Getting Close

The headaches and sore neck and shoulders have left me a bit out of sorts lately and I have been pretty bad about keeping up on anything except creating, most of my energy has been going there. That being the case I have fallen behind in everything else. The good news is the headache seems to be getting much better and so I am feeling more like myself which is really nice.

The great news is that in about 2 weeks or so I will have Wayne home. With about 18 of the last 24 months apart I am ready to have him around for a bit. The next few months will be busy but that is to be expected with several small trips planned and job hunting and trying to get ready for a potential move come spring or so.

My trip to the DC Bead Museum was a bit of a mixed blessing. I was disappointed in that they didn't have enough space to display all of the pieces that got into the show and neither of mine were on display. This meant that my pieces couldn't be voted on for people's choice nor did anyone get to see them. I am glad that I went because I got to see a couple of people I had met in Philly at the Bead Fest and got to meet some of the members of the Baltimore Bead Society which I may want to join especially if we end up staying in the area. I got a lot of really positive comments on my butterfly necklace and my Dragonfly purse.

The next couple of weeks will be busy for me and I won't have too much time to get wired about homecoming coming up. I am spending a long weekend this weekend in Baltimore. Robin Atkins who started the Bead Journal Project is coming to Baltimore to teach a couple of classes and give a presentation about the BJP. I get to be her teachers assistant. I am so excited since it will be my first time to meet her and I have been looking forward to seeing her. Should be a good time.

Next weekend I am heading up to New England with a friend for another friends wedding. Had hoped that Wayne would make it home for it but it wasn't to be. Should be fun since I will get to see some friends I haven't seen since we moved down here.

Add to those 2 trips my 4 classes that are scheduled (if they hold) and more physical therapy and I shouldn't be bored. Might actually have to do a bit of cleaning and straightening before he gets home as well.

My BJP collage is coming along. I spent time stitching the waterfalls on the mountain and am currently working on my tree trunk. I am spending a lot of time on all of the stitching on the collage but am still excited about it and loving the way it is turning out. Have not gotten bored with it. I started October's block a bit early as I wanted to take it with me this weekend so I could start on it. I spent time on the painting so that I am ready to start adding beads and stitching. If you want to see how it is going check it out on my BJP blog.

My Web Gallery- Includes photos of both of my BJP pages and Susan Plager's Graduation.
Artistic Kreations and Passions- my website
BJP Website (my 2007-8 pieces)

Doctor, PT and catching up

The last week has been pretty busy, I have taught a couple of classes and have another one tomorrow. Very few of my classes held during the summer but then a lot of the classes at the store didn't hold during the summer. I did teach one class with only one student and will do another tomorrow, part of my reason for doing it is that I have been spending a lot of time alone and think it is good for me to get out and I think that it will help me get a following in case we end up staying in the area.

I had a doctor's appointment on Monday. She has prescribed Migraine meds but that won't help with my perpetual headache but the physical therapy seems to be helping some and I have four or so more weeks to go before reevaluation. I asked about testing but my blood work this spring covered some of the questions already and since they aren't sinus headaches and I don't have stiffly, snuffly, allergy symptoms allergy testing won't help. I did ask and had confirmed that yes and allergen could be a trigger even if you weren't allergic to it. Thus my headaches from cut grass, smells, etc. I think that besides the muscular/skeletal issues I am having that I am probably also reacting to something seasonal (my guess mold). Hopefully with the PT and fall coming it will go away. The PT has been helping and although still have a constant headache at least they aren't as bad as they were.

I haven't gotten as much done in the last week as I might of liked but have gotten somethings done that I needed to and ran some errands. Not as much creating as I would like but can't have everything all of the time, need more hours in the day or at least a few days of no headaches.

I finally packed most of my stuff for my trip to DC for Saturday night. I decided that I would wear my purple long dress for the event, the hard part was figuring out what piece of jewelry to go with it. I designed a piece to go with it but it is the piece that got into Bead International and I won't see it for a couple of years while it travels with the show. The second best choice would have been the piece that is in the show for DC. Go figure. I knew that I was going to use my Dragonfly Purse. I am taking a couple of necklaces along although I am leaning toward wearing the piece that I made using one of Susan's beads. I am staying in a hotel overnight so I don't have to worry about driving back late that night.

It looks like I still have plenty to keep me busy until Wayne comes home. Robin Atkins is coming to Baltimore to teach and make a presentation about the BJP and I am going up to see her and maybe be her assistant. I am so looking forward to meeting her and Wayne thought it was a great idea since he knows that being around other creative people is good for me.

I also have wedding to go to in Connecticut the weekend before Wayne comes home. I am riding up with a friend and then staying with him and his wife at their place in Rhode Island. It is too bad that Wayne is just going to miss it.

I may end up with classes the 2 days before Wayne comes home. If they hold (and I have had some people express interest) I will not have to worry about having too much time to get all wound up with home coming. With around a month or so left I am glad that I have things to keep my mind occupied.

The photo for this post is my September BJP block for this year. Wayne said it was one of his favorites. The painting was based on one of the photos he took while we lived in Hawaii.

For those who want to know what I have been up to I am including links below to my BJP posts in the order they were written and my web gallery and website.

July 1- A Seed Germinates
July 4- Goals For A New Year
July 7- A Sapling Takes Root In Purple Dirt
July 10- Trying New Techniques/Collaging my World
July 13- How Do I Do It/ It's A Secret
July 16- Like Leaves On A Tree: Plenty Of Ideas
July 19-Painting My World/A Tree Takes Form
July 21- Ever Tree Needs Leaves
July 24-Leafing Out
July 27- The Tree Is Planted And Gets More Leaves
July 30- A Secret Takes Shape
August 2- A Door Takes Form
August 6- Stitching Up A Fern
August 10- Ocean Waves
August 14- Getting To The Roots Of The Matter
August 18- Moss at the Roots of My Tree
August 22- Stitching Grass
September 7- A Mountain Of Strength
September 12- Honu Swimming
September 14- Honu in Beads

My Web Gallery- Includes photos of both of my BJP pages and Susan Plager's Graduation.
Artistic Kreations and Passions- my website

BJP Website (my 2007-8 pieces)

Love and Good News

OK I couldn't resist, Wayne sent me this photo of himself that his Chief took of him after they took some group photos. I seldom get pictures of him while he is on deployment so it was kind of nice. He has been such a sweety since I have been sick and not feeling well he has been calling more often to check up on me. It will be so good to have him home again. We have spent a fair amount of time apart in the last 2 years so I am looking forward to having him around. We are in the home stretch, still over a month but it really isn't that long before he will be home and we will be busy with his job hunting and getting ready to join civilian life.

I got really good news on Saturday. 2 of the 3 pieces that I entered in the DC Bead Museum's first Bead contest got accepted. My Crystal Pond: Reflections and my March BJP 2007-8 (On the Beach there are Treasures to be Found) are heading off to DC tomorrow. The Gala Event for this is on the 20th and since they are close by I am going to go up and spend the night and go to the event. That night they are going to announce all of the winners including the pieces that are going to be on display in the museum until sometime in December. Maybe if one of my piece gets chosen for the museum show Wayne will go to the Bead Museum with me. He is very proud of me and said of course I had to go. Guess it is a good thing I didn't let my frustration get the better of me and I didn't take my Pond Necklace apart.

I finished my September BJP block and will get it on my BJP blog in the next day or two. I love how it turned out and it worked together really quickly. I will need all of my extra time not working on my blocks any month I finish early working on all of the hand stitching on the collage and eventually the quilt background as well.

I updated my website (Artistic Kreations and Passions) with more photos of my Sacred Tree BJP and also added the new photos to my Web Gallery (this has all of the photos that I have of my BJP projects).

Beads, Travel and Getting Sick.

The last couple of weeks have been eventful and not always in the best ways.  

I went to Philly to Bead Fest and had a blast.  It started on a funny note as I stopped for lunch at a brew pub and got carded, at 2 months before my 41st birthday I thanked the waitress.  I stayed with Roma and her husband Tony and we had a good time.  It was so good to see them and spend the time catching up.  I took two classes.  Both went very well and had great teachers.  I learned how to do the Viking Knit and how to do variations on the Byzantine Chain Maille.  I just need to add a bit more embellishing and my  viking knit will be done and I will include a photo here to share.  As usual I decided to go my own way a bit  and instead of a bracelet I am going to end up with a front part of a necklace that will hang from 2 hooks to a chain (for the back of the necklace).  Never did like to do things the way others do.  The other class I have several sample pieces and will have to decide on what I want to make with any of the variations.  
 

Two new things this year were Meeting the Teachers Night and the Bead In.  I wore my Pond necklace to the teachers night and got a lot of really positive comments on it, so not subtle but I do love my bling.  I worked on the background for my 2008-9 BJP at the Bead In and took my 2007-8 pages along.  Wow, did not expect the attention I got.  Very positive.  I should have printed up a sheet with all of the pertinent info about the BJP since I explained about it many times.  I also gave out lots of business cards so we will see if anything comes of that.  A couple of the people had heard of the BJP project which was kind of nice.  It was a lot of fun.

The pictures show my treasures from this year.   My main goal was to get beads to  go toward this years BJP so I filled in some colors that I didn't have much range in and would need in 15/0 seed beads (especially browns and greens).  I also got more Silamide thread colors (it is my favorite thread for bead embroidery.)  I was on the look out for flower and leaf beads to use on my blocks for the piece and ended up finding a nice selection to get.  I also got a Chain Maille book and a Chain Maille kit (that is being mailed).  I spent less money than last year and am thrilled with the additions to my horde of beads.  I am still working on getting them worked into my collection.

It appears that my steroids didn't get rid of my headaches since I continued to have them even after the treatment was done.  I ran myself a bit hard during Bead Fest with not enough sleep,  not a great diet and such.  I came home on Monday and was worn out.  Tuesday I had a sick headache all day,  Wednesday was a full blown knock-em out Migraine and then Thursday I was hit hard with a head cold.  The last week I have felt like I got hit head-on by a truck.  I have gotten next to nothing done but rest.  I am slowly showing signs of improving so hopefully will be back up and running soon.  I am now at over 2 months of constant headache but hopefully my appointment tomorrow for Physical Therapy will help some and get me started on at least loosening up all the muscles tightened from the headaches.  I also set up my next doctor's appt.  

Wayne has been calling regularly to check in on me and he is doing fine.  Less than 2 months to go which is great.  He is busy working on his resume and other stuff to get ready so that he can hit the road running when he gets home.  Will not be a boring fall/winter that is for sure.  I am to be his assistant.  At least I don't have to be his secretary  I like the job of personal assistant better.   

Bugs, Headaches and a Trip

The good thin about having a weed/flower garden is that the bugs are happy.  I have seen more than one praying mantis out there ( I like bugs that eat other bugs).  Today when I went out to grab the paper this one was happily munching on a caterpillar on the side walk.  It was too good an opportunity to pass up so I want and grabbed the camera,  so much easier to see on the sidewalk than on the green plants.

I have had several dragonflies again this summer and say a really cool moth this morning as well, took a photo of it too.
I went to the Doctor yesterday and so we are now going to try to do something about them.  The first order of business is to break the current cycle of pain since we can't do much about my other headaches when I am like this.  I think I surprised her when I said that I had a headache for 5 1/2 weeks and yes a headache as in 24/7.  So not normal.  We are starting with a decongestant and a couple of days of oral steroids and no over the counter pain killers.  I am also going to Physical therapy starting Sept 2nd.  The headaches have caused neck and shoulder stress which can be making the headache worse or feeding into the cycle.  She thinks rebounds are part of the problem as well (thus the no pain killers).  

Over all she thinks that I probably have a combination of Migraines and Tension headaches and we are going to work on trying to add to my list of known triggers.  She will probably try me on other drugs to help once we get this one licked.  Most headache meds don't work when you are this far into them.  Hopefully all this will help and then we will be able to try other things to help with the other headaches.  Heck I would be happy if I never had the week + headaches any more.  

The much more upbeat news is that tomorrow I head north to King of Prussia (Philly) for the Bead Fest.  I will get to spend time with Tony and Roma,  take 2 classes and go bead shopping,  yeah!!!!!   It should be lots of fun,  just have to not spend all of Wayne's hard earned money especially since he is getting close to retirement.

Speaking of the light of my life,  he got the extension papers so he will be Retired on Active duty form Jan 1- March 31st.  Once he gets home from Iraq sometime in October he will go into job hunting mode.  For work he will have post-deployment stuff as well as all of the retirement stuff to do.  He thinks he will be able to go on terminal leave as early as December 1 since he isn't planning on taking time off when he gets home since he wants to get right on the job search.  Having been on deployment so much in the last year+ has had the advantage that he has more leave (vacation days) on the books that he won't lose.  Add in house-hunting, job-hunting and other days and it looks like around 4 months,  not bad.  He is doing good and keeping busy as always,  he calls when he has time and e-mails me almost everyday.  His arm is getting better and with some light weights he is getting more of the strength back in it.  

Contests and Life

Where to start?   I finally got my act together and entered the beading contest at the DC Bead Museum.  I entered my Crystal Pond: Reflections piece and 2 of my BJP pieces (August and March).  I should hear back by the 3rd of September if any of them got into the show.

I also finally got my act together and got my photos and stuff and sent them into the BJP website angel Brenda.  She got it all done and so now you can see all of my pieces for the 2007-8 BJP project on the BJP website.

On Saturday I went to Bead Boutique for the contest voting and for supper out with the girls.  There were 8 pieces.  My macrame piece was in a 3 way tie for 2nd place.  They are now on display at the store and they are planning on getting photos of the pieces on their website.  I need to get a list of all my classes that I teach there and photos to their website person so that they will all be available on their website.  

It has cooled down a bit and isn't as humid so I turned off the AC and am trying that.  I think I will be able to go without AC most if not all of this week.  So far it doesn't seem to be making my headache any better or worse.  Last week I managed to get in 5 walks which put me at 20 miles.  I would have walked last evening at dusk as well but that is when the thunderstorm rolled in.  I should have some nice evenings to walk this week.  

Only a week left until my doctor's appointment.  I doubt she will be able to do anything much except set me up for other appointments, tests or something but it will be good to at least have some forward movement and be doing something.  

Wayne called yesterday,  it is always so good to hear his voice.  I feel fairly spoiled since I get to talk to him every week at least once it seems and I have been getting an e-mail pretty much every day.  He is doing well and his arm is healing up and he is regaining some of his strength there.  He has been having some trouble with the squadron since they had their  decommissioning this last week and aren't giving him as much help as he would like.  It looks pretty sure that he will get his 90 day extension to his retirement so he should be in Iraq until sometime in October.  I think he will miss my birthday again and he will definitely be gone for his.

All told life is going on OK.  I could do without the constant headaches since that really eats into what I feel like doing on any day.  I am not getting as much done as I would like but I know that it could always be much worse.

For those who want to know what I have been up to I am including links below to my BJP posts in the order they were written and my web gallery and website.

July 1- A Seed Germinates
July 4- Goals For A New Year
July 7- A Sapling Takes Root In Purple Dirt
July 10- Trying New Techniques/Collaging my World
July 13- How Do I Do It/ It's A Secret
July 16- Like Leaves On A Tree: Plenty Of Ideas
July 19-Painting My World/A Tree Takes Form
July 21- Ever Tree Needs Leaves
July 24-Leafing Out
July 27- The Tree Is Planted And Gets More Leaves
July 30- A Secret Takes Shape
August 2- A Door Takes Form
August 6- Stitching Up A Fern
August 10- Ocean Waves

My Web Gallery- Includes photos of both of my BJP pages and Susan Plager's Graduation.
Artistic Kreations and Passions- my website

BJP Website (my 2007-8 pieces)

Macrame and Headaches

Here are the photos of the finished Macramé African Glass Beads Lariat. I am quite pleased with how it turned out. I took both of the necklaces to Bead Boutique and on Saturday the customers will get to vote on which piece they like best. There will be no names on the pieces. I just enjoyed the challenge of the project and that I ended up making 2 pieces that I am quite pleased with using beads that I wouldn't have chosen for myself.


I am still living with constant headaches, these seem worse than I remember but I haven't figured out how to get rid of them. They are eating into my productivity. I have a hard time getting much during daylight hours. I am becoming even more of a vampire than Wayne always teases me about being. I was staying up until 2or 3 most mornings but now it is more like 4 or 5 am. I have started doing my walks at dusk since I am not up to getting up early for them. I have done pretty good so far this week with 3 walks. I am trying to pick days when it isn't too humid out at that time. No walks in 80%+ humidity which is more common than I would like. If I walk when it is that hot and humid my head really starts throbbing.

On Tuesday I had lunch with Colleen and then went to Bead Boutique and spent time with them. I also went to Momma Mia with Tricia. It was a fun movie so enjoyed that.

I haven't been getting as much done as I would like but it can't be helped. I am slowly getting more stitching done on my BJP collage. My posts on my BJP blog are now going be covering the stitching and some of the symbolism. The posts will not be coming quite as often now that they are about the stitching which would be slower even without the headaches.

For those who want to know what I have been up to I am including links below to my BJP posts in the order they were written and my web gallery and website.

July 1- A Seed Germinates
July 4- Goals For A New Year
July 7- A Sapling Takes Root In Purple Dirt
July 10- Trying New Techniques/Collaging my World
July 13- How Do I Do It/ It's A Secret
July 16- Like Leaves On A Tree: Plenty Of Ideas
July 19-Painting My World/A Tree Takes Form
July 21- Ever Tree Needs Leaves
July 24-Leafing Out
July 27- The Tree Is Planted And Gets More Leaves
July 30- A Secret Takes Shape
August 2- A Door Takes Form
August 6- Stitching Up A Fern
August 10- Ocean Waves

My Web Gallery- Includes photos of both of my BJP pages and Susan Plager's Graduation.
Artistic Kreations and Passions- my website