Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Quite a "P" Day...

I have been poked, prodded, peed, pulsed, and photod... I had my Pre Op today... and barring anything that shows up... I am set for Monday! Sweet Monday!

Now keep me in your prayers...

Lights Out!
me

Sunday, January 24, 2010

Seven More Wake Ups!

To two things... One my 41st birthday... but that is pretty anti-climatic compared to the other thing. Probably the BEST birthday gift I could ever give to myself.

My surgery! It was supposed to be scheduled for the 29th which would have given me a few extra days to recoup, but the OR was booked... so it is now the 1st. Is it weird, ominous, to have surgery on my birthday? I don't know... but I just know that the pain will be gone. Yes, I will have the surgical incision to deal with, but he said it is less than an inch long! The elephant that has been sitting on my lower body will have found a new residency... That is the pain I am ready to be done with.

I am done smelling like Ben Gay, I am done with my heating pad, I am done reading every magaziine, grading all papers, and basically lying flat, just so I can work during the week. I am ready to PLAY again. Ready to be a mom! Ready to be a wife! Ready to get off these steroids and pain killers that seem to guide my day! I am ready!

Speaking of pain maintenance. I have tried every gel, lotion, patch, etc to help bring the icy/hot relief during the day without trying to teach tethered to a heating pad! Well... I thought I hit Pay Dirt with Therma Care wraps. Man, that was awesome. The heat felt so good, it stayed in place, the adhesive didn't rip the top layer off of my skin... Then came the time to take it off! Those cute little heating devices that made my day so comfortable BURNED my skin. I now have NINE blistered areas on my lower back... Talking about adding insults to injury... lower back pain, myelogram pain, blood patch pain, and now stupid burn blisters... it is just almost comical! Trust me, I am laughing! Trust me... don't buy those Therma Care patches... and if any of you happen to work for that company... sorry, I won't be using them any more!

Lights Out!
me

Saturday, January 23, 2010

Play Break!

Not that I have chosen this... but I have been TOLD to! And it is boring... I am sitting on the couch watching Julie & Julia, and writing this very depressing blog post! See... NO PLAY!

Wednesday, I had the pleasure of having a myelogram... basically, they lay you on your stomach and shove long needles in your back and put a fun little dye contrast into you and see what part of your nerves are being effected! Sounds like fun right? Sure... they tell you that you might have a headache afterwards but to drink plenty of liquids and lie FLAT for 12 hours. Flat... does not equal scrapping, playing with kids, or anything else for that matter!

Next day, I decide to head back to school and enjoy my life... then the battle axe side swipes my head and I have no idea what is happening. Nurse calls, says to drink more and lie down. OK, so when I go to the doctor on Friday for my pre-op I would ask if it was normal... apparently NOT! I am back on my stomach for something called a "blood patch" They apparently "knicked" something while they were inserting the dye and I was leaking spinal fluid which caused the spinal headache! So they take 20cc of my blood and shove it back into my spinal canal to heal their "knick!" Now... I am watching Julie&Julia, and not scrapping... Thanks for the fun!

E is at a friends, the boys are at baseball, I have finished two novels, a magazine and graded half of my diagramming tests... and NOW have written probably the most boring blog post in the history of A Blonde Moment! And in one week and one day I will turn 41 AND have back surgery!

So... for now... I am sure after being on my back for a week, you can have plenty more of these boring posts!

Lights Out!
me

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

And playing some more...

This time I am playing in that nice clean room... Just wanted to share some of the layouts that I have accomplished since Operation Purge!


This was our Santa photo... The journaling is actually a Dear Santa letter from me wondering how many more of these photos I am going to be allowed to have. My favorite part of this layout are the trees. They are duplicates of the trees that I used on the front of the 80+ homemade Christmas cards I did this year. So... added a little memory to that as well. The sketch is page maps.

Got some great photos of Chuck doing some grilling. That boy can grill... definitely a Grill Master. About three years ago, when one of our SB stores went out of business, I bought the male/female QK dies not knowing what in the world I would EVER do with them... Worked perfect for that "I", I thought! Didn't want to use ribbon on the "manly" layout, so I simply crumpled and pleated!


And then I posted this as my OLD/NEW stash layout over at Coordinates Collections. We actually had enough snow to build one of these little guys. The kids were so very proud. I also used my new glue stamp pad and flocked the bottom of those Heidi Swapp acrylic letters. You can't really see it, but it looks like snow on there! This is a complete scraplift from the December CK I believe... just LOVED the way the holes punched in the edges gave it some pop

I have another item I am DYING to share, however, the receiver hasn't received it yet, and she pops on here everyonce in a while to see her favorite niece and nephew... so I can't reveal that yet! AND... a DOUBLE layout with MULTIPLE photos layout is on the table just waiting for journaling about the LSU game we attended! I will get that up this weekend!



Lights Out!
me

Friday, January 08, 2010

Fortune Cookies?

I don't eat them... but I am a stickler for reading them... Mine today was perfect!

"Your smile is a curve that can get a lot of things straight."

Says quite a bit don't you think?

Lights Out!
me

Wednesday, January 06, 2010

Playing...

I am sticking to my word of play... Now granted, it is only the SIXTH of January, but because I spent so much time in my room before the new year... my room is ready to play in when I have the few minutes to do it! And because it is such a huge rarity that my room is this clean... I wanted it documented.


I am very proud of my room. I have worked hard to get it the way I want it, and I know that I am truly blessed to even be able to say that I have this room for my craftiness. Ask Chuck, he says he has NO place in the entire house except half the garage (that MY car is parked in where his is in the driveway) and his "front door!" He is the only one that uses the front door, the rest of us use the garage door.


So... Now I want to take you on a personal tour of my precious space! Yes, Mom! It will stay clean! We started off by painting it a cool color called Green Tea! It is a litttle softer than the greens I used in my decorations, but it is a perfect soothing scrapping color!


ONE: This is what my room looks like from the living room. I can see the study and family room and still be connected to the rest of the family when I am in my zone. Chuck installed the French doors which keeps the dog out of my room!



TWO: This is my table. It is a 600 pound butcher block that my FIL saved from the trash bin after OSHA declared no more wood cutting boards. They didn't have room in their new house, so I get to babysit this beast of a table! The window looks out into our front yard. I added the close up of two more of the altered items I did to match the carousel you will see later. One houses scissors and glue... the other was fun to do... left over Crystal Light containers, altered and ready to store all writing utensils!


THREE: My big set of Expedit bookshelves from IKEA! They store everything from albums, to knick-knacks, to bin storage. In the storage I have tools, embellishments, cards stuff, stamps, chipboard, etc. I am ok with just throwing everything in the bins that belong in that bin! My wooden chipboard bins from Michaels will be altered this weekend. Going to spray paint them white and decorate them to match the other goodies!


FOUR: This is my computer desk from Target and my little shelves from IKEA. More knick-knacks and the bins house computer programs and CD photo storage. I altered my MM carousel and then decided to alter everything else that I used as storage to match it. Nothing is appearing safe that is alterable! On top of the shelves are a collection of M's for our last name and my beloved antique camera collection!

FIVE: The back side of my French Doors. Chuck built a shelf at the top that stores more of my M's, some photos and a layout I doubled and framed.


SIX: We had a lizard stored here... he has since found a new home, so now it is my cutting station, idea board from an old house window, and my newest fun... My SIL hand painted that quote on the wall for my daily inspiration. Isn't she a doll, and has the neatest handwriting ever! She did that in under ten minutes while we were waiting for the Turkey Dinner to settle at Thanksgiving! LOVE her! And it completes my room perfectly!

I have a layout from Christmas on my table right now just ready to get glued down. It sure makes it easier to get in there when everything is clean!


I would LOVE to see your rooms... leave me a link and let me see what yours looks like!


Lights Out!
me

Friday, January 01, 2010

Happy 2010!

Wow, that seems weird... It has been a pretty good one so far, however, it is only 11:30 in the morning. But... the boys slept late, I have finished two layouts, and started working on an altered item that I am realtering to match other goodies in my room...

AND... Chuck woke up in the mood to do some home improvements this weekend! Works for me!

My main goal of this post is to talk about my Word Of The Year! Ali Edwards started this a few years ago, and I jumped on it. Not always with much vigor as others, but still!

I have picked my word... and I wanted to keep this year light and simple!

PLAY!

And here is how I plan on working it into this wonderful new 2010!

  • With me... I want to play and enjoy daily life.
  • With family... I want to enjoy every moment I am allowed to play with them.
  • With the house... I want to continue to make this house our home.
  • With food... I want to get better about trying new foods and helping with the cooking.
  • With photography... I want to learn how to use this camera and play with photography.
  • With school... I am having an amazing year, and I want to continue to play with my students and teach them at the same time.
  • With reading... stop worrying about what others are reading and read what I enjoy... I do teach MS and love reading what they read... but at the same time, through in some good old fashioned grown up books.
  • With learning... I would love to continue being the best teacher I can be in the classroom.
  • With scrapping... I need to get in and let my mind play with paper.
  • With blogging... I want to make sure that this is an avenue for me to keep open for my thoughts, random useless info, family updates, scrapping goodies, as well as just playing!

I probably will be adding to this list as things pop into my head. But I do not set resolutions, once they are broken, they are broke. I set goals... My goal this year is to play! Come join me... Did you pick a word this year? I would love to know what your word is and why you picked it!

Happy New Year!

Lights Out!

me