Happy Father's Day

To my husband who I love more then anyone. You are the best father there is. Thank you from Stephany, Courtney, Allyson, Erik and Justin & Matt.

To Fred, my step dad, who has always been there for me no matter what. I love you.

Promoted!!!!

My wonderful husband has been promoted to Master Sergeant!! We are very excited and proud of him. He has worked hard to get to this point.

I taught a workshop today in Mountainair, NM on ATC's. They have a flegling group of wonderful artists who are delving into ATC's and wanted a few pointers. They are a wonderful group of people who I think made great cards without my help, but were able to take some tips and hints away today to help them in their endeavor to create. Most of them I think are more digital or painters, so the collage elements were new to them. A few were saying how they didn't think they could do collage but I was able to convince them that it wasn't as hard as they thought. And they created some really neat backgrounds for their cards.

I also showed them some of my favorite "tools" I use to create my cards, now they want me to come back and bring the tools for them to play with one or two at a time. I may do that because it is only an hour drive from Albuquerque and our friends run a restaurant there so it always nice to see them.

I have my surgery next Friday. I was told by the new doctor that I don't have torn tendons, it is a sever case of trigger thumb. Which is good news because it will be a much shorter recovery time. I will still have to do some left handed art to commemorate the surgery.

Dr. Appointment

Well today was an interesting day to say the least. I had the pleasure of experiencing a pelvic ultrasound. The first part went okay, it was the same as having one during pregnancy, then they said okay go in the bathroom and put on the gown. That can never be a good thing to hear. Skipping all the gory details, it became a little unsettling when the lady called her partner over and said "Is that the ovary? It seems kind of close." They then proceeded to discuss my insides like I wasn't there. There must be some kind of rules that say not to talk like that in front of the patient. My mind is just overflowing with all kinds of things. I really do hope the doctor doesn't take very long to get back to me.

Other then that it was a good day. I didn't accomplish much and actually took a nap this afternoon. Every now and then my body just says it needs some extra sleep and I oblige. Luckily Erik went to sleep also so I could really rest.

Tomorrow I am off to the Orthopedic Hand Specialist to see about my thumb. Finally, I hope they schedule surgery because I am really tired of walking around with torn tendons. IT HURTS!!!! Okay enough of that.

Matt (number 2 son, in Army) called today to say he was leaving tomorrow for Ft. Benning, GA to begin Airborne training. He is excited and a little nervous too. I am just proud and worried at the same time. I know he is tired of schools and just wants to begin day to day stuff. I miss him and can't wait for him to finish so he can come home for three weeks. The picture is of him when he got home from Basic Training last fall.

Our little Jada

Well I was another scorcher here in New Mexico. Somewhere in the high 90's, at least we don't have the humidity though. I like the heat but not the humidity. The day was a nice one though, I taught my beading class here on base tonight. I did a crocheted wire and bead bracelet and pendant. The students seemed to like it and most of them finished it. I also finally got over to the Beaded Iris and scheduled some classes for the next few months. I really need to spend some time coming up with some new projects. I have a good following of students so I want to keep them happy. The worst part of new projects is writing the instructions. My least favorite part, it is something I need to work on. I think I will do a separate post tomorrow of all my upcoming classes so anyone local who reads this can come have some fun.

The picture is of Jada, our new little girl. She is an adorable puppy who loves to chew everything. She is pretty cute though. I think she is a keeper.

I think I am getting the hang of this blog deal. Now I just need to figure out how to customize it a bit more. And I need to light a fire under my husband to finish my website so I can have my schedule and workshops online for other to see. Who knows, maybe someone from a fun place will want me to come do a workshop for them. That is my goal, to be a traveling instructor. I can't wait!!

Happy Birthday Justin

Today, June 12th, my oldest son turned 25 years old. Happy Birthday Justin, I love and miss you very much. (He is in the Navy stationed in Italy).

Well after what seems like fate, I have decided to look further into the vending machine art stuff. I am going to submit a piece to Art-o-mat to see if they will put my art into one of their vending machines. It is a really cool program. Here is the link if you want to check it out more.
http://www.artomat.org/home.html

I had my second art session at Hogares today. This week I had the girls. They seemed to really enjoy creating. Next time we are going to do ATC's. I brought my binder with all the ones I have traded for and some of my own that I have kept to show them and they are really excited. I would like to continue with this after the summer is over, it is very rewarding for me. I feel as though I am giving back a little. These kids are really appreciative of every thing I am doing for them.

Well we have an addition to our family. Sunday we got a puppy for our kids. She is so cute though and is so far a really good girl. I guess her name is Jada, at least that is what has stuck so far. Our friends that we got her from were calling her Reba, but I wasn't to fond of that so we decided to come up with something different. It is similar enough that she isn't very confused. She is a 7 week old red Queensland Heeler.I will post some photos of her later on.

98 degrees

And I don't mean the band. It is so hot here today the kids aren't even outside playing. I am staying indoors trying to get some art accomplished. It seems the last few weeks I am just sitting outside looking in the window at someone elses life. I guess that's what happens when you get old. My oldest son, Justin, is back in Italy now. He called this morning to say he is back on the ship. I know he wishes he were still here but is planning on coming home again at Christmas. He and Cindy are hoping to get married then also.

Well I went to the Orthopedic doctor on base to see when I will get my thumb fixed and found out that I have torn the tendon in my thumb. So now I have to go downtown to a hand specialist for the surgery. I will just be glad when it is over because my hand hurts more and more everyday.

Enough for today. I am off to brave the heat and go to the bead store. I need lime green beads to finish a bracelet for a friend. The picture is from the trip to the zoo that Erik and I took on Saturday. I am thinking of using the photo for a Quilt Challenge that Quilting Arts Magazine is having. It is a good issue, I highly recommend it.

Spinning Wheels

Did you ever have a day where you had so many projects to complete that you didn't do anything because you didn't know where to start? Well that is me today. I just can't seem to get going and I need to because of the impending surgery on my right thumb. Once I have the surgery I will be forced to do everything left handed, which should prove interesting. So I am trying to get class samples and round robins all caught up.

I have decided though to do a series of left handed art while I am healing. I will post pics of them as I do them. It should be interesting to see if the pieces become better as time goes by. It will be 6-8 weeks before my hand in back to normal the Dr. says. Well I go tomorrow to find out when the surgery will be.