UGH, More Medicine

Today was an emotional day for me. I have sworn not to get nuts about the convention. I've never done it before, so why now. Well, of course, there is an obvious reason if you know my ethnicity. Regardless of whether one is a Republican or Democrat, you can not help but understand what the candidacy of Barack Obama means to this country. I have been in tears because, I never in my wildest dreams thought I would live to see the day that a black man would be selected for this position. At this point, I don't doubt that he has a real chance to go all the way, but if he doesn't,. I, for one, will go to my grave more proud of what this country has done than I could ever imagine. I hope and pray that ALL Americans understand what a historic moment this is and then vote with their conscious.

Well, on top of all the convention hoopla, I had a routine Dr. appt., and my labs were not good. On top of the blood pressure meds I take, I have to take potassium meds as well. My kidneys are OK, but they could be better. It seems they may have been damaged unbeknownst to me some time ago and my hypertension probably went undiagnosed for some time. And there I was telling my husband how sorry I felt for him since I was the picture of health and didn't have to take any medicine. So I have to have a kidney ultrasound and we go from there. YUCK. At 59, I just feel I'm too young for this to be happening. And to top it off, I have to pay out of pocket because I haven't met my deductible yet, and probably won't this year. Oh there's more. I am having a crown put in on a molar in September and my deductible hasn't been met for that little ditty either.

Oh, and my precious little Westie is on 3 new meds and she is breathing much better, but just lays there like a lump. She is constipated, has hardly any appetite and is lethargic. Absolutley no quality of life. I let the vet talk me into keeping her alive for a while longer. But frankly, this ain't my idea of alive. I remember her tearing around my backyard with a toy while I tried valiently to catch her. Oh the sweet fun memories I have of her. Funny thing, though. My other dog, an older mut "Left on my doorstep by my DH," thinks she has to take care of her friend and alerts me if things don't seem right. She sits right by her...something she never did before, and whimpers when she thinks it's appropriate

Eat Ham

I'm just skipping right over Halloween, 'cuz it just not the done thing here in Fields' Landing...hmmm, I like that. I have loved Maria Bell's Happy Haunting card, on her blog, Stampin' Inspirations. See it here. http://stampininspirations.blogspot.com/2008/08/just-flying-by-card.html I turned my card around lengthwise. I wasn't able to use my sentiment in the same direction, 'cuz it was too big, but it really fit the image, so I put it sideways. I think it works. The All cs is SU...really rust, the new in-color kiwi, and marigold. DS is from American Crafts. The buckle is, none other than a Spellbinders die and the ribbon is a non-descript Michaels. I found this image by Inkadinkadoo at Hobby Lobby. There is one that says "Eat Beef" just in case for those non-pork appetites.
An easier way to get to Maria's blog from my site is to go directly from my bloglist on the side. I don't know why I can't seem to link properly, but I will someday I hope...really soon.
So it's back to watching the DMC on CNN. As an early on Hillary supporter, I'm eager to see how effectively she does her job. Gosh, there is the possibility of an assassination plot against Obama being foiled. YIKES, I hope and pray that nothing like this ever happens again.
Hugs & Blessings,
Erica

Rough Days Ahead

Well, it is getting to the day when I'll have to put my beautiful sweet Westie down. She has been suffering from a genetic disease for the last 14 months. Life expectation is between 9-18 months. I don't think she can make the 18. But my family and I feel blessed that she has lived so well up until now. The vet says an infection will probably force us to make the decision. But she's strong, has a good attitude and appetite, so I think we will just end up making the decision based on how uncomfortable she appears. The disease causes extreme difficulty with breathing and it has come to the point that my other dog is looking at her and making little crying noises whenever her breathing is really labored. I'm afraid it will be this week. It never ceases to amaze me at how animals become family to us.

So here are 2 cards that I made this weekend. I am continuing to work on my Christmas cards. I "sewed" some beads on to the word which is a template from Bazzill Basics. The other is a kinda' case from a blog. I'm still not very good at getting the blogs into my posts. I have to work on that, but I hate to practice on my readers. WHOOPIE, I got 4 comments on my last blog.

I hope everyone has a good week this week. And don't stay up too late watching the convention, let me do that for ya' (smile).
.
Erica

TechnoStamper Sketch #31

Hi no one (well still no one has visited me even though it really is true that I really have gotten better at this. Anywho, here is my 2nd try at a challenge. I found this one very easy and I even tried some photo editing of the card, becuz' the card ds is quite dark. I don't think anyone did a Christmas card and I need to make about 45 this year. This is #5. I need to stop designing now and start actually producing en mass.

So this card is just some green cardstock, blue,white and 2 ds sheets from a pad from Joanne's. I stamped the blue piece with a snowflake from SU's very old Christmas Globe set. Would you believe that I first started getting SU sets, I didn't realize I should put the title sticker on the box. BIG DAH! Fortunately, I only mounted 2 sets w/o the title. Now that I am a demo, I don't take it for granted that customers know they are supposed to do this.

Well, I hope someone chances on this card. I am going to make my usual foray into uploading it onto TechnoStamper's blog and hope that I don't make a mess of it like I did the first sketch I did back in July. I have removed that awful mess (the card was awful too) from my blog. Next year, I will try to better utilize that cute stamp. BTW, the stamp used today is a Hampton Arts Stamp. I always loved their stamps...don't think they're still around.

Blessings, Erica

Cards...What Would I do Without Them?

Last night I was sick as a dog with indigestion. I fully realize that I cannot eat after 7PM, especially if it is rich and fatty food. No matter what projects I have goin', I've got to stop and cook at a decent time. Well, you must want to know what I made. It's no easy task to please my finicky husband. As he has aged and with his diabetes, he doesn't enjoy food as much as he used to. It's often a chore for me to come up with something he and I will enjoy. Sooo, I made stewed short ribs (boneless), white rice -- he won't eat brown which is so much healthier, string beans which I cooked in a little bacon fat. Then I pulled out a cake recipe from 10 yrs. ago I had never tried called 1-2-3-4 Cake with caramel icing. It was delish. The enire meal was delish. Hubby complimented me on it even though it was 8PM before we ate and 9:30 for the cake. I knew better as I have a 10 yr. history with heartburn and indigestion and IBS. My insides are messed up. I'm beating myself up because, my situation is so preventable. So tonite, we ate the leftovers, since I didn't get much sleep the nite before and hubby enjoyed it so much. This time, we ate at 6PM and I ate half as much food. I also took an antacid before I ate. I'm kind of leery of going to bed, but I have prayed about it and tomorrow/today, I'll behave.
So this card is one I put into a swap of images for Joan Switalski (Skicio on SCS). I decided to post a card with the image for her to see, but won't be linking it up until I know she has the image in her hands. I didn't give her my blog name, so she has no idea. I can't wait to see the images she sends me. There will be 7 different ones...or maybe its 14 since I signed up for 2 different images.
Swaps are fun, aren't they?
Later this week, I'm going to post about 10 cards that I plan on sending to "CardMaker" mag., This month they are collecting cards of encouragement to send to cancer survivors. I'm too broke these days to make contributons to worthy organizations, but I can contribute my cards. I will try to post a link at that time to their magazine. Remember, I'm very new at this link thing...not to mention blogging.
Thanks for reading and remember...Today Is the First Day...
Erica
P.S. If you want the deets on the card, leave a request in "Comments"

You Need Time

Well,I've been up all night. But I've mastered a whole bunch of things FINALLY!!
Had a fun day Yesterday with my stamping buddies and it looks like we've added another person to our group. Laura is on board for our swaps and our get-togethers. I've already posted my card for the swap. El challenged us to use the Spring Song set to create a card. Since she doesn't have a blog (she is a member of SCS and may post there), I want to post it here as well. So now that I'm not as bad at this as I was a week or so ago, I'm gonna go for it.

Hugs & Blessings to anyone who is brave enough to slog thru this blog.
Erica

Here are 2 cards

Once again I'm trying to properly post a couple of cards in the right format and in the right locationl. Let's see how I do.

Is there a geekblog trainer out there???

I so do not have a clue as to what I'm doing...and as soon as bloggers find out, they'll run as fast as they can away from me. Seriously, do blog educators exist who will come to my house and help me learn how to do this. It's all just too much for a senior citizen, I tell ya'. I posted a card, but as usual, it's too big. I'm gonna try one more time with a suggestion from one of my comments. I think she was just trying to be encouraging when she said my 4th of July card was cute. It sucks IMO.
Well, here we go and it's 4AM....I wanna go to bed and just try to get 4 hrs. of sleep...plezzzzz!!