Top 10 of 09

Over at Crop Addict, someone suggested that we blog our top 10 projects of 2009. Since I don't have photos of all of my favorites (I know, I know. Sometimes I just don't feel like taking the pictures,) I picked my top 10 from my "Scrap To Keep" file.

I found myself using a LOT of My Minds Eye and Sassafras this year. I realize that Sassafras has really fit my spunky mood this year. I also have been scrapping LESS kids and MORE me. I started a scrap only journal for myself. Basically I am scrapping photo-less layouts, just journaling about my feelings, things I like, things I hate... I am not much for just writing. And as I have said previously many times, scrapping my thoughts basically is cheap therapy. I need to work on it while I work on the layouts. And when I am done, hopefully I can let it go.

So here they are, 10 of my favorite projects from this year. Hope they are some of your favorites too.

Better and Scrapping Again

So I am much much better today. I am on NO pain meds. I am not 100%, still swallowing carefully, having minor earaches, and getting sore after a lengthy phone call. Thanks for the well wishes! I have actually ALMOST caught up on all the house work I missed.... Almost. Lets not get ahead of ourselves! Christmas shopping is done, but not all wrapped. And I gave up on making gifts for some people. Sorry guys. I love you, but there just isn't time. The kids were sick half of last week, Julia missed a day and a half and Trent missed 3! Then Thursday he had an all day field trip I went on and Friday was parties in the afternoon. I did both kids'.

I actually did scrap a couple pages, one that I am not sharing yet because it is for an upcoming TES post. But this one is using some fabulous My Little Scrapbox that Tanisha Long sent me. If you don't know her, go find her. She is SO talented. I have a STACK of photos of me as a child that my mom gave me in those old magnetic albums. Many of the photos are ruined from the discoloration, but some fared better than others. sorry for the bad photo, but it's already dark and I knew if I didn't blog now, I wouldn't get it done for days again!

And check out Spunky Scrappers for the new challenge! This week, it's all about "believe". This is my layout! Love this boy! The paper is one of my all time fav BG lines, Hang 10. And that stamp is by bombshell. They are AWESOME, you should check them out. I have a couple sets from them and they are the best!
If I don't blog before then, Merry Christmas!

Survivor: Greenwood

I think I can honestly now say I have an idea of what it's like to be on that show. I have not eaten more than 4 popcicles a day since tuesday. I cannot eat! STILL! I am woozy all the time, sleep most of the day because of the meds, and and feel like my stomach is eating itself.

My friend Ana has been coming over to help out with the kids and keeping my kitchen clean, which has been a god-send. The rest of the house is ankle deep. Luke has decided to take a side logging business again, against my better judgement. He works all 3 of his days off to make what he would make in simply working ONE more day at his real job. It infuriates me, but you can't tell that man anything. Whatever.

I have polished off the better part of a box of fudgecicles, some twin pops, and 1/2 a pint of ben and jerry's Cherry Garcia. I think I probably have consumed 2000 calories since tuesday, including drinks. I bought Sprite Zero (out of habit, not realizing that I could USE the calories right now!) and have been drinking that and water. More water because the sprite has been irritating my throat lately. I need to go to the grocery store something fierce, but am so weak that I have to hold the wall to walk to the bathroom.

I know it will get better some days, but obviously I am not healing quickly from this surgery. It's probably my own fault, I am afraid to swallow. But my throat swelling doesn't seem to be going down at ALL. I still live with an ice pack on my neck to control that swelling. Today is the first day I actually have a jawline since surgery. I still feel like I swallowed a ping pong ball. But I can speak, so that's awesme. I went for 2 full days with NO words. Then another 2 with very short sentences once in a while. It still hurts to talk, but at least i can make the sounds. Right now the ear aches are really getting me.

So to all of my committments I am slacking off on, I am really really sorry. I don't feel stable enough to scrap... at least not to have it be anything I would be able to share... I am not sure jackson pollack type scrapping would go over well! I tried to work on a few christmas gifts, but that's going no where fast.

I am hoping that by the end of this next week I will be closer to 75%, I think 100% is a rediculous stretch! My Grandma and Grandpa sent me a thank you card which was really nice. The ONLY people who did mind you.... Bad friends, shame on all of you.

Hopefully the next time I blog, I will have better news. And no, I am not sharing any photos. I DID shower last night, but it's still not pretty!

Since I am now officially useless...

Thought I would share with you. I made this little layout about my sanity in a pill. If you don't know (which probably most of you dont), I have chronic daily migraines. I have had a few many years back, then about a year and a half ago, I started having frequent migraines. Then after about 6 months, they became a daily occurrence. Many people CLAIM to have migraines. They think that any bad headache is a migraine. That's just not the case. If you are one of these people, STOP! You make our affliction seem less.

Migraines are a very specific type of headache. They are vascular in nature. Basically, what happens is that the vessels in your brain dialate and as the blood rushes, it causes a throbbing pain. Many people have what's called "aura". Some people get halos or spots or a metallic taste in their mouths. I get light, sound, and smell sensitivity. I also get some odd aura. It's verbal. I have a hard time finding words or completing thoughts. Speaking is a task. I cannot read, I have a hard time following other people's speech too. And nausea and vomitting is pretty common too. I get it. The headaches are hemispherical. That means that you typically only get them on one side of your head or the other. Mine are almost always directly above my left ear. And specific things trigger them. When i have breakthrough headaches (meaning that while I am on my preventative meds, I still get occassional headaches) they are usually caused by something like alcohol (more than one or two beverages and I get one. that SUCKS!), certain medications, lack of sleep, etc...

OK, mini lesson over. So this page is about Effexor XR, my saviour. This is an SNRI that I take every day and it controls the seratonin levels in my brain. Research points to seratonin level issues as a cause of migraines, so controlling that seems to help. I went from being on my emergency meds daily and still non-functional many days to having one or two breakthrough headaches a week with maybe one or two significant headaches a month. That is a miracle. As a bonus, this particular med is also used to treat anxiety disorder, which I have! So it helps control my panic attacks as well and makes my little quirks less intrusive! Win Win situation!

I used Sassafrass Marmalade papers which I really didn't think I liked. Kelly sent them to me so I used them. And LOVE them! Thanks Kelly, you're my favorite! Also a Maya Road bird, Pink Paisley Pixie Stix, Prima flowers and lined paper, and Thickers. Cause what is a layout without thickers!

Photos and a little update

I promised photos from Natchitoches two weeks ago, and I finally uploaded them... Some didn't come out as well as I hoped, but that happens with fading light and plenty traffic! Some I really liked!

This general store is like nothing I have ever seen before. It's in a 100+ year old building and everything is in the flat top tables in cool bins as old as the building. The paint had to be 1/4 inch thick! They had such cool things stored in display counters and this wonderful older gentleman who used to be an art professor who now paints watercolors! So cool. I got to sit and visit with him for probably half an hour. Everyone else was ready to go and left the store to sit outside while I visited. I love talking to older people. One question leads to one hour! But it was really nice!

Other photos are just quick snapshots I wanted to share, Julia after she got her face painted at Bass Pro and Boudreaux and Tan laying together. She thinks she is one of the dogs!

So here is the update part. I am getting my tonsils out tuesday! I have been having problems with them a lot over the past, well, 29 years! They were supposed to come out in '98 and I got sick, then my insurance ran out. So I went in Friday, the doc said "Yeah, they're bad and they're coming out. How does Tuesday sound..." So I will be going in. Last time I had surgery, I got pretty sick afterwards and ended up spending almost the whole day in the hospital. So hopefully this time, they will LISTEN to me when I tell them to give me phenergan!

This means I will be largely unproductive for a while. I do NOT do well with pain meds. I get very ill. The doc said I won't be able to handle the pain without the meds, so I will be on phenergan to keep from yacking and Midrin to squash the inevitable migraines the meds will cause! Yep, it will be one happy unconscience week or two! I will be trying to facebook and MB occassionally, just depends on how often I am alert!

I still have a bunch of Christmas presents to make, all of my gifts to wrap, and some DT stuff to do. Wish me luck! If you want to send flowers, feel free! Also, Papa John's would be greatly appreciated! lol! I promise NOT to post pictures of my scars.

December!

November flew by. Yeah, I am a bad blogger. Since there are like 3 of you who actually follow me somewhat regularly, Here is what has happened in the past 2 weeks.

1. Steve and Gayle (my in-laws) came and stayed a week with us for Thanksgiving. It was really nice. We took in the sights a bit, got to visit a lot, did some shopping, and just hung out.

2. I had some medical issues that took a lot of time and stress. Long rated G story is that I am ok, just adding another "disease/disorder/condition" to my list. Yep, it's fun.

3. Our outdoor cat passed a tape worm. Yep, it was like 12 inches. At least. It was the most incredibly disgusting thing ever so I had to share. It was too much nasty to keep to myself. Just be glad I didn't take a picture.

4. trent is now missing both his front top teeth and his two bottom side teeth. Then we went out for supper and he got corn on the cob. Yep, we all laughed.

5. You know you're a redneck when.... You take your kids to Bass Pro Shop to see Santa.

6. Stood on line for 3 hours to get INTO toys r us on black friday. Then took another 30 minutes to check out once I got inside. Yep, that was awesome. It was 33 degrees and I wore a fleece. Wahoo. By the time I got in, half the stuff I was waiting for was gone. Then I stood on line at Target for one hour. I got everything I needed plus a reusable shopping bag and checked out in less than 5 minutes. Much better choice at Target.

7. We had another scorpion in the house. Yep, the insect variety with the sting parts. EW. I am not a fan of the south. Just sayin.

8. Got a bunch of stuff to work on Christmas projects with. I am making a ton this year for gifts, so that is taking most of my crafting time. So that's more of why I am not posting scrappy stuff. Cause the altered items I have made are gifts and that would just ruin everything!

My goal is to scrap at least one or two pages tomorrow. Wish me luck. I'll post if I get the chance! Hope all of you are less stressed than I feel right now. Enjoy your holidays!

Pictures coming soon, we got to go to Natchitoches (pronounced nack a tish) where they are old plantations. It's the oldest city in louisiana and was incorperated in 1714. So I have some really good photos, I just need to upload them from my CF card, which I cannot just stick into my laptop!

Hasta!