My Crafting Conundrum

I love to craft. For me it's a great way to relax, unwind, and get rid of stress. Sadly, I haven't been doing much crafting lately. Really, it's been several years since I've spent any significant amount of crafting and several months since I've done ANY crafting at all. Which means I should really give up my title as being the "Craft Queen" (a title bestowed on me by a friend).

It's not that I haven't wanted to craft, or that I haven't had any ideas (because OH the IDEAS!). I think the biggest reason I haven't been crafting is because my current crafting area (and the majority of my crafting supplies) is located in the basement. When we first moved into our current abode, I thought this would be a great place for my crafting area. It was quiet, I could keep the cats away from my projects, and there was plenty of space.

However, even with those great things going for the area, it hasn't turned out to be a great place for me to actually craft in. The area isn't a "finished" area so it can get quite dusty, it's rather dark with bad lighting (a drawback on two levels: poor working light and not conducive to creativity), and bad air flow (which is how I almost killed myself & the cats one day). The biggest drawback though, is that it's all the way down in the basement. This wasn't an issue when we first set up the area, but since then I was diagnosed with spondylitis which can leave me quite worn out at times and can make it difficult for me to go up and down stairs (a problem if I need/want things from the first or second floor and I'm in the basement).

Life as a Dinosaur: B-9, It's better than bingo!

Monday's surgery went off almost without a hitch. I say almost because apparently Bert was larger than anticipated and had entrenched himself in my abdomen for the long haul. It took the surgeon an extra half hour to pry him out, but she was victorious in the end and both Bert and Ernie ended up taking a trip to the lab for biopsy.

Late Tuesday afternoon, the surgeon called with the biopsy results. Both cysts are benign. This was not unexpected, but having the answer for sure is a relief. The surgeon also stated that she had seen signs of endometriosis during the surgery. We'll talk with her more about that when I go back for my post-op exam in a week or so.

Life As a Dinosaur: Introducing Bert & Ernie

It's been awhile since I last updated, but that's because I've been dealing with some new health issues. These issues aren't directly related to the AS, but they do affect it and how it's treated (to a degree).

This is what happens . . .

when I get new snow boots.

If you look really closely through the crack in the fence (on the right), you can kind of see a little snow.

That's right, after holding out for several years, last winter's snow fall had me giving up on the cute boots I had and looking for something a little heavier duty. (Oh, okay, so it also didn't help that the boots I was wearing last year should have been replaced the year before and were letting in all kinds of moisture through the cracks and such. But that is totally beside the point.)

Back when the first snow fell in late November, I started really looking for boots. Well, that first snow fall melted away pretty quickly, but I was sure it was only a matter of days (a couple weeks at most) that there would be much much more snow to replace it. I soon found a pair that would be great, except they were a teensy tiny one size too small. I bought them anyway, thinking that once the lining got matted down a little they would be okay. However, TheHusband wasn't having any of that kind of thinking. He went to two more stores just to find the right size. (Yeah, he's a keeper!)

Only thing is, since he went to all that effort, I've worn the boots a total of three (3) times. And I didn't really need to, I just wanted to. Last year around this time I was posting things like this or this (in Feb), but this year there's hardly any snow at all. When driving up to my mom's for Christmas, it felt more like we were going to visit for Thanksgiving (it's much more common to have a brown Thanksgiving that it is to have a brown Christmas).

I'm not complaining (much). After the brutality of last winter, it's kind of nice to have a reprieve. I would kind of like to be able to use my new boots though.

Thoughts on Forgiveness (part 2)

Part 1: Recently Watched: "Forgiving Dr. Mengele"

After watching the documentary "Forgiving Dr.Mengele", my heart and my brain really went into overdrive pondering the idea of forgiveness. As a Christian, it is a subject that I have heard about all my life. Mostly in regards to how Jesus died on the cross for the forgiveness of my sins and the sins off all mankind. It is  also something that I struggle with when it comes to forgiving those wrongs (perceived or real) that have been done against me.

What really got my heart riled up were some of the comments that others made about forgiveness after Eva Kor publicly forgave Dr. Mengele (the camp doctor at Auschwitz prison camp, who performed horrific experiments on the prisoners there, including Eva and twin sister). These comments included: