February BJP - The Women in My Life

Meet Colleen, she is the second oldest of us five girls & lives in Nelson, New Zealand. Colleen is very family oriented & has 3 daughters as well as a son who she adopted as a wee baby. She used to love to hike in the mountains around Nelson but her health has put a stop to that in recent years.

I found this pretty orange fabric at Joanne's a couple of weeks ago & the hearts told me it should be my February Page. I love the combination of chartreuse & orange, it really sings!

What a waste of a morning!

LOL at myself!!
In my last two posts I have typed the title & then hit enter - of course that published my post so there it sits just a heading with no content until I finish this ;)

Today I got up a little earlier than usual because I have to renew my Wa State food handler's card, required by all staff at the retirement home where I work. I had my oatmeal, showered & headed to the southern end of the Peninsula to where the class is held, only to find that today's class had been cancelled ;(

Well heck! So I headed home again via the supermarket & pharmacy where I picked up my test strips for the glucose testing meter I was given the other day & didn't pick up my 2 prescriptions that I'd forgotten to call in ;(

When I got home I saw that the test strips - which cost an arm & a leg BTW! - are not the same kind as my meter, what the heck? Then I saw a note from the Pharmacist, telling me that these strips were the only kind that my insurance covers, well heck! I only have one test strip left of the FREE ones that came with the meter I had been given, so called my Dr to see what can be done. The long & the short of it is, he is going to prescribe a meter to match the strips.. I guess I can pick it up tomorrow while I am picking up those scrips I just emailed to the Pharmacy!

At least I don't have to go anywhere now so I intend to do some beading ;)

Daily pix & some rambling

I really need to be more active on here, I have the typical Cancerian tendency to shut myself off & while I read other's blogs, I just don't think I have anything to share, so I say nothing..

Today I decided that I'd try to embrace my bloggy self ;) & to that end took some pictures in my garden today to share with my on line friends & fellow artists.

This is the view from the back steps, I have a lot of work to do there once the weather warms up.

A close up of my blue Hyacinth, they were a favorite of my dear Mother & so are special to me.
Health is always an issue once you are over 60 & recently Joe had surgery to replace 2 vertebrae in his neck, here he is with the collar on about a week after his surgery. He had to trim his beard because the collar & it did not go together well. I'm pleased as I much prefer him without all the whiskers - even the moustache is gone for the moment, the radiation he had last year created a bald patch as you can see on his right side.

It is a month now since the Op and he is doing well & has been able to get off the pain meds, so that speaks well of the surgery & its success.

I have a different health issue, I am now Diabetic - I had been pre-diabetic & thought I was eating right. I really didn't want to eat meat so replaced that with beans & chick peas. BUT it turns out that was the wrong thing to do as while they are protein, they are also starch & turn to sugar- Duh, you'd think that I would have known that, wouldn't ya? But nope I did not.

I'm testing my blood sugar once a day for the moment, while I learn what foods I'm sensitive to & get used to eating 6 times a day..

It's funny but I'm almost relieved to learn this life changing news because at last I understand why I have been packing on the weight, which has been depressing me quite a bit.

I met with a Dietitian at our local hospital last week & next Friday Joe & I have an appointment to see the Diabetic Nurse, I 'm pleased that she wants him to come as well, as I know I need his support with this.

I'm confident that I'll be able to control this with my diet & lose some unwanted pounds as well.

I've almost finished my February BJP page & here's a wee tease of it. I should have it finished this evening & will have a picture of it to share tomorrow. Then it is on to Ms March.

Finally here's my Phoebe for your viewing pleasure ;)

The Muse is done..

It took me longer than I had planned to do my Bead the Muse piece.

We have been short one person at work & as we are a small facility with a small staff the rest of us picked up a few extra hours until we found a replacement - it sure ate into my beading time but my next cheque should be good :)

Here is a wee tease for my entry in this contest & the whole piece will be revealed next week after Scarlett announces the winner.

Use the Muse Contest

Scarlett Lanson of The Beader's Muse has a Contest going on her site info here

I signed up for it & have my kit - I have to say Scarlett is really fast at getting the kits out, I think mine arrived with in 3 days of ordering it!

This is an interesting challenge & I did it mainly because I don't make much jewelry & this has pushed me to make something.

I found out about this contest from Liz but over on FaceBook & Liz already has hers done!!

The ideas behind this contest is that we must use the MUSE which is part of a kit Scarlett has put together - I have managed to get the Muse looking how I envisaged it so now it is just beading, beading, beading & you know I LOVE to do that!

We are allowed to share a tease of the piece so I will do that when I get finished!

January BJP

I've finished my January page & have even got it attached to the ultra suede!

The pink beads (both light & dark) are size 15s & I used the one bead at a time style of bead embroidery, I imagine it is similar to seed stitch in thread embroidery... I think the texture is amazing when the beads are applied this way... I first used it when I did my 'Under the Sea' series on the Orange Starfish

This is Tiffany; she is my oldest granddaughter & she turned 20 on January 28th

Tiffany is our miracle child, as she was born with Whilm's Tumor, a rare form of cancer that is related to the kidney & is often not found until the child is around 2 - 3 years old & in many cases it has spread to other organs & or the spine.

In Tiffany's case it the tumor grew very fast & she was only 3 months old when it was removed along with one of her kidneys, it was the size of a baseball. Subsequent tumors have resulted in a third of her remaining kidney being removed so her health is delicate & she will most likely need a transplant one day.

I thank God that Tiff was born in Australia where my daugher lives, the wonderful health care system there saved her life & my daughter did not have to go into debt to pay for her care.

That said, Tiffany is a bright intelligent young Woman & I hope she goes far in life & achieves her dreams

Houdini the Cat

Check out the vidio of a cat trying to escape from his collar, it was too cute not to share with everyone