So, Here I am......Sniffing.........

Lavender...(gotcha!), and sipping on a cup of Chamomile Tea...trying to calm down, and reduce that nasty ol' tightness in my muscles......and boy, do I look pathetic, if I do say so myself, and I do!

Night before last I woke up about 2:00am, with a horribly tight chest. So I laid there a bit, barely awake, trying to separate all the pains and aches....now, bear in mind...I truly was barely awake. After separating everything, I decided that I must be fine, as my left arm didn't hurt or go numb. Now, as soon as I reasoned that out....my left arm started tingling. I laid there a bit longer, and decided that the arm was waking up.....I must have laid on it wrong. I took another deep breath, and decided that if I was having a heart attack, I didn't particularly care, and settled down to go to sleep again. A couple minutes later, I knew I had to hit the bathroom, and no heart attack could stop that...so I dragged myself out of bed, down the hall, and into the bathroom. After that, I decided I was thirsty, so I shuffled to the kitchen, got a drink, and then went back to bed. By then the chest had loosened, and I dropped right back to sleep. I woke up, feeling fine, but with tired muscles in my chest. Yesterday, I was tired, and achy, but no more chest pain. I mentioned it to Max and he about had a heart attack, but I assured him it was NOT a heart attack. Last night, went to bed, and slept the night through. Then within about 3 hours of waking up, here came that nasty ol' tightness again. So, I called the Dr., and had to leave a message as no one answered the phone. Jackie called back right away, and wanted to know WHAT was wrong....the message that I had left was that "I have a spot that needs to go, and I hadn't been feeling too sharp lately". Turns out I had never called and said that I hadn't been feeling well....so, it struck alarm bells with Jackie....(I used to talk to her daily, when I was in Radiolgy). The Dr. was gone, and so Jackie told me that the Triage Nurse would call me right back....and she did. Tina called, (I used to work with her too) and asked what was going on...so we had a lovely, long talk. I told her not much, then said that the trip had ended right after it started, and then, with a little (actually, very little) prompting, the last two months unfurled, and...well.....wow......I was and am stressed. So, I have a dr. appt for the 12th.....if I have any more 'episodes', I am to go right in...and I needed to 'calm down'. So, I asked, "any ideas on that calming down thing?" "Chamomile Tea before bed, and maybe some lavender by the pillow". HELLLLOOO.....I am the Homeopathic person in the family. What do I tell everyone? Chamomile and Lavender Tea, and a sachet in your pillow or next to the bed.....and "Turn It Over To God"....."Share with a friend", what was I thinking? Oh, obviously NOT thinking!! And the second I stuck a Lavender Dryer Bag under my nose.....ahhhhhh...tightness gone......

Now, I just have to "Turn It Over", and "Share with a friend"....and I consider you all "friends", so I am sharing this with you.....

Our Family has had lots of "happenings" lately. Without hauling it all out, and stressing myself more......

Our Christy, had a Bi-lateral Mastectomy a week ago. It was her choice, and a wise one. But, my heart still cries for her.

Our Lauren.....and the whole family....are facing terrible stresses right now...our Lauren is about to have her world ripped apart...she will be meeting a Birth Father, that she didn't know about. She is 5. (He didn't want her, and has wanted nothing to do with her, but now.....it's a bloody mess). Along with her, Brad and Livvie, who are trying to keep it all together, and pay for all the lawyers, and keep the family as "normal" as possible. Brad is her "Daddy", (he's had her her whole life), and that will never change, and she will know that, but in the meantime......

Brandi and I spent the last two months planning our trip....that is what has held me together the last few months, whenever I would hit "overload", I would think about the trip South, and things would calm down for a bit. It was my safety net this Summer and Fall.

And there is more.......and, we are not the only family that are dealing with bad things right now, and so many more families are worse off.....and my thoughts go to them.....

Life will settle down, and things will be fine.....and me falling apart will certainly NOT help! Whew!!! Thanks for listening! I promise to not post like this again!!! Well, not for a long time, anyway!!

A New Girlfriend for Max....a new project for Jan....

Max is quite the man about town these days....he has followers from everywhere!!! Here is one of the girls...just look at the love and devotion in those beautiful brown eyes...

It is true love....for Max, and for the cookies that he carries in his pockets when he walks! This is Bebe, and she is always willing to visit!

A closer look...now, the sad thing is...she never got her cookie! She was a bad girl and ate a large portion of her Mama's rug. And it stayed in her stomach long enough to cause some ulcers...so she is on canned food until this weekend. Poor girl! She could not understand why she didn't get her goodies! So, Max promised her doubles next time.....now, if she just won't eat the rug...............

Now, my new project! We spent last Monday in the Valley at friend's. And we went out to Grandpa's Farm...

We bought corn, potatoes, fresh green beans, cucumbers...you'll notice I don't have a photo of those, but what I do have a photo of is a quilt that they had. It was gorgeous! And just what I had been looking for. I bought some beautiful fabric for a quilt for our Anna, and decided that I didn't like the quilt pattern I had bought to do it in. So, it has been sitting here for ages, waiting for a spark of inspiration...which hit on Monday, when Kathy and I went into the little shop that they have. So many fun things to see! And then, I saw this, my little heart pitter-pattered....out I rushed to the car to get my camera, and snap......this is what I will do for Anna - but instead of the white background, it will be black....like this: So, now the fabric has left the "what will I do with this" pile, and relocated to the "gotta get this done soon" pile. (I am ever the organizer....)!

Other than that, life has pretty much just cruised by, like it does, in a blur!! I have two penny rugs cut out...they are in my "what the heck have you been doing?" pile. They have to be done by the end of Sept. so they can travel to their new homes...along with several table mats, and a runner, and a reading pillow.....a rug, a dolly quilt.....(didn't like the first one I did), three dresses, some wall art, some snowballs.......candles and soaps......well, I just had a horrendous hot flash...I must be tired...couldn't possibly be stress? LOL! It will all get done, and I will be a solid, red, heating unit....those hot flashes could power New York City. And of course, had I managed to have started on some of this earlier, I wouldn't be stressing! But it seems that is how I live my life, and it must work......and in the winter? We never have to turn the heater on!

Well, I am sitting here, looking at Brandi's table mat, and thinking, if I got started on it tonight, it could be quilted by Monday, so think I had better do dinner, and get busy on that! 'Til later!!