Checking in

I like finding little things in nature like this heart shape in a rock that one of the kids found. Anyway figured I hadn't checked in a few and wanted to do a quick update. My daughter had her little girl who is about 2 1/2 weeks old now. Weighing in at 7 1/2 lbs and 19 1/2 inches long.  Momma and baby both are doing great. My other daughter lives out of state now so is a bit disappointed about not getting to see her niece I think but we try to keep pictures going that way for her. (Facebook is a great thing for that) Our other family member finally has gotten to leave the hospital so gets to recover at home now. Yay! I am finally seeing a rheumatologist but am still trying to get a hold of them to find out about my blood work they took (I mean they took like 6-7 frikking vials) So we'll see what comes of that. I did get to go to the museum in Norman while we were there. I haven't done any trips like that in ages. Normally my anxiety levels get the best of me but I did okay. Took the camera which has become a source of calming for me in a way. So long as I have fresh batteries and a clean memory card to fill. 

Of course there are lots of other pics. The black armband is from having the blood draw. Which I just got the call to let me know I am in remission which is great news. (yes RA and Lupus both or either can do that though there is no indication of how long I might be in remission)  We are wondering if the reason for the remission is due to the fact that I've had to be on antibiotics and steroids for nearly 3 months now consistently if not longer. I just had a pleurisy attack in the last month which can get kind of nasty. (mainly just horribly painful to move or breathe) but they did find that one on X-ray. Though my liver enzymes are off a bit they said so I have to have more blood work for that. Hopefully that won't be anything. We are trying to make sure and have the kids at all the library functions this summer. They enjoy going and they usually have some pretty interesting things going on. We went to the kick off program and saw the disc dogs and all and it was actually pretty awesome despite it being probably close to 100 degrees out. I sunburned which sometimes it is hard to tell at first because neither me or my youngest tolerate temp changes or extremes well and so we were both bright red. I am hoping that later this summer I can muster myself into making a zoo trip or something big like that. We'll see. If so it will be a big thing for me. The kids usually get to go with their schools or something. We are trying to get back into the groove of taking our nightly walks again and I am trying to do my belly dancing more often again. It is still a good low impact exercise that seems to actually help my joints some plus it is fun. I need to really pick something to do for the county fair as I haven't even started on that yet things have been too hectic. I have some stuff on the back shelf idea wise for my knitting to learn too. Some things I can pick up super quickly on and adapt to do different things with and that is one of them it seems. I look forward to being able to make new and different things. Well I have more blogging to do but I am going to grab a moment to do some artwork. 

Life goes on

 

This is a drawing I did of my furbaby Pounce. (digital done using Lascaux on 2draw.net) He came to us after the loss of my youngest son who passed of Trisomy 18. My mom had a batch of kittens that she brought down and he was one of them. He was supposed to be my husbands cat but I wound up bonding with him. Later when we had our last child (my youngest daughter) they grew side by side. I was nursing her and instead of using one of those boppy pillows I used a body pillow and he'd lay beside her sleeping while she nursed. It seemed he was always as long as she was tall. When they started getting big enough that not both could lay on the pillow they'd somewhat bicker over the space :)  He always would come comfort me through some of the toughest times I went through. Which in the last few years there have been many and most of them were over the top rough for me. I went through a lot of loss and a lot of stress even going through another TIA (mini stroke) during this. He was always there. He was like a big teddy bear and I could just wrap my arms around him. He was very protective of me and would put a paw on my husbands hand if he was trying to rub my back or something and give him a look and meow at him like hey this is mine LOL. It was sort of a silly game thing in a way. I'd take him in with me for naps and he'd perch himself on my stomach or legs and watch me sleep. We considered him as much a family member as everyone else. Before he passed he weighed in at a little over 30lbs and was about 4ft long (tail included) He was a big boy. He had a soft spot for the kittens and would even let them nurse on his fur and he'd bathe them and play with them. He never used his claws though a gentle setting his teeth on you was enough to say you'd pushed his patience too far. He was a very gentle boy. I feel an empty spot where he was in my life and I still look for him though I know he isn't here. He is greatly missed. I was always was able to fix him up when he was injured but not this time. It turns out bladder blockages are common in males especially neutered ones and can take them pretty quickly. I had one other male cat who had this same problem when I was a kid. He was about 16yrs old (Pounce was still a young cat at about 4) but it is something to raise awareness of.  We planted a rose bush in his honor and put our sons stepping stones around it for like a memorial area. 

On other notes I have one family member who can now be deemed a cancer survivor (I can't say any more than that but I am so very glad to still have them around) I have a grandbaby on the way any time now and we are working on some improvements around our home. I plan on working on a project or so for the county fair later in the fall and we are working on container gardening which is actually going pretty well right now. We plan to rebuild our front porch and some other projects but of course as always our lives stay hectic. 

sunshine

 the snakes are out. This is a non-venomous (yeah like I'd be holding a venomous one LOL) brown snake. This little guy was hanging out around my bird bath when I was cleaning the garden spot out around it. They will eat a lot of insects and small pests around your garden. 

Baby's breath I think? In any case the flowers are blooming lots of great pics to take and planting to do. 

 Toads are also out. My son found this one in my MIL's flower bed and we found another at my Mom's. You can hear the spring peepers too :) 

The trees are finally starting to sprout leaves and I am forever fascinated by all the new growth. I've got some plants started and even got my first strawberry off of one of my strawberry plants. Wishing it would stay sunny but I also realize we need the rain. I hate being cold. I don't function well when I get cold. I have been picking up loom knitting still and made several items so far and am trying to learn different techniques and all. I love it very addicting. My attention span is all over the place so sometimes it is hard to stay focused :) Will post a better blog later. I haven't even been able to keep with my artwork as much as of late but will get back on that soon :) 

Spring fever...or cedar fever

 Older artrage drawing

Well it appears spring is finally upon us. Unfortunately for myself as well as for many other Oklahomans (and Texans) this particular last few months (Jan-March) is cedar fever time. For me this means severe breathing problems and this year I was diagnosed with bronchitis with possible (likely) pneumonia. Dr basically said they would have done the X-rays for it but decided since they were medicating anyway for it there radiation exposure was redundant and not needed. I was told I can expect the cough for about a month. yay me. I am definitely not the only one suffering from it right now it is affecting a LOT of people the same way. It makes me want to move to a state with less (or no LOL) cedar trees as this particular months are scary for me and my family. It has actually killed a few people from what I understand. If I had the way and the means I'd do it. Someplace with a pool that I could breathe. Not TOO hot but not overly cold either. Very sick of that too. My mom is recovering from her broken hip and doing great with that. Now is the time I'd like to be spending doing yard work and clean up and yet I have to limit my time outside :( Want so bad to go enjoy the sunshine. I am so white right now. Want to start going on my walks (I set the 20th ...first day of spring and my anniversary to start that) I've been on a steroid for the stuff I've been fighting that increases appetite. Sucks when  you are trying to lose weight but I needed it. (besides the other I've been fighting sinusitis and upper respiratory you name it) I am anxious to start setting up seed planting and going to the garden center. 

The other day I had a weird incident where my computer froze so I rebooted and it came up with an entirely new screen. Not like an earlier version or anything like that it was like I had a completely different version of windows installed. All my settings were gone for Chrome etc. So I get everything set back up and then next think I know when it rebooted the next day for AVG updates...BOOM it was back to the way it had been originally with all my original settings restored. Dang possessed computer. 

My youngest child has decided (thank you lego movie and McDonalds) that she loves batman now and her favorite color is black LOL :) She insisted on wearing a cape to bed one night and declared she couldn't wear earrings anymore (she just got them back in December) because batman doesn't. Got around that one by telling her you never know he might be under that mask. O.o LOL She told me last night her new favorite birds were Robins LOL She cracks me up. She also told me she needs to check my hair for "sharks". There is a syfy movie right there. We are trying to loosely make plans for spring break. Might just do spur of the moment stuff since planning never works out well for us. Hopefully everyone will be doing well enough to enjoy it. My son's birthday also falls during spring break. 

Also I'd just like to take the time again to recommend Zinni for anyone who wears glasses. Love them. They are cheaper than most places for the frames (lenses depend on your prescription but still not bad) Shipping took a while the first time but the 2nd was here pretty much in a week. Most of the things like scratch coat and all are free, comes with a really nice lens cleaning cloth etc. You can order tinting, sunglasses (got some this last time that are clip ons for my frames) etc. Customize to your hearts content and then you can upload a pic of yourself and see what you'd look like in them. (one of my fave things because at the eye dr office I am blind as a frikking bat w/out mine so I am looking blankly in the mirror going ummmm when they say how do you like these. I have no idea. I can't see a damned thing!

I hope I can at least accomplish some of my goals this spring. Something always comes up but I try to focus on what I was actually able to get done. My art has been on hold for a bit. I am dying to get my hands on a piano and paint it for some reason. I may give in and do it when I get the shed and all cleaned out and have a workspace. right now I don't I would want to sell it after and I would like to start up doing Avon again. Seriously giving it some thought. It would be worth it if I had anyone that wanted to order. I have felt like I've been waiting on something the last few years and more recently I feel like I am almost to it. Couldn't tell you what it is ...just one of those feelings other than it is a good thing and involves self goals. Weird when you have a feeling like that and can't really explain what it is or why but hey it is a positive one so no complaints here. I guess I need to finish a few things up and go take the kids outside (drag them out LOL) and get some sunshine for a little bit while I can. Listening to Polica right now. I am so hooked on that band. Kind of haunting in a way. I love the way they sound. May blog more soon. 

Smoothing out

 bird I did on 2draw.net

Thankfully things seem to be calming a bit on the home front. Basically over the last few weeks my Mom had broken her hip. She lives next door to us and we take care of her and so this had a rather large impact on my family. She HATES going to hospitals so it took a lot of talking to get her to go as she didn't believe she had hurt herself that badly and when she found she did she was shocked. She had to go to a nursing home for a bit for therapy and this was pretty difficult especially due to lack of communication between the nursing home and therapists etc so anyway it looked like it would lead to a loss of a lot of what she has as far as nursing and all and in the end thankfully she still has everything she needs and possibly more. I hate when people go through stress that actually turns out later it was all for nothing (well not nothing really and I am glad it didn't turn out how it appeared it would against all odds) but yeah. Much un-needed on all parties. The stress is fading now mostly still have a couple of bumps and a lot of re-adjusting to new schedules yet again (and even AGAIN here in about a week) but so far so good. 
My youngest will be starting Kindergarten next year and had to go to her future school for testing. She actually was testing at a 7 yr old level for this test she was taking. (which is funny because she looks like a 7 yr old and is the height and weight of one) We were told they don't normally make it that far through the tests at that age. :) Made me feel really good. My 2nd oldest is leaving state and so this should be quite an adventure for her. Hoping it is a smooth move and all goes well. My son is doing well. He's growing up on me even getting a mustache. He will be 15 next month. Time to get some birthday shopping done. He didn't give me much of a list to go with. My oldest is expecting her first baby in May (her own birth month) She hopefully finds out what she is having next week so all is well on that front. (with all the kids) 
I've thus far managed to keep the 5lbs I  lost off which actually is doing pretty good for me. I have a pile of pants that are "goal pants" to try to fit into. I have some that I've worn forever that I can't hardly keep up anymore. (I'm losing inches faster than lbs) I'm excited but actually kinda nervous to get rid of my old pants but I am going to soon. I don't want to keep them around. Got that pedometer only problem is remembering to wear it otherwise I love it. 
 I am at the moment hooked on Red Dead Redemption. Totally fascinated by the graphics and game play. Loved Dead Island and will likely play that one again. Would like to play Uncharted but none of that series will play without the cut scenes messing up.  (Best place to get them is the pawn shop where they have sales which is actually kind of a plus to getting into it late which we did ....weren't able to til recently...there are more choices for cheap) 
We got the okay to get rid of our totaled van recently so can finally get that out of our driveway thankfully. Got it cleaned out today. Won't get much on it because of the fact it is totaled but hey. 
I am hoping the weather starts to stay nice though I am hearing snow storm the weekend after this one. :( That can just go away. I want to start cleaning out our shed and carport and getting rid of stuff. Have plenty to start with that is either broken, kids have grown out of, or don't need in general. Want to get my garden areas ready for spring. We have other projects we are hoping to work on later in the spring. I am excited but tentative because anything goes with how that is going to turn out. So much to do but at least it isn't things I dread as the last few years has been and I hope it all stays positive. 
Also if all goes well I would like to take the kids a few places this year. (pushing myself again but I feel I need it) Places the older kids got to go but the younger two haven't really had the opportunities to do. 
Also I've actually been talking to my dad a little which is progress in that dept. Kind of nice. (Something I learned is never say never no matter how sure you are of something) 
I've also been continuing to work on my artwork: 

 water dragon I did on 2draw.net

I've been wanting to branch out with my crafts and my cousin is really inspiring me with that at the moment. I want to learn more about crochet and I just found some things to make jewelry with. It kills me that I don't have more of a set space to work on that stuff (I'd like for my hubby to have a good space like that too as he makes jewelry and things) Something I've day dreamed about a bit is getting a used free piano that I see on Craigslist all the time (there was one local recently and it was all I could do to NOT go get it) and do a full scale painting on it. I'd want to have it tuned too which I know nothing about to do that. My mom used to play piano and so did my grandma and they tried to teach me and about as far as I got was how to play "I dropped my dolly in the dirt"...granted I was like 7 but still. No real musical talent here. (I love to sing and dance but can't play instruments...maybe drums LOL) I may give in to that urge some day but no space to put one anyway. If someone asked me to for them I so would though. I've done furniture for friends and enjoyed it. I always find I get nervous when I am doing something like that for someone else though. I worry that they aren't going to like it or that I am not doing the best I can and I am always so relieved and even surprised when I get rave reviews. I even get like this when doing posters for my daughters school. Yet they've really liked them. I got to do face painting for the kids during a party and had fun with that too. 

I guess looking back I have done more with my art than I give myself credit for but it is hard to see unless I look back at where I was on occasion. I just wish I could apply that to my writing too. I guess just have to dive in sometime and go to it. Well it looks like it is my turn on playstation so I am off. We take turns after the kids go to bed. (tv is pretty much theirs during the day) Hard to choose sometimes between game time and movie time. Though when it comes to walking dead I watch that ASAP so I don't run into spoilers on facebook. :/    I did find that both my son and daughter love the lego game series so it is something they can play together which is cool.  (They each have their own other preferences but that one they share pretty strongly) Wonder if when he gets to go out and build his easter houses as he calls them (some thing he likes to do in spring using sticks to build them...kind of like dioramas) if she'd like to go help him. I personally may build some little fairy houses like the ones I've seen samples of. I think they are cute. Just some fun silly thing to do but isn't that what makes life worth living somewhat? 

     

2014 holds some obstacles as well

I still feel like 2014 holds promise it is too early in the year to really tell  but it isn't going to be without some rough spots for sure. I am going through one right now with my mom. It seems like there may be big changes ahead there and as of yet not entirely sure what those will be or how things will unfold but doesn't look to be easy changes for anyone at the moment. Trying to take each day daily and see what it holds and to not focus entirely on that. Can't say too much about it at the moment other than to say it is heavily affecting all our lives and that everything is up in the air yet again. 
As for me I think I got a hint in a way to carry on with my paintings though I've been lacking in time to do so. (I may be on and off here a lot but I am usually multi-tasking at the time or in a situation where painting is not possible) I can do digital art because well no supplies laid all around, no water to spill, etc. Just a digital tablet and pen so I tend to work in that medium a lot. I do also use my sketchpad in waiting rooms and all. Just don't have my flash drive at the moment. Anyway... We had gone to the little thrift store and my hubby came back with a big bag of acrylics that was actually really inexpensive. Went ahead and got it after looking at the paints at much as we could and came home to find out most all of them were brand new never opened. So eventually going to have to find some time to use them. The weather is also warming so I know I need to use the time to get some outdoor chores done that I wasn't able to before. My entire family needs some sunshine. I need to start my walking. My diet has been on and off (mostly still on) due to so much going on and high stress levels. 

Random thoughts bourne of cabin fever

Sitting here waiting on spring to arrive it feels like forever away. I am watching the tree across the street bud out heavily and tease me with Spring while the snow just won't quit falling. :/ Typical. So tired of the cold. 
Anyway some random thoughts. I figured out that one reason I was failing on my weight loss before was I was concentrating too much on the scales. Apparently a common problem. This time around I was shocked by the inches lost factor vs. lbs lost. Big difference. While my weight was not changing much the inches are in fact coming down. The weight is now starting to come down as well but this has been one inspiration that and noticing my clothes are getting too big. (though almost sad to see my favorite pants go....ALMOST LOL) I am so anxious for the warmer weather and to be able to get out and start walking a lot more. Maybe even *gasp* jogging or running. My son has a bike that we need to air up for him to get around on and I guess I need to get mine going as well. Want to get a trailer thing for my youngest if she isn't too big for it and a bike going for hubby (if I can talk him into it LOL Though I know he will do the walks with me) I wish we had a decent gym here. Or the Y was closer. May try to do something like that anyway. I'm continuing my dancing and so far so good with the at least 10 min of exercise for 5 days a week. Also if it were warmer I'd like to start working on a greenhouse type thing. There are a few things up kind of in the air but nothing bad just more of which way will we go type things. Still see so much potential in this year. I am still continuing to work on my artwork though I had a painting I was so happy with mysteriously get damaged. No clue how but it was one I'd planned to enter in the county fair this year. I may have to try to do something else. 
My mom was injured in the last month when she fell and broke her hip. She didn't honestly believe the fall was that bad and was rather shocked to find out what injury had actually incurred. She is recouping. My youngest has missed a full week of school due to weather and we are all out of our groove and out of sorts. 
I really do still believe though that this will be a year of change and growth. It all ready seems to be in other ways. Just so long as it is GOOD chance and growth :)