I AM STILL ALIVE

I am still alive down here in Alabama.  This hasn't been a very good month for me and neither was March.  I have been having trouble with my back off and on and yesterday was the very worse ever. I ended up going to the doctor and getting a shot in my lower back and can now sit up.  Yesterday it hurt awfully just to stand up. The reason I waited to go to the dr is because usually if I just rest my back ( lay around and NO heavy lifting  like gallon jugs etc) it will clear up ~ but not this time. 
Anyway, so much for my problems the shot helped and now there is only a twinge of pain and I can hopefully get back in the groove.  Housecleaning and crafting. I have been trying my hand at some art journaling and will pretty soon have some pics on my NEW blog ~ Southern Gothic Whimsy~ I decided to have a separate blog for my drawing and artsy stuff since this one is more shabby chic and family stuff. I have really been cruising the artsy blogs and have found some with great tutorials on painting techniques etc.  Once upon a time I did a series of oil paintings and sketches etc and could actually draw people and animals that looked real.  When I was in school I loved drawing (even as a little child) and would have gone in that direction in college if I hadn't been pushed into the music (piano and viola) direction. Oddly enough I ended up using my artistic abilities painting brims on ladies and childrens hats for craft shows. But even that I haven't done in more that 12 - 13 years.  Life just gets in the way.  The thing that has gotten my back into drawing is carving my own stamps.  I can't afford the fancy Tim Holtz stamps and bunch of other beautiful ones I have seen and I got to thinking ( after carving up some erasers) that I could make some of my own to use out of cheaper stuff.  An art supply store has opened up in Montevallo (there should have always been one there since it is a college town with a huge art dept.) and they have reasonable prices on their lino blocks and tools so I am going to give it a try.  I have found lots of foam stickers that I have set up to do background images (flowers etc that I bought years ago do use I no longer have ANY IDEA WHAT FOR).
I guess we will see how it comes out.  Today I have to stay close to the weather radio because they are expecting some 'super cell tornadoes' to form ahead to the cold front pushing thru Mississippi right now. Looks like we could be in for a rough ride weatherwise today.
I am getting some stuff to photograph to show you some of stuff I am up to right now. If we survive today.
May God's blessings be on all of you and keep you safe.
Mary

LUCKY OR UNLUCKY ??? Anything But A Card Challenge

Over at the challenge on the Anything But A Card challenge the subject this week was Luck or Superstition.  Now I have an Aunt Mary that considered black cats crossing in front of her moving car as VERY BAD LUCK.  In fact, she has been known to make a u-turn in the middle of a city block to keep from crossing the path of a black cat. Of course, the fact that twice in a short period of weeks she had flat tires after crossing the path of a black cat crossing the street she was driving on pretty much had something to do with it !! LOL So when I came across this challenge (just a few hours before it closed) I had to do a tag (a very simple one ) in honor of her superstition about black cats. So here is my entry at ANYTHING BUT A CARD CHALLENGE 

The black cat came from the The Graphics Fairy , the wishbone from my kitchen window (where I put them to dry out after I clean them when I can get a whole one out of chicken I am boning), the tag is hand painted with Duncan acrylic paints, and I have no idea what brand the ribbon is. Lettering by my hand.
I put the wishbone on the tag to cover my good luck, so there you have it with a few hours to spare.
It was fun.

Mary

SO MANY EGGS AND COLLAGE OBSESSION

In my wanderings among all the beautiful blogs and looking at entries to lots of challenges (most I will probably never enter) I came across Collage Obsession It is a weekly challenge, starts on Sunday and usually gives you several photos as prompts. This week's was EGGS ! So the first thing I did was hit my clipart folders and look for eggs I already had photos of. Of course Easter popped right up front and center. Now, when my brothers and I were in the under 15 age bracket my mother made sure we got an Easter basket every Easter. She didn't get the ready made ones, no siree, she bought bags on candy and goodies and designed her own. Oh yes and my FATHER always got one too!!! Two holidays he loved were Easter and Halloween ~ just for the candy.  We didn't have a lot of candy around the house all the time. I had an aunt that kept fancy glass candy jars (filled) in every room except the bathroom. But not us and my father did have a sweet tooth. We (my mother and I) gave my father an Easter basket up until his death at 85.
Anyway (I tend to get sidetracked ) back to the collage challenge. In the spirit of kids and father's that loved the Easter bunny ~ here is my entry:

When I found the bunnies painting their Easter eggs I thought of the theme to my collage. I found the bunnies eggs at Vintage Holiday Crafts and the blue eggs at the Graphics Fairy The background is some fabric in my stash that I scanned and printed. I think this is the first piece I have ever done as simply a collage. It was fun (after a lot of agnst by me ) but what would crafting be without a lot of worry hunting stuff)

So here are the challenges I am entering with this collage:
Collage Obsession - Eggs
Crafty Boots Challenge - out of your comfort zone
Challenges 4 Everybody - anything goes
Divas By Design - any paper project /anything goes

Come join the fun !!

Mary

FINALLY JOINING SOME OF THE CHALLENGES

I have finally gathered enough supplies together to actually join several challenges with some original work.  It has really been hard to get my act together for the last 6 months or so.  It seems every thing I have touched lately has quit working (my Printmaster program) or has journeyed to the 'land of the lost' (stamps, punches, ribbon roses, the list is really endless), dried up (stamp pads) or just evaporated (card stock I had already printed, images I had already cut out, and on and on).
After spending several weeks studying my list of on line challenges I finally found some that I could also find most of the supplies I needed to complete the challenge ~ so here we go:

Here is my entry ~

This is either my 2nd or 3rd card I have ever tried to create. It's not perfect (to my standards) but short of tearing my hair out trying to do another one today ~ here it is ~ LOL.  I promise you as soon as I decided I wanted something that something went into 'witness protection' or hiding or simply evaporated never to be seen again.

Here are the statistics on this creation ~
~pink background paper and large butterfly paper ~
     LEAPING FROG DESIGNS (FREEBIE) 
~pink paper doily (I found it while looking for something else ~ WILTON CAKE SUPPLIES (at least 20 years old)
~butterfly punch and stamps ~ STUDIO G @ WALMART
~fancy corner punch (actually a border punch but I wanted fancy corners) ~ The PAPER STUDIO @ Hobby Lobby
~ ribbon roses and bow (I made) from my stash
~the scalloped white paper and hand painted black scalloped circle I hand cut (no fancy paper cutting machines - no siree this old chick has to do it herself)

Here are the challenges ~

TAKE A WORD MONDAYS ~ Wings

FLUTTER BY WEDNESDAY'S 228 ~ Sketch

FUSSY AND FANCY FRIDAY 83 ~ Pink & Black

HECK OF A CHALLENGE (FEBRUARY) ~Love & Flowers

Check out these great challenges ~ In spite of all my problems getting it put together ~ it was satisfying just finishing something creative for a change and I really had fun visiting the design teams and all the other entries. There are some really fantastic artists out in blog land. And ohhh the eye candy.

God's Blessings on each of you~
Mary

PHOTOGRAPHY AND VISCOUTESS HAWARDEN

I don't write about historical persons hardly at all.  Every now and again something pops up (a lot of times on Facebook) that I just can't resist talking about. This lady is such a person.

I love to read romances ~ mostly Regency and early Victorian era stories.  I was visiting author Juliana Gray's Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/JulianaGray  and she had an entry about Lady Clementina, Viscountess Hawarden's photography from the period 1857 to her death in 1865.  This lady was one of only a handful of ladies in this time period that took photographs of other people particularly, in  studio settings. Here is one of her photographs that will be auctioned off on March 19 at Bonhams in London.

This photo was part of a group posted online by http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/culturepicturegalleries/9854840/Lady-Clementina-Hawarden-one-of-Britains-first-female-photographers.html?frame=2473604#?frame=2473604 .  There are 10 pictures in this group.  Of course, I had to check out Wikipedia to see what they had and they listed more personal history about the lady like she didn't start taking pictures until AFTER she had 10 children.  WOW! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clementina_Maude,_Viscountess_Hawarden


They also listed several books that have been written about this lady.  What really made this astounding is this is Victorian England and ladies just didn't run their own picture studios and take pics outside and such. It just wasn't done.  This lady was truly a pioneer.  I hope the auction of her photos goes really well because she has mostly been forgotten.  I mean she only warranted  a half a page in the Telegraph and Wikipedia while trash like Lady? Gaga get pages on Wikipedia. I know Viscountess Hawarden isn't "current" but she does have a place in womens' history.  Please take the time to Google her pictures and take the Telegraph's link ~ there is a good description on the pics and it is worth the time spent.

I am back among the living for a while.  Maybe I will get some inspiration to do some crafting again.  I just have not had any 'get up and go' the last few months.

Love ya'll and Happy Valentines' Day.
Mary

MORE OF LIFE

Well, time flies when you're having fun ~ or so the wise ones say ~

As you can see Google has finally changed something and now I can add pictures from my own collection. The above cherub is from  http://graphicsfairy.blogspot.com/ , sweet Karen's huge collection of images. Really, when it come to Karen's collection ~ if she doesn't have it * you probably don't really need it.  I am just really REALLY happy to be able to add pics to my blog again.  Blogger does have some problems like when I go to my dashboard sometimes the list of new postings from all your beautiful blogs comes up and sometimes it doesn't.  It's really like rolling dice. But trust me I don't get nearly as upset over that as I did about the picture thing.  I'm just glad they fixed whatever they did. I don't post a whole lot, but I really did miss not having the option to add pics.

 I hope all of you are doing OK. Don fell a little over a week ago on the deck going out to get the mail even though the lil ole wife that doesn't know anything was telling him there was ice out there on the ramp. He tried to slide down it on his back. He is getting better but still real slow getting up and down out of his recliner. I've had a time with my sinuses sneezing and coughing my head off but I am recovering and guess I will live a while longer. One day it's up in the 70's and then it doesn't get out of the 40's for several days. You did NOT hear me say this because I die in the summer heat ~ but I won't be unhappy when spring peeps around the corner.

The above image came from http://www.vintageimages.org/index.php/ ~ it was in the flower group.  Like I said I am sooooo happy to be able to add pics again. 

Til next time ~ I pray God's blessings on each of you.

Mary

GOOGLE CHROME DIDN'T FIX PROBLEM FOR ME

I am an UNHAPPY camper.  I loaded google chrome (yes I know I should have used caps for google chrome) it didn't work so I guess for the future you won't see any pics on my blog. I am pissed (yes I know it isn't a nice word but it is better than the ones I am thinking).  I am tired of the "know it all 'the collective is ALWAYS right" idiots that think new is better and 'do not argue with the all knowing I am smarter than everyone else' ding a lings. Thank goodness I am getting old. I won't have to put up with this crap much longer. I think (thank goodness) the world has passed me by.  While I have never been on the cutting edge of technology I have tried to keep up at least with the things that affect me. I do not understand (or maybe I do) why 'simple' is not the desired result of improvements. The powers that be don't want anything to be simple because then there would not be any reason for the existence of 'the powers that be'. I recently read an interesting article about how easy it is for 'smart TVs' to be programed to allow for the watching and listening to folks in the room with the 'smart TV'. Take the time to really think about that. Your TV in Your room!!  I read another article about 'cloud storage' and how easy it is for 'non-authorized' persons to access your storage in 'the cloud'.  I think technology has reached the point of decreasing dividends.  There is no privacy any more. There is no 'easy' or 'simple' any more. I realize that my blog is available to anyone one on the internet, therefore I have not put anything on the net that I don't mind sharing with 'anyone'.  Of course there is a significant group of folks that believe there should not be any kind of privacy any more. Which brings me back to my original problem.  I am being forced to allow access to my things by anyone whether I want to or not. I do not; therefore, for the fore seeable future I will not have any more pics on my blog. I am tired of being forced into corners I don't want to enter.  I had fun with my camera. I have taken the batteries out and have no plans to put them back in anytime soon.  I have used Picasa ~ it is a piece of garbage.  I will not be forced to use it again. 
Folks, if you believe in God ~ pray and pray hard.
The world as we used to know it is changing and not for the better.
May God shed is blessings on each of you.
Mary
ps I will post again ~ but ~ not with pics.

WHY CAN'T I UPLOAD PICTURES TO MY BLOG???

Ok folks ~ I have a question ~ why can't I upload a picture for my blog from the pics on my computer?????
I started a blog entry today and when I got ready to upload the picture a new window opened and the only options were Picasa (I don't have and don't want) my phone (I don't have a cell phone or IPAD or any of those things), a URL, a webcam (I have one but the pic I wanted to load is in my computer Picture directory) or I could load pics ALREADY in my blog entries.  I tried all kinds of tabs and NOTHING gave an option for using my own picture dirctory.

What have the dingbats at blogger done now ??? What have I missed or am I the old dingbat???

Anyone's help will be greatly appreciatied !!

PS the entry I planned to post would have been enjoyed by all women size 10 and up !

Mary

Well today is Christmas Day.  It is raining and supposed to storm big time late this afternoon and into the nite.  I just a soon we kept the rain we are getting right now because they say we will probably have some strong tornadoes. Tornadoes we can do without ~ period. 
I haven't been on line much lately. Just haven't felt very good.  Don and I both have been spending too much quality time with our doctors.  Guess we both will live thru it. Just really had a big problem getting in the Christmas spirit at all this year.  I hope next year will be better, but with the political climate I doubt it. 

I actually own this vintage Christmas card and the original box it came in.  I saw it on a blog a good while ago and dug mine out.  The verse is perfect for this Christmas with all the sad things happening this year. 

Don and I wish you and your families each a Blessed Christmas.  Remember Christ is the reason for the season.

Mary and Don

HALLOWEEN IS OVER AND NOW THE FUN STUFF

I am glad Halloween is over.  I don't do witches and blood and guts stuff. I love fall, colored leaves, cooler temps, pumpkins, harvest stuff, and more colored leaves. We were really getting a good color in the trees this year and Sandy came along. Georgia and South Carolina and Florida are between me and the Atlantic ocean and yet we had at least 6 days of steady to gusting winds from that storm. I mean steady winds of 40 to 50 mph with gusts of 60 to 70 mph. The wind blew like west Texas and Oklahoma and Kansas without slowing down a bit. It blew most of the leaves off the trees so we don't have much color now. I guess this sounds petty. I really do feel for all those folks that now have to deal with the aftermath of that storm. I pray for them to have the strength to deal with all the heartaches that storm created. There are a lot of hurting folks from that storm. Homes and businesses destroyed.

I borrowed these pictures from their web sites, the bottom one is the Salvation Army setting up a kitchen for hot meals in Manhattan.
 If you wonder how to help  those folks, here are links to the Salvation Army https://donate.salvationarmyusa.org/disaster and Samaritans Purse
https://www.samaritanspurse.org/index.php/Giving/Project_Donations/ are the two best organizations I know of for direct aid to hurting people with immediate disaster relief. They have the best ratio of $$$ to people relief of any organizations including the Red Cross.  My state has had lots of contact with both organizations what with all the devastating tornadoes we have had in the last 2 years. Both can use your $$$ and prayers.
I guess that is it for today.
May God bless you and your families.
Mary

BEAUTIFUL BLOG CANDY GIVEAWAY

While cruising blogland this morning I came across a beautiful blog from Australia. The lady creates some of the most beautiful scrapbook pages I have ever seen. I love elegant Shabby cottage chic and she creates it with a passion.  Her name is Stacey and you can find her here:  http://staceyeyoung.blogspot.com/2012/09/from-me-to-you.html 

She is also hosting a giveaway that ends this Thursday Oct 25.  All you have to do is become a follower of her blog and leave a comment. Simple as can be with no complicated hoops to jump thru.  If you like to create the shabby cottage chic look in scrap booking or tags or cards this is definitely a give away to enter.  And be sure and look at her scrapbook pages. They are beauty to behold and well worth the time involved just to note such beautiful details she includes in her creations.

Hope you each have a great week. Can't believe October is almost gone already.

May God Bless each of you.
Mary

OCTOBER OFF TO A FAST START!

Wow has a lot happened in the last 10 days. I had my 65th birthday last Friday.  I have been crafting again like mad. Been messing with insurance stuff since as of Oct 1, I am now on medicare. It really does feel different to know I now have some kind of health insurance even if it probably won't last for the rest of my life. When you look at how much the gov't (us) is deep in debt, a person with just the basic math skills knows it can't keep on keeping on going. But I will enjoy the security as long as it lasts.

Now to the crafting part. I don't really get into Halloween so much these days. I like the oldfashion Halloween stuff, not the blood and guts kinda sadistic stuff you see out there on the internet these days. When I was a kid we dressed up mostly in old sheets as ghosts, or old clothes as hobos or clowns and just went trick or treating in the neighborhood.  Now a days it is a huge elaborate to do with fancy costumes, fancy parties and a lot mayhem going on out there.  I am not sure I would let a child go trick or treating in the neighborhood these days. I like it where the churches and schools have parties instead. So with all that in mind I decided to try my hand at making some fancy gift or trick or treat bags for Halloween. Of course I started at Karen's blog the Graphic's Fairy and found the perfect black cat. Back to my birthday last year the cat of the hour. http://graphicsfairy.blogspot.com/2011/10/vintage-halloween-clip-art-black-cat.html

Here is the original pic:


Here is the cropped pic:

and here is the finished gift bag:

I found some beautiful black paper doilies at our favorite Wally World  and orange paper pumpkin shaped doilies at my favorite Dollar tree Store. I had pretty silk fall leaves and raffia and chiffon ribbons in moss and tan and some fall gold, cream, and tan flowers to use and presto here are the bags. Made yellow tags with black cats to hang on the bags. These bags will be listed in my ETSY shop and with a number of linky parties this week. I hope you will check them out and also stop by the linky parties. There is some really great and very varied items out there to look at.

1)Brag Monday at the Graphics Fairy

http://graphicsfairy.blogspot.com

2)Market Monday at Common Ground

http://www.commonground-do.com

5)Pretty Things for You ~ Whatever you want Wednesday  http://www.freeprettythingsforyou.com/2012/10/whatever-you-want-wednesday-93/

 I hope every one has a great week. I will be working on more crafts, trying to get some things ready for Thanksgiving and Christmas.

May God bless each of you.
Mary

TEACUPS AND TEAPOT BANNER FINALLY FINISHED

Well as my mama used to say "one down and many more to go"!!  Designing can be an interesting project when you plan to many more items in a variation on a theme. I have made ever so many different sized templates (each one cut out by hand!! since this old dog has learned a thing or two about crashing computers). Not only do I have digital patterns I can pull up and print but I also have the real deal hold in my grubby little ole hands cardboard patterns that may burn but WILL NOT evaporate into cyber space.

Now to the finished project : a tea themed banner that I have just listed in my ETSY shop 
http://www.etsy.com/listing/110793965/teacups-and-teapot-banner-bunting 

 

I am not quite sure how I did the double pic above (who understands this NEW blogger ~I sure don't) I loaded 2 pics and it turned into 1 ~ Ho Hum

Anyway I have been playing with my favorite teapot and teacups from Karen at the Graphics Fairy ~ http://graphicsfairy.blogspot.com/2012/02/vintage-graphics-3-pretty-teacups-with.html 
These tea babies have the best vibrant colors that I just love. I wish there were even more of them in different colors. Any way I have more tea things coming and angels and Christmas tags and banners that are in various stages of work. Stay tuned as the old radio announcers used to say. (Oh how I miss old time radio ~ I have stacks of tapes I bought at the Cracker Barrel that I listen to all the time ~ so much more entertaining than trashy TV) But I get off track here.

I am also linking to Home and Garden Thursday http://blissfulrhythm.blogspot.com/2012/10/home-and-garden-thursday.html on Oct 4th and also at Fabric bows and More linky party ~ http://fabricbowsandmore.blogspot.com/2012/10/link-party-no76-will-see-it-wednesday.html  Beautiful blogs ~ be sure to check them out!!

I hope you all have a great weekend ~ Roll Tide!!!

May God bless each of you.
Mary

BUSY LITTLE BEE HERE WITH TEAPOTS AND TEACUPS

Well I have been a busy little bee this past week. I have been making tags to list on my Etsy store https://www.etsy.com/listing/110228988/teapot-tea-tyme-gift-tags-shower-tags These teapots come from the Graphics Fairy  http://graphicsfairy.blogspot.com/2011/05/vintage-clip-art-best-teapot-ever.html

and have fishished a special order for a sweet and patient lady in Canada.
It has been fun to actually accomplish something for a change between dr visits and regular life stuff.
Here are some pics of my goodies. I hope you will like them.

These teacups came from the Graphics Fairy. Karen just keeps on finding such beautiful graphics.
http://graphicsfairy.blogspot.com/2012/02/vintage-graphics-3-pretty-teacups-with.html

Lots of stuff going on around blogland. Folks working on Christmas and Fall and Halloween things. Such beautiful eye candy.

I am linking up with the following blogs:
http://graphicsfairy.blogspot.com/2012/09/brag-monday-kitchen-witch-towel-and.html

http://www.commonground-do.com/2012/09/lets-shop-monday-marketplace-31.html
Come on over and enjoy all the fun and see the pretties at these blogs.

Well that about does it for now, I am working on a teaparty banner so maybe I will get it finished today and then maybe not.

May God Bless each of you.
Mary

CUTTLEBUG GIVEAWAY FROM IN MY MINDS EYE BLOG

Believe it or not, I am still amongst the living.  Sometimes I feel better and then again sometimes I don't.  I have actually been working on goodies for my ETSY shops.  More on that in a day or two.  I'm photographing stuff now.
I came across a really neat giveaway today while visiting Georgie over at (visit her because she has a neat blog)  http://georgie-hornpuddinnpie.blogspot.com/ . On her side bar she had a pic of a cuttlebug. I am soooo far behind the times in paper crafts that I wasn't even sure what a 'cuttlebug' was or is and what it will do.  So in my quest to learn more I clicked on the pic and it took me to http://mymindseyecreations.blogspot.com/2012/08/cuttlebug-candy.html . Now this blog seems to mostly be about card making and has frequent postings of card sketches (which I find a really good teaching aid for someone trying to learn how to make really beautiful cards (and tags) without having to spend big $$$$ taking classes on line or in site. Anywhoo she (Kadie) is giving away a cuttlebug.

So I went to several web sites selling the little green machine and did some reading. This device seems to be a neat machine with a variety of dies and embossing thingies to turn out some great embellishments for card making and tag creations. The drawing will be held Oct. 1, 2012 so you need to check it out and register before Sept. 30th.  She is also giving away a second prize of a SEW EASY tool, 6x6 papers, ink and other bits and pieces.  Looks like a great giveaway at least if you are like me and don't have $$ to spend on this type of equipment for your crafts.  If nothing else just visiting her blog is worth the trip for all the beautiful eye candy and inspiration.
I hope all of you are doing well.  Please pray for our country and its citizens in these troubled time. Reading the news these days is just plain scary.
May God Bless each and every one of you.
Mary

A HEART ATTACK AND SURVIVAL BY THE GRACE OF GOD

Today I am writing to you by the Grace of God. I had a heart attack last week and almost died.  Those of you who are sweet enough to read my blog all the time, know I have not felt well for months now.  Apparently I had a ticking time bomb in my chest for a good long time now.  From what the Docs found I had a heart attack in the last 5 to 7 yrs from one of my main coronary arteries being blocked 100%. It was long enough ago that small capularies have grown to bridge the gap in the artery blockage.  For the last last 3-4 months I have barely been able to get around to do housework or crafts or anything. I would do a little, cook a meal, put a load of dishes to washing or a load of clothes and then have to sit or lay down and rest. Last week it got the worse it has been.  Friday I could hardly to anything.  Saturday morning I got up around 5 am because I just couldn't stay in the bed I hurt so much.  About 6 am it started thundering and I checked to weather on line and sure enough a big storm was headed straight at us.  Friday nite Don had cut a lot of grass (and because it WAS NOT SUPPOSED TO RAIN!!) he left the lawn mower uncovered to finish cutting Sat.  I went outside and rolled it under the tarp and got it ready for the storm. I walked back in the house and barely made it in. I sat down and felt like a huge weight was sitting across my collar bones, like a huge fist was buried between my shoulder blades in the back, and a tingling down my left arm this time all the way to my finger tips. I felt like I was going to throw up and felt some pains shooting up thru both sides of my neck. I could barely breath. I sat there for several minutes ~mostly because I couldn't do anything else. Move or breathe or anything. just holding on to the chair. Then it started to ease a little and finally I was able to stand up and moved several feet to my recliner. I guess you are wondering why I didn't call my husband and have him get me to the hospital. I don't have any insurance to cover anything.  I have not gone to the dr because I couldn't pay him. I knew if i went to the ER I would run up a bill of thousands of dollars in just a few hours if I lived or not. Honestly a funeral is cheaper than a hospital. I do have a little life insurance. Since the pain backed off a little I decided to stick it out a little longer and see what happened. When Don got up he was very angry because I didn't call him.  The truth is I don't think I had the strength to call him anyway. I stuck it out a little longer during the day and about mid afternoon I tried again to lay down and rest and hurt worse laying down than sitting up and I gave in to Don to go to the hospital.  The irony is my Medicare will start in just 6 weeks.
Thus started an adventure. The folks in the ER were sweet. I told them I didn't have any insurance and frankly do not have the means to ever pay the the bill in this life time. The folks at Shelby Baptist Medical Center treated my like any other patient. They slapped me on a stretcher and wired me up like the Space Shuttle. I couldn't have run away if I felt like it.  I think they were moinitering everything but my thoughts and they might have been checking those out ~ who knows with that many wires and screens. Of course the vampires decended to draw all my blood out to play with. Then the 'hurry up and wait' began as we waited for all the results to be read, debated, discussed and voted on.  They shot me up with Morphine and I was floating somewhere up in the ceiling tiles watching everything without a whole lot of interest. Just watching. Every 5 min someone would come in a ask how I felt, poke and push a little and go back out. Meanwhile all the screens were shooting out numbers and graphs and such except the only one my husband understood ~ the TV. Believe it or not for a long time the only thing he could get on it was the cartoon channel and I think it was Daffy Duck. Like I said I was floating up in the ceiling tiles.  If I answered any of their question by telling them I hurt even a little bit they stuck that needle back in the IV line and I floated a little higher.
Finally they came in and said the heart Dr (or rather his assistant ) was coming and it was decided to ship me to the floor and admit me. That 'yes sir indeed, Mrs Albrethsen You have had a heart attack and you will be spending some sighnificant bonding time with us.' Those are my words not theirs. LOL but you have laugh a little bit.  And that was the gist of what they said. I slept pretty much the next day except when the vampires came to draw any of my blood they might have missed. I will say this for them one and all they didn't hurt. And of course that nurse kept shooting me up with morphine ~ I asked her if they didn't have something between morphine and an asperine that I could take because to be honest I just don't like floating like that and she said NO we want to keep you a pain free as possible so you won't make the heart attack worse from the stress of hurting. So I floated til Monday morning and I got my guided tour of the cath lab from flat of my back. I know what cath labs look like ~ my brother installs and services them and has for about 20 plus years. I have worked in a hospital and my job was to pick up the cath charts for medical records each nite and I could talk to the guys and got to watch a little of some caths. But let me tell you it is different when you are the patient and they have strapped down to make sure you don't float off. It didn't hurt, they kept giving me a little more Versed every few minutes and finally I lost interest in watching the screen of my heart and closed my eyes. Next thing I knew they were sliding me off the table and on to my bed to go back to my room. Now I have to tell you about the new backboard they used to move me from the bed to the table and from the table to the bed again. Everyone has seen the backboards that paramedics use ~thick and strong ~ well this one was about the thinkness of the plastic cutting board you buy at the dollar stores. It was full size but paper thin.  They took the sheet I was laying on and kinda rolled me up in it and over a little to one side and slid that thing under me and this one guy (that weighed about 170 and looked EXACTLY like Johnny Depp in Pirates etc) pulled a little toward him and I slid over to the table like greased lightening and he kinda pulled the board up and I slid off and I was on that table with NO EFFORT OR STRAINING OR ANYTHING!! on my part. I am not a small woman I weigh well over 250 (only my Dr knows exactly how much) and am 5'7". That board must be teflon coated or something ~ it was slick as glass and as flexible as paper.
Anyway the Docs say I am in pretty good shape to go now and if I take care of myself and stay in touch with the Docs and let them do their thing to keep me going I should keep on going for a while.  They are going to watch the artery that is still 100% blocked and decide later whether to do any thing about it since my body is doing its own patch up by growing capularies around the blockage. I really do feel much much better. I still have a twinge every now and then and when the Doc asked today how I felt, I told him I am going to have to figure out what my NEW NORMAL feeling is. It has been so long since I have times that I didn't hurt at all that it is hard to decide whether a pain means nothing or something.
I received a lot of prayers this week end from my church and family and close friends. I still need prayers. 
The reason I went into so much detail about how I felt before and during the heart attack is women don't have the same pains men do, I mean who would think that pain between your back shoulder blades could mean a heart attack.
I thank God for being with me and guiding my doctors and nurses. May God's blessings be on each of you.
Hugs and Love
Mary

MIND WIDE OPEN CHALLENGE AND THE VOTING BEGINS

     Well it is still hot hot hot in Alabama (like that's news in August) LOL.  The real news is that Gail over at Shabby Cottage Studio http://www.shabbycottagestudio.net/ has reopened her Challenge Blog ~ Mind Wide Open after retiring it 2 yrs ago.  That challenge blog and the monthly contests taught me more about creativity with paper and fabric and altered art and mixed media art than any one single spot on the internet blogland. Each month on the 1st she would post an image she created usually with a female(s) subject and lots of color for us her loyal followers to play with. You had a week to create something pretty with the image and ANYTHING GOES ! It can be cloth, paper, glass, plastic, journals, tags, wall hangings, digital, painted, sewed, stapled, ANYTHING. On the 8th day she posts all our pretties at http://mind-wideopen.blogspot.com/ and you our loyal followers get to prowl through the entries and vote on your favorite. OK so here is the original image ~

And here is my creation from that image ~

I decided to do a journal.  The wings for my little girl are from the Graphics Fairy http://graphicsfairy.blogspot.com/ and are actually the wings from 2 different bees. They were such pretty colors that I printed them when she posted them and cut them out for future use and here it is. My lace heart behind the image kinda disappeared but that is life with a camera. I really think Gail's image is very pretty and I will be using it again in the future. 
      Funny thing is one of our local art shows used the picture of a teenager in one their publicity shots to advertise the show and the girl had been face painted with a butterfly in that position on her face. When Mother and I were doing craft shows I usually did face painting to make our space rent and draw folks to look (it ALWAYS worked too) and butterflies was the most favorite image of the girls, but I never painted one around the eyes, it was on the cheeks, shoulders, hands or knees (did a lot knees especially on little kids getting their first painting!).
      Anyway back to the challenge ~ here is the link to vote ~ http://mind-wideopen.blogspot.com/  ~ voting is by leave a comment stating your favorite entry person and voting closes at midnight Eastern Time on Tuesday August 14th and the winners will be posted the next day. 
      I hope each of you will drop by http://mind-wideopen.blogspot.com/  and leave a vote (if you don't have a blog you can email Gail at shabby@lgschmidt.net ) and next month come join us for the challenge ~ the more the merrier !!!
May God Bless each of you.
Mary

HOT WEATHER , THUNDER STORMS, AND DOG DAYS

Well, we have been roasting down here in Alabama and dry as a bone, but it seems we may have some relief now during 'dog days'. The old saying is ~ whatever weather you have on the first day of 'dog days' is the kind of weather you will have for the next 40 days. Well we had a cooling thunder storm, and so far that will continue. A 50% chance of rain and thunderstorms the rest of this weekend and 40% on into next week with temps in the high 80's to low 90's. After a 107 temp that is fine with me.
I am working on some mini journals and altered art tags for my ETSY shop and will have something to show you later today (maybe) and definitely Sunday and Monday. With the temps so high I don't use my computer so much since I don't have airconditioning where my computer is located (my whole house AC died a couple of years ago and I couldn't afford to fix it). Air conditioning this area (kitchen, breakfast room [where my computer is] and the den is hard since that area has large 9ft open doorways to the front of the house. Bad luck is how expensive it would be to install a door frame and double door (necessary) in that entry way. Money is just too tight and neither Don or I have the skill to do it ourselves. We just hibernate in the master suite (that has a window aircondioner) during the worst of the heat ~ I mean just what's wrong with staying in bed reading etc all day ?? After nearly 50 years of working at 1 to 2 jobs and doing craft shows, I can be lazy with the best of folks.
Well it is thundering in the distance and just started raining so I will say goodbye til later.
My prayers are with all the folks that have endured the fires and storms this last couple of weeks. Keep Calm and Pray. It really does help.
Hugs
Mary

SAILING THE HIGH SEAS WITH SCRAPALICIOUS USA

Well I came across another bi weekly challenge while visiting the Paper Squirrel http://papersquirrel.blogspot.com/2012/06/siren-of-sea.html
She had posted a tag with a mermaid on it and of course I had to check out. She is on the design team for the bi weekly challenge that starts every other Wednesday at Scrapalicious USA. So I had to check out that site just to see what they do and low and behold the theme this time 'Vacations'. Well I love tall ships, huge sailing ships (not little sailboats) maybe because I have always loved romance novels set in the time period of huge sailing ships and all the romance that surrounds them. Yes I know it was a hard and dangerous life, but this is my dream and my make- believe so it can be a romantic as I want it.  I guess everyone has a 'bucket list' these days and at the very top of mine was to take a week long trip on a 'tall ship'!  
 I recently destroyed my bucket list and let the ashes drift away on a gentle breeze because I finally accepted the fact that I would never get to do anything on my bucket list. I have to admit though that when I see pics of beautiful sailing ships my heart beats a little faster and my mind wanders away to follow that ship.  Recently Abby over at Little Birdie Blessings http://littlebirdieblessings.blogspot.com/ posted some beautiful tall ships pics and of course I saved them so now we come full circle to Scrapalicious USA's challenge about vacations. I created a tag with my favorite ship and used flags for the words, some yarn and a piece of wallpaper sample I altered and printed out and presto! you have my entry for the current ScrapaliciousUSA challenge.
http://scrapalicioususa.blogspot.com/2012/06/oh-what-do-you-do-in-summertime.html

I can hear the sail popping in the wind and the creak of the ship as it dips and comes up over the next wave, the shout of the men up in the sails and the captain's orders. I can feel the wind on my face and the spray in the air. Oh how I wish I were really there.
God's Blessings to each of you.
Mary

POSTING TO BRAG MONDAY AT THE GRAPHICS FAIRY

Well, today is Monday which means time to post about Brag Monday over at the Graphics Fairy http://graphicsfairy.blogspot.com/2012/06/brag-monday-hydrangea-card-french.html where she comes up with some of the neatest usuable clip art around.  She has a linky party if you have never visited Karen, so you can check out what fantastic ideas OTHER PEOPLE have come up with to use her images. Some of the uses are really fantastic.
Here are a few tags I have listed on ETSY that I created with some of her images.

Well, gotta go ~ I'm working on more unique tags than simple pics so you can see them soon.
Blessings to all~
Smiles and hugs
Mary