Halloween Mini Sneak Peek & Juneau, the Scary Dog

Here is the front cover (duh) of my book for my (step) daughter, Sara. I really don't like the word "step" when referring to family, but if I leave it off, people will say - hey, I thought you only had one child. Sara is 21 and lives about two hours away, at the coast. We don't see her very often, and I miss her.

Anyway, this is a 4"x4" book. I plan to photograph all of it tomorrow, and then it will be on the way to Sara. It is my third book and I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. The Tim Holtz ticket would not be on the front had Cindy not been kind enough to stamp the image a bunch of times and mail them to me. And, had I not punched a hole in the wrong place. Trying to be a big girl and learn the Big Bite all by myself!

I wish I could say we spent a quiet evening at home, but that wasn't the case. Juneau, and his noises....words cannot describe, except to say he could record a sound track for a haunted house. He took his position at guard, even before the trick-or-treaters arrived. That position is on the loveseat in front of the window, leaning over the back of it. Lots of growls (some soft, some very deep) and his trademark "woo woo woo" which doesn't sound like any noise a regular dog would make. It's incredibly loud and shrill, done with his head thrown back.

We live at the end of a dead-end street, and have a relatively long driveway. When you add Juneau into the mix, it can be rather scary, even on days other than October 31st. Parents looked through the window and admired him. Some kids were fine, but most of them looked very concerned. And one little boy said, "I almost didn't come up here." The funny part is he would not leave his position on the couch. He's actually very scared of strangers and his usual response is to run in the opposite direction. Unless you're a FedEx driver who stares him in the eyes and challenges him.

That was our (boring) Halloween. Hope yours was a tad more exciting :).

Sigh....

I saw the lovely and talented Dr. Murphy this morning. Board Certified orthopedic surgeon, and always in a bit of a hurry. Not as bad as some doctors, but still....so much of medicine has become the equivalent of a drive-thru restaurant. I like my Family Nurse Practitioner. We have this whole HMO (or is it PPO) insurance so I have to have a Primary Provider. She spends way more time with me, and she listens. I never finished college, but it seems to me a large portion of good medicine involves listening. But I digress.

Today's visit was to talk about the injection he gave me a month ago, whether it helped, etc. He told me then that if the injection did help, I'd be a good candidate for surgery. He was also supposed to look at my MRI films. They had sent the narrative, but not the films.

I don't think he remembers me. Now, normally, I am a memorable patient. I make sure of it. But in this case, with this doctor, he is only in this particular office a couple Tuesdays a month, and only in the morning. Last month the appointment was at 8:30. Today it was at 9:00. I don't fully wake up till about noon. I mean, I can get up and walk around and form sentences any time before noon. But my gears are not fully turning till after 12:00, give or take. I am doing good to get myself to the office. Being memorable is pretty much impossible.

So, I tell him the injection helped a great deal. I was waiting for him to say, "Cool, let's schedule surgery." Not that I want surgery, but if surgery will make the pain go away, I'm more than ready. He didn't say the S-word though. Instead he told me I didn't have a rotator cuff tear, and read from some piece of paper in my chart which talked about inflammation and thickening. I don't know if this paper was his dictated notes after looking at my films, or if he was reading from the radiologist's report. I said "did you look at my films?" He said he did. I'm not sure I believe him.

I have spent the past four years trying to find out if I have a tear or not. Some docs who read the MRI films say I do. Some say I don't. But these are radiologists, not ortho docs. The ortho docs (two of them now) have said no tear. Yet the pain continues, along with the loss of range of motion, muscle spasms, and on and on. Dr. Murphy is sending me back to physical therapy. This will be the third or fourth round of PT. It gets old. I get cranky.

And....get this.....two minutes after saying there wasn't a tear, he says, "If there is a tear, it isn't large enough to warrant surgery." I just sat there, in shock. I should have questioned him. It's the morning thing. I swear I cannot function. I'm amazed I didn't start crying. When I told my husband about the visit, he said "Why did he tell you if the shot worked, you'd be a good candidate for surgery then?"

I know my shoulder didn't hurt before Bennie's car landed on top of mine. I know I have to go back to my primary care FNP, and we have to keep working on this. It's not like they are trying to diagnose some rare viral disease acquired in a tropical country far, far away. I also know I'm not undergoing chemotherapy. This has always been my mother's analogy, and she's right. It's one shoulder. I do have a spare. I need to "woman up" and deal with it. And I will.

Judge Judy

Do you like Judge Judy? I like Judge Judy. She is intelligent, funny, and overflowing with common sense. Her father was a dentist, and so was mine.

Pretty Flowers, Today and a Nice Customer

Aren't these handmade flowers gorgeous? Think Valentine mini, or even Christmas mini. Not only do you get the flowers, you get two stick pins and 20 inches of the ribbon used to make the flowers. All for $3.50 --- wow! A very nice lady named Cindy makes these, and if you click here you can magically travel to her flower cart in cyberspace. I showed an uncommon restraint and only purchased one set.

This has been a long and bizzy day (I know.. but I like how it looks spelled that way). Got four hours sleep last night and hit the ground running this morning. I made a lot of stuff today, and then hubby packaged the stuff and shipped it. It was overcast, gray, drizzly and perfectly dismal. I love this weather.

The nice customer is a person who received an order of four knobs today. Two of those knobs were the wrong design. Nice. I apologized profusely and told her I would ship out the correct knobs on Monday. Just a bit ago she purchased more knobs from me/us.

Hope you have a blessed Sunday ~

Fright Town

We like to go to a haunted house every 4-5 years. This was the year, and tonight was the night. My friend Cornelia accompanied us. She is such a sweetheart. This Fright Town is located in downtown Portland, Oregon. Very impressive with three separate "houses" and so much detail and theatrics.

One of the houses had a fun-house theme, and without getting into the "gory" details, I witnessed my husband be hit on (all in the spirit of the attraction) by a topless man wearing leather pants and sporting extremely bizarre make-up. He was right up against hubby and the look on hubby's face was priceless. Talk about your Kodak moment! Lucky for me I have a great memory for odd things like this. Definitely worth the price of admission, and then some.

Amazed

A great variety of things amaze me. A day does not go by that I am not amazed at least once. Most days I am amazed several times.

I struggle with what to post on my blog. I often feel my blog is way too much "me," and not nearly enough "everyone else." Meaning: could I not find something more worthwhile to write about than hot flashes? But then I think: a blog is an online diary, right? A place where you can be yourself.

So it fits together then, my frequent state of amazement and my blogger's block. AMAZED will become a new category, and ensure I have lots and LOTS to blog about! Let's get started, shall we?

Motherhood. I've been a mother for over 16 years. I am someone's mother. Amazing. Even before my son was born, I was amazed. Me. Pregnant? Really? I walk by my son's room at night, and it strikes me yet again - I'm a mother. There is a part of the equation that is simply surreal. No other word describes it. I'm a mother, and have been for some time. And my son is on the right road, with the right values. He is a decent and honest person. And caring...very caring. His faith inspires many people, including me - his mother.

I Gots Me a Gun

My ATG came today! YESSSS! It works perfectly, owing to the fact hubby put the tape in it for me. I never thought I would get one of these because I never thought I'd get enough use out of it. Never say never right?

I Don't Like You Mommy......

~ Happy Thanksgiving ~

Wishing my friends and family in Canada a blessed Thanksgiving holiday.

And....in regards to my previous post: the Kitchen-Aid mixer paddle thingey went immediately into the dishwasher. Just wanted to set the record straight on that one.

Baking Cookies

Okay...so ummm...these dogs aren't too spoiled, are they? I was making M&M party cookies (Cob's fav) and hubby was gracious enough to hold the paddle I think it's called. Clean as a whistle once they were done with it. Didn't even have to wash it....lol.

My First Charm Swap

Mailed these off the other day to a very nice lady named Cindy. Never made charms before and hubby had to help a lot at the beginning. My loops are oh so sad, but I will improve.

The charm is actually a vintage Scrabble tile. We make pendants with these and I thought it would be cool to change it up a bit. My tag is an image from a 1938 Halloween party notice. The back and top are lined with vintage music paper. The "ribbon" is actually tinsel I cut from a Halloween spider I got at the Dollar Tree.

Cindy hosts this swap each month. It's been a lot of fun and I can't wait to see all the charms I will get back :). Here is her blog if you want to check it out:

http://cindyscroppingcorner.blogspot.com/

To My Husband

Seven years ago today we became husband and wife. You are my Prince Charming. You are my best friend. You are the answer to many, many prayers. You're an amazing husband and father.

I love you ~ more than you know.