April's Creative Musings

2008-03-19T17:43:00.000-07:00

Spring is almost here. I can actually smell it. I'm so impatient this year to get started on my landscaping and gardening. I want to finish the front yard's landscaping and I want to have the pine trees that line my back yard cut down. They actually shorten the yard by about 10 or 15 feet. I want to build a stone fence back there so that we still have some privacy. Probably will have more privacy than we do with the trees. Eventually I want to have climbing flowers going up the stone fence on both sides. I've got some plants ordered that will be shipped when it is time to put them into the ground. I want to do more outside this summer and get more exercise. I've been spending too much time doing my crafts in my basement.

You know, even though he doesn't really think much of plants that you can't eat, Rick helps me haul rocks, haul dirt and such for my gardens. My ex liked gardens and has made some since I moved out of his house and would have probably helped me with the gardens. But what I really appreciate about Rick is that when it comes to my crafts and trying to start a business with them, he is supportive. The ex would have looked down his nose at the idea. There isn't anything that I really want to do that Rick isn't supportive. I guess that's what relationships are supposed to be like. I'm not sure that I'm always so supportive of Rick. Need to make sure that I am in the future.

This fall I want to go back to school and get my RN degree. Even though we're not quite sure where we'll come up with the money for tuition and books, he hasn't discouraged me to do it. In the long run I'll make more money and will have better opportunities for advancement. If I don't get accepted into the BSN program at Northern, I'll try to do it online. I just wish I'd hear back from the Nursing Dept as to whether I've been accepted or not. It's very hard to not know how to plan. Waiting has never been one of my strong points.

2006-09-19T21:17:00.000-07:00

I can't believe that summer is over already. Seems like it just got started. We are still hoping to get a couple more camping trips in before we have to pack the camper away for the winter. Hoping to get some photo taking trips in this fall, too.

Sales in my ebay store have started to pick up now that the summer is over. Hope that I can make some good business this fall as people get ready for Christmas. Have a couple of new kits that I'm listing this month for sure and maybe another one if I can get it finished soon. I'm going to list some of the slippers and such that I have knitted. Hopefully someone will be interested for Christmas presents. The smaller slippers would make good stocking stuffers. I also have several felted purses. I can't afford to do the Dome's Christmas Craft Fair this year and so won't have that to sell them at. Will do the craft fair at the Senior Center here in Negaunee with my mother-in-law.

Rick and I made it to another anniversary. Number 6. We had a nice meal at the new UP North Lodge and then some wine back at the house in my romantic bedroom. The weather was gorgeous. This past Saturday we went to a friend's wedding. It was also Jalyn's birthday.

I've been enjoying work a bit more late.y. I've gotten to work on the Substance Abuse Unit a lot. I like working there and there isn't the borderline's like on Psych. My heel with the bone spur hasn't bothered me as much there either as I'm not having to be on my feet as much. I think that I'm going to have to do something about the spur. When I'm working psych my left heel gets somewhat numb from the spur. Not good. Just really don't want to have to have surgery on it. The time off would be nice but the pain should be pretty bad. The risk fro permanent damage is pretty high, too. Will have to see what it would entail as far as what is done and what kind of time would be needed off. Gonna have to keep building up my sick time but also my vacation time.

2006-07-13T21:01:00.000-07:00

It was hot here today. To some it probably wouldn't have seemed hot but for this part of the country it was hot. My hubby doesn't take the heat too well but I handle it a little better. My craft/computer room is in the basement so I get a break from the heat by going down there. We got a deluge of rain for about a half hour this afternoon which only put more humidity in the air. That's what is hard to take. I'll take this time of the year over the winter any day, though.

My gardens are starting to fill in. One of the nurses on day shift brought in two big vases of flowers from her garden. They are gorgeous. If I were to bring in that amount of flowers or even just cut them for here in the house, I'd not have any flowers left in the gardens. But that will change in a few years. Her garden is a bit older than mine. It takes time. They are looking good, though. I've been out taking pictures quite a bit. My yellow rhododendron bloomed this year. Not sure if it only blooms every other year or if it just needed to do some growing last year after being planted the year before. It was gorgeous. The purple coneflowers are blooming now. I also have dianthus' blooming. Delphiniums are blooming. There are blue, purple and white ones. Daylilies and the asiatic lilies are blooming in the front yard. It looks like the globe thistle is about to bloom. It's such fun checking the gardens each days and see if there's anything new blooming.

2006-06-02T21:02:00.000-07:00

Ten years ago today my oldest daughter graduated from high school. It was a nice day but there were still ice bergs on Lake Superior. Today it was gorgeous and my gardens are well into bloom. Yesterday before work I stopped at Shopko and bought some pansies and moss roses. Today I planted them. I also got most of the vegetable garden planted. It was nice to be able to work outside today.

It's hard to believe that my oldest daughter is old enough to have graduated ten years ago. That also means that I graduated 30 years ago. Most of the time I don't feel old but more and more frequently my body reminds me that I'm getting older. For the most part I figure you're only as old as you feel and I am young at heart.

I had to stay over last night. Luckily I was able to get someone to come in early for me and I only had to stay until 0400. I was able to finish the hardanger project that I was working on. I took pictures of it today and listed it on ebay. I need to make another one and matching placemats. I'm going to give them to my niece as a wedding present. She's getting married next summer in July. The last I knew her favorite color was green. Same as both of my girls. My favorite color is purple. Which is why I used that color as the main color in my bedroom.

2006-05-26T16:03:00.000-07:00

One of my co-workers left and moved to another town recently. She admired the felted purse that I have so I offered to make her one. She wanted one that was black and pink and had the fun fur at the bottom. So off to the yarn store I went and found the colors that she wanted and made her the purse. I didn't see her again before she left but she did get her purse and others say that she was happy with it. It only took me a couple of days to knit. She didn't want the big flower that I put on mine. I'm hoping to be able to sell some of these at the craft fair this fall and maybe in some of the local gift shops. I'm also making a smaller version of this style for little girls. I have two just about done and then I can felt them. I've also made a couple of others in different styles but they aren't quite done. One needs the strap sewn on and the other needs some embellishments of some sort. Kind of bland right now. When I get them so I'm happy with them, I'll put their pictures on here, too.

I'm also hoping to be able to get some of my blank note cards into some of the local gift shops. Especially the red hat ones. I sold a few at work the other day. Didn't go through the ones that I have there to know which ones sold but the lady bought $10. Perfect for me to go and get some wool yarn with to make a purse.

I was bummed to find out none of my pictures won anything in the employee photo contest at work. There were a lot of gorgeous pictures there, of course, but one always go into those things hoping to win.

The weather is gorgeous here today. I have one of those old-fashioned lawnmowers that doesn't have a motor and I was out there using it today. I think it needs to be sharpened. It's so nice to not have oil fumes polluting the air. Just the smell of cut grass wafing across my nostrils as I mowed. My columbine in front of the house are blooming already and I got some pictures of them. The double ones under the trees to the side of the house are not blooming yet. And my Iceland Poppies are blooming, too. Tulips and daffodils are done. Giant Hyacinths are done. Grape hyacinths are still blooming and the Irises are about to bloom. I even have a pansy from last year with two flowers on it and the violets have flowers on them. We had an early spring this year and even though we got some snow later, it was still much warmer than usual and things are early this year. I've got to finish working up my vegetable garden this weekend so that I can get it planted. I just love summer. I love the flowers, the smells and the warm weather. Someday I am going to live where the gardening season is much longer.

2006-05-11T15:38:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow my husband and I leave to go to my youngest daughter's college graduation. She went to school to learn to repair stringed instruments. Last Saturday we attended my son's graduation from Northern as a math teacher. After tomorrow all of my kids will be done with school. It looks like my son will be moving to Florida at the end of the summer where he will be teaching. Not sure where my daughter will be moving to. She's still looking for a job. When my oldest daughter came home for the graduations, she informed me that she, too, will probably be moving later this summer. She's going to follow her boyfriend to wherever he can get a full-time job. My son is following his girlfriend to Florida. She has a job there and so they are moving there. Hopefully, this all means that soon there will be in-laws and possibly grandchildren. I don't want to be an older first-time grandmother. I want to be able to enjoy them and keep up with them.

During the winter I took some pictures of my husband's niece with a red hat to make blank note cards of red hats. I used my bedroom window as the backdrop. They turned out really cute. I even managed to sell some on Ebay. I'm hoping this summer to get some more with his other two nieces. I'd also like to get my Mother-in-law to pose for some for me. I want to put her in an old Victorian era outfit. I'm hoping my backyard and flowerbeds will make a good backdrop for those pictures. Will have to see how my gardens do this summer. Hubby's niece had a fun time. Uncle Rick bought her some donut holes and chocolate stars to have with her tea while I took pictures. She didn't get tired at all. I want to take the best picture, have it enlarged and framed so that she can hang it on the wall in her bedroom and, along with a scrapbook of all the pictures taken, give it to her for Christmas. I'm hoping that I can talk my mother-in-law to do some selling for me this summer now that she is retired. I'm hoping I can get her to take my cards around to different shops as she travels around this summer and convince them to sell them in their stores. I'll need to do the same thing locally. I'm just not very good at doing that. It's one area that I'm not very comfortable. It's like selling myself. Need to get over it or I won't be able to make much money with my cards.

2006-02-10T21:36:00.000-08:00

Wednesday was my birthday. I threw myself a birthday brunch. It meant that I had to do some work on my birthday but it was worth it to have friends from work over. We had a good time and I got to show off my bedroom and my cooking. The rest of the day I vegetated in front of the computer here. I put up the fabric on the ceiling of my bedroom the night before the brunch. Earlier in the day when I was stapling the velcro strips onto the ceiling I took a tumble off from the stool and gave myself several bruises on both legs and a dandy one on my back. Luckily that was all I was hurt. When I landed I was a bit apprehensive about moving, afraid that I'd really hurt myself.

Today is the seventh anniversary of the finality of my divorce. I didn't do anything to celebrate it but I'm often amazed at how much time has passed since then and how normal it feels to not be in that marriage anymore. We were married for 22 1/2 years and I never really thought I'd be in any other relationship during those years. When we first split, I didn't think I'd want to be in another marriage. Figured I'd probably like having a boyfriend but didn't think I'd want to be married again. Sometimes I wish that I'd not gotten married again but lately that has decreased in frequency. Living with another person can be very difficult and exhausting. Trying to not step on any feelings and to be fair takes work. Many days I don't feel that I have that energy but there isn't much choice so it is done.

Next is Valentine's Day. I like to plan something romantic for that day. I want to keep this marriage a bit more alive than I did with the last one. Haven't completely decided what I'm going to do yet but I am doing the 14 days of Valentines with a small gift and a card each of the first 14 days of February.

2006-01-23T12:50:00.000-08:00

I'm home sick from work today. I've been having trouble with my sinuses for several months. Last week, though, it got worse and my head has been killing me with the pressure behind my eyes. Been taking Actifed which has helped the drainage but hasn't done much for my headache. Probably should go to the walk-in clinic but I feel really stupid going there when other than my head feeling like it's about three sizes bigger than usual, I feel fine. But I felt that I shouldn't pass it around work so took today off. Plus with how my head feels I don't really have the patience that I need at work. Maybe I can putz around here today and organize my craft room some. I've been trying to work on it a little bit each day. I need some supplies to completely organize it and that takes green stuff. But there again, gradually, I'll get it all organized. In the meantime, I've been sorting through things, scanning anything I want to keep and giving away the magazines and pattern books that I don't want to keep.

I wish there were more hours in the day. I have so much I want to do and I run out of day before I run out of projects. If I didn't have to work so much or at all, I'd have more time but even then I don't think there'd be enough hours in each day. I know I need to exercise more but that would mean giving up more of the little time that I have for my projects as it is. If I didn't like to so as much variety as I do, it probably wouldn't be a problem either but I want to do everything. I'm sure this is a common feeling for those of us who enjoy crafts. A few weeks back one of the male nurses at work asked me if there was anything that I didn't do. I thought for a moment and realized that the only things that I don't do are because I don't want to do them. Now there is some limit to my ability to draw. Partly because I haven't pursued it and partly because there is a limit to my talent and I would like to be able to do more with that. For many years it didn't bother me that I couldn't do it... now it does. Now that I'm into making note cards from my photos, I wish I could draw enough to make them into cards. I think I could sell them better than my photos. Now finding time to train myself in that direction is difficult.

I want to be constantly stretching myself. I want to learn more. Either new crafts, more about health and weight control or something to make me more intelligent. I need to be exercising my brain. I don't want to lose any ability to think, reason, or remember because I got lazy and didn't use my brain. I don't think that it will become a problem as I like mysteries, puzzles and such and they are good for keeping the mind alert. I think that is part of why I don't like reality TV. It is mindless. You don't have to think. I know that I'm going to offend someone with this statement but I feel that the producers of shows like that think that people watching TV don't know how to think. The only people who like shows like that are those who are not very intelligent. Now I know that that isn't true because my in-laws like the show "Survivor" and my mother-in-law is very intelligent. I just feel that shows put us down as the consumer of TV programming. I realize that not everyone like mysteries. But why such mindless TV. I'm offended by a lot of the programs that are being aired now a days. I also have the same problem when there's a special news broadcast and when we're all done watching the broadcast, the announcer comes on and for another 15 to 30 minutes tells us what we just saw. Are we too stupid to understand what was just said to us? I'm so insulted that this last time I watched one, I signed on to the station's website and complained. If we don't, they aren't going to know that we're not happy with it.

Guess I've rambled and complained enough for one day. The weather is beautiful today even if I'm not up to getting out in it.

2006-01-08T23:13:00.000-08:00

Things have been pretty good with my hubby and I lately. When I have to clean off the stove and it's a filthy mess from him not cleaning up behind himself, I dream of living alone but right now we're doing much better. For so much of last year I just wanted him gone. I could take the messy house and as I wasn't home much, it certainly wasn't me making the mess. Right now things aren't too bad cause we cleaned thoroughly before putting up Christmas decorations and we had a New Year's Eve party so we had to make sure the house was clean for that. I've decided that I'm going to have to have a party more frequently throughout the year so that the place stays clean.

I wish that work was going so well. We have so many behavioral patients right now that it is all I can do to make myself go to work. The stress level is so high because they push the limits so much. It's worse than raising teenagers because they can be punished. These people are adults and should know better but have learned to deal with people in a manipulative way. I just keep reminding myself that I love my house and that is why I'm working this much. I wish my ebay sales would bring in enough that I wouldn't have to put in so many hours at the hospital. Hopefully down the road they will.

When I got home from work the other night a lady had bought both of my collections of six hardanger kits. I didn't have that many made up so I had to put together most of them. I hadn't realized that the assembled kits were getting so low. It was cool to have them sell, though. I have to mail them tomorrow. I couldn't get them all assembled before the post office closed on Saturday. It's just a little thing really but I get so excited when there's a sale like that. I really hope that the people buying them are really enjoying them and happy with their purchases. Since they are my designs, it's so important that people like them. I put a new design on their on Thursday and on Friday morning it already had a bid on it. So cool!

I have some of my photos on display at a local eatery here. It really wouldn't break my heart if some of them sold. I haven't had good luck selling my photos. I think I need to start framing them myself so that I don't have to charge so much. Don't really have the room to put that set up to do that. It's so weird how things all tie together. Didn't do very well at the craft fair at the dome but that's where I made the connection to show my pictures at the eartery. The more people see my photos and my name, the more they will think of me if they need something for the wall. Maybe I should make a hardanger to put in a frame and display it. Maybe for another time.

2005-12-30T18:26:00.000-08:00

It's hard to believe that 2005 is almost over. It seems like it just started. As I age it seems that each year flies by faster and faster. Not sure if it is because I'm busier or just because I'm getting old. Christmas time is always a busy time. I do a craft fair at the Superior Dome in Marquette the first weekend, a Christmas Tea Party for my family the next weekend and I work full time. This year we're adding a New Year's Eve party tomorrow night. It helps me keep my house clean as I have to clean (and hubby is better about picking up behind himself) for each time that someone is coming over.

Christmas day itself was low-keyed at my house. None of my kids could make it home so it was just Rick and I. We went out to eat so I didn't even have to cook. It was very relaxing which was nice as work as been rather busy. Rick got me a serger which I have already used to make a baby outfit. I've been wanting one for a few years now and so I'm excited to be using it. I just have to set up a place to use it. Right now my craft/sewing room doesn't have a spot for it.

New Years is usually a time for reflection and goals. Everyone asks if you are making a New Year's Resolution. Last year my resolution was to finish some old craft projects that I haven't finished. I did work on some of the old projects but didn't get any completely finished. I should be able to do so this year. This year I want to finish a couple of my hardanger projects that I designed last year and enter them into some competitions. I also hope to get several of my designed copyrighted and submitted to a publisher. I think that should be enough goals for this year for my crafts.

I also hope to continue losing weight and to increase the amount of time spent on exercising.

What are your goals for this year? What is your hearts desires? My wishes for you this coming year is that you are able to recognize what it is that you want and that you have the strength and courage to attain them. I also hope that you are all healthy and safe. God bless!

2005-11-19T21:53:00.000-08:00

Today I had a craft fair here in Negaunee. My mother-in-law is the Director of the Senior Centere here and the craft fair was held there. I don't usually sell a lot of things but I do enjoy visiting with the people that stop at my booth. Plus they have a soup luncheon with some pretty good soups. Today I actually did pretty good. Several people who have bought some of my cards from other years were back looking for more. That's pretty cool. I've been trying to get my notecards into gift shops in the area without much success so it was kind of nice to have that kind of interest expressed. I have another craft fair in a two weeks at the Dome. It's a much bigger craft fair and cost a lot more to rent a booth. Last year when I did that fair, I only broke even. I debated for a while to do it again this year but decided to do it. I had quite a bit of fun last year even though I didn't make any money. This year I'm sharing the booth with a friend so it should be a bit better and won't cost me as much for the booth. I'm hoping to sell some of my kits at that fair. I didn't today but I didn't really expect to.

When I went to the center last night to set up my mother-in-law almost didn't recognize me. I've talked to her several times on the phone but we hadn't seen each other in a while and she hadn't seen me since I've lost this much weight. Plus I have a new haircut since we last met. When I weighed myself this past week, I met my goal of going below 200#. It's only one pound below but it's on the right side of 200. For so long this summer it didn't feel like I was going to lose any more weight. Now it's starting to gradually come off again.

Next week is Thanksgiving already. My oldest is going to be home for it. She's not coming home for Christmas so I need to get her gift wrapped and ready for her to take home. My youngest can't get home for Christmas either. It will be so strange to not have any of the kids around during the holidays. I'll see my son as we work at the same place and he'll probably come for Christmas dinner but he'll be the only one this year. My hubby doesn't have any kids so we don't have any there to join us, either. Just the facts of getting older.

2005-11-11T18:13:00.000-08:00

April in her craft room.

2005-11-09T01:45:00.000-08:00

Most of the time I like my job. I enjoy most of the people I work with and I know that if I didn't work I wouldn't see anyone but my hubby and his family most of the time. There are several people at work, though, that I dread seeing on the schedule. It's stressful and energy draining to work with these people. One of those people worked tonight but it wasn't too bad tonight. The patient load was pretty heavy tonight and so we were too busy for her to be a nusiance.

As I was talking to some of my co-workers tonight I realized that I've become an internationally recognized designer. I've sold my hardanger kits to people in four other countries beside the US. They include Canada, Australia, Italy and Norway. It is so exciting to see my designs going to other countries. Two of the girls (including the one who's draining to work with) suggested that I get a map and mark all the places that have bought my kits. I like the suggestion. Will have to purchase a big wall map of the world. As a goal I'd like to see at least one kit go into all of Europe and all 50 states. I don't think it's realistic to think that much of Africa is going to be interested in my hardanger kits but all those countries that do this kind of stitching.. that's a different story. Shown are six of the ornament and bookmark kits that I've designed and sold.

2005-10-31T22:08:00.000-08:00

I always weigh myself at work. It's a professional scale and for quite a while I didn't have any scale at home. I try to do it shortly after I get to work. I work afternoon shift and I want to weigh myself before I go to eat supper. Today when I stepped on the scale, I was down another three pounds. I'm about 5'4" tall. When I started losing weight I weighed 250#. Today my weight was 201#. I've been struggling with my weight since I was an early teenager. Throughout high school I was trimmer and didn't have too hard a time keeping the weight off but once I got married (at age 19 the first time) and wasn't as active, I started to struggle to keep it off. After four pregnancies, I lost the battle. I started losing weight last November. Lost most of the weight by May. Since then I've only lost about 10 pounds. Hopefully the plateau has ended and I will be able to continue to lose more weight. Anyway... today I've very excited to have lost three pounds. :)

2005-10-30T19:52:00.000-08:00

A couple of weeks ago I went clothes shopping. I hadn't done that in a long time. Over the last year I've lost almost 50 pounds and am hoping to lose some more so was putting off buying any clothes. But I really needed some jeans that weren't either full of holes or covered with paint. It was so great to actually get some new clothes. I also no longer had much for slightly dressy as they were all too big now. It's also so much more fun clothes shopping for smaller clothes. What I've also realized over the last couple of weeks that the new clothes make me look like I've lost even more weight. Another gratifying aspect is taking the clothes that are too big to St. Vinny's.

I teach a med education group at work. One of the aspects of the meds that we give on my unit is that there tends to be a weight gain. I often tell the patients that I can tell them what to do. That part is easy. What is hard is following the advice. I hate exercising! Not only is it not fun but it takes time away from the things that I do like to do. But I also know that I need to do it. Knowing myself, I know that if I have to go somewhere to do it, it won't get done. So I've had to set up a place in my house where I can get some exercise. I always advice the patients that they need to get to know themselves. What are their triggers, what are their weaknesses and what are their strengths. When you know those things then you can organize your house to help you stick to any plan that you set up. I know that I do not want to have chips and such in my house. I will eat them. Ice cream on the other hand doesn't bother me at all to leave alone. Pastries... a very major no-no. The other things that one really needs to eat healthily is a support person. I have several people at work who are encouraging. None live close enough to be an exercise partner but I'm working on that. Don't really like to do it with my hubby.

Gardening every summer has really helped me get some exercise. I've been making raised flowerbeds by hauling rocks from along one of the roads near here. Last year my hubby and I hauled a lot more than this year to get several gardens established. This year I kind of waited to see how things were looking. Then I also decided to do some landscaping with the rocks and make the front yard tiered above the side yard. It sloped before. So more rocks were needed. Next year we will be adding on to the back of the house and trenches will need to be dug. I plan on helping so that I can get some exercise that way. Once that is done and the patio off the shed is done, then I'll know better where I can put the rest of my flowerbeds. Flowerbeds and some of my plants can be checked out in my webpage http://www.webspawner.com/users/aprilsgarden03/. I'll try to put more of the general flowerbeds on there so that you can check them out. When I planned these beds, I did quite a bit of research on what would grow well where. I've never done that before. I never had the internet available before, either. I have a gardening journal of how everything looked to start with, any information about any plants I put in the ground, and then how things look each year. It helps to remember from year to year what I put in the ground and what kind of soil they need and everything.

2005-10-25T20:05:00.000-07:00

I'm a bit disappointed tonight. I wanted to donate a hardanger doily that I have designed for a MDA Benefit tonight but I couldn't get it done in time. I did have a good time at the benefit, though. It was a wine tasting event with an auction and raffle. There weren't very many people there but it was still fun. It was great to get dressed up a bit. I haven't done that much lately. I needed to get my hair cut anyway so I scheduled it for today so that I wouldn't have to do my hair. That in itself felt great. Love to have my hair played with. I was laughing with my hairdresser that when my daughter's were little I used to have them play with my hair. They had fun and it felt great to me. Now they are adults and don't want to play with mom's hair.

I am feeling great about my bedroom. I have painted the bedroom and that is done. Now I have to cover the ceiling with fabric. I want to gather it along the edges so that it has a romantic look. Out of the same fabric I want to have a drape on each side of the bed. Even without the ceiling being done the room is looking so cool. I made a smaller bedroom into a dressing room so my room doesn't have any dressers in it. I want to make an amoire that will fit my walls (the side walls are only 4 feet high) to hold and hide the TV and I have to paint my night stands yet. I got new curtains for my window. I enjoy spending time in my bedroom now. Eventually I want to put a gas fireplace in it, too. I have one picked out but don't have the money right now. I also need to get a headboard and footboard for my bed. Even my hubby is impressed with it.

The trees are losing their leaves very quickly now. I always find that a bit depressing. I really don't like the snow and when the leaves are almost gone, it means it won't be long and we'll be getting snow. I hate being cold and I love the summer weather. Summer never lasts long enough for me. When I finally get to retire, I am moving somewhere warmer than here. Even if it is only to the lower peninsula where they still get snow just not as much and not for as long as we get. I do love the color at this time of the year, though. There is so much beauty to enjoy each time of the year if one just takes the time to look. Something that my hubby is learning now that we are into photo taking. There are so many little things that can improve one's mood or brighten the day but not always noticed. A nurse I used to work with made me much more aware of the little things. She had such a way of recognizing them.

Well, I have to go put a new kit together to get it ready to mail so I need to get busy. Never a dull moment. Or you could say... no rest for the weary (or wicked).

2005-10-17T17:36:00.000-07:00

In the Beginning

I've wanted to write since I was a kid. I still have a story that I started in middle school. I never finished it but I've kept it just the same. About 15 years ago I started a mystery novel. I've worked on it off and on over the years. It isn't very good. But I had fun writing it. I used to get the magazine Writer's Digest. According to what I've read in it, I went about writing it correctly. I'm just not very good at expressing what I want to say. For my nursing degree I needed to take technical and report writing for one of my english courses. I did very well in that class. I've found I really like doing research. Mostly I like doing it here online but I don't mind going to the library. I don't like doing experiments, though.

I do believe in journals. I recommend them to patients all the time. Even those that can't express themselves very well or those that can't even read or write well can still use a journal to help them deal with events in their lives. I have found recently though that I haven't been expressing my feelings in my journal but using it more of a diary. Last night when I sat with my journal, I couldn't have told you what I was feeling. Or maybe I just didn't feel what I was feeling was worthy of writing it down.

Mostly lately I've been somewhat excited. I've been painting my bedroom and it's almost finished. I think it looks very cool. I did it in vertical stripes of a earthy light green in flat finish for 15 inches, deep purple in satin finish for 4 1/2 inches, and white in trim finish for 1 inch. The stripes went in this order, green, purple, white, purple, green. All the trim is in the white. I'm going to cover the ceiling with white sheerish fabric. My upstairs where the bedroom has dormer ceilings so two sides of the room has walls that only go up 4 feet. I want to gather the fabric along the center top and the shorter walls. Someone at work asked me how I was going to clean the fabric which is when I decided to attach the fabric the the ceiling with velcro. The only other thing I will have left to do is replace the carpet. Oh, I want to put in a vent-free gas fireplace on one of the shorter walls. The dressers are in another bedroom which I am using as a dressing room. I have a chair that I'm going to recover to match the purple of the room and I'm going to build a table to use for having tea and such in the room. I want to cover the table with 1/2 inch glass tile mosaic. When I get it all done, I'll try to put a picture of it on here.

The other thing that has me excited is designing hardanger. For those that don't know, hardanger is a Norwegian needlework. This past August I demonstrated hardanger at the Finn Grand Fest 2005 in Marquette, Michigan. When I knew I was going to do this, I decided that if I'm supposed to be this expert on hardanger, then I should try to design. Since it is mostly geometrical shapes, I thought that I should be able to do this. I started with a tablecloth for myself. It's not finished but I did get quite a bit of it done before the fest. I had a great time but I wanted something that if someone wanted to sit with me for a while and actually learn to do it, I would have something for them to work on. So I designed a small Christmas ornament in hardanger and sold it in kits. I didn't sell all the kits that I made so I've been selling them on ebay. From that I started designing more ornaments and making them into kits and selling them.

Well, I guess I've rambled enough for tonight.