Yay! Halloween Manis

I have my last two Halloween manis for you and if you are lucky I may even post my bad cell phone pic of one other.

The first one I used It's Alive! by China Glaze. I cut up a few of Claire's Bling Nail Stickers. Then topped with CG Fairy Dust and Seche Vite. I even drew a little spider on my thumb! He's a cute spidey!

Left hand under Ott Light.

R thumb with SPIDER!

R hand under Ott light.

L hand under Ott Light

L in Sun

R in Sun

Next up is my FAAAVVE mani I have ever done I think. Well on the last one I did like the ring finger on my right hand a lot. I never like my right hand but I managed to do a good enough job on these two manis to share it with you.

First I did a basecoat of Essie Demure Vix. I just love this color. Maybe its not right for my skin tone, but I like the way it has a slight plum shimmer to it. I even got it in the next shade darker, Merino Cool, but I haven't worn that one yet.

This is such a pretty color I think. Its like my only nude so it worked. I tried making a franken out of an old Avon french white color and adding a darker plum shade to make it more of a nude, but the consistency was like water so I said forget that!

Next I got out my tools and started using Milani Ready to Wear Red. I used a tutorial from here. Kayla did a great job on hers and I tried to make mine as awesome. I'd been wanting to do a bloody mani for a while, but Batman's grandma died and I didn't think it would be appropriate at a funeral so I waited.

Colors used: OPI Ridge Filling base coat, Essie Demre Vix,
Milani Ready to Wear Red, SOPI Brunette on the Internet,
Shades of the Seasons Shimmery Red, & Posche topcoat.
CVS Acetone

Palette, Orly small dotting tool, Cuticle sticks, (scrapbooking) tweezers
and sponge. Barielle Cuticle gel. I used a paintbrush too to cleanup.

Right hand! All pics taken under Ott light.

I would really have liked to use a different nude color but Demure Vix was all I had so I still think it looks good. I really like it and I think its perfect for Trick or Treating tonight. All my boys thought it was cool and that's all that matters right?

Ok so here is my crappy cell pic of a purple and orange french mani I did for the Halloween season. I had this on my nails when I went to World's of Fun (amusement park) with my sister. We rode roller coasters and walked thru haunted houses and trails there. Its so fun. We do it every October. So this pic was taken after a day of doing all that.

Here is me and my sis!

See the scary face behind us? 

Here we are on the Detonator. A ride consisting of twin 200-foot towers. Riders sit on a chair lift-type seat and are propelled straight up reaching a speed of 45 mph in one second with significant force.-From WoF website
And yes I am wearing a New Kids On The Block T-shirt! Cause I went to that concert and it was  A-MAZ-ING!!
So then we had the funeral to go to. My nails were painted a vampy red because I wanted to still be in the festive spirit but still be appropriate for a funeral.

Spiderman took this pic of me cause he said Mommy is prettys. My sister in law colored my hair too. Notice its darker and redder here than in the WoF pics? Yeah its a pretty dark change for me cause I am so used to being blonde. But everyone says it looks good on my skin tone so I'm rolling with it.

Here is another pic from my iPhone just so I could show off my new hair color.
I did a cool photoshop app on it too.

And here is a 16x20" canvas board I made for Grandma's funeral.
The funeral home makes these boards with pictures on them for the deceased and I made this one myself.
Batman's mom added pictures to it and it was displayed at the visitation and funeral.

Ok well I hope you enjoyed seeing my Halloween manis and a ton of other pics. Tell me what you think!

Two Cards to Share with YOU!

First of all, a BIG shout out to my sister Hannah. She is re-vamping my blog for me. She MADE this background and changed everything up for me cause I am technically ignorant. I am creatively AWESOME but I suck at the HTML stuffs. So Hannah is making it all prettyful and personalized. She is working on a banner for me and it will be the first time I've ever had a banner on my blog! YAY! I can't wait to see it. Its gonna have cards AND polish on it! WOOHOO!! Let me know what you think when its all done!
On to the CARDS!!

Over at The Stamping Boutique, time is running out to get your projects in for the current monthly project! The theme is Think Pink! in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness month.
Here is my card for this theme with the Princess Jennifer image. I know I've already posted it here, but I want you to join in on this challenge so look at it again and GET INSPIRED! LOL!

 

I used CTMH papers, vintage ribbon and Copics. The roses are made from the new Art Philosophy cricut cartridge. I seriously rolled them myself! So cool! I love that cartridge!

And here is my Spooky Scarey  card using the Medusa image. Get your projects in for this challenge too as its about over  also!

 

I used Imaginesce papers. I die cut the image with a Tim Holtz die. I LOVE TIM! Then I freehand cut the purple one b/c I only have the one size. The ribbon is really old from my stash. I hope she looks scarey!

 This month has just gone by so fast. I think, looking back, that the whole year has gone by fast. We just lost my husband's grandma to lung cancer last week. She waited for 3 years for new lungs and then took her name off the list. She was a sweet lady and we will miss her.

Hope you all have a good weekend. Hopefully I will get some pictures uploaded and get some new nail polish posts up this weekend. That's my plan!

The Crazy Challenge

The Stamping Boutique is sponsoring this week's challenge at The Crazy Challenge.
I made a cute card using PJL witch for this challenge.
Head on over and enter your card for a chance to win 5 digi stamps from TSB!

The Stamping Boutique Challenge #17 Someone Special

Challenge #17 is up at the blog I am a DT member for: The Stamping Boutique

The card I did for this challenge uses the Princess Jennifer Latte Breast Cancer Awareness Digital Stamp. But I changed her to be for Thyroid Cancer too. Since I am a Thyroid Cancer survivor, I made this card for all the special survivors that I have met over my past 5 years in the survivor world.

Click photo for closer looks. The stunning butterflies were cut with my cricut cart "Sentimentals" and colored with a glittery pen. I sprayed the tiny purple butterfly with Tattered Angels spray ink. The frame was cut with Cricut cart for CTMH called Art Philosophy. The purple dp from CTMH was embossed with a folder from The Paper Studio that I picked up at Hobby Lobby. I colored the img with colored pencils and copics and all jewels and ribbon are from my stash.

Thanks for looking and be sure to join in the challenge at The Stamping Boutique for your chance to win some amazing images!

Big long lucious nail post!!

I got some nail mail today from my friend Kim...Thank you KIM! You are awesome!

I got a couple polishes that looked similar to some that I already had so I decided to do some comparison swatches. Click the pictures to see them bigger.
The first I want to compare looked really similar in the bottles.
They are Sephora for OPI's Mash-Up
& Wet N Wild Grey's Anatomy.

I just found a blog that already did this comparison so if you want to see what The PolishAholic says about these two, feel free.

OF course the Wet&Wild polish is cheaper, but in my opinion, you don't NEED both of these because they are so similar. But they are NOT completely the same. They are both very pretty duochromes that show different colors in different lights/angles. You can see Silver, lavender, and greenish/blue. They both need at least two coats for opacity. Typically I like to put a glitter on top of my plain/non-glittery polishes, but I think I'd wear this one alone because of its shiny/color-changing goodness.
I think the OPI polish has more pinky tones in it and the W&W has more blue/grey.
Overall, I like them but I am sure I will only use the OPI one more cause I think it looks better with my skin tone.
Next are two gorgeous gold polishes.

The left one (on my middle finger) is Revlon Copper Penny. The other is Sephora for OPI Rumba Romance.
Copper Penny is, as the name suggests, a copper metallic.  It's extremely pigmented and was even and opaque in one coat.  The picture is taken in the sunlight and i think both of these metallics are super shiny even without the top coat.
The color is a beautiful bronzey-pumpkin shade with small shimmery bits! Hello, pumpkin pie! I think this is a FABULOUS fall shade and I am glad to add it to my collection.

Next I have a bunch of glitters. I LOVE spark-EL-IES! I have soooo many glitter polishes. I love to layer them over anything. Here is a swatch of 4 of my glitters.

These polishes are so pretty! I hate that they are so hard to take off, but they are so worth it.
Ulta's After Party is a mix of silver, gold and red micro glitter in a clear base. The polish went on evenly.
Strobe Light, pink and big chunks of silver holographic glitter in a clear base.
Rockstar Pink is a fabulous multi pink glitter. Red, Pink, Purple, Blue glitter in a clear base.
Sinful Colors Frenzy is a clear base with round purple and blue glitter.
  It took me 2 coats to get all the looks you see above.
I think all of these polishes will look great over anything. I am looking forward to trying them all over white and black.

What do you think? Do you have/like/love/hate any of these?

Also check out these AWESOME nail blog giveaways! I totally need to win more polishes. I am totally jonesing for the new OPI Muppets collection. PLLLLEEEEEEAAAAASSSSEEEE make me a WINNER!

Trace Face Philes 1800 Followers Giveaway
Ice Queen's Nail Parlour Falling Giveaway
The Color Palette Blog
http://deucebeauties.blogspot.com/

More Challenge Cards!!

I got busy this weekend creating cards. My son went with me to a crop on Saturday and we got to spend some time creating together. I will have him finish some stuff he stamped and started coloring so I can share it with you soon. He almost colors better than me. He is an awesome artist and I love spending creative time with him.

So lets start off with my favorite card I made this weekend. This is my Breast Cancer card. I have a dear friend that is a SURVIVOR and everytime I see something pink for BC I always think of her. So here is a card in her honor~ Love you SUE!!

The image is from The Stamping Boutique. Pattern paper from CTMH, colored with Copics. Vintage ribbon from my stash.
Entering this card into these challenges:
The Stamping Boutique-monthly contest
Cooking it up with Katie - Fab, Fun, & FLOWERS!!

Digi Stamps 4 Joy Challenge #29
I Brake for Challenges-Girl Power
Sassy Studio Designs #93
Party Time Tuesdays #36
Inky Impressions-support
Lexi's Creations Challenge 50
Di's Digi Designs-girly
My Sheri Crafts- Think Pink
Prairie Fairy Fridays #63
Guylou's Inimitability-BCA
Jellypark Challenges-pink & ribbon
Inkspirations Color challenge #90
Delightful Challenges-dimensional
One Stitch At A Time-Anything Goes

Next up is another cute image from The Stamping Boutique. This is my purple Christmas Joy card. Princess Jennifer is colored with Copics & Colored pencils and a glittery pen for the fur. There is an adhesive ribbon on the left from my friend's stash, (Thanks Christy!) Glittery brad, flower, swirl & clear circle from my stash. Pearls from CTMH.

I am entering this card in the following challenges:
Hanna & Friends-BINGO (Glimmer, Ribbon, and pearls)
Crafty Cardmakers #53
Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps Challenge 99
One Stop Craft Challenge week 152
Secret Crafter Saturday Challenge #155
Bah Humbug Challenge 40
Cardmadfairy's Digi Days Challenge
Christmas Stampin' -Purple Passion
Cuddly Buddly Challenge 15
Stempelsonnen Challenge shopping

My next card is really cute I think. It is a fancy fold card. I made it a stairstep card. I have only made one other stairstep card before this one.

I used the Autumn Froggy image from The Stamping Boutique, 2 fibers & 1 button & Jewels & felt from my stash, Basic Grey pp, I cut out the branch in the back and the lattice scallop border with cricut Art Philosophy cart.
I am entering this cute creation into the following challenges:
The Stamping Boutique/Crafters Cafe-Oct progressive challenge
Dutch Dare Card Challenges-special fold
Moving Along with the Times-Autumn Leaves
Paper Crafting Journey- Die Cuts or Punches
PaperPlay Challenges-Autumnal colors
Crafting For All Seasons-Fall flowers/pumpkins
Crafts & Me-use a digi
Fresh Brewed Blog-pumpkins
Little Darlings Challenges-Fall or Halloween
My Mum's Craft Shop-All Creatures Great and Small
The Paper Shelter-Halloween
Penny's Paper-Crafty Challenges-Anything Goes
Scrap Creations-Fall
Papertake Weekly-Anything Goes
Fussy &Fancy Friday Challenge-Fall or Halloween
Card Makin Mamas-Fancy Fold
Mami Doodles-Mother Nature
Sew Many Cards-Yellow, Brown, Burnt Orange
Stampin for the Weekend-Colors of Autumn
Stampin with the Dragon-Fall
TotallyPaperCrafts #87 Animals
Crafty Boots Challenges-Zoo or Animal
Creative Stamp Friends-Autumn
NettieG's Digital Gems-Fall
Stamps R Us-Autumn/Fall
Gingerloft Challenge-Orange
Designed 2 Delight-Falling Leaves
Send a Smile 4 Kids-Fall colors

Pink for a Cure

My nails were pink this week because October is Breast Cancer awareness month and I wanted to kick it off right by showing my  support.

The polishes I used are Sally Hansen Flame Opal for the base pink. Then Wet N Wild Sparked for the pink sparkles. Then I drew on a white ribbon with an art pen. Then I added a butterfly to my thumb. Thanks for looking!

Challenge Card

The Kaboodle Doodles Challenge this week is a color challenge (reds/pinks/purple and neutral of your choice) and the winner will receive three awesome images from Stamp Insanity Store.

I made this little card with an image from The Stamping Botique.  I used some felt stuff and CTMH papers. The image is colored with colored pencils.

I am also entering this card into the following challenges:

Sugar Bowl #69

Crafts and ME-Use a digi

My Last "Normal" Mani for the year

My nails are really pretty right now, but I am very excited because soon they will be painted very festive.
I plan on doing Halloween nails the rest of the month and then Fall/Thanksgiving nails, then of course Christmas/Winter nails for December and a New Years Eve/My Anniversary mani that will be HUGE I tell ya!

So send me some festive ideas and if you see a NYE idea PLEASE let me see it! I will send a gift to the best idea sent to me. Contest closes NYE and you will get your gift in January!!! Put links in the comments for me!

Here is my lovely mani that will be replaced tomorrow by a Halloween mani.

I used Butter London Victoriana over a base coat of course...Then one coat of Sally Hansen Ice Queen, then for extra sparkle, I added one coat of China Glaze Fairy Dust. And topped with a coat of Seche Vite. It was pretty for a few days but I MUST do Halloween! I could barely wait for October to start. I almost did it in September but I made myself wait.

Giveaways!

I found some awesome giveaways to share with you all....if you win you have to split it with me LOL J/k!!

Valentine Kisses
This one has a ton of variety! There are polishes and makeup and even some BEADS! Sweet!

Spellbinding Nails-HUGE giveaway!!
This one is going to be GREAT for a beginning nail stamper like me to win. Sooo many stamping plates! I have NONE so far.

Hope you, or I win!!

ABCs of ME

Well I am now getting some followers so I wanted to do this post to let you get to know me a little better.
First, I want to give a BIG shout out to my sister Hannah who, is awesome like me, and also she fixed my problem I was having with the see thru pictures! YAY! You rock epically Hannah! Love you!

On to the good stuff:
I've seen a few people in the blogging community do a post like this recently and I wanted to jump on board...

A. Age: I turned 29 for the first time in May.

B. Bed Size: Queen. One day we will be grown up and get a King.

C. Chore I Hate: Cleaning the toilets! I have a separate bathroom for the boys to use since they frequently get stuff on the seat so they are in charge of cleaning that one.

D. Day:  Saturday is my fav because I always do something I enjoy on that day. Either scrapbook or spend some family time.

E. Essential Start of My Day: I always get a can of DrPepper. My day would completely suck without it.

F. Favorite Color: Purple. Everything would be purple if I could get away with it.

G. Gold or Silver: White gold or platinum :-)

H. Height: I'm 5'3"

I. Instruments:  I play a mad Karaoke machine. I'm not very musically talented I guess. My son can play drums. I just sing, badly.

J. Job Title: Chief Executive Mother/Wife. Sounds almost professional.

K. Kids: Yeah I have 2 awesome sons.

L. Live: Kansas City far from OZ

M. Mom's Name: Heidi

N. Nicknames: Honey. I bet you can't guess who calls me that ;-p

O. Overnight Stay at the Hospital: Several. Two for each of the kids being born. A few for Cancer surgery. Another for brain tumor-type stuff.

P. Pet Peeves: I hate when people have typos. I may occasionally have one, but I know how to use spell check. I also know how to use: to, too, your, you're, there, their, and they're. If you don't, you are dumb and I want to tell you but I'm too nice.

Q. Quote From a Movie: "Roads? Where we're  going we don't need roads." BTTF

R. Right or Left Handed: I'm right handed. I cannot use my left hand for much.

S. Siblings: I am lucky enough to be the oldest of 4 sisters. My 3 sisters are the best friends I could ever have. I also have ONE amazing SIL who I also LOVE!

T. Time I Wake Up: Whenever the heck I feel like it :-D

U. Underwear: I think they're essential ;-) And I don't think they should cost so dang much money!

V. Vegetable I Hate: I love pretty much all of them. I guess I don't really like squash much. But I will eat it. I also eat Brussel Sprouts and I love Onions.

W. What Makes Me Late: My hair usually. Or just sleeping too late.

X. X-Rays: I have had several. Dentist of course, thyroid stuff, never broken anything though *knock on wood*

Y. Yummy Foods I Can Make: I'm good in the kitchen. I can make just about anything if I have a recipe. I love to cook mexican foods and I am AWESOME at anything Italian.

Z. Zoo: I've been to so many. My favorite so far is StLouis but I am waiting to try Omaha. Haven't been there since I was little so I don't remember it.

Well there you have it. Fun post! Now I am going to go clean stuff before the boys get home from school. YAY!

Oh YEAH!!!

Well lots is going on in my world lately.  I got the new hair color, you saw. So I decided my blog needed a new look too for my fresh start. I like everything about this new blog look except the pictures are kinda see thru and I can't figure out how to fix it. Anyone knows how, please let me know! I'd appreciate some help! I also can't get my dumb Google Friend Connect to work. I can't see it on my blog, its just an empty square and I can only see it on very few other blogs. I want to be friends with everyone thru GFC I just can't get it to work right.

So I am so excited to announce that I am now finally on a Design Team!! Yay!! I am on The Stamping Boutique team and I am joining a lot of talented girls.  Here are my first two projects.

 These cards are made using  TSB images drawn by Tracey Malnofski. She is so talented and ALL the images are so amazing!!

I am entering Fall Froggy in the following challenges:

Crazy 4 Challenges-pumpkin  

Di's Digi Designs 

 Cute Card Thursday #182

 Digi Doodle Shop's Best #76

  I used Dazzle Fall Stickers on both of these cards. They are detailed and so pretty I wish I had more of these stickers! On my froggy card I put down two of the stickers and then sprayed some Tattered Angels shimmer spray and then removed the sticker for a cool masked effect. I love using the sprays so watch for more projects using them in the future!

 I am entering this card in the following challenges:

Kaboodle Doodles Challenge #85

I colored both of the images using some regular markers and some Copic markers that I borrowed from a friend. I love the way Copic's color so I'm going to need to start stocking up on some of them for myself.

Well thanks for checking out my creations. Stay tuned because I plan on doing a nail polish challenge and posting my pretty mani's in the next few days!

Prettys

I did my nails today. I used Antiqued Gold Crackle by Sally Hansen, over a beautiful burgundy called Carry On by Essie. I think it really compliments my new red hair color.

Many Lovely Returns

Its been a while since I blogged and i just want to pop in real quick to say that i am going to start posting my crafty stuff on here a lot more. So here is a sneak peek at a banner I made an I will post some close up pictures soon. I am also going to change the letter R on this banner cause it looks like an N or an H. Its going to go in my scrapbook room. Here you go!

Hoo are you?

Got these questions from a cute blog called The Life of Me

1. What is your favorite magazine?

I'm a mom so I like Parenting and Women's Day. Also Creating Keepsakes and Scrapbooks, Etc.

2. What color are your eyes?

I have green eyes. So does my husband and both our boys have blue. Whats up with that?

3. Do you go to the dentist on a regular 6 month schedule, or do you put it off?

I put it off as long as possible. I am NOT a fan of the dentist at all.

4. Do you use anything to make your house smell good? ex: candles, spray,etc...

I just came into possession of some Scentsy products. Love the warmers and the was bars smell so good. You won't go away from a Scentsy basket without finding one you like.

5. Do you have any pets?

We have some goldfish. They are pretty popular in our house.

I'm still here

I love to blog, I just don't think I am very good at it sometimes.
I have personal reasons for wanting to blog and I think I take it too personally when I have no comments or readers.
I need to just write what I want to write and get back into it fully for ME.

So....migraine stuff....I have a Brainstem Cavernous Angioma. It's not going to kill me or make me severely disabled, but I do get migraines. It also causes my heart to beat irregularly, my body temp hard to regulate, my pain sensations to be intensified, and my speech to be affected at times.

The hardest part of having migraines is the rollercoaster ride it takes my family on. I get very moody and tend to take it out on my husband.

It has been an interesting journey for me being a mom and a migraine sufferer. I know there are a lot of us out there. The statistics support it. But the need for support and understanding is great. People used to think that migraines were no big deal and that they were just an excuse to get out of something. Now a days, more and more doctors and employers are starting to realize that this is a real condition. It can be very serious and causes lots of people to miss work or just miss out on life.
I say this has been an interesting journey because being a parent and migraine sufferer is sometimes scary and definitely unpredictable. You never know when you wake up in the morning, if this will be the day that you get a migraine. And, not having family close by I have to try to figure out who to call to help with the kids if my husband can't leave work.
I've really learned to try to take it easy and not overdo it. Being at home all day, it is so easy to get caught up in the house work, then before I know it, I'm getting a headache. Luckily my husband realizes that the house isn't going to be perfect. Its better for me to be happy and do things I like to do when I am feeling good, than doing house work that could give me a headache.
We had a few very stressful things happen, so still recovering from my headache, trying to keep another from coming on and being worn down, made it very hard to handle to stress. Lets hope that we learn from this and try to make the effort to slow down a bit. Easier said than done.

I woke up Tuesday with a migraine. My Brother in law and sister in law had been staying with us a couple days, a grandma was in the hospital and I just had a lot on my mind and stress in my system. Then I ran out of my pain meds last night. So this morning I woke up and still felt miserable but I had to take a kid to school and run to the pharmacy obviously. So today was a long school day for Superman, so I got to lay down and relax in the quietness after I got home. Then when my husband came home for lunch, I was still asleep and I woke up a little later and was still throbbing and nauseaus. I have my own pain scale and I have been at an 8 since Tuesday morning. Then he went and picked up Superman for me and worked from home obviously, cause he didn't wake me up. I finally came around at 6:30pm and wasn't sure if it was AM or PM. Then I heard the kids downstairs so I figured it was night. Then I realized I should probably eat and just then hubby came in and said he was running to get some food. Thank goodness for him. So now I'm not tired at all.
I really wish meds like Tylenol or Aleve would work for me. I'm in the middle of trying new things with my neurologist and my general dr. is working on my thyroid levels and I have an mri next week. Hopefully I will get something that works soon. I feel like I have been saying that for 2 years now. But someday, something will work right?
I know sometimes the headaches are inevitable because they can be hormonal. So, I don't want to take things to extreme and become scared of doing things because I know I'll get a migraine. Before, I pushed myself too hard, now I am finding myself not doing good things because of the looming fear of a migraine.
I accept I have migraines, I take care of myself and do what I can to avoid triggers, but will not let these headaches control my life!
So the only plus side to getting migraines that I can think of is that I get to drink DrPepper all the time and that I get massages. Still I would give those things up for never having another migraine again.

New Years Resolutions

Speak my husband's "love language" more
Complete unfinished projects, like journaling empty spots in scrapbooks
Find time to eat breakfast every day
- Teach jewelry making classes and scrapbook techniques
- Clean out closets
- Crochet the rest of the afghan I started when pregnant with Aidan
Put videos of the kids onto DVDs
- Learn to use Photoshop better
- Have more amazing photoshoots
Put my hair in ponytails less.
Learn to use my creativity skills on painting
Drink more water. Eat more veggies.
Yell less.
Learn that watching home organizing shows, does not actually make my house organized.

Maybe we will start with that and see how much I can do.
And I have no idea why there are lines thru the words. I didnt put them there on purpose.

SUN

I remember the "sleep" I got when my kids were infants. In the morning, I would add up the bits and pieces of shut-eye I had managed to capture the night before, and it would equal something like 45 minutes. Then I would cry. Then I would get out of bed and start the day.

So believe me, I'm happy that my kids are a wee bit older now. But I ask you: WHY do kids have to get up so early in the morning? Maybe it's just my kids, but come 7:00 a.m. Superman (3 yrs old) appears at my bedside shouting, "The sun's AWAKE!"

I groan, open my eyes and I see his face, right up against my face. "I want NOGGIN!" he instructs. "The sun's AWAKE!" This is especially irksome on the weekend. "Mommy & Daddy aren't up yet, bud," I tell him. "Just stay in bed a little longer."

He ignores my pleas. "The sun WOKED UP!" he shouts again, pulling at my arm. And unfortunately it is light outside. (Darn you, sun.)

So I drag myself out of bed. You just can't argue with daylight. Or a chipper three year old, for that matter.

Growing

Its fall and it feels like this year has gone by too fast. As I am writing this, I have a mega headache coming on and I can't take my super squashing meds cause I have to drive to pick up Spiderman from school soon and Superman is here with me and requires supervision. So I apologize if this post is nonsensical.
I am going to a scrapbook convention tomorrow. I have been to several of these conventions, but this will be different because I am volunteering as a teacher assistant this time. I know it sounds selfish and moocher-ish, but I really hope I get some good rewards for being a great assistant. I am also hopeful that I get an inside track for a cool scrapbook job. I'd love to travel around and teach those classes.
(I think I made up a word-- moocher-ish oh yeah!)

Spiderman is a cub scout and a basketball player. He is keeping me busy. He wants to ride the bus. What's wrong with the mommy taxi?
My nephew and my niece and my puppy are all growing too fast. So adorable and huggable.
Scrappy is 4 months.

Parker is 3 months.Nevaeh is 2 months.
Aren't they just the cutest???

As if life wasn't already interesting enough....

We moved into our new duplex. Everything went fine there. Spiderman started his new school and loves first grade. He is still very gifted and is doing basketball and boy scouts. Superman is potty trained mostly. He was going to go to a preschool and be a peer in a special ed. class but he isn't compliant enough. He is just compliant for a normal three year old, not overly compliant which they need to put him in as a peer, so we will be home together another year.

I have started selling jewelry that I make. And I've been building up my portfolio of photography by taking senior pictures of my sister and family pictures of my other sister and baby pictures of my new nephew and niece.We got a puppy. His name is Scrappy. He is my little lovey. Such a sweetie. We should have gotten a girl dog so I could be less outnumbered, but oh well. He is my bud and cuddles with me more than the boys do.Ok now on to the not so good part. This past Saturday I had a busy day. I didn't get much sleep the night before. I got up early, went to some garage sales, loaded up my car for my plans out of town. I went to my little sister's volleyball tournament. Then I threw a bridal shower for my future sister in law. I didn't eat much with all my running around. After the shower, I loaded up my car to head home and picked up my little sister cause I was going to take her senior pictures Sunday morning. I had a little headache on the hour drive home but just figured I was needing some food. So we got home and I ate a PB sandwich and took 3 aleve. Well my headache escalated into a horrible migraine. So I woke up my sis who was exhausted from playing volleyball for 8 hours and told her that Batman was taking me to the hospital cause I was in too much pain. She would have to stay home cause the boys were sleeping as it was about midnight. So she just went back to sleep I think. Lucky.

So I get to the northland hospital and I have on pj pants and a tanktop and slipon shoes and a zip up hoodie. I had taken out my contacts and left my glasses so I couldn't see a thing. My hand is over my eyes cause the light hurts too much. They get me into a room and Batman turns off the lights as much as he can in the room. I wasn't really in the waiting room too long but it was agony when I was there. There was a crying baby and a loud lady. I was almost crying.

I get a nurse that puts in an IV but it takes her two tries. They never listen to me. My veins are small and roll. Don't give me a new nurse for the love of god. Then they send me for a CT cause its my first migraine that has sent me to the ER. So I don't really remember the CT. I think I was on a dose of meds that included something like morphine, nausea meds, and benedryl. So after the CT a frantic looking doc comes in my dark room and is muttering that there was something suspicious on the results and they have to immediately transfer me to the downtown hospital to get an MRI. I will have to go by ambulance.

Well Batman has to drive the car to the new hospital so I have to go in the ambulance alone. He stops at our house to get my glasses and some extra clothes. I am strapped down to a gurney and given more drugs to relax me. My nose itches so much from the morphine I think its going to fall off. They give me a thin white washcloth to cover my eyes to ease the pain of the lights. Obviously it serves little good other than to use to itch my nose.

I get my own private room at the new hospital and learn I am being admitted. Batman has been thru migraine routines before with his mom and never was admitted. He said she got a few shots and they sent her home and she slept for two days. I was not getting any sleep. And my head was spinning and still very painful. They were asking me which drugs I wanted to make the pain stop. Like I have a dictionary on what narcotics will help me. I've never had narcotics before, I don't know squat about them. I muttered something about tylenol 3 and they were like no you don't want that. Well don't ask me then. Obviously.

Soon I get taken to the MRI. There are 3 techs that put earplugs in me and strap my head down and try to make me comfortable. HAH! Then I am forced to lay perfectly still while listening to the loudest annoying noise ever with a migraine. Who is in charge of this crap??
They tell me that when its over the Dr may read it by 9am so I should know something by then. So I prepare myself to go up to my room and sleep til noon. Well at about 4am, a neuro surgeon comes in my room and asks me fifty questions like, close my eyes really tight, smile with teeth showing, follow his finger, lift my hands in the air, count backwards, touch my nose, lift my leg, lift the other leg, breathe in, breathe out, etc....

Then he says that the MRI showed that I have what's called a cavernous angioma. Basically a cluster of blood vessels that is packed in my brain stem. I was probably born with it and if it had been up in my brain lobes, I may never have noticed it was there, but since its in the brain stem, its causing symptoms. I will probably just get lots of bad migraines and could possibly have siezures. So I get out of the hospital finally on Monday evening. It was very scary and I don't remember much more than that.

I am feeling fine now. I have a couple prescriptions for pain meds as needed. Basically just super excedrin and nausea help. The most I need is to catch up on the sleep I missed those two days when nurses and drs came in every 30 minutes to ask me the same questions over and over. Have to get the kids less confused. They see the bruises from the IVs on my arms and they ask a hundred times a day if I am sick. So hard for them to understand. We just have to pray it goes away and doesn't bleed again. So for now I am just trying not to worry.