Too Long.

I have been up to my ears with a sore back and not feeling as well as I feel I should. I haven't been able to concentrate on blogging or much of any thing else. I'm not depressed, just feel down. Hopefully this feeling will subside quickly and I can get on with my life.
I bought a new Dell computer last night. I paid $550 for the computer and monitor. It wasn't that long ago when I paid $3000 for a computer and monitor. How the times have changed. The computer I have know was built for me by my son and it already has a full hard drive. It sure hasn't taken me long to fill it up.
My copy of PS2 died on me. I deleted the copy and purchased a copy of PSE8. It is really nice and every thing I use is available to me and easy to use, after learning PS2. PS has a huge learning curve and it took me a year to learn and feel comfortable with it. I'm pretty sure I didn't learn to use more than 25% of the program, if that much. An old dog learning new tricks is still possible! I have notes all over my room that I have written to myself about how to do certain things with PS. Of course I can't ever find the ones I want but they are there.
Don't you just love those beautiful birds. If I could I would own a parrot and teach it to talk. They are so amazing to watch.

Amazing

I have been back to my surgeon and have the postop xrays. I am totally amazed at what was done to my back. I'm sure it is a good thing I can't remember any thing for 5 days after the surgery. After looking at the xrays I just know that I was in so much pain that I blanked out the memory. The brain does some kind things for us even if we don't always know it.
I still haven't been able to get back into my art. I can't stand nor sit for that long a period without moving around and I'm sure that the pain pills I am still taking really distracts from my creativity. I wish I were one of those people that can create while in a stupor but alas, I require some thought while in the process. I seem to read and nap better than create. I believe my brain has been slightly damaged by all the anesthetics I consumed with both surgeries. Now I have to wait for new brain cells to grow so I can be as close to normal as possible. I have been searching for something new to create when I can tolerate the activity and do I ever have a list. Nothing like dreaming of creating beautiful things to appreciate.
I hope your weekend is a pleasant one, I know mine will be.

Getting Better!!

Horray, I am getting so much better that I can now sit in front of my monitor and actually write. Such joy there is in being able to do things I took for granted a few weeks ago. I can pop on my brace is one easy sweep and hobble without my walker into the art room. In the mean time, I am looking at every thing I can to stimulate my poor drugged brain. I get a kick out of the idea that I can look at an art magazine today and again in 2 days and not remember what I saw before. My brain hasn't taken anasetic kindly. And, to top it all off, I am loseing handfulls of hair. I can almost see my scalp thru the new hair that is growing in. Me and drugs just aren't compatable. I will be bald and creating art in a couple weeks and be so very, very happy to be there.

In the past few weeks I have come to realize why I don't watch TV. Is it me or are the programs just truly awful? How many reality shows are there on TV now? And, who can possible watch all of them? I much prefer tearing up paper and playing with stamps to trying to figure out TV.

I need to head off and mount some of my new stamps. I got crazy and joined the "Club Scrap" group and have received the most impressive papers and stamps each month. It is almost like having a day a month of Christmas. The quality of the paper is amazing. Perfect for making books and cards. Talk about having some fun!

Do enjoy the later days of summer. They come and go quickly and leave us with cold rain and lots of mud.

Sally

What a ride this has been.

I entered the hospital on Jul.7th for the front approach to my surgery. That went very well except that my potassium bottomed out and they had to postpone the second surgery for two weeks. I reentered another hospital on the 22 of July for the posterior approach to my surgery. That was wicked. What a wild ride that took me on. I became very confused from all the different medications I had and don't remember a thing for 5 days. I kind of came to in a skilled nursing facility. Lucky for me it was one ran by a very dear friend of mine so I have no complaints about the care..........the food is awful. Don't eat it. At some point in my 2 week stay I convinced them that I would starve to death if I wasn't discharged home. Not far off, I dropped 40# in that few weeks.
Now, I am finally home and a long way from healed but doing a bang up job on healing. I wear a brace any time I am out of bed and have to walk with a walker. I have a 16in. scare on my back but my back is stronger than it ever has been. I have about 76% less pain than I had before the surgery too.
I will have to build a shrine to my surgeon..........what a miracle worker he is. I feel so very lucky.
I am hoping to get back to some blogging and creating in another couple weeks. Until then it will be pretty hit and miss for me since I can't sit for very long yet.
I am so glad to be back!

A little vacation

I am to be admitted into the hospital tomorrow for my surgery. One on the 7th and one on the 10th and hopefull I will be back to resume what every it is I do. I am going to miss reading blogs and doing my art. I am hoping for a really fast recovery.

Great Class

I took a wonderful web class tonight from Lydia Fiedler. She is the owner of Understand Blue and is a great teacher. Her class was on doing a blog. I was surprised at how well she covered the information and made it so easy to understand. At times I feel overwhelmed at the amount of information you can obtain on the web. It seems to go on forever.
I finished all of my preops today. More labs drawn, a urine specimen, and 50 papers, at least, to sign. All of that just to get into the hospital. It makes me wonder how many I will be signing to get out of the place. My surgery date starts on the 7th and ends on the 10th. I do believe they intend to fillet me. If anyone ever wants to compare scars I believe I will take them up on it. Mine will sure be a lot longer than the normal. It is a good thing Titanium is lightweight or I will come out of the hospital weighing 30 pounds more than preop. Modern surgical procedures are a thing of magic. I watched a whole operation done with a microscope and TV monitors and tiny, tiny, body parts. Our nerves are pretty slim.
I have a new collage I am working on, so it is waiting patiently. I want to get at least most of it done before I have to leave my art for a few weeks. A week in the hosptial just doesn't sound thrilling to me. I have to leave all of my art at home.
It is now officially TGIF............have a dandy weekend and enjoy all those fireworks. Be thankful that the noise is fireworks and not a morter attack.
Enjoy!

Really HOT

The weekend ended with a swelter y day. It was 107 degrees and believe me I knew it. I can remember as a kid running around all summer long without any shoes and today I wondered how on earth I ever did that.
I decided to try my hand at doodling. I found a site that gives instructions on how to doodle. I am surprised to find that doodling requires lessons. After I read the instructions I knew why lessons were necessary. I don't think I ever put much thought into doodling until recently. That is because I never looked at it as an art form before. I have hopes that it will help my drawing. I'm not much of an artist with a pencil and have always wanted to be able to draw. I have come to the conclusion that I have been too lazy to adapt to drawing. It takes some practice and anyone can draw with practice being the key word here. We will see what I can accomplish with my trusty pencil.
I did make make a card to welcome our new neighbor to the hood. I decided I would introduce my self and the family and not be like I was for 4 years while living in Oxnard. In 4 years I couldn't tell you the name of any of my neighbors except for one right next to us. It seems that was the way of living in the suburbs. We seem to have cultured the distance and aloneness for an awfully long time and I think that has caused our society some terrible problems. It always surprises me when I read about someone found dead after not being seen for 6 months by their next door neighbor. That is a sad circumstance. We seem to have distanced ourselves from each other until we are alone in a crowd. Change subjects quick, I don't want to write a research paper on the social problems of America.
For those of you that hate Mondays, bring out the pencil and doodle. Until next time.