End of Another Year on to 2024

Hi there everyone! Hard to believe another year has passed us by....where did it go???? Seems like just yesterday it was JUNE!!!

I have not done a lot of blogging this year. Guess if you look at the side panel, this would be my 10th blog for this year 2023. Been a little bit lazy, oh, been making lots of cards, but just plain lazy putting them on this blog. I shall try better in 2024.

Not sure what the new year will bring, none of us do, but it sure is good to know we have Jesus to lean on as we travel through this life's journey following in His footsteps. I feel bad for those that don't have that faith, maybe some, through the storms of life will ask Jesus into their lives. I guess for some it takes longer to hear the message of Jesus Christ and Him Crucified and let it settle in their hearts.

I have been watching the "Chosen" Sunday nights and the "Bible" on the History Channel during the Christmas season. I've also been reading through Matthew, Mark, Luke and John these last couple of months and the miracles and healings that Jesus preformed all go hand in hand. I wonder where I would be, if I lived back then, would I be a believer or an unbeliever??? Jesus said, "Blessed are those who believe and have not seen" They saw and yet they believed not!!! I get so mad at those Pharisees and Sadducees, they were so blinded by the devel. They saw, and still hated Jesus and what he did....they were Sad.u.see!!!!

So today I took a little trip to "Kwik Trip" for some gas and "Pic n Sav" for some UNO pizza from Chicago. I got the cheeseburger flat bread (meh, not so great). Think I will freeze the leftovers and try the cheese pizza tomorrow, hopefully that is better. If not, I shall not waste $$$ (2/$12) on UNO again and just get a local pizza from here in Appleton. Maybe it is better to get UNO straight from UNO in Chicago.

Nothing much is going on in January. I do have a few Dr. appointments. A bone density test on the 4th and another blood pressure check on the 10th. Hopefully the pills are working, and my bones are at the right density. Hopefully no more appointments till April and then the A1C is due. 

Well, time to close here, I don't lead a very exciting life, maybe that is why I don't blog as much. I often wonder how people that Vlog on You Tube can possibly do vlogs every day and not run out of things to vlog about. But there are quite a few people I follow that have lots of content that makes their vlogs interesting. If you ever get a chance, go to "Chateau Diaries" or "Escape to Rural France" or "The Pethericks" or "Sadie from France" or "A Wonderful Life" or "Life of Ryan" to name a few. They are all enjoyable to watch.

Hope you have a great 2024 with lots of blessings!! Cheers to you all ~ Louise

No Masks????

WHAT?!?!? No Masks, I cannot believe it.....how and when did that happen???? Like overnight???

Friday I was at the Kwik Trip....sign is off the door, no one entering wore masks, people in the store were not wearing masks and people behind the counters were wearing no masks!!! I was like in disbelief!!! Of course, I did not wear my mask...I say FREEDOM!!

Well now....we started to watch NASCAR......NO ONE is wearing masks!!! It is like normalcy has returned, like "Overnight". Then I noticed no one in the stands were wearing masks and the stands are packed out, shoulder to shoulder!!! The announcers are not wearing masks, the drivers are not wearing masks.....OK!!! 

Then, I realized the race is in Austin, Tx. That explained it!!! I just read this morning, before the race....."Texas has had "0" Covid 19 cases since they stopped wearing masks" Wow, wow, wow!!! Please explain the unexplained to me!!!!

I must say...it looks good to see no masks on people. I know it was protection from the Covid....but sure was carried too far. I noticed also, hospitals are not as strict. JP and I were at Theda Care in Neenah, no thermometer checks. St. E's still checks though. AMC (ThedaClark) had no checks, although when you went into the office, they pulled out the thermometer. All the symptoms they ask you if you had.....can be symptoms for the flu....does not mean you have Covid, does it???? So glad the masks are disappearing, slow but sure!!!

Yesterday, I worked outside, planting seeds, pulled a few of my ceramic animals out. Straightened up the garage....little stuff. So much more to do for just one person. JP used to help....that extra help is not there anymore.

So I had to keep checking up on JP in the house, to make sure he did not fall. We were safe! So much to do, so little time. I have a feeling JP will have a lot of Doctor appointments this week. So far, I have one tomorrow, to find out what my A1C results are. If high, I am sure to get a talking to, stay away from this and that. Hopefully it will still be low.

I guess we will be going through another MRI as the Doctor thinks JP might have Parkinson's disease. The eye Doctor wants JP to have a liver test and lung test to make sure cancer has not spread to those areas, because if it has, he will not do the eye surgery. 

Well, I think I will close here, need to get some bills paid. Lately I have just been piling the bills on top of each other, just don't want to deal with finances....on top of everything else. Our SS can only stretch so far and no further. Oh well, one bill at a time!!

You all take care and keep looking up. God wants us to depend on him alone....He is the only one that can help us through these trials and tribulations. Cheers ~ Louise

14 Days Into 2019

Hi there everyone....14 days into this new year and it has been hectic and frustrating!!! Without going into too much detail, as I look at my desk calendar....everyday has something going and I am already POOPED!!!!

The last day of 2018, we had to call the plumber AGAIN. A leak under the sink and water dripping on the floor. The pipes were plugged to the tune of $264 and we still owe $40 from the last visit....the toilet was leaking down in the basement. A drip, drip, drip, every time the toilet flushed and oh did the basement smell. I thought we were in the clear for awhile and then the leak under the sink started the last week of 2018.

JP has had quite a few days off from work...the last week of December which meant a very small check for this month. We barely had enough $$$ to pay the mortgage. Not sure what next month will bring...but we will see.

I signed up for food help once a month at the Salvation Army. Yep....that took a lot for me to do. 17 years ago I worked at the Salvation Army and was helping people with getting food....now I need the help...it is quite humbling, that is for sure. So Friday I signed up and was taken into the warehouse and walked through the aisles. My cart was full and weighed out at 112 lbs of food. Guess I will not have to go shopping for a while, except for medication, paper products and Kylie's food.


Saturday, I had Spectrum come and set up the tv, internet and phone. I am cancelling At&t and Directv. Cost wise, I was paying $225 a month. Spectrum will be $75 dollars cheaper. Now I have to get used to the new numbers. Just looking for ways to save money. Tuesday I will be signing up for Energy assistance....will see how that goes. Hopefully I can get a few months paid, and that will help. Hopefully....by the end of the month I will have enough $$$ to pay our house taxes. Since JP went part-time it has been really tough making ends meet.

Maybe this is why I have not been blogging a whole lot....just have not felt like it as there is nothing exciting to write about or take pictures of.
 
 I got a new used stove last month....so it has been a joy to cook again. I made some 30 Minute Dinner Rolls, that were really good. Following is the recipe: Hope you can read it.

Last week I made "IHOP" copycat Buttermilk pancakes. Oh my gosh.....were they delicious. I am going to make more, but I will have to use regular milk and add a little bit of vinegar to make the milk sour....that should work.

My only enjoyment has been watching the Chicago Blackhawks on TV and computer....only wish they would start winning more. But I am getting into the other teams and only hope the other teams don't beat the Blackhawks....it's been an interesting season though.

Card making has been at a minimum lately....Valentines and St. Patrick cards....cleaned out my stash so there are lots of cards for those two holidays. Just have to put inserts inside the cards. BUT my printer is not working, so I may not have enough inserts to put in the cards.....I tell you, there is always something to hinder me from doing what I need to get done.

Health wise....we are still plugging along. JP still gets his arm pains, people who don't know him think he is having a heart attack. Then he tells them he has been getting these attacks for 8 years and has been to 5 specialist, none of them could point the finger at the problem. So, we live with it. 

Kylie still deals with her blindness and hard of hearing, but she seems to be doing better and loves to eat, go outside, sleep and walk around the house bumping into things. When it is not cold, we go for walks, but since she can't see that well, we never quite make it down to the corner because she is already heading back the other direction. Funny how a dog's life can change so radically.

As for me, I am still on the Keto diet (part-time), it works for me. I want to lose another 20 lbs this year. That is doable. My Doctor will be happy with me. My A1C is 6.2....next appointment is May, so I need to keep working on that. I still deal with a sciatic nerve problem on the left side of the butt. Gosh, it hurts when I get up in the morning and can barely walk....after an hour or so it gets better. Guess I am stuck with that pain for the rest of my life.

Well, now that I have completely bored you to death with all my problems, I shall close here for now. No telling when the next time I will be here. But I will keep you updated now and then. So until then, keep looking up because I am very sure, better days are coming soon and very soon. Cheers ~ Louise

Some More Cards......Part 2

Hi there everyone. Hope you are all having a great week. Thought I would continue on with the cards I made for my secret stamper. These are the images I sent to Linda. Below, the brown leaves. I just added them to a gold embossed leaves background, then added the green leaf and red ribbon leaves at the top and bottom. In my next post, I will show you what her card looked like using the leaves.

This is one of my favorite dies....it is like a stained glass effect. Then placed on a white card and each of the triangle/squares are colored in with copic markers. I added the "hello there" for special effects.

My favorite.....a flamingo, which is what I sent to Linda. A four layered flamingo then cut out. I added the die cut gold ferns and stamped ferns with a few gems. It most definitely is a jungle out there, isn't it???

Two giraffes, criss-crossing, colored in with copic markers and placed on a banner. The letters "friend" added to the bottom of the banner.

The black waves from Stampin'up. I actually bought the musical notes from Linda's store...how unique it all fell into place.

Here is my lovely vintage lady. She is colored in with copic markers. The back ground is glued and then rubbed shinny foil on the card stock and pulled it off to give this affect. Pretty cool....I really need to play around with it some more. There are many different techniques using the foil. I am just looking for the easiest without having to buy a laminater...is that the word for it???

So I have had this post sitting as a draft for about a week. Sorry I have taken so long to finish it. Been kind of busy this past week. Had my Doctor's appointment......my A1C was at 6.2....that is really pretty good! And, I have lost 35 lbs....Doctor was very happy with my results to say the least. I do feel better....now my next appointment is next May....hopefully I can keep my A1C the same and maybe have lost another 10 lbs. Yeah...it's been a very slow process, but then I did not gain the weight fast.....it crept on very slowly...so now it must crept off very slowly.

This Wednesday is my 72nd birthday...WHAT!!! I can't believe I made it to 72, hey, turn it around and it is 27 that was my favorite year...maybe 72 will be the same.

Are you ready for Thanksgiving. I think I might be. Again, it will be just JP and I. Not planning anything special. If I manage to get a turkey breast, I will put it in my crock pot. My stove is still out of commission. So I have to improvise quite a bit. I found a recipe for microwave pumpkin pie. If it turns out, I will give you the recipe.

Well, I think I will close here, you all have a great Thanksgiving and Black Friday. No, I do not go out shopping on Black Friday. Have no urge to do it either. Keep looking up....better days are just around the corner. Cheers ~ Louise

Some Cards........Part 1

Hi there everyone....well, I decided to come back for awhile. Guess I just needed a small break....there really was not much to report at this end, nothing too exciting going on.

I did manage to make some cards for the Secret Stamper Group I am involved in. The lady that had my name sent these cute caricatures. Lots of coloring with copic markers. My favorite card is the card below....a little ladybug. I especially liked the color combos of the red and beige card stock. Someone told me these were all Whipper Snapper images....cute, cute, cute.

Here you see a cute little frog....it was fun coloring these guys, my biggest challenge was deciding what kind of background I was going to use for each card.

This next card was a fun to make. I found a way to fold the card stock, using a double sided card stock. Fit the card stock to the card, cut down the middle and fold over, using glue to keep it together.

Here we have a possum peeking out of a pot, smelling the flower. Easy background, a stripped background.

Here's a cute turtle. I cut her out and placed her on the double sided card stock.

This was a fun card to make for a birthday.....I like the saying, "Maybe a cupcake will help?" I just happened to have that stamp and thought it would go great with the mouse and cupcake.

My next batch of cards will be the images I sent to my secret stamper, "Linda". She happened to be the owner of the stamp store we met at. She said she liked the images I sent her, she had no stamp or die cuts in her store like what I sent her. So they were all new to her.

Tomorrow I have a Blood test for my A1C....where did those 6 months go to. I did manage to lose 8 lbs. Hopefully the Doctor will be happy with that loss. I am.

I am going to close here for now....hopefully I won't be gone so long. I will try to get back. Have a good evening and don't forget to vote tomorrow.....this is a really big one. It will tell us if the people want to stay Americans or go the Socialist way....which we all know, never turns out good for anyone.

Keep looking up....better days are coming. Cheers ~ Louise

Cards, Hospice and Plantings

Hi there everyone. Sorry....I have been missing again, living life can sometimes get in the way!! We have had a few doctor and dentist appointments along the way, since my last post on May 3rd.

JP had another tooth pulled again. Pretty soon he won't have many teeth left in his mouth...my cooking skills will have to change to accommodate his toothless mouth. Plus, the Doctor said today his cholesterol was getting a little high, which means we have to lower that with a different meal plan. (Doctor wanted to put him on medication, but JP did not want to be put on more meds.....more meds means more side affects.)

More fish and chicken, less red meat and maybe cut down on the carbs. That would help me a bit, then I won't have to cook two different kinds of meals. What he eats, I can eat and what I eat, he can eat. We have 3 months to work on his diet and I think, 6 months before I see the doctor again for my A1C and lose a few more pounds. My A1C was down a few points. 6 months ago it was 6.7 the 1st of May it was 6.2. I attribute it to the keto diet. Less carbs that turns to sugar. Maybe JP will find more energy in his step, he always seems tired.

So these following cards are what I made last month at Betty's. I really love the card above, plumbers tape placed on card stock and run through the cuttlebug. Then we took alcohol inks and dabbed on the tape. Added the butterfly and embossed the birthday wishes verse. Pretty easy peasy.

This is a really cute card. On the front of the card you see the frog taking a dip into the water. As you can see, acetate was used, stamped on ovals, the inside of the card is the frog coming up for air....funny card...we all laughed when we saw this card.

This was an easy card to put together. The little bird was colored in with copic markers and cut out. The green was white and we colored it, stamping the dots and star flowers, adding the thank you and speckles for embellishments.

The card below was another easy card. Colored the flowers and stamped the verse and added the ribbon. Love the colors.

Wednesday we have another session of card making at Betty's, I always look forward to making cards and getting new ideas. 

I have 3 weeks to get more cards made for Hospice, then that will be our last meeting till September. We get the summer off...that is always nice, then I can leisurely make cards and get geared up for the next session and Fall, Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas! Gosh....time do fly when we make cards according to the seasons.

I have done a little planting....onions, radishes and spinach.....not too sure the spinach seeds will grow, as they are vintage '92, just thought I would try. I did buy some new spinach seeds today....tomorrow I will plant them along side the old seed and see which grows 1st......any guesses??? I will show you in the next post my planter, I am pretty excited about it and maybe getting some vegies this year.

Well, time to close here....it's getting late and I am getting tired. Talk later. Keep looking up cause better days are coming around the corner. Cheers ~ Louise

Some Cards I Have Been Working On

HI there everyone....hope your week went well. Mine was quiet....which is fine with me. Monday I went for my A1C blood test.....hopefully everything is fine. Will have my Doctors appointment next Tuesday. JP has his blood tested next Monday and his appointment with the Doctor the following Monday. I think he has a dental appointment also....but I did not mark it on the calendar....oh, oh I better get that checked out.

So lately, I have been working on some cards. 5 early Christmas cards in May.....I picked up these die cuts at the secret stamper reveal party. When I saw the card on the table I quickly ran back to the "extra image table" to see if there were more angels....and yes, these 5 were left. I had some sparkle backgrounds in my stash of paper and made my own angles. I must look for this die, I have no idea where the die for these angels was bought at a store or ordered online. I would like to make all my Christmas cards this year with this angel die.....so pretty!!!

Here we have some "Just a little note to say..." I saw this idea on the Internet. The wavy lines is a SU die and the notes I picked up at a stamping store.....I will get the name and place it here, when I look in the garbage for the package. I had originally made my own notes....but alas, they were backwards and upside down. Although the original card on the internet was the same, so I thought that was the way it should be.

When JP saw the card (he plays accordion and keyboard) he smiled and said my notes were wrong. So he went and got a music sheet to show me what the notes should look like. So, I proceeded to take my handmade notes off and replace with these notes....looks much better, if I have to say so myself. I have no idea what the tune is on each of these cards....maybe someone musical can tell me?

Now here is my "secret stamper image for May" I have probably had this stamp for 4-5 years and have no idea where it came from or who I bought it from. Sorry. I thought she would make a great "Mother's Day Card" I colored her in with copic markers, the real beauty of this card is the background. I used iridescent foil. Which was really fun to work with.

There are many ways to use colored foil....I thought only a laminator could be used, which I did not have. I went on YouTube and found other ways to foil. Tim Holtz has a few techniques to foil using sticky embossing powder (I shall check that out tomorrow at Hobby Lobby.) The foil is laid on top, tapped and rubbed then the foil slides off. Now I can't remember if a heat gun was used, I will have to check that out again.

Another lady used her cuttlebug with the foil papers and embossing folders, getting the right amount of pressure, she ran the folder through with the foil. It did not look like much, but she used painters tape to rub the foil off in the places foil did not stick.

Another lady used different colored embossing powders, a stamp and heat gun. While the image was still hot, foil was laid on the embossed image, if it did not take, she heated the embossing up and laid the foil on top again. You could use words or flowers, the ideas are endless.

My method was using foil paste. Rub the paste on the card stock with an old artist spatula (maybe I will look for a plastic one, mine was metal and all rusted.) Place the foil on the paste and I used the heat gun. The top one turned out better then the bottom one. But then, it really doesn't look bad either.

Here is a question for you....do you think these cards need something more, like ribbon, sequins, gems???? Or maybe it is fine just the way it is? Or, maybe it is too busy??? I might add a "Happy Mother's Day" greeting using the embossing powders.

Let's see, what else could I talk about??? I have started a couple of blogs and saved them in a draft. I made my first cheese cake a couple of weeks ago....pictures and blog to follow and maybe another cheese cake.

Another draft, is the cards made and received at the "Secret Stamper Image" reveal party, Part 1 and Part 2. There will also be a draft for the cards I made at Betty's house last month. My how time flies, I will be going for another session next week, maybe I should hold off on last months cards till I get another set of cards made at Betty's.

Hospice is next week Friday, so I need to get cards and Father's Day favors done for that. That could be another blog....Mother's Day and Father's Day favors.....we'll see.

Well, time to close, hockey is on...Nashville Predators and Winnipeg Jets. I am rooting for the Predators...so far the score is 2-0 Predators leading. I am also rooting for the Vegas Golden Knights....so we shall see what happens. Hopefully next season it will be the Chicago Hawks in the Playoffs!!!

Have a good evening and keep looking up, better days are coming. Cheers ~ Louise

Kylie Wants Some Too

Hi there everyone....how you all doing??? I have been kind of quiet this past week. Working on taxes and getting all "those papers" organized. Who said, "with computers, we will go paperless??" I think someone was dreaming probably....hahahaha!

So, I am taking a night off from papers.....do you know, I have papers from all the way back to 2004 and older (those may be down stairs). I guess it is time to have all those papers shredded. Our bank does shredding, so as soon as I go through all those papers  pulling staples and paper clips off, should have a couple of bags.

Seven years is all I have to keep some stuff. I have "a list of things to save and how long." It looks like Bank reconciliations, Bank statements, duplicate deposit slips, ins. policies (expired) are less then 5 years. 7 years for accident reports, contracts, mortgages, notes and leases, expired. 7 years for stock and bond certificates (cancelled) and withholding tax statements.

Papers to keep permanently - checks (cancelled for important payments i.e. taxes, purchases of property, special contracts, etc. and those checks should be filed with the important papers pertaining to those payments. Contracts, mortgages, notes and leases (expired and still in effect). Insurance records, current accident reports and claims. Property appraisals and property records and tax returns and worksheets. Hope that helps someone...it does me.

So today I made this for JP's lunch. Three layers of French toast with bacon and fruit on each layer,  then topped with yogurt. Looks pretty good....huh?

See Kylie in the corner.....she is barking for a taste or a pieces of Daddy's lunch. She'll bark and bark till she gets a bite. I finally have to say, "that's enough Kylie" and she stops barking.

Here's another shot of that delicious three layered French toast, fruit and strawberry shortcake.

Barking, barking, barking. Kylie is 14 years old now. She has her days where she feels good, and days when she does not. I have changed her diet and give her less people food and "Beneful" and more "Freshpet". She also gets "Milk bones" and "Special Cuts" as treats. It all seems to be working. 

Just another shot of JP's lunch and Kylie barking.

So today, I started my Dr. Atkins diet again. Cutting out carbs (or just not eating as much) for about a month. The last time I did this diet was last July and lost 10 lbs. and have managed to keep those 10lbs off. My A1c was at a good number too. So I thought I would do it again. As my Blood test is in April....would be nice to have lost another 10-15 lbs. 

It is a high protein and low carb diet. Eggs and bacon or sausage in the morning. Salads for lunch and meats and vegies for dinner and not too much snacking in between meals. It's pretty doable for me and when I see the scale start moving down, I 'll get very motivated to keep going. I have 3 Dr. Atkin books for lot's of recipes and Walmart has Dr. Atkins bars and meals in the freezer dept. So I usually pick up a couple for breakfast or dinner.

I will let you know how things go the rest of this month and the beginning of March. Have to go now, it's getting late and I have to get JP's dinner ready. Pork chops, mashed potatoes and bean casserole and his left over lunch, French toast and fruit.

Have a good evening and keep looking up....better days are coming. Cheers ~ Louise

Card's Made at Betty's Today

Hi there everyone.....Hope you had a wonderful day. My day started out with Blood and urine test at 11am....I sure cannot figure out my blood sugars. When I got up they were 160. By the time I got to the clinic it was 236 by the time I got home it was 210, I have not checked since. Hopefully my A1C will be okay (but I have a feeling it won't be). Anyways, I was done at 11:15, we got home by 11:30. I had a hard boiled egg, then left for Betty's.

Got to Betty's 12noon and we sat down to make these lovely cards. I took the pictures there, after each card, the background is lousy....just a white paper towel, I usually use white shiny material when taking pictures....there's the difference, much prettier.

This was the last card we made....but I am making it the first card.....such a pretty card. The trees and cardinals are die cuts, the background is a shiny green card stock run threw the cuttlebug and "Silent night Holy night embossed in white. Hopefully Betty can pick up this die cut for me at the convention this weekend.

This seascape card was fun, colored in with copic markers, glue was applied in the places where we wanted the glitter to show. The blue background was run through the cuttlebug as was the white background.......looks like I got it a little crooked there...oh oh.

Another fun card. All die cuts to make this card look like a penguin????

Now if you are a Packer fan....you would like this card. Packers have lost their last 3 games.....hope they get back into their winning form before it is too late!!! But this was a fun card to make, as are all the cards we make. Packer mouse in Packer colors, I got the cheese head a little too dark though....so I think it's more of a Cheddar cheese head. The mouse and fence were colored in with Copic markers. Betty had the sign made....she said, but I wasn't listening. I seem to get lost in coloring. The background was patterned paper.

Last but not least, another pumpkin pie. Nope, this one is all eaten up and gone....time to make another one....yum, JP won't complain.

Well, time to close this post, I need to get downstairs and make some cards. Hospice meeting is on the 2nd of December. We will be going out for breakfast...yum, can hardly wait.

I joined another group of card makers. It's called the "Secret Image Group". There are 19 participants. We stamp, emboss or die cut 14 of the same design/images. Make two cards with that image and keep it till the reveal party and one for your secret partner then send the 12 images to your secret image partner. I hope I got that right.

So anyways....something new will be added to my blog....Secret Images that I send and receive and the cards made through this fun new group. I am sure it will be fun.

Have a great day and keep looking up ~ better days are coming!!
Cheers ~ Louise

Doctors and Mini Vacations

Hi there everyone. Wow....can't believe where the time has gone....a whole week has past. Oh well, I guess you might say, I have been vacationing, if only minute vacations on Pinterest is about all I can manage for now.

I have been busy though....visited my Doctor on Tuesday. He did blood test and urine test. Everything was normal and my A1c is 7.0.....yay, I guess that means I am learning to control the diabetes. I also wanted to talk to my Doctor about something that has been bothering me. It seems I have a hernia and that, apparently is what has been causing a lot of my sickness once a month or even twice a month.

Today I went to a specialist in Hernias. And yes, I will be needing surgery. Next week I will have a CAT scan, the Doctor will then know exactly where the hernia is. She will preform the Robotic surgery making 4 incisions and putting mesh in....sounds amazing to me. If it helps me not to have that awful pain, nausea and throwing up, I will face my fears of an operation. The operation will be September 3rd.....if you think about me that day please pray for me. Thanks. I will be out of commission for at least 2 weeks, no lifting, housework, driving, etc. Hopefully I can have all my errands done and food cooked in the freezer for JP to eat. He likes his beans, oat meal and chicken soups....easy to make in the micro-wave.

I should add...this hernia is a result of the operation I had in 1986. I had a bleeding ulcer, the Doctors operated to try and stop the bleeding. The nerves were cut in my stomach, the spleen was accidentally touched and started to bleed and that was taken out. I have  a long incision from the breast bone to the belly button. It seems that the walls around the stomach weakened over the years and the hernia appeared...it actually started to bother me back in March of 2014...I would get pain, nauseousness and throwing up. Always clutching my stomach. One good thing out of this....I have lost almost 40 lbs since last October....so hopefully I can lose a few more before the operation. The Doctor said.....good job, this will help a lot.

My minute vacations took me to the Galapagos Islands.

Greece

Bora Bora, Polynesia

Fiji Islands

 

I shall feast my eyes on these beautiful pictures and just dream. Minute vacations will have to do for now.

 

 

I have my final post-op checkup for my eyes this Tuesday....putting drops in my eyes ends in 8 more days....just in time for me to start the next phase of my life and a new month of surgery on the hernia. Yes, this has been quite the year of trials and tribulations....I think I need a rest from all this though.....like maybe a vacation someplace...don't you think??? I guess for now I will have to settle for my mini vacations on Pinterest.....it's cheaper.

 

 

Well, time to close here...keep looking up and take care of those you love. Cheers ~ Louise

Some Fun Christmas Favors and Cards

Hi there everyone...hope you had a wonderful Saturday....these Saturdays sure don't last long...it's like you get up in the morning and POOF the day is over. Wednesday, I went to my friends house for a card making session, we made some Christmas favors and a card. In the month of December we usually bring snacks and a card for each of the ladies that come, my friend gives us each a gift. This years gift was 10 rolls of permanent tape for our tape gun....I was happy about that, cause I was running out and needed to buy some tape from her. Excellent gift.

So in the following pictures are the things we made. Here is a sweet Snow Lady. As you can see she is a Hershey bar holder. This is done with mostly die cuts...her head was threaded around the face...it is called "spirally" thread art. Her face is from the Rubbernecker Stamp collection.

She really makes for a nice decoration. Probably the candy bar will be eaten or made into something else and she will be put away till next Christmas.

Here's a cute little chimney, this was fun to make. The panels were inked with 3 different reds, and the white part was cut to look like snow dripping from the chimney. The red bag is holding some sweet treats.

In this picture is the card we made. The snowman is a take off from the movie "Frozen" Olaf is his name. I guess he does not look exactly like "Olaf" I think he is pretty cute though even if he is not the real thing.

This was fun to make....5 Christmas tags. Each piece was cut from die cuts and we just pieced them together. They can be tags, or ornaments for the tree.

You want to hear something just so unbelievable???? Hope you are sitting down as you are reading this. Yesterday the nurse from my Doctor's office called and said my blood tests came back and the Doctor wants to put me on another medication to bring down the A1C (or is it AC1). The medication will be ready for pick up.

So I made a special trip to Shopko to pick up my new medication. It could not be found. Then the pharmacist came to the window....it seems the medication ordered by the Doctor was $300....I just about fainted...."oh no...I cannot pay that." The pharmacist said he realized that and faxed the Doctor back...because the insurance would not pay for that either!! So at this point I do not know what will happen. The pharmacist also said that even with a co-pay my share will be $225. NOPE that is still way too expensive. I would have to take 3 pills a day, I can't imagine the cost of each pill and how often I would have to order these outrageously expensive pills!!!

I was so nervous after visiting the pharmacist that I literally got sick to my stomach and wanted to throw up. By the time I got home, I actually did. Friday was not a good day for me. I suspect by Monday or Tuesday I will find out what the scoop is. Also we may find out about JP's dilemma. He had an ex-ray and was put in that tube...MRI on Tuesday...the results should be coming soon.

Well time to close this post...I need to finish decorating my tree and finish putting up my village. So you all have a wonderful rest of the weekend. Tomorrow I am going to a Stampin'up Camp with a friend. We are going to make tags, bags and a card. Snacks and prizes are on the agenda too. I will post those items in my next blog. Cheers ~ Louise