After over two weeks of attempts, I finally have a cat scan scheduled for my lungs. It's not until mid-October, but at least it's scheduled. I'm not impressed with the hospital system for completely dropping the ball on this. Hopefully their techs are better than their schedulers. But hey, I got it done!

No Starbucks today. The kid had today off of class because he has to go in tomorrow to take a test. Instead, we had an emergency oil change done (emergency because the light started flashing in my car), grocery shopped, did bio homework, and studied more for the math test. Tomorrow I'm not sure how long I'll have while he takes the test so I decided I'd better write this week's post up tonight.

Hey, everyone! Some of you may have noticed that the site got really quiet for about a month. It turns out that my little cough turned into pneumonia and knocked me out for about five weeks. I did little more than lay on the couch and watch tv. I didn't have the concentration to read, to work, anything. To say it was frustrating is probably the understatement of the new year. Finally though, after six weeks or so, I've been told by the doctor that my lung x-rays are clear again. Yay! Of course, after doing a bit of shoveling, I do have a cough creeping back in, but I'm going to be keeping a close eye on it.

Now that I'm better, it's time to make some plans for 2020! I finished the first draft of Nevermore at the end of 2019 and I'm waiting for notes from Nick. I hear there are a lot of them...erk! That's okay though. It's just going to make me a better writer. I also finished Tales from the Toy Store and sent that out to some beta readers. I should have some notes back on that soon and then Eric Cockrell and I will be working together to add some art before working on a launch.

On the editing side, I'm currently accepting projects. Being sick really hurt my finances. On top of that, I just love proofreading and editing. I can't wait to dive into some new projects. If you're looking for someone, don't hesitate to reach out.

Now, it's about time for me to be mom. My oldest, Ben, is doing Special Olympics basketball and it's practice night. His first tournament is this weekend, so wish us luck!






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It's been a few weeks since I posted here but in reality it seems like just a few days has gone by. Just before Thanksgiving, I was crazy busy trying to get the house ready for company and just general life type things. Thanksgiving came and went, but on the Saturday night following, I started not feeling so well.

I felt way overstuffed from a dinner that I didn't even finish. That should have been the first warning sign. Around 11pm, what has become a semi-familiar band of tightness formed around my midsection, at the base of my ribs. That was followed by the awful stabbing pain through the sternum and into the back. When it hadn't let up and was possibly getting worse by 4pm the next day, Justin convinced me to go to the emergency room. Imagine their shock when they found out that I'd drove myself! I guess that doesn't happen all that often.

Long'ish story short? Two days ago, I had surgery to remove my gallbladder. I had one large gallstone (about the size of a nickel) up in the top of my gallbladder and my gallbladder was badly inflamed. The doctor said I've probably been having problems with it for years,even though the symptoms didn't start popping up until last Spring sometime. It turns out that when you have a high pain tolerance, you don't notice the pain but it would explain the times when I just felt rundown and not well.

So, for the next couple of days, I'm confined on and off to my couch while I recover. The boys have kindly agreed that we don't need to decorate for the holidays this year. Luckily, I felt well enough to get 90% of the presents wrapped prior to the surgery. It's a good thing because I'm not allowed to lift anything more than 10 pounds for the next 3 weeks! Thank goodness for good kids who are willing to help out where they can!

Other than that, life is carrying on the best way that it knows how..one day at a time. With any luck, my energy will pick back up and y'all will be seeing more of me here again soon!


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It's Friday and what a week it's been! I've been sick all week. Heck, I've been sick for two weeks. I finally gave in and got some cough medicine and I think it's clearing up! My poor lungs just needed a chance to not cough so that they could start healing. Thank goodness! On top of that, the boys had Monday off (due to Mid-Winter break. I still want to know where that was when I was in school!) and then had 2 snowdays this week. Yes, 2. The first one I couldn't get out to go watch them but I was in sooo much pain from my earlier in the week workout, I got zippo accomplished. Then yesterday, I got up way early and went in and spent the day with them.

So, what does all of this mean? I got absolutely zero accomplished this week. My house still is a disaster zone (like call out the national guard level) and I still have a million and one things on my to do list. I bet you're wondering what this means for Finish It Friday, right?

Well, even if you're not, I'm going to tell you. You ought to know that about me by now. It means nothing more on my to do list will be accomplished today. You see, it's the every other Friday Friday. That means I go get the boys, we go grocery shopping, come home, drag it all into the house, make dinner, eat dinner, maybe watch a movie while eating dinner and then it's bedtime for them and because I'm still a little sick, I collapse on the couch with some water and tv. Holy cow, was that a long sentence or what?

I will be finishing something though. I'm going to finish my bad attitude. All week, I've been sick and once I gave into it, I also gave into the blah/meh feeling that comes along with it. I pretended like it didn't matter what I ate, didn't matter that I couldn't really workout and basically gave into really bad habits. So, enough of that. It ends today. I know it's not going to be easy because well if it were, wouldn't more of us be making huge changes in our lives? Sure we would! It needs to happen though. The mehness needs to go byebye and the back on track (because soon it will be back to the scale) needs to come through.

So that's what I'm doing. What about all of you? Be sure you leave a comment with a link to your Finish It Friday post. I know you won't regret it! Plus, it means I can come by and give you some comment love and support!



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Hey all! I'm so sorry for not getting on here and posting this sooner. I know all of you came by to check on this week's project and to post your links for last week and here I didn't even come on all day.

I'm sick. There, I finally admitted it outloud. I've been sick for 2 weeks now and it's not getting better. It's getting worse. I kept thinking if I kept going and pushed tons of water that it'd just flush itself out but it hasn't. It started out a sore throat and a bit of a stuffy head and it has settled itself fully in my chest. I'm not sleeping well at night because of the coughing. I'm propped up but still I cough. I've tried vics and it's not helping. Tomorrow, I'm giving in and getting some cough medicine. I know I should go to the doctor and I promise, if it's not better by the weekend, I'll call and make an appointment. I don't know how I'll get there (my doctor is an hour away & I have to pick the boys up at 3:25 every day which is 30 minutes in the opposite direction) but if I have to, I'll figure out a way.

For now though, I'm going to go curl up with my teddy bear and pray for one night's sleep. Enjoy your extra week to tackle that fridge. I expect to see you all back here next week with lots of links and photos!



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I so meant to write here on Monday and yesterday, but life got a hold of me and didn't let go. Over the weekend, the boys and I went over to my Grandmother's so that we could visit and while there, on Sunday, both of the boys threw up. That meant that we stayed over until Monday and by the time we got back, got their things around and Peter picked them up, my poor journal was long forgotten. Plus, on Sunday night, I started not feeling good and it turns out that Ben gave me his cold so yesterday was spent doing a tiny bit of puttering around the house, a lot of time reading (big thanks to my sister for loaning me books 1-3 of the House of Night series) and some time working on Dominic's Christmas present. I'm down to only needing to finish 6 pieces on that before assembly so it's finally coming along.

Let's see, so I don't really have a menu for this week because with all the sickness, I didn't go to the grocery store and we're in for some nasty weather so I'm putting it off until next Wednesday when I have to drive to Lansing anyway. So, I'm going to wing it out of my cupboards/fridge. There's plenty of food there, just not fresh fruits/veggies.

Monday - Pizza Rolls
Tuesday - Ham, Cheese and Onion Omelette
Wednesday - Grilled Cheese Sandwich
Thursday - Taco Chicken Packet
Friday- Soup
Saturday - Chili
Sunday - Chili leftovers

Now, as for what I tackled yesterday, I'm sorry to say that mostly it was getting well again. I did do some tidying around the house though and worked on Christmas presents. So, I'm going to count that. Now, I need to see if I have any photos for this week's Sunday Shutterbug. I totally dropped the ball and didn't post one for pairs last week and this week is heart. If you haven't gone over and seen their blog this week, you really should.

Wow..it's been over a week since I posted. Did you think I got katienapped in Canada and they wouldn't let me come home? Nope, I didn't get nearly that lucky. I did have an incredible time there though and will be posting about that very soon. This is going to be a pretty short post because well, because I brought home more than TimBits from Canada. It seems I also brought home a case of Strep Throat! Eww, Owww and Ugh! I got to the doctor's yesterday and got my medicines and luckily am feeling better but it's going to be a bit before 'm totally back up to full strength.

But, keep your eyes open. I have tons of great things to write about from the past week or so. There's the trip to Canada and I just have to brag about Parent-Teacher Conferences. I wouldn't be a mom if I didn't, eh?

Ok, but until then, I have a pretty "simple" tackle for today. I'm going to tackle strep and since that doesn't leave me much energy for anything else, I think I'll also work on clearing off our dvr. (shhh..don't tell, but that means I'll be laying on the couch watching tv today). I might even work on my Christmas card list. Have a great day all!

Due to me coming down with what I suspect is food poisoning, today's blog post has been cancelled. Sorry to any who were looking forward to it.

So, I'm home sick! Ugh! I had an exam tonight, but on my drive home for a break from classes, I started having icky stomach cramps. Needless to say things went downhill from there. So, I'm here on my couch just sipping water for now. Luckily for me, the instructor drops the lowest score so no harm done.

Lately I've noticed how long my blogroll has gotten so I decided to do some tidying up. Over the next couple of weeks, you may notice some additions and some deletions. Or, you might not notice any changes at all. It depends how viscious I decide to be. I did delete a few of my graphic based ones this evening and still have some more to look through.

From there, I'm going to go category by category and move some around, delete some and most likely even add a few. If I can't get this apartment organized, at least I can get this blog organized!

Going crazy, I swear. Ok, I was already crazy but it's felt like an insane summer. My boys are here with me and we've been trying to keep busy with trips to the library and 1 or 2 of the free movies each week. I've been feeling a bit under the weather with what appear to be never ending allergies. I think I've gone through a box and a half of tissues, at least. If anyone wants to buy me stock, Kleenex might be a good one to buy.

Other than that, I guess I've been feeling a bit low. No particular reason. It just happens sometimes. I've been slowly tackling projects around the apartment, though. Right now, I'm working on totally clearing out my cupboards of foods we won't eat or things I have multiples of. Like, why do I need or even have 3 containers of baking cocoa? If all goes well, I'll be posting two or three bags of food up on freecycle (www.freecycle.org) later on today.

Let's see..what else? Oh! My nephew Dominic was born on Friday. He's in NICU right now, but hopefully won't be too much longer. As a former NICU mommy, I can tell you that he's coming along just fine and was there mostly for preventative reasons.

Oooh...and Klo has asked me to join the Pazzles girls for an upcoming show! I'm super excited and can't wait. It's not til the end of this month though, which is good because I have so much to get done. We have company coming about a week after we get back (the boys are going to stay with my sister, her kids and my grandmother while I'm gone) and I need to kick this apartment into shape.

Guess that's about all happening here. Hopefully I'll be back to updating regularly real soon.

Oh, and if anyone knows a really good Stampin' Up! demonstrator, I'm looking for a new one. I'm finally giving up on the nonsense that the current one puts me through just to get my orders.