I am so excited...

More to come in the next few days since we are finally on vacation... but just something really quick... I AM SELLING OVER 25 of my Holiday Jewelry Line!! A wonderful friend of mine wore something I gave her to the hospital where she works today and had TONS of people coming up to her asking her about them and if they were for sale... She called me up and said that she wanted me to get 'em ready and she would take them to work tomorrow!! I am so giggly with excitement! I worked a long afternoon giving EVERY piece (52+) my attention and finishing them up (will post some photos tomorrow...)!! I hope some sell tomorrow... wish me luck!!!

Here's the write-up I created for the pieces...

HOLIDAY EARRINGS & PENDANTS
Earrings and pendants are made from a beautiful white porcelain clay body. They are light and fun to wear! Each one is stamped using my own handmade molds, hand-shaped and smoothed, kiln fired, and meticulously hand-glazed – using a variety of techniques. Finally they are finished with a clear glaze to give it that extra Holiday SPARKLE!
They feature playful, whimsical holiday themes. The backs have been left unglazed ~ especially with the pendants so that, if you like, you can spray it with your favorite perfume or cologne; making your scent last longer and diffusing it by the warmth of your body. They hang from delicate Sterling Silver hook, clasp, & fastenings.
Earrings - $15.00
Pendants - $15.00
Earring & Pendant sets - $25.00
Please make checks payable to Kymmie Marriner!
Thank you so much for your interest and HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!!

Here's hoping... Christmas is here... bringing good cheer...

Another giveaway from the Vintage Pearl...

OH I HOPE I WIN... I HOPE I WIN!!! Check out the Vintage Pearl's stuff... I've asked for things from here for Christmas or my birthday - (for my family reading this... HINT HINT). =)

It's sweet stuff!! She has a blog and a website - check 'em out www.thevintagepearl.com & www.thevintagepearl.blogspot.com!

Her e-mail stated that she is celebrating her new font... it's called "whimsy" - I find it super cute!! The Vintage Pearl is giving away your choice of any piece hand stamped in "whimsy" on their blog! Check it out!! thevintagepearlinfo@gmail.com www.thevintagepearl.com

OH I HOPE I WIN I HOPE I WIN I HOPE I WIN!!! OH PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASSSSSSE!

A great day...

Even though there was a lot of pain today (two days of intense - like a knife in my bones...no more like hot embers deep in my spine - I PROMISE NO more overdoing things! LESSON LEARNED!!! I PROMISE - it's really not worth it my friends ouch), I felt really good mentally!
(sorry folks for the run-on sentence - it's late and i don't proclaim to be a great writer!)

It was such a super day! NOoooooo really it WAS!! It really was a nice day. (I really don't like the word nice (ask my Safety-man - he gets grief for that a lot)... there are so many other great adjectives but it was a NICE, NICE day).

I have to say I wasn't sure at first that it would be... I started to stress over little things. That's so me. I wonder where my little girls get it - and there it is right from me! I just start thinking and then worry... Today it was things from - how I was going to get to my appointment this morning, getting back, if dear Mr Safety-Man would be able to get my youngest Boo to her pulmonologist appt, and how would I get my oldest home from the bus stop- not being able to drive is KILLING me! It takes all your freedom away! It's amazing how I get myself all worked up - Jeesh.

But what I should have remembered or had faith in, was that everything would be ok and would work out for the best. I should start with the fact that my hair has been bad for a LONG while - I just couldn't sit long enough to get it cut/colored after the surgery. So I finally got an appt - but it wasn't until NEXT Thursday - and I have tons of activities coming up! LOW AND BEHOLD she had a cancellation and I got an appt today!!! YES!!! HMmm but if Chris wasn't home... how to get there...

A wonderful friend ended up having most of today off and came and got me, she then got called in to work - I started to worry about getting home. I was going to try to walk - but the way I was feeling during the appointment - walking home (close to my home) wasn't going to be an option (especially if I wanted Mr S. Man to talk to me again...). But they called her and pushed her going in to work back, so I got to show off my new do and get a ride home! I am so thankful for everyone who CONTINUES to help me out... Then my dear S.Man was able to pick up Boo and take her to the pulmonologist (which she really needed to go to - as she has been having several asthma attacks in Utah and since we've been back home). AND we decided together that KyKy could just come home early... GREAT! It just worked out!

And the hair appointment was AWESOME - I don't know if it was because I waited SO long to get it done - but ms rachael did a wonderful job and I had a nice time. It was so awesome to feel relaxed, on my own, and free! I even got enough courage to ask for my eyebrows to be done. I don't know why - but normally I wouldn't ask - because I didn't make an appt and didn't want to trouble them... but I just went with it - and BAM! Finally got my eyebrows done. The AWESOME part... I ended up getting it for FREE for a promotion they were going to start - and gave to me early! (Wish the hair appt was free!) hahaha!

Then we got all ready for my daughter's (and friends' daughters) school Christmas show. It was absolutely like ALL school shows... but it was SOooooooo cute! I took photos of my girls and friends while they performed. Ky got very nervous so didn't smile as much as normal but she did FANTASTIC with her lines and Boo did a fabulous job in her Tiny Ballerina number! SO adorable! She didn't disappoint me - she shaded her eyes and looked for "Mame" (mommy) and Daddy in the audience! And of course in the middle of her dance waved at us! Oooooo how sweet and how precious.

We were so proud! I have photos - but am so tired - I will post them later. I really am so proud!! The show really was cute! Only a parent would love!! =)

AND THENnnnnnnnnnnnn my most wonderful hubby in the world, to help me from bending and doing things I shouldn't be doing, loaded the entire kiln of our First Impressions hand prints/footprints... ALL 49 of them! I still cannot believe he got them all in - one firing! AWESOME! THANK YOU BABE!!! He even sharpened the stilts to ensure they wouldn't stick to the impressions. He does so much for me, our family, to help everyone. He truly is the BEST.

Soooo turning worry in to remembering about having faith things will work out, a great haircut and feeling a bit better emotionally after getting it done (i wish physically too - but soon), to a precious holiday show that I just got all warm and fuzzy watching those I love perform, and finally to a hubby who really does EVERYTHING for me - in order that I heal CORRECTLY!

I am a lucky girl... and I do feel blessed. I truly am.

Thanks for the patience of a rambling post...

There SHE IS!!!....oops Nope... maybe not... but just for a bit - she was there!

Well it's pretty easy to be angry at oneself, to be down, to be sad. Why isn't it easy to accept, deal, and move on? I wonder? Being patient is also a really hard concept for me... especially when I feel like I should be totally ready to get back in to the swing of things NOW!

So after the last post - I got to thinking that baby steps and goals really were helping! My DEAR Mr Safety Man & I went out to the movies...very impromtu which I loved! First date night since my surgery! Ahhhhhhhhhh I started to see a glimmer of me right then and there! It felt so nice to be out...sure sitting was excruciating - but WELL worth it. Then while I was with a wonderful friend accompanying her to Tampa (an excursion outta this house again! YAY!), my dear Mr Safety Man decided to surprise me and get all the lights on the house, new wonderful snowmen lights lined my walkway we labored on a few summers ago, and I just got so excited. WOW - it was an emotion that I hadn't felt for awhile. And it. felt. good. It got me to thinking.

"i can do this... i can decorate, i can help get the house back in to some kind of semblance of order, i can help dear mr safetyman with the girls lunches, i can glaze these darling foot and hand impressions for my small little company, i can help friends, i can do small areas of my house, i can even try to push things with my legs, or bend to pick that item on the floor up, and even go off my medication...."

~~ SCREECH ~~

(that's me putting on the brakes)

I think that I may have gone a bit over the top there... but that's me... always trying to push too hard - overachiever my hubby says. And well - yep - it happened I went too far and now I feel everything... and I mean every single ache. I tell my dear S. man that I think sometimes I can feel where every single screw is in my back... all eight of them. Gross.

It's hard for people looking at me... they cannot tell how bad things hurt (and I don't want them to know...). I had visual cues at first... bandages, walker, wheelchair, and now I don't need my walker - I graduated last week from it! YAY! My incisions have long been healed. I only need the wheelchair if i am going to have to do a lot of walking around. The only thing truly that is visible now... is a slight limp, a slower gait, and some grimaces on my face here & there.

I do feel almost me again. One could catch a glimpse of the happy-go-lucky... eager to help... me the last two days. There's been more smiles than frowns or sorrow. More gleam and glitter in the eyes than tears... I just have felt brighter. Well until I WAY over did things and tonight proved to be a very difficult night. I am so tired but hurt too much to sleep. Sigh.

But boy-oh-boy doing those baby steps and setting goals... my house is starting to look a lot like it did WAYyyyyyyyyyyyyy before my back first started getting bad (that's over 5 years ago people!! WOWwwwwww!). I mean it's definitely got a long way to go... but I see progress.

Hmmm progress... I recently talked to my best friend in TX and she always has the right words... "Kymmie you're walking after a spinal surgery only hours after the surgery" "Kymmie you are picking up things 5lbs - whereas before you could not"... progress... gotta remember progress is a good thing and it's happening I only have to be PATIENT!!! (there's that dang word again)

This morning I called Mr S. Man to literally "talk me off the ledge"... I was teetering on edge of being completely engulfed in being overwhelmed about the state of the house, about my still having to take medication, about finishing glazing LOTS of feet and hands, about the girls, about our HECTIC schedule the next 2 weeks... you name it I blurted it all out to him.

Man I love that guy, his initial response was "your job right now is to not do anything... not to be overwhelmed, not to work on anything in the house...there's one exception and that's to heal". Say it with... "AAAAWwwww". I had to hear it - but I still wanted to do something... to keep the gleam and sliver of feeling like me again alive...

So he agreed on a compromise because I have these little goals... and it did honestly feel good to scour my kitchen (only waste high - no bending). And to get my living room back. And to tidy up the family room. And to decorate some areas. And to put some clothes away. And to glaze. And to sweep. And to clean up the bathroom. And to go to a Christmas party.

I think we get the idea... yep... I did wayyyyyy too much - especially today. I am a mess tonight. A dang mess and it was really DUMB...and now you know why my dear Mr Safety Man has to say the things he does to me... he knows me so well!

But my house is starting to look like my home again. My Christmas decorations are making me grin - from my icepack on the couch... and even if it were just a glimpse, a tiny little glimmer...

I found Kymmie in here again... I felt like a part of me was coming along just fine.

And heck - I proved I could lift a bit more than FIVE pounds!

Next post... some Utah vacation rememberances and photos! A HAPPY POST!

LACKADAISICAL... definition of Kymmie

Well I have to say that is EXACTLY the right term for me... I feel so badly... so lacking life, spirit, or zest the last few days! Heck I haven't even updated my blog or completely dressed since I have been home from Utah!!!

I have to say - traveling is very difficult. It truly is. And for me - I don't know what it is but going from the West to the East... it is more difficult! We had a FANTABULOUS vacation and I will post about that very soon! I am so excited to say that I have made some physical improvements... but as most people who know me know - it just isn't enough for me. I want to be better NOW!!! And being lackadaisical (OK I just love saying that word... it actually is lifting my spirits at I write it...say it with me my friends - LACK - A - DAI - SI - CAL!!!! See? FUN!) has been my norm the last few days. But I want to be so much more. I ask a lot of myself - this I know! I guess it is permissable since we didn't get home until after 1AM on Tuesday night. And then poor Boo got sick at school and was sent home yesterday and was home after throwing up last night... Oh boy! Plus a lot of sitting with a newly fused back - and not able to lie down in the plane, oh and add in there a 2 hour round trip to Provo before the plane ride... well it's becoming obvious to me why I hurt so badly right now. But man... can't something go right so I can get off my poor me/pity party and actually prove that I am starting to be more "me" again and am actually improving! I hope people can see that?!

Is it ok to allow myself some time to re-cupe? I think so... But honestly... I don't want to re-cupe anymore. I want to be absolutely fine. I am really finished with healing and waiting. I want to feel good enough to decorate - I AM in the holiday spirit... I DO want to do so much to get ready for Christmas... and yet... here it is... already December 3rd! I want to feel so fine that I can fix up my house, run errands again, help my friends who have helped me so much, fold laundry, DRIVE... heck ANYWHERE, and well - just be the normal (or well in my case... abnormal) Kymmie that I was before all my back issues.

Soooo to the wind with the lackadaisical attitude... I will start with baby steps! YES! That's what I will do...

Tomorrow I will glaze some adorable hand & foot prints which have helped me make some money towards a HUGE Christmas present for my family (I AM SO EXCITED ABOUT) and that is a great thing! Then it will be on to doing a little decorating of some of my FAVORITE things... like my garland I made 2 years ago... AND then on to making a new garland to go across the room from that one! So there are THREE things to get excited about... and if I am still feeling up to it - I will try to walk for a bit to see how I can do on that. Hmmmm that makes me feel better... some targets/goals. Something to look forward to - and yet something that will not make me feel overwhelmed. I like it.

And maybe... just maybe... I will get a little date night with my hubby tomorrow night. It's been WAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY, FARrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr too long! So... I guess it's ok to feel, acknowledge, and then carry on!!!

Fa... La... La-La...Laaaaaaaaaaaa... La-La...LA... LA!!!!