogs will be going for a ride later today.

Looks like I forgot to post this one yesterday. So you'll be getting two for the price of one today.
I hope you got your hugs on Wednesday! I didn't get any hugs on Wednesday.
Peace
831

01 June 2009

Poetry, Songbird, Fishes and Talk of a Monday Afternoon

And my heart springs anew,
Bright and confident and true.
And the old love comes to meet me,
In the dawning and the dew.

Robert Louis Stevenson

That was the Quote of the Day for today. I like it!

There was a Chunky Page-a-thon (CPAT) over at AFA this weekend. I made seven chunkys for it. You only see six of them here cause the seventh one isn't quite finished just yet.

Here we have Zentangle Fishes done in sharpies on cardstock and attached to a cork coaster. The backside is another zentangle with some fishes and all my info there. I went light on the danglies for all of these this weekend. My old brain just wasn't grasping the concept of danglies for some reason and nothing seemed to look good! This one was posted in the CPAT thread and traded only minutes later. It is headed to Seattle, WA.


This is Fish School done in markers on a piece of gameboard and then sealed with acrylic glaze. The back is black with more fishes drawn with white acrylic ink and my info. The back was just the back of the game board and I didn't feel like covering it up. I dragged out my glass dip pen and had a good time playing around with the white acrylic ink on this one. I had to paint over with black ink my first attempt at the backside of this one... I put all that info on upside down! I'm pleased with the outcome of it. If I don't trade this one today (the CPAT ends today) I will put it in Evelyn's birthday Chunky book.

This is Bass Fish done in markers on cardstock attached to a cork coaster. The backside has a picture of a big tree beside a lake with mountains in the distance. Very similar to the inchie mountain scapes you've all seen of mine, only this one is 4 inches by 4 inches. The danglies are hemp cord dyed yellow. This one is headed to North Dakota once I get to the post office to send it and the others on their way.


This is the Pieced Angel Fish done in collage on a piece of game board. Game boards are very stout bases for chunky pages but one needs a cropadile to cut the holes needed for binding. Lots of folks own a cropadile though so it wasn't much of a problem. I cut all the coral freehand from various colors of cardstock and embellished it with markers. The fish is cut from a pattern I made and all the pcs glued together to make the fish. The background is a sheet of handmade paper with leaves in it. The danglies include a lampwork bead and a blue glass leaf attached with fishing line and 1/8 inch wide pink ribbon. This one is headed to Alabama.


this is Red Bird done in markers on cardstock. I glued two pcs of cardstock together to make it sturdy enough to be a chunky page. The danglies include a red string with a ladybug bead attached to the end (the bead is upside down in the pic), a string from a jacket hood and a little red clothespin. (A really little red clothespin). I've yet to trade this one. If it doesn't trade then I will put it in Evelyn's book also.


this is purple glitter fish...This one is a collage done on a 4x4 cut from a game board. The background, starting from the game board and building to the fish....security envelope inside paper, ironed plastic easter grass, eyelash yarn, and microbeads. The fish is a piece of burgandy colored handmade paper (very stiff) covered with lavendar irredescent fine glitter, gold thread and a googly eye. The backside is the insides of a security envelope in blue with a line drawing done in black marker along with my information. The danglies are the same eyelash yarn as is behind the fish. This one is headed to Tacoma, WA.
Hope you enjoyed the art show today.
I'll come yak at you all another day...perhaps later today. I'm headed to Hays with Susan. Fred demands I buy him some dog food and there are a few things I could use myself from the grocery store. You all behave yourselves today, enjoy the sunshine if it's shining on you and go give some hugs out!
Peace
831




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