Thursday, August 20, 2009

Peeping out from under the covers...

Wow. It's been a long time. Surgery was difficult and the recovery is still ongoing. My wish that no mesh would be used didn't come to fruition. I'm told that I have to give my recovery a full year. A full year full of chronic pain. Sucks. I'm not on pain meds but once Lilliput returns to school next week, I might reconsider taking them.

Speaking of Lilliput, our summer has been very low key. Unfortunately, I was not physically able to do much with her and she spent too much time in front of the tv. I did set her up with some art projects which she enjoyed. She's grown about an inch and a half over the summer and a veteran mother thought she was 9 or 10 years old. Oh my! We've been slowly getting ready for school with the purchase of supplies and clothes.

Lilliput's highlight was in late July when she swallowed one of the steel balls that goes with her magnet sets. She claims she put it in her mouth "to keep it warm." She ended up in the ER where they x-rayed her. We were told to check her p**p for the next 4 days and if it hadn't passed, bring her back in. On the 5th day I took her back to the ER where they repeated the x-ray and it hadn't even moved. Next thing I know they are transferring her to the Children's Hospital by ambulance thus requiring an IV. Such a waste of time. Pediatric Gastroentrologist said she was fine and it would eventually pass. We were instructed to have a monthly x-ray to check its progress. We had an x-ray yesterday and it has passed!

We've had a cool and wet summer and have only had about six days over 80 degrees. Our trip to Texas was rough. The days were anywhere from 100 to 104 degrees. We didn't get out much. We had a wonderful family dinner to celebrate my parents 50th anniversary. I'm so proud and fortunate that they've made it work so long. Marriage isn't easy but they set a wonderful example for their children. David's parents will celebrate their 60th anniversary next month. We feel so blessed to have the parents we do.

Even though I entertained Lilliput with art projects, my muse has been absent. I'm hoping when she goes back to school next week that I'll find time to finish putting my studio together and finding some inspiration.

David is doing great. Not only did he get a raise this year, but was placed on the "executive bonus plan" which is unprecedented after only 4 years with the company. I'm very proud of him and have tried hard not to burden him too much when he gets home. We've eaten out a lot and have consumed a lot of take-out because after a full day minding Lilliput, the pain and lack of motivation haven't allowed me to cook much.

We are attending two Steelers games this Fall and since we haven't been to Heinz Field yet...we are all looking forward to it. I'm really for college ball to start. Go Horns! They have a soft schedule but I'm anticipating they will have a stellar season.

That's about it for now. I promise to post more often and hopefully will have some new artwork to showcase.

Peace.

2 comments:

Trudy said...

I am so thrilled that you are joining The Artistic Mother's Group.
We will be allowing two weeks for each project. But if you get behind, please don't worry. Just keep working a little each day. The whole point of this group is to develop the habit of doing art each day. It is also so we can encourage one another and be an accountability group. I personally need the accountability part of it. Knowing that others are coming to see what I'm up to is very motivational; otherwise, I may not finish it on my own. Some projects may be easier for you than others and may allow you to catch up. But if you don't, don't get discouraged. Just keep on going. This is a low pressure group. I want everyone to have fun and also enjoy visiting one another.
And please do a blog post about your participation in the group inviting others to join. Please give a link to my blog for those who may wish to join so they can come here and get the details and sign in. I am keeping a master list of all participants.

Each week do a post of your progress as you go through the book. Please either include links to the other participants in your posts each week or keep them posted in your side bar or you can give the link to my blog in each progress post stating that the master list is on my blog that way everyone can click around and visit all of the other participants' blogs and see everyone's progress for encouragement, inspiration and to encourage.

A real easy way to do the linking would be to have a separate blog list from your main one labeled The Artistic Mother Group and keep all of the participants on that list on your sidebar. Then you don't have to put the links in every progress post. That's what I'm going to do. Each progress post I make, at the end of the post, I will list any new participants. So please check my blog each week for the new comers so you can update your participants' list.

Other things to be doing before we get started: Buy the book if you haven't already, start reading it, start gathering a stash of papers: newspapers, magazines, flyers, ticket stubs, scrap booking stickers, etc., to be used in future projects. The first project will have us making background papers.

Be sure and check my blog often for updates and notes of encouragement.

I am signing up as follower and putting you on my blog list so I can know when you post, and I am adding your name to the list right now.

Again, I am so glad you could join us. See you on March 6th, our launch date.

Trudy
http://artisticcreationswithtrudy.blogspot.com/2010/02/new-artistic-mother-group-forming-i.html
Note: Due to copyright laws, we are not allowed to do tutorials or step-by-step photos of the projects on our blogs or take photos of the pages in the book and post them. You may post a photo of your version of the project and talk about your experiences and feelings relating to it.

Also, if you are doing this project with a friend, each person must have their book unless you are doing it together under the same roof. No photocopying of the book, please.

Trudy said...

There have been a couple of changes in the instructions I sent you. To make things easier for everyone since our group has grown so much, instead of having to put all of the links in each post or on your sidebar, I have made a button for the group. Just grab my button and put that in your sidebar.

The other change is that instead of having to post at the end of each week, you may post about your progress any time of the week that is best for you; but do try to post weekly. When posting your progress each week, if you could mention the group and a link to my blog in your posts, that would be great. That way people can go to my blog and see the list of the other participants and click around to see their progress as well.

Please check my blog often for tips, notes of encouragement and exciting news. Coming soon will be a post about a Flickr group for our Mothers' art group and also a giveaway.

And if you could you please send me your email address to sewingwithtrudy at yahoo dot com so that if I want to do a group email, I'll have everyone's address? Thanks so much.

Trudy Callan
Group coordinator for The Artistic Mother Art Group
www.artisticcreationswithtrudy.blogspot.com