Imagine This

Pasticcio's Out and I'm In!!!

QUality ART Zine by Angela Cartwright and Sarah Fishburn

WooHoo!!! I got published in the lastest issue of Pasticcio (Issue 6). Doesn't it thrill the socks off of ya when you get a piece published? It does me... for sure...  usually I have such little to offer for publication that when I actually see one of my pieces in a magazine, book, or zine, it just tickles me pink! Here is the piece they selected for this issue:

Chickadee, mixed media collage

I created this collage in a journal belonging to someone in a round robin. It is text, a map, fabric, transparencies, paper collage items, rubber stamped images, and thread.

I have to admit, this is one of my favorite pieces. I've done some doozies that I wasn't all that crazy about but this one I like. Does that happen to you? You get finished with a piece and it really doesn't click for you while others do? But some of the ones I don't like, other people do like and vice versa . . . so go figure.

My thanks to Angela and Sara for including me this time! I think their quartz rocks! (Even when I'm not in it.) These gals must be the busiest artists in the universe with all the publishing they are doing. Check out their web sites linked above or their blogs: Angela's Said and Done and Sarah's Ragtags Studio Central for all the latest in their worlds.

A Nice Feeling!

Just a Note Good Cheer for You

Woo Hoo!! Mail Art!

My good art buddy, Sharon Tomlinson of All Norah's Art, created this unbelievably stupendous postcard! Isn't it just the most fabulous feeling to open the mail box and get a surprise like this? I wasn't expecting anything from Sharon and wowza look what she sent me. It's beautifully painted and collaged. The scan doesn't do justice. I can't tell you how thrilled I was to find that Sharon thinks enough of me to let go of this gorgeous piece of work and send it to me! Thanks ever so much, Sharon -- I'm gonna frame it somehow and display it for sure.

Have a great day everyone. It's beautiful weather these days in my town. Just perks ya up - almost as much as unexpected mail art.

Life brings surprises

 

Just wanted to let you guys know what's up here. Last Monday we got a call that our precious grandson had been taken to Texas Children's Hospital emergency room with what turned out to  be appendicitis. He had surgery that night at midnight.

Of course, Papa T and I hightailed it to the hospital and then picked up the girls. We've been here all week playing nursemaid,  cook, housekeeper, and playmate to the girls. When they were in school, we'd go to the hospital. 

Our grandson's appendix was perforated so he had a longer stay than usual (five days as of today.) His blood count was finally ok for releasing him to come home today at noon.  Actually, praise God, he has done phenomenally well since the surgery except for that blood count. But he will be coming home today and as soon as we are no longer needed, we'll be going home, too.

We definitely learned some things about that culprit, the appendix.

    • Your appendix is a finger-shaped pouch that projects out from your colon on the lower right side of your abdomen. This small structure has no known essential purpose, but that doesn't mean it can't cause problems.

    • The main symptom of appendicitis is pain that usually begins around the navel and then shifts to the lower right abdomen. The pain of appendicitis increases over a period of six to 12 hours, and usually becomes severe eventually. 

     Accompanying symptoms could be:

• Nausea and sometimes vomiting
• Loss of appetite
• A low-grade fever that starts after other symptoms appear
• Constipation
• An inability to pass gas
• Diarrhea
• Abdominal swelling

    • If you apply gentle pressure to the area that hurts, it will feel tender. As you release the pressure, especially if you do it suddenly, appendicitis pain often will feel worse (rebound tenderness). It will also tend to get worse if you cough, walk or make other jarring movements.

    • The pain may lessen somewhat if you lie on your side and pull your knees up toward your chest.

    • Anyone can develop appendicitis, but it most often strikes people (particularly boys or men) between the ages of 10 and 30. 

    • Appendicitis occurs when the appendix becomes blocked, often by stool, a foreign body, or cancer. Blockage may also occur from infection, since the appendix swells in response to any infection in the body. In both cases, bacteria may subsequently invade rapidly, causing the appendix to become inflamed and filled with pus. If not treated promptly, your appendix is likely to rupture.

    • Left untreated, an inflamed appendix will eventually burst, or perforate, spilling infectious materials into the abdominal cavity. This can lead to peritonitis, a serious inflammation of the abdominal cavity's lining (the peritoneum) that can be fatal unless it is treated quickly with strong antibiotics.   

    • The standard treatment for appendicitis is surgical removal of the appendix.

Maybe TMI, but if it comes your way, you might not be as puzzled as Kade's mom and dad were when the symptoms started. They thought at first it was just a stomach ache like kids get from time to time. Then a little fever - so maybe a virus? Next vomiting -- yes, probably a virus. Eventually greater pain. Finally, the pain moved to the right side and Kade began pointing to it there. All this over a period of 48 hours after which they visited the doctor who sent them to the emergency room. All appendicitis is always treated by doctors as an emergency.

A-A-A-A-ANYWAY, just thought you should know where I've been. Hopefully, I'll be able to get back to art some time soon. See ya then. Meanwhile, praise God for the healing of our bodies!