Update on me and Pebbles' 12th birthday party pics

Hi everyone,
Happy Spring!!!! It has been so nice weather around my part of North Carolina the past few weeks. It is 73 degrees in my house at 10:43pm on
3/20/2012!!!! I have had the windows open and the ceiling fans going for the past few nights!

I have been out of it for the past few months! My pain dr increased the
dosage of my time released pain meds as well as the one that I take in between for the pain. So, if I don't take the meds, I am miserable, in tears, so bad that I can't stand myself!!! When I take my meds I sleep!!!
I feel like I am sleeping my life away! The nerve stimulator has not done
a thing for me! I am so frustrated and disappointed! I had pysched myself
up in the month prior to my surgery in Dec that this was going to work and
That by the end of Jan or Feb of 2012 I would be back to enjoying life and
able to do things again without having to take pain meds! Well, this has
not happened. I am not doing well physically, mentally, or emotionally right now! I have consulted an attorney because I feel like the rep from
the company and my dr lied to me to get me to go ahead and purchase this
expensive device and implant it in my body. When I had the trial one put
in the dr had a hard time getting the leads to go in, he worked so long on
getting the one lead in that he was running late, they had scheluded a hour
for this procedure and we were into the third hour when he finally got
the one lead in. So, with only one lead, I had no pain relief but it did
take away the pin pricking feeling in my lower right leg. The rep, the pain dr, and the surgeon all said that I would experience pain relief after
the permanent device was implanted because it has two leads and I would get
relieve from that. Well this has not happened. I have use the device all day and all night. Increasing the strength of the stimualtion as high as I
can stand it and still the pain is there. Also, since the surgery in Dec,
When I walk for long periods like going to the grocery store or Walmart,
my back has the stingy, burning pain, that radiates down my right leg which is where I have always hurt but now it is higher up in my back right
where the incision for this last surgery is! So, I am not a happy camper.
I also had some more negative news. My dr felt something in my neck and sent me for a ct scan of my thryoid. I have huge nodules that need to be
biospied to see if they are cancerous or not! The dr says there are many and some are quite large. So, I am waiting for my biospy! I hope to have it by the end of the month or middle of April. I wanted the surgeon that was my Mother's when she had breast cancer but he moved to Charlotte so they are trying to contact him to see who he would recommend to do it with my family history. My Mother is a breast cancer survivor and I have two aunts who passed away from breast cancer so I hate the mention of the C word! The dr assured me that even if it is cancer that thyroid cancer has
the highest survial rate. So I need prayers! I am so behind on everything!
I have not had the energy or the drive to do anything really! I did get my
boxes mailed out today for swaps that I am behind on so to Dorothy and Kim,
your boxes are on their way! I am so sorry that I am late! When I do go out
for drs appt I am so wiped out by the time I leave the office, I just want
to come home and sleep. I am not allowed to drive because of the amount of
pain meds that I am on so I have to have someone take me everywhere I want
to go.
My hubby has been a rock for me! He nevers fusses that I don't have supper
ready when he gets home, he eithers stops on the way home and picks something up from a resturant or the grocery store to grill out! I do manage to get the laundry done and keep the house clean. It zaps all of my energy and I can hardly walk the next day after doing the sweeping and mopping but I keep doing it. I am afraid that if I quit moving around, that I want be able to move again. I do not know what I would do without my furbabies! They are the sweetest things in the world and they all keep me company and following me everywhere I go in the house. If I go down stairs to do the laundry Sarge or Cocoa go with me. It is like they are watching over me! I do get on the computer when I can stay awake but that is not much. I saw where there were Easter swaps and a sweet liberty swap and I would have loved to have join but I don't think it is the best for me
right now. Even though I have the best intentions of getting my stuff done and mailed off, I am falling farther and farther behind these days and it isn't fair so until I get in better health no more swaps.
I wanted to share the pics from the little birthday party we managed to do
for Pebbles on Jan.30,2012. She was 12! I made the Happy Birthday banner last year and I hang it at every furbaby party! I usually make bone shaped cupcakes for them but didn't feel like it this year so hubby picked up those mini cupcakes from the grocery store. The furbabies love them and frosty paws has cups of doggie ice cream. So this year they had cake and ice cream as well as their favorite treat the Dingo Goof Balls. Hubby
picked up ballons from the dollar store as well as the cute little stuff monkeys. One for each of them. The birthday cake toy was purchased of off eebay last year. When you squeeze it is plays Happy Birthday. I use it for all furbabies birthday parties.

I have visited most of the blogs the past couple of days! I am so envious of all the wonderful Easter decor I am seeing and awesome Easter Crafting.
Lots of ideals and inspiration for me. I am so amazed at all of my prim blog friends homes! So prim perfect!!!

Thank you to all of you who remember me in your prayers! I really appreciate it!! I will keep you update with results when I have them!
Blog friends are the best and I am so blessed to know each of you! I really
appreciate all of you!
Have a wonderful week!
Big hugs,
Lynn

A Wonderful Weekend of goodies arriving by mail!

The past few months have not been great but I am blessed to have sweet friends in blogland that are kind enough to remember me in their prayers and send good thoughts and wishes my way. I have also been blessed with friendships and sweet swaping pals. Below are some pictures of goodies that
arrived this week and I waited till yesterday to open.

These are the sweet treats that Kim sent me. We had agreed to do a valentine swap and she always makes the cutest things. Thank you so much. I already ate all the white chocolate covered treats that she included. You package added a ray of sunshine to my day! Thank you for all the wonderful Valentine goodies.


The pictures below are from the package from Kendra of the Stone House primitives blog. She was my pal in Amy's from Bumble Bee Lane heart of winter swap. Oh my she spoiled me good. I love the heart shape pillow with 1982 on it. She found me a set of a dachshund cookie cutter and a dachshund cookie press too!! She included handmade heart shape dog cookies for the babies. YOu can tell Sarge was on the job of opening the package for the whole crew! Kendra, thank you so much for all of my goodies. Your emails the past few months have meant so much to me. I hope you know that getting goodies in the mail is fun but making a new friend is priceless!!1 I hope we will continue to stay in touch with each other.

Shirley from Zetta Apron's has become such a dear sweet friend. She worries about when we she does not see me around blogland. She brighten my
day by sending me this sweet Valentine shadow box and a vintage Valentine from her Aunt Jane's collection. Shirley, thank you so much for your kindness.

Life is not so great right now

Hello,
I just wanted to post real quick and ask again for prayers.
I had a fall a almost two weeks ago and I am not doing so well at the moment. I spent most of last week on the flat of my back with heating pad
and ice packs. The pain is still there. I can not tell that the device is working. It was reprogamed a week ago Tuesday and they said to give it two weeks and to let them know. Well, I let them know yesterday that I wasn't
getting any relief. The dr called back and told me to try it one more week and then call and get an appointment. I am just so upset! I am disappointed and frustrated. I can't stand myself I am so miserable. Life is passing me by and I can't do anything about it. I am going to have to have xrays of my knee from where I fell! Please keep me in your prayers. I have received my swap goodies from Kendra for Amy's swap at Bumble Bee Lane but I have not opened it yet. I got Kendra's box mailed out Monday but want to wait to open mine till she receives hers. I have not mailed out my Valentine swap goodies to Amy yet but hopefully they will go out tomorrow or Friday. I emailed her to let her know that the package would be mailed out too. I am not going to go on and on about the shape of my life right now. Just wanted to drop in and let you know why I haven't been
online. Just feel to bad and the meds are making me sleep more and more.
Please keep me in your prayers.
I also got a beautiful valentine from Deb of Garage Sale girl. I will get your valentine in the mail soon too! Thank you so much for thinking of me!
Big hugs to all!!
Lynn

My first Rednesday of the Year

Please visit Sue over at http://itsacherryworld.blogspot.com and join in Rednesday and show off all your red goodies!

Last summer as I was blog suffering I came across Old Glory Cottage blog. The name interested me because I am crazy about Americana and the Red,White,and Blue!! You can see previous posts for all of the pics in my patriotic craftroom! Any whoo back to Carol at the Old Glory Cottage! Her house is amazing as is all the goodies she collects. Well when I spend many days going back and reading all of her posts from when she started blogging. Ok, I just shared a secret so I guess it isn't a secret, when I find a blog and decide to become a follower, I go back and read all the archive posts! So, I am a blog geek!!! Now you know the rest of the story LOL! Carol's blog led me to Creative Breathing blog which led me to 521 Lake Street which led me to Its a Cherry World. I spent lots of hours reading all of the blogs plus the ones that were listed on their side bars. I loved the creative crafting of Elizabeth at Creative Breathing! She collects vintage children's valentines and displays them in the cutest way and stores them so nicely in red and yellow scrapbooks that she has filled with pages that have pockets in them. So cute and so organized. Well, I fell in love with those images of the vintage valentines and I started bidding on ebay for some. I have been lucky to win several auctions since the past summer. I have taken a few of my favorite ones and displayed them in these photo display thingies. I bought both of them at one of my favorite antique stores, Fanastic Finds in Newton, NC. If you are every in this area this is a must stop by store to visit!! They have 4 buildings of goodies to look at!!! We spend at least 1-2 hours every time we visit.

I am going to ask for some help. As you all know I share my life and my home with my four wonderful spoilt furbabies, Pebbles, Bella, Sarge, and Cocoa Puff. I also love dachshund collectibles. I am on the hunt for dachshund valentines. The one in the picture below is the only one I have so far. I did win an auction this past Saturday for a doxie valentine but it has not arrived yet, I will take a pic and post it! So ladies, if you see a doxie valentine please email me with the name and number of the store and maybe they will let me buy it over the phone and ship it to me. Big thanks and hugs for doing this!!! I never knew there were so many different designs of doxie valentines. There were two style so ebay auctions today but I was outbidded LOL I am on a budget and there is only so much I am willing to pay for 1 valentine depending on what it is. But, I will not buy it if it goes over 10.00 for 1 valentine! Not today, if I was still working and getting paid every two weeks it would be different, but I get paid monthly and it is less than one paycheck that I made working. But, I am thankful for that disability insurance!! It has been such a blessing and the smartest thing I ever did was to check that LTD insurance box when I was filling out my paper work when I started my job at Baptist Hopstial in Wiston Salem! Well, you guys have a wonderful day!
Hugs,

Hello everyone! It is a rainy, dreary morning here in Conover, North Carolina. I was looking in my cabinets for Valentines and I ran across
these. They were sent to my parents by each other during their short
time together. My real father was killed in an accident, he fell off
the back of a truck while it was moving. He was helping his brother move
and my Mother and my aunt were following in the car behind them. So, she
saw him fall off the truck. I can only imagine how hard that was on her.
I do not have a lot of my Father's things. My Mother remarried when I was 5
and my Dad's things were misplaced or given away over the years.I wish
she had kept everything for me, but you can't go back, so I cherish the
items I have so much. When my Mother was pregnant with me and people would
ask Daddy what he wanted a boy or a girl and he would answer a red-headed
baby girl! He got what he wanted. I say it was a gift from God because he
knew Daddy would only have me for 20 months before he was called home! Oh,
how I wish God would have let him stay a little longer so I could have a
real memory of him. All I have is a few of his things and stories from famiy and friends about him.

I am trying to get out of the gloom and doom slump that I am in and worked
on some Valentine's last night. I also put out some of my Valentine decor.
The pictures are below. That is all for now! Keep me in your prayers,
please! Talk to you soon!
Oh the furbabies say hello, they are a happy group this morning! They got
a bath last night and even though they are not so happy about the bath,
they feel so good after the bath they run all over the house while drying
off! It is so fun to watch. We laughed at Pebbles who is our oldest, she
will be 12 years old on the 30th of this month!! She is also just a little
chunky, she would take off running from the kitchen and jump on her pillow
in front of the fire place! Hubby built a fire so they could lay in front
of it after they got done with the bath! Pebbles would lay on the pillow
for a little bit and then run to the kitchen and run back and jump on the
pillow again!She did this like 5 or 6 times! It was soo funny.
Have a great day!!
Hugs,

Update on me and a Micheals Question

Hello,
Nothing new to report from the drs appointments this past week. The appt. with the pain dr was canceled and moved to this week since I have not been able to use the stimulator. The appt with my surgeon, lets just say I should have stayed home. I saw the PA again and he said their was no decisions that he could make since the battery wasn't charging well. It picks up in one small spot only and it has to be pressed very hard against my body. I was finally able to get it charged to 3 bars today and that is holding it against my back for several hours!!!! Not a happy camper here!!! Also, the rep said it may not be picking up because of my FAT!!!!! Okay, I have not gained a pound since he met me in Oct!!! I was heavier that day than the day I had surgery. I actually lost 5 lbs between Oct-Dec because of my nerves!! I wonder why!!!! So, if that is the case and this thing isn't going to work!! I am considering a law suit!! Why put me through all the flippin pain and expenses if they thought I may have been too big??? Could it have to do with pay outs to the dr, the representive from the company??? Oh, I was livid and still get fired up when I think about what he said. My hubby asked me how I handled it and I said I started firing off facts like I had lost 5 pounds from the trial till surgery and if they thought I was too heavy why didn't they mention it before now, like before my back was cut open from the skin area to the spinal area so part of my spine could be cut away so the leads could be attached??? He said, how did he respond?? I said, he shut up and shut up fast!!! I am so upset, I can't stand myself. Pain level has not been tolerable today!!! I was up up until 2am back up at 7, back up at 9 and finally slept from 10:30 till 12:30 while sleeping with my hand holding the charger against my lower back. I told hubby I needed out of the house, could we please go by Micheals to pick up the lovely items I have seen on others blogs and to the Hickory Antique Mall? He said, sure anything to help you feel better after he teased me about burning my canned biscuits at 12:30am while watching the Smurf movie!!! I ripped into him and told him he was acting like his Mother letting me have it about the negatives in my life!!! Oh, that made him so mad!!!! O:(O:( not a happy life-we have a sign I got at my fav primitive store that went out of business 2 years ago, It says If Mama ain't HAPPY Ain't Nobody HAPPY

Micheals-My Micheals dollar spot is no longer a dollar spot!!!!!!!!!!!!
Those cute goodies I have saw on everyone blogs are 1.50 in Hickory, NC!! Did the price go up in your stores or is it just here in NC??? Please let me know. I ended up not getting anything. Everything that the email told me was on sale was not marked on the shelf so I left and we went to the antique mall. It is a huge store!! It used to be a Sky City department store back in the 50s-80s! I have pictures of my real father(he was killed in an accident when I was 20 months old) working in the store! Any whoo, I found some little tart molds, 12 for 12.99, a small syrup dispenser for 6.95, a cute baby piggy bank for 3.50, and three sizes of tin biscuit cutters for 5.00. They charge .75 for paying with a debit or credit card so I wrote a check!! What the heck is up with charging to pay with a debit card or credit card??? We went to Fanstatic Finds and I found another bigger set of molds, 6 for 7.99, two tin muffin pans for a child's kitchen for 7.49, a Happy Apple for 9.99, and a set of vintage Raggedy Ann and Andy for 5.95!!!! Yep 5.95!! I thought the ticket had 9.95 on it so I don't know if the girl made a mistake or maybe they were on sale!They take each ticket off for the sellers so I don't have anything put the receipt and it is just prices. I like the stores that write out what the item is and how much it was. I hope to take pictures of my goodies soon. I need to upload more pictures to the computer so I can post all the amazing items I got in December from swaps, trades, and goodies I bought!

On other news. Those that follow my blog know that we have two homes about 5 minutes apart. My husband inherited the house when his oldest brother died unexpectly in 2004!! It was the worst day of our lives so far. My hubby and his brother, Corky, were extremely close!! They did remolding work every weekend for years. My bil had never married and the will couldn't be found(another story for another time) so my MIL inherited everything. My bil owned 4 homes and 3 trailors. He rented the 3 houses and the 3 trailors, when they became vacant he would redo the entire house for the new tentants! He was an awesome man!!! He was a simple man who liked simple things. He also loved to go antiquing with us!!I miss him so much but I can't live in his house!!!! Am I crazy?? It is a ranch style home. It was built in the 60s. So now that my daughter has moved out of it we are going to redo it to and furnish it and decorate it in a 60s decor!!
So girls, I need your help!! Please feel free to send me ideals, pictures, anything that you know about the 60s style of decorating and what dishes I have to choose from, what colors were popular, are there books that you know about that I can get ideals from. My hubby thinks the house was built in the mid-60s right around the time we were born!! Me in 65 and him in 64!! It has three bedrooms, one bath with the original cast iron tub still in the home, wood floors in all the bedrooms and the formal living room. The kitchen and dining room are a lot bigger than at my house!!! I love to cook and have family gatherings there!! My bil enclosed the original carports and made that a huge den. My hubby installed a laundry room for my daughter in that part of the house and we need to finish that and I can't wait to decorate it with vintage wash boards and miniature clothes like I have seen on lots of blogs!! Then there is a two car garage! Also, there is four outbuildings on the property! One part of one building houses the pool table that was given to my hubby years ago but we didn't have room for it so my bil built a building for it!!Gosh, I miss him!!! He was such a keeper and he was hurt very badly by a girl when he was young!They were engaged and she broke it off for another guy! He never got over it!! He never dated that we know about, but he was a long haul truck driver for 29 years so we always imagined that there were girlfriends somewhere!! Oh, I tried to fix him up and it would last for a month or so and that was that!! But, lordy he could dance!! He loved oldies music and could shag like nobody's business!!! We would clear the furniture and him and my friend Judy would shag the night away!!! Oh, I miss him, did I mention that!!!!He drank Canadain Mist and sundrop so we keep Canadian mist in the freezer and the sundrop in the fridge in the kitchen there!! We keep it there!!!!We used to stay at that house on the weekends. We fixed it up and refurnished it in 2006. I had some online friends coming for a visit. That year, we hosted Thanksgiving and Christmas for hubby's family there and we would stay there on the weekends and when hubby was off work.
The back bedroom is pretty much the way my bil left it! I have always called it the Saloon bedroom. He loved westren movies. That bedroom has the red and gold velvet wallpaper like you see on Gunsmoke in some of the scenes. He had a big full size brass bed, a vintage dresser, a mini organ, and a bedside table. He had black and white prints of John Wayne, Roy Rogers, Gene Audry, hanging in there. My daughter's cats have scratched the wallpaper in several places but hubby says there is another roll or so there so he can fix it. There is a white iron bed in there now. We had to replace the dresser he had with a newer one than the one that was in there, it is still vintage just not that vintage!! So, we are going to keep that the cowboy room. I saw some cute cowboy things today but I will get them later. One bedroom I want to do as a child's bedroom and fill it with vintage toys. So, I am on the hunt for a vintage doll house, doll furniture for baby dolls, and I am going to get vintage boy toys too. I have a vintage hobby horse that my fil bought for my son. I just have to have hubby put it back together.
Ok, I have rambled enough!!! Please, please send me your ideals, pictures, color suggestions, any books you know of!! Just help!!! PLEASE!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh, if anyone is looking for the blue pryex bowls, the orange and yellow pyrex dishes. Hickory Antique Mall has a vendor that has shelf after shelf of them and the prices were pretty good too. 27.45 for the three blue pyrex bowls, and the orange and yellow pieces were all between 10-30 each. I did see three square pyrex bowls in red, yellow, and blue for 70.00 firm. Don't know if that is a good deal or not. I am on the hunt for a grease bowl by pyrex or fireking. I would even like the metal or tin one.
Thanks girls and please keep me in your prayers. I have drs appts on Thursday and Friday this week!! If this stimulator thing doesn't start working soon I do not know how I am going to make it!!!
Hugs,

Welcome 2012!

I hope everyone had a wonderful New Year's Eve and Day! At my house, hubby and I both had the dreaded crud, so we spend the weekend lying around the house! We both felt so bad that nothing much happened. I did manage to keep the dishes washed and the laundry done but that would zap all of my energy for the day! The sad fact is that we both feel horrible. Hubby has to return to work tomorrow and I feel bad for him! I have two drs appt this week. One with the pain dr and one with the surgeon. I hope to get some good news on the device and hope they can give me some good news about the pain in the upper incision. The lower incision swelling goes down for a day or so and then comes back so we will just have to wait and see what it does on Wed. Please keep me in your prayers. I will be back to post pics of all the goodies I got from wonderful blog friends during December.
Hope all is well with you guys!
Hugs,
Lynn