Creative Chaos

Creative Complaining.........

I started physical therapy for my arm wrap yesterday.   I won't lie to you: It's a pain in the ass. My arm itches.  It's hot. I have limited mobility in my hand and arm.  However, I am really focusing on the outcome of this process in order to distract myself from the negatives.  Plus, I read this blog. This keeps my mind, arm and attitude firmly placed where it should be...... in the "minor annoyance" category. As we unwrapped my arm today, I could see that the swelling had gone down significantly in my hand.  It was encouraging.    Because radiation is the biggest risk factor for lymphedema, I am feeling a bit apprehensive about starting it next week.  I decided that for the next six weeks, when I wasn't at a radiation, physical therapy or an avastin treatment, I would be occupying my time and thoughts with things that make me happy and fulfilled....my kids, husband, friends and art.  I am going to do my best to focus on my "want to do" list rather than my "need to do" list. 

As I was lumbering around in my studio yesterday, I kept think that this whole ordeal reminded me of something.....

 

 

or, more precisely, someone.  Then it hit me. I was exactly like that assistant I hired, and, then subsequently fired, a year ago......Dora! Remember?! 

 

She couldn't reach the keyboard due to the fact that she had no elbows.....

 

Unable to reach the glue gun......

 

I eventually had to fire her.  After a lengthy, contentious court battle over unlawful discrimination firing practices, we quietly settled out of court.....

 

Sigh....now I know exactly how she feels.......

 

I should have been nicer to her.......

Oh yeah...how about some art?  

 

Here's a collage I made for my mom for Mother's day. It's still a work in progress as I haven't finished it yet.  May wasn't a good month for me to do anything creative or artistic; but I really wanted to do something for her from my heart that could at least begin to thank her for all she's done over the past six months while I've been recovering.  Although it's from my heart, it's not from my own brain as I copied the idea from this one that I saw while blog browsing.  I LOVE hers and thought it would give me a good jump start for my mom's piece.  I still have a bit more to do on it. Hopefully, she'll get it before Christmas......

That's it for now!  I'm still working on my studio....it's proving to be a slower process than I excpected. Plus, the arm wrap doesn't help.  Hopefully I will have more pictures soon.....

A Pink Party Mood......

 

1. my slice of cake nutcups, 2. Pink Elephant Cake, 3. Valentine Heart Pop Close-up, 4. "Baby Cakes", 5. details, 6. A happy shelf in our kitchen, 7. Party hat 1, 8. Baby Pink Posy Pocket, 9. Fairy Wand Lollipops, 10. Winter Wonderland for Bella, 11. Sweet Six Tea Party, 12. vintage plastic party favor cups from my sweet friend Amanda...ready to be filled!

 

Do you know how they say don't spend all your money in one place.......

 

Well, in my case it's "don't spend all your 'energy' in one place."  Just because I have it, doesn't mean I should use every last molecule of it.  I realized, as I pried my eyes open at 12:00 pm the other day, that maybe, just maybe, I should slow things down a bit and ration the the excitement and zeal I have.  It's hard though. After so many months of not having the energy nor motivation, I feel like I'm playing catch up with everything....the kids, my husband, my friends....my life. 

 

So, of course, instead of slowing down yesterday I went to Paper Tales to hang out and drop off my little kits.   I did make myself useful though.  I helped put price tags on some little paper books.   I also picked up these crotcheted flowers that Diane makes.  I LOVE these little guys.  i can't get enough of them.  I have the cutest idea for them.  Hopefully, I will get it from my head to fruition within the year.   The other thing I did was secure a place on the Paper Tales calendar of events for my "Paper and Flower Cone Class" that I cancelled back in February.  

Remember these......

 

 

And this......

Of course, in pure chaos fashion, sooner than I could say "I'm back and feeling crafty again!"  I had to call Michelle to tell her I had to cancel the class.  Seriously.  It wasn't even on the agenda for 24 hours before I had to ditch it again.  Last night I looked at my normally empty and vacant social calender of events and saw that I do, indeed, have a bit of a social life.....well, that is if you count tagging along with Carlos to a birthday pool party.   Anyway, the class is now on July 19th at 1:00pm.  Yay! Then just as I was about to hang up I heard her say something to the effect of ......signing contract....next time....binding agreement...lawyers.....you'll never work in this town again........Or maybe it was just "talk to you later."  It was either one or the other.......

I'm still working on my studio.  I managed to move things around a bit trying to see what was going to give me the maximum storage space, yet be functional.   

Here's what I started with after Cosme put the desk back together.......

 

My original plan was to use this part of the desk as my "work" table. 

Please note two things in the photobelow:  my assistant...who was very vocal about his own design ideas and the Cory Moortgat book.  I will address those two things down the line.......

 

So then I decide to go in a completely different direction........

 

I was going to "steal" a table from a different part of the house (so very "repurposing" of me, I know) and put my jewelry stuff back where it was in the first place. 

So here's the table.  This is when I first put it in and thought I would keep a tablecloth on it.  Upon further thinking, I realized this was completely impractical in terms of working with paint and such........ (note child playing on computer who is completely oblivious to a person "working" in there despite many grunts and groans on my part.......)

Earlier in the day, I had called the temp agency and asked them to send over someone "who has a good design sense, carpentry ability and, most importantly, works well with others.

You know someone along the lines of this........

 

Carter Can!

However, I open the door to this.....

 

 Andres Can't  ......do what mommy asks of him!"

because, of course, he has his own ideas of where things should go completely ignoring the functionality I needed and the design standards I wanted.

Hammers were stored with vintage wallpaper......

 

Birds nests were stacked a top flower containers and categorized next to clumps of jewelry that needs to be dismantled......

 

Crepe paper was haphazardly shelved with chipboard letters.....

And, if that weren't enough, he had the nerve to ask "exactly what is vintage seambinding?"   

Sigh.....he was cute, however.  And, he seemed to know where the tulle was kept.  So I kept him aboard for little while longer......

 

Unfortunately, I don't have the "after" pictures yet.  I needed to take a break because I overworked my arm yesterday and needed to take it easy.  I plan get more finished tomorrow and then I can show you some more organized shots of the room. 

 

Oh....then I will talk about my love for the art and journaling of Cory Moortgat and Linda Harre.......

Talk to you soon!  Karin

Look what I did last night......

 

I worked on a few pieces of art!  Ahhhhhhhh.....my energy and mojo are returning.......I had the best time last night working on this house piece.

 

The pictures below show the conditions in which I'm working.  The pile below looks like I'm getting ready for a garage sale......

 

And I had to shove everything over just so I could fit a chair in there.......

 

But, despite all the "hardship," I managed to make it work. Luckily, Cosme put together the desk tonight.  I'm going to spend tomorrow getting organized and trying to find things.  I want to try to set it up for more efficient crafting.....if there is even such a thing.....

There was one other thing I accomplished this weekend.  It was a project that I have been talking to Michelle about for months.......

 

It's a little "craft kit."  I called her on Friday to tell her that I finally finished it.  I was so excited.   She was skeptical, of course, given my tendency to get way ahead of myself.  But I assured her it was all done, down to the little tags on the boxes.   She said "I can't wait to see it"....which I'm sure meant "I'll believe it when i see it."  

What would have taken the average person 2 days to throw together, took me around 3 months in between a very busy nap and tv watching schedule.  But I'm ok with that.  Because all those little pieces of time, ideas and limited energy finally culminated into a finished project.   Michelle and I were laughing about how when you have young kids, finishing a project is such a huge reward.  It happens so rarely. 

And, on the additional side for me is the fact that with my energy returning, I feel as though I have way more time to accomplish things.  Before, even if I had a spurt of motivation, it could leave me as fast as it came.  I would think "yes, I can manage to do some tags....that would be easy."  Well, by the time I sat down; found my supplies; got up to get some tissues; tried to locate scissors; told children to stop fighting; decide on what kind of design to do, I was already exhausted and lost any amount of excitement for the project that I might have had.   So many ideas and projects lay on my desk abandoned after five minutes of work.  

So that's the good news....the bad news is I saw my physical therapist about the lymphedema and she is recommending a full arm wrap for the duration of radiation.  That means 22 hours a day for 6 weeks.  Uggg..... But I'm trying to stay positive. I'm all for it if it gets the swelling under control.  Radiation is the biggest risk factor for increased swelling and lymphedema. I have about two weeks before I get start wearing it.  This was the first time since my diagnosis that I felt tears in my eyes while at the doctor's office.  It was just this cruel reminder that it was another "thing" to deal with that was going to affect the quality of my life.  But I decided right then and there that it wasn't going to control me.  I would control it.  And if it meant wearing the arm wrap then that's what I have to do.  One good thing about it is I can't do dishes with the wrap on.......If that's what it takes to get better, then no washing dishes it is.......

Talk to you  soon!  Karin  

I don't need a souvenir from this trip.......

the memories will do just fine.......

Unfortunately, it appears, I will be getting this "cancer trip" memento whether I want it or not.  Let's just say it's the "lymph removal" gift that keeps on giving.   Lymphedema.  It sucks.  I don't want it. I don't need it. I keep trying to give it back. Due to store policy there are no refunds.....no return. 

There were two side effects from the chemo I worried about most of all.   The first was neuropathy due to the Taxol. It's a numbness in your hands and feet.  Luckily, it never was an issue for me.  The second was the lymphedema.  It's become an issue.  A big issue since I haven't even started radiation yet.  I'll meet with my physical therapist on Friday to determine a plan of action.  In the meantime, I'm going to see if I can return this problem to Nordstrom's.  I'll pretend I got it there.......they take anything back, right?

 

You're probably wondering who this cute little guy is.  He's the little figure I bought from Julie Haymaker Thompson.   I just adore him.  Even though it's technically a Halloween item, I'm keeping him out all year long.

 

 

  

I even did a bit of art myself last night. Which is amazing considering the state of disrepair in my studio. The wall plaster had to be repaired due to water damage. The room was such a disaster to begin with and then I had to pack things up and move them to various spots in the house.  

What started out as this.......

   

Ended up like this.......

 

And, is still like that.  My desk still hasn't been put back together yet.  So I worked on this little project that I started months ago in the little corner of the desk where the lamp is.  Despite the mess around me I really enjoyed myself.......

  

It was nice easing back into the swing of things.  I've only done a handful of things in the past three to four months and I'm so ready to create.  But when I look at all my unfinished, half baked projects lying around I get a bit overwhelmed by it all. 

 

Among a multitude of other things, the last six months has given me a bit of patience. I plan to use it wisely.  

Talk to you soon!  Karin

Having some fun in between naps........

 

Michelle and I went to Jane's wonderful "Art Takes a Village" event. Her beautiful home was filled with talented and amazing artists helping to raise money for her art based non-profit program that provides art therapy classes to adults and children.  

Unfortunately, I remembered that I brought my camera just before we were leaving.  I did, however, manage to snap up a few shots before we left.......

Here's Tricia of VintageBliss.....

 

Kristin and Jessi from Domestic Bliss......

 

A picture of the beautiful house......

 

 

 

You can't see it but there was a playground in front of the house down towards the street.  The boys were able to run out on the big lawn and bounce around on the play structure. As Carlos so succinctly put it "this is a dream house." 

I wish I had more pictures to show you. But if you go Deb's blog, she has tons of great photos of the event.  

I'll be back tomorrow with a picture of the piece of art I purchased from Julie Haymaker Thompson.  So much fun chatting it up with her.  She is so nice and fun to talk with. 

Hopefully, I will get the picture taken tomorrow baring no emergency naps or or general malaise.  

Talk to you soon!  Karin 

From The Desk of Creative Chaos

Memorandum

June 2, 2009

To:       Karin's Mind and Body

From:   Reality

Re:       Your Lack of

***********************************************************************************************

It has come to my attention that you confused "last chemo treatment" with "OMG! I'm all done with chemo....I'm done, I'm done, I'm DONE! Let's whoop it up and party!"   It's apparent from this picture of you holding the Raspberry Mojito surrounded by friends and family that you somehow thought 16th and final round was void of any side effects unlike the previous (and, I might add, predictable,) fifteen rounds. I don't know.  I'm trying to cut you some slack......maybe you were thinking that there was some sort of bonus system involved.  Such as, "Do 15 rounds of chemo get the last round side effect free" or something. Like I said, I have no idea what you were thinking other than you weren't.  And then you wonder why you had a sore throat the next day.  Sigh.  Why do I even try......