Almost Back to Normal

Yesterday was my first day without a fever in awhile.  

My breathing is so much easier now, like a weight is lifting on my chest.  

My boy child argues that 'almost' should not be a word.  

Everything is black or white to him.  

Either you are or you're not.  

To him, I will say I'm not back to normal.  

I still get tired walking around.  

Today will be my last day of being one with the couch.  

So many things are getting added to my To Do list and I can't wait to jump in.  

But I am following my doctor's orders (albeit partially.  someone needed to drive the kids to karate) of one week of bed rest and today is the last day.

And because I have a hard time posting without a picture, here is one from last week.  CT scans (at least at this office) are no longer tunnels, but basically a doughnut standing on its side.  My head was out through the hole of the doughnut before my chest even started passing through.

Tomorrow, I plan to be back on the torch.  Cleaning a boat load of beads.  And tackling laundry.  I can't wait!

Hooray for the Weekend!

This week has flown by, but seemed to crawl slowly in the moment.  I had thought I would be back on the torch by now, but I haven't.  I haven't trusted myself to play with fire.  For the most part, I am much, much better.  The sore throat is gone.  The body aches are gone.  The fever is gone.  But Geez Louise, I get winded just walking around the house.  I don't need to be playing with fire when I'm getting worn out so easily.  And I still feel like my head is in a bit of a fog.  Go away, strep.  All the way!

The boy child came down with a bad sore throat yesterday morning.  He was friends with a 101 fever most of the day.  The fever returned today, although a little lower.  Along with the sore throat, but that disappeared around 10am.  School/summer camp called this afternoon about the girl child...she wasn't feeling well and spent the morning on her mat and not participating in any activities.  She told the teacher she kissed her brother this morning and then got sick.  Hmmm.  No fever and she said her throat felt fine.  Maybe she just needs more sleep?  Whatever is going on with my family needs to clear up fast.  We would really like to go swimming this weekend.  And bike riding.  So we shall see.  We may all end up staying inside and resting, reading books and watching a movie.

These nuggets are still in my shop.  I'm surprised no one has snatched them up yet.  Lorelei included them in her treasury and then posted about them on the Art Bead Scene this morning.  Thank you, Lorelei!  Click on the treasury and you can see many other talented lampworkers' beads!

Todd promised to give me torch time tomorrow after he gets home from his tennis match.  So back to the eggs for me.  And other orders, too.  Yay for custom orders!  You guys totally ROCK!!!!

I hope your household is healthier than mine!  Have an excellent weekend!!!

Sick - boo hiss

Egg and beading activity will resume later this week.  Had an awesome weekend but was tired out and went to bed before 9pm last night (so unlike me!).  This morning I woke with a 102+ fever and couldn't swallow, so I went to the doctor and tested positive for strep throat.  Again.  Didn't I just do this a coupla months ago?  Sigh.

On another personal note, we used a new babysitter Saturday night and could NOT have been happier.  Yay for smart, kind, respectful and responsible 17 year olds!  This one will most definitely be invited back :D

Hoping your weekend is off to a better start than mine!

Sick Again

Normally I am pretty healthy and don't get sick easily.  But not this year.  This year, I seem to have hopped on the Effective Weight Loss Train.  In January, a stomach bug got me for a week and I dropped ten pounds.  This week, I caught a heavy dose of strep throat that hasn't let me sleep or swallow and I've dropped a couple more pounds.  

The strep has stolen my appetite.  Seriously.  There are brownies in the kitchen and they don't even sound good to me.  Now that is just plain sad.  We rarely have sweets in the house.  Especially brownies!

When I started feeling crummy on Monday (specifically at 2:30am when a sore throat woke me up), I figured I was just run down from doing waaaay too much over the weekend.  So I weathered through the day thinking grass/pollen allergies were part of the problem, so I wasn't going to make a dr's appointment.  But then I kissed Todd goodbye before he left to fly up to Washington DC for some work meetings and my fever started to climb.  It got up to 104.5 Monday night.  Nope,  probably not allergies.  

I got in to see the doctor at 9:30 yesterday morning and tested positive for strep throat.  I'm pretty sure I ran one very red light on the way to the doctor's office.  He asked if I wanted a shot in the butt with the promise that I'd feel almost back to normal by today, but I turned it down.  I was already crying for no good reasons yesterday morning (like driving away from the schools when I dropped my kids off.  or when the cars wouldn't let me out to turn left when they very obviously would not be moving forward anytime soon because they were paying attention to red lights.  or that the sun was out and the sky was blue and I didn't know what the heck was wrong with me, but not being able to swallow was torture).  

So now I have four doses of penicillin in my body and I'm feeling a little bit closer to human.  So far, the fever is laying low and my throat is feeling tons better.  I'll be going back to work tomorrow, which isn't thrilling.  At least I can stay in my pajamas and my customers will be none the wiser.

But the real reason I'm signed onto the computer is to blog and remind you to check back tomorrow.  I'm throwing a little giveaway for a pound and a half of loot!

Back to Blogging and the New Dog!

********AT THIS VERY MOMENT, DOZENS OF BEADS ARE EITHER IN MY KILN OR THE KITCHEN SINK WAITING TO BE CLEANED OF BEAD RELEASE! THERE WILL BE PICS FORTHCOMING THIS WEEK ~ THANK YOU********

This month disappeared on me. Todd was gone for a week in Orlando for a work conference. While he was gone, I got sick with a nasty stomach bug (boo! hiss!) that made me lose ten pounds over two days. It was an effective weight loss method (yay, because it has stayed off over the last two weeks!), but not really how I wanted to do it. Oh well, I'll take the jump start into being better about getting to the gym more often so I can fit into my clothes better. Remember those 200+ cookies I baked in December? They went to my hips. So, so wrong.

Work has been nuts...back to having a healthy sprinkling of late nights working outages. Just thankful it's not like this all the time. Todd was gone again last week for tennis sectionals (where the state championship winning teams play each other) in Mobile, Alabama. I brought Dylan home last Friday while Todd was gone.

Then the girl child got sick this week with a stomach bug that had her throwing up all night (my poor baby!) and us changing out her sheets repeatedly. So lots of stuff going on. Hoping February treats us better healthwise, workwise AND finding more time on the torch!

Meet Dylan. Doesn't he look happy? This is driving home for the first time with a pit stop at Petsmart to pick up a collar that fit him, as well as a name tag with my cell # on it.


I know I had shown you Chance before....we were contemplating naming him Samson or Wilson or a handful of other pretty cool names (thank you to all of you for weighing in with your favorite names!). But then Todd met Chance, who acted a complete spaz (who could blame the sweet boy? he had been penned up in a 4x10ft space for well over a week due to kennel cough and no exercise time). Todd teased that with Chance's jumping, he would knock our piano over.


So Dylan was brought out next and all this sweet boy wanted to do was to sit by our feet and be petted. Dylan didn't jump or dance. He just sat. Very patiently. Waiting to be petted and told how beautiful he was. Dylan wasn't a name we had contemplated, but all four of us liked the name chosen by the rescue and agreed to keep it. After living with us for a week, I think he knows his name now. :)

Dylan weighed in at 68 pounds, which is about 40 pounds underweight. We are feeding him four times a day, instead of two with extra helpings of puppy food thrown in to fatten him up. During his first week with us, he has gained six pounds. He has also started the beginner training class at Petsmart with me on Tuesday nights. And is learning that going up the stairs is not scary (many rescue dogs are scared of doorways and stairs).

Friday was day 8 with us and that was the first day he ventured upstairs on his own (as opposed to me carrying his stubborn/scared self up all the stairs to go to bed each night) and visited Todd over a dozen times throughout the day. He is learning to stay out of the kitchen when we are eating meals and that he must show his manners and sit first before his food bowl will be put down in front of him.

Dylan is a super sweet boy. He is quiet and unassuming; content to sleep most of the day in any cool spot he can find (in front of the fireplace in the family room or out on the back porch). He and Maggie get along well together. She is having fun joining our little 5 minute training sessions throughout the day and is learning with Dylan how to "Watch Me" as I hold a treat in front of my face. We are so glad we found Dylan and look forward to many wonderful years ahead of us with him in our family!

Leaving on a Jet Plane....well, maybe

our bags aren't packed and laundry has yet to be completed. This is typical the night before leaving on vacation.

But Todd caught the flu, spiked a 104+ fever on Monday, got rid of it on Tuesday, it came back to 103+ on Wednesday leading to a trip to the doctor for a shot in the butt and a 5 day supply of Tami-Flu. Last night, the girl child revved up a little fever and earned herself to a trip to the doctor's office this morning and a positive Strep Throat test. Tonight, the boy child sported a temperature climbing over 100 and a sore throat. I have felt like crap since Monday, with sporadic fevers and negative energy, which surprisingly returned today (perhaps from drinking all of Mary's highly touted Hot Lemony Pledge...aka TheraFlu). All of the above health issues one on top of another....not so typical. Vacation or not. None of it typical. Todd NEVER gets sick. Never.

How on earth are we going to all make it to the airport tomorrow evening to fly out to Phoenix for a week??? That remains up in the air. In the meantime, please think good thoughts for us with better health and safe travels.

Aaaaaaaannnnnnd, check out S. Kate's FaNtAsTiC copper work in the pics below. She is a prominent stitch marker designer/seller on Etsy as Spindle Cat Studios and has recently opened a new shop called Copper Musings.

Kate made my day today...she sent an unsolicited, surprise gift! It was a pin similar to the one in the pic below (I had wanted to take a pic of it today because the sun was out, but work was crazy and I didn't catch a break after getting back from the doctor's office with C this morning). It was the first pin that Kate made with one of my beads and she said she felt it should live with me. I was so touched! You can bet your ass I'll be proudly wearing this flying out to Phoenix, whenever that might be :)

Granted, she has recently bought a TON of my beads which is thrilling in itself, AND requested custom beads which were fun challenges, but Kate has sent me pics of so many of her new creations using my beads. I have fallen in love with her work & really enjoy seeing my beads used so differently than how I would ever put them into jewelry.

I am in awe of her wire wrapping skills. I have tried my hand at it and know 1.) how difficult it is and 2.) that I supremely suck at it. LOVE LOVE LOVE the pair of earrings she made below: I can't wear earrings, but if I did...these would be an absolute favorite worn ALL The time!!!!