Religious Icons - Second Piece

This is my newest work "ohm" - right here it has about 28 hours of beading in it. The beads are all size 11 seed beads, with an occasional size 15 in to fill in the spots that an 11 won't fit. I am working on a different background than I have on a couple of my other pieces - almost a basketweave texture. Working with the silver lined gold beads is a little hard on the eyes because they reflect so much light. I hope the finished affect is what I would like it to be. I do like the way that the reds have blended together in the piece.

The second picture has about 38 hours of beading in it - the background is going to take a long time. But that's about all I have to do is bead right?

I have the background of my next piece in Religious Icons which is a Star of David. I have it cut out and ready to start beading , I need to think about what colours I want it. And I am still researching what kind of a cross to use: Celtic Cross, Orthodox, Coptic? So many choices, and all so beautiful in their own way.

It really happened!!!

Check it out......(hey, I have to blow my own horn, here!!)

Bead and Button February Your Work Gallery

Religious Icons Part 3

Finished!! Now that didn't take to long did it?

Religious Icons Part 2

Work on "Allah" has been progressing nicely. Thank you to Dr. AlQaisi for helping me with the placement and making certain it says what it should say. I am filling in the background at this time with a soft blue and tiny pearls. I thought that I would do larger circles, but didn't really care for the look of it, so I have opted for the smaller circles.

My next piece is going to be "Ohm" - Dr. Sunil Rao is helping me with this one. I would like rich, vibrant colours in this piece - like the colours I have seen in saris worn at events over the years. Rich reds with a gold background, I believe.

Looks like I have to place another order with Charlene Booth's on-line bead store for more seed beads!

Both Fadi and Sunil are doctors and Chief Medical Residents where I work. The other two Chief Medical residents in the program are Drs. Cristina Segovia-Ramachandran and Joao Cavalcante. All have finished medical school and their internal medicine residency. They have passed their board certification exams and Fadi, Sunil and Joao will be starting Cardiology fellowships in July 2007. Cristina will be working as a hospitalist for a year prior to starting her fellowship. I am very fortunate to have had the opportunity to work with them. Cristina is originally from Peru, Fadi from Jordan, Joao from Brasil and Sunil was raised in India.

Religious Icons

Part one in a new series of bead embroidery pieces is "Allah" - the word for God in Islam. My thanks to Dr. Shaneela Malik for finding me an image that I could use, and to Drs. Lina Yassine and Fadi AlQaisi for helping me make certain that it's spelled correctly. I'm filling in the letters at this point.

Following this, I will have a cross, star of David and Ohm.

Who made the focal bead?? Help!

I think that this focal bead was part of our Bead Cruise gift last year, but I don't know for certain. I need help in identifying the artist so that credit can be given correctly.

p.s. Regarding the holidays....

....at 4:23 on November 3, 2007, I heard my first holiday song on the radio. This radio station is insane when it comes to holiday music - I believe starting Thanksgiving, it plays 24 hour holiday music The insane station!!

Just chop off my head and feed it to me for Thanksgiving. I will have to remember to take this one off my car radio presets.

The newest member of the Loomatics

Welcome to our newest member of the "Loomatics", the beading group that meets in Dearborn Heights once a month. Proud mama is Tamaya - who for some reason won't let Marcelle pick up a needle for at least a couple of years.

Congratulations to the proud parents!!

The Mooses have been Framed

Peterborough Petroglyphs - Ontario, Canada - finished

This is a good size piece - the beaded area is 8.5 by 7.5 inches. I fused some interfacing on a picture from a t-shirt that I never wore. I loved the picture and didn't want to let it go. I used shades pale blue in the sky and tried to keep a circle pattern in it. On the rock surface were many rock carvings but they would have been lost in the beadwork, so I took a couple to enlarge so they could be seen. This will be framed to hang in the house.

Serengeti

An update on my largest bead embroidery piece.

Very, Very Sad.

I stopped at a store on the way home from work.

They were starting to put out their Christmas displays and merchandise.

I enjoy the holiday season as much as the rest of the world, but I don't want to see Christmas (aka "Holiday" to be politically correct) decorations in early September. I don't want to see them in September at all.

Sad. So sad. It makes me not want to shop at all.

(Except that I did get a nice pair of shoes in the store next door.)

Merry Freakin' Christmas!

Color in front of my face

It's a grey Sunday morning as I sit in a suburb of Detroit. I was just watching the yellow finches out the window chowing down on the seeds in the sunflowers (having their breakfast) and I saw a beautiful orange bird. I looked it up in my bird book and it's a Baltimore Oriole - what it is doing so far west, I don't know. I think that Ernesto might have blown it off it's tracks and it's now hiding in our trumpet vine plant. That's cool - the plant is orange and green, the bird is orange and black. It reminded me of a post that I saw on Robin Atkins blog (http://beadlust.blogspot.com) the other day about color templates/palettes in pictures. I took a picture of the trumpet vine the other day, and now need to get a close-up of the flower to see if I can re-create the same colors in a piece that I have in the back of my head. What colors exactly are in the flower and how many shades of green turning to black do I have to work with.

I was so intrigued by what I read on Robin's blog, that I ordered Margie Deeb's book "The Beader's Guide to Color " right away. http://www.margiedeeb.com/html/product.php?productid=168&type=2

Here's another picture of the same trumpet vine - taken this morning. I went through the picture and pulled the colors that you see on the left side of the picture. When I look at the vine from my bedroom window, I see more orange in the flower than I do the pink, which is interesting, because in a close-up the pink is the more dominant color.

Now, if that oriole would just come back so I could take his picture.....

Peterborough Petroglyphs - Ontario, Canada

I've been working on this piece since just before vacation. It's a t-shirt that I bought in 2004 from the Peterborough Petrogylphs. I never wore the shirt, but one day decided that it would be cool as a beaded piece. I cut out the shirt, and ironed fusible interfacing to the back for stability. Using mostly size 11 seed beads, I am doing mostly circles for adding texture to the piece. There are a few places were I have been working in 15 seed beads to get the detail of the man in the sky in the center and I'll add a few more to get the details of the carvings in the stone. I have enlarged them (as you can see in the pencil in the lower portion of the piece). I have three colors of blue for the sky, and an assortment of greens for the forest.

Newest Piece of Insanity

Ahhhh, a most relaxing week was spent in West Branch, Michigan. Do a search, not a whole lot there in the thriving metropolis. We stayed at a campground about 5 miles from "town" (But surely it's a town, it has at least 5 traffic lights now, a Home Depot, Tractor Supply Company, outlet mall and a Walmart) - with a view of the lake from our camper door. The dogs didn't mind their jail, which was appreciated. The temperatures hovered around the mid-ninties for most of the week - one day of rain.

I actually came back with a tan - and darker than the Egyptian in our program (thank you Dr. Youssef for putting up with my silliness). Gotta keep those dermatologists in business. (Hmmmm, does this piece need another scarab in it???)

But, I started on the above piece. I'll leave it for now for you to discover the secrets of the piece and what it says to you. I know what it says to me.

It says "It was too freaking* hot - like Africa." Stayed tuned for more announcements.

*Edited because I believe that the whole world doesn't need to know that I have a serious case of potty mouth.

Intermoosal Relations - Finished

Last in a three part series - "What the World needs now, Intermoosal Relations" - finished it about 20 minutes ago. I really, really enjoy bead embroidery. I've learned a little about color, shading and, I guess, myself. In this piece, I added a "Screamz" head by Audrey Sunburn and a glass Buddha that has been in my collection for several years. I used sequins that I purchased from Jeanette Cook during my visit to Bead and Button show in June 2006.

My next piece - I am still debating what it will be. I have ideas of this piece, using religious symbols - Allah, a cross, Star of David and other religious icons, but I don't want to offend anyone with my religious ignorance. I have asked a couple of persons at work their opinions about it - gotten some advice, but still need to work out the kinks in what I would like to do.

Newest Moose Piece

"What the world needs now, Intermoosal relations"!

Thanks to Red Ventling for the great name!

I really, really need to get a life, eh?

Bead embroidered cuff

The bead embroidery on this cuff is made with size 15 seed beads. They are small. I wore this in Milwaukee this year.

Loomatics! Or would that be Bead-o-holics?

From left to right: Diana, Tamaya, Sharon, Linda and Liz

What started out as a loom study group has turned into a group of Loomatics!! We are going on three years (oh, geesh, is it four?) of meeting one Friday a month in Dearborn Heights. At recent meetings, we have worked on our quilt squares, bead crochet, bead embroidery, bracelets, necklaces, and completed projects that were begun in Bead Daze classes.

Because we meet in homes, it's hard to have more than 5-6 people around the dining room table at one time, so the group is a small one. We bead, laugh, cry, watch the dog perform tricks for us, and get to know each other pretty well.

Next time you look through your guild member directory, why not call or email some of the members in your area and see if they are willing to meet? Mention it to people that you see at the meetings – open your home and your bead box to new friends. Find out if your local library has a public room that you can use for a small fee (and everyone will share in this cost) or for free. We have the same love of beads holding us all together.

My husband loves it when the group is going to meet because he knows that I will stop beading long enough to clean the house!

Another dog picture

Casie will now be happy that her picture is up.

New pictures

Only because I haven't posted dog pictures in a long time

This was in a marketplace in Korea - it actually smelled wonderful!!

And this is in my back garden - six year old bamboo plants.

Finished!!!

But what will I do next????

This was started on April 10th, finished on May 25, 2006.

I worked approximately 150 hours on this, mostly in the evenings (while listening to movies) and on weekends.

Stop all the clocks....

W. H. Auden

Since I first heard this in the movie "Four Weddings and a Funeral", it has been a favorite piece of poetry.

Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone,
Prevent the dog from barking with a juicy bone,
Silence the pianos and with muffled drum
Bring out the coffin, let the mourners come.

Let aeroplanes circle moaning overhead
Scribbling on the sky the message He Is Dead.
Put crepe bows round the white necks of public doves,
Let the traffic policemen wear black cotton gloves.

He was my North, my South, my East and West.
My working week and my Sunday rest,
My noon, my midnight, my talk, my song;
I thought that love would last forever; I was wrong.

The stars are not wanted now: put out every one;
Pack up the moon and dismantle the sun;
Pour away the ocean and sweep up the wood;
For nothing now can ever come to any good.

Meeting of the buzzards

Airport Annie made a short pit stop in Michigan - actually, only at the airport. We had long enough to get her out of the secured area, back in line for another boarding pass and then back through security. But for a Michigan buzzard and an Oregon buzzard, we couldn't be ships that pass through the night. It was well worth getting up early on a Sunday.

She's a sweetheart!!!

Mayan God - progress picture #2

They found something!!

I had an MRI of my knee on May 4th - not very exciting of a test. Basically you lay on a skinny table, your leg is immobilized and they shove you in a tube. I tried to take a little nap and thought to myself "Star Wars noise", "Star Wars noise", "Star Wars noise", ooops, "Star Trek noise".

Thrills and excitement. About the time that I said "I wonder how much longer?", they pulled me out of the tube.

But the best part, and this really makes me wonder how much of a sick puppy I really am, is that they found problems!!! I have:

1. Degenerative type tear of the lateral meniscus with large associated meniscal cyst (not a Baker's cyst)
2. Blunting of the body of the medial meniscus with a tear of the free edge
3. Patellofemoral osteoarthrosis

This could be a new injury or it could be a recurring problem from an old injury. And it doesn't really matter. I was just worried that nothing would be found, like what happened in 1999. My appointment with Orthopedics is on Monday, May 22.

Why I want to loose weight

I don't want to be the largest American on a tour bus in Korea again. And I was. I hope that I am smaller than I was in 1999.

Am I fishing for complements? Not really. I want visual reminders of where I came from and where I am heading. And especially, where I don't want to go back to.

Looking back I wish that I had weighed myself before going to Korea. Because that is truely the highest I weighed in my life.

Pink Flamingos

Dear Bev:

Well, I finished your piece last night and I wanted to tell you a little story. I knew that I was going to bead embroider you a flamingo - I figured that out as soon as I knew that we were going to swap. But I couldn't find a picture of a flamingo that I really liked.

So I asked Kat if her daughter, Jesscera, could draw me a picture of a flamingo. Within a day or two (actually, it was April 21), I received this great picture that was just what I wanted!

I've combined the two pictures on the attachment, so that you can see the inspiration and the result.

My only request is that in your will, would you have your family send this piece to Kat for her daughter?

I really enjoyed doing this for you. And since the swap isn't due until mid-June, I have lots of time to get it in the mail to you.

p.s. Bev - ask Marcie if the pink beads look familiar. They should, she had them in with my swap bracelet that I received on the cruise.

Mayan God - progress picture

Well, you can see what I have been doing in my spare time. Laundry? Housework? Walking the dogs? This is extremely enjoyable, and very relaxing. I like having fun with these pieces!!!!

When did vehicle turn signals become optional equipment?

Gods, this burns my butt! Why don't people use the turn signals anymore? And from what I saw this morning, it's men - usually in big-ass trucks or SUV's*. Oh, is a turn signal too girly for you to use? Or can't you hold the "Big Gulp" from 7-11, steer, talk on your cell phone and flip me off while using your turn signal? Of course that's it - men truly can't do more than one thing at a time. And don't get me started on the "Big men in big trucks equals a tiny penis" theory. I haven't done research, but it does appear to be true when I mention it. At least, that's what I assume when I tell men my theory. They haven't shown me anything to indicate that it's wrong......

And when did speed limits become a suggestion rather than the law? I don't drive super fast because I am never going someplace that I really am that much of a hurry to get to, but I drive 5-7 miles over the speed limit most of the time (mostly to keep up with traffic). But these monster trucks come flying up on me and zip around me like I wasn't even moving.

When did defensive driving because offensive driving?

* This was from my own survey from driving in yesterday morning and today. Men don't buy trucks with turn signals any more. It's sad - the passing of an era.

Stalled but not giving up.

I finished it!! The "Phases of the Moose" is completed. And I love it!! This piece measures 7.5 x 8 inches and weighs about 1/3 of a pound. I finished it while I was on my Bead Cruise - which I just added to my blog.
My next piece is even larger! I worked on it several hours while waiting for my flight in Houston after the cruise. I wasn't certain if it was Incan, Mayan or Aztec in design when a woman asked me (who was also happy to see that "young" people still do handwork. I was just happy to be called "young"). A gentleman on the airplane told me it was Mayan. I might have to do some search for verification, but it sounded good to me.

Bead Cruise!!!

If you like cruising the high seas and you like beads; then perhaps the vacation of your dreams might be a BEAD CRUISE. I just returned from a 5 day/4 night cruise from Galveston, TX to Cozumel, Mexico on a cruise ship. Classes were arranged and booked with instructors such as Dona Anderson, Judith Bertoglio-Giffin, Beverly Herman and Heather Powers.

Classes ranged from 2 hour open beading sessions with informal instruction on bead crochet to a full day of beading classes. Every participant received a bag full of gifts from the different sponsors, including a jewelry folio from Bead Girl Bags, lampwork bead from Lori Greenberg, beaded bottle kit from Foxden Designs, and much, much more.

I thoroughly enjoyed my first cruise – and with the added thrill of hanging out with about 45 beaders, adult cocktails on ship, a bead vendor on-board and a stop in Mexico? Does a vacation break get any better? I think not!

Our first evening on the ship was spent with dinner in the main dining room and our tables were arranged together. We could talk with beaders that we had only met “on-line” or were just meeting for the first time. There was open beading that evening, with door prizes, a bracelet swap and snacks available.

The next day was our full day class, and I was lucky to be in Dona Anderson’s “Marrakesh” bracelet class – a herringbone pattern with beaded dangles on it – it will be stunning when I finish it.

The highlight of the trip for me was the full day that we had docked in Cozumel. I joined up with two women that I met during the open beading sessions (one was a woman that I met in Milwaukee during the Bead and Button Show 2004) and we explored the town! When you walk into a jewelry show and the clerks ask you if you would like a margarita while shopping, that is civilization (I do know that the goal is to get you a little intoxicated so that you make decisions that you would never make at home)!

This was a fun cruise; the people that I met were wonderful, including my roommate Sue, from Vermont who I had never met before; the food was great and it was just a relaxing time. I am waiting for the details for next year’s cruise as I hope to be able to attend the 2nd Annual Bead Cruise!!

Singles Ad - pre Internet dating

Everyone likes to read about a singles ad story that actually worked and that is how Alan and I met. During the winter of 1993, we both placed ads in a small publication called “Less than a 10.”

My ad was as follows:
Finally the nerve for this! But how do I start? I’m 34, blue eyes, curly hair, love traveling, Bogart movies, cycling, flowers, camping, flea and antique markets. I’m searching for a man to be happy with, to build a relationship with and to grow old with. Is this what you would like?

Alan’s ad read:
NMWM, 5’11”, 210lbs, smoker, brown hair, brown eyes, average looking, non-religious, short beard, employed, 32 years old. I’m looking for a meaningful relationship with a woman between 30 and 40 years old who loves children. Only sincere replies, please. My hobbies include fishing, camping, movies, watching sports. Also am a cat lover. Photo is unimportant, but phone number is desirable.

And the funny thing is that we answered each others ad with a follow-up letter. And we called each other. Our first date was in a Mexican resturant which I decided on. I wasn't going to marry someone who only wanted American food for the rest of eternity - I love ethnic foods - India, Arabic, Thai, Mexican, German, the whole lot. We met in the resturant at 7:00 and they asked us to leave about midnight - after they vaccuumed around us and dishes were done. And Alan (who started out in my life as bachelor #4) ended up as man #1 which is the important part, nicht wahr?

We were married on the first Sunday in May in 1995 - I want to keep our anniversary as the first Sunday in May because then you will never work on your anniversary (which is a very good thing)

The story of Buzzards

Ah, the story about the buzzards. We certainly have been around the block several times, haven't we girls (or should that be ladies)? Many of us started on an internet group at BeadTalk - which I occasionally still post at. Then many of us moved on to a Yahoo group called "For Beadin_Desires." I believe that it had to do with jokes that weren't related to why we were supposed to post at BeadTalk. That always confused me that jokes weren't bead related, but prayer requests were. But, I digress.

Due to circumstances beyond our control and angry emails back and forth, we formed another group of Bitchen Biker Turkey Buzzard Beadin Babes. And many of the core group remain to this day. We have some great nicknames which are not dubbings (this is important for some reason. These are bequeaths of royalty. And some need some work. Very different, very regal, very confusing.

Crystal - Countess Crystal, Gazing Crystal Seer of the ForBeadin realm

Audrey - Lady Audrey, Nahani Warrior Woman Crone of the Wolf Pack in the Snow belt of the ForBeadin realm

Liz - Baronessa Alces Alces, Wild Realm of the North Urban Population area of the ForBeadin realm

Aim - Goddess of the Starseekers of the ForBeadin realm

Nikia - Queen of the Cosmos (a small parsonage near the Southwest border of the realm) of the ForBeadin realm

Annie - Duchess of the Western Realm and Goddess of Family and Peace of the ForBeadin realm

Sharon - Warrior of Wire and Youthful Crone of Copper of the ForBeadin realm

Kat - Baronessa Midnight Kat of the ForBeadin realm

Sharon - Multi-named/personality(?) Bar Belly Dancin' Ileea Karima from a duchy north of the border of the ForBeadin Realm

The one for Miki, which is sad because Miki passed away the spring of 2005 Miki - Her MOST Royal Highness, Queen of the World, and Empress of the Beads who doesn't do company cleaning any longer of the ForBeadin realm

These women/girls/ladies are all considered my friends, even though I haven't met all of them. I believe it's like the connection with Kevin Bacon - we have all met someone who knows someone who has met the others. Annie, Bev, Debb and Gene, Kerry, Ava, Kat, Sharon (both of you), Barb, Annette, Audrey, Crystal, Nikia - we are the Turkey Buzzard Beading babes - and I love each of you!!

It's my birthday!

And getting old sucks. Although the alternative really sucks, too.

Diagnosed with high blood pressure, meniscal tear and cyst on the right knee, and peridontal disease - I learned that I have all of them this week. Fortunately, they all should respond to treatment.

So I will just do what I need to do, take care of this body, because it's the only body that I have. And I will dream of my cruise which leaves in 1 1/2 weeks.

Below is a preview of my next piece of bead embroidery. I received this picture from my friend, Bev. Something about it just spoke to me. I enlarged the picture on the copier machine to about 167% (or so), copied it to my piece of pellon for embroidery. I simplified some of the lines as on this piece, there would be lines of just one colour and lots of black on it. It's been drawn, and it just waiting for "Phases of the Moose" to be completed. Perhaps I'll have a chance on my cruise to start this..... It's a very Incan/Mayan design, but I can see an Oriental/Asian twist on this.

Update.....

March 17th - good day to update my progress on this piece - I am almost 50% completed with it. I have been trying different ideas with regards to circles - small and large. It's been coming out nicely and I am pretty pleased with it. I have a bead show on Sunday in Southfield and I will be working on the piece there - something to do when I sit at the membership table, maybe catch the eye of some prospective beaders. I just have to remember to take my battery operated light so that I can see what I am doing. I am working the same shift as my friend Linda, so I don't know how much beading we will actually complete! I'll add a picture so I have an in-process picture of it.

Also - check out the new earrings and pendant (which sold off my neck last weekend)!

Am I insane or what? Don't answer that.....

Am I insane or what?? I loved the first bead embroidery piece that I completed so much, I started another one!!! This one I have named "Phases of the Moose" and it's about 7 inches by 8 inches. I have beaded all the lines again with size 11 black opaque seed beads, and the moose are lines in size 15 black matte beads.

Oh - and the diet is stalled. I haven't made any progress since Christmas. My motivated has been lost - and I have an injury to my right leg. It's either a pinched nerve in my lower back or a blood clot. Seriously, I have a doctor appointment next week to figure out what is going on. I still need to get the PAP done (assume the position) but the Mammogram has been completed. On the good side, I don't have breast cancer.

Colours

And completed in 20 days. I just need to get this matted and framed. I'm happy with this piece and looking forward to the next one that I do!

The colours came out differently than I originally thought about. I was going to do the moose in browns, and he ended up in blues and greens, with an orange antler. That was fun. I also did mostly circles, which certainly gives the piece an interesting flow in the design. It has a Barb Davis head on it, an eye bead, a wooden bead from a Buddhist prayer bracelet, and a pearl that I have had so long I forget where it came from. I think that I found it on the floor at a bead show. Being vertically challenged, I usually find nice things on the floor at shows - I'm closer to the floor than many.

I had colours that blended from one colour to another colour, usually in the same family of tones. I used everything from 22's (meaning beads that are 22 beads to the inch) to 11's and some hexes.

This was an enjoyable project.

I've learned something new

I really enjoy bead embroidery. It might be my newest addiction. I traced around a moose that I had on some really thick Pellon and added the other shapes and lines. Those shapes and lines have been beaded with size 11 black seed beads. The moose will be completed in size 15 brown or black seed beads. The embroidery will be completely mostly in circular patterns, emphasizing the shapes that I have drawn.

I will be adding other items on the piece through it's completion, such as special beads that I have purchased through the years, perhaps some moose beads that I haven't use or one of the wooden beads that I bought while I was in Korea in 1999.

This is the first piece that I completed about 2 weeks ago. I really like the circular pattern that evolved around the Barb Davis heads. This piece is just one piece that will be placed in a "Bead Quilt" to be auctioned off to raise money for a breast cancer charity.

I'm pleased with the way that my piece turned out - with the yellow on the left representing the sun. The blue in the top stripe is the sky, followed by brown mountains, purple flowers, green grass, blue water and dark earth. I don't even know if I was consciously making these deicisons with the color choices as I was beading, or just picking up the colors that pleased me.

I'll update with pictures of the top piece when I complete it.

I've also recently inherited a great storage system for all those little bead boxes. Old wooden slide (like from a slide projector) boxes that the hospital was going to get rid of. I was gifted with 14 of these treasures!!! I can't wait to start filling them!

The saga just keeps continuing.

My mother-in-law, Sheila, has been in the hospital since very early on Thursday morning, Alan and I weren't going to cry "Wolf" until we knew what was going on - which we still don't know exactly. What we do know is:

Sam (father-in-law) called 911 late Wednesday night because Sheila fell in the bathroom and he couldn't get her up.

Her blood pressure was so low that the EMS drivers took her to the nearest hospital (Huron Valley), who transferred her to Henry Ford Downtown because of her medical records there and insurance.

Sam called me to find Alan because he wanted to go with her. Al had just left work, and he didn't hear his cell phone, so I called Paul to go over and check out what Sam needed. Sam, obviously, just got in the ambulance and went with her, but didn't tell us this.

She was admitted very early Thursday to a medicine floor, fortunately with physician that I know.

Sheila had a chest x-ray, Cat Scan and an MRI yesterday. They are looking for fractures of bones, and a mass that might indicate that she has had a stroke or series of strokes - THEY DON'T KNOW IF SHE HAS! They are just looking. This is on top of the kidney stones that we found out about that were blocking her kidneys last week. The stents have been placed, and hopefully she'll respond to the lithrotripsy (sound waves to break up the stones).

Yesterday, when I went to see her in her room, she was crying about how she couldn't get ahold of her husband - she was so worked up that she didn't know who I was for about 10 minutes. She was just crying and crying because she didn't know where her husband was. I later found out the reason she couldn't find Sam was because she was calling my house! I got her calmed down, she spoke with Sam. 15 minutes later, she forgot she just spoke with him, and she wanted to talk to him..

Last night, she called the house in hysterics because the hospital lost her clothes (she didn't have any, she was in her nightgown with no shoes when she went to the hospital) and she was going to go home. She said that she was in a hallway, she was in a chair, she was walking around, when the whole time, she was in the bed. It took Alan about 20 minutes on the telephone to get her calmed down. We talked to the nurse who explained that they moved her bed from one room to another because they had a man coming in, and two women (Sheila and another) needed to be put in the same room.

The resident in charge has my home number, my cell number, Al's cell number as do the nurses, and even the medical student.

Bottom line: We are working with the social worker on the floor who gave us a list of nursing home that will take the current insurance and will work with us getting her permanent placement in a home. Sam can't (or won't or doesn't know how to) take care of her.

So, how is your week going?

Edit Feburary 6- No cancer, no metastatisis, only minor changes due to aging on MRI, no changes in xray, no sign of stroke. No underlying changes. That's all good. Orthostatic changes due to dehydration. Will perform steroid test to check the adrenal gland, check for autonomic dysfunction.

It's been a year......

It's been a year since I joined Weight Watchers and I have lost 44 pounds. The difference is really evident in the current picture here. I feel great compared to last year. I have lost a whole chin, and three sizes in my jeans. I can run (well, I can run a little), I certainly can walk three-four miles without thinking that I might die. My knees don't hurt (I was taking 1-2 Motrin 800's a day for my knees) except when the incline is too high on the treadmill.

I like dressing in fashionable clothes. I like people noticing that I am looking better, younger and more fashionable than I did last year. I'm wearing heels, and vee-necks, and turtlenecks have disappeared from my wardrobe. My husband loves the colors that I have started to wear. I actually have fit into clothes from my pre-husband days.

I have sold lots of my "fat" clothes on Ebay and I have used some of that money to finance a cruise to Mexico with my beading buddy, Sharon. I have given bags and bags of clothes to a weight loss buddy in Michigan. I have donated things to American Council of the Blind that needed to be moved from my closet to ANYWHERE else.

I want to loose another 50-60 pounds. If I do it in 2006, that would be awesome. If I loose another 44 pounds this year, that's just as good. But I know that I can do it.

Somewhere in this body is a skinny woman waiting to burst free!