ANOTHER REALLY GOOD GIVEAWAY (OF COURSE, IT'S SOMETHING I WANT;)

Beach Tote Giveaway @ Reckless Bliss

Heidi at Reckless Bliss is sponsoring a beach bag giveaway for

Outer Banks Trading!

Head over and enter for a chance to win!

LET'S START MY "RETURN" WITH A FABULOUS GIVEAWAY!!

Cheryl at Tidy Mom is having an amazing giveaway of the SILHOUETTE machine +!

The SILHOUETTE is sleek and compact and can be used to cut vinyl, make cards and use it in your scrapbooking, plus even more!

Their website is full of help and their customer service is awesome!

The SILHOUETTE hooks up to your computer and cuts out the shapes/letters that tell it to.

There is also an online image store where you can purchase many different useful items!!

So, I would encourage you to hurry over to the Tidy Mom and enter my name (or your name if you must). On the site you will see the ways that you can enter this giveaway.

You will also love the Tidy Mom website. I've become a big fan of hers!!

Blessings to you all,   jan

SCRUB-A-DUB-DUB!

SCUM

no matter how hard you scrub

it's hard,

it's really hard to get off

once it's on.

you know what finally does the trick?

y'all do.

you've stuck with me

as I've been scum and not posted

in oh, so long.

how do i thank you,

the faithful?

I gift each of you

one million dollars.

Oh, wait,

I don't have one million dollars.

 

I'm ba-a-a-a-ck, girls!
and it feels so, so good.
I love you,
           jan

          

I NEED TO APOLOGIZE

I've been carrying guilt around with me for weeks now.

And it's gone on so long that there is nothing I can do

but throw myself on the floor at your feet and beg forgiveness.

How could I go so long without posting?

I also haven't read your latest blog posts.

I don't even have a good reason.

I've sat here day after day with my foot elevated,

it's been 12 weeks now.

It's not like I'm out standing on my street corner working.

I'm sitting.

In my bedroom.

Watching Memorial Day's "HOARDERS" marathon.

I'm beginning to like the look.

Shame on me.

I'm not even Catholic.

My dog is, but I'm not, so I don't understand why that nun's scowling at me. . . . .

I'm not too busy,

I'm lazy??

It's possible.

All I know is that I'm sorry.

Please forgive me?

Yours in scum, Jan

PAPER COWGIRL IS BACK FOR YEAR THREE!!

I am very excited to tell you that the third annual Paper Cowgirl Art Retreat is being held June 24th - 26th, in Waxahachie, Texas, which is off I-35 south of Dallas.
And it's not called the Best Little Art Retreat In Texas for nothing!

It is an amazing weekend with the choice of different classes using different mediums, wonderful teachers and the best Texas (and a few other states will be represented - word has spread!!) artists/women/old friends/new friends that you would ever want to associate yourself.

Dale of Sea Dream Studio will be returning

as a teacher simply so she can strike her diva pose.

The above photo is a picture of the "Crown" swap at the 2009 P.C. Retreat

(Any one of those crowns would make Marie Antoinette beg)

Art + Laughter = peeing your pants Texas fun!! (Photo 2009 Retreat)

Most of you will remember my dear, sweet friend, Tina Wright, a woman loved by many, that passed this last January after a valiant battle with cancer. She was the co-founder of the Paper Cowgirl Retreat and she, along with Cindy Mayfield, co-founder, worked their bums off to make the retreats the best they could be. This year, after much prayer and thought, Cindy decided that Tina would want the retreat to continue on, so she *along with some little elves* have been working very hard for months! And the retreat just keeps getting better!

Sweet, wonderful Tina - she'll be there this summer, don't you doubt it.

If you're looking for a Texas retreat to attend, with very reasonable class costs, give-aways, fabulous swaps, wonderful sponsors (WHERE WOMEN CREATE and T.J. DESIGNS are two that I know of:), amazing food, shopping at antique/junk stores, the BEST scrapbook store I've ever been to, vendor's night *if you can't attend the retreat you are more than welcome to come to Vendor's Night*, and the most amazing women to spend a weekend with, then go to the P.C. blog and check it out!!

Vendor's Night - This is Texas, don't steal or we're gunna hafta shoot ya. Bring $$$

And, you can ask me any questions if you want. If I don't  have the answer I'll find it for you or direct you to the place your question can be answered.
I promise that if you come you will be blessed.

A girl geriatric attendee. We do not discriminate; we are Texans.

Oh! Oh! One more thing.
Geez, this is such an important part of the retreat, I can't believe I almost left it out! Whew *wiping my brow*.
One of the highlights of the weekend is when we have shots. You know, like at a bar? (I keep tellin' ya, this is Texas) Only ours are even better...................we have Frosting Shots! (haha - fooled ya) Homemade Frosting. Oh, man, I have to be rolled to my room every year!


On another note.....
Readers, y'all have been an amazing blessing to me these last l-o-o-o-ng weeks and I want to sincerely thank you. I'm working my way through all of the comments left on my last post and I will get to you eventually because I want to thank each of you individually for your support and kind words. I am so blessed.....

y'all are a blessing to me,
Jan

PARTS OF THIS POST MAY BE DISTURBING TO MORE THAN JUST ME

Hello, my sweet friends!

This is Part 2 of the "IT SUCKS TO BE ME" post of a few weeks ago. You'll recall that I fractured four of the metarsals in my right foot and received a spiral fracture of the tibia (the smaller bone that runs the length of your calf located next to the larger fibia) just above the ankle on my right foot.

Look, a diagram for you:)

If any of that interested you, you're ready for vet school or even med school. Give it some thought - you should see how much the surgeon made to put me back together...Oh, wait. Never mind. Obama. Yeah.

Okay, let us move on to the more fun aspects of my stupid injuries...Just below is a picture of the historic Nix Hospital in downtown San Antonio, built in 1930, where I had my surgery and where my surgeon's office is located. You can't tell, but it only has three sides!! It is so cool looking!

This is a close-up of the outside of the building.

I took the picture below while we waited for the valet to park our car.

Oh, this picture is so cool - it's a picture of the elevators in the lobby of the 'we're really expensive because we're a historical' hospital.

You can see the amazing brass relief in the elevator doors. These doors are the original ones. Isn't that something?

'

P.A. Ryan and Doctor Casillas' partner (can't remember his name - he filled in for the picture because Dr. C. was MIA) Check it out - both docs wear a suit and tie every day.

Oh, you'll love this. The guy on the left is James. He always does the casting. So, the first time we met, we were talking, and I was being congenial and asked him what his title was and without missing a beat he said, "housekeeping". ROTF!! We do have fun!

The guy next to him is Dr. C.'s other P.A., Pat - he's the one that keeps telling me I can't walk yet. He is mean and uncooperative.

I thought the stitching on my foot was interesting and though it's not my nature to look at things icky, I took these next two pictures to give you an idea of what went on. See the pins sticking out of my foot? I did throw up a little in the back of my throat when I focused in on those - Woah!!! And you can see some of the staples that run up my leg where they went in to fix the spiral fracture on my tibia. There are pins, screws and plates in my foot and leg.

No more polka for me.

If you are finding this fascinating rather than a wee bit disgusting, I would get an application for vet school.

These are the stitches on the inside of my foot (and my swollen ankle). Yeah.

James from housekeeping getting my foot and leg ready for my RED cast. ...Did you know that they don't make casting in pale pink? I even looked on the internet; just neon pink which is for someone other than me.

I'm James' favorite as is evidenced by the purple band at the top of my cast.

My mom is my #1 nurse and I couldn't have gotten along these last 6 weeks without her. The Tank would have been in charge *shudder* lol. #1 nurse has a nurse's aide, Sister Mary Tina *she's Catholic*, and she is a huge help to #1 nurse. Not.

But she's really cute:)

Instead of crutches I have a red scooter just like the one pictured below. And, trust me, I am cuh-yut steering it around!

Now you know as much as I do (don't you love being in the loop??). I see Dr. C. on Monday. I will most likely be re-casted for two more weeks:( If I am, I sure hope I'll be allowed to put my foot down - not weight bearing, but at least down! OR, Dr. C. could agree with me that it's time for the Darth Vadar boot and some walkin'). Uh, yeah, that's gunna happen. LOL

Thanks for sharing in my recovery process by reading about it and leaving a comment that will make me smile. (The little things really help while I'm sitting here!)

I LOVE my readers!!

Be blessed, Jan

I'M SO EXCITED TO TELL YOU THAT I HAVE A WINNER!!

All parts of having a giveaway are fun for me.

....the entries....counting up the number of entries.....going to RANDOM.ORG for a fair pick of the winner....and then telling everyone who the winner is when I don't even have a clue at this point! It's just so exciting.

Okay, RANDOM.ORG was fed the number of entries and it picked #12!! So, I'm going over to my blog post to see who #12 is....back in a second....just hold on....

............AND THE WINNER IS....................

YVETTE from THE CHARM HOUSE!!

Congratulations, Yvette!! Just email me at polkadotbarn@gmail.com and give me your mailing address and I'll get the book and the other loot in the mail to you!

THANK YOU TO EVERYONE OF YOU

that took the time to read my post, leave the sweet comments, and pray for me. This giveaway just gets me so excited. It's April, the tulips are blooming and I'm feelin' pretty darn blessed!

XOXO,
Jan

A TRUE FRIEND IS SOMEONE WHO REACHES FOR YOUR HAND AND TOUCHES YOUR HEART

I have been blown away by the response to my blog post this past Saturday where I simply sat here and told you how I was feeling. . . . .it wasn't a pity party - far from it - it was just a post that I knew I had to write about my sweet Ben. I had to talk about it.

And, of course, there's a give-away mentioned in the post to help shove me (mentally) back into my happy, joyfilled and blessed life. Giving gifts and writing notes of encouragement are two things that I love to do so having a giveaway to balance a really hard March and a horribly sad weekend made total sense to me.

I checked my email on Sunday and there were a few comment email notices for that particular post. They were wonderful and I felt the care and concern.

Then at 3:00 p.m. we had to do something that I didn't expect to have to do until today or tomorrow.....Saturday night after I wrote my blog post, I went to bed and woke in the morning to a very sick Ben. He had gone downhill very quickly Saturday night and we knew that we couldn't wait any longer. I had said in my blog post that "early this week" we would have to say good-bye to our sweet Ben - I wasn't ready to endure it on Sunday. No way, no how, it was too soon, I wasn't ready!!

But, I took some deep breaths, prayed, put on my big girl panties and dealt with it.

I sat with Ben, rubbed his head and told him how much he was loved, how much he would be missed, how sorry I was that he was so sick and how sorry I was that he was suffering and how it was the hardest thing to do but, that I hoped he understood it was a gift..

A small part of me died Sunday
when I had to tell him good-bye.

But, enough sadness.

Let me tell you something.

I feel just as strongly about writing this blog post as I did writing my blog post on Saturday.

So. After numerous deep breaths, a swipe of my nose (no kleenex and I can't be bothered to wheel myself into the b.r. to snag some t.p.), I came back to my computer early evening on Sunday to check my email.

Finally, we reach the point of this post.

(I do tend to give a lot of information, but I want you to feel like you're sitting right next to me and I'm telling you all of this verbally. Does that make sense to anyone *besides me*? No??)

When I checked my email Sunday evening and then again on Monday and yet again today,

I have been so touched by the support y'all have showered on me. And, how you have wrapped your arms around me, how you've reminded me that God blessed me and my family with Ben for many years. So many comments that I can't recall at this moment what they all said and I still have at least 40 to read.

I must read them slowly and respond with a message of my own, so it's taking a bit to work to get through all of them.(*which is a wonderful thing, btw*)

I am so, so blessed by y'all. I know I've said it before, but, I think it's worth repeating. . . . .some of you I've never met face to face but I feel like we live down the street from each other and we're such good friends! We get together in each other's studio to play "art", we go junking, we go to estate sales, Anne:), we go out to lunch, we take road trips, we go to art retreats together, oh, we just have a marvelous time! *deep sigh*

I can't thank you enough for the outpouring of love and concern that I have felt from each of you - even a couple of lurkers:). The stories of your own pets and the last days of their lives, of how their deaths impacted you, and simple comments telling me that I'm being prayed for, that I'm loved.

Wow. So you can imagine how I felt this afternoon when the Fed Ex truck drove up.

Well, at first I didn't feel anything because the Tank gets lots of Fed Ex envelopes and I didn't pay any attention knowing it wasn't for me.

My mother, however, went out because Mr. Ex rang the doorbell. She walks back in the bedroom carrying this long box but I'm in the middle of answering a post comment and just glance up.

Boy, howdy, I was focused (it's an age thing) because it was pretty obvious what was in the box.

Flowers for the Tank?? Maybe. Flowers for me?? More likely than for the Tank.......and the box WAS for me. Oh, my gosh, someone sent me flowers. I couldn't imagine who would send me flowers. . .I had surgery, but that was 1 1/2 weeks ago......hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. So, I open the box (after checking for a return address on the box - no clue, none).

Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh.

Oh, my goodness. . . . .tulips.

Tulips!! Oh, my gosh. . . .

Tulips.

Tulips for me?

Yes, tulips for me.

Tulips that bloom in April.

Telling me that April will be better.

Don't loose your joy, not for a moment.

Wait. There's more??

Candy??

The last day and a half of March are lookin' up.

So, let's look at the card and see who has blessed me.

Who has sent me April tulips and March chocolates??

It wasn't funny so you shouldn't be laughing.

"Love, Me"??

My first thought was how in the world was I going to thank whomever sent these gorgeous April tulips and March chocolates to me??? I wouldn't be able to rest until I found out who to thank!

I called ProFlowers and asked real nice for Mr. Pro to tell me who sent them and he told me they have this stupid privacy oath. Sounded more like the Mason's to me.

He told me he could call the sender and see if he could get permission to tell me.

Okay, fine, just don't mess with me, I don't have that many chocolates.

He didn't mess with me, he told me who sent them.

I told him that "she" would have been very high on my list of possibilities.

I said it while I was smiling. Big.

Julie Ann Grakowsky of Kitchen Floor Creations,

my past blog "lurker", my present day dear friend that I met through my blog.

I simply adore her.

She is precious to me.

And she blessed me today in a way that is rare.

She reached out for my hand and touched my heart.

If you have managed to stick with me to this point, you deserve one million dollars.

I don't have one million dollars, but I've got lots of hugs for you when we see each other!

XOXO,

Jan

If you have never visited Julie Ann's blog, oh, you just have to!! You won't be disappointed! She

has a wonderful blog and you'll enjoy yourself!!

I'M DEVASTATED & MY HEART IS BREAKING - I HOPE HAVING A GIVEAWAY WILL HELP

Just when I think I'm going to get a break

God throws me another life test.

I wonder how many I'll have to experience

before He thinks I'm all that I should be.

Actually, I know the answer to that.

It will be until the day I die and join him in Glory.

March of this year has been an adventure.

An adventure on top of five years of medical adventures.

(Don't age. It's not worth it.)

I long for April and tulips blooming.

April will be better even with a cast and

no weight on a leg instructions.

I long for April.

March. . . . .

I passed out and fractured several bones in my right foot and tibia.

That's adventure no. 1.

My studio has a mind of it's own

and is determined to keep that crack house persona.

That's adventure no. 2.

I checked a give-away today that I participated in;

it was so involved and so very time consuming.

I thought I would win something.

I didn't win squat.

That's adventure no. 3

Adventure no. 4??

We must have our most precious

 Ben put down in just a few days.

*Now I'm crying

and I didn't even cry in the hospital when

I found out that I couldn't be discharged until

I pooped.

And that took three delightful days.*

I digress. Back on point. . . 

You know Ben.

My studio dog.

Always by my side.

He never did learn that if he laid that close

to my chair that he'd be told to

"jump up" when I had to roll down my work table.

Up and down, up and down, all day.

Remembering that makes me smile.

He came to us from the Humane Society Animal Shelter.

When I adopted him, he had had heart worms twice.

He was adopted and returned twice

because his new owners thought he was too aggressive.

He was older, no longer a puppy.

He was a yellow lab mix.

I adopted him.

He isn't too aggresive.

The UPS man is afraid of him,

but I like that.

When he doesn't think I'm home

he'll throw my packages onto the

office porch if Ben's outside.

He doesn't know I've seen him do that.

That makes me smile as I cry.

Ben is very protective of me.

He loves me unconditionally.

He never judges me.

He always wants to be with me.

He's a dog, not a person, and that's why.

I wonder if

that make sense to anyone but me.

That's why I rescue shelter/abandoned/mistreated/etc. dogs.

And my beautiful master bedroom smells like a kennel.

I don't care because

they love me every day

all day

and all through the next day.

Ben is my dog.

He's always been "my" dog.

And early this week we have to have him put down.

I'm crying again.

He has been sick for a while now.

We knew something was wrong,

just not what.

He's going downhill so quickly now

that I constantly look at him

to see if he's breathing.

He has lymphoma.

"Oh, God", I cry

"my heart is breaking and I hurt so badly."

And, I wonder if Ben

hurts as much as I do.

Is he in pain?

His lymph nodes are enlarged.

He never whines.

But, he's not eating or drinking

much so I wonder

in my heart of hearts

if putting him down isn't the

best gift I can give him.

So, pray for me, won't you?

Okay. Deep breath.

So. I thought I'd have a giveaway

to take my mind off of things. *happy face*

I love to have giveaways and

I haven't had one in quite a while.

And, I'm going to make this really easy

so that lots of people will enter

without having to spend hours

jumping through hoops

in an effort to win my giveaway.

Claudine Hellmuth.

One of my artist queens.

I'm going to gift one special

reader of my blog, her amazing book,

Collage Discovery Workshop,
along with lots of treasures. Lots!

I ordered it 'specially for this giveaway.

I love this book and wasn't

willing to gift mine to anyone, so,

you're getting a new one.

It's a virgin and you don't find

many of those anymore.

All you have to do to enter is

to, well, enter. *smiley face*

If you want to start following my blog

because you read a couple of posts

and think it would be a good idea,

then I can't wait to get to know you.

If you want to be a fan of my blog

on facebook, I thank you.

If you want to sign up for

the newsletter that I have yet to start,

thanks.

If you say something about it

on your blog, let me know and

I'll throw in another entry for you.

If you buy something in my Etsy shop

then it will help me afford

to go junking when I'm allowed to walk

again.

See? it's all good.

Life is good and I am so blessed.

You have until April 1st to enter.

That's when the tulips will be blooming.

xoxo,

Jan