Christmas Project 2017...

This year mom tried to get one passed me. I suppose she forgot I’m her daughter and nothing gets passed her daughters! It is simple, creative, and so meaningful to involve family.

This year’s Christmas project is a family present just for me. A collage to adorn one of my Dorm room walls. It was Mom’s idea to ensure I had a little piece of home & family with me.

Project Supplies can be purchased any Walmart, Hobby Lobby, or Michael's:

•    5x5 Canvas Panels
•    Acrylic Gesso 
•    Acrylic All Purpose Craft Paint
•    Paint brushes
•    Krylon Crystal Clear Acrylic Coat
•    Your Imagination

Step 1:

Prime the canvas with Gesso. I coated my board with 2 coats (allowing 1^st coat to dry before adding another). I painted in one direction and then 2^nd coat in the opposite direction. This really helps with paint absorbing into the canvas and saves on the amount of paint you use.

Step 2:

It's all about your imagination. For my project, each family member painted something that would remind me of them or something about me. There's no right or wrong here people!

Step 3:

Once the canvas is dry, spray a coat of the Krylon Crystal Clear. This provides a permanent, protective gloss coating that will not yellow with age.

I can’t wait to see this thoughtful present displayed on my dorm room wall. It's still a work in progress with more family members joining in. I'm feeling the love people!

How I long for Yesterday...

There's a Beatles song in my play list I've listened to many times but never really could relate. Today, I finally get it and oh, how I long for yesterday. Throughout my life I’ve met people who have provided guidance and encouragement. Of those I’ve cross paths with there are five individuals who have molded me into the person I am today.

My Grandmother was one. She encouraged my love of music. In the 1930s, with no technology, families spent time together. Time at the dinner table in conversation or in their living rooms listening to music. My great-grandfather played the fiddle and instilled the love of music in his children. Yesterday… I can close my eyes and see a vivid memory of my grandmother in her rocker listening to me play the violin.

Yesterday… A gentleman and a scholar who mentored my little brother and I for 4 years left this earth after suffering a heart attack. He instilled a love of mathematics in both of us. I never understood numbers until he opened my eyes to the wonders of equations and their possibilities. His guidance steered me in the direction of my future career path of Sciences and Math.

The last moment he spent with both of was working through an equation with me and telling my little brother how proud he was of him. My little brother scored the highest score EVER at our local college on a College Algebra asset test. Yes, he’s only a freshman in high school and this loss will have a tremendous impact on him.

 This man has shoes that are going to be hard to fill. A teacher, a mentor, a gentle soul. He impacted the lives of so many students. His loss will be felt forever.

Sun is getting low in the sky and those leaving our town have no idea a gentle soul has departed the earth. For me, I can’t seem to find an in between. Just hate the way things must be. Life seems cruel, people are cruel, and the way people go is just cruel. Crying and time will heal the souls left behind longing for yesterday.

Boyfriends Back...

Sorry Dad...

My Tony is here for the holiday weekend and he couldn’t have come at a better time. I seem to be experiencing some changes... OK... more like pulling my hair out on the friend front. You know me and drama. We just don’t sync.

What is it about “girls” who want what they can’t have… and THEN when they finally get what they’ve been scheming for… they screw it up. It’s like a bad daytime soap that you can’t walk away from.

Why does life have to be so complicated? Ever heard of the band Cheap Trick? I want you to want me... easy right and end of story. If only life could be that easy.

Tony always seems to pick the best time to save me from the drama of small town USA. In the words of Sponge Bob Square Pants,  “It was the best day ever!”

I just love that boy!

Spontaneous...

Spontaneous can be awesome word. I believe I’m the type of person who can be spontaneous and flexible when needed. Okay… in my own mind I am. Tony might beg to differ.

So, no post last week as a situation spontaneously unfolded which left my family scrabbling, panicked, worried, and mentally exhausted. What my family wasn’t prepared for last week was the power of human body and its ability to be Spontaneous.

My little brother, whom I adore and just had the best day ever with (Homecoming), was experiencing chest pains and shortness of breath while in class. He has such a high tolerance for pain so, imagine NERD BOY leaving class to go visit the school nurse because he can’t BREATHE!

After a quick assessment by the nurse an ambulance was going to be called but my father works on campus so he opted to drive him to the emergency room.

Wait for it… he was diagnosed with Spontaneous Pneumothorax. A collapsed left lung. Apparently, the condition is seen in young men in their 20s who are tall and thin. My brother is:

ü  Tall

ü  Thin

ü  20 years old… whoa… wait… what… um 14??

No rhyme, no reason, no logical explanation by specialists. After a day of wait and see his lung had collapsed below his 4^th rib. He was admitted to hospital and placed on oxygen therapy. Solution stick a tube in his chest to allow the escaped air a way out. Unfortunately, the risk outweighed the benefit.

He endured an IV which was inserted by a nurse whom… let’s just say wasn’t used to dealing with pediatric patients. My father about went "bat shiz crazy" on her. My parents endured question after question about trauma he may have experienced… accident, physical trauma, no… no… no… 

And finally, he was a medical celebrity of sorts. This hospital had never seen a Spontaneous Pneumothorax in a child this young and all their nursing students wanted front row seat to the TUBE procedure. The whole time this was unfolding my mother said the only thought in her mind was, "get the hell out of my lane!"

After the longest 72 hours in our family history he was stable and lung slowly starting to repair itself. He described the episode as being hit in the chest by a Semi. We are hoping this is a onetime episode but who knows. We shall WAIT and SEE.