Huge changes happening in my life!!

I've had so many changes in my life this year it's crazy!!!

Firstly on the job front things are wonderful, extremely busy and stressful, but wonderful. Two weeks ago my boss fired our "dark cloud of gloom" that I had to work with. So I am now running the entire shop on my own. I also got a huge raise and work long hours, but I love it. He also hired my daughter for the summer to help out with the phones and front office stuff. I love working with her everyday.

On the health front, issues are finally being diagnosed and dealt with. I had to have another colonoscopy in March in order to do a biopsy which came back showing I have Colitis. OK, I can live with that, it could be worse, she thought I had Celiac Disease. With medication it can be controlled.

I also finally got in to see a OB/GYN. I'm scheduled in 2 1/2 weeks to have a Novasure Ablation done. I can't wait! From everything I have been told they work wonders for "female" issues that I am experiencing.

I also have been tested and found to have Meniere's Disease. It's another auto immune condition affecting the ear. Again, with meds and knowledge of how to treat a flare, it can be controlled.

So my list of medical conditions have really grown . . . I now have Dermatomyositis, Raynaud's Syndrome, Fibromyalgia, Colitis and Meniere's Disease.

Jennifer is busy with two online University courses this summer in addition to working. That pretty well takes up all her time, although she has fit in time to almost complete a gorgeous cross stitch picture - Mirabilia's Stargazer. It's beautiful!!

Rick took a business trip to China this past April. He really enjoyed the trip but not the flight. 15 hours non-stop on the plane was a little much.

This is going to be my new little beauty in a couple of weeks . . . a 2011 Honda Accord . . . I can't wait for it to be delivered!!












Hopefully things will settle down at work soon and most of my health issues will be taken care of and I can try to live a "normal" life for the first time in about 10 years with actual time for myself and my hobbies and I will be able to update this blog more than twice a year.

OK, so I know it's been forever.

During the summer I came to a decision that in addition to my own Graphic Design business, I would return to work outside of the home. In September 2010 I started my new job. For the first time in 22 years I'm not my own boss. Yikes, it was a scary thought, but it has worked out very well. I now work 9-5 at work and then come home, have dinner, and work for a few hours until bedtime on my own client's work. My life is pretty much all work and no play, except for the weekends . . . I live for the weekends!!! I have to admit, a "regular" weekly paycheque is pretty sweet!

This change has allowed me some new acquisitions that I have been yearning for. Among one of them is this little beauty of an SLR. I have only wanted one for, well, forever!!









During my free weekend time, I was able to finally finish Chatelaine's Watergarden.




























I also just finished Plum Street Samplers "Toil and Trouble". I did it for Jenn's 21st (gulp) Birthday this Friday the 18th.














I also got her these. She always, always wears "wings". I think she'll love them.
















As for my health, well to say the least it has not been good, but I'm pushing thru none the less. The Dermotomyositis still seems to be mostly in remission (knock wood) and I'm dealing with the Fibromyalgia ok. In two weeks I have another colonoscopy and endoscopy (oh joy!) to have another look for any malignancies. Then in early May I will have surgery of some kind, either a partial hysterectomy or full hysterectomy, depending on what my uterine biopsy shows. Then early June, I have yet another breast MRI to have another look to see if any of the "spots" have changed. Hopefully everything will be clear and I can have some sort of "normal" summer this year. Oh how I yearn for that!!

Jennifer is just about finished her 2nd very successful year of University. She had decided to do a double major (English & History) with a minor in Classics. She also managed to find herself on the Dean's list this year! Yahoo!! I'm very proud of her!!

I don't know what has come over me!!

Mirabilia's Royal Holiday and Mirabilia's Midsummer's Night Fairie are now done!!!!







































and Chatelaine's Watergarden is well on it's way to being completed . . . maybe 3-4 more weeks.




















and I just made a list of what new ones I would like to complete next and, of course, there is 9 of them. So this afternoon I will spend some time making a list of what I still need for each project and plan a shopping trip!

On another topic, my health , I am doing better than I have in the past couple of years. By September I should be in "clinical remission" from the Dermatomyositis. It will never be gone but at least it's under control for now and I will finally (after 2 1/2 years) be off the steroids. YEAH!!! I'm feeling so much better I'm planning to go back to work in September. The fibromyalgia on the other hand has been flaring up quite often but through lots of trial and error we think we have a good combination of medications that will keep it pretty well controlled. Time will tell. As for tests, I have another MRI scheduled for October and another thorough cancer check then as well.

Off to make my stitchy shopping list!!

Just stitchin' like crazy . . .

With all the worries on my mind and all my spare time, I've been stitching like crazy lately!!

Here are two finishes . . .

Blackbird Design - Strawberry Garden




















and Bent Creek's PhotoBooth Snowmen




















Here's where I am with Mirabilia's Midsummer's Night Dream

Gulp,

My MRI is on Friday afternoon. I'm very nervous and not very optimistic about the outcome.

Good News . . . and bad news

Good News:
1. They are finally calling it quits with my pelvic ultrasounds. I have cysts, I'll always have cysts, nothing will change.
2. I'm down to 4mg of Prednisone now!
3. The new meds for my Fibromyalgia is working!
4. I have been feeling very strange the last few weeks, I think it is called "normal". Very little fatique, pain, dizziness, etc.

Bad News: My Mammogram was inconclusive, they're scheduling a breast MRI for me now. Ugh!

It never rains. . .

but it pours!! Why can't things be simply black or white???

2 Weeks till Christmas . . .

and I am almost ready! It has been very difficult but I think I almost have holiday preparations all done. Tree decorated, house decorated, cards done, shopping done, gifts almost all wrapped. Still have baking to do but I'm not doing too much this year.

I have been feeling really, really horrible the past few months. I knew something else was wrong with me and so they started testing me for everything under the sun. After dozens of tests I was just diagnosed this week with Fibromyalgia. Now I have 3 overlapping autoimmune diseases. UGH! More medication, more pain, but I will deal with it on my own like always.

Next week can't come soon enough!!! Jenn is coming home on Monday afternoon!! She is writing exams right now and has her last one on Monday morning so she should be home by 3:00 Monday afternoon!!! WooHoo!! Her first semester has gone very well, I'm very proud of her. She is now 1/8 of her way to her University degree, lol.

Dermatomyositis really sucks!

I was hoping to be in remission by now. I'm not. I was hoping to have most of this horrible disease behind me by know. It isn't. Everyday is a struggle.

I will be finding out next week if I am developing lung disease that often goes along with this disease or whether my muscles are still weakening and causing my breathing problems.

I will find out in a few more weeks whether all my ovarian cysts are gone or whether one has developed into a pre-cancerous lesion that often goes along with this disease.

I'm sick of taking steroids and all the wonderful side effects and want off them!!

OK, enough complaining. I'm off to stitch and hopefully take away my worries.

I can't wait until tomorrow. I know, I know, I shouldn't be excited about this sort of thing, but my most favourite video game franchise of all time is releasing a new game tomorrow!!! I will be at Gamestop waiting for them to open the doors to pick up my copy, then hope no rush jobs come in right away tomorrow so I can get a couple hours in.

Stitching!! I can't seem to find enough time for it . . .

Myself and some friends started up a "Stitch & Bitch" group. We get together once a week and stitch, knit, mend or whatever. Sometimes we just do alot of bitching and no stitching at all. Other than the few hours set aside for that each week, I can't seem to find much time to do anymore stitching and I really wish I could. I have found a whole new "relaxation" and sense of calm from stitching. Here's what I am working on.

Mirabilia's Midsummer's Night Fairy
























and Chatelaine's Watergarden

I know, it's been forever . . .

It's been a long, tough winter. This is what is left of our snow, hopefully not to return again this year!



















On a good note, I actually started stitching again!! I decided that 2.5 years looking at the same project was too much, so I pulled out something that I had wanted to stitch years ago. It gave me the push I needed to start again. It feels good . . . relaxing! Here's what I have done so far.
























Health-wise with me, it sucks. I now have been thru many heart tests, I have unexplained PAC's and PVC's, I now am being treated for anemia and the investigation is starting to find out if I have Celiac disease also, which often goes hand in hand with Dermatomyositis, speaking of Dermatomyositis, I'm still struggling, still not in remission. I have an appointment coming up with an ENT for ear issues I'm dealing with also. Again that time of year has come again that I have all my cancer scans approaching, not looking forward to them. Needless to say our trip to England this spring had been postponed, hopefully just until August. Life sucks sometimes!!

Finally!!

I finally made a couple of no sew fleece blankets last week. I have wanted to try one for ages, so I finally did.

This one is for my nephew's daughter

and this one is for my nephew's son

They were very easy to put together, each one took about 2 hours to cut and tie all the knots. I will definitely be making more of these in the future!!

Christmas Spirit!

The house is decorated, the gifts are almost all bought and wrapped, the baking has begun.
WAIT! This is me I'm talking about???
I have never had all this done this early before . . . never . . . ever. Not sure what came over me but it sure feels nice that I will be able to enjoy the holidays without the usual chaos.

Here are some pictures of the decorations.
The fireplace in the family room . . .



The main staircase . . .

October 30th . . . 55 days til Christmas

Not much has been going on here lately to warrant a post on my blog.

I'm still fighting my disease, some days are good, others not so good. I have learned to take advantage of the good days to get things done that need to be done. On the positive side, I am now down to 12.5 mg/day of Prednisone, down from 40mg I started out with in June.

I'm still working, but barely, only a few hours most days.

I'm still stitching a little bit, and I am going to try my hand at quilting this year. I hope to make a couple of Christmas presents for family this year.

We've had snow twice already and it is quite chilly most days now. The snow tires are already on one vehicle, now they just need put on my car and I will be ready for winter.

Jen and I have been enjoying the new PS3 game "Little Big Planet". You can play on co-op mode, so we have logged on several hours this week. We have laughed so hard while playing this game. You can't help but smile and laugh at the adorable little sackboy and sackgirl.

Look what came to visit on October 21st!!!!

Cooler weather brings out the baker in me

I love to spend Sunday afternoons baking, especially with Fall and Winter approaching. Last Sunday I spent the afternoon making "Orange Buns". Even though they took hours to make, allowing for the "risings", they were very good.

Reading is . . .

my escape, my passion, my companion during this illness.

I have recently discovered Historical fiction and now I can't seem to read it fast enough.

I'm currently reading "The Queen's Fool" by Philippa Gregory. This is a captivating book told from Hannah Green’s perspective, a young Jewish girl who flees Spain with her father to escape persecution and lands in England. She is a seer and is sought after during the troubled times for the Tudor court. This is the third book by Philippa Gregory that I have read and I highly recommend them. She is becoming one of my favourite authors.

A Sea of Graduates

A picture taken from my Daughter's June 2008 Graduation ceremony.

"This above all: to thine own self be true" Hamlet quote (Act I, Sc. III).

We just returned from a mini vacation to Stratford, Ontario where we spent much of the entire time at the Shakespeare Theatre, oh, and um, shopping of course. This year's headliners are Christopher Plummer, who is playing Caesar in "Caesar and Cleopatra", and Brian Dennehy who is playing the King of France in "All's Well That Ends Well"

We spent the first morning taking a backstage tour of the Theatre. Wonderful time!! We saw where all the costumes and props are made, the rehearsal halls, the dressing rooms, the sound and lighting booths and got to wander around the stage and empty theatre.

Next we went across town to the warehouse where the costumes for the past 60 years are stored. 88,000 square feet of costumes and props, aisle after aisle of wonderful "stuff". For a much clearer picture, click on it to see it full size.







The next afternoon, we went and saw the performance of Hamlet. We all enjoyed it immensely. We're already planning a trip back next year to see Midsummer's Night Dream, Julius Caesar and Macbeth.

We did find time to wander around this very charming little town and found a wonderful book store that had the most awesome prices! When we left "The Book Vault", we left with a box of books, not a bag!

Even though it was a very short trip, it has done me the world of good to get away for a couple days and try to forget about everything that is not so well in my life right now. I feel much more re-charged now to face whatever comes my way.

Your Personality is Somewhat Rare (ISFP)

Your personality type is caring, peaceful, artistic, and calm. Only about 7% of all people have your personality, including 8% of all women and 6% of all men You are Introverted, Sensing, Feeling, and Perceiving.

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