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

African Glass Beads

It hasn’t been the best week in that I am still having headaches 24/7 but although it slows me down a bit life still goes on. I haven’t been overly motivated to walk because it has been hot and humid and the headaches but still am managing to get in at least 3 walks a week.

Wayne is doing well, keeping busy and getting exercise. He may decide to look into PT to help get his arm back into shape. I am sure it still has lots of healing to do. The Squadron that he is attached to gets decommissioned in a couple of weeks so he is trying to get as much paperwork done before then as he can. He thinks that within a couple of weeks we should hear about his extension, last he heard it was going through channels.

I have been staying home and working on beading and stitching. I got African glass beads from Bead Boutique for their in house contest (employees and teachers) and had created a necklace with beaded beads with one of the 2 sets of beads that I had gotten. The other set I worked on and decided to play with wire work with copper. I haven’t done a lot with wirework so this was a bit outside my normal comfort zone. When I saw the beads copper was one of the things that immediately came to mind so that is where I started. I purchased copper wire, beads and a clasp. I ended up making my own jump rings and head pins. I looked at the color of the african beads and how they felt somewhat primitive and yet the copper seemed to add some elegance to them so thought why not do something unexpected and I pulled out my Jet 2XAB crystals and added them to the piece. As you can see the results were pretty good.
I was never very happy with the first necklace I had made so I took it apart. I think I am going to use the beaded beads in a bracelet and started thinking what else I could try. Since I already had one completed piece I didn’t need to do a second but liked the challenge of beads that I wouldn’t have chosen for myself. I decided to try them with macrame so I have started making a lariat using 4 colors of C-Lon Beading cord, 2 colors of seed beads for accents, my 20 African glass beads and 5 clay beads I bought because the colors went together so well. I am alternating working on it and my BJP stitching to change what my hands are doing. I have gotten the first 5 of the 25 large beads that will be included done.

I have also been putting in time stitching on my BJP Sacred Tree collage. I have been working on different areas as the mood strikes me. It is coming a long well although as expected it will take a lot of hours to do all of the stitching that I want to do. The ocean waves are about done although I am thinking if I want to add anything for the foam at waters edge or not.

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 27th- The Tree Is Planted And Gets More Leaves

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

What a Week

I can't believe that it has been almost 2 weeks since I have written here. I am keeping pretty busy.

I am trying to average at least 3-4 walks a week right now. I do not enjoying being hot and sweaty. I would love to have summer highs in the low 80's and no higher. Unfortunately summer in southern Maryland is not that cool. Looks like more of the low 90's for a bit again.

Wayne didn't get his stitches out when he had hoped but they did remove them the other day so he is happy about that.

Last week went pretty smoothly and I spent most of my time working on my BJP project for 2008-9, my BJP blog, my website and web gallery.

This week started out pretty good. I met Colleen for lunch on Monday so that was fun. On Tuesday I went to Bead Boutique and visited with Tricia and Kim. I picked up beads and other supplies to participate in an in-house beading contest they are having for employees and teachers. No prize for it but for the voting there will be no names on the pieces so it will be less of a popularity contest than the others have been. I got 2 sets of the contest beads because I had more than one idea. The contest beads are 20 African glass beads that are around 10mm. They are not something I would normally choose so that is a challenge for me. I have been working on the 2 ideas. The first one I did I am not sure I like it and may take it apart and try something else with it. I like how the other one looks although I think I may need to tweak it a bit.

Wednesday I just didn't feel very good, not really sick just kind of icky. It became a very trying day. Wayne had noticed a couple of charges on the Discover when he was looking at our account online. Neither of us had done them so it was time to call Discover. In the process of getting that figured out and phone calls made I checked our other credit card and found fraudulent charges on it as well. Hard to believe they both happened within a week of each other. I am guessing by different people or ways since one was 2 large purchases and the other was quite a few smaller purchases and at least 2 things were shipped to the house with the correct name and address. It was not a pleasant day, lots of phone calls. Everyone was pretty helpful and Discover got a new card to us in 24 hours. Things are settling down with that although I need to make a couple of more calls I think. (oh Joy!)

Creatively this week I have mainly been working on my contest pieces although yesterday I spent some time on my BJP project. It looks like I will have enough to continue posts every 3 days for that blog at least into the first week into August. As the stitching on the collage goes I will have less to blog about.

Marti called and told me she got into a show in Missouri. 265 or so entries and like 45 accepted. Pretty great. She has pieces in 3 shows all opening on the same weekend. I also got good news. My Flower Trellis Necklace (see photos) was chosen to travel with the Bead International exhibit.

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

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

Keeping Busy

I have done pretty good so far with Wayne gone. I have spent lots of time working on my 2008-9 Bead journal project and having a blast on it. I have tried all kinds of new techniques and I have gone through lots of ideas and some have been set aside for future projects and others are making their way onto the piece. I have 3 posts so far and will have one coming out every 3rd day for the next month or so. If you want to read more about it go to my AKP Bead Journal Project Blog. The photo above is a full sized sketch of the piece in progress. I still need to work more on the sketch but I can do plenty of work before I need to finalize the ideas for the monthly blocks. I have photos of the project on My Web Gallery and my Artistic Kreations and Passions website.

Besides working on my BJP project I have been writing posts for my BJP blog, updating my website and web gallery, and taking photos of everything. I have not been bored.

Last week I only walked 2 times but this week I have already walked 3 times. I am trying to watch what I eat as well. I am trying to get better about exercising and eating healthfully. I think I am starting to get back into the grove of being on my own again.

I have gotten a couple of calls from Wayne, he is doing well and hopes to get his stitches out near the end of the week. He has started exercising again being careful not to overdue it, no rowing machine or weight lifting that is for sure. Although it is plenty warm in this location he says the nights are cooler.

I am going to go to Bead Fest in Philly in August again and have signed up for 2 classes. One is wire work (viking knit) and the other is chain maille. Should be fun and I will get to see Roma and her husband Tony again. I will also be looking for beads for my BJP so that will be great.

That is about it, as busy as I am keeping it still only takes a few paragraphs to write about it.

An Overdue Update

I am so sorry that this has been so long in coming. I must admit the last couple of months and all of the coming and going has gotten the better of me, I feel like I have lost track of something, quite possibly my mind.

What was supposed to be a 10 day trip for Wayne ended up being 2 weeks due to a broken plane. He ended up home only 5 days before he was off to Iraq again. We don't know if it will be 2 or 3 months or as screwed up as everything had been who knows maybe longer. It will only be 2 months unless they approve an extension he has requested. His official retirement date is Jan 1, 2009 and with all of his terminal leave (vacation etc.) that means he could be done as early as Sept 10th. Since they may need him to run things there or to run support back here they will probably approve it.

During the 5 days home he had surgery to remove skin cancer on his arm. It was more involved than he expected and the first time I saw it, it looked like a small shark had attacked him. Loads of stitches that he will have for 2 more weeks (surgery was a week ago). The rest of the time was spent on post and pre-deployment doctors appointments, getting gun qualifications, paperwork, and packing. We had the weekend for just us but that was about it. He left for Iraq yesterday, it was a bit anti-climatic for me since they left here on Thursday for some training and to pick up gear.

Now it is time to figure out my life for this summer. The one area that hasn't suffered is my creativity. I swear without it sometimes I would go nuts. I have been putting in lots of time working on my Sacred Tree for my BJP project for 2008-2009. Officially it doesn't start until September but since mine is going to include so much more than the monthly blocks I need a head start. The whole thing is going to be a quilt/mixed media collage with painted and beaded blocks. The entire piece is going to be a sort of self-portrait or things that are sacred, important, or symbolic of who I am. If you are interested I am going to start blogging about it today. I will include a lot of information on my creative process, different techniques I am trying, my goals, and all of the symbology of the piece. I already have put enough time into the project that I have enough info for several posts so I will try to write about 2 times a week on it until I catch up at least. It will be on my BJP Blog. I have also started a new album in My Web Gallery for the piece and if you don't want to wait for my blog to catch up you can see my photos of the progress of the piece there, I will update it as I get new photos.

Although I have felt very self-indulgent since Wayne left I have gotten an amazing amount of creating done in that time. I didn't walk the first 4 days he was gone but have gone out the last couple of mornings so am trying to get back on track there.