SO much DRAMA!

I have such a melodramatic tale!

So my migrane DID land me in the hospital a few weeks ago, I did indeed feel like it was a bit melodramatic but it just wouldn’t go away. As I mentioned, it was better after a week off work and heavy-duty drugs and a dark draped-off room, but was still a good strong 2 to 3 on the good old pain scale.

Hence the drama of the hospital.

Even then the migraine remained after the hospital, and grew to a 4 or 5 the Saturday after, but pretty much left that Sunday. And by the time I returned to work it was for the most part gone, just tiny winks and flashes that won’t let me forget.

And I felt truly like myself for the first time in years last week, which makes me wonder just how long I have been suffering!

Hooray, I say, hooray!!!!!

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How bad is the pain, between 1 and 10?

How many times have we pondered this question?  And to what are we supposed to compare this to?

If I compare it to the pain I saw my mom or dad in during past surgeries, I don’t even know if it would register a 1.

So just my own experience? Well, even then it doesn’t compare to surgery I had at the age of 21.

Just a couple of weeks ago I told a doctor my migraine, which I have had since Valentine’s Day, was at 8.  I needed a shot for pain badly — I was on my third week of a painful migraine and couldn’t take it much longer.

Did I exaggerate?  No, I don’t think so.  But as far as pain goes on a scale of 1 to 10 I wouldn’t call it a 8. If someone were to slice into my hand, that might be an 8, my arm almost chopped off might be close to a 10. But wouldn’t open heart surgery or something like that be a 10?  Good God, in days of no anesthetic, now that is a 10!

See?  This is where my mind goes. Now how am I do judge whether I am a 5 6 7 8 9 or 10? Well?

So I told the good doctor the migraine was an 8 as I felt the migraine deserved the praise of an 8 at the time, and she gave me a shot and I laid back in the cool office for a while listening to the shuffle of their feet outside the door.

A week later after seeing an acupuncturist, twice, who knocked out one level of the pain, and a neurologist who is doing more testing and starting me on different medications, the migraine still would not cease.

The following week the migraine grew once again … is this week 4 or 5? I can’t seem to remember. More acupuncture, different pills through the new neurologist, diet changes. The bell rang and that migraine knocked me cold.

I was in bed all weekend for the 4th weekend in a row.

I was all prepared this past Monday for the doctor to ask me how bad the pain was, I felt silly saying it was 8 the few weeks before, because damned if it wasn’t a 10 in the migraine world now, not that there might still be another level of 10.

But, she didn’t ask, just instantly wanted to admit me to a hospital so she could bring out the big guns, the drugs she can’t use while I am at home.

:gulp:

That scared me. I am not a big bad brave girl. I can be outgoing and spontaneous, and love that because then I do things without thinking about it.

But when I think about it …. Heck, it took me six months to walk into Kennedy Club Fitness by myself. I think I have whatever phobia it might be that you get scared to walk into a place full of people — even if it is people you know!  Except my immediate family.

Anyway, should have done that. That was Monday, started heavy duty drugs Monday night through Wednesday night and was pretty wobbly through Friday. Now I still have a migraine.

Her directions were if I still have a migraine, admit myself to the hospital.

But my pain is only about 2 or 3? Ah, the saga continues!

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Happy Valentine’s Day!

I didn’t get my Valentine’s Day cookies made this year!  I have been following the blog of The Sweet Adventures of Sugarbelle and love her style. I was completely inspired to make Valentine cookies! Her designs are beautiful and so creative.

My family grew up decorating cookies like this.  Mom always made gingerbread cookies in fun shapes for all occasions, and ever since I was a little girl we would sit around the table and decorate the cookies together.

We called them Nut Tree cookies after The Nut Tree between San Francisco and Sacramento. In the 70s we would stop off there on trips and they had great big decorated cookies like this.

I was going to have my beads here on my site by this time, however family and work always comes first. Work has settled a bit for me, I work on the website at KSBY in San Luis Obispo and we were transferring all of our ads into a new system in January, and February has been troubleshooting and catching up!

And then family called: Matthew and I have been driving down to Pasadena to help my aunt get my grandparents house cleaned up and ready to sell.

The biggest job was finding the garage, which had collapsed under about 35 years of ivy! But after a full day of work we found the foundation, and we just went down this past weekend to help haul part of it off to the dump.

The house was built in the very early 1900s and was on the cover of a magazine in 1910.

A lot of hard work, but so good to work with family and help out!

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Fanatically Crazy Busy

I thought I would share some photos from the Pasadena Bead & Design Show last weekend. As friends and family know, I was thrilled to see Jill Graves Studios on a big vinyl sign!  I feel so official now.

Matthew and I have been crazy busy ever since we got home, I haven’t had a chance to pull out the beads I was working on, nor have I had a chance to work on the special order beads yet!

 

 

Right now, we are like ships passing in the night – long work days at our full-time jobs, flop into bed, and our schedules are so different it has been a quick kiss while one of us is asleep!

This week looks to be a bit calmer, I say hopefully on a Sunday night.

I set up my jewelry and boxes as well as my handmade beads. I didn’t have much left to show after the 2011 Art in the Parks and Art in the Vineyards so I need to build that back up again.  Time for a trip to San Diego to visit my muse, my Mom!

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Thank you, Pasadena Bead & Design Show!

My thanks to the Pasadena Bead and Design show and all the attendees who stopped by to see me!  It was so much fun to see a couple of familiar faces, and to meet so many new people.

Matthew and I had a great time, and we are hoping to be back in July so please stay tuned.

I focused on making my black, red and white beads while I was there.  I will post a picture tomorrow, I need to find the beads now!

Cheers to all!  Watch my blog for more bead information so you can order from me here off my blog!

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Pasadena Bead & Design Show

I am packing up beads, bracelets, boxes, bags and baubles for the Pasadena Bead & Design Show this Thursday, January 12 through Sunday, January 15th at the Hilton Pasadena!

Of course my full-time work has kept me hoppin’, and since I keep my beads and jewelry and artwork secondary, I am not AS prepared as I would like (damn that perfectionism in me!). But I do have beads, and for a bead show that is all that matters.

This is my very first venture to a full bead show.  I have sold my beads to shops in San Diego and here on the Central Coast, and at art shows. It will be a lot of fun to show my work to a broader audience, retailers and wholesalers alike.

Enjoy! And hopefully I will see you there!

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Cookiepalooza 2011

Every waking moment has been working or baking, frosting and making cookies in December! Not too much sleep … but I certainly discovered my love for decorating cookies once again.

It all started with the Woods Humane Society’s Open House early in December.  Matthew and I always enjoy volunteering at this event, watching all the dogs and owners line up to sit with Santa!

Matthew made some awesome chocolate chip cookies and I made some dog gingerbread cookies … for people!

It was a fun event, and I enjoyed baking for it.  Last year we ran out of cookies, we had a few left over that I took to the KSBY newsroom afterwards!

I also made green trees with red hots as decorations, and small red stars.

Then I went on to my next project, a large order of cookies!  I saw darling cookies at Avila Valley Barn that looked like candies with the two twists on each end … like a peppermint!  My bags weren’t long enough for two twists, and I eliminated a green stripe accent for time, but I love how they came out!

I didn’t pipe it first as a lot of bakers are doing now, I just drew the red on with a knife and liked how it came out. I tried piping, but I personally had more control over the knife in drawing the outline, and piping it wasn’t much of a time saver.

I also made snowflakes, using my mom’s design on the top. I had so many cookies in front of me I stopped feeling creative!  A lot of long nights, but I enjoyed doing it.

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