Friday, April 27, 2012

Never Play With Scissors... Warning: NASTY Photo!

I had a "Crafting Injury"... I accidently stabbed myself in the leg! I have this small pair of sewing scissors that I use when I have to cut small pieces of paper, mainly because of their compact size. The only thing is, they are REALLY sharp!

Well, today I was sitting indian style in the floor, pricing my necklaces for my craft show tomorrow, and I decided to stand up for a minute. Well, I must have been moving too fast, because as I started to rise up I felt the scissors go into my leg. And I froze. When I looked down, the scissors were hanging out of my leg!

For those who do not know, I can handle anything in a morgue, crime scene, gruesome stuff, just about anything you can throw at me about death... but I CANNOT handle live people bleeding and hurting! Especially myself.

Needless to say, I stood there for a few seconds, my body completely cold, trying to not pass out and work up the nerve to pull the scissors out, and finally I just yanked them out. And this is what I was left with after a few seconds of blood GUSHING out. (Ok, so it was more like a trickle, but that's not the point).


Needless to say, I'm giving myself permission to be a little dramatic about this. I was home alone, stabbed myself in the leg with miniature scissors, pulled the scissors out of my own leg, grabbed my phone to take a necessary picture for proof of my incredibly traumatic experience, and then cleaned my own craft battle wounds...

All in all, I think I'm going to live. Maybe. 

Tuesday, April 03, 2012

MS Update: I'm Getting Better!


I KNOW your prayers are working! I feel such a relief that I've had so many people praying for me when I couldn't find the strength to pray for myself! And, now I'm at a place where I'm confident enough to say that while I'm still climbing that uphill battle, I'm gaining so much ground and getting a lot stronger everyday. I'm almost a completely different person than I was this time last year. And I thank you for praying for that! So... what's changed for the better?

The pain in my neck is manageable on a daily basis, so I'm not holding my head crooked anymore. I still have issues with aches and weakness if I ride in a car or have to stand for an extended amount of time, but I have a neck pillow that helps if I rest my head on it from time to time.

The daily chronic migraines have shifted to regular daily headaches. Sometimes the headaches come every other day if I'm lucky! Now you may cringe at the thought of having a headache pretty much every day, but if you had a migraine almost everyday for over a year, you would feel SO blessed that the pain was reduced to a simple headache. The same kind of stress headache that every normal person gets from time to time. I don't even have to take migraine medication anymore! I take ONE goody powder either every day or every other day. I have to be careful taking Goody powders, because I'll get bleeding stomach ulcers and horrible heartburn if I take more than one each day.

Hmmmm.... What else has changed?

The pain in my joints still aches, pops, cracks, and wiggles around everyday, but one tiny muscle relaxer, Flexeril, helps me keep the pain manageable (such a blessing!). I feel stiff a lot of the time, but I could also contribute SOME of that to sitting a lot. I sit in the floor when I make jewelry, paint, upcycle my jewelry boxes, watch movies, write blog entries, etc... Pretty much just about everything I do is done sitting on top of a pillow in my living room floor, propped up on a huge lounging pillow. This isn't new, and I've been a "Floor Person" for months, since around November 2011 when I started having really REALLY bad upper back pain and dizziness. I wasn't nearly as nauseous when I was closer to the floor, and the room didn't spin as bad if I was "grounded." And the pain in my upper back could only be relieved if I was sitting in the floor, propped up on something.

The pain in my upper back was almost unbearable. It felt like someone was squeezing me as hard as they could right around my bra strap. It was hard to do much of anything without a lot of extra effort, even breathing.

  • Good news, it was just the MS Hug, (also referred as Girdle Band pain) and it is something that comes for a few weeks and then GOES away. 
  • Bad news is it will most likely come back in the future. 
I guess after the Girdle Band pain left, it just felt normal to do everything sitting in the floor. After all, having the Girdle Band pain force me to do everything in the floor MADE me learn how to adapt to doing a LOT of things sitting down. And I guess I'm just a lot more comfortable there now! Whatever works right?

Moving on...

Most of you know that I cut off all my hair last summer. And when I say "all my hair," I'm not kidding. The hair on the back of my head was shorter than an inch long. Maybe at one point it was half an inch, if that. I was having so much sensitivity on the back of my head and neck that I couldn't even stand my hair brushing against my neck. Finally, I just went in my bathroom one day and cut off all of my beautiful curls. I know I did what I had to do, and last year I wasn't in any position to keep my long hair fixed, washed, dried, curled, etc. In saying that, I am now growing my hair back out again! It's a long process, but I'm enjoying each inch I get back! About a year and a half, and I'll be back to normal "hair-wise."

My hair length as of March 2012

A BIG issue: My Weight has gone up quite a bit. When I got married in March 2011, I weighed about 93 pounds. Now I weigh about 125, give or take a few pounds. I struggle with accepting this weight, because I am making a conscious decision to maintain this weight instead of losing back to where I'm comfortable, which is about 105-110 pounds.

I'm really fortunate weight-wise, and Scott doesn't fail to let me know this (although I contribute it more to will-power than genes). Basically all it boils down to is if I wanted to lose 15 pounds, I have enough self-control not to eat sweets, drink only water, eat healthy, etc until I lose down to my goal weight. It's hard work, but it's doable and I've done it before many times.

Well, Scott and I still want to have a kid or two in the future. Not right now, obviously because our home is so small, the kid would have to sleep in a carseat on the porch. Maybe in a year or two (or three), not quite sure. What most of you don't know is before we got married, we planned on trying to have a baby as soon as we said "I do." Like 5 days after we returned from our honeymoon, I started to go downhill healthwise. Instead of thinking how hard it would be to take care of a baby AND me, we were thinking more like, "What if I only get worse from here and I can't ever have a baby because my body is so weak?" So, we just decided to keep trying. And month after month... nothing. I've had several female surgeries, so there is always the chance that it could take longer than normal to get pregnant. (It took Scott and his ex-wife about 18 months to get pregnant with Izzy, so he really wasn't as stressed about it as I was.)

In mid fall 2011, I was so weak, we were having a rough time dealing with the effects MS was taking on our new marriage, we weren't any closer to having a baby, Izzy and Evan had a lot going on, and the toll of my missing paycheck was REALLY starting to hit hard, and it all just built up and up. We had to deal with each issue one at a time. We decided to move to Valley to be closer to the kiddo's and their activities and save money on rent and gas each month, and we decided now was NOT when we needed to bring a kid into the chaos we were drifting through. I needed to focus on myself, my health, my marriage, and getting control over my own life back. I was disappointed the first couple of months, but I had an instant relief from the pressure off my shoulder each month.

Good news is my doctor said that when we do want to try in the future, I need to come see him about taking Clomid or a mild fertility drug to boost the "process." So how does this have anything to do with my weight? Well, I was really malnourished when I was so skinny, and my low weight made all of my female issues really "irregular" and "inconsistent," making conceiving a baby really difficult, if not almost impossible. That could have had a HUGE effect on why we didn't get pregnant (although I think it's nothing more than the fact that God knew that I would never have been able to take care of a baby the way I've always dreamed about. I was way too sick and far too depressed to have been able to be a good mom... I believe God will send me a munchkin when HE knows it's time!)

 So, the way I see it is I'm at my ideal weight. I am not going to work so hard to get down to a comfortable weight only to have to gain it all back in a year or two when we start to try again... I'll just stay where I am to make it easier in the future, so if we encounter fertility issues no one will be able to blame it on my low weight. I can do this... (A LOT of books I've read talk about how the first year after a MS diagnosis is one of the worst you will ever have, if not the worst. Not only because of the pain and adjustments you have to learn to deal with, but because of the horrible depression a lot of people deal with as they grieve about their diagnosis. So true! I'm in my second year and I'm almost a completely different person, a lot of which I contribute to me overcoming a year of deep depression!)

Well, I've told you about the struggles I've overcome, the pain I've fought, the prescriptions I've chunked out, and how I'm getting stronger every day. I haven't told you about my most debilitating symptom that I will always have, due to where my brain lesions are located: Cognitive Dysfunction and Sensory Processing Disorder. This is the main symptom that keeps my "working shoes" still sitting on the shelf, because I haven't learned how to control it. I'll explain it in my next entry, so don't forget to check back for Part 2! It's pretty interesting. Well.. I'll try to make it interesting for you. You never know who you will meet in the future that has MS, and you would like to know a little something about it wouldn't you? I wish I had known about it.

UPDATE: Since I posted the information above, it has come to my attention that I may have been too vague or misleading in some of my words. Just to make it clear to everyone, we are NOT trying to have a baby right now! We are still trying to make sure my health is stable, we're still organizing and settling into our home, we're enjoying our special time with Izzy and Evan and focusing all on them, we're still enjoying our quiet times and loud crazy movie nights with each other, all of which cannot be done with a new baby. While we DO want 1-2 more kids in the DISTANT FUTURE, we are NOT trying to make that happen now. I'm sorry for those who I mislead or stressed out! I'll try to be more clear in my future entries.

Spring Brings In The Crafty Fun!

Well, it's about that time of year when the weather is getting a bit warmer, and there is a fine blanket of yellow powder everywhere, otherwise known as pollen. The only good thing about pollen is that soon after we get our yearly dusting, we can see the whole world start to come alive with Spring Fever. And I LOVE Spring (My most favorite time of year!).

(Picture from techfilled.com)


I can't imagine living in some huge city like New York, where you kind of have to "miss" the joy of Spring each year. If you live in the country, during the Spring season, you can step outside early in the morning and hear the birds and creatures waking up with you. You can literally watch the flowers and trees bloom a little more each day, and slowly everything around you starts to come alive. It's bright. It's colorful. And best of all, it's completely nature at work. If you live in a big time city, when you walk out your front door, you just follow the concrete and asphalt to work, while all you hear is horns honking and brakes squealing. Same thing, day after day, no matter what season it is. You really do miss a lot living in the city.

I'm so so far away from the topic of this entry! (as usual)

Another welcome arrival with Spring and warm weather is... Craft Shows and Craft Fairs!

I. am. SO. EXCITED! I have two craft shows in April, on the 21st in Wetumpka, and the 28th in Auburn. I did my first show, sort of a CHRISTmas Holiday Market, in early December, and it was everything I wanted it to be. I get really excited when I have e-mails or compliments online about my designs, but there is something wonderful about having someone standing right in front of you, admiring something that you put your hard work and time into. And until you know what that feels like, it's hard to understand. After my first show, I knew that it wouldn't be my last.

I don't struggle with what to bring to my show. I don't struggle with trying to decide how to price things. I do, however, struggle with how to set up my booth. I don't want to be too boring, but I don't want to blind people with BRIGHT colors and take the focus away from my jewelry. I want to have a sophisticated flair, but I don't want to seem uptight. I want to cater to college age girls, as well as older women. It's just complicated to try to find a happy medium.

I did learn from my mistakes at my first show, and I'm trying to work on improving those rough areas.

I had to send in some photos of what kind of items I plan to sell, so I got to practice with some of my stands and props. It's a little difficult trying to find creative ways to display necklaces, and I'm still having a tough time with that. I'm sure I'll come up with a fun way to show all of them, but I have a lot more than I did for my last show. I'd love to hear your ideas!

Here's a peek of the type of things I plan to sell at my craft shows. I've already sold some of the pieces you will see in the pictures, but this will give you an idea of my "style"!

Auburn/Alabama Jewelry!

Charm Jewelry!

Make your own Charm Jewelry! 100's of charms to choose from! (I'm not sure if I'm going to have this at my booth this time. It might get a little hectic if I'm having to put together charm bracelets at the show. I'm might just make several finished charm pieces to sell at the show. Haven't quite decided yet...)

Earring Stand! (I still have to paint it white so the earrings will show up, and I'll probably have different styles than what's in this picture!)

Grab Bags! One for $6 or Two for $10 (Just a fun little basket to sift through!)

I just LOVE Turquoise Jewelry!

Necklaces, Necklaces, Necklaces!

Still have to make a few more lanyards!

I've got to figure out a fun way to hang these!

One of my risers... Just experimenting with color schemes!

Still haven't decided if I'm going to sell jewelry boxes or not...


Metal Stamped Jewelry! (I need more ideas!)


As for everything else, I have all of my earrings in a big storage bin right now. Next, I have to sift through them all and figure out which ones I want to sell at my shows. I don't want to bring too many, because sometimes too much is NOT a good thing. Too many choices to choose from and someone may not choose at all!





After I pick the ones to bring, I'll have to price them earrings. And I still have to price my necklaces. And my bracelets. Okay, I have a lot of pricing to do!





I have a few more pieces I want to make for both shows as well. I would LOVE to sell so much at my first show that I have to spend the next week making more for the next weekend, so we'll see! That would be wonderful! In the meantime, I'm going to be making more "Display" necklaces, cell phone charms, charm bracelets, and a few badge holder clips.

I went last week, and got some new beads and pendants. I still need to buy more pendants, but I'm good on beads for a while. I'm going to be a little busy for the next couple of weeks!








I'm going to try to squeeze in some more time to finish some jewelry boxes and wooden organizers that I've been working on. I have them all primed, and some are half painted. It's a long process, so I'll leave out all of the details, but I'll tell you a few. Next, I have to completely paint all of my pieces, drawer by drawer, side by side. After full painting,  I distress the edges of EVERYTHING and decoupage the decorative papers to each piece. I cut out most of the pieces last week, but I still have a few more to do. And then I continue the rest of the process, and FINALLY I'll be able to list them in my Etsy Shop.









More to come soon!