back to blogging, Yay!!!!

I absolutely cannot believe that almost a year has sped by since I have blogged! My store has been somewhat busy, my two girls aged 3 and 11 are keeping me on my toes, and their school always needs something.

I have been steadily trying to rebuild stock in the store. I had a buyer who became a good friend buy a lot of my fancier stuff, so I am restocking items of like quality, and adding some of the new designs we came up with together. I would put up a pic or two but do not have them here on the kindle.

I was also slowed down in a big way this summer by a big abdominal surgery that was supposed to be minor exploratory laparoscopy. The docs found a massive amount of scar tissue, endometriosis, and 3 cysts. It took me over a month to recover from that, and now I am on a cancer drug called Lupron to make some of those cysts stop appearing. Since June I have had at least two large ones come back that we know of. They are all non cancerous, but they hurt like the devil. No worries, I am cancer free, but I get to experience menopause for six months, which may be interesting.

Consequently I am spending lots of time in bed and not much at the torch making beads, or at my workbench making new stuff for fall. Oddly, I did get some vintage looking rose earrings done, but people won't be so excited about those until spring. ;)

I have been working on a huge "garden granny" Afghan, that is in about twelve colours. I like it but have trouble making some of the squares if the color combo does not catch my sense of deliciousness. Recently some of the antique rose in the design had been quite yummy and encouraging. Do you guys ever feel that way about yarn in large projects?

I will put up some pictures if I get my kindle here out to visit the workbench.

I am also doing some chain maille, on the small scale, working my way up to dragonscale, but it's going to be awhile, since I am just really doing Byzantine and romanov.

Anyway, it's great to talk at all of you! I think blogging is a joy and need to get back to it. I am also on pinterest as skyemberr king if any of you would like to check out my boards. I have a lot of stuff in there that you will probably like and I am interested to start following you all!

I hope your weekend had been full of "fun" back to school stuff.

I am excited, stressed, sort of pulling hair out, and jumping up and down today trying to get my taxes done. It's been so busy for the last month that I had only gathered the papers and not actually sat down to do them!  I managed to get about 60% of the way through last night and am now twiddling thumbs because the 21 month old REALLY does not want me to do taxes unless she's "helping" me. (Though who knows? Maybe that's a good thing when it comes to IRS forms)

The good news is that it was busy due to an awesome wedding, my 40th birthday, and tons of sales in both shops!

Next weekend I get to attend a beginners lampworking class here and learn the basics of glass bead making with torch and kiln. I have really come to be fascinated with that art as I use lampwork more and more in my work. I love to look at beads now and try to figure out how they were done. Then I got to have a "play date" with a torch a couple of months ago and loved it. So that is my 40th birthday present. Friends and family chipped in so I could take the class.

Am I upset about 40? Not really. I actually feel pretty lucky at present. I am retired. I get to see my kids all day and randomly take them to the beach.  I get to make creative things and occasionally sell them. I captain my own ship and if somebody annoys me I don't have to work with them. I really don't feel different crossing the 40 line, just probably less stressed than when I crossed the 30 line. It's pretty nice.

I would say my only gripe is still the Fibromyalgia and zillions of accompanying physical problems, but I have reached the stage where I have found the lemons I was given, made lemonade out of them, and most of the time am on the porch sipping lemonade. If I take things VERY slowly I can get some things done, like planting a garden.

That's what life really is anyway.  It's a garden and as the old saying goes, you reap what you sow. You get out of it, what you put into it. "And in the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make."

Love you all out there that are trying to "plant your gardens" or even get through your own personal lemon grove just so you can make lemonade. There's hope. If you are newly diagnosed with one of the silent illnesses that rage through our bodies, you're not crazy. Listen to yourself. Listen to your doctors, but with a grain of salt. You know what's best for you and with many illnesses the management is unique to the individual. For instance, I take lyrica, and that med makes some people really sick, others not.

Just keep trying and you will eventually find ways to manage parts of your illness and things DO get better. 

Again, if any of you want to message me on FB under windscrydesigns, or here on blogger to talk about this, or if you just want to post, please do!

Spring is here!

Spring is here, and my garden outside is blossoming. The roses are slowly coming back with gorgeous shiny foliage and tiny buds that are exploding into lovely blooms.

My peach trees are covered in tiny fuzzy baby peaches that are about the size of a fingernail. Here is a pic of the first peach blossoms:

I have been out weeding all of the beds and trying to get a handle on what sort of space we have back there. I can sow a lot of seed directly into the ground here due to the climate, as long as I keep up on my watering. So far we will be growing:

Dwarf Nastutriums in mixed colors
California poppies for my daughter's grassy slope that she loves to play on
Cucumbers (straight eight variety)
Velvet Queen red sunflowers
Mammoth Russian Sunflowers (yellow)
Scarlet Emperor Runner Beans
Early Golden Bantam Sweet Corn
Ruby Queen Sweet Corn (red)
Grandpa Ott Morning Glories (dark purple with pink centers)
Sweet Onions
Catnip
Nasturtiums (rambling variety)
Yellow summer Squash
Zucchini
Sugar Pie Pumpkins
Crimson Sweet Watermelon
Petite sweet carrots
grapes
apricots
peaches
guavas
pomegranates
Lemons
dwarf oranges
Kumquats
Yams
Red Potatoes
Aloe
Tomatoes
Strawberries (TONS)

Herbs:
African Blue Basil
Thyme
Basil
Greek Oregano
Parsley (flatleaf)
Garlic
Rose petals and hips
Lavender
Yes, I know, it's quite a list but seeds were 20 cents a pack so we went a little nuts, and some of the other stuff we already had in place. We are also adding Pink Jasmine on a trellis, Lantanas, Hibiscus, and Purple calla lilies.

We hope to make lots of Jam out of the fruits, eat and/or can or freeze the veggies. The garden came with many mature fruit trees and a green house so we already have a leg up! The Zucchini will turn into a lot of zuchini bread for family and friends.

Other than being obsessed about planning the garden, things have been ok. My ebay business selling Vera Bradley bags has been doing well this month, and I am having to restock to keep something in shop!  My spring items that over wintered are ready to come out and be sold,

The jewelrymaking has progressed. I got a GORGEOUS workbench for Christmas, so have a space to organize and work. I am hoping to take a beginner's lampworking class in April and then expand and ventilate the space in the garage a bit and use it to make some beads.

I went through a pretty tough month last month, which is part of why I had not blogged. I don't have depresion most of the time, but the sleep doctor put me on Zoloft, which actually made me depressed and made me feel like I was too weak to get out of bed most of the time, though I did not sleep. ><

I even felt like my creative juices were cut off so I stopped making things for about 3 weeks!!! It also caused what I think is a tendinitis (or at the least a fibro flare) in my left shoulder that has been killing me, so I am having to take Lorcet for pain 1 to 2 times in the evening. I am hoping my doc can fix the shoulder issue on Friday. :)

Now I am on Lexapro on the tiniest dose they can give me. I feel no anxiety, but it's not helping me go to sleep, LOL. Here I am at 5 am typing this.

Family matters still are what they are. No fences have been mended. We have a wedding coming up for my brother in law next week, so we will be there. I am a little anxious about that because , after we went to the engagement party someone in the family was posting nasty things about my 9 year old. I don't think they will do it again, but we will be studiously ignoring that part of the family and instead, focusing on experiencing the joy of seeing our brother FINALLY marrying the right lady.  We love you Ang. :)

So anyway, that's what I have been up to. If you would like to see my new jewelry it is at http://www.etsy.com/shop/WindscryDesigns

My Vera Bradley Handbags and Lands End stuff is in my Ebay store at:

http://stores.ebay.com/skyemberr

I should be getting some very cool new Vera Bradley patterns in within the next week. I am expecting Rhapsody in Hue, Tea Garden, Twirly Birds in Alice, Makes Me Blush in Alice, and possibly some Carmody and Mocha Rouge. :) Please feel free to ask me if you are looking for a Vera pattern in particular and I can try to get it in stock at a good price.

Please post below and tell me how YOUR garden is doing. Are you making any plans? Do you want chickens this year?

On the Health of Blogging

Somebody showed me a really compelling blog today about how/why some bloggers can be so thoroughly honest in their blogs. It touched me, and it made a lot of sense, so I am reposting it here.

http://blog.penelopetrunk.com/2009/07/21/how-to-decide-how-much-to-tell-about-yourself-on-your-blog/

I think the thing I identify with here is that THIS blog, is meant to help folks with invisible illnesses deal with the ugly stuff that can happen to them, physically, with their families, with their lives. It's therapy for me to write honestly about these things as they happen to me, just like it's therapy for someone who is having something similar happen to them see that it's happening to others, and they are NOT alone.

The best part, writing about it gets it out of the system and works it out in the mind so you can see whatever it is more clearly.

As to the little things in life, like being honest that you're behind in bills and stressing out on that, or angry at your partner for something minor like not putting the cap on the toothpaste, it helps get it out so instead of becoming a fight it's dispersed.

I have been reading the Randy Pausch book, The Last Lecture. I don't know how many of you are familiar with that book, but it's written by a very brilliant and sweet man who was dying of pancreatic cancer, and decided he wanted his last lecture, given at Carnegie Mellon, to be a message to his kids about what was important to him to impart to them before he left this earth. Needless to say it's a tearjerker, but it is funny and joyful in other places, and deeply insightful. One of the things he talks about is that his wife Jai was told to enjoy her time with him more by not worrying about the little things they always bickered about, like Randy leaving his clothes on the floor. So instead, she'd go write in a journal about it and they'd be able to move on and enjoy their day.

When I was a teen, with a lot of troubles MY journal helped me a lot. I have 5 or 6 journals full of angst that preserved my sanity.  I think blogging is now a natural extension of that sort of catharsis and sorting of emotion, except that it's now shared so that others  get to see and feel those same things and see they are not alone. They are not an alien. There is someone to talk to, reach out to, or just relate to, who might understand.

Anyway, I had planned to write about epiphanies this week, but this article above inspired me, so this is what you all got. ;)

Maybe you'll hear more from me this weekend. At any rate, enjoy the last few days of 2011, and may 2012 be better for EVERYONE!

Ever have a tough day where you feel like the best thing you can do is shut up and color? Today is one of those days. Things just happen sometimes and there's not much we can do to prepare or change them.

Other than that, things are going well. I am slowly getting my act together for a craft fair at Temple Emanu-El here in San Diego. This will be my first one, so I have to remember all of the things to bring, and all of the tricks I saw vendors using at art and wine fests over the years. My Uncle used to sell cartoons in those for years and I spent a lot of time wandering around them as a kid. I am wishing for a metal lunch box to keep money and change in like he did! :)

The fibro is only bothering me a little bit, but I think when I come off the anti biotics I may get sick again. My youngest child is just off of hers and has a huge cough and a raging fever. She may end up in peds doc after I see my rheumatologist tomorrow since they share a space.

Anyway, now that they are all asleep except for husband I am going t go out and see if wind knocked any branches off the Maples across the street. I need a good one to display necklaces and don't want to hurt the tree.

After that, more just shutting up and coloring, ;)

I am just making a short but sweet post tonight. We are getting ready to clear out for Thanksgiving so I am not sure how great my connectivity will be.

Today we are one of the featured Jewelry artists in an online Christmas Shopping stroll that is there to promote not only our work, but also to encourage people to buy from small businesses and home grown artisans this year, rather than supporting the big box stores like Walmart who import most of their products from China!

To see the stroll go to: http://blog.designs-by-debi.com/2011/11/exploring-handmade-holiday-shopping_23.html?spref=fb

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving everyone and enjoy every minute that you have with your family. Life happens, and you never know how much time you have with anybody.

Secondly, please be safe out on the roads this year. I want to be wishing you happy Turkey day next year!!

A very beautiful tribute written about a dear friend that I and many others recently lost to Ovarian Cancer. http://karenrbrooks.com/blog/?p=375&cpage=1#comment-34702  This lady was her BEST friend. We all are sharing some of the grief, but Karen was our hero, and Sara's too. She was there for her and showed what true friends do for each other, even when family can't or won't.

Ok, it's official, we've all caught "it". Baby girl is really sick tonight and on antibiotics and fever meds. We think she is treading the fine line between cold and pneumonia because she sounds a lot like our older one did the three times she's had it. If she's not drastically improved shortly we are going back to the doctor.

We have had pouring rain all day so I have not been out photoing any work, but I have a bit of quiet time to work with some lovely Bastille Bleu beads tonight and make something special. (if the baby stays asleep).

What are you all working on? It's definitely scarf and hat weather.  I hope to be doing a chemo hat for a friend here shortly if she can find a pattern she likes!

Anyway, weekend is over. It's been extremely short, but interesting. We had a great turkey dinner last night, and today I spent a lot of time either laying around because I am sick, or to get the kid to sleep. My older daughter went to Lorgeland Music arts and did a bunch of fun thanksgiving projects. Hooray Mrs. Lorge!