Feeling better

I'm finally getting better after 3 weeks of bronchial infection.  Ended up at the emergency room Sunday after calling my ex-doctor.  Got my steroids, cough syrup.  So, today, beautiful warm weather, I couldn't enjoy going outside. afraid of what the pollen would do to my breathing again.  Driveway is covered in green dust.  When my husband drove the car away there was a big black rectangle that didn't get covered in pollen.  So while I would have loved to putter around my newly sprouting ajuga, daffodils, phlox, lavender I stayed in and did laundry.  Just watched a show on Hawaii, made me long to be back there again.  Maybe next Spring.  Or maybe this Autumn.  Or maybe next week!

Sicko

Sicko.  That's me.  Bronchitis again.  I've had this every year since 2005, when I was hospitalized for a bad viral infection.  Called my doctor on a Saturday.  Guess she didn't appreciate that. She won't send the "usual" drugs to pharmacy without seeing me Monday.  Can't believe she is going to let me suffer the whole weekend when I could be getting better for the classes I have lined up Monday and Tuesday.  Its the last straw, I'm in the market for a new physician.

This is not the first time I've encountered resistance to do what I ask.  To return a phone call.  To give a letter needed for something.  Not to mention the lecture I got when asking for anti anxiety medication.  Yes, I'm just a common drug seeking addict.

When you know what works, a little steroid, some cough suppressant, maybe an antibiotic, why do you have to jump through hoops to get it prescribed?  Is this a game of wills, where the powerful can refuse just because... oh yes, if I come in Monday she gets PAID by my insurance.  Yes, I had forgotten that small fact; it isn't about helping someone get well and feel better.  I know that once I walk in to her office looking gray, breathing heavily, wheezing, feverish, and coughing nonstop, she will give me the drugs I know I need right now.  Thank you very much Ana.  The least you could have done was to advise me what to do in the meantime and what to get over the counter.  First, do NO harm.

Time flies

I can not believe how long it has been since I posted.  I feel like I've been hibernating through the winter.  Job is consuming my energy.  At least the days are getting longer and I no longer leave in the dark in the morning and return in the dark in the evening.  I saw a few plants sprouting up in my flower beds today, but that saddens me because I know we will still have cold and frost and I don't want them to die.  Tomorrow night is my art club meeting and I'm hoping to get energized again with some creativity and artistic ideas.  I need to have some FUN!  I will be going to Memphis this weekend for some shopping, good BBQ and hopefully get some entertainment.  And, in my brand new Camry.  Good ride!

Birthday book

Inside

Made this book for my niece's 21st birthday.  I had this Victorian fairy tale paper and tags and envelope for her birthday gift. I sewed the little insert in it with waxed thread, and strung some beads.  Scrabble tile E for her name, Erin. 

back

Brown paper packages tied up with string...

While driving in my car this morning I was thinking about mailing a package.  As my mind wandered during this relaxing drive on a cool Autumn morning I recalled sitting at the dining room table when I was six or seven watching my father meticulously wrap a package for mailing.  We lived in Bermuda and there were always little knickknacks and memorabilia to send back to Grandma and others.  I watched as he wrapped the ugly re-used cardboard boxes with plain brown paper.  He added the appropriate labels and stickers with the red, white and blue striped borders for airmail.  Then he took a ball of white string and wrapped up the box this way and that, tying the knots real tight – I provided the finger to hold the string in place.  Sometimes he did more than two crisscrosses of string.  Sometimes there were two or three rows each way in a precise grid pattern.  Always, the strings were knotted really really tight and clipped off real close to the knots, creating little tufts of cotton at each intersection.  Well, this was the way we did it in the early sixties.  I guess we didn’t have packing tape then.  I’m not sure why the string was used but it certainly was useful in carrying the package and if you planned it out you could end up with a very workable handle in the center, which of course you could reinforce with two or three thicknesses of string.  So, instead of rushing that re-used, taped up, marked-over nasty little box to the post office tomorrow I’m going to wrap it nicely, with perfect corner folds at the ends, tie it up with string and use a pretty label.

Pretty bird

Took this pic at the K.C. Zoo parrot cage.  Its not the best picture but does show the variety of colors in the feathers since he is fluffing them out.

Focus on Clear Embossing

Here's a technique that I really like.  Take a piece of scrapbook paper and coordinate a card front.  Select a 5" x 7" section for your background.  Then stamp and emboss a reverse image stamp on a  quieter part of the paper.  A reverse image is one where you stamp the background and the images remain un-stamped.  The technique is to use clear ink to stamp with and clear detail embossing powder on that.  The purpose of the clear medium is to see through the background to the design of the paper.  Then, taking water-based markers such as Marvy, color the designs.  Use a baby wipe frequently to wipe off excess marker ink from the clear embossing.  A totally coordinated design to layer on top of your background piece.  Use coordinating colors to mat the layers.

Zentangles

Here is my entry into a recent Zentangle card contest.  Because I had been doodling faces in my sketchbook in a zentangly way, I thought I would add faces to a background of traditional zentangles.  No, I didn't win the contest but I had so much competition it put my shaky hand to shame!

Little Tramp

This ATC was made from Tim Holtz's ATC-sized embossing folder.  The man with umbrella is also available as a rubber stamp and a die for cutting that shape.  I stamped reverse text onto the inside of the embossing folder, inserted paper and ran it through the cuttlebug.  I also sponged some tea dye ink over the raised image.  Since this image reminds me of Charlie Chaplin in the movies I added a piece of tiny film strip and called him the Little Tramp.