Ch...ch...ch...changes

Okay, I know it has been forever since I last wrote. I’m hanging my head in shame. I have good intentions, always, but I have bad follow through.

I can blame a few things I suppose. I was teaching and vending at Art & Soul in Portland in October and got sick while I was there. I think it was food poisoning. My own fault really. I shouldn’t have ordered the Bloody Mary with the olives. I think the olives might have given me the food poisoning. Fortunately, it occurred after I was done teaching. Vending night was a bit of a challenge but very worth it from a personal view. A former student who is very, very ill came around to many of us who had at one time or other been and instructor to her and thanked us. Thanked me for the influence I had in getting her going in book binding. Oh, my, my eyes are tearing up when I think of it. It was so kind of her to honor us all in such a way and so humbling to me. It’s sometimes hard to remember the effect we can have on those around us. A word, a smile, you never know how it may change a life.

I spent some of my time working on class proposals. I was having a great time with them but I wasn’t loving the paper work. It brought out my procrastination gene and it was like walking through mud until I’d get another proposal written. I am done with that for a while but the ideas are still rolling around (thank you to the muses) so I’m trying to keep that all going and fresh while saving some stuff for future proposals. The pictures throughout this entry are some of the classes I’ve been working one.

Beading and knitting have been taking a share of my time as well. I sign up to do a beading project with a piece each month to kind of journal our impressions of each month. Way I’m behind. It started in September and I just got September’s done. I have ideas and plans for October and November so it’s not so bad. Fortunately, this isn’t the kind of commitment that has other folks waiting on me. Nope, I only have to satisfy myself but know that there is a group of folks out there doing the same thing and sharing the experience is kind of cool.

Knitting is something I learned from my mom when I was fairly young. I remember women in church knitting away , listening to the sermon, without anyone thinking a thing of it. Try that now a day. Don’t think it’s quite as accepted these days. I could be wrong though. Most of the women then were knitting bandages and scarves. I can’t even image knitting bandages, though my grandmother did. And a doctor cousin of mine, who worked in Africa for a while, attested to how wonderful those bandages were. Anyhow, I have knitted a couple sweaters for donations (here’s a link if your interested http://www.dailyguideposts.com/giveaways/ClassicT-Top.pdf) and a scarf or two and I’ve even made a shrug for myself. Now I’m working away on presents for the holidays.

On a personal note, I was recently diagnosed with sleep apnea. It was quite a relief, actually, to have the diagnosis. You see, I was exhausted all the time. I really mean all the time. Bone deep, mind sapping exhaustion. And it had been going on for years. After a night with a tone of probes attached to my head it was determined that I have severe sleep apnea, as in, during an hour of sleep, I’d stop breathing 98 times. In one hour, mind you. Which also meant, that I wasn’t getting good sleep, at all. Strain on the heart and all the main organs, etc. Augh. No wonder I’d fall asleep at the drop of a hat. I’d be falling asleep all day long. Good thing I worked at home. Can’t begin to imagine how embarrassing it would be in public. I knew it was BAD, when I almost fell asleep while I was teaching a class (it didn’t happen, thank goodness, but I had to keep moving like a land shark). Anyhow, I now have a C-PAP machine (Constant Positive Air Pressure). I’m still adjusting to it as I now have to wear a mask each night that covers my nose and has straps that go around my head. But I have actually had nights of full sleep, five or six hours of sleep with only brief awakenings to adjust the mask. And I not getting up all night long to go the bathroom.

So now, now, that I am getting good sleep and rest, I stay awake all day long (which was very rare before). While I’m not yet getting much more done than I did before, I am seeing the possibilities of it. I’ll have more time, lots more time, to create. So watch out , world. Here I come. :-)

Comments

[Chris]

Oh Doris,
The new class samples are very fun! Your work is always inspiring. Can't wait to see what is born from all that sleep you will be getting from here on out. So happy for you dear one.
Hugs,
Chris

[linda and opie's burnt offerings]

hi you sweet thing. love the pic of you and your man. wishing you a very happy holiday.

[~*~ Patty]

Really fun catching up with you again Doris! Still have happy memories of A&S last May in Hampton, no wait it might have been the year before....golly gee!!!
There is no substitute for a good nights rest, SO glad you'll be enjoying those from here on out!
Happy Healthy New Year to you and yours + Brightest of Blessings Always!!! oxo