A Tale of Buried Treasure

A few days ago, my great-niece, Kaylee, ran up to her mother all excited about something.  Keep in mind, she’s four.

“Mommy, mommy” she says, “I have treasure in my ears!”

Some imagination, you’re thinking, right?  Wrong!  When her mother looked, there was silver in there!  Kaylee had taken apart a beaded bracelet and stuffed the beads in both ears.

Off to the emergency room they go after a few moments of slight hysteria on the part of Mommy.  Turns out that they couldn’t risk taking them out in the ER because she had too many in there, and too tightly packed near her eardrum.  So, they were referred to an otorhinolaryngologist (ear, nose, and throat doctor).  Finally, yesterday, they put Kaylee to sleep and got the beads out.

Buried treasure, indeed!  Don’t y’all just love little kids?  :)

What if . . .?

It’s a tantalizing question, inspiring all kinds of speculation and dreams.  One of my favorite things about fiction is discovering the answers, and paths taken to get them, different people take.  I’ve recently stumbled upon another forum of possibilities.  Specifically, this forum:  Alternatehistory.com, and its Before 1900 discussions.  It’s an entertainment and a challenge, exploring different courses history may have taken if something did or did not happen.

What if …

  • Anne Boleyn had given birth to a son that September day in 1533?  Now Blooms the Tudor Rose, one of my favorite TLs (timelines), takes us there.
  • Charles V did not inherit Spain because his cousin, Miguel da Paz of Portugal survives?  This has many repercussions, not only for Spain, but for Charles’s domains in the Holy Roman Empire … and for Henry VIII’s divorce.  Intrigued?  Try reading The Prince of Peace.
  • Cleopatra and her son by Caesar, Ptolemy Caesarion, did not die following Egypt’s defeat at Actium.  After Actium:  Two Caears Are Not Enough not only goes there, but has Cleopatra causing all sorts of trouble from Asia Minor to Parthia.  Then there are the problems Caesarion’s very existence give Octavian.  And that’s just the beginning.

These are just examples, there’s much more maybes and mayhem going on.  It’s fun!  Yes, I know, I’m a nerd.  :)

Scrapbook Awesomeness

I saw this kit the other day and just bowed down in awe.  It’s not a freebie, but it’s so adorable, I can’t resist.  Total digiscrap awesomeness.  I am, of course, talking about Lindsay Jane Designs, and her new kit, Waves of Summer.  Take a look:

ljd_wos_GP_all

No, I am not part of her CT, I just think she deserves lots of kudos for this kit, with which I am in love.  :)   The add-on elements, especially, blew me away.  Massive respect for the time and detail she put into this.  I just had to share this with you guys.

Mom’s Test Results

My sister and I took Mom to her doctor’s appointment yesterday to discuss the results of her blood work.  He says he likes where we’ve been keeping her blood sugar, so her insulin dosage will stay the same.  Her blood pressure is excellent, but her cholesterol levels, while much improved, still need some work.  There is, however, a problem with her kidneys.  They aren’t filtering the blood as efficiently as they should be.  He thinks this is a side effect of one of the medications she’s on.  Apparently, two of them can cause this.  Just to be sure it is a side effect, and not a pre-existing condition, he’ll check her hospital records.  If it turns out to have nothing to do with the meds, or very little, he’ll set her up with a nephrologist.  In the meantime, he took her off of one of those drugs, and we’ll see if that works.  If it’s the other medicine, we may have a problem because he says that’s the best one for diabetics with that particular problem, so changing it will be a challenge.  She has another lab appointment next month for yet more tests.  This time, however, she doesn’t have to fast.

After all of that, we spent the day in town, shopping.  Mostly, we were looking for shoes to fit my tiny feet.  I found a cute pair of boots at Target that were my size, but, alas, sandals that fit, and don’t look like they belong on a fifth grader, were not to be found.  We did, however, find Mom the recliner for which she’s been looking.  Now we just have to arrange for pick up, because the amount the store charges for delivery is ridiculous.  About half the cost of the chair, if you can believe it!

Summertime

Why is it so cold in May?  Luckily, we’re not it’s-gonna-snow-cold the way some of y’all are, but, still.  Last year, winter lasted, like a week, and this year it won’t let go.  I don’t know about you guys, but I’m ready to be warm.  Bring on the summer!  That’s what this week’s kit is all about.  The fun in the sun we get to enjoy in the good ole Summertime.

Summertime contains:

  • 21 papers
  • 13 frames
  • 5 flowers
  • 2 frame clusters
  • 2 curled ribbons
  • 4 journal arrows
  • 5 journal arrow stickers
  • 5 glitter tiles
  • 5 gems
  • 5 sequins
  • 2 beach balls
  • 2 kites
  • 1 cruise ship
  • 2 lifesavers
  • 1 sailboat
  • 1 pool
  • 1 volleyball net
  • 2 water

IR_Summertime_PRE

Here’s a closer look at the papers:

IR_Summertime_PRE-Papers

Summertime sprang from last week’s kit, Shine On.  I kept the oranges and yellows, then added an off-white color and a blue for a warm, summery feel.  After that, I’d make an element, like the journal stickers, for on of them, and wonder how it would look with the other.  Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn’t.

I actually made the cruise ship last year for another kit I was working on that just didn’t go anywhere.  While making Summertime, I remembered the ship, and the lifesavers, and recolored them to work with this kit.  I hope y’all enjoy.

Download:  In full or in dial-up friendly pieces.

Shine On

Good morning, y’all.

Mom’s doing great.  She no longer needs PT, or the walker.  However, she still prefers to use it when she leaves the house, which is fine.  Whatever makes her feel safer and more secure.  She’s also well enough to start bitching about the lack of salt in her food.  Her doctor’s reply to that was “Tough.  Get used to it.”  The doctor is also talking about reducing her insulin.  They’ll be doing a bunch of blood work during her next appointment, and we’ll see how that goes.  Oddly, her eye doctor says there is no sign of diabetes in her eyes.  There are a few little blind spots in her right eye due to the stroke, so driving is a definite no-no, but no sign of diabetes.  It’s odd, and that’s something else we’ll be discussing with her regular doctor.

Anyway, I’ve found some time to play in PSP, and the result is the kit I’m post today, and one I’ll be posting next week.  They sort of grew from each other with similar color palettes.  Today’s kit is about spring.  It has warm, yet earthy, colors, lots of flowers, and cute little birds.

Shine On contains:

  • 19 papers
  • 10 frames
  • 3 frame clusters
  • 25 flowers
  • 8 birds
  • 3 curled ribbons
  • 7 journal arrows
  • 7 journal arrow stickers
  • 7 glitter tiles
  • 7 sequins
  • 7 gems
  • 1 alpha (upper- and lowercase letters, numbers, and symbols)

IR_ShineOn_PRE

Here’s a better look at the papers:

IR_ShineOn_PRE-Papers

The font I used for this alpha is Georgia by Matthew Carter.  This is a Microsoft font that usually comes with Windows.  If you don’t have for whatever reason, you can download it from the Fontzone.

Download links:  In full or in dial-up friendly pieces.

Next week, it’s summertime!  Here’s a peek:

SneakPeek_4-26-2013

Been busy NOT Scrapping

My mother had a stroke at the end of last month.  It was moderate, according to the MRI, but, fortunately, didn’t leave her too impaired.  She’s using a walker, now, temporarily, and her eyesight is a little worse than before.  Just after the stroke, she had some numbness in her right arm and hand, but that’s, mostly, gone leaving only some dexterity issues.  We’ve got to work with her on it every day.  Just little things like picking up beads, rolling a pencil over all of the fingers of that hand with the thumb, tying and untying knots in a rope, fishing poker chips out of a tennis ball, etc.  We really dodged a bullet with that one.  However, she’s now on blood pressure medication and an aspirin regimen.

She’s also been diagnosed with diabetes.  So, she, and us, have had to adjust and cope with some really big changes in her diet.  Not just watching her sodium intake, but her carbs, as well.  Grocery shopping takes forever, now that we’ve all become label readers.  Lemme just say a huge thank you to the inventors of Splenda.  I don’t know how diabetics coped before it.  Then there’s checking her blood sugar and taking insulin.  The doctors tell us that, after her glucose levels are under control, they may be able to switch her from the pen to pills.  That would be a relief, not just because  I don’t enjoy sticking my mother everyday, but because they are a LOT cheaper than the pen.  We’ve managed to find a place where we can get her other meds cheaply, thank you Harris-Teeter, but not the insulin.  That stuff is EXPENSIVE.

Added to all of that, we’ve had to deal with applying for her Social Security and Medicare benefits, for temporary Medicaid until Medicare kicks in, plus having to deal with the VA.  You think SS and Medicare/Medicaid are slow?  They are like lightning compared to Veteran’s Affairs.  Fortunately, my sister took care of most of that stuff.

I’ve still managed to snag some time to scrap a little, between helping my sister take care of Mom, but not much, so, I don’t know when I’ll be able to post another kit.  I will continue to scrap, though, and to post freebies, when I can.  I have a few going right now, and ideas, some vague, for others.  Just be patient.  Thanks.

Refreshed

Hi, y’all.  Long time, no scrap.  But, today, I finally have a new freebie for you to download.  Refreshed is all about rainy days.  Rather apropos, since it’s been raining all night, and will continue to do so for the rest of the day.  This kit makes me think of spring.  In fact, I actually started making it last spring.  I was inspired by the Deck the Halls Colour Challenge last May over at Digital Scrapbook Place.  After saving the palette, I started experimenting and doodling, but nothing really seemed to work right.  Nothing “jelled”.  So, I put it away for awhile.  This happened a few times, until I brought it back out a few weeks ago.  Everything finally started coming together.  I changed the colors some.  Darkened a few, added saturation to others, and so on.  Here’s the result.

Refreshed contains:

  • 21 papers
  • 21 flowers
  • 16 frames
  • 8 labels
  • 2 rain layers
  • 3 dragonflies
  • 1 rainbow
  • 4 sets of falling raindrops
  • 4 ric-rac
  • 3 scalloped edges
  • 7 sequins
  • 8 glitter tiles
  • 5 clouds
  • 7 string flowers
  • 1 waterdrops layer
  • 2 alphas (one lower- and uppercase letters, numbers and symbols, one lowercase letters only)

IR_Refreshed_PRE

Here’s a better look at the papers:

IR_Refreshed_PRE-Papers

The water alpha was created using Water Script by Yaqi Huang, you can download it from dafont.com, and this tutorial:  How to create realistic mass waterdrops on a surface.  I then added a some sparkle to the hightlights with this one:  Create sparkle on any object!.  Both are for GIMP.  The waterdrop tutorial was also used to make the waterdrop layer (duh, right), some of the falling raindrops, the drops on the square frames, and the dragonflies.  The font used for the second alpha was Dream Orphanage Regular by Typodermic Fonts.  It and Romance Fatal Serif (created by Juan Casco), the font on the labels, can also be downloaded from dafont.com.

You can download this kit in pieces, convenient for dial-up, or in full.

Mediafire Problem and Terms Clarification

I’m sorry for the long silence.  It certainly wasn’t intentional.  Don’t worry, I’m still playing around in PSP, and I actually have a few projects going.  I have no idea when, or if, any of them will be finished, but I’ll post them when/if they are.

A couple of things have come to my attention concerning my kits:

First, apparently one or more of the elements in my kit Imaginary Realms has violated Mediafire’s terms of use.  I’m not sure how, since I drew all of the items in that particular folder, ironically, the one with all of the pirate items, or used free fonts.  So, apparently, the Elements-05 folder no longer exists on Mediafire, and I now have strikes against my account.  The all in one download folder for that kit was also deleted.  I’m sorry for any inconvenience this may cause.

And, second, I’ve received some questions about whether or not it’s okay for y’all to created wordarts and cluster frames with my kits and post them for download from your own blog.  The answer is yes, you may.  I don’t see this as much different than making signature tags for download.  So, as long as you say in your post, and, preferably, on your preview, that the item was made with a kit from imagic reflections, and post a link (either to the post for that kit, or the main page), then go right ahead.  All such items must be available for free.  COMMERCIAL USE IS NOT ALLOWED.  I would make an exception for charity.  It’s free advertising, in my opinion.  Like having a CT without going through the hassle of forming and maintaining one.