thunder stormy days blew the snow away while in her chamber she adorns her crown with the gifts of many queens from near and far and just days before she adds yet another candles glow to her birthday cake you know the youngest prince dons new teeth bright and shiny after a lost battle between his dual wheeled steed and a road of concrete

the last time i posted was just a few days i think after max's birthday. 

since then the days have passed with good intentions of posting our latest adventures.

so i set out this evening searching through hoards of uploaded photos bound and determined that before i close my eyes and head for the land of dreams there would be a post here.  the horrid heartburn from 6 pieces of bacon i ate at dinner will be keeping me up all night anyway.....you gotta love what happens to your body as you age. 

this past winter was miserable for many of us, and i really really dislike winter....so it was torture.  after that first big snow i am done and bring on the spring. 

every time we looked out the window there was snow, and finally a break came and the robins returned

the song birds began singing and serenading the sun's arrival each morning, blooms began peeking from the branches of our many flowering trees.  oh-so-glorious spring is back...it is really here and old man winter has moved on......or has it?

march 25th....

into the light of day on march 26th....

the blooms and blossoms, and even the birds are covered in snow, and with no birds singing and serenading the sun to rise the day again feels cold and bitter just like winter....only for a spring time miracle to occur  a few hours later

the birds began to sing of spring and the sun found its way and poof like magic as quickly as it came it left...and never to be seen again, at least for this season.

i live for spring, i wait impatiently throughout all of winter just to smell the blooms of some of my favorite flowering trees and to hear the birds singing and the crickets chirping and the frogs calling out with songs of love to find a mate.  finally.  finally it is coming. 

my dear sweet hubby knowing i had not liked being teased much by mother nature, and having quite the day filled with the spins and wobbles from vertigo surprised me with some of these, until our own bushes could bloom with an endless summer supply

the aroma from these beauties filled my kitchen for days upon days, and i breathed in their perfume every time i walked by because one should alway stop and smell the roses they say. 

for the first time in years i joined a swap, the adorning crowns swap. 

My original idea involved just the most perfect of perfectly shaped wee bottles to be wrapped in vintage quilt in corset style. The wee bottle was to hold just an oh-so-tiny bit of water and a dainty flower.




A very specific message to be sent as to the reason behind a vase on a crown....a message I will reveal on my blog in the future with a crown bearing this particular adornment.



The world apparently suddenly ran out of these bottles and all sources to obtain them. So, after weeks of searching the land over I decided to go with plan B.....

To celebrate that we are all unique, and that being unique makes us beautiful, each in our own special way.


i have received some adornments, and still waiting for others to arrive from the other artists in the swap, and once i have received them all i will design a befitting crown around the pieces.

during this time the first of these sprung up in our backyard

bestowed on me by my daughter, who know how much i delight in these frilly balls of yellow.  who dares call them a weed.  in the days to come our backyard became oh-so-dotted in these flowers. 

to this day they still make up the most delightful bouquets in mini bottles now used as vases here, there, and everywhere in our home.  we let them stay even after the frilly yellow petals have wilted and we wait for the wings of the seeds to grow and then we blow them away and watch them float until we can see them no more.


I caught my youngest, max, sitting out with the furry members of our family.  this seems to be the only way to get a photo of him at this stage of life.  most photos as of late are his hand blocking the camera's lens or the backside of him all in a blur as he runs the opposite way. 

this picture tells a story of just what a gentle giant this baby of mine has become.  ahhh, but he did receive a heaping helping of the goof-ball gene from me, and his daddy's need to go, go, go......

normally his hair is full of curls, almost as many as he had as a baby.   mollie sits next to him, moan-uh on his lap, mia closest to him and mike...the little trouble maker.

we have come to adore mike.  he is so very smart.  as much as we love the chihuahuas, we have found they are short-bus material  (i can say that because most of this family is as well) 

mike has learned very quickly if he wants a bite, or a treat, he must mind his manners and sit pretty.....

here mike does just what he knows he must to get a bit of cheese from steph.  his arms up in anticipation of her dropping the morsel toward his mouth.

when he is just flat out begging, his wee wittle arms are down at his sides and his eye become the most puppy doggiest of puppy dog eyes you have ever seen. 

this guy here in the tree made noise almost for 3 days straight.  max scouted his location and snapped a photo of him.

after several days of drilling on various surrounding trees he has flewn the coop and we have not heard him since. 

on the 13th of this month max spent a couple of hours with a buddy jumping bikes off a ramp, and on his way home....just like his first major bike accident,  he had a major crash.  it was horrifying to see him as he walked in the door.  unable to close his mouth, thankfully after several hours of waiting in a way overcrowded e.r. we found that his jaw was not broken.  his lips covered in toothdust from several shattered teeth.  confused, bleeding, and in pain. 

2 days in a dentist chair.  lots of pain shots.  a root canal.  bonded teeth.  a temporary crown, the permanent to be installed here in a couple of weeks.  

teeth give this arty girl the major heebies, so no before photos taken, except for this one mid-procedure by max using his ipod.

that is the drill inside max's tooth during the root canal.  with fingers crossed we are hoping the temporary crown stays put for now until his forever and ever one arrives from the maker of such toothy things. 



during all of this time i expressed some emotional frustration to a friends or so on fb about my vertigo and before i knew it a wonderful friend hooked me up with an arty girl just like me and we have since become friends, and at times the shoulder to lean on during some rough times.  we both have nearly the identical symptoms and spinnies.

  this new found friend gave me the courage to once again seek medical help. 

and that i did.

 i found a wonderful professor and doc with washington university med center.  tests were ordered.

 on the 12th i went for an mri of the brain.  i did not get an mri of the brain. 

once caged up and slid into the tube of places beyond anything one would refer to as hell, i waved that i needed out.... and now. 

the 15th i was suppose to go to the center for dizziness and balance testing for tests, otherwise known as sadistic torture, but that day was max's second day in the dentist chair, and there was no way to be in 2 places at once.

so, once i adjust my big girl panties i need to see about rescheduling the mri, in the most totally sedated of ways, and i need to reschedule my dizzy tests.   thankfully i won't need to study for them.  ok that last sentence seemed funnier in my head.

on the 22nd of this month i was given a gift.  i got to add another candle to the cake.....

i got to turn 46.

46 is no where near as horrid as what i had imagined it would be when i was 16, 26, or 36. 

i am becoming stronger, and braver.  i am growing and learning.   i am forgiving.   i am loved.  

i have a cabinet filled with many lotions and potions made to zap that zit and keep my crow toe from becoming a full on crows foot. 

my peri-menopausal enhanced pms makes me a bit crazy at times....but i am managing with minimal casualties at the hands of my crazies. 

i am cold....then hot....an typical night seems to go a lot like this.....

lay in bed not able to to fall asleep....and lay in bed...and lay in bed

just as i am dozing i start to feel like i am getting warm

open the window

doze

get up turn on the fan to setting 1 as i feel i am getting warmer

doze

wake up feeling like i am on fire turn the fan to setting 3...which could blow the green off the grass mind you....

grab the mini fan from the bathroom and set it on the bedside table

doze

wake up feeling much better but unable to blink because the fans have dried out my eyeballs
and unable to swallow because my tongue and throat have become more parched the driest of all deserts. 

go get a drink of water and splash some on face..

crawl back in bed, realize i meant to turn the fan back down to 1

get back up turn the fan down to 1

crawl back in bed put blanket on, leaving the feet sticking out so i can breathe...don't ask why i can't even figure that one out myself

doze

wake up shivering, turn the fan off , shut the window

crawl back in bed, cover feet even though i may suffocate and shiver

doze

wake up to blaring alarm and wake boys and hubby up

weeble back to bed and fall asleep only to be awaken a few times to give the secret location of the days needed items. 


i love being 46 so far.  seems to be going alot like 45 just as i assumed it would. 

thank goodness we are no longer handed the standard uniform that our grandmothers were at this age..... the nearly nasty see through oh-so-worn house dress with the used hanky to shove up a sleeve and the standard grand-motherly hair do.  orthopedic shoes and white socks. 

i refuse to grow old or act my age.    if only i had the perfectly perky boobs i had as a teenager...kinda miss those. 


on a serious note, we had some of the most awful storms come through our area.   i have seen the devastation on t.v. caused by a tornado, but i never realized how much you don't feel it until you see it close up and in person.   my heart, thoughts and prayers go to those whose lives were literally turned upside down  and scattered by what they have called the 'good friday storms' in the news. 

my hubby worked overtime on the day after and told me he wanted to take us by to really see the damage.  he drove on the highway that was still covered in debris.  you really just can not comprehend the enormity no matter how large of a t.v. you have. 

i do though love to watch the weather change, most of the time,  and the endless array of patterns and designs and shapes of the clouds fascinate me.

 the first official rainbow of the season, barely there....

 the clouds almost look like mighty beasts engaging in battle....

 the cloud looked just like a heart, by the time i was able to grab my camera, not so much.....

 that kind of browny yellowy color in the 3 pictured above was not the sun, many of us in our area noticed the very scary strange color to the sky and we never heard what caused this.  i am use to the green sky seen when there seems to be a threat of a tornado....but never in all my years have i seen anything like this. 

and now with this set of storms passed the sky blushes with  the most wonderful shade of pink....as if embarrassed it caused such a ruckus with its noisy outburst. 

oops... i almost forgot a peek at some of what i have been doing in the studio when not working on the yard

 wooden bangles covered in one tie dyed length of fabric that is fashioned into a fabric rose.  had to keep a couple for me...these will be properly photographed and offered up for sale on our etsy shop.

wooden birdies stripped of their wings and painted in ombre fashion.  i am thinking of painting human like eyes and adding a few feathers to their heads....still thinking

one for me, and one to sell.  black and white with just a pop of color!  once i have taken some etsy worthy photos one of these will be up for sale as well on our etsy shop.

it is now nearing 4:30 and i have an hour before the troops must be informed it is time to get up and get going, so i will save the rest for another time, in the near future.  

much love to you all

nighty nighty....