Hi Everybody!  Today's blog is a little different for me and a bit more difficult as well.  Some of you [if not all] know that I suffer from chronic pain.  I am 56[nearly] and have been in pain since I was 13.  I had a normal [ish] childhood.  Migraines were my poison then!  The older I got the worse and more often they got!!!
 I have always tried to have a positive attitude regardless of what was going on!
Fast forward to now.  Chronic pain can and will run your life...I can't do that ,it will hurt too much.  i don't dare walk to far, I won't be able to walk tomorrow.  I can't do this, I can't do that...until you are ready to scream!!!!  Chronic pain is a devil from hell and that is where we want him to go...right back to hell!!! Did you notice I said "him"?  LOL
Personally, I have found that the longer I have chronic pain the more it has become "normal". It is like waking up in the morning stiff.  Oh that's normal, I can live with that.  Oh my knee hurts, but no more than normal  I always have back pain,[sciatica], strain and burning in my shoulders, stiff neck, pain and tingling in my arms and legs, and I could keep going but you get the picture. But it is "normal" for me and I have learned to live with it....!.  My real enemy is headaches, they have been all along.  I literally have a headache every day!!  Someone would ask me how I was and I would say "ok, I have a headache...but that is everyday!"  It finally hit me last week that having a headache is right there with my other normal pains.  I don't say ok, my back hurts or my feet hurt etc... so why am I saying  I have a headache? True, I do have one but on a scale of 1-10 maybe it is a 2 or 3 or even a high 4. Are you following me here?
So last week I decided to not say I had a headache when some one asked..  I was going to say Great or Outstanding or Peachy [I like Peachy]!  I have done that everyday since last week! The headaches have not changed.  i still have pain everyday...But the significance that I give them is much less.  They still hurt but the importance is not there anymore.  They have become "Normal", not special and not a driving force in my life.
Now if i get a headache, it has to be a 5 or better on that 1-10 scale before I will give it any attention [meds, I only take tylenol or ibuprophen], fussing, cussing, crying[don't recommend this it only makes them worse] or what ever is needed. I have decided very clearly, very deliberately that headaches under a 5 will no longer have any sway over my life.  They are "normal".  Doing this takes practice and I have to believe it!
A lot of people have much more pain than i have.  This may not make sense to you or you might think I am crazy, [ you may be pretty close  LOL] but for me...this works!
Thank you so much for letting me ramble!!!  Share your pain here if you want!  I will always pray for your comfort and strength.  Let me know what you think!!! I really do want to know!!!
Please do not think I am make light of chronic pain.  i'm not,  I am however tired of the control it has over my life.  This is how i am taking back a little control!!!

 In January, I met this really great lady by the name of  Joann Hayssen!  She is an East Coast Angel who works with horses and loves lampwork beads, coffee and chocolate!  We are practically best friends now!!! Coffee and chocolate...yummm!  We exchaged belated Christmas gifts and all of the goodies you see are what she sent me!!!

The 2 bags in this one are [were lol] chocolates from a lady who makes here own in Andover, where Joann lives.  Joann said that the lady had been making chocolates for awhile and everybody loved them and then the store that carried the chocolates went out of business!  The Chocolate lady was devastated as were all of the people addicted to her wonderful chocolates.  They told her to open her own store and she did and I have to say they were really right to tell her to because they are wonderful chocolates. Then we have the spices!  The smell of this one is heavenly!  I have not used it yet but I can't wait!!

 More pictures of the chocolates, sadly they are all gone!  I have asked Joann if the chocolate lady sells them on line!:) 

Then we have the seriously pretty lampwork beads!!!

Promise rings from Susan G Komen

The cutest pair of gloves!

A mysterious box!?!?!?!

A really great key ring!  I am always losing my keys too!!! Maybe this was a sign?  What do you think?

Joann also included a really cute ornament of pine with Merry Christmas on it.  There is a little bit better of a picture up at the top of this post.  It is in the back on the top right!

All in all I made out like a bandit and more important than all the goodies, I met a wonderful caring person who is kind and sweet!!!  You can never have enough really great and caring friends.  I am Truly Blessed!!!

 I got a little carried with both taking pictures and painting metal today!  I need to seal these but I made them with my new Big Kick that I got from Michael's last week.  I was having some issue with the blank sheets of copper and silver for embossing, it seemed to me like it was entirely to thick.  So I went and bought some of the Vintaj blanks and found that they were the same thickness.  So I worked just a little harder and got a Bunch of blanks embossed.  And there they sat.  Well today was my day off and I sanded and polished and painted quite a few of them.  Not sure you can tell the colors very well but they are really great in person.  It was messy and a lot of fun.  Now that they are all on here and I gave you a bit of info, I am going to go back to beading!!!  Have a wonderful week!

 Wood from a bracelet I took apart!  love the way it turned out!

 Plain blanks on the right and on the left and below are some embossed and etched pieces.

Kind of hard to see the patterns but I used the embossing folders of the butterfly and the birds from Vintaj and the etching folder of the leaves.

You can see the pattern really well here.

 These are the paints and the sanding stick I used.  The stick is actually a large nail file/emery board that has several surfaces.  It works great and we got it from our local dollar store!

 Hopefully you can see these colors.  They came out great!

I finally got some pictures up for here just now!!! LOL.  I still don't know how to do this very well! But they are here!  This first picture is the Week 7 of the Year of Jewelry Challenge... Off the Cuff.  This bracelet is made of a chain bracelet I got a while back, kind of chain maille,[ I am still trying to learn how to do that], and a pewter colored filigree piece.  I attached it to the chain with big o rings and use the o rings to put my charms on.  The charms are dangles that I made with turquoise dyed magnasite and crystals and a key , to turn the lock of your imagination!

 I usually know what something is going to look like when I start putting it together.  Not this piece,  It was quite litterally ...Off The Cuff.

So this piece is for the Year of Jewelry, Week 8, Multiples. Large ceramic focals lend drama and the crystals  and black round beads and bead caps tie it all together.  It is no a matchy matchy set but a coordinating set instead.  Multiple pieces that can be worn together or separate.

 And this piece is the Week 9 Year of Jewelry entry, week 9 is Simplicity.  This works for that!  Large oval pearly acrylic beads and cherry quartz[glass] with just a touch of silver toned spacers.

This next piece  is for the Non-Blogger,Blogger challenge on Bead Soup Cafe.  The picture is of an Ethiopian Market and the People that are there.  We are to use the picture to inspire us to make a piece of jewelry that speaks to us through this picture.  I thought the picture show warmth and tradition ans well as difference and aloofness.  It seemed to be a study in textures and contrasts.  I love the picture.  This is the piece that I created for it.



I really am having fun with all the challenges and the BSBP7 that I am in.  And I am in a person to person bead swap for sea urchin colors and I can't wait for that either!! 



I hope everybody has a Blessed week.


Always remember you are always in my heart and in my prayers, Love you all and GOD BLESS!!!