Wow ~ where did 2012 go?

Seriously WHY does time have to fly so quickly? I hate that! This year has buzzed by & I feel like I didn't accomplish anything! Between our WONDERFUL trip to Disney & my husband's EXTREME surgery & recovery - there was just no time for anything else!

Everyone is posting their favorite 12 cards from the year. I didn't make 12 cards, lol. Oh, what do you know? I just counted & I actually did make 13!!! lol ... So I'm going to pick my 5 favorites. Here they are:

Love this adorable High Hopes dragon, drawn by Crissy Armstrong.  All her dragons are the cutest! Heck, all her EVERYTHING is the cutest! {still love Crissy art}

Another Crissy cutie, I believe this is "Tidy Up Tillie" - I LOVE orange & blue together!

This is one of the "Itty Bitty" cuties from Pink Cat Studio ~ I think I collected ALL of them ~

And GOSH ~ what are the odds? ANOTHER High Hopes stamp ~ I actually used Copics for this one ~ something I didn't do often!

This is Penny Black, another obsession ~ & another favorite color combo ~ pink & brown *love*

And of course I HAD to include a Tilda! I think this is the one & only time I used that crackle paint stuff. I liked the look of it, but it was quite messy. I believe I threw it out after I made this card, lol


Ok, that's 6 - LOL see I can't even count anymore! 

I've been successful in selling some of my stuff over on SCS's BST forum ~ & some on Ebay. But ~ I have to admit there are some stamps I just won't ever be able to part with. And who knows ~ some day I MAY just have a whole hour to myself, & I'll be happy I kept my beloveds.

I hope you all had a fantastic Christmas! Unfortunately my 10 yr old came down with some nasties ~ I took him to the doctor on Wednesday, & he has a viral infection. We actually started thinking he had the mumps ~ his whole right side of his face was swollen, very scary! But it's an infection & because it's viral, there hasn't been much we can do. Sucks for him to be sick during Christmas break, but at least he's not missing school!

Happy New Year to all of you! Here's to a prosperous & productive 2013!

Merry Christmas to all!

I hope you all are having a wonderful holiday season. I sent out cards for the first time in 4 YEARS! I know, what's the matter with me? Time just gets away, but with our fun trip to Disney this year & all the great photos I got, I knew I had to create a photo card to send out. Never did one before, & it was lots of fun picking out the picture & the design. This is one of my very favorite pictures from our trip :)

I am way behind. I spent all last weekend SICK - & since that was supposed to be my baking weekend -- I'll have to power bake THIS weekend. 2 desserts, lots of mini breads to give to our wonderful neighbors who have been so helpful since my husband had surgery, & as many cookies as I have time for. I'm not stressing about it - the tragic events last Friday reminded me that the time spent with my kids is the most important part of the season. And if NOTHING gets baked -- that's ok. My kids & I will eat store bought cookies. But we'll do it together :)

Happy holidays to you & your family! 

All about achalasia

Hi everyone!  *waving*

I hope you all are doing well!! I thought it was a good time to check in & give an update on what's been going on here.

Last we met it was August & I had posted some pictures from our Disney trip. Since then ...let's see ... another school year began .... a son turned 14 ("2 more years till I can drive, Mom!" - yikes!) ... & my husband has his esophagus removed. Yep, you read that right -- did you know you can survive without your esophagus? 

20 years ago when we started dating, I thought he did some odd things when we went out to dinner. He always had to have a full glass of water, no ice -- he sometimes leaned to one side & pulled his shoulder back -- & once in a while he even stood up for a few minutes. He told me that sometimes he had a hard time getting food down. We were married a few years when his previous doctor decided he needed his esophagus stretched. That didn't help at all -- in fact it seemed to make things worse. 

Fast forward to summer 2008 -- he was really having trouble getting things down & was throwing up a lot. It didn't seem really like he was throwing up like vomiting -- it seemed like things were never going down in the first place. By the last week of July he couldn't even swallow water & we ended up in the Urgent Care. He was sent to a GI dr & a few tests later, was diagnosed with a very rare disorder called Achalasia. Never heard of it? Neither had we. You can read about it HERE -- but basically the muscle at the base of his esophagus wasn't working, so food wasn't getting into his stomach. He ended up having a Heller Myotomy, which for many patients is the end of the problems. 

6 months later the throwing up started again. It would last a few weeks, then he'd be better. He kept saying he was just sick -- had the flu -- & wouldn't go to the doctor. Over the next 4 years this was the source of many arguments between us. I knew something was wrong - whether it was the achalasia acting up again, or something else I didn't know - which is why I begged him to go to the doctor. For 4 YEARS he didn't go -- every couple of months he'd have a bout, then it would go away. Up & down, up & down -- a huge roller coaster.

He was sick while we were in Disney. His parents got to see how bad he was. Maybe that was the turning point. Maybe it was the fact that after 19 years at the same employer, he actually had to call in sick for the first time because he couldn't function. He was scheduled for an endoscopy the Friday before Labor Day. Only they couldn't do it, because his esophagus was so full of fluid & food. So he had to go in again the day after Labor Day. This time they sedated him, & suctioned everything out. Then they told him his esophagus was completely stretched out & he'd have to have it removed.

Did you know if an esophagus stretches, it will never go back to its original shape? The esophagectomy was his only option if he ever wanted to eat again. Luckily, I had joined a fantastic forum after he'd had his surgery 4 years ago - these people all suffer from achalasia. It was wonderful chatting with them - this disorder is so rare, nobody knows what goes on except those who have it, or know someone who has it. I knew this was a serious surgery. I knew the recovery was loooooong - & because he has a very physical job I knew he'd be off work for quite a while. Well, the surgery only took 2 1/2 hours (after I'd been told it would 5-6 hours) & it went well. Unfortunately this is also a PAINFUL surgery & when I saw my husband after, well let's just say there wasn't enough morphine in the hospital to take away his pain. He was in the ICU for a week -- 3 days after that he was home, with a feeding tube in his stomach. He's hooked up to a computer & we have huge supply of baby formula-type stuff that we fill his bag with. 

It's been about 7 weeks now & he's doing pretty well. He still has the tube but he is able to eat some things, like cereal, applesauce & soft crackers. He goes for walks daily. He's anxious to get the tube out & get back on the road to a normal life. Through this whole thing, I've been telling him to focus on the cheeseburger at the end. He should be able to eat anything once he's healed, which is more than I can say for the last 20 years of his life.

Unfortunately the amount of medical bills is overwhelming, & the future of his job is unknown. Apparently there will be layoffs, we just don't know if he'll be one of them. We went to his holiday party on Sunday & WOW -- let's just say I'm grateful for my fabulous employer & all they do for us. My husband is pretty tight lipped regarding things at work but I sure got an earful Sunday from his co-workers! 

Please think good thoughts for us as we get through these next few months. I'm glad the surgery was successful & he's getting better every day. He was only 137 lbs (fully clothed!) the day of his surgery -- & he is 6'2"! He has already gained about 15 lbs & everything looks good so hopefully the rest of his recovery goes smoothly. But we are facing other unknowns during this holiday season so we can sure use all the virtual hugs we can get!!!

Well I had planned on posting some pictures of some fun things we've done lately but I guess this was meant to be a downer post LOL. I will post pics later this week because we really have had some good stuff going on too :)  Holiday outings & parties & such.

If you actually made it this far, thank you for reading!!!!! I promise I''ll be back soon with a happier post :)