Lisa Vollrath is at it again with her wonderful Christmas Countdown!
http://countdown.tentwostudios.com/

These are free images to use in your own personal artwork.

Me? I'm alright... can't do much, but I get to go online once in awhile... ; )

I'm putting them under a ( cut )

I've been home since Sunday. It's good to be home...

Hubby got a call from one of our friends from church. Apparently, someone added me to a prayer chain and Lupe saw my name. Bless her! She made me a big, hearty, hot pot of vegetable soup! I can only eat soft things right now and it was perfect! Her wonderful son, Tony, brought it over (Lupe's husband is disabled and can't be alone). Tony is like a brother to us and we hadn't seen him in soooo long! It felt like he was coming over for the holidays. lol...

Well, the oldest girl faked on the younger girl and went to Berkeley and San Francisco yesterday. U'i was stuck doing all the work on her own. She made pie crusts. Poor thing was so stressed at first, cuz the crust wasn't coming out right. I tried to help, but yeah, right... I just told her, "U'i, you'll be making perfect crust after the 15th or so..." "Mom!!!" we both laughed and I left her to it. She actually did get the hang of it around the sixth crust.

Lia had to work today, but she "promised" she would be here after to help with the cooking... yeah, we'll see...

As for my arm... WOOHOO!!!! I AM PAIN FREE!!!!!! My throat and neck is another story, but that's just cuz of the surgery. I CAN USE MY ARM AND HAND AGAIN!!!! I'm already itching to make something... ; )

hopefully, next week I'll have the energy to pull my stuff out again... ; )

I'm home. Sorry I couldn't get my kids to post anyting for you. Surgery on Thursday the 20th and came home on Sunday. I didn't do well with the pain meds-kept throwing up- so they wouldn't let me go home. Glad to be here. Exhausted and still a bit nauseous, so I'm going back to bed. This collar really, reeaaaallllyyyyyy sucks...!

Real quick... they postponed my surgery! I was in the hospital for about three hours, when the nurse came over and told me the wanted to postpone 'til tomorrow! The hospital was too backlogged... ugh! I have to return tomorrow around the same time, but they said call first! Whatever...

Well, I went to the doc's today for the final check up before surgery. All the blood work and stuff was good and I'm ready to go. Doc said the surgery will take at least 4 hours, so think of me starting at 2pm PST. LOL! I get one of those cool (ahem) collars to wear for 8-12 weeks (? I thought it was 6-8!) after.

And, one of my biggest concerns, my hair is safe. No cutting necessary. LOL! It may drive me truly insane during recovery, so you never know.

Almost finished cleaning and putting my stuff away. Sigh... Although I won't be able to journal anything while this stuff is going on, I told my family they have to take pictures of everything, then I can document it after. Today, I received my x-rays and MRI's, so I'm gonna take pictures of them! I'll try and post some later. ; )

I saw where my neck bones are messed up... kinda scary! Looks cool tho! The doc even made notations on the MRI.

Hubby is doing good, but getting really antsy. He's ready to go back to work (do you see me rolling my eyes?). Thankfully, he has been very faithful to icing his knee constantly. He should be more than ready for work when his time is up.

It's a beautiful day today! Nice and bright, but still a bit chilly, so hubby and I are gonna go hang out in the back yard!

An Etsy artist, Megan M. Eckman, is giving away a free mini print of her artwork on her blog: Studio M.M.E. Blog

The choices are really nice! I'm hoping for the Mini Ophelia... ; ) Two winners to be chosen on 11/21!

One of my wonderful friends, DJ, did one of those quizes to see what colors of the rainbow she was. Thought it was interesting and gave it a try... well, I'll be! What do you think CB? You know me best... ; )

It was actually an outpatient procedure. Everything went smoothly and he was home before noon.



See the little cooler on the floor? It circulates icy water into the blue wrap on his knee. He was told to use the machine as much as possible; even during sleep. He actually likes it, 'cuz it reduces the pain quite a bit. Our crummy couch is not very comfortable though, so he has to constantly fidget and adjust his pillows.

I was pleasantly surprised to find that my rose bushes are still blooming. Actually, it's still very mild here.



This next rose is sooo beautiful! It's actually a deeper red, but I guess with the morning light being so bright, it lightened the color a bit. Still pretty vibrant, yeah?

I'm still doing a little bit of art. I'm working on an accordian-fold book made of left over watercolor paper. I painted the panels with tube watercolor, and I'm laying down collage right now. Not sure what I'm doing, but isn't that how it usually is?

Hubby is ready for his surgery tomorrow. We went to Mass tonight to squeeze in a little more grace. ; ) These past several days have been really good for hubby. He's been going to Mass, adoration and confession a lot and it shows. He's in a better state of mind. I pray that he sticks to it!