It's Talk time Tuesday with Ask Jo & Some exciting news!

Hello my sweet friends!

Well here I am again attempting to give this segment a try again. In the past it had its share of questions coming in from you but then it had its times where it died out. I have always had a ton of feedback from my readers that they loved this segment and wanted it to come back. So since it's a new year, I thought to myself that before giving TTT the boot for good, I would try one last time to give it a go. Now remember friends, part of this segment staying for good relies on you sending in questions you would like answered. So what do ya say? Let's see if we can do this together, shall we? :)

Okay so if you have read the title of this post, then you know that I have some exciting news to share with you. Olga, the very sweet owner of Little Blue Button Stamps has chosen me to be one of her newest design team members for her company!!!! I am super excited! I guess part of the reason I'm very happy is because for so long over the past year, my health has really been a struggle and has beaten me down. It literally took away everything that I enjoyed. My crafting especially. Well I decided for this new year that one of my goals is to take back my life and start crafting again. Now I know there will be times that physically I won't feel well enough to craft but I will be pushing myself to push through if I'm not too ill. I have decided that I need to enjoy myself more and do what I was born to do. ART! So that is what I am going to do this year. But saying it and doing it is two different things. So in order to hold myself accountable to my words, I decided to apply to Olga's DT Call. I figured having a purpose would motivate me and make me craft more. I was thrilled when I found out she accepted me! So starting in February, you will see more of my creations as I design for Olga's sweet company. And I have also decided to design for my own blog's weekly challenges. All of this is health permitting of course but I have a very good feeling about it all and I'm looking forward to it. :)

I also decided to do something new this year for myself. I wanted to pick just one word that would be my word for the year. I chose the word "GROWTH".  I chose this word because it means a lot to me. I am always growing and learning, even at my age of 41. But I chose this word because I have had many struggles in the past few years. Both health and finances. It has NOT been easy at all. And I am still going through those same struggles and those struggles have been wearing me down and contributing to my depression. So I would like to grow closer to God and learn more about bible study & faith booking. I would like to grow healthier and grow closer to my family. I would like to grow in my art and strengthen my skills in painting and art journaling. I also would like to grow as a mom and as a person who loves life. So that is my word this year. I am not only going to "know of" my word, I am going to act on my word. Growth is what will transform me from who I am today to who I will be tomorrow and all of the days to come in 2016. I hope you choose a word to inspire and motivate you to be of purpose and to do good. :)

Well friends, that is it for today. Please write in with questions you want answered or topics you would like to see talked about, if you want our Talk Time Tuesdays to stay.  :) 

 Thanks for stopping by and
 until next time.... Enjoy life's blessings~

Another Update......

Good evening friends,..

I wanted to take a few minutes tonight before I get some rest to update you ... if you read my last update, you know that surgery went well. Well just a few days after surgery, my incision became very infected. By far some of the worst pain I have felt and I normally have a high tolerance for pain. So I ended up having to go into the hospital through their ER to have it looked at. It was extremely red, discolored and had a very bad odor. It was also oozing blood and yellowish liquid that I was told was plasma mixed with pus. Disgusting! Yes I know! 

So needless to say, the ER Doctor took one look at it and said that it was, "that is a little more than your normal infection". So before he did anything, he put a call into my surgeon who performed the surgery to let him know what he was looking at. When he came back to see me, He told me that my surgeon wanted to see me in his office the next day (which was today). So the ER doctor sent me home on an 800mg horse pill antibiotic called Bactrim. So I am on day 2 of the antibiotics and hope they start kicking in soon and doing their job! I'm truly suffering here, won't lie. 

So today I went into the surgeon's office and he took a look at it and felt around it (That freaking HURT more!) and he said that it was fungal from the inside. So he gave me a prescription for Nystatin Topical Powder which is similar to talcum powder. He said it will help absorb the oozing and keep the wound dry to that it can start to heal along with the antibiotics. So I have to apply the powder twice a day, morning and then evening. 

And I just want to say THANK YOU to all of you who have sent me emails and cards in the mail! I just love all your cards and your beautiful words and prayers. It means a lot to me because if I am to be honest, I turn to my online crafty friends more than my own family. Ok so... because of all your prayers... God must of heard each one of you and decided to grant them! My surgeon said that the biopsy came back NO cancer in the lymph node!!!!! When I heard him say it was negative, I cried! I was so fearful. But while that may be some of the greatest news I have ever received, it doesn't mean that I'm out of the woods yet. The surgeon said that i do not have cancer in my lymph nodes but that doesn't mean that I don't have cancer elsewhere in my body. So the next few months will be lots of testing for me to figure out what is going on and what is causing my white cell count to be very high. Apparently, it can still be cancer, just in a place that is uncertain at the moment. Or perhaps it is not cancer at all, but something different causing all these cancer-like symptoms. Either way, I still have to continue fighting to find out what is causing me to be so sick. So I still welcome any prayers you all want to send my way. 

So that's it ... nothing else to update on until I know more. If you have read this far, thank you. I appreciate all your support and love... and I continue to thank God every day for all of you and I keep you all in my prayers every night. So again, thank you and I wish you all a wonderful week!

Until next time, Enjoy life's blessings~

Update on me~

Happy New Year's Eve Eve! hehehe.  Well I want to say thank you to everyone who has said some prayers for me and wished me well during surgery. I went into surgery yesterday at 7:45am and was out by 8:40am. I woke up in recovery around 9:10am and stayed there for about an hour before they discharged me to go home. Everything went well. My doctor went into my groin on the left side and made the cut and ended up removing 2 very oversized lymph nodes. I am all stitched up but cannot see anything as I have this clear pouch looking thing over a piece of white gauze that is covering up the incision. Today I get to take a nice shower and remove the clear pouch to get the incision wet and clean. My doctor said he wants me to get it wet and have the soap and water just trickle down over it, not to scrub or anything. 

I'm so thankful that surgery went okay. I think I worried myself more than I should have had to. Last thing I remember is being wheeled into the operating room and seeing the doors open to all stainless steel everything and that was it. I must of knocked out right as we entered the OR. So he sent me home with a few scripts. One was percocet for pain, I have to take it every 4 hours, 2 pills each. And I have had to take it every four hours around the clock because for a small incision, I'm in a ton of pain! The other scripts were for a powdered laxative in case I have trouble having bowel movements and its supposed to soften the stool and another script for constipation should I get that. So far, I have not had any issues with any of that. I have also been putting the ice pack on my incision every hour for about 15 to 20 minutes. That ice really helps a lot for the swelling and it feels good. 

So the next step to all of this is waiting on results. The doctor told me that he should have results from the lymph nodes in about 10 days. I ask you all to continue to keep me in your prayers please! The last thing I want him to do is call me up and tell me that I have cancer. I HATE cancer. It has killed so many people that I love, both in my family and good friends that were in my life. It runs on both sides of the family especially my mother's side of the family. So I am praying for some good results when this is all said and done. So please continue to pray for me for healing and recovery and good results. I appreciate it, I really do. 

Well my friends, that is about it. I will continue to update you as I find things out myself. In the meantime, I want to wish each of you a very Happy and Healthy New Year! I will be staying home tomorrow like I always do and ring in the new year with my family. We usually play a board game or cards, have a glass of wine at midnight and watch Dick Clark's Rockin Eve and the after shows. Wherever you are tomorrow for the festivities, be SAFE!, don't drink and drive please!!! and please be responsible of others who have drank too much. I hope you all have a wonderful New Year's and hope you get that special midnight kiss from someone special in your lives. Mine will be from my daughter of course! :)  Stay safe! Happy New Year!!!

Until next time, Enjoy life's blessings~

Need your prayers

Good morning my friends!

I hope you have all had a wonderful holiday. Ours was very blessed, surrounded by family and good friends with lots of love and good food. Today I am coming to each of you to ask for some prayers. I need lots of them. 

Tomorrow morning (Tuesday), I need to be at the hospital by 6:00am to prep for 8:00am surgery. Many of you who have followed me for quite some time now, know that I suffer from many different health issues. This time around, doctors are worried for me and are hoping to rule out cancer. I am going in for a biopsy in my left groin lymph node and hoping to get answers either way. My symptoms as of lately have been excessive weight loss, loss of appetite, much greater pain, bowel changes, and extreme fatigue. My family on my mother's side has a high risk of cancer running through it. My father's side also has cancer, so needless to say; I am a nervous wreck. I was originally supposed to have this surgery on the 15th of this month but because the holiday was coming up, it gave me too much anxiety that I had my doctor move the date. So tomorrow the 29th it is. 

Please if you can find five minutes out of your day to say a prayer for me, it would mean everything to me. I am scared, I won't lie. People say that I am a very strong woman but I don't feel so strong right now. I am very vulnerable and nervous and all I keep thinking about is my little girl. I need to be able to come through surgery and recover successfully, hopefully with getting good news rather than the worst. So all prayers are appreciated and needed. 

Surgery from what I am told, should take about 45 minutes with an hour to two in recovery. I will do my absolute best to check in with everyone on Wednesday or Thursday to give an update. I am hoping for everything to go as well as it can so that I may return home with my family and enjoy recovery with them and to ring in the new year with them. I also want to say thank you in advance and would like to wish all of you a very happy and healthy new year!!

Until next time, Enjoy life's blessings~ 

A little Doggie Paradise~ LONG POST

Hello my sweet friends!
Happy Sunday to you. I have been up all night as it has been a bad night with pain. Eh but I'm used to living in pain. Nothing new. But... I got a phone call from my younger brother around 11ish at night telling me that he was getting ready to take my 7 month old niece to the children's hospital because she had a fever of 104.4. Long story short, she has some type of an infection inside causing the fever. They gave her meds and the fever came down significantly so that he was able to take her back home. Well, 5am this morning he calls to tell me that her fever spiked back up again to 105.8. He said he gave her more meds and that if it does not go down, he'll be taking her back to the hospital. So I am asking if you all can please keep my niece Serenity in your prayers, pray for her fever to go away. And while I am asking for prayers, could you please pray for my friends in Mineral Wells, Texas. As many of you know, I used to live there up until a year ago. I was there for nearly 3 years. Well in the wee early morning hours this morning, my old town of Mineral Wells was hit hard by a tornado. I am not sure if my friends are okay or if their homes are okay. My daughter has friends there that she keeps in touch with and we are very worried. I found out through another friend that lives there. She was asking for help for the clean up process through town. I ask that you please keep them in your prayers. This could of been me and my family if we had still lived there. I feared those darn tornadoes the entire time I lived there. So thank you in advance for the prayers! 

Okay moving along.... last weekend I had taken a day to spend time with my daughter and we decided we were going to do some paintings on canvas. Gia had decided she wanted to paint a sunset over the ocean. For those of you who do not know, we live down at the Jersey shore. We live on an island and we have the bay in our backyard and the ocean and beach are 4 blocks from us. Gia has grown to love the ocean especially when the sun is setting over it. So I gave her a blank canvas, put it up on the easel and gave her a palette full of colors of paint she wanted to work with. Here are some of the photos.

 Here Gia decided to start mixing her colors to make green. Pretty colors on her palette right? :)

 Here she had already created the sand of the beach area, started her base for the palm tree, created her ocean and was now beginning to work on the sky.

 Here she was standing tired but very proud of her gorgeous painting! Her FIRST painting and she was so happy with herself and how her painting turned out that she wanted to hang it up in her bedroom on the wall. And so that is where it is today, along side her bed! :)

 And here is the sun setting over the ocean, complete and dry. She added in a few storm clouds, some seagulls, a few seashells in the sand and a couple of palm trees. I say she did an amazing job!

Now in the middle of her and I doing our Paintings, Kris came in and wanted to paint her owl that she hand drew. She knows how I love owls so this was a present for me actually. She drew it out on canvas and it sat for about two or three weeks and on this day, she finally decided to paint it up and finish it up. I think this turned out awesome and I'm so happy that it is mine!!! :)

 So here is the owl in its original state and then there it is all finished but still wet and drying. Pretty awesome right? I love how she created the night sky so deep dark blue and how the owl is just so beautiful and full of different colors. Just perfect! 

Okay well, I guess it is now my turn to share what I had painted. I knew in my head that I wanted to paint a nice beach scene with a palm tree. Some place warm and tropical is what I really had in mind. Now before I show you my photos, keep in mind that I have never painted beach scenes. This was my first time doing so and I am super proud of myself. It makes me want to explore just a little bit more to see what else I can do, maybe a seascape next? :)

I sat down and this is what I was looking at...

 I sat there looking at this canvas, knowing what type of painting I wanted to do but I needed a bit of inspiration to get me going. So I decided to think back to a warm and tropical place that I had visited before and the first place that popped up into my head was Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. I went there on vacation back in 2008 for about two weeks. Our hotel was right on the beach and right from our balcony stood two beautiful huge palm trees with the ocean behind them. So I used that beautiful memory of my family and I standing on the balcony taking in the beautiful scene when we first arrived, as my inspiration to get me started.

 I started by creating the sand and water and then moved my way up to the sky. This was just the very beginning of the painting so it was more or less me just applying some color and then I would go back in and do more detail. While we were painting, we had the radio on and were jamming to some good music, had my balcony doors open and had a gorgeous breeze coming in from the bay and the ocean. We get a beautiful cross breeze because we are in the middle of both bodies of water. So while we were painting beachy type scenes, we were experiencing the cool, night breeze coming up from the water.

So here is my palm tree well in the making. This is pretty basic, still had some detail I needed to do, especially to the tree truck. I tell ya one thing though, it was extremely relaxing to paint. If you have never painted before, you should definitely give it a go! Very relaxing!!

So here is my finished painting! I am extremely happy with how it turned out. I added in some seagulls, some weeds and tall plants and of course some puppy dog paw prints in the sand! Thus the reason I named my painting, "Doggie Paradise". This little place so warm and tropical, became the little paradise home to a doggie enjoying the beach that day. At least that is what I think and I'm sticking to it! HAHA :)

And lastly, here are two photos of the finished painting close up so that you can see the detail that I did with the palm tree truck and the little tiny doggie paw prints. I hope you have enjoyed this extremely LONG post and I hope you have a great day today!!!! Thanks so much for stopping by my friends!

Until next time, Enjoy life's blessings~

Hello Friends!

Hello my sweet bloggy friends~

I know its been a bit longer then expected for me to stop in and say hello. But I am here with an update on my health. After many different tests recently, EMG's, MRI's, CTScans--the doctors have been able to give me updates and all have been bad news. =(

In just one year's time, my degenerative disk disease in my back has progressed very rapidly. 3 more disks have slipped completely and are out of place. My bones in my spine are all decaying and rotting and this is causing my disks to slip with no support, causing me to be crippled. My doctor also found that I have a new pinched nerve in my back. I already have one in my neck. My lumbar radiculathopy shows 40% progression. The EMG tests show that my nerves in the left side of my body are completely shot, so to speak. My left leg has the most nerve damage. Unfortunately at this point, surgery is not an option due to the severity of the procedure. The surgeons would have to rebuild my entire spine and with the amount of nerve damage already, doctors feel this type of surgery is way to risky to perform. The surgery itself would be an 18 hr surgery leaving me with a 70% chance of being paralyzed from my neck down. =(

My doctor has put an order in for a powerchair wheelchair for me but my insurance denied it. Due to my pain levels and my limited mobility, my depression has set in on high and it has caused me to not take interest in anything. I have not done anything craft related in so long, I miss it so much!! I spend most of my time between 4 walls in my bed with a TV, my kindle fire & a laptop. Most days, I don't even want to get on the computer. I have no desire to do the things I love. My doctor has put me on a higher dose of depression medication and its making me very angry. I know that sounds kinda funny i'm sure, but it's true. I'm stressed to the max. Most days, I don't even want to socialize with the family.

So my friends, that is what is going on in my life at the moment. I appreciate all the email that has come in expressing love and concern for me. It means a lot!!! If i did not get back to your email yet, please know that I am just not ready yet. I ask for you all to keep me in your prayers and pray that my doctors can keep me comfortable and that I get the tools necessary to get me up and mobile again. 

The Funday Friday challenges will be resuming again October 10th. I hope to see many of you back for the challenges each week. I hope you are all staying crafty and getting in enough craft time for the both of us!! Be patient with me. I will be visiting your blogs again very soon. Much love to you all.

Until next time, Enjoy life's blessings~~