HAPPY 21ST BIRTHDAY KALYN!!!!

Today is my baby's birthday! She is 21 today! I can't believe its been 21 years since I held that sweet little baby in my arms. I wanted a girl so bad and was blessed to get this little sweetheart.
I Love You Kalyn!!!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!

Happy May Day!!!!

It was a nice day on Saturday. So we did a few chores around the house. I didn't feel the greatest this week-end. Achy feeling, not sure if it is a bug or if I am starting to get some serious arthritus. The tree pollen is extremely high right now and sometimes that kind make you feel really bad so maybe thats the problem.
So most of the day I just took it easy. I did get some hostas planted for Mom. And this week, Daniel made me a new flower bed in the back of the house. I have some plants from the old house that I am going to brind up and put in it. I did buy a lavendar plant for it and have some zinnias and marigolds starts in it. Below is a picture of the new clematis that I bought last week. It is so pretty and suppose to bloom all summer until the fall.

I have the pot next to a pole with a old bell on it. It should climb up it look so good.
Below is the new flower bed. Of course I had to add some of my garden decor in it. Looks kind of bare right now but this summer it will fill out.

I have a hugh patch of Lily of the Valley in the front of the house. Mom planted it there several years ago. I am going to try to thin it out this summer.
This is where I like to see the thermometer sitting at. Not to hot and not too cold.
This is my pond that I set up on the deck. I have some decorative blocks that I am going to put around it. Daniel brought them home from the old house yesterday.

And this is where I sat on saturday afternoon. Reading a garden magazine and sipping a Corona. Life was good.
Hear are some pictures of some of my plants on the deck and some of the hanging baskets.

Thanks for taking a little tour with me. Today the weather is quite a bit chillier. I guess we are having either dogwood winter or locust winter. Tonite's lows in the the upper 30s. Some of the house plants will have to come in but I think the rest will be ok. Highs in the 80s again by Thursday.
I hope every one had a wonderful week-end! xoxoxooxoxoxoxooxoxox

I found this cute little quiz today. Try it!

You Are 71% Creative

You are beyond creative. You are a true artist - even if it's not in the conventional sense of the word. You love creating for its own sake, and you find yourself quite inspired at times.

How'>http://www.blogthings.com/howcreativeareyouquiz/">How Creative Are You?

Purses and Totes

I have a purse that I just love and I have been carrying it all winter. Its big and soft and I can carry alot in it it. But I want something springy looking. I have looked every where trying to find one that I like that is similiar to my big, black one. Well I have alot of material that I haven't used in a while so I thought I would make one when I get a chance(ha). So I was surfing for some instructions and came across this site from HGTV. 55 Handbags and purses. Some pretty amazing ones on there too. This one is made from Duct Tape.

Isn't it so cute? But I don't know if I would have the patience to use duct tape as I have problems just trying to tape a box with the stuff. Anywhoo,,,take a gander at the site. It also has some cute totes that I thought would make great grocery bags. Since today is Earth Day I am going to try to use clothe bags instead of plastic. I hope every one is having a great and sunny spring day!
xoxooxoxoxxoxoooooooooooooooxoooooooxoxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Fun friday!

Yesterday was a nice day. I took a vacation day and went over to Moms house. I helped her get a shower and then styled her hair, she enjoyed that. It was a very pretty day yesterday so I planted some flowers for her. On Thursday I bought her some pretty baskets to hang on the wooden trellis over her front porch and then I planted impatients on both sides of the porch.



She was able to sit out on her front porch in her wheelchair for a while and watch me plant them. Then she got sleepy and I took her inside for nap. Around 1 p.m., my brother and his daughter came up from Alabama to see Mom. She was so happy to see them. We spent the whole afternoon together. Below is a picture of my brother and my sweet niece and Mom.
And then a pic of my brother, me and Mom.
Mom is feeling better. She is still on blood thinner and fluid pills. She is also on some strong pain meds. We are all hoping that she will continue to improve. We did find out that she now has a crack in a small bone in her back close to where they put in the pins and rods. But because she cannot have any more surgery they are going to try to use a brace that will emit a small electrical charge. She will have to wear it a couple of hours a day and it will help heal the crack. Then hopefully her pain will subside even more and she can come off of the pain med. We have to wait and see if her medical doctor and heart doctor will approve for her to use it.
Today was a cold and rainy day so I stayed in most of the day and did a little artsy stuff. Its been a while since I have got to play in the art room and it was nice.
I hope every one has been having a great week-end. And again,,Thanks so much for all the out pouring of Love that I have recieved during this past few weeks. You just never know how much it means to me. Its helped get me through some rocky times. Please keep my Mom in your thoughts and prayers as it sure seems to be helping.
xoxoxooxoxoxoxooxoxoxoxoxooxoxoxoxo

Update on Mom.

Mom got to come home from the hospital yesterday. We are having to give her blood thinner injections in the stomach every 12 hours. She has some strong pain patches on and is really heavily medicated, I really hate seeing her like that but I also hate to see her in pain.
She cannot have physical therapy until they know the blood clot is gone. A home health care nurse will be checking in on her too. My step brother is there taking care of her and his dad.
Mom is really weak and cannot hardle walk except to the bathroom. So I guess we will take it day by day. As soon as the blood clot has disolved she can start therapy. I am hoping that the pain in the back will subside too. I am also praying to God to please let be like she was before.
I really miss her and the fun we had together.
Thanks to everyone for the love and support you have given to us. It means so much to me.
You all are so wonderful and I feel so lucky to have such supportive friends!!!
xoxoxoxooxoxoxoxoxox

More Bad news on my Mom

Unfortnately my Dearest Mom is back in the hospital. On friday she had another tests on her back to figure out what was going on and why she was in so much pain. The doctor had told her on Tuesday that he didn't feel that the back operation was a success and something else was going on. So friday they ran dye back into her spine to try to find the problem. After the test she had to go home and lay flat on her back for 24 hours except for restroom and meals.
By 6 p.m. that night we were calling 911 as she was have extreme difficulty breathing.
Her oxygen level was very low and she was rushed to the hospital. It was found that she had fluid in her lungs and Congestive Heart failure. Also they were concerned that she might have a blood clot in her lungs. They couldn't get a large enough IV in her arms after trying 14 times and numerous hospital personel trying and finally gave up. They did get a small IV in to start meds and draw blood. The large IV was need to do a test to look at her lungs and heart.
She was so swollen with fluid, her face, feet and legs, and hands and stomach. When they started the lasix for fluid they place a catherer in her and within 3 hours the bag was full. They also started giving her blood thinner in her stomach in case of clots.
On saturday they were able to get an IV in and do the the test. No blood clots in lungs, but found heart was not pumping adequately in the lower portion. The did ultrasound on the rest of her body and found a blood clot in her right leg behind the knee.
She has been on oxygen and blood thinner and lasix(fluid remover) since arriving at the hospital.
Her heart doctor came in today to tell us what the situation is now.
Because she has the blood clot in the leg and fluid in her lungs, they cannot do a artilery gram. They do know she didn't have a heart attack but to find out what or if she has blockages they would have to do a artilery gram which is too unsafe at the present. She will have to stay on blood thinner and fluid pills for the next 6 months. She will stay in the hospital until the clot in the leg is disolved and the fluid is gone from the lungs. Which hopefully will be in the next few days. She cannot have any more operations unless they are to save her life.
This whole downward spiral was started by a doctor cutting into a 79 year old womans back. This was a doctor who told her last year that her bones were to soft and weak to have any more operations He never sat down with her or our family to discuss what he was going to do to her and we didn't find out till the day of the operation. We found out when she had to sign papers for a bone donor and to have part of her bone removed to fuse the rods in place. When I said "no, she is just getting spurs removed" I was told "no she is getting rods and pins in her spine" He didn't tell her that there was a 50-50 chance that it wouldn't work. He didn't tell her how painful or how long the recooperation period would last. None of this was discussed with her or her family. So now her health is declining rapidly.
She has been so immobile for the past 8 weeks that fluids built up causing her heart(that already has a pacemaker in it) to start failing and not pumping her blood, and which case blood clots started forming.
She is now in more excrutiating pain than she ever was before the surgery and now there is nothing that can be done for that pain. Which means she will still be very limited in what she can do and how much she can walk, which means what,,more heart failure?
I begged my mother to get a second opinion before the operation, not even knowing what they were truly going to do to her. Being a older person, she trusted this doctor and wouldn't get another opinion.
And this supposedly professional neurosurgeon was talking about cutting into her again? My God, what insanity!
I am sorry for this long post,,but I am extremely pissed off and hurting so bad inside my heart.
I feel like I am watching my Mom leaving me. And it hurts so bad. This is my bestfriend.
I have tried to e-mail everyone with this news,,,but on top of every thing else my comcast e-mail account has decided to not let me send out e-mails. They are trying to fix it. I can recieve e-mails but I can't send them.
I will have to keep every one updated on this blog and try to send you e-mails through a old
AOL account that I have.
The picture above was made last year on my Mom's birthday, when she was a smiling, pain free, and happier woman.
Again, so sorry for my rant but its helped to post it here.

Wonderful surprise from a Dear Friend!

This is the wonderful surprise that I came home to on Tuesday afternoon. My Dear Friend, Jeanie from the Marmelade Gypsy blog sent this package to me. It had the sweetest card in it along with a great box of butterfly greeting cards, a package of the cutest little decorative paper clips, a cute little butterfly cookie cutter, and last but not least, an Awesome ATC card. I just LOVE it all. Thank you my Dear Friend, you just don't know how much that meant to me.

Its so wonderful how your friends send you so much Love and Support during some of your difficult times in life. When your feeling really down all of a sudden you get a big burst of sunshine from someone who cares from you. I have gotten that alot lately and that has sure helped get me through alot of cloudy days.

I hope everyone has a wonderful week-end! Its suppose to be a chilly one for us. We have a few more thunderstorms to get through today and then Red Bud winter sets in for the week-end. Luckily I knew better to plant any annuals yet. I learned the hard way not to set out annuals until the end of April or the cold snaps will kill them, thats an expensive lesson to learn.

I hope to get a few more posts in this week-end too.

Have a lovely friday!

xoxoxooxoxoxoxoxooxoxoxox

Flower Fun and a busy week-end.

This is a cute little flower that I made last week. I ordered Sandra Evertson's Book-Fanciful

Paper Flowers a few weeks ago and it has some wonderful paper flowers in it. Her directions are so clear and she also gives you pages and pages of some wonderful free images to use in your projects. This is the second book of hers that I ordered. The other one is Fanciful Paper Projects. Both books are awesome for Paper craft lovers!

So I did not do any art this week-end. Instead we were working on our old house this week-end. We are trying to get it ready to go on the market in May. Lots of painting and other extra's to work on in order to get it sold. I am so tired and sore today. Yesterday I was out in the yard there working and I also dug up some of my hostas to bring up to my new house. I have alot of hostas and different varietys, they are one of my favorite flowers, espiecally for shady areas.

Clay Kitty and then a real Kitty!

Today I am back at work and resting my sore body from all the work that I did this week-end. It was a beautiful day here yesterday after such a rainy week. I hope every one had a wonderful week-end and have a wonderful week ahead!

xoxoxoxoxoxooxoxoxoxoxoxooxoxxo

FRIENDS award from Janet!

I got a wonderful award today from my dear blogger bud Janet from the Lavender Loft! It made me so happy, thank you Sweet Janet. A great day to recieve a award as it has been so stormy and rainy today. And we are under a Flood watch for tomorrow as more is suppose to hit us. I know we needed the rain because of our drought this past summer, but we just don't need it all at once.

Alot of friends asked about my sweet Kitty's picture on my last post. She is my Fur baby and a very pretty cat at that. I have posted pics of her before but she is very shy so its hard to get her pic sometimes. I told several friends that my brother has a tortie too. He told me 99% of tortie's are female. Very rare to see a male tortie. Here's a few more pics of my babie.

How about these pretty peepers?
Kitty was abandoned down the road from us. (why would some one want to get rid of something this beautiful?) She was pregnant so I guess that was the reason. She had 3 kittens, 2 solid black and 1 white and black. They went to good homes and Kitty was spaded.

Can you see the other black one hiding in the background?
My silly daughters gave Kitty the name Carl,,I call her Carlotta sometimes, but mainly she is Kitty.
She has been a great Cat and a real snuggle bug and she knows that our dog, Lady is the boss, they get along really good together.
Well thats it for now. Thanks again, Janet, for that sweet award.
Hope everyone had a great day!!!!
xoxoxoxooxoxoxoxoxoxooxox

Sunny pictures for a better mood!!!

Yesterday was a very sunshiny day, at least after the morning storms passed on through. I came home from work and spent the rest of the afternoon in my yard enjoying the sunshine!
Here are some pictures that I took of my yard and animals.

I have also been walking on my treadmill and doing some strenght training. That helps my spirits alot! Today was another rainy day. But after excercising this afternoon I went over to Moms. She had a better day today and was in her art room when I got over there. We made some greeting cards and had a wonderful afternoon together. I just have to remember she will have good days and bad days until she recovers from this major surgery. I really do Love her good days, they help to get my through her not so good days. Tomorrow is suppose to be another pretty day too. Sometimes we need the rain in order to appreciate the sunshine even more. That applys to alot of my travels in life right now. Bad days to appreciate the good days even more.
Much Love to my Blogger buds for helping me get through the rainy days.
xoxooxoxoxoxoxooxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Sunny Tags for a Cloudy Day and gloomy mood!

This is the front and back of a tag that I made for a "color tag swap" in one of my groups. I had to make 10 of them. I chose to make yellow tags and I am glad I did. I really need alot of yellow and cheery things in my life right now.
I haven't been doing very much art at all lately. Things are just so sad for me right now and I cannot keep my mind on much at all. I try to be creative and I have made a few little things here and there just trying to ease my stress and my sadness. I guess the best way to really escape my issues right now is for me to read. I have been doing alot of that lately when I have the time, mainly at bedtime. I stopped friday afternoon and bought several art magazines and a couple of books and the new Birds and Blooms magazine, also a little magazine of "The gardener's Farmer Almanac. "
I guess the reason I am not posting so much lately is because I am pretty down in the dumps and most of my posts would sound whinny and pitiful. I am trying hard to keep my spirits up and to keep on keeping on. There are just so many things happenning right now that tend to keep me upset. Biggest one is my Mom's deteriorating health. She is still in constant pain and cries so much with the pain. Its killing me to see her this way. I worry that she will never be the same again and wish that she had never had that surgery.
Then there are other problems too, worrying about selling my other house in a market that seems to be in the worse shape ever. Worries about my children too. The combination of it all is wearing me down.
But I am survivior and will keep on keeping on. Life has got to get better, right?
Again, I am sorry for my bleak posts. But it does help to at least write about it and get it out of my system.
xoxoxoxooxoxoxooxoxoxoxoxooxoxoxoxoxo

Some pretty postcard ART!

These are some Great Postcards that I recieved from a trade in my fave yahoo group. I Love them! I haven't been doing many trades,,just a few here and there. Not alot of creating going on here either. Not alot of blogging either.
Life has been pretty busy lately and nothing really exciting going on. When its nice outside when I get home from work, then thats where I am at. Also visiting Mom and working on the other house that we are putting up for sale next month.
Mom is still hurting alot, good days are few and far between. Doctors say its just going to take time.
I am having some major allergy problems this week. Pollen is really high with the cherry, oak, and pine trees putting out alot of it.
So, my posts may not be so frequent in the next few months. But I will be visiting all my friends blogs and saying hi.
Hope everyone is having a great week-end!!!
Hugs to you all!!!
xoxoxooxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo