UPDATE

Just a quick note to let you know that I am still kicking.  I have a show Sunday and I am in my usual panic mode.  I work best that way.  HB is off to St Louis to stay with grandson #1, which is a good thing because I can work and sleep when I want.  I do this every show although I promise myself each time that next time I will be more organized.  I just think I work better under pressure.  I will try to post some pictures before the show.  Have a great week everyone.  Oh wait.  Here is a necklace I made.

RELIVING MY PAST....

some thirty years later.  The past two days HB and I have been talking care of three of the grandchildren during the day while mom is on a business trip and dad is working.  We arrive at their home around 7am and the race is on.  The dad( our son, has lunch boxes, backpacks, milk money, and important papers all in order) From 7 until 8:30 we awaken a 2 1/2, 5, and 6 yr old, feed them, oversee dressing, supervise teeth brushing, tame unruly hair, find shoes, and search for a missing blankie.  HB takes the oldest to the bus stop while I put the finishing touches on the younger ones.  By the time we drop the little ones off at preschool at 9 am we are certain we have put in a full day's work :)  Two pm comes before we know it and we are back at their house waiting for big sister to get home from school and dad to come home from work.  Watching the children's interaction is really interesting.  Today there was a 30 min. altercation concerning three piggy banks and a variety of accusations about who took money from who's bank.  There were tears, some yelling, and many unknowns.  The 5 year old was the most upset, just sure that his oldest sister had taken money out of his bank.......and then the sweetest thing happened.  The littlest one said, "Don't cry, Buddy, I'll give you some of my money" and upstairs they went and she put some of her money in his bank......all was right with the world. Wouldn't it be nice if we could all settle things this easily?

I would not trade these days or this time for anything in the world, even though by nighttime I am feeling pretty worn out...it's a happy tired.  I feel so lucky.

INSPIRATION

Just in case no one knows yet, my bead mojo is gone.  She has disappeared, left the country, found another soul mate.  Who knows?  All I know is that I miss her and wish she would come home.  In the mean time I occupy my time exploring the Internet trying to find inspiration.  I think I hit the jackpot.  Look at what I found last week,  The Sewing Attic.  I fell in love with the blanket she crocheted so I wrote to her and she sent me the pattern.  Her website is just full of color!  Besides crocheting she is also a quilter and a photographer and I spent a good two hours on her site.  Here is the yarn I bought for my blanket.  I'm hoping it will inspire me. So far I have made 3 squares.....she said it took her a year to make the blanket......yikes !

I CAN'T SMELL

About a month ago I noticed that I couldn't smell anything.  When we got our new car I couldn't smell that new car smell.....and seriously, we only get a new car every 10 years so I wanted to enjoy that new car smell!  Then my DIL gave me some roses for my birthday and there was no smell to them for me, although everyone else thought they smelled wonderful.  I made a pot roast for dinner one night....nothing.  Now I have a nose that could smell our dryer burning in the basement from the second floor in the house.  I could smell Reese's peanut butter cups being chewed in a closed mouth and don't ever think that you could hide any kind of chocolate from me because my nose WOULD find it.  Unfortunately my nose also finds molds, budding trees, and ragweed.  These items do not make it happy. I love smells....the ocean, puppy breath, chocolate cake in the oven, my grand children's clean heads, fingernail polish,  fresh mint, potato chips when you first open the bag, coffee brewing,...I could go on and on....but as you can probably tell, smelling is kind of important to me.  So today I went to the nose doctor.
He said I have a very inflamed nose.  He determined this by sticking this long black stick up my nose and then looking through a camera at the other end.  When I first saw the stick it looked like some form of torture, but in reality it didn't hurt as much as I anticipated. I kind of thought it was a piece of cake until he told me that he couldn't get the tube in far enough because of the swelling...yikes!  So he ordered a bunch of meds to reduce the swelling and then I go back in three weeks, so he can explore my sinus cavities, the higher regions of my nasal passages, and who knows what else.  I am thrilled at the prospect :(
One of the drugs he ordered to clear the inflammation is Prednisone...for three weeks, starting with 40mg a day for a week.  I have a love/ hate relationship with Pred.  It makes my aching joints feel wonderful.  My neck no longer hurts and my knees don't complain as I walk along.  I have energy, too much energy.  I can't sleep and I become a cleaning machine.  There is no job I will not tackle...clean the oven, clean out the frig, clean closets and drawers, organize EVERYTHING...but my house could use it so I guess this all goes under the love part.
Now for the hate part.  I can't sleep.. It wires me.  I am always hungry and therefore always eating.  It is a shaky "get something in your mouth right now" kind of hunger.  It isn't pretty.  Neither are the pounds I gain while on Pred.  It makes me grouchy........or maybe grouchier.  Well, sometimes I just feel like my skin is going to come off...that's a little unnerving.  I have a bead show in 6 weeks, if I remember correctly it messes with my creativity too and I haven't seen the beadfairy for over three months now.  Things aren't looking too good for me are they? BUT if I get my smeller back, It will be worth it.