My First Crush

Just sharing a layout I did this afternoon using a kit by Tina Williams and a picture of one of the best looking men in the universe :)

Migraine Update

Well, it's been almost a week and still no definite source for this pain. They've changed my meds another three times. I've had so many meds at this point that I now have a constant ringing in my ears. (I know, I know, watch for ototoxicity! But I don't think that's it since the ringing is 5x louder on my left side. If I'm going toxic, then I'm doing it faster on my painful side!) The CT came back as "head normal." Well, we all know that if the CT says MY head is normal at any given time, then the CT machine is broken! *LOL*

My left cheek is swollen under my left eye, about the size of a ping pong ball. I can't feel any fluid in it and can't determine what in the heck is causing swelling just in that one area? Maybe my sinuses? Maybe a week's worth of pressure and pain in the area?
Who knows?!? The really weird thing about it is that it LOOKS swollen, but doesn't feel swollen. If I run my fingers across it, it doesn't feel tender nor does the area feel tight like edema. It feels like my cheek bone moved and expanded.

Anyways, I'm scheduled to see a neurologist next week to see if he can figure out what's going on. If he finds nothing wrong, then I'm being advised to consider a career change. They feel the stress and hours of my current job have most likely caught up with me. And if that's the case, they warn "It's gonna get worse before it gets better." The thought of either, finding a new job or having a medical challenge, is enough to completely stress me out! And they want me to reduce my stress?!?!

Anybody out there want to share some shop space and sell my scrap designs or paper crafts? Maybe I can work at home for a while?

Fish Like a Girl

The latest challenge in the Amazing DigiScrap Race is to scrap our goals. Now, any of y'all who know me already know that any goal I have simply must include water and fishing! *LOL* There is just nothing in this world more relaxing to me than the sounds and smells of ocean waves crashing against a shore. At the same time, there is nothing more exciting or invigorating than the fight for a big catch. So I really struggled trying to come up with goals. *LOL* Actually, I do have personal goals like being a great Mom and Nonny, being a great wife, working hard so I can play hard, being a person of integrity, etc, etc. But in order to be my best at any of these things, it's necessary to take care of myself. And the best way I've found to care for myself, is to spend some time on the water....absorbing the sights, sounds and smells of that amazing sand and saltwater! Someday when I have some time to pull out some old journals and type them, I'll post some of the mental and emotional insights I've written out while sitting on the shore. But for now, I'll just post my latest scrap, made from my "Fish Like a Girl" kit.



If you'd like to download a sampler from my Fish Like a Girl kit, visit my scrap download blog.

Feeling down tonight

I'm rarely ever sick; and when I am, I can't stand to be "down." So I just keep going. I feel I have a high tolerance to pain, having had all the kids with no pain meds, and a complete surgery under 2 mg of Valium....I can handle just about anything. I rarely take meds...just HATE them and am usually hyper sensitive to anything prescribed to me. (Thus the surgery with only 2 mg of Valium that knocked me out cold for days.) Besides, I can't slow down long enough to remember to take prescriptions. I'm just NOT a good patient. I know that. And I readily admit that.

So I'm really beside myself in a funk today!

Yesterday was a typical Monday with nothing out of the ordinary. Right in the middle of a meeting at work, out of no where, I broke out into a cold sweat, instantaneously followed by my life's all time worst migraine. It took over the entire left side of my head, left shoulder and neck, and completely blurred anything seen from my left eye. I couldn't turn my neck side to side, couldn't see clearly and had difficulty focusing mentally. I went home in tears.

I took aspirin, advil, tylenol and midrin over the following 6 hours, none of which would relieve the pain. Finally I gave in and used my Zomig, which I HATE because of the taste and "fuzzy fog" feeling it leaves in my head for several hours. But I was even willing to deal with that to get rid of this pain. I took it and went to bed. But that didn't work either.

I was up and down all night long, alternating advil, tylenol and aspirin, trying to knock off enough of an edge to sleep it off. I finally fell asleep sometime after 2:30am only to wake up again at 6am with my neck in SEVERE PAIN, still unable to turn my head side to side. I called the doctor this morning with complaints of "neck and head pain worse than being hit by a tractor trailer while in child birth" and "need something, anything, to make this stop!"
"Oh, and can you call it in really quickly so I can get to work on time?" (Ok, so even in excruciating pain, I still don't like to be slowed down!)

I ended up in the doctor's office getting the "down and dirty" spill about stress, aging, hormones, migraines, and all the things I don't do to take care of myself. ~sigh~ Then she asked THE question. And I was prepared for it and willing to do ANYTHING to stop the pain. So I said "Yes, I'll take the Imitrex injection."
Hey, I'm a nurse. I know the warnings...it's supposed to "sting and burn and may cause a flushing sensation." OK, so bring it on; it can't be worse than this headache! NOT!

OMG! I will NEVER again warn any of my patients that "This is going to sting." Instead, I will warn, "This is gonna hurt like a SOB and most likely be far worse than any headache or toothache you've ever experienced!" I have NEVER in my life had such a painful medical intervention! Stitches without lidocaine done with a dull needle would be more humane! There was a moment of relief in my neck and head because the nerves in my arm were in overdrive, shooting thousands of SOS messages to my brain!

And the "flushing sensation"? Well, tell me how in the heck one can tell if she is hot, cold or indifferent when you're praying for your arm to fall off?? The nurse cautioned, "Please stay still here for at least 15 minutes. You may feel a little flushed. Are you ok?" I wanted to scream at the top of my lungs, "NO! I'm not ok! I came in here to get help for the worst pain I've ever felt in my life. And you had to go TOP that pain with a new record worst pain of my life?!? How in the heck SHOULD I feel right now?!?! Is there a Dr. Kevorkian in the building to put me out of my misery?!?"

But I didn't. Instead, I sat there fighting back the tears and mumbled under my breath, "I'm fine. Just fine." What more can I say? (Besides, if this doesn't work, who knows what inhumane torture they'll shoot me with next?!?!)

After about 20 minutes, the headache part of the migraine eased a bit. The vision in my left eye cleared up. And I was finally able to turn my head side to side a little bit. It felt like I would imagine a bad car accident with a major hangover would feel...banged up, bruised up and nauseous.

But I was able to get myself home and was feeling better....
for about an hour. Then it came back as suddenly, and as furociously, as it did yesterday.

And I caved...I called the doc again and was willing to do it all over again just to make the pain stop! Am I a pitiful woose or what?

Anyways, I'm now scheduled for a CT scan in the morning.
I'll keep y'all posted as to how it goes.

They Danced....

The next part of the Amazing DigiScrap Race is a challenge to scrap a fairy tale. I couldn't think of better pics to scrap for this challenge than some old photos of DH's grandparents. They were a real life fairy tale, a professional dance team who traveled the world. In our back room, we have boxes of old photos, news articles, press releases, advertisements and reviews from their careers and travels. In the garage we even have an old billboard sign and a headliner marquee. Someday, I'd like to find the time to scrap all of these into a book for DH and the kids.

I never met his grandfather; he passed away before we were married. But I did have the great pleasure of getting to know his grandmother. She was so beautiful, and such an Elegant woman; and I do mean elegant with a capital E! Even into her 90s while small and frail, a victim of Alzheimer's, she continued to dance. She couldn't remember any of our names and could barely take herself between rooms of the house, but she continued to dance beautifully, going out every week without fail to do so.

Life to her was a dance. The girls still talk about visits with her during her last few months. We would enter the room to find her sitting in her favorite chair, in front of the window. She would so elegantly turn toward them, having no idea who any of us were, but would ever so gracefully motion with her hand for them to come sit next to her, as if introducing them to the rhythm of a grand symphony. Then, with a soft voice and impeccable grammar with a hint of a spanish accent, instruct them to "sit up straight, shoulders back, head high" as they sat down beside her. She was such a remarkable woman!

Even more remarkable was the fact that she seemed to know me so very well even though she could not remember me. One of the last things she said to me, as I walked across the room, proved it beyond a shadow of a doubt:

You cannot dance. My dear, you absolutely must listen more closely to the rhythm around you; but do not only listen to it, hear it, feel it, then move with it and live it. Without doing so, I fear you will have the misfortune of never being able to dance.

She was so right; and I still can't dance :(


Vintage Damask Papers from PaperMoons,
Grungy Frame from CSmith

The Amazing DigiScrap Race

The first challenge of the race was posted this morning. Here is my first entry:


background paper=Marcee Duggar; cluster frames=fernlili

Trying for a Template CT Call

This is the page I created for the Teriann's CT call. I loved this movie. It was very much like the story of my life; but instead of Tuscany, I found Georgia.

template=Teriann; rolled paper template=cheznannette; banner and flower=Pam Lefors; all other=senati

Scrapping Nightmare

I'm so aggravated I could just scream! I had scrapped most of our best pictures from last week, saved them in a file on my desktop and planned to upload them all at the same time. Well, tonight was that time. I uploaded the first two and noticed that the confirmation screen kept reading that the file format wasn't recognized. So I went back to my desktop and double-clicked the file to bring it up in my PSP. PSP said the file was not recognized. So I tried it in Adobe PSE and got the same error.

So I tried the 2nd file, then the 3rd and the 4th....all were unrecognizeable files. I right clicked to check the properties. They're all the same as my other scrap files.

Must be my computer bogging down, huh? So I rebooted and tried again. I can't open or even preview any of the files in this folder. I drag-n-dropped them into a new folder and tried with no luck.

OK, my PSP must have gone haywire, huh?? I opened up PSP and made a new quickie scrap page and saved to the same folder, then closed everything down. I went back and double-clicked that page; and it immediately opened. ~AARRGGHH~

I have no idea what I did to that file and all the other scrap pages! (Or should I say, I don't know what my wretched computer did to them!?!) Either way, I won't have any more layouts to post until the weekend. ~sigh~

If anyone has any idea how to fix this file, PLEASE share! I'm at a loss here!

We're Home!

We had a great time on Cape San Blas last week. We were down there for the opening day of scallop season! YUMMMM!!! Well guess what the girls were doing in St. Joe's Bay each morning?

(template from Misty Cato; overlay from Old Beach by Gerti)

For the Fourth of July, we went to Frank Pate Park for their Independence Celebration, where a pirate ship, loaded with St. Joe Pirates entered the park despite the many cannons attempting to defend the park. Here are some of our pics on a Lottchen template:


And the girls on the bay, waiting for the pirate arrival:

(elements courtesy of PaoJava & Lauren Bevin)

Remember when I told ya about my DD nominating DH for a "Small Town Heroes" award with a local radio station? Well, part of her nomination included her thoughts that DH "has no job...just a 24/7 commitment to a way of life...He's like Superman....he can't pass by anyone needing help." DH claims that is absolutely NOT true and that he can shut himself off when he leaves work. (Yeah, right, we've been hearing that one for years!) Well it happened again on vacation. We were driving past the bay when one of the girls said "Hey, that guy looks like he's hurt." DH said "Nope, I'm on vacation; I'm not stopping...no way, nuh huh, ain't gonna do it." Then he stopped and jumped out of the truck, claiming he only did so because the poor wife was struggling to hold the guy up after he split his foot and a couple of toes open on some barnicles and was "getting blood all over his poor wife and the pavement." (Yeah, right, any excuse is better than none, right?!? *LOL*)

Anyways, Katelyn couldn't resist taking some pictures of Dad, with his cold-blooded self, "shut down when he's off work." (She's right, the man just can't pass by an injury or accident!) So we used Barb's Superhero Kit to make another matching hero scrap page for the pics, including Katelyn's nomination paragraph as the journaling.



Here's the original nomination on the radio station webpage in case you missed it.

I have to go finish unpacking and get ready for work tomorrow. I'll try to post more of our pictures later in the week.
Hope y'all have a great week! :)

Poolside Parenting

Ok, I can't stand it anymore. I simply MUST vent! I know I'm on vacation, and so are these other parents sitting around the pool. But for heaven sake, vacation should NOT completely obliterate any parental common sense or responsibility! I see several problems here...not just problems TODAY but future problems brewing with the future of our nation all because of some parenting lessons some of these folks need to learn today!

1. A screaming 6 month old, not crying mind you, SCREAMING at the top of her precious little lungs, poolside on a sunny morning that is already greater than 95 degrees, should be taken inside. She is not just cranky. She is hot, dehydrating and miserable. The mother keeps patting her back with one hand and applying sun tan lotion to her own legs with the other. I'd like to go snatch the mother up and smack her upside the head. But instead, opting not to be hauled away to jail for assault and battery, I sit here glaring at her, shaking my head and praying under my breath that the mother gets sun poisoning.

2. On the other side of the pool is a mother trying to get her toddler out of the pool for another coat of sunblock. The toddler keeps screaming "NO!" and refuses to get out of the pool. Rather than going into the pool and picking the toddler up, she threatens with "I'm going to tell your father!" The father comes out and asks what the problem is; and the mother explains that the toddler needs sunblock and refuses to get out of the pool. The father, in his ultimate wisdom, (NOT!) sternly tells the boy, "Son, get out of that pool right now so Mommy can put sunblock on you." The toddler again yells "NO!" to which the father threatens, "Fine! Then just get a sunburn!" and walks away. (OK, somebody slap both these parents upside the head before I push them both into the pool!)

3. Mother #3 is yelling at her 5-6 year old who continues to run around the pool. She has asked him, told him and even ordered him to stop running around the pool. She finally gets up and grabs him as he rounds the corner again for the 10th time. He screams at the top of his lungs, kicks and hits until she puts him down and again yells, "But I told you to STOP running!" The kid runs away screaming "NO, YOU STOP!" The mother plopped down on the side of the pool, growling in a temper tantrum and yelled for Dad, who looked up over his newspaper and said, "Do what your mother said." The kid continues to run around the pool.

Is it just ME? Am I the only one that thinks the chanllenge is NOT with the children, but rather with the parents?!? My two are in the pool, both of which are teenagers, one of which is now taller than me. But even as big as they are, let me tell ya, if either of them hestitates when I tell them to get out of the pool, I'll go into the pool, yank them out and sit them in their room until after lunch. And that will be the end of the pool for them today! No questions asked. No threats. No tattling to Dad. And God help a kid of any age who would tell me NO, kick or swing at ME! But then again, I didn't have them at the pool when they were infants, screaming at the top of their lungs on a 95 degree day. Nor did I ever tell them more than once to stop running around the pool when they were small enough for me to scarf them up and bench them to watch the rest of the world go by while they moped and thought about why they should listen the next time.

I guess I could just brag that I have good kids. But that's not it. I am a parent, even on vacation. And I take that responsibility seriously. Now if you'll excuse me, I think I'll go round up my own girl before I'm tempted beyond control to show some of these nimwits parents how it's done! ~sigh~