's' is for sophie

a gift for sam's friend sophie for her birthday.
vintage ephemera, german scrap and a large flatback glass marble were used to create this
initial charm. after being artfully soldered it was dangled from a leather cord.

happy birthday sophie!

getting healthier day by day

last friday was a follow up visit to see how things are going
on the thyroid meds.
the only change i have noticed is i now
fall asleep at a near normal time
and i sleep. all night. i mean i sleep. i am usually
out within mere single digit minutes.
i have not slept like this
since before babies.

since i am now able to sleep, i feel a bit more energetic, and i am waking up on my own earlier and earlier. other than that i have not experienced profound changes that are worth writing about.

my first question for the doctor: if i have been symptomatic for 12 years, soon after the birth of my youngest who just turned 13, and my blood work has been coming back 'normal' all these years, how are we going to know i am really back to a normal. i have been sub-clinical all these years i was told.

thankfully she said she would go by how i felt first, my bloodwork second.

just got my new presciption in the mail today along with my results. i am going up from 60mg to 90. my bloodwork shows i am just in the normal limits on my free t4, well in the norm of my t3 free and my tsh is just within norms. not sure what all of these numbers mean at this moment, will research those later.

i look forward to what the next 6 -8 weeks brings with this new level of meds. i am feeling better everyday, the changes are eensy on a weekly basis, but looking back from where i was 3 months ago i am so grateful. finally.

happy earth day, happy birthday

happy earth day to all

happy 44th birthday to me

my newest creation

will be making a near twin to be sold on etsy
tomorrow.
this is a combination
of art jasper, rutilated quartz, the most beautiful grey pearls, and sterling silver wire, and sterling silver chain.

this is the first piece that i have done that is completely wire wrapped. i started on it yesterday in the morning and had it completed in just a couple of hours. just in time to wear on a test drive to my daughters doctor appointment.

one bad cookie

as a reward for my hubby who as of today is back working overtime
i thought i would bake him up a batch of my special recipe
triple chocolate chip cookies.
multi tasking
while adding the ingredients
to these scrumptious treats
i did not realize the 1/4 cup measure-r had been replaced
with a 1/2 cup. i added twice the
sugar than what is required.
the result - one bad batch of cookies.

realizing my culinary mishap, i adjusted and wah-laaaa....

i am told they taste heavenly, but having taste tested too much dough i have no desire to try them out myself.

i am off to search the kitchen for something salty to counter-act the overdose of sugar running rampant through my system.

to make these sweet treats

use the nestle toll house recipe but replace the semi-sweet chips

with a mixture of nestle chocolate chunks, ghirardelli dark chocolate chips and

ghirardelli white chocolate chips.

i use 2 1/2 - 3 cups of the chip mixture.

for some reason there is a big difference in taste in the nestle semi sweet chunks versus the chips, ghirardelli white chocolate taste so much better than nestle, and being a connoisseur

of dark chocolate, ghirardelli is one of the best.

these are a favorite of my kids, hubby, and the hubby's co-workers.

decorations in full view, treat filled plastic eggs hidden.......

sweet treats

just add: 1/2 c water, dye tablets, 3 tbs vinegar, 5 creative souls, 10 artful hands

eggs are not all that took on psychedelic appearance

the collective work of 5 rather talented artists.......

may you know peace, today and always

there is no place like a pile of hot wheels

max went looking for 1 particular hot wheel. i often wonder how he remembers what he even has. but out of thousands, uhhh millions, of beads i have i can pretty much remember each and every one.
this is just the partial contents of 1 tub.
he has 5, at least at last count.

moan-uh found the 1 of 2 spots of carpet in the middle and slept there.
anything new in the house she seems to think she gets first dibs to sleep in, on, or around it. anything over a day or 2 and she considers used and unworthy of her lounging in, on, or around.

it is apparently mating season for many critters, cats among them and even though moan-uh was fixed by the group that rescued her, she seems to have some slight memory that there is something she needs to be doing at this time of year....outside. this seems to be one of her tactics, she pretends to be asleep, notice her eyes are open, and as soon as a door open she is on her way out.

every year about this time and during the fall, we play keep the cat in the house. this past fall she snuck out without any of us knowing. she was gone for 2 weeks during a bad wet and cold spell. we thought we had lost her forever.

i am so tempted to duct tape her to the floor, a wall, the ceiling until mating season is over........just kidding.........kind of.

maybe our last bonfire of the season

with the temperature taking a step backwards from spring to winter max decided we needed to make the best of the circumstances and do one of his favorite things. so we did.

max spent the afternoon gathering firewood from the back yard, gathering chairs and placing them just so around the antique metal tub we use for our mini bonfires, then he placed a call to his dad at work asking on the way home to pick up the ingredients needed for the perfect bonfire dessert.

gathered around our mini bonfire trying to keep warm, toasting marshmallows, good conversation, sticky fingers, the smell of burning wood and a chilly winter night mixed to perfection that stayed with us until the next morning like an expensive perfume.

it has been a long time

so where did the time go. i can not believe i again let this much time pass between postings. i have always felt my blog was a guilty pleasure instead of a necessity. i want to change my thoughts on this. i am changing my thoughts on this.


just a few quick clips of the last couple of months:february 6th the hubby and i went for check ups...with the exception of his gall bladder he came out with flying colors! whew!

my heart murmur is no longer. my iron level is finally 1 point within the normal range. i have been severely anemic for 6 years. it was so bad that at one point the lab tech called my doctor at 2:30 in the morning at home because he figured i was in the hospital in a coma. she had him run the test 3 more times to make sure. they were amazed i was able to walk in to the office on my own. 6 years out from my dvt, and pulmonary embolism i am off the blood thinners and for the first time in 6 years i no longer have cankles, but i now have girlie ankles again and i am hoping to buy some skirts and dresses to show them off!


february 9 we got a call from the doctor that there was a problem with some of my bloodwork and i needed to come back
in to see the doctor. the next 12 hours were intense to say the least. i have gone from having bouts of hypoglycemia to being insulin resistant. i don't eat enough, no appetite.....i have not had one in ten years, it is a bizarre and possibly permanent side affect from a short period of time i was on paxil. i have been put on metformin (glucaphage) and it has been awful. what that stuff does to your stomach should be considered torture! but it is getting better. i also was finally diagnosed with p.c.o.s. (poly cystic ovary syndrome) something i tried to talk with my ob-gyn about 7ish years ago and he just told me to lose weight.

finally after being symptomatic for 12 + years and having test after test to check for thyroid disease and time after time it came back
negative, finally my blood work matches my symptoms and i have been put on armour for under active thyroid! the doctor says it takes at least 6 weeks to get into your system, and it has been about 7 or 8 and i am not feeling any different yet. she says i will feel better in ways that i did not even know all of this time i felt bad. i know how many ways i have not felt well since the birth of max thirteen years ago. no one would listen to me. they just said i was tired from having 3 little ones. duh.... my thyroid story is a very lengthy one. years of going from doctor to doctor....

i have lost almost all of the hearing in my right ear. soon i will be seeing the audiologist, get my hearing aids adjusted, purchase a fm system to help me hear during noisy situations better, and to get a pillow shaker alarm. i have slept through 3 alarms on many occasions.
the good in all of this is that i can silence the world at bedtime by rolling over and laying my good ear on the pillow. instant silence. the bad is that my ears ring so loud at times it is maddening, and can make my head feel like it is vibrating. one of our alarms has a sound machine. the last few nights i have listened to summer nights. chirping crickets, singing frogs. very relaxing. the rain forrest is a good one too. the ocean and rain just make me have to pee. there are a couple of other sounds but since i can not remember what they are they must not be that good.


february 13, friday, max, our child on overdrive, who leaps tall buildings and all of those things that make a mom a nervous wreck turned 13. not a superstitious person normally....but the hubby and i were holding our breath, hoping we would make it through this day with him in once piece. max is always doing. he is busy, busy, busy. max is now a good 2 - 3 inches, probably 3 inches taller, than i am. this has happened almost overnight. no kidding. i keep thinking he is standing on his tip toes. the other day he came to me to have me get something out of his eye. that is when it hit me how tall he was. either i was going to have to stand on a chair or he was going to have to sit down. i felt as though i was suddenly in a jack and the beanstalk story. we have found that due to past ear infections that max now has a mild hearing impairment. in 3 months he gets checked again and if the results are not any better then we discuss hearing aids.


sam has joined the track team. he started out sprinting, but now is doing shot put and discus. i will have to sneak a photo of him in track team garb.....quite the handsome guy he is, you should see this kid in his dress clothes for choir. handsome does not even describe him. i am amazed to watch all of the changes he is going through. he and i have spent alot of time talking, finally. i love it. he has alot to say and enjoy talking to him. he is a very unique individual and i love it!

steph is busy preparing for graduation. my first baby is almost out of school. it still feels so weird. i don't feel like someone who has 3 teenagers. some days i feel like one myself. she can not wait for it to be over, but is finding it is a little scary to be making some of her own decisions. after all of these years being told what to do and when to do it now it is all up to her. i see alot of myself in her and worry, but i know she will land on her feet no problem. she has got and umph about her i did not at that age, she just needs to realize it herself.

watching these changes in the kids has been so facinating. they are all becoming there own people. all three of them so different, and i love and embrace those differences in them. how lucky am i to be a part of these lives. i am holding on to the present, remembering the past and yet running toward the future anxious to see what lies ahead around the next turn.

bill and i have started dating again. one day after he came home from work and we ran here, there, and everywhere and the kids all had a few minutes with him while we were trying to take a few minutes with each other, making dinner, making sure homework is done....every time i tried to start a conversation with my husband we were interrupted, i realized the chaos had to stop. i wanted time alone with my husband. i was tired of sharing. half the time he would end up falling asleep during a conversation as we were getting ready to go to sleep. what if by the time the kids had grown and left the house we had become total strangers. we love each other deeply, but we were not getting a chance to connect to each other. we did not even realize we were not connecting with each other, we were too busy, until oprah's best life ever week. that is when i told him we needed to date again.

dating is wonderful. at first we talked about the kids, ( yikes, what if we don't have other things to talk about anymore) but by the middle of the first night out we found it was like riding a bike. you just start peddling again. it has been wonderful. we tried at first to set a date night, but found it does not always work out. now if one of us has had one of those days, we just go. we have found a wonderful coffee house. we have never quite 'got' the whole starbucks thing. been there a few times. ordered the stuff we could pronounce. we decided to get brave and try new things at this new place. so dessert and a coffee and wonderful conversation. we have gone on tuesday the last couple of times and it is open mic night. heard some wonderful singers there. a couple blew us away. one guy, maybe in his late 20's early 30's, simon cowell would have torn apart, it was awful, but bill and i stayed for his whole set. no one payed attention to him, some people walked out, we stayed and watched. the waitress asked if we really wanted to stay and listen since she is the one who got us to come to the back room in the first place. i told her that he is someones baby. if it was my son up there i would hope someone would show him compassion. it takes a lot of guts to get up and do that. i do have to say my ears were screaming for mercy by the time we left though.

we now have discovered how much we like talking to each other and doing new things together. and playing a bit of smooshy face in the driveway, ending our date just as we did 20+ years ago aint bad either!

the birds and puppies are good. our cat is now nuts. we have had her for almost 5 years. she was always a snooty thing. typical cat. for the last couple of months she has been a nut. running through the house and making some of the weirdest noises. she loves to play now and has developed a tasted for people food. the other day i noticed one pupil was smaller than the other, and we have caught it a few more times. we have decided she is possessed or has a brain tumor. i am going for possessed at this time.

well, i have typed more than what most would care to read and my butt hurts from sitting here so long. while i have been typing away my kids have all come home from school, another half day.....why don't they just combine some of these half days and make then whole ones? we have talked about their day. talked about mine. now i am off to make my special secret recipe chocolate chip cookies for the hubby to take into work tomorrow, and the cat harfed up a matted mess of a hairball all over the wires to my printer that quit working, so i guess i get to gag and clean up that mess and then try to reinstall the software for the printer. have to cross my fingers and hope it works, don't think the warranty covers death of a printer by means of harfed up hairballs.

i will be back......soon