Complications in Life

I have been doing a lot of thinking lately... which is not unusual for me in between this busy life I am living. My son's school lost in the playoffs last Friday night so that means no more football games. Yeah! It means rest for us. It means less practices for him. It means less running, rushing and less use of gas even though gas prices came down here. Still praying they will come down more.

I noticed on Facebook that some of my friends were doing daily thankful posts which was nice. When I read them, I would have been 13 days behind if I were doing them. I didn't have a real urge to do those or try to catch up. That did not mean I wasn't thankful. I am thankful every day. On Veteran's day, I did post a thankfulness to my Grandaddy, father, husband and many uncles for serving our country. I only wished I could have posted pictures of them, but I have their pictures in my mind and heart always. Those thankful postings were just one less thing I had to do in my now busy life.

I had my ups and downs as always. I had things happen I only discussed in emails to my closest friends. As always I was thankful for all my friends who are always there for me; who have my back; who let me vent; who pray for me. Don't know what I would do without them. Don't want to find out. I have been disappointed a lot lately but it doesn't get me down.

I have noticed my picture taking has been few and far between, but I am not worried. I am just more selective about my picture taking. I still create small art whenever I can. I still try to brighten everyone's day with good emails and artistic ideas. Like I need more! LOL I have done a few good deeds and Random Acts of Kindness. I have developed my own style; my own signature art now. I like it. It makes me happy and that is all that matters.
Sometimes I complain a lot althougth I try not to complain much. Who wants to hear a constant complainer? Lately I have been thinking about the complications in my life. Nothing major. I always help everyone else but who helps me? Maybe I have been feeling a bit sorry for myself. I am entitled. I thought about these complications... like hHow my son makes me late. How he forgot his instrument when we are at the car this morning! Where is his brain? Then I thought , if I did not have all these complications, I probably wouldn't have a life at all. I would be all alone. So I will gladly accept all my of my man complications in life - thank you very much!

I was disappointed today but I didn't let it get me down. Instead I created my own art, displayed it so I can look at it. My art made me happy. I made it myself. I made art. I made my own happiness.

What are you thankful for this week? Care to share? Then please join us at the following...
http://womentakingastand.blogspot.com/
Now I had not read Laurie's post before composing mine but mine is sort of similar to her's. Love it when that happens as if it was meant to be.
~theRAV~

Ps. I tried to leave a comment on Laurie's blog but it wouldn't let me!

My BFF Penny

I have written of my very funny, talented BFF before. She always makes you laugh. She has the God given voice of an angel. Penny had breast cancer a few years ago but is a survivor. She had to leave her family in order to stay with her mom in another state because he mom has the dreaded Alzheimers. As if that wasn't hard enough being so far from her family, her loving hubby, and 3 growing daughters, tending to her mom, she recently has had a rare form of skin cancer come up on her back! She sent me an email which I read at work Friday morning. This was very uspetting for me. So much so that I was crying. No, this cannot be happening to her again! I cannot lose my BFF!  I can only imagine how it must be for her! Praying that they got it all and she won't have to have any surgery to remove more layers. Please keep my BFF Penny in your prayers. Right now she seems pretty upbeat. A friend told me that is a good thing; that it will help in the healing process. Hoping and praying for only good news for Penny. This made me realize my problems are small in comparison.

Rear Ended

Life was very busy being a band mom much less being a daughter, mother and the Dad the last two weeks. My life and art dreams were put aside so that my son could live his dreams being in his high school marching band. I was tired but I survived. Even the out of town band contest where I felt more than my age, discovered that it is nearly impossible to sleep on a school bus. Tired and very ill tempered last Sunday. No amount of sleep could catch me up. Hubby returned home safely and we were thankful.

Then it was back to the busy band routine of who picks him up what day only to be changed again by the band director on Monday! Such is the life of a band. Life had it's maddening moments but I got over some of them even though I was still mad. I am a mom dealing with a teenager now and I know this is only the beginning of a long road ahead. I have had to be the mean mom but I am thankful to be a mom; his mom. He really is a good kid and I love him with all my heart.

So you are going down this busy road that is now your life when BOOM! Out of nowhere you get hit. This morning I was headed to work when I got rear ended. I screamed!!! Still shaking from it. Thankfully no one was hurt. My car was okay but the poor girl that hit me has an even harder road ahead of her. Her brakes failed then her car wouldn't start. The policeman had to help her move it aside. She had to get someone to take her kid to school or the cop would have driven them. She will have to pay a fine now and probably cannot afford it. But we were okay. I am thankful.

Other drivers were very rude. One tow truck even yelled at the girl to get out of the road! A lady I went to high school was the only one who asked if we were alright. Later I called her personally to thank her for doing that small thing that meant more to me and the girl who rear ended me rather than thank her in an email. I told Cheryl that was her good deed for the day.

Wake up call. Take nothing for granted. Be thankful to still be here; alive. Be thankful Someone was watching out for you. Always pray and be thankful for safe journeys. Never take them for granted.   What are you thankful for this week? Care to share? Then please join us at the following...
http://womentakingastand.blogspot.com/
where Laurie had a wonderful post about a perfect life. I wish! LOL

Prayerful Not Thankful

This week I admitted to a friend I had not been as thankful for my many blessings as normal. I know that sounded bad. Instead of being thankful, I was more prayerful. I had two very specific prayer requests to begin this week... One was for my BFF Penny who had breast cancer a few years ago. She is a breast cancer survivor. She is staying with her mom in Savannah who has Alzheimer's and is many, many, many miles away from her family in Washington state. I cannot imagine being away from my child so I know her situation is very difficult for her. She has a history of cysts. She had a cyst come up behind her ear and had it removed but it swelled up so much that she had to find a dermatologist. More work was done on it requiring stitches which will be removed on the 9th. She also had another place that she thought might be skin cancer. Very scary when you have had cancer in the past. We are hoping and praying for the best. Prayers were my gift to Penny this week as well as a very special email.

Our preacher had a mishap with his truck that was scary. He is very lucky he was not hurt. We know WHO was looking out for him. Trucks and buildings can be replaced but special people in our lives cannot be replaced. Of course I was very thankful Larry was okay. All week I was in prayer over these two people as well as my immediate family, our house and my vehicle because my life is so busy now with my son's band activities. My life is as non stop as my prayers were this week.

Previously I had asked for prayer requests for Casey and I am still concerned about her. Each week she reveals more to me. Being the middle child she is expected to be just like her sisters. Why do mom's ask "Why can't you be like your sisters?" No child is alike. Each are different. Parents should treat all their children the same; love them the same. Not compare. This week I realized I have been mentoring Casey with art and religion. A lot of my friends are so glad that I can be there for her. So am I. I only wish I could do more for her. But the best gift I can give her is prayer and more prayers.

My mom was not feeling well this morning. She got up but felt bad so she went back to bed. She said she got up too fast so I will worry about her the rest of the day until I can see her again this evening. Please keep her in your prayers. Thanks.

I hope to get some much needed rest this long weekend. I have a few fun plans I hope God won't laugh at like the Jr Leaque attic sales, church yard sales, possibly the Cotton Pickin' Fair in Gay, Ga., a housewarming where I will get to see my old friends Mike and Anne, a church fellowship meal, etc. Then an extra day of rest.

I finished reading Eternal by J. K. Forrester. I discovered a book at the $ store entitled Inked Up by Terri Thayer. Here is a link... http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6110910-inked-up
It is about stampers. LOL My friend Anne says I should write my own book I it gave me more ideas. LOL So many books to write so little time.

This week I am happy and thankful for the many things I was able to pass on to others that made them feel better. Prayers were one of them. What were you thankful or prayerful for this week? Care to share? Then join us at the following...
http://womentakingastand.blogspot.com/

I Geek Art

We have this new fun thing at our local library. It is called "I Geek..." You can go on line and add what you geek. There is a billboard downtown. The library turned an entire wall into a giant chalboard where you can write what you geek. Yesterday afternoon it was a nearly blank slate. I looked in the cup for a pink piece of chalk and just had to write "I geek art" and signed it, "~theRAV~ because that is what I geek and who I am. Of course I had to take a photo of it. I really needed a damp cloth to get rid of the previouse white chalk still lingering but it will be a neat effect. This made me happy. I will post the pic later....I promise.

Several free postcards were lying on a table. I took three that had a guy saying "I Geek Art". I haven't sent postcards to friends in awhile. I got a few more postcards today that has a woman on one side who geeks vampires! LOL Couldn't resist.

I am currently reading Eternal by J. K. Forrester and loving it.

Don has a knot at one surgical site that is worrying me. He has not been feeling well but is not really allowing himself to recover. He wanted to go to the new hunting land today, but figured we would be of little help to him. I just do not feel he should be putting up deer stands a week after having surgery! I think I finally got through to him. I think he should call the doctor on Monday for an earlier appointment.

My cuz Lance from Idaho sent me funny art cartoons from his home state that made me laugh, art articles that gave me a page full of links to look at later. One article was about Doodling which is one form of art I do. Who knew there are classes for this? Others were about art studios. Ironically he sent cards. There just happened to be a really cute turtle one I can give to Tiffany for her birthday. It seems like he sent a timely package that had cards in it for her birthday last year or one year! Loved the turtle. His Boise seems to have a nice artistic community. It made me want to go there! LOL Once I check out these links, I will add them in another post.

I did finish a small piece of art today. It was a modern fancy font of F with blue polka dots and circles. I hung up some of my many spools of ribbon on the new idea I discovered... A hanger that holds several pairs of pants.

What do you geek?

The Scare

We had a scare last Friday night. I thought D was just mad R's school was losing the game. We had to leave early because D wasn't feeling good. I picked R up from school once the band bus arrived. D told us to go on to bed. At 2:30 am he woke us up to be taken to the ER. He told me to punch it because he was dying. I knew he wasn't dying but I did drive faster. It was his appendix which would have to be removed even though he had hoped he could keep it! LOL

Took R to Mom's so he could sleep. I texted our other grown kids at 8 am. The girls came to the triage room where we had some good laughs that continued in the or prep. Surgery was scheduled for 11 am. I worried that I shouldn't have let R sleep; that he wouldn't get to say goodbye to his Daddy. Elisa said a beautiful prayer for her Daddy that had all of us crying. I did go get R after D was taken down for surgery. All went well. He did good; was able to walk around later that night. He didn't sleep much that night because he was constantly peeing. He was released by the dr at 10 am but hospitals run on army time.... hurry up and wait. I felt he stayed up too long that Sunday myself.

I was so tired and exhausted and no one seemed to see this except R later in the evening who told me to go lay down. Then I got my 2nd wind because I cooked supper and made a desert! Too tired to work. Felt like I did not have a weekend. D ran fever that night. Just thankful he is okay and still with us.

You will be happy to know that Casey Anne (the young girl I teach Bible class on Wed nites) is doing much better this week. I had worried about her all week long. She and her ex-boyfriend have apologized to each other. Not sure I could have done that after what happened. She is a smart girl though. I am so proud of her. She told him they can't be friends, can't be around each other and hang out because she cannot go thru what she went thru last year again. So your prayers worked! Thank you for them!

My good friend Gil gave me a dream catcher this week. I decided to pass on his Random Act of Kindness (RAK) and give the dream catcher to Casey. I am SO glad I did now because she said she has been having a lot of bad dreams lately. I asked her to tell me about her dreams. She dreams something will happen to her fave grandma; her paternal one that she is the closest to of any family member. Casey often dreams of the old house her other grandparents (the Kings) used to live in. I told her that was because she was the happiest there. She agreed and admitted she hasn't really been happy in a long, long time. Casey is hoping the dream catcher will capture all her bad dreams now. So thanks, Gil for giving it to me. Your RAK was passed on to someone who needed it. You never know what the power of a RAK will do for someone.   This week I let small things get to me like paper issues which seem unimportant compared to other things that are far more important. No sense in getting mad over used, lost or undelivered paper when you have a lot more to be thankful for. What are you thankful for this week? Care to share? Then please join us at the following....
http://www.eph2810.com/

Positivity

You pray real hard asking for certain needs. The next morning you receive small gifts in the mail in the form of free labels, a few free sheets of stationary with Bible verses on it. Those labels have a tulip on it that matches perfectly the tulips you drew on your ongoing doodle on your desk.The one you just did not think was finished yet. You cut one tulip off a label and draw a black picture frame around it that matches the other 7 small frames. Frames within my art. This tiny tulip has the word LOVE on it. You cut out one of the tulips from the stationary which fits right in next to one you drew yourself. Serendipity. How cool is that?

Today you get a fortune cookie that says:
"God will help you over come any hardship."

How can it not be a good day when you know the Lord is speaking to you?  

Yesterday evening I had my 1st free moment. I thought I could print pics of Rhett in his new band uniform at Walmart but NO! Their machines were down as always. I so miss Wolf camera! It is never a wasted trip to Wally world. I found a tie-dyed piece of felt for 97 cents, I got black paper plates for the same price. Black paper plates you ask? We all know I am way over the hill! LOL Because of my positivity yesterday, I wanted to pass that on to my Bible class. Have them start looking for the positive in every day. After my lesson, I had a few things I had received in the mail such as junk mail, flyers, etc. We were going to cut positive words out and glue them on the black plate which would become a piece of their art.

Had to get some gas which I got at Walmart because it is USA gas. Had to go by mom's. She needed milk. I went to Lewis Jones on 13th. I get in line behind a woman who had to put some food back then found she could buy one more item. Sad. Mom's debit card wouldn't work even after many attempts. As you know, I am not a patient person. I needed to pick up my guys and to be at church! I did not have time for this! No other cards worked. The manager finally took me over to "his" register and of course it went through!

As I was putting the milk in the mom's fridge, I saw she was not completely out. She probably would have had enough. This probably could have waited til tomorrow. I just hung my head like Tom Selleck did in "Magnum, PI". Been here, done this before. Probably will do it again. The story of my life.

So I was late to class. When I walked in the room, I could see that Casey was upset & crying. It was about a boy she had problems with in the past. This is the guy she loves; a guy she almost broke her hand hitting a wall instead of hitting him! Casey had other problems at school last year that resulted in going to alternative school. She just got out of it and is back in her regular classes with her grade. At least she was not put back in the same grade as last year. Because of all this, she is seeing a counselor and not just one at school. Last night wasn't just about this boy. Casey brought up the subject of her father. She was very close to him, they did everything together and he just left one day about five years ago. Didn't say goodbye, kiss my foot or anything. She doesn't understand how a father could do that. Nor do I. Like most Dads who leave, he says he will come see her and then never does; says he is too busy. How can you be too busy for your child? Because she loves him, she is still nice to him which her mom cannot understand. Casey said being ugly to him will not make him do better. Please keep Casey in your prayers. She really, really needs them.

So sometimes life isn't always about the plans or the lessons we prepared. We have to put things aside to be there for others, friends, and our fellow church members who are in need. My topic for today was going to be about being positive. The word of the day is positivity. I can see this word in a fancy font on my black plate. LOL But life isn't about just being positive. It is about seeing others are in need and helping them even if it is only listening to them; letting them vent their problems. You may be the only one they can talk to. Lord knows when we make plans, He changes them. Plan all you want. Life will surely throw you a curve ball which takes you in a different direction with many detours along the way. I have always enjoyed detours because you get to see something you have never seen before. Last night I would rather have seen anything than Casey's sadness. Life is about being there for others, our family our friends, our church members, etc. Even if we have to miss another aspect of church or fellowship with others.

Casey did make a piece of plate art. I thought it might help her in some small way; to help get her mind off her problems. She used a Bob Marley quote she wrote herself and added a few other words to it. I took pics for her and for me. I wished that Casey and I could create and sell art together. We stayed in our room rather than joining the rest of the congregation at Casey's request. I told her we could so she could get herself together. I explained this to our preacher later.

Last night Casey was my wing man and as many, many, many times as I have watched "Top Gun", I know you always remain with your wing man no matter what.

So what positivity did you find this week? Care to share? Then please join us for Thankful Thursday at the following...
http://www.eph2810.com/

Ps.  I read where you could take a simple piece of copy paper, fold it in 4ths like a card. I cut my copy paper in 4ths so the top of the fourth would fit over my cardstock. I tore out a center, placed it on my card stock. I only had a limited number of stamp pads available but just had to try it anyway. I picked blue. I got a cotton ball and dabbed around the torn circle. Once I had stamped it and removed the copy paper, it revealed a cloud! I'd stamped it slightly heavier blue on the bottom which worked out well. So cool!