I've Fallen and I Can't Get Up!!

I just wanted to take an extremely quick moment and thank everyone who sent birthday wishes and get well wishes in the past few days.
Over the weekend, in typical spazz fashion, I took a lovely tumble down some stairs on an evening out for my birthday which was yesterday. Here, in Chicago, I should be used to the icy conditions of January but typical me had to go bouncing down while still trying to hold on to the railing. This resulted in some very nasty bruising and a pain that can only be described as worse than child birth. I have been flat on my back (which I know sounds naughty) since Saturday and this is the first time I am actually sitting up for longer than 5 whole minutes. I have missed work and spent my birthday hopped up on Vicodin and muscle relaxers. Par-tay!!
So, thank you for the lovely thoughts and emails. I truly appreciate it, it was the highlight of the week so far. I hope to be back to myself this weekend (hopefully, fingers crossed) and am now totally convinced that I NEED a laptop!
And anyone who is reading this entry that has taken care of me for the past 5 days thru the crying and helplessness......thank you so much.

Meme #18

As posted on 2peas Message Board, this week's challenge:

This week [Jan 16th] we are taking an exercise from Julia Cameron's The Sound of Paper.

Try this: The artist soul thrives on adventure.
Many adventures require that we muster the courage to be a beginner. That bicycle trip to France requires that I haul out my bike and start riding. That black-and-white photography course says "Get out the camera; shoot a few rolls." Yoga for beginners requires that i stretch myself physically and mentally. Attendance at an open mic invites me to bring a poem. Life is filled with adventure if we are openhearted. [LOVE THAT!]
List five things you would love to do, if you didn't have to do them perfectly.

1. If I didn't have to do it perfectly, I'd try cutting my own hair.
2. If I didn't have to do it perfectly, I'd try designing my own website.
3. If I didn't have to do it perfectly, I'd try designing my own clothes.
4. If I didn't have to do it perfectly, I'd try sewing those home designed clothes.
5. If I didn't have to do it perfectly, I'd try playing the piano.

Now, I would never cut my own hair, besides a little trim of the bangs, and the thought of it scares the crap out of me, but I think I could if I could get past that. And I had several cute hats.

I'm a Loser baby...

So last night in my channel surfing,which doesn't take very long when you don't have cable, I stumbled across two of my favs...Barry Manilow and Neil Diamond. First there was Barry on Leno who was singing a sappy love song like When a Man Loves a Woman or somthing, so I quickly changed channels. Then, about 10 minutes later, there was Neil on Oprah singing America, Hello Again and Sweet Caroline. There I was belting out the songs right along with Neil while still laying in bed. And I thought, I love Neil Diamond.....I am such a dork! And now I have admitted it which is the first step.
And I see that Neil came out with this new CD and according to the reviews it is supposed to be fabulous, so I have officially added this to my bithday list.

The Good, The Bad and the Ugly

The Good: I went on a pre-birthday shopping spree this weekend.
The Bad: My sister was supposed to go with the tell me what to where (I can't dress myself)
The Ugly: I had to wait in line for 20 minutes at one store and listen to three teen girls complain that their daddies didn't give them enough money.

The Good: I set up a time to scrap with my girl Carol and my friend Connie.
The Bad: Miss Carol cancelled at the last minute.
The Ugly: I covered my hands in passion pink ink and they have stayed that way.

The Good: I planned to leave early today because of the lack of school and all.
The Bad: I went into work and it was freeeezing because someone turned the heat down.
The Ugly: The boss waited til the last minute to bring in photos I needed to finish a report and I only left 45 minutes earlier than usual.

The Good: My birthday is coming.
The Bad: Everyone asks me, "what are WE doing for your birthday?"
The Ugly: I don't want it to be my birthday because I just can't be this old yet!!

Nothing new really, working on a ton of projects. Made a planner for the purse, made about 15 cards for a swap. Planned the workshop for the end of the month. (thanks for the input on the cards) And made a cute little lovie tag mini book, but I can't post it because it is so cute it makes me gag.

Big Fat Meanies

Just clicked on MSN homepage and see an article about 'Meanest' Cities to the Homeless. Click. Guess who's #12!! So, not just fat, but mean too!! Nice!
I have decided that maybe while I am out and about this weekend, I will give congratualatory high fives to all the citizens of this fine city who have helped us find a place on these charts. So, extremely obese guy in the Subway eating two 12 inch BMTs, you're getting a high five. And big fat mean guy screaming just to scream at that high school student earning $6 a hour at the mall, you're getting a double high five. Without these people we probably wouldn't be the tops. Way to be a part of the team!

Where is that sound coming from?

I am not a morning person. I admit it. I accept it. I warn others of this condition.
But this morning, I actually laughed before 9am.
I was blow drying my hair this morning and over the loud roar of the blowing, I hear some sort of music. I thought maybe the boy was at it again, loading more songs onto the Ipod before school, which is a huge no-no in my house. So, I turn the dryer off, ready to lay into him full force. But I realize, it isn't the computer or the radio. It's him!

Max: We can dance if we want to, we can leave your friends in hind, because if they won't dance, they're no friends of mines. doo doo doo (his best synthesizer impression)
Me: Max, are you listening to the Ipod? You should be getting ready.
Max: (walks into the bathroom, no ear plugs on) I'm not listening to anything.
Me: Oh....so, you're just singing, eh?
Max: Yeah, I got this song in my head last night in a dream and I can't stop. We can dance, we can dance, we can dance.....
Me: Ok, I get the picture. Do you know all the words? Like from the beginning? (obviously he has made up a lot of it, making it even more entertaining.)
Max: Sure. S-S-S-S-A-A-A-A-T-T-T-T-Y-Y-Y-Y
Me: Max, that is definitely not how you spell Safety.
Max: Who cares, you get the idea. We can dance. We can dance. (and proceeds to do his best robot)
Me: Isn't today spelling test day?
Max: Yeah, but safety isn't on the list.

I couldn't stop laughing and he just kept doing the robot, poorly...but extremely entertaining. I guess Men Without Hats is really not for kids who can't spell.
Plus, I have to wonder how many 10 year olds have dreams with 80s classic songs in them and what was he dreaming? God, he's funny.

City of Big Shoulders...

and big butts!
I saw it on the news last week and finally got around to verifying the information. Chicago officially holds the title of Fattest City 2006. Wow, how proud we are as Chicagoans that we moved our fat asses up from a ranking of #5 last year to the very top. We sat in front of the TV for those few extra hours (I helped with that by watching the entire 6 seasons of Sex and the City) and eating just a few more triple whoppers. What I truly love is this article in the Chicago Suntimes, that states that our "love of television and lack of exercise" has aided us in climbing to the top of the list. I also found this statement in the article alarming, "Also, six out of 10 Illinoisans are overweight enough that their size poses a significant threat to their health, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention" YIKES!! that is a scary thought. Also, Chicagoans watch more tv than any other city on the survey.....is that possible?? We all have the same channels right??
Well, on the upside, this gives me a perfect excuse for this year, "sure, I've put on a couple pounds, but I live in Chicago...what do you expect?" I am also planning on using it to boost my ego, "I look damn good compared to the staggering number of fat people in this city."
And, I have been thinking that the amount of crazy delicious food in this town can't be helping us! I mean, come on....pizza, beef sandwiches, the Chicago style hotdog and who can forget the Eli's cheesecake. Maybe if we weren't such a delicious town, we wouldn't have this problem.
So congrats to all my fellow big butts and congrats to the fittest town, Baltimore.....show-offs!!

Card Kwazy

I have made nothing but cards for the last 2 months and at this rate, I don't know if I will be able to switch back!! Yikes! I love the cards because they are smaller, take less time and less supplies....but I am a scrapper more than a.....???? Is there a term for a person who makes cards, like people who scrapbook are scrappers or scrapbookers? If there is, I don't know it, but probably should.
Because this form is not my strongest of the paper arts, I am constantly on the look out for fab ideas that are simple, but totally cool. I look at Splitcoaststampers almost every day and man, there are some uber talented ladies on that site! Plus, I use my Card Creation and Joy of Card Making books like they are the bible of card creating. I had no idea there were new ones. Note to self, add these to the long list of books I want. I am usually preparing for a swap of some kind and always need ideas for Workshops, so these are the latest.


It has come to my attention that I am obsessed with the colour brown and as of right now have used every piece of 8.5 x 11 brown paper I had. No need to worry, more is on its way. The background is stamped with little coffee mugs in the same dark brown goodness, but this crappy scanner was sent from hell to make any project look like garbage.

Made this cards and thought I was sooooo creative...then, duh!!, I should have blocked out that one lady bug instead of just not coloring it! The little black piece says i miss you.

These cards might be too simple

and not enough Wow! factor, so I may need to rework the details. I do love the colours though, reminds me that spring is on its way and I may actually see the sun again one of these days.

This top card is soooo not my style, but simple and it is green. I love green. Plus, it has that spring theme going, so I think this one is a definite at the next workshop. And again, in celebration of the lovely brown, another brown card.

I had to post these because I haven't seen my buddy Carol in a while and she is always my little helper for all these projects. She is the only person I know who would actually look at something I made and tell me if it is crap or not. Sometimes I know things suck and people still look at it and say to me "wow, this is just wonderful" and I know it isn't. She is a girl that tells it like it is and I love that!! I need that. It is good to have a blunt friend who is also crafty! (I am awaiting your email)

(PS. I have taken a liking to saying the word kwazy and it is driving a certain child at my house insane, which just makes me do it more. Who is the child again?)

Happy Kidney Day!

This is a very special day in our family, because back on this date in 2004, my brother, Andrew, was given a new life with a brand new kidney. It is one of those stories that whenever I tell anyone, they are amazed and I think it helps renew some faith in society.
Back in 2002, my brother was diagnosed with IGA nephropathy, which came out of nowhere. Apparently, it is one of those things, like cancer sometimes, that some people just get and they don't know why. They said it could have been from him being sickly as a child and done damage to the kidneys then, but who really knows. At the time he was only 19, away at school and this diagnosis changed his life. There were tests galore and all the time. There was a major diet change and prescriptions. He finished that year at school in 2003 and even with more problems and a hospitalization, like the diease progressing faster than expected, he returned to school in fall 2003, but it didn't last long. He was very ill and the constant high blood pressure was giving him intense headaches making it impossible to concentrate on anything. When he returned from school, what we all feared worse was upon us. He had limited time and he needed dialysis twice a week. I was unlucky enough to pick him up from treatments a few times. The first time I had to go, I walked in and saw a room full of very old people all hooked up to machines and there in the middle, was this kid. My brother. He looked so out of place. Here he was amidst all these people you just knew were knocking on heavens gates, not the most inspiring of places.
He had already been on the donor list along with tens of thousands of other people, but the testing of immediate family began. Everyone who could be a donor was tested, my mom and I had to do it twice because they messed up the first time. On Halloween, I found out that neither my mother, my sister or I had matched and was completely upset. The ex was over to take lil Max trick or treating and had asked what was going on with him. I explained our desperation to find a match, that we were worried about time and didn't want him to have to wait years on dialysis getting sicker and sicker. He immediately said he would be tested, he would do it. I hadn't asked, no one did. He just volunteered.
He was tested right away....a match. The ex was not only Max's dad, but the high school sweetheart. We had been together 7 years and up til this point known each other for 13 years. He knew my siblings when they were just kids and had even coached their soccer teams. They are all like family to him because he has seen wach of them grow up. I remember, at one point asking him if he "was sure about this" and his answer was, "this kid is like a brother to me and I know he is going to go on and do great things, I am not going to just sit back and watch him die." That is when I stopped worrying so much.
Three months later, January 3, 2004, my brother got a new kidney and it was perfect. He spent a week in the hospital, but Alex was up and about the same day and out of the hospital the next. I saw him in the hospital the day after the transplant, and something changed in that moment. We had plenty of horrible times together in recent years, fighting and hating each other, but in that one gesture, I knew regardless of what he had done, he was a good person. For this one simple act, I am eternally grateful as is the family. He can do no wrong now in their eyes, they practically erected a statue.
My brother went back to school in the fall of 2004, just 8 months later and is doing great. That's a picture of him that I just love because it was our first time visiting him at school in October 2004 and he looks so happy with his girl, Katie.
He is 22 now and I hope that this experience really makes him appreciate life. It sure made me. Which is why the day is so huge to me, a reminder that life is precious, that people really are good and organ donation is a wonderful thing.
It is sad when I see the statistics and before this whole experience I was a donor but never knew any really information about it. I never even knew people could live with one kidney! But I never thought for a moment, that anyone I knew would need a transplant or that anything like this would ever happen to someone I love. But it did.
89,000 people are currently waiting for a kidney transplant and 17 people die every day waiting for one.......it could have been my brother and I am so thankful that it was not. Thank You.

Book List 2006

I don't read nearly enough and the problem is that there are not many books that really grab my attention. It is funny because this is the exact reason that my little Ma hates to read, he says the stories are just not that interesting or "it wasn't what I thought." Clearly, he gets that from me. The only thing I truly love to read are books or magazines about crafting and martha stewart type things. I am trying to "get out of my comfort zone" (I hate that saying), so I have added books to my Amazon list that might be of interest to me. Some scrapbooking, of course, some not (surprise!). The preliminary list:

1. A Million Little Pieces by James Frey - I hear about this book everywhere and I think the only reason I haven't picked it up is because it has that Oprah's Book Club sticker on it. I have a problem with that. Also, I am afraid it is too much of a "feel good" book and I hate when that part ruins the story. Last year, I read The FivePeople You Meet in Heaven and surprisingly loved it, so I have to give this one a chance too. Maybe the story will be wonderful and have just enough twinkle of deep thinking goodness.

2. Scrap City: Scrapbooking for Urban Divas and Small Town Rebels by Paul Gambino. Now, I am by no means a diva in an respect, but I love the concept of this book. According to the description I saw it is for the girls who are sick of all the goody goody pages. Yay! I love the cute, don't get me wrong, but I swear, sometimes I go thru a scrapbooking magazine and by the time I am done, I have a cavity!! Blah!! Every child can't possibly be god sent and everyones life can't be that blessed. It is nice to see some other perspectives and celebrate that. Also, it is intriguing to me that a guy names Paul Gambino in NYC is writing about scrapbooking, not your typical scrapbooker, eh?! Doesn't come out til April.

3. Framed Memories: Creative Scrapbooking Projects for Your Home by Stephanie Inman. I like this idea of keeping your projects out in the open for others to see. Plus, I am a person with bare walls, so this seems logical. With my pictures getting better every month, I really want to have pictures that I love all over the house, so I can see them everyday and feel happy. Happy that I love those people, happy to remember a particular day or time, happy that I took the picture and it looks great....just warm and fuzzy all over. I really hope that this book has great ideas that are not only fresh, but can be accomplished by the average person. I hate when the projects are too hard!

4. Love Smart by Dr. Phil. Say what you want, but I like Dr. Phil. My family, including little Max, using mock me for it, but I really do like his no nonsense approach to things. I think the one thing I have always hated about therapists and shows like his was that they would simply do the "poor you" routine or just ask, "how do you feel about it?" It would drive me nuts. At least he tells people when to call it quits, when they need to lose weight and just to get over it. I hope this book is the same. I am not a fan of the self help, but I am reading this one...cover to cover.

5. Post Secret: Extraordinary Confessions from Ordinary Lives by Frank Warren. This book includes all the great postcards for the Post Secret blog and I love that one. Some of them will shock you, some make you think and some are just creepy weird. I like the concept and some of the artistic work on them are wonderful. I think it is the ultimate coffee table book. I had a discussion with a friend once about what books to place in a bookcase you know everyone would see, knowing based on the selections that people would have a glimpse into your personality. This book is a definite in the personality bookcase.

6. Home Rules: Transform the Place You Live into a Place You'll Love by Nate Berkus. I love this guy, he is too cute. I want to see this book first to make sure there are enough pictures and that the ideas in the book wouldn't cost me thousands. I would hope that it would include homey little touches that an average person could use and that the colour schemes are wonderful.

Well, this is a start to the list. And as I was posting I was reminded as to how much I despise blogger's picture posting system, it just plain sucks. Too bad I am just too cheap to pay for a blog service, oh well.

What I learned in 2005

With all the commotion of the holidays and trying to get back into the swing of things at work, I completely forgot that for the last two weeks I had been scribbling on a little piece of scrap paper all the things that really stood out in the past year. You know, those memorable little tidbits that you really want to remember, whether they are good or some (most) bad. But those that are bad, will just make me stronger.....rrrrrrriiiiiigggghhhhhttttt! So without further delay, drumroll please:

What I learned in 2005

1. Birthdays are really just any other day when you are older than 12.
2. Women and message boards are dangerous things.
3. Vegas is a wonderful place.
4. I love spending time with my girlfriends and don't do it enough.
5. I never want to work at a job that requires any sort of cleaning again.
6. Nice guys can still be major assholes.
7. Scrapbook pages that are published are not always good.
8. I don't NEED to buy every scrapbook magazine and idea book.
9. I own way too many supplies and have way few books to show for it.
10. I went to school for drama and use those acting skills every day at work.
11. I love PBS and am not afraid to say so.
12. I don't read nearly enough and should.
13. Carol is a great friend and she owns everything for scrapbooking. Lucky girl.
14. I hate packing.
15. I have a good child.
16. Shrinks don't always shrink problems.
17. The public school system isn't really teaching the kid much.
18. Saying no really isn't all that bad.
19. I am not as scared to fly as I used to be.
20. Disney world is no vacation!

It was a long year and not too many fabulous memorable treasures were had. I am hoping that with my new years resolutions, 2006 may be a little better. I mean, come on, I deserve something fabulous this year, damn it!

Back to Work

So, I was on "vacation" for about a week and a half, but I use the term "vacation" very loosely because it really just means I didn't go into work for a while, but didn't really do too much. While I haven't been blogging, this is what I have been up to:

• spent more time with my little Max.
• put up the Xmas tree 3 days before Xmas and only put on 5 ornaments, we weren't feelin' it this year.
  
• shopped for all my Xmas presents in one day, December 23rd!
• talked my brothers through a week at my office filling in for me.
• got thru 3 days of Xmas. (I am so happy that is over!)
• taught a scrapbooking class to a group of little gymnast girls.
• went to a card swap and made these:
• returned some gifts.
• rang in the new year on a low key note.
  
• celebrated my little max's 10th birthday, which I still say is impossible because I can't be that old.
• went out on a date and actually had an adult conversation, and it was mid-week!!!
• packed. there is always packing.
• gave away some more stuff, a bike and a toybox. big ticket items.
• watched the whole first season of Rescue Me and I am hooked!!
• watched season six, part one of Sex and the City, I'm almost done.
• saw The Ringer.
• went thru every scrapbooking/stamping magazine I was hoarding and picked out only the things I loved from them and promised them to a nice pea. I had 3 years of CK, alone!! (and I only ripped out like 20 pages total from all my magazines, sad!)
• made these Thank You cards for little max to send out for his birthday presents. They always load us up with them on Xmas and we hold them til the first, so he has to write cards every year.
• slept in a couple days and man did that feel gooooooood!
That's really about it. The days off flew by and a lot of it was consumed with rotten holiday crap, unfortunately. I went back to work today and there is nothing like a week off to remind you how much you despise your job!