books and bottles and cartons oh my!

i am currently working on a 2 page spread in one person's round robin book, fixing up 3 cartons for the "art in a carton" project. i just got the next book i'm doing a 2 page spread in for my round robin group, so that will have to be figured in too! and i got MY book back! i am so excited to finally see it! i love all the time, effort and talent that went into it by all these friends/artists i've come to know. i must say i'm a bit "hooked" on this whole altered book round robin thing! lol

just as a side note... i filled an extra bottle with tons of artsy stuff, and i sent it to our daughter-in-law for our 3 yr old grandcaughter elena. the afternoon it was delivered, it was late for them so they set aside the bottle. when it turned out to be way too late once they got back home for the evening, patricia (my daughter-in-law) decided they woudn't open it up till the next day because it would just be too much of a mess right before bed. so what does my granddaughter do? she sleeps with the bottle! lol kids are just so darn precious! well, most of the time! lol

only a few days left till my surgery! i go in on monday for pre-op check and also things like paperwork, going over the procedure with me/us, checking in with the anesthesia dept, etc. i'm excited over the whole surgery and having to be finally done! but am not very excited over how complicated and long the procedure will be. i know, i know, they told me it was major surgery. but i talked to somone the other day that had a friend who just had this procedure done, and they spent 3 days in the ICU before being put into a regular room! omg! the ICU! i hope that i will do well enough to just go straight into a regular room. but you wanna know the funniest thing about this whole situation? the thing that i dread the most? THEM PUTTING IN THE STUPID IV!!! LOL yep, that tiny little needle in my hand or arm. i don't know why, it just hurts so bad! i think it is because my veins like to roll away and disappear when they try to stick them... you think they are shy or something? lol they better cooperate this time!

here i am, once again spending over half my time in the land of ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz due to pain meds. i had started taking them only when i absolutely HAD to because there wasn't going to be enough to last me till i go in on monday. but the nurse had miscalculated the date (i was originally suppose to go back on the 13th, but then it changed to the 20th for the pre-op check) and the amount of pills when they gave me my new presription. i'm suppose to take 1-2 pills every 4-6 hours as needed for pain. i guess it just depends on how much pain you're in and what degree you are willing to deal with every day. nope, i don't like taking drugs, if there is any way to avoid it! but i'm following the instructions for these pills and taking it very seriously. i'm taking the pills as needed, but just about every 4-5 hours. it is finally taking care of the pain again, but of course it knocks me out just about every time! ugh! i spend so much time sleeping, it's rediculous! *sigh* i am just always so tired. i am taking them enough to keep on top of and get rid of the pain, but damn! that's ok, just a few more days till i have surgery, then i can proceed onto my recovery first at home for 3 months, and then i will start working on my physical therapy. as scary as the surgery could be, i'm just trying to keep my eye/mind on the outcome, when i am healed and better. when i can actually function better and live my life to the fullest extent! stupid things like walking around the mall shopping, going up and down the basement stairs to do laundry, walking our dog, going to the park with my granddaughter, and for that matter even flying on a plane or sitting in a car for a long drive somewhere! i can't do those simple things right now! if i try, i end up in so much pain! but i'm determined to get over this, and to have a better quality of life.

well, i suppose i've rambled on way too much, again! but that's ok, it is MY blog after all. lol i'm working on putting things into cartons for my "art in a carton" project. i've really want to get them sent out before i go into the hospital for surgery. but if for some reason i don't get them sent off, i know my mom and ann will help me get them out later next week! i'm planning on including some special things to make up for how long it has taken for me to get them out and on their way to their recipients. i've already had mine for a couple weeks, and i just love it! i feel bad that the ones i am making are taking me so long, but i really didn't foresee my back/health taking such a turn for the worse. i'll keep plugging along and i'll get them done and on their way.

i've also packaged up a few other packages too. my mom wanted to send a pkg to my neice and her two little girls; kind of a combined birthday thing for all three of them! so i took 3 according books that i made and decorated them for each of them. tied them up with a pretty satin ribbon and popped them into a large plastic bottle (clean and dry of course! lol), my mom loved the whole message in a bottle idea and she wanted to send this to them in a bottle. we also put in pretty purple curly ribbons, some candy for all of them to share, some sticker sheets, and a couple other surprises. now i have to tape it up really securely and get it labeled so my mom can send it out. i've also got a pkg boxed up to go to our granddaughter elena whose 3, she'll be 4 on dec 3rd. there are some clothes that i forgot to pack in her suitcase when she went home from her last visit with us, some candy to share with her momma, a surprise for Bob (their dog!), some art/scrapbook supplies and some sparkly ruby slippers just like dorothy from the wizard of oz! lol she saw something with that, maybe an episode of dora or something, and she loved the shoes, so we just had to get them when we saw them at the store! i hope she loves them and that they fit her! lol i've also packaged up a very special halloween book that i made with a bunch of fellow artists recently it is a Vintage Halloween Fatbook. Now, the vintage halloween is easily explained... at least some of the images on each page are from vintage halloween postcard images, with the different artists adding their own touches and embellishments to them. it is spiral bound and is just awesome! i am sending this to our grandson darien who is 8-1/2 yrs old, our granddaughter izabel who just turned 6, and they have to share with their baby brother who will be 2 yrs old in december. oh! i tucked in a surprise for them for some treats too! i can't wait to get all these goodies on their way to the kiddies. i really hope they like it! i took some pictures of the halloween book and i will probably publish them on my photo site and then just put the link here... that is so much easier when there are alot of pictures!

here's the link! http://justrho.myphotoalbum.com/view_album.php?set_albumName=album01 hope you enjoy the pics! it was so much fun to help create!

thanks for visiting and for reading! hope everybody's weekend is going well!

rho

bottles ready to go!

well, i've worked all day getting my bottles ready to send out! it's been totally fun and i have to say a very much needed distraction from the pain. my back is just feeling worse and hurting worse every day and my surgery date can't come soon enough! first it was set for oct 17th, but then they had to change it to oct 22nd. let's hope they don't have to change it again! i have enjoyed being a part of this "Message in a Bottle" activity. i'm not sure if it was more fun to RECEIVE the bottle or to PACK them to mail out to others! LOL great idea! i will be taking them to the post office tomorrow to start them on their journey. i hope they are greeted by many smiles!

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle... even with art!

well, besides the last two entries i've made hear having to do with mailing contents in a container that was previously used for something else, i am having alot of fun with my friends on the RR group i belong to. several of the ladies have been sorting through their "stash" and were sweet enough to make up goodie boxes and send to the other members of the group. just odds and ends, pieces and tid bits, misc findings, etc. these are things that maybe they got a package of and only needed a few, printed and solid scrapbook paper that was mostly used but there's still enough there to use on smaller projects, remnants of all kinds of specialty papers that you just can't stand to throw out but may never use yourself, yarn, seashells, die-cuts, etc. etc. etc. i spent my evening watching tv and sorting through all my new *treasures*, and that is exactly what they are to me! i wish i would have taken pictures of the boxes of goodies when they first arrived. i guess i was too excited to get them to think about taking pictures! lol thank you stacy and kimberly! i love all of it! i am also in the process of sorting, reorganizing, and taking stock of my craft studio. i have boxes all lined up that i am filling for each of my RR friends. i'm thinking making up the boxes is almost as much fun as getting them! LOL i love the idea of artists sharing and using all that can be used from the wonderful supplies we aquire. it's a shame when something wonderful gets thrown away because someone considered it trash after using what they needed out of it. artists, especially ALTERED artists can use just about anything of just about any size! just ask us! lol of course alot of our friends and family think we've totally got a screw loose... but that's ok... if that screw loosens up too much and falls out, we'll just use it for an art project! LOL here's to recycling art supplies!

Message in a Bottle washes ashore!!!

well, another neat little project i'm part of... message in a bottle from http://www.gomakesomething.com/ ... i got my first bottle yesterday. now, it was partially broken open, but i don't think anything fell out??? hopefully not. but what was inside is awesome and i'm going to have so much fun playing with these wonderful new goodies! i can't wait to send off my own bottles to their recipients! too much fun.

a P.S. to this post... my mail carrier said that he got this as a redirected mail. meaning it got delivered to someone else. he didn't remember delivering it, which he said he really WOULD remember delivering THIS! LOL so it had to have been a substitute carrier. so apparently i would have gotten it sooner than this, but at least i finally got it! i'm glad whoever it was delivered to was honest enough to give it back so it could make it's way to me!