{bliss}

Happy Birthday, Brigid!

 

Happy birthday to you, sweetheart!  I can't believe you are nine! 

She has had a great birthday weekend so far.  She hosted her first sleepover party for her "besties" on Friday night.  Disney Channel premiered the new Demi Lovato / Selena Gomez movie "Princess Protection Program" so they had a movie party with their sleeping bags in the livingroom and plenty of popcorn and lemonade!  We went in the pool for the first time this season in the afternoon, and ordered out for pizza for dinner, and then Aileen went to Grannie and Grampa's for a special sleepover party of her own!  We had a lot of fun, but I was totally wiped by Saturday night!  Today is the family party, so I'm heavy into party prep mode for the big crowd that is expected.  By tonight, I'll be totally ready for a vacation!

Here's a quick page I put together yesterday morning while the girls were decorating their chipboard ponies...  new Bella Blvd "Sweet Celebration" collection - love the fun, bright cupcakes!  If you haven't already discovered the Bella Blog, check it out.  Lots of great inspiration to be found (and lots of giveaways too!)

Hope everyone enjoys the rest of their weekend!

happy trails, Jon...

This guy is headed off to Philadelphia today...  Wishing him clear roads, no traffic, and a convenient spot to park his truck when he arrives at his new home!  We are going to miss him like crazy until he is able to come home for Christmas...

Guess I can't be in denial any more, my little boy has grown up and is ready to fly solo.  I'm happy, proud and blessed to be his Mom.  *sigh*

In other news, our HS graduation was last night, and I got to go and wish my favorite seniors well as they head off to their great adventures too.  I was happy to see such a large number heading off to college - lots and lots of scholarships were awarded to some great kids last night, and I hope that they will do well.  The upcoming seniors have some pretty big shoes to fill, because this graduating class was pretty amazing!  Three more days of finals for the underclassmen, and we're done for the year - hurrah!

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Pages, yep, I've got pages to share - here you go!

 

Some delicious October Afternoon "Cherry Hill" pp's mixed with some October Afternoon stamps...

 

Some Basic Grey Marrakesh loveliness, and my sweet Bee's artwork that was on exhibit at the Monster Concert.

  

Cutey cute Pebbles "So Tweet" collection and some photos of Brigid playing at the concert.  The third grade class that amassed the most practice minutes is allowed to play at the concert with the Middle School and High School bands, so they were all pretty proud to be a part of that event!

And last, but not at all least, have you seen Cosmo Cricket's new fabrics?  Oh, oh, oh my!  I absolutely cannot wait to get "Girl Friday", my favorite CC collection EVER in fabric form!!  :)  ((and maybe if I'm really lucky, they'll come out with "Early Bird" someday as well.)) You can read more about it and see more images of "Snorkel" and "Cogsmo" fabrics on the Cosmo Cricket blog.  I'm on a search for Andover Fabrics now - if anyone finds a good online store that stocks them, please let me know!!  I'm preparing an expedition up to the Lakes Region sometime after my birthday to check out Keepsake Quilting - I haven't been there in years...

Who could resist this cuteness?

Have a great weekend!!

no more medical drama!

That's it!  I'm officially done for the summer - lol!  My MRI came back clean - great news!  Yay!  So my hearing loss is now officially "idiopathic" (which is doctor-speak for "we have no idea why") but that is ok.  I am glad that we explored all the possibilities and were able to rule them out - knowledge is bliss in this particular case.  So I met with the audiologist yesterday afternoon to talk about hearing aid options, and have settled on one.  It is a behind the ear model, and I've decided to get a PURPLE one.  My hair will cover it unless I have a headband on, and I'm not vain enough to worry about it being invisible, so purple it is!  Now I have to explore payment options, because unlike glasses, hearing aids are not covered under most insurance plans.  It makes no sense to me - need corrective lenses to see?  Covered.  Need aid to hear?  Not covered - they're considered "cosmetic" options.  Stupid healthcare system!  Anyway, moving on from the medical drama, and now I can really enjoy my summer. Exactly one week from today is the last day of school - woo hoo!

 

My page for today uses Cosmo Cricket's "Early Bird" collection pp's and Pink Paislee chipboard alphas.  Loooove this paper collection!  Fellow Fiskateer, and all around great gal Lisa Falduto has a great Cosmo Cricket giveaway on her blog.  She does awesome work (her altered 7Gypsies Binderie has got to be the cutest thing ever!) and I really enjoy her blog.  Take a visit, you will be glad you did!

Happy Wednesday, everyone!

not much to report...

I haven't regained any of my hearing in the affected ear.  I had an MRI on Friday, and will go over the results of that test on Tuesday when I meet with my ear specialist.  All the blood tests they have run have come back negative so far, so we know a lot more about what it *isn't* but at this moment I am no closer to finding out what it *is*.  Tuesday will be an important day, because the MRI is really the only way to see what is going on in there.  There are so many possibilities, some pretty scary - I'll be glad to have a definitive answer.  I need a plan.  I always need a plan, and get frustrated while waiting for results.  Thanks for all the well-wishes and prayers.  They certainly are appreciated!

 

I've been playing with a bunch of Scenic Route this week.  I was looking for some of my favorite Backgrounds paper, and discovered a couple collections from last summer that had barely been touched, so I've been working to correct that oversight!  This one uses the Providence collection and a ton of the photos I took of the kids while trying to get a good group portrait.  I broke into the Garden Grove too, for an upcoming Product Feature page at Peek. 

Yesterday I hauled a big plastic bin full of fabric upstairs.  I've been itching to do some stitching, so I am breaking into my vast fabric hoard (which was my obsession before I discovered scrapbooking and started hoarding patterned paper instead!) and cut some squares for a little project yesterday.  I didn't make much headway stitching it yesterday.  I really need to set up a designated stitching area in my scrapbook room, but haven't found a small piece of furniture that is the right height, has good light, and has a place for my knees!  Arrow makes a wonderful cabinet that would match my other furniture and be just *perfect* in the available space I have in my room!  Check this out: Sewnatra.  Do.Want.

Have a great week, everyone!  I'll update when I have any news...

I don't even know where to start...

So I'll start with a happy page first...

 

Webster's Pages goodies - love, love, love 'em!  This following one is also Webster's Pages, their new collection called Sweet as Cherry Pie.  The photo was taken while Jon was up here in NH this week packing for his big move to Philadelphia.

 

So, what's stressing me out?  Well, it started on Jon's graduation day.  When I got up I had a slight sore throat, but didn't think a lot of it, because we had a long ride to Amherst, and I didn't have time for not feeling well.  While we were driving home after the ceremony, I noticed that my left ear felt like it needed to "pop" - it seemed blocked, and no amount of yawning or chewing seemed to help - I just put it off to "stadium deafness", after all, there were about 20,000 people at the graduation, and they were just a little bit loud.

Skip forward to about half way through the work week.  Ear still ringing like mad, feeling blocked, and having only limited hearing.  I checked in with the school nurse who took a look and told me she didn't think it was an ear infection, but that I should see my own doctor to make sure.  So last Friday I got an appointment and he checked me over, but didn't find any signs of an obvious infection.  He sent me right over to ENT at the hospital and had me tested by an audiologist, where I was diagnosed with Sudden Onset Sensorineural Hearing Loss.  :( 

Suspecting the cause to be viral, he put me on a heavy duty dose of prednisone for 7 days to see if it was possible to reverse it.  I had a follow-up visit yesterday, and they repeated the test and sadly, there was no improvement.  He did a intratympanic steroid injection in the office to try to put more of the steroid where it was needed, and I go back on Tuesday to see if that did any good.  In the meantime he is weaning me off the prednisone, which is a good thing - although I will admit that the side benefit of helping my plantar fasciitis was a nice surprise and hope that it doesn't come back when I am done with the prednisone.

Toss into the mix of this crazy week prep for a scheduled colonoscopy, half a day in the hospital, Jonathan preparing to move away, little girls who aren't taking any of this state of affairs well, dealing with insurance companies and still trying to work and keep house, and you've got a pretty stressed out Mama.  *sigh*  Hoping for a better week this week, and some good news from somewhere!

One more page to try to get me somewhat caught up...this one uses the new Collage Press Sweet Shoppe collection.  Looking at these sweet faces always cheers me up, even when things aren't going especially well. 

 

Have a great weekend!