Yesterday was productive................

Not so much today...................

There really is something to this CPAP machine, or as I like to call it, MEUSEPAP as I really am experiencing a considerable boost in energy and stamina, so I suppose sounding like a bad Darth Vader imitation is proving worthwhile..................

I completed the rest of the little amulet/ID bags I had cut out yesterday as well as more of the posie pins like I made for THE quilt and Pat's B-day jewelry ensemble. It's made of dyed snakeskin jasper, vintage czech glass, lampwork and copper beads, most of which I found at the wholesale show last week.............. The jasper beads are really cool, a genuine mix of southwest palette, a rich, rich aqua/teal and molten chocolate, YUM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The ID necklace with the bunch o' buttons is mine and the one with the three buttons is for dearheart Margie who gave me the vintage buttons, how much fun is that?????????????

What I wake up to..............

This quilt, this magical miracle of fabric is what I wake up to each morning and the last thing I see at night. It is a source of comfort, inspiration and compassion and it was the unified efforts of two people that created such a joyful song, Shirley Albertson Owens & Catherine J. Etter................

I'm attaching the verse that accompanied this quilt into my world~~~~~~~~~~~

Friendship Tied Up With Bowties Quilt

To Catherine Etter

By SAO May 29, 2009 `

When we collaborated on Karen's quilt

no finer outcome was ever "built."

So would you simply have a fit

If I gave you a quilt and suggested that you "Embellsh it?"

Since our otherwise PERFECT DAY

turned out to end in another way.

I simply had to make you a quilt

and it is scrappy to the hilt.

It is Friendship - Tied Up With BOWTIES

and in the stitches are your favorite butterflies.

But it needs that certain special something

the special thing, that Catherine zing!

So - even though this quilt was made from my heart -

at it's end - it's only at it's start.

I hope you will add some magic to it too

so it will be from BOTH of us to you!

Hugs from your buddy - even more

Are you laughing rolling on the floor?

Far too memorable and special, need I say more??????????? Shirley created the pretty, whimsical, joyful quilt and I designed and added the posies, enjoy...................

Kitties, just because................

Here comes some cuties, just to make you go aawwwwwwwwww.........

For Karen

Do you have any idea just how much I luvs me some sunflowers?????? Coming from the midwest and the Land of Oz, I have always adored these spectacular sun followers, which their devotion of rotating their seed laden heads to and fro to bask in the rays was one of the magical qualities that I still to this date find enchanting...............

I'm sharing some of my favorite photos of fields of these wondrous joyful flowers taken around the Montpelier, VA area as my gift of hope and faith to Karen, dearheart and treasured friend Karen. She is experiencing her second brain surgery today and I just wanted her to know just how much I am thinking of her and praying for a full and complete recovery. I adore you buddy, these pics are for you.........................

Latest ensemble..............

Attaching a few shots of my latest work, finishing the bracelet yesterday. I originally started the necklace last Monday so as to have something new and fun to wear to a wholesale bead show on Tuesday but even though I wore it to the show, it was not only unfinished, it was nowhere what I had envisioned nor wanted.............. So back to the hotel I rolled and immediately took scissors to stitches and ultra-suede and managed to eliminate the distracting central mass and in fact opened up that area, literally. A sprinkling of bead application for balance and interest, ultra-suede leaf embellishment for the reverse and I became a happy, happy girl. Then this Monday after returning from the sleep study, I created the bracelet and would have completed the ensemble with earrings as the third element but I simply didn't have those findings with me.........................

The stones are of unknown origin from a bead show vendor, just polished slices but I was simply spellbound by the subtle transition and flow of color, never imagining all five pieces would end up in one creation. I wore it today to the surgeon, my primary care and the sleep specialists and was all the talk, and yes, I DO pay extra for petting...................... Thank you so much for your cyber adoration!!!!!!!

Rollercoaster/Tilt-a-Whirl, whata' ride.............

Okay, so I've got some good news and some bad news, what am I sayin'?????? It's been such a carnival kind of day, jam packed with loopy rides that I'm still trying to keep down my popcorn and cotton candy..................

The big news is that I am now the proud owner of one humongo walking cast, the bigger news is that if I hadn't almost died from the fall and having them notice I stopped breathing during recovery, I would never have had the sleep study on Sunday, realizing my demise could have been eminent had precautions not been taken for my gigando sleep apnea issues........................ The last two days we have gotten these frantic messages from the sleep study group that the Dr. needs to see me ASAP and today when I called, I asked if that was what they tell all their patients and she said no, where are you and how soon can you get here???????

That's right folks, for the 139 minutes I slept, okay, that's not right, slept is far from accurate, as I experienced 298 interuptions, no, I didn't stutter, you do the math. Virtually every 30 seconds, I stopped breathing with each and every episode having the potential of ending my life, and string them ALL together and we have SUCH a party!!!!!!!!!!!! The neurologist said it was one of the worst cases of sleep apnea he had ever seen. Now I better understand that the Fibromyalgia never stood a chance, what was a life sucking/altering/debilitating malody against a mere hallow shell of a person????? Can't sleep, can't function, stuff starts shutting down, you can never, ever lose weight, no REM, no nuttin'......................

So now it's just me and John and Sydney and my CPAP machine in the bed at night and I'm imagining just as soon as John has his testing done that we'll be a TWO CPAP household, oh joy, oh rapture............. But then, that's why I keep buyin' my big ol' roll o' tickets on this loop-de-loop ride o' life, I may have THE best new and improved rest and life than I've ever had, wanna' come along???????? I certainly promise the journey won't be boring............... See what a ride today has been???????????? Never dull, nope, never dull...............

Chicken or egg???????

So which came first? The appreciation of a newly opened rose, with petals of velvet and color so true or the acceptance of the fading light of day and rose, with the unfurled exposed heart that can only come about with time and age and love, so much love..................................

For me, they both hold their own sense of wonder, to be held and savored and linger within the spirit, the spirit that still finds wonder in a dew drop and the untold blessings each new dawn provides. For if you find beauty in the mundane and treasure the bird song on the wind, life will be forevermore magical, ever ready for a new adventure.......................

Just consider the source....................

Okay, so where did last week go? I think I must have successfully tried to sleep through it all, hoping some of the bad mojo would bypass the Etter household for a bit but instead, it simply left me drained and with little to show for it................ Just felt puny but I imagine it was a defense mechanism from all the insanity. To go through everything surrounding and engulfing the accident and then to almost lose John, it's just been tutu much........

And what better end/beginning to this past week than to have a sleep study performed Sunday night. It was originally scheduled for the Thursday John went into the hospital........ Should have been receptive to the signs even then.......... Not only did I manage to totally mess with any resemblance to a Father's Day recognition for John, as sadly all others are now gone from our lives, I then had to go experience a Frankensteinian torture test which isn't anything I would recommend for anyone faint of heart or lite of lid................ Man, I haven't had so many wires all over my body since my coiled wire storage fell from the highest shelf on top of me, you get the picture............. It will be weeks before I will be able to remove the preferred attachment goo o' torture and did I mention there were at least 10 of theses toxic goo nests attached to my scalp where I USED to have hair?????????? I did take a few pics with the cell phone but imagine I will save them for this year's Halloween bit o' correspondence, talk about scary.........

But what I really want to share is so special, so precious and meaningful beyond words............. After WE decided to take off last Saturday, as I was feeling mega puny and frail, John instead somehow manages to do two loads of laundry here at the Suites and then spend two labored and trying hours at the grocery store!!!!!!! Upon his return, I'm presented with this card, this wondrous and hopeful and compassionate and loving card, and for all we've been through, as you can see, they lived happily ever after.................

Virginal musings....................

It's official, I am ever so gingerly dipping my artful pen into the as yet unfamiliar creative depths of the blogging world.................... Remember to be kind, do more, be better, let the adventures begin~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~