Time For A Craft

The Before: (Sorry for the poor quality picture - Leslie is definitely the photographer in our family!!)

Since I've been under the weather and don't have a lot of energy, but pain keeps me moving around, I did a little craft today.

I bought this picture on clearance at Tai Pan for $3.00. I didn't love the print but the frame was awesome, however there was no glass in the frame. I didn't really have a plan for it but knew that sizewise it was a good fit for a spot in my kitchen.

I have always loved a quote from Ralph Waldo Emerson which says, "Let us be silent that we may hear the whispers of the gods" so I took a tiny detour to make the quote fit what I wanted and then because lately I've been a little obsessed about fleur de lis, I added one that I liked to the bottom of the quote. I printed it out on my computer using a brownish/sepia color ink on textured, heavy, white paper. I lightly stained the main mat, painted the silver part of the mat a brown, and then glued down the quote (after slightly inking the edges, of course). The frame was spray painted a satin black and I used gold rub & buff (my knew favorite thing!) on the "beads" around the edges.

TA DA!! The After ~ Love It!

Poor, Poor Me . . .

Yes indeed, I am having a Pity Party, all by myself. Don't get me wrong - I have plenty of sympathy from loved ones but I truly have more pity for me than anyone! ha

So, the last few months have been pretty trying. By June I knew that I needed to go to the doctor. So, having only gone to an Internist for years I had to find a new ob-gyn ( and NOT for the ob part-THANKFULLY). I went to Dr. Craig and she is wonderful, I really, really liked her. She had me scheduled for a complete hysterectomy just a few weeks later (I will save you from hearing all of the "details").

I went in for surgery on Monday, July 12 and came home from the hospital on Wednesday afternoon, July 14. By later in the evening I started not feeling well at all. I was up all night with terrible abdominal pain, severe nausea and intense shaking. By Thursday afternoon I was SICK!!! Gary called the doctor who had me come into the office. Now you know that I'm way sick if I went in with no makeup, my glasses on, in sweats in the middle of July! I didn't even care that I looked like the Bride of Frankenstein. I could hardly walk and when Dr. Craig came into the room and touched my hand (which was like an ice cube - IN THE MIDDLE OF JULY!) she pretty much just sent me back to the hospital. Lucky for me, it was just a walk (in a wheelchair for me) down the hall. I did get to go back home on Friday night and felt much better. Apparently I not only had a weird reaction to medication but I had some odd virus on top of the misery of the surgery. Then my tailbone started hurting and didn't let up for weeks.

I was told to take 6-8 weeks off of work but I went back in 3. I was just starting to feel pretty good - except for the exhaustion when I started having a headache and then back pain. Fast forward to this past week, Thursday, the 16th, and the pain got BAD FAST! Gary took me to the ER and we all thought it was kidney stones, but after blood work, urine tests and a CAT scan NOPE! I got pain pills and went home and suffered until Monday morning when I called my own doctor. They saw me right away and I have been diagnosed with . . . the SHINGLES!!! Three new prescriptions, rest, no stress, etc.

Boo Hoo, poor me. Okay, let me just say at least the new pills work better than the ones they gave me in the ER. Yayy!! Now I just need to get better fast and get back to work before they fire me!

disclaimer: These are not "my shingles" just an example



Better luck to me next week :o)