Slow going in November

This page has me perplexed, but the whole month of November was pretty unsettling thus the November page is unsettling - well at least to me - there's lots going on, most of it in my head but the basis of the November page is opposition - colors (things/people) who should 'go together' but don't, just like orange and blue are complimentary colors but aren't quite complimentary on this page - the page is a little jarring to me - I think it needs a mirror - I'll see if I can find one.
Hopefully I can finish the page this week and move on to the December page and something a bit 'prettier'.

The Seven Tagger thing

I found out today I've been tagged by the lovely CarolL and so here are my responses:
Here are the rules of the game :


1. Link to your tagger and list these rules on your blog.
2. Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird.
3. Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blog.
4. Let them know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.


1. I have 4 dogs and 6 cats.
2. I don't eat anything that swims.
3. I almost always have a digital camera in my handbag.
4. I am an only child.
5. My son is an only child as well.
6. I haven't decided what I want to be when I grow up yet.
7. I am very happy with the results of the recent presidential election in the US.

And now to tag others - hmmm -

1.KiwiEllen
2. Sabine\
3. Cynthia
4. Theresa
5. cynjon
6. Paula
7. Freebird

beading on the fly

I'm in Phoenix once again tending to my mother. It's a horror what the airlines can do to vials of beads packed in checked baggage. Luckily I secured everything in zip-lock bags so I have some interesting mixes but no bead soup on the bottom of my suitcase.

I worked on the November page for a bit in the waiting room at the hospital today while my mother was having a heart catheterization. I could only work for a little while because there was just so much sadness in that room with people all stressed and doctors coming out to share not such good news.

An interesting thing here - perhaps it's everywhere and I just don't know it - when a baby is born at the hospital, the birth is announced over the intercom and brahms lullaby is played. It was charming the first few times - I don't think I'd like to work there though - perhaps you learn to ignore it.


And so mother is home now and we are experiencing a significant role reversal as now she is taking off her oxygen and sneaking out to the garage to smoke - she thinks she's fooling me. She's a grown woman - If having emphysema hasn't made her quit smoking, I don't think that I can accomplish it. I told her today that she was a grown woman who needed to make choices in her life - only she could determine whether or not drinking and smoking were important enough to shorten her life. If she felt that they were - then that is the route she should take. During the last few years of my father's life, he was miserable - he couldn't smoke his pipe, he couldn't eat the foods he liked, he had to eat foods he hated - everything was measured and calculated - I remember once I called him on his birthday and he said "I had fake eggs with fake sausage and toast with fake butter - I got half of a real banana though" - my father lived to eat - growing up during the depression was his excuse. But I often thought that if he'd lived 2 happy years instead of 3 and a half miserable ones - what would have been the difference. And that's basically how I'm feeling now with my mother. She has to make her own choices.

I think I've finally gotten her settled for the night so perhaps I can work on the beading for a bit.