my Mom, last Sunday

I think she is lovely.







I thank all of you for your prayers. I am starting to recognize patterns in how this is working. I have a appointment this coming Thursday with our family doctor. My husband wanted me to see him and get a referral through him.

This past Thursday was a wonderful day. I felt perfectly normal. :) Thanks for the prayers. I will try to be more present.

Book Reviews

Alcott, Louisa May

Autobiographical Elements in Little Women
Little Women
Short Stories: The Complete Christmas Collection
The Quiet Little Woman


Baum, Frank

The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus

Brand, Paul

The Gift of Pain

Browner, Jesse

The Duchess Who Wouldn't Sit Down

Chevalier, Tracy

Burning Bright
The Lady and the Unicorn

du Maurier, Daphne

Rebecca

Enger, Leif

Peace Like A River

Faulkner, William

The Sound and The Fury

Feist, Raymond E.

Faerie Tale

Fenton, James

A Garden From a Hundred Packets of Seed

Greene, Graham

The End of the Affair

Johnson, Penny

The Last Time We Were Children

Hawthorne, Nathaniel

The House of Seven Gables

L'Engle, Madeleine

Certain Women
A House Like a Lotus
The Other Side of the Sun
A Severed Wasp


Lockwood, Jeffrey

Locust: The Devastating Rise and Mysterious Disappearance of the Insect that Shaped the American Frontier.

Martin, Charles

When Crickets Cry
Chasing Fireflies

McGarry Morris, Mary

The Lost Mother

Milne, Christopher

The Enchanted Places

O. Henry

The Gift of the Magi -- Summary

Poe, Edgar Allan

Berenice
The Black Cat- Summary
The Cask of Amontillado - Summary
The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar
The Masque of the Red Death
The Pit and the Pendulum - Summary
The Premature Burial - Summary
The Tell-Tale Heart - Summary


Porter, Jean Stratton

The Magic Garden

Snowdon, David

The Nun Study

Turner, Jamie Langston

Some Wildflower in My Heart

Twain, Mark

The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County -- Summary

Van Tilburg Clark, Walter

The Ox-bow Incident

Watson, Kathy

The Devil Kissed Her

Webster, Jean

Daddy-Long-Legs

Laura Ingalls Wilder

Laura's Thoughts on Homekeeping
Little House in the Big Woods

Williams, Tad

Caliban's Hour

Yancey, Philip

Where is God When It Hurts

Thanksgiving, gifts, state-of-being report

We had a delightful Thanksgiving with my parents and my sister A and her husband. For our big meal, we had steaks with shrimp sauce. The sauce, which my Dad made, was scrumptious.

In the evening we opened Christmas gifts with my parents and A and her husband. Since we will be spending Christmas in California with hubby's family, we thought it would nice to open gifts with those members of my family who were visiting. As a result, I can share some of the Christmas gifts I've made this year! ;)

This is easily the favorite Christmas gift I've made so far this year. I took these photos of the girls dancing with my Dad earlier this summer. The dresses are ones that my Mom made for them. It is a little hard to read but there are cubes along the bottom (from an RSVP game which is something like Scrabble) which read 'Time for Dancing.'


I made three of these one for my hubby and one for his Dad. This is the one for my Dad.




Last time Mom and Dad were hear they made gingerbread men with the girls. I found this wooden gingerbread man at Goodwill awhile back - I had to do something special with him. I gave him to my Dad 'the chef.'


The love frame I made from purchased pieces that I painted and sanded. I microbeaded the image over so it is a bit glazed looking. The heart is something I found at Goodwill and painted and decoupaged. At the bottom of the heart is a little piece that says 'more than a thousand words' and has the girls initials and the year 2007.


I bought this funky frame at a second-hand store for more than I would normally pay for a frame at a second-hand store but it was sooooooooo cool. I collaged the girls with maps, a stamped compass, heart stickers, and iridescent embossing medium. I really liked how this one turned out. I gave it to my Mom.



I bought this mirrored frame at a second-hand store for more than I would normally pay for a frame at a second-hand store but it was sooooooooo cool. I had to make a fun collage for it. I gave it to my Mom.


A very poor photo of the Christmas frame ornaments I made this year.



My state-of-being update. I am frustrated. The doctor gave me a prescription for a steroid to help with the inflammation. I did not want to take it as I do not like the idea of steroids but my husband wants a functional wife and the NSAIDs were not doing it so I took the steroids. I did not get complete relief for three days which hardly seems worth it but when it ran out and my inflammation flared up my husband wanted me to get the one refill I had. So I did.

Today I finished the second run of steroids. It took three full days for complete relief the second time as well. I will be interested to see how I feel in the morning. I feel that steroids are a bandage and a dangerous one with potential side-effects that certainly don't balance the benefits. My husband wants me fully functional. I want to learn how to manage this naturally and I can't be fully functional when I am trying to understand how this works...urgh...

slightly out of focus

Oh well.

hi

What has happened. My left knee became swollen and painful and I could not walk for several days. It started improving yesterday and today is only achy. But last night my right-hand became swollen and too painful to move and today my left-hand has joined the right. Typing right now is difficult.

I went to a doctor today and he said it might be rheumatoid arthritis and took some blood for testing and put me on Pretizone (sp).

It is painful to even wash my hands right now. I am trying to keep an open-mind until I know what the problem is.

This is a photo I took while in Ixtapa, Mexico in 2006 (We are fortunate, every few years, hubby's boss takes the company to Mexico and pays half for the spouse to go). I thought she was beautiful. She was even more beautiful when I put the camera down and she smiled at me.



I've often thought it might be easier for the readers if I named my children. I would never give their real names as they are far to unusual. However, I think C and K could be confusing. So if you think I should change their names for the purpose of the blog, take part in the poll in my sidebar.

Your options are to continue with their first initial.

Have them referred to as Stinker and Pill. There is a story behind Stinker and Pill. When the girls were younger, we would say they were a stinker or a pill when they were naughty. One time C told us in no uncertain terms that she was Stinker and K was Pill. I even made them t-shirts with their nicknames on them. Some people were appalled some thought they were funny.

We could call them Cinderella and Belle. C loves Cinderella in all forms and K is smitten with Beauty and the Beast and has a gold gown which she calls her Belle gown.

We could call them Drama Queen (DQ) and Stinkerbell. C is a very dramatic child (think Anne of Green Gables) once we saw a girl wearing a t-shirt with the DQ logo except it said Drama Queen instead. Hubby thought it was perfect for C. K is a Stinker (she is totally the naughtiest three-year-old ever) and we sometimes call her Stinkerbell.

I've been reading blogs but our connection is messed up and often when I comment it locks on me. I am sorry.

Prayers Please

Saturday morning I woke up early with itchy palms. I've had itchy palms before so thought nothing of it. I put on some lotion and went back to sleep. I woke up with hives on the major joints. I went to urgent care but by then most of the hives had faded. However there were a couple left so the doctor did take me seriously. I had gone over everything in our life and there truly is nothing new in my life except the Wellbutrin the doctor prescribed for my depression (two weeks ago Thurs). The doctor didn't think it was likely it was the Wellbutrin and sent me home saying Benadryl is the best OTC for it. Benadryl completely knocks me out.

I was cold all morning Saturday and could not warm up. I took Benadryl at noon and slept for the rest of the day. I woke up 1:30 Sunday morning with the middle finger of my left hand swollen with swelling into my knuckles. But the itchiness in the rest of my body was gone. So I went in again. The doctor asked if the WB was helping me and I told him it was. He was unwilling to take me off the WB. He gave me a prescription for a 24 hour Zirtac and a cream. Neither are working.

This morning I woke up at 1:30 with my ring finger on the left hand swollen. My joints on the swollen fingers are sore. The only hives I have now are on my palms which are quite sore and red. I am not in respiratory distress, but when I inhale deeply my chest is tight and it creates a ache at the bottom of my lungs.

I am going to try to see my Doctor today if not him I will see a regular doctor and not an Urgent Care doctor.

An added nuisance.

A week ago this past Friday I bruised my left heal chasing K who ran out into the street. Last night (I have no idea how, I apparently twisted a tendon in my left knee as now my knees is very tender and doesn't like to be bent).

I'm going to bore you with more older photos

If you pack shoe boxes for Operation Christmas Child (Samaritan's Purse) now is the time to do it or you will have to rush!


Today. I love C's emerging sense of style. C has always cared about her clothes but now she is developing style. K - I am not sure if she will ever care too much. The outfit is completely C's own - I just dressed K to correspond because I thought C was too cute. (C's jeans have pretty floral embroidery on them that look great with the colors she iw wearing.





I was looking for a certain photo (the on of K and her Grampy) and ended up pulling out a few more favorites. These are from May and June 2005. K is just one in these photos.

I like these photos of K...she looks so different with short hair and bangs.




I love these photos. The light under the train bridge is always gorgeous - I am not sure how it works but the light off the water and the shade of the bridge make it perfect - I always love the light in photos I take under the bridge and am disappointed if it is a bad photo for other reasons. I think the only thing I would change in these is the timing on the photo of C tossing her stone - it just gets into the shadow and is hard to see. A bit earlier and her stone would have been silhouetted against the light.

Hubby and C skipping stones - I love the father-daughter thing in these shots.



Spring Blossoms (K).


I think I would love this photo even if I didn't know it was K. I just love the love and connection in this photo of K and her paternal grandfather.


The Miss Spider sprinkler. C loved Miss Spider that year. Now K loves her.


Sunny afternoon in the shade and a ride in the swing.



That summer we had baby robins in our blue spruce (the one that was downed in a storm that fall) about four and half feet up on a branch near the drive. The first few times we pulled down the branch to look at them they would shoot their bobbly little heads up with mouths gaping ready for us to shove a worm down their throat. When we didn't comply they apparently learned to tell the difference between the branch being pulled down and the weight of their mama landing.



This is a reflection in a puddle. No I am not a huge basketball fan although I played reasonably well in high school. I would call this one 'hoop dreams.'


I've always liked this photo of C.


K and my Mom.

recent words - older photos (but not old)

These are photos from 2005. I found them while looking for a craft photo. Of course, I had too look through all of December, November, and October to find it.

The first year we went to the pumpkin patch. I inadvertently deleted the photo of K with a huge pumpkin that I was going to post here. I am not going back through the disks to find it.


We don't do Halloween but that year we went to the Anoka parade and so we brought some foam masks for the girls to wear. I love this photo of K and her Daddy.


One of my favorite photos of C with Grandpa Glen.


Sisters - both sides of a coin.



C on Thanksgiving morning, she is anxiously waiting for my Sister A and her hubby.


My Sister A and her Hubby.


One of my favorite photo series. After Thanksgiving dinner my Sister A, her Hubby, and C put together a Thomas the Tank puzzle.





This was the day after Thanksgiving. We had a snowstorm that day but we braved it anyhow and drove all the way to the southern part of the cities to go to the Minnesota Zoo. We had a wonderful day. This is before we left. K was very cranky.


A friend of mine made this dress for C. I have a photo of C in it that is one of my best all-time photos. It was a Christmas card the year I took it. The dress is actually a deep maroon but the light is mostly backlight in this photo so you can't tell.


Look at those sweet cheeks!


I think I used this in Christmas cards that year.


I must have been inspired after the Como shoot because the next day I took a whole series of these. Above the cupboards in my kitchen (and now in other places in the house) I have a collection of mirrors. One of the mirrors is a beautiful arced mirror in a wooden frame. The silver on it is completely bad. I remember when I bought it at the thrift store, the man standing next to me said you won't be able to see yourself in that and I said that's the point! The photos are taken in that mirror.





I had a wonderful time taking photos of snowflakes in 2005. We didn't have the right kind of snow last year so I haven't been able to take any since. Here is hoping this year gives me the right snow!!




Souper fattening, souper yummy chowder, souper easy: Salmon Chowder: Slow Cooker Soup

YOU HAVE TO CHECK THIS BOOK OUT OF THE LIBRARY if you can it is by Ruth Bell Graham and the illustrations (not by her) are absolutely stunning (I have a link to the illustrators web page in the article and you can see some of his work there): One Wintry Night: Picture Book

Two more hymns: Hark the Herald Angels Sing
Handel's Hallelujah Chorus

This is the photo I was looking for - these are vases swathed in layers and layers of tissue paper, decoupage medium, paint, and varnish.

I am working on a napkin holder to match it for my MIL (but different photos of the girl)...I wonder if I make too much work for myself?