This Snuck Up on Ya (FGF)

BOO!!! Scared ya didn't I? I've been lurking just around the corner (out of sight) waiting for the perfect time to sneak up on you. Really!!

For a quick update: the storm has passed and Mawmaw's doctor has declared her to be CANCER FREE!! We've very pleased and excited. I thank all of you for your kind words, thoughts, prayers, good vibes, positive thoughts, and everything else. Whatever ya'll did - it worked!! I sincerely thank you.

Everything else has been crazy and crazy HOT around here. I'm just trying to make it through the days. Grand Assembly is coming up and I'm trying to find dresses, fit into dresses, and get some gifts done. I'm off work today and plan on doing some serious shopping (in the gosh darn heat that is Southern Alabama). Wish me luck!!

For now, here's some "Feel Good Friday"

• Maybe this just makes ME feel good, but check out these new images from the Walt Disney/ Tim Burton Alice in Wonderland.
  
• How about 50 summer crafts for kids.
  
• With the summer heat coming on, so are sunburns. Here (from Men's Health) is a list of how to beat the burn. I think this will work as well for women as for men.
• While thinking about sunburns, think about these 10 of the coolest places in the world to swim.
• Just fun- a Star Trek and Monty Python Mashup. He He he he
  

So that's it for now. Let's see if this will post since I started it yesterday and blogger is trying to argue with me about saving it.
Happy a Happy and Safe 4th of July!!

Update on Mawmaw

For those of you who don't follow me on Facebook or Twitter, I wanted to do a quick update on the status of my grandmother. Even if you do follow me there, I'm sharing a bit more here.

So, the surgery happened.During the process of the surgery, the surgeon and radiologist realized that the nuclear dye stuff they had injected was not moving into my grandmother's lymph nodes like it should. In fact, it was not moving into her lymph nodes at all. Basically, this meant that there was some blockage. This could either be caused by some swelling in her breast (from a bruise or the like) or be caused by having cancer filling up the nodes. As such, it was a best bet to go ahead and remove ALL her lymph nodes in that arm for testing. They should have the results of this test tomorrow, but her follow-up is not until Wednesday. So, we don't know on which of these days we'll get the news. Upon asking the surgeon what the next step would be if the lymph nodes are cancerous, he said that NORMALLY he would refer a patient for chemo. Unfortunately, because of my grandmother's age, the chemo therapists would most likely refuse to administer the treatment. So, we're hoping and praying that the lymph node tests are negative for cancer. I just hate the waiting. This whole process seems to be about waiting.

I've been spending a lot of time at my mom's house. In fact, Friday was the only night I have spent at my house since Monday. I miss LOML SO MUCH!! I miss my crazy cat. But, I can't bear to leave my mom and grandmother right now. It's such a tug-of-war. I'm taking it day by day right now.

SO, that's it for now. Tomorrow is Made Me Smile Monday and hopefully I'll be able to check in with some happier thoughts.
Til then!!

Packing Up and Getting Ready (TRT)

So, my grandmother is having her mastectomy in the morning. I'm trying not to focus on it (I'm neurotic, I'm already worried enough.) I'll be staying at my mom's house for the next several days while Mawmaw is recovering. LOML and I have plans to see Steeley Dan on Friday night and I'll be at home that night, but then who knows what for the rest of the weekend.

I packed up this morning. Best part by far- packing the craft bags. I haven't mentioned my craft bags in a while and today seems like the perfect opportunity.

First off, yes I said bagS. There are two sets. One is more for at my mom's house and is all jewelry (beads, pliers, chain, wire, findings, etc.) supplies. The other bag is a general sit-in-the-hospital bag. In addition to the craft supplies I have books, magazines, and my game boys. So what other crafts are going with me? Well, some pretty standard stuff: embroidery floss, scissors, o-rings, glue, a crochet hook, large jump rings, shrink plastic, sharpies, doodle book, colored pencils, and a clipboard. I really would love to take more to soothe the hungry crafty spirit that is eating at my soul. But, I've got some gifts I need to work on and I only wanted to take some specific supplies for those. Besides, I might come up with some really great stuff just using what I've got rather than the multitude of supplies I have in the craft room.

Now, it's "Totally Random Tuesday" Let's get to it!

• 10 items needed for your home bar (sounds like a shopping list for a trip I need to make).
  
• 
• Harvard Psychiatrist explains the neurobiology of Zombies. I love this article, it touches me in so many ways, my love for horror/ sci-fi as well as my love for psychology and the human brain (I do have a BS in it). Of course, LOML's not going to like that I found a logical article on zombies b/c I do have nightmares about them (it's a purely unconscious/irrational thing- I KNOW there are no zombies, most likely). Anyway, it's a fun article.
  
• wal-mart bingo card app for your iPhone
  

So, with lots of prayers and positive thoughts I prepare for tomorrow.

Want, Need, and Desire To Do (MMSM)

I actually tried to get in and create in the craft room last night. I was so excited about squeezing in some time for creative purposes. I played around with some collage, but it just wasn't working for me. I looked around the room and realized that it was the space (or lack thereof) that was limiting my muse. I REALLY want to clean it up and do some work on eventually getting my etsy shop opened.

But, I'm conflicted. My grandmother's surgery (mastectomy) is scheduled for Wednesday morning. I'm planning on staying with her and my mom on Tuesday night so I can be at the hospital with them first thing Wednesday morning. After that, who knows how long I'll be staying in Mobile to help out with things and be at the hospital. The problem is, I should really spend some time with LOML tonight before I spend so much time away. We have plans to see Steely Dan on Friday night, but between tonight and then- there's little time for him in my plans.

I guess I should just see what he wants to do. If he just wants to browse the internet for hours on end searching for property, I can get into the craft room. If he doesn't, I'll entertain him in some way or another. In the meantime, I'm making lists of what craft items to pack for the hospital/mom's house. Hopefully, I'll be able to find everything on my list in the craft room without the overhaul it needs.

Oh, and my weekend -
Friday: Margaritas
Saturday: Tour of the Fantasy (Carnival Cruise Ship) in New Orleans then dinner and beers (AWESOME) at Hopjacks in downtown Mobile.
Sunday: Looking at property with LOML, some limited time in the craft room, True Blood's season opener (GREAT!!) on HBO

Now, while I contemplate what to do, here's some "Made Me Smile Monday" for you!!

• Top websites for laughing at others - http://yepyep.gibbs12.com/2009/05/top-websites-for-laughing-at-others/
• 10 awesome moments from Seasme Street with 40th anniversary coming listed on this one blog. While I do like C is for cookie and grover's near and far, they didn't list my two favorites: 1) Hole in the bucket AND 2) anything with the aliens (yip yips) Here's where they discover the telephone
  

• Top 100 funniest one liners. I'm not sure about funniest, but there are def some on there that you'll want to remember. My favorite on the first page: "We never really grow up, we only learn how to act in public." He, he, he - then I NEVER have to grow up, right?
• Funny and clever tip jars.
• Unintentionally funny headlines. Some are NSFW, some are just tasteless, there are a few real gems in there though.

Oh, the picture at the top? While riding to New Orleans I found this face in my muffin. How cool and creepy is that?
Have a great week!

A Feed Change (ThTh)

Okay, I need to go ahead and apologize to any of you who read my blog in a feed reader. I realized yesterday that my blog is being 'scraped' for its content. Basically, my content is being stolen. The easiest way for me to fix this (for a starter) is to shorten the feed, forcing readers to go to my site and read the entire blog post. It's all very technical. . . blah, blah, blah fancypants geek speak miscellaneous BS. Thank goodness LOML speaks geek, can translate for me, and was able to come up with this simple solution. (However, I am actually geek enough to be able to go in and change the feed setting myself.) You can thank the jackass spam blogger.
I know I don't have that many readers in the first place and the content that was stolen was not anything important (it was a post from this week.) It's a good thing I have a Google Alert set up for 'crafty hope' so I can be alerted to anything that refers to me (mostly).

I've got a meeting in Mobile tonight (for my Mardi Gras society) so I can't get into much more before going ahead and sharing my links for "Thrifty Thursday":

• Check out these yummy-looking popsicle treats from Parents.com. I'm not trally a huge fan of posicles because of my sensitive teeth. I will admit that I love pudding pops (they seem softer and melt faster, plus they are just awesome). HOWEVER, a few on this list look SOOO GOO: peanut butter and raspberry!! Ice Cream Sandwich on a Stick!! Holy cow, I'm ready to go out and buy me some of those popsicle kits. I thought they were just intended for Kool-Aid. I have been proven wrong one again.
  
• You can build your own Hobbit house for a STEAL!!!
  
• Here are some uses for inexpensive salt.
  
• I know school's out and you may be trying to find something to keep the kiddos busy. Check out these top 20 thrifty easy crafts for kids. In order to be thrifty, the majority of these are also recycling things you would normally just throw away.

So that's all for now. It's almost the weekend at long last!

Quick Concert Review (WWWW)

The concert was really good. The two opening acts were also very good. They were. . . uh. . . Marianne Keith and Tyrone Wells. Not too shabby!
I also bumped into a few friends, but otherwise had a nice time just hanging out with G.
Since I was out partying on a Tuesday night (seriously-I haven't done that since college. . . I think), I'm exhausted today. At least I'm in better form than G. You should have seen the crowd. It was such a weird mixture of ages and types of people. At least during the wait between performances we were entertained with people-watching.

Since I'm not up for much more, let's go ahead with some "Wild, Wild Web Wednesday"

• Jesus Loves - I don't know who designed this, but they seriously did not take a good look at it before it was produced. C.R.E.E.P.Y. !!
• Have you ever muted a show or movie and either watched it that way or just added different sounds? It changes the WHOLE THEME doesn't it? This post from mental floss has found some you tube clips that do just that. Funny how a simple sound change can impact the message.
  
• Manhattan 1609 vs 2009, a Pictorial from National geographic.
  
• It's a blog of hospital food, really!!
  
• Rendeznew helps find a mid-way point for people from different areas. This is great if you've got friends or business contacts spread out all over and want to meet in a central location.
  

Enjoy your hump day!!

Randomness at Its Best (TRT)

Sorry I missed ya yesterday, I was trying to catch up at work and then LOML and I went and looked at some property, had dinner out, went to the bookstore, and then lounged on the couch for a bit before bed.
The property- AWESOME!! On the river, over three acres, priced affordably. It's definitely an option. We've got a few others we want to see then we have to look into financing.
At the bookstore, I got Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. So far, I am really enjoying it. It's so my style. FUN!!
Lastly, tonight I'm heading out to see Better than Ezra at the Soul Kitchen in Mobile. G and I decided just last night that we would go. She's got the tickets arranged and I'm heading out of here in little under an hour to have dinner with her first. Very exciting!! I'm just so glad we're actually getting some shows in this area- finally.
Anywayz- I gotta start getting ready.

Here's some "Totally Random Tuesday" for ya:

• create a custom color pallete from a single image
  
• something about this fascinates me - you are what you eat series of fridge photos (click under portfolio then you are what you eat, then images) - descriptions of household below photos, check out the one with the snake in the freezer - kinda creepy, but interesting.
  
• 100 of the best movie quotes in 200 seconds. I was skeptical when I went to watch this about it just being some of the best known quotes (and it is) but it's not just the most popular movies, it covers a whole range of movies and is just awesome. Go on watch it - 200 seconds won't hurt you.
  
• list of iPhone apps (some I don't get, some are pretty funny)

So that's it for now- quick and easy.

Friday Blah's (FGF)

It's been a real roller coaster of a week in terms of my mood. Monday and Tuesday were pretty BLAH! Wednesday I started feeling better, but then left work in a foul, foul, evil mood. Yesterday, again, was okay all through the day into evening. But, today, I've been feeling pissy again. I can't put my finger on it.
I AM looking forward to an evening with some of my best (girl)friends, or at least one of them tonight. That should really cheer me up and give me the kick in the pants I need to get my emotions in order.

So, not to make this too short or anything, but I need to feel better myself. So, let's get on with the "Feel Good Friday." Somehow these are all lists, but helpful lists in any case.

• Several different recipe-finding online tools contained in this post about recipe puppy. But, check out the other links at the end that can match what you are craving and what's in your pantry. Pretty cool tools huh?
  
• 100 Terrific Productivity Tools
  
• Seven ways to de-stress instantly
  
• 25 body hacks to supercharge yourself (mostly some body tricks, prevent a sneeze, stop the hiccups, etc. but there are a few other interesting ones worth checking out)

Now, if you've got anything you think will make me feel better, bring it ON. This is a challenge to the few, the sparse, the readers of Crafty Hope- let me know what makes you feel better or what you think might make me feel better. I soooooo need it!

Down in the Dumps (MMSM)

I'm utterly disgusted with everything right now.
I had an alright weekend: Margaritas, a 21st birthday party for a co-worker, and a casino bus trip (where I lost all my money), but nothing really lifted my spirits.
A combination of the news that Mawmaw has to have a mastectomy in a little over two weeks and damn PMS has resulted in my emotional decline over the past several days. It's been hard for me to be happy, optimistic Hope. And, a part of me doesn't want to be. How can I be when my grandmother is going through this? As well, everywhere I turn someone else has some bad news: other sick relatives, bad relationships, putting cats to sleep, and on, and on.
I'll wear the brave face and be strong (as I always am). And, once the PMS passes, I'll be a little more myself again. And maybe you'll get a longer post from me then.

For now, how about some "Made Me Smile Monday" to make this post a little more bearable:

• boat launch fail
• Check this out, it's a whole blog dedicated to awkward family photos. You gotta see it.
  
• Soap that's shaped like an x-box controller and is Mountain-Dew scented. I actually KNOW and work with the people that this was made for. Hmm - Christmas gifts perhaps.
  
• Denny's commercial
  

So, I hope those lightened this a little for you. Sorry to be such a downer. If you've got any good ideas for cheering me up, bring it ON!!