Good morning!  I’m here today to put some rumors to rest and fill you in on what is happening on my end.

I’ve been a little under the weather lately and decided to have myself checked out by a new doctor (that my sister and mother have recently started going to).

Of course, when you go to a new doctor the first steps are having a complete physical and work-up.   I’ve had a sleep test done, been checking my blood pressure twice a day for two weeks now, and I’ve had blood drawn a number of times.  I should have the results of all that work on Monday morning.  However . . .

I had a nuclear stress test and of course, I failed.  I didn’t last too long until I started breathing very heavy and hard and my heart rate sored up.  THEN when I had the pictures made . . . . . . they came back with some abnormalities.    Needless to say, at this point my doctor ordered a heart cath.

Let me just say at this point that my heart is just fine and is beating strong

There are no blockages, blah blah blah . . . and a big WOO HOO!!!!

I’ve been resting this week . . . no stairs (which means no studio), no driving (until yesterday when I HAD to go out), no walking, standing or sitting for extended periods . . . you get the picture . . .  I’ve been

Where we go from here, I don’t know.  What I do know is that I will trust my new doctor and we will work together to make me feel like I should!

In the meantime, I’ll still have that occasional project that I can share and I will be working on projects for CHA.  They are all due soon and things I won’t be able to share until after CHA.

My uncle, Billy Howell, finally lost his battle with cancer yesterday morning. He had been diagnosed with Stage IV Prostate Cancer in March of 2009 and fought valiantly over the last couple of years. He was living in Hodgenville, Ky at the time and was by himself. When he could no longer work at his profession, Funeral Director and owner/operator of Billy Howell Funeral Chapel in Hodgenville, my mother moved him in with her. I’ve been so thankful that she did, because I would never have known my uncle. Over the last year and a half, I have gotten to know a marvelous man and who was the one who got up in the middle of the night to give me a bottle when I was a baby!

Thankfully yesterday he went peacefully at the end and is now finally free of pain and is no longer suffering. He’s also with his momma and daddy now . . . he was such a momma’s boy!

I have a few errands to run and then I’ll be back to give you the lowdown on my projects of Graphic 45 yesterday.

Sherry

Oh my heavens . . . I haven’t been here for so long!  I’ve had so much going on here at home that yesterday was the first day I’ve truly walked into the studio since returning from CHA.   I really didn’t forget about y’all!

A week last Saturday, Mallory called from school and was very sick and we told her to go to the emergency room there.  She went, found out what was wrong, was treated and released all on the same day.

On Monday morning Mr. Stodgy woke early with problems breathing and drove himself to the emergency room.  He called me around 7:30 and woke me up, then told me what he had done and wanted me to come down to the hospital.  By the time I got there, he was no longer in the ER, but had been admitted.

In the meantime, Mallory was getting worse and I was monitoring her via text and phone to see if we needed to bring her home.  Which we did end up doing Tuesday morning.  To make her story short, she was allergic to her medicine and by the time I took her back yesterday, she was doing much better!

Mr. Stodgy on the other hand was not doing so well.  He was in congestive heart failure and had had a heart attack.  Finally on Friday afternoon, after a battery of tests, blah blah blah, he was released and is resting at home for a few days.  He was actually released to go back to work today, but I fought him on it and told him he had some vacation days he really should take.  The man has never ever taken a vacation day . . . . never.  Well a few weeks a couple of years ago, but that’s been it.

I had to laugh because he did tell me the other day he knew he really needed to stay home and wondered if I could stand him being around the house.  Why of course, honey, I answered . . . . I’ll be in the studio, I need to work!

We are also working on diet and other life style changes around here.  Luckily and hopefully, I’ll not be the lone non-smoker anymore  . . . let alone the only one that will eat chicken instead of insisting on having red meat with every meal.  I told you it was a big life style change!

So that’s the story of my vanishing act.  Now lets talk about how I’m trying to get the mojo flowing and back into the groove. You know, its been three weeks since I’ve really put my mind to creating.

I think what I’ll do is create a separate post for my card.  I hope you don’t mind!  For some reason I feel that I need to not glob up a card post with all this other information.

Good morning!  Last night was the  last night Mallory is home for the holiday break so Mr. Stodgy took us all out to dinner.  Mallory and I finally settled on a seafood place down by the river and both Kate and Mr. Stodgy met us there after work.  The night skyline of Louisville was beautiful and the weather was perfect to see all the lights reflecting off the river.

When we got home Mallory finally got our craft night together in the studio.  She’s been trying the entire break to finish up some paddles for her sorority sisters.

I think she thought I was going to do it all, but I had news for her little butt . . . she had to work on it too!  Of course she had already finished the background on a prior break . . . this time we added the grunge flowers and alphabet.

This one I had to show you because she used canned air and metallic alcohol inks . . .  just way too cool!

She was very pleased with both of them, and I have to say that from when she first started making paddles, these rock!

I also had some happy mail today!  Last week my friend Glenda Brooks, posted some flowers on her blog that I absolutely loved!  They were so unique and I left her a comment about them . . . . LOOK WHAT I RECEIVED TODAY!

Some of the flowers that she made just for me!  Look at the depth and detail on these beauties!

I’m gonna have to try some of these with a little BAD Sherry twist!

Well, I guess that’s all I’ve got for today!  I have a blog hop to prep for tomorrow . . . .

until then, remember life is short . . .  embrace the adventures of the day!

Definition of EMBRACE

transitive verb

1

a : to clasp in the arms : hug b : cherish, love

2

: encircle, enclose

3

a : to take up especially readily or gladly <embrace a cause> b : to avail oneself of : welcome <embraced the opportunity to study further>

4

a : to take in or include as a part, item, or element of a more inclusive whole <charity embraces all acts that contribute to human welfare> b : to be equal or equivalent to <his assets embraced $10>

intransitive verb

: to participate in an embrace

— embrace·able \-ˈbrā-sə-bəl\ adjective

— em·brace·ment \-ˈbrās-mənt\ noun

— em·brac·er noun

— em·brac·ing·ly \-ˈbrā-siŋ-lē\ adverb

²embrace

noun

Definition of EMBRACE

1

: a close encircling with the arms and pressure to the chest especially as a sign of affection : hug

2

: grip, encirclement <

3

: acceptance <her embrace of new ideas>

I’ve finally decided on my word for 2011.  Embrace has actually been in my head for months now.  Probably since October when my sister and I were shopping and I bought her a bracelet that said “Embrace the Journey.”  Actually I bought two that day . . . one for her and one for me.  Carrie turns 50 this year and it was an early birthday present so that she would look at turning 50 in a more favorable light that regretting it.

For me the word embrace encompasses many aspects of my live that I want to improve . . . relationships, family, fun, health!  You get the idea!  My list could go on and on, so I’ll stop now.

The first thing that comes to mind for me is . . . I get out of bed and instead of saying “oh I don’t want to get up, I don’t feel like it,” THINK POSITIVE . . .  Good morning sunshine!  Get up and embrace the adventures that come your way . . .  it’s gonna be a great day!

I truly don’t know how I could pick any other word!

I’ve yet to get into the studio for fun projects and right now I have it all torn apart while I try to put the holiday decorations away.  You see I store them in a spare close in the studio and to get in the closet I have to move some things around.  My goal is to get all that done this evening so I can go create!

That’s all I have . . . just some jibber jabber and blah blah blah . . . .

Have a fabulous day and embrace all that comes your way today!

Oh Man!  I forgot something and had to come back to add to this post!  I have an extra copy of Craft ‘n Things that I would like for one of you to have!

I’ll do a random draw and announce on Wednesday morning!  Just leave a comment and let me know what your word, if you have one, for 2011 is!