How have I been doing?

How have I been doing! 

This is what I look like on a good day up above. 

These below are me lately: Worried? 

I know I have been and so has Don. 

Even Rusty has been really hanging on me a "LOT!"

Excuse my french! 

I look and feel like shit!!

"Before you judge me... 

deal with what I've dealt with... 

feel what I've felt...

and try to survive what I've survived"

I know there has been family and some others that don't want to hear about my ailments. Look at me! This is what the excruciating pain is doing to me here in the mid west. Let me say this OK and this is important to me. 

I know that I moved up here and everyone was worried about if I was going to be safe or not with Don. I even admit I felt the same way at that time. I have seen my husband struggle with his PTSD issues, neck pain, and back pains. (All Service connected) I know that I love my husband so much that I would bend over backwards for him and I have as some of you know. I also know that some of of you have said I don't know how you can deal with this. My answer is and always will be "God." After all that happened in Arizona and all the trouble we had together and people got involved that shouldn't have been involved in the first place. His problem was the Lithium and the interactions to a lot of the different pills he was on that he shouldn't have been taking together at all that were prescribed by doctors and specialists. The simvistan that he was on for high Cholesterol that he was on "BEFORE" we moved to AZ was a BIG culprit in his mood swings here in WI and yes he was still on it down there as well. Yes we have been in contact with our Family doctor here we have learned a LOT over the year since we have been here!! My Goodness Thank God for Dr. White!! He is our God send! 

So that is settled and Don is no longer on any of those pills anymore and boy what a CHANGE! He is the man I first married again. Thank Goodness! I never want to go through that EVER again! Neither does Don!

As you see way above those photos of me and I asked you if they worry you? Does looking at me worry you like that? Some of you have seen what I looked like in Arizona before I left for here. I felt good yes but not 100% better maybe about 30% to 40% maybe 50% better, but in the winter 20% better. I was still dealing with other health issues with my heart there in the 5,000 ft elevation in the mountains. But then again there was a lot of stress on me too. I still get those feelings in my heart here when I am extremely stressed out or I sit and worry over things that truthfully I shouldn't be worrying over. But then again I also have problems when I get to much sugar in my body too, so I have to be really careful with that. 

First let me tell you that I sacrificed my better health down in AZ to move all the way back to be with my husband so that we could work on our marriage that was tearing apart because of his medications interacting with each other. He even admitted to our Doctor, myself and people around him that he felt like that medication was making him say things that he never meant, he said it was like he was be controlled by the medication only. He apologized to me I don't know how many times. He felt bad for a year up here about it because it caused other things to happen and my niece's weren't allowed to come over even and he loves them very much like I do. He loves children and is very good around them. I trust him completely and so should you. 

 He told me he never wants to be that way ever again and that he feels 100% better now. I Believe him because I see it! My parents were very worried not only because of them feeling unsafe about me being with him, but they knew that coming back here what it is going to do to me health wise. The Mid west life just is not for me any longer that is for sure! I am here because I love my husband so much and we both wanted our marriage to work. It has very much!! I sacrificed a lot because I felt so much better done there in Arizona, maybe not enough to go back to work, but I was able to feel somewhat better then here. Here I am bed and couch ridden all the time. It sucks!

Let me tell you what is going on here with me and the above photos so you all have some understanding why I look that way. Well all of you and maybe some of you that don't know. The reason for the photos above is because I struggle with excruciating pain in my head and my face. Is it Fibro? No, it isn't. People can't use Fibromyalgia as a excuse all the time there is something wrong with a person. This is worse - way worse. I would never wish this upon my worst enemy ever. I have recently found out what I have been struggling with in a certain part of the back of my head and my neck. I have what is called O.N. - what is that you ask? It is called Occipital Neuralgia (Click here to go to my Health Blog). This is part of Trigeminal Neuralgia and it can be worse then the other with all the burning pain, I think it is worst anyhow, some might beg to differ with me on this one. It effects the back of my head to my forehead and behind my eyes. Is it a normal headache? NO it isn't, I only wish I had just normal headaches and then I would just take something for it and then it would just go away. Well with this it isn't the case. I am on NOTHING but will be shortly. (See my health blog to get more info). 

My Alpha Stim 100 Microcurent Unit is my best friend forever, Does this work? It helps relieve it for awhile then I have to do it again and again and again. Boy do I ever see flashes of light when I do this lol, but it helps. I don't sleep much, I probably only get about 3 to 4 hours of sleep and no that is not the deep sleep. I have trouble laying on my pillow the majority of the time because I hurt in my face or my head hurts. I wish I could float on air when I sleep.

What I am trying to say here is that Arizona or any of those Dryer Climate states are where I have to live from now on. I cannot live here in the mid west due to my health problems. I can visit in the summer months but not to live. Yes I have sacrificed my better health in Arizona to come here and I have found out that this time the pain has doubled over on me and I am not making here. I wish there was some way just to make this pain go away. Winter is here and it is cold. 

I want you all to know that I have learned more about my husband being here. Yes he struggles everyday to be my own caregiver, he watches me in excruciating pain and has no idea what to do. Surgery is not a option for me as my Doc says because people that get these pains in their heads and spends all that money on it, end up coming back in to say they still hurt. There is no cure.

 Since I have been here with Don & our marriage is stronger then ever I still see my husband in tears because I have sacrificed a lot to be with him instead of staying down there to feel better. I just never want to hold him back from anything that he wants to do and sometimes I feel like I have because of my health and some other issues that I deal with. I see him struggle and hear me complain a lot about the pain. Like I said he never knows what to do for me. He does tell people I have to get my wife to a dryer climate because I hate to see her in so much pain as he says it at times in tears.

After all that I have been through in AZ 

and now here again in excruciating pain!

 I know I can make it through anything! 

I heard somewhere if your marriage goes to pot 

and there is terrible struggles within the marriage. 

You work on it together. 

You make it work and it is working. 

That your Marriage is VERY STRONG in the outcome!

To my Husband:

The best thing about being me~~

I'm a limited edition~~

there are no other copies~~~

bet you're thinking thank the good lord!!

I AM ALSO STRONG & I AM A FIGHTER!

God is by our sides helping us along the way. God sacrificed his life to be with us. I sacrificed my health to be with my husband. God is Love and I Love My Husband.

Yummy Homemade Peanut Butter Dog Treats

Oh yes I got very creative another day. hahaha Ya know Dog treats are so spendy in the stores now days and so I decided I was going to make some healthy ones for my Rusty dog. So I did and I will give you the recipe too. Let me say this OK, well I doubled the recipe and oh man do we ever have a supply now! *laughing* but that is OK we will have them for awhile, plus our Dog friends are going to get a baggie full of them too. :-) I had a lot of fun making these, yes you will see they are even fit for a person to eat them too. *laughing* But I wouldn't sit and munch on them all day *laugh* It is up to you hahahaha


Peanut Butter Dog Treats

Ingredients

• 2 cups whole wheat flour, or as needed
• 2 cups spelt flour
• 2 cups quick-cooking rolled oats
• 1/4 cup flax seeds
• 2 1/2 cups warm water
• 1/2 cup natural peanut butter

Rusty waiting for something to drop on the floor and he managed to get a few pieces. hahaha

Knead it to it isn't sticky.

I don't have cookie cutters so I used what I could-I used the flashlight ring and it made the small treats just great!

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. Combine wheat flour, spelt flour, oats, and flax seeds in large bowl. Stir in water and peanut butter. Knead dough on a lightly floured surface, mixing in more flour as needed until dough is smooth and no longer sticky. Roll out dough to 1/4 inch thick. Cut with small cookie cutters into desired shapes, and place 3/4 inch apart on greased cookie sheets.
3. Bake 40 minutes. Turn oven off; leave biscuits in oven until completely cool.

We have plenty ya think!! We now have a happy puppy, he has been without his treats for a week :( Poor guy!!

Ahhhh that was good. Thank You Mama!

Another night That I Transformed into a Cat Lady Oct. 29, 2011

It was Oct. 29, 2011 and I transformed into the Cat Lady again. I don't have a lot of Cat Lady photos to this blog. You can go to me other one to see more of them.

My Makeup is painted on a little different on this night.

We had another costume contest at the Hersey The Cave Bar in Hersey WI. It is about a hour from where we live. Don & I love this bar because the people are so friendly and we always have a good time going there with our good friends Gene & Jody. I met some wonderful people there this time and we now have some new friends. Don & I wish we lived closer because that would be a bar that we would feel comfortable going into to sit and have a drink and socialize with people. I myself told Don many times that I don't like going into bars by myself, but this one I feel good about and I could. This Cave Bar is decorated inside just like a "cave" on the walls and the ceiling, it is a one of a kind bar and it is just so cool! Then they have their Mascot ya know:

The Caveman "Gene" 

There was lots of really neat costumes there that night. I remember seeing a skeleton Bride,Frankenstein's Bride, Frankenstein, Cowboy, 2 women with curlers and rollers in their hair called the Desperate housewives, Naughty schoolgirl, zombies,cat,warrior, beautiful fairy, phantom, goblins, zombie and more.

Desperate Housewives (Christie)

"Radio Drive" played there that night. Great Music!!

ME

A Phantom (Don)

A Fairytale - Little Red Riding Hood (Jody) and the Big Bad Wolf (Gene)

Beautiful Fairy (Heather)

Little red Riding Hood (Jody, Gene's wife)

Surprised!! because of this next note:

I remember something that happen to me that night and I was like ok! but I had to laugh it off though. This woman that Gene & Jody knew could not figure out if I was a woman or and man. She kept staring at me squinting her eyes and trying to figure it out. She leaned over to Gene several times to ask and she kept watching me lol I thought it was so funny. Well I suppose she asked Gene if I was female or male and Gene told well ask or find out, well she didn't ask lol she came over and she reached for my chest and felt around and low and behold I heard her say "Oh my gosh it is a woman under all that stuff." I just laughed so hard, it was funny. Because really it was very hard to figure out if I was a woman or a man. Because men do wear these costumes in "Cats."

Back to the story:

Now it was time for the contest at 1am in the morning. They told everyone that was going to join in the contest to stand up front. So some of us did, It looked like many of them left. Don says maybe because with the way my costume was, maybe they thought that they went someplace else because they knew they weren't going to win. hahahaha oh well what are you going to do ya know.That is how things go. So how did they judge us? By who all was there that night and they clapped and whistled and yelled so whoever got the loudest won. Here we all are starting with 3rd place:

Zombie (Corine) She was even a Zombie at the Village of Terror near Eau Claire. She won 3rd Place here at the Hersey Cave Bar

Little Red Riding Hood & Big Bad Wolf won 2nd Place

and now for the first place winner!!!!!

He stands outside,

She crouches inside,

Both of them waiting for the right moment.

Edging toward the opening on soft, pink tissue-paper feet.

Whiskers twitching,

Sniffing the air for the scent of danger,

She tenses her body.

Minutes pass.

Muscles cry out to be released but remain taut.

And then . . .

Whoosh!

A streak of gray fur shoots from the hole,

And a black velvet paw lands,

She catches the mouse!

1st Place Winner

$75.00

I won a total of $320 this weekend with this costume!

from the Musical called "Cats" but my costume is all homemade.

We had a blast this weekend so now we are recouping from all the excitement!

The Transformation, Halloween Party and the Contest Oct 2011

Hello everyone :-) It is Halloween Weekend! So you are all wondering if I won a prize eh? Well read on :-) and you will find out if I did or not.

Yesterday as some of you know I started early on my foam piece and my make up. Lets say I started at 11am and took till 3 pm to get my makeup done.first I had to glue on my cat nose and face piece to my face. I let it dry before painting. I was wishing that they had a hole in the nostrils so you could breath through your nose, but nope it wasn't made that way at all. I could smell adhesive and the foam piece strong for awhile and then it went away very little, but still had a smell all night long. So what I did I glued it to my face so there was a little opening at the base of it, still there was that smell *laughing* I even went to the point to get this blue raspberry slushee ice cream syrup to dab in there so I could smell something decent hahaha it worked for a bit but not long at all. I tried anyhow hahaha.

I am not sure if I told you all in the last blog how I made the whiskers or not. Don & I went to walmart one night and we looked for something that would work. we picked up a few items, first it was going to be these plastic pieces that kids would use to make necklaces. That would have worked we thought, but we went down father in the craft section and Don seen this twine like material for adult necklaces. So he bought that for me and I used tacky glue to make them stiff. It worked as you can see. 

As you can see here I left it open just a tad underneath to relieve that smell and to breathe. It helped some but to much.

Then I started painting on my face...check out the transformation below:

Next year I am getting Cat Eye Contacts!! Didn't have them this year :( 

Going to add more color to nose.

Did I have fun painting??? Heck YES I did!! I had my tunes going and I had a blast!! Wouldn't you? 

That is all that fabric paint on my face too.

Ok well now you got to see the transformation with the make up and now onto MORE Transformation: 

I don't think so! LOL

So after this transformation we went to Hayward LCO Casino for the Halloween Party and the Costume Contest. I registered and this was my number: 

Yep I was the 2nd person to register for the contest. 

So what did I have to do? 

Well for one thing about the Hayward Contest, we went to it 3 years ago and we didn't win but after asking around what they excepted to see. We figured it all out. They are looking for people to play there part with what they were. They were also looking for the "Creative" costumes. Not the kind that you just slap on a mask and say here I am with my costume. You have to be very creative!! That I was!!! I was telling my Mom that I believe they already picked me out from the time I walked into the door. I had tons of people come up to me and say Awesome, Cool, WOW, and more! One even said here kitty kitty and I meowed *laughing.* I had one woman walk up to me in the middle and she said well you know you are going to win I just want you to know that, I said I hope so! All I can say is we had a great time. i played my part and I prowled around the place, I pretended to lick my fur and wash my face. Used my nails, rubbed up against my husband, Hung the rat by its tail in my mouth, and then went around and handed my rat to people like a cat would bring you your gift of praise. I did my part and it was a blast!!

Yummmmmy a Cat's Treat!

hehehehe

We had a great time at the Party that is all I can say! here are some photos of the party to share. I will tell you that there was a lot of different costumes there, some were good, some were terrible, some were scary (a few I didn't even like), there was a green faced witch and it made me think of my good friend and what she told me but this witch was from Wizard of Oz. That klan was a character each from Wizard of Oz, there was even a few naughty costumes and I don't think they should have worn them there because it was disgusting. Sorry I just don't think that was the right place for a male & female part costume STUPID! Here in this next photo you can see Frankenstein but if you look off to your left in the photo you can see a man's penis *YUCK* What terrible costumes! I agree they should have done those at a home party not in public. 

This Frankenstein 3 yrs old won $700 but I heard people say that he does this every year and so he wasn't going to win. Ya know what there was another Frankenstein there and here he is: 

This one Won in the Men's Contest $250 :-) He didn't just stand still all night long like the other one did. This guy danced and had fun. This one had these HUGE boxed shoes. They were creative with his outfit. 

Here is some more photos of people at the party. 

The White bottle there was a Beer bottle.The box was those people in a picture frame with the pitch fork. I wish my camera was working better so I could have gotten a better shot of them in front. They were creative but they didn't win as a duel :( 

Some lady wearing pasties and tassels (fake suit) & Bat girl.

12 foot Costume creepy clown! That had to be a lot of weight on that guys shoulders lol

This is the Devil costume that gave me the creeps and they kept hanging around me there for awhile. ICK! The gal was a dead girl.

Grim Reaper - This is my Step Son DJ and he played his part also but didn't win.

My husband Don the Werewolf! He played his part too. But didn't win.

Here is more of Don's Werewolf costume. 

I painted around his eyes with Red Face Paint.

Rusty believes that the werewolf is just another dog in the house. hahaha Don got down on the floor with his and Rusty played with him like he was playing with another like at the Dog Park. hahahaha It was funny to watch.

I got creative with Don's pants. I cut at the bottom of them, I cut holes in the pant legs and I sewn on the fur in the holes. I also painted the fur gray too.

Next year Don said that he would be a cat like me and yes he said he would wear a unitard too :-) This I would like to see eh! We will see. I have another idea for next year too but we will see. :) This would be my idea MAYBE

No they are NOT EVIL but they do serve the purpose to ward off evil. People have a misconception of these creatures. I Love them! They are so cool!

(Though gargoyles often have a fearsome appearance, their use is thought to be far more benevolent. The power to ward off evil spirits is a significant part of the mythological explanation surrounding gargoyles. Hellenic or Greek gargoyles are very often seen as happy or jolly characters and were a part of many public buildings. They could be seen mounted on the parapets of buildings or spewing water as part of a public fountain.)

But like I said WE WILL SEE! Now for the Grand Finale!

So did I win??? What do you think? 

The highest money for a 1st place was $250.00 Do you think I got anything??

*BIG GRIN*

You be the Judge! Check it out!

I was so tired in this photo haha

I WON!!!!

I got $250 for 1st place of the Women's Contest!!!

There was a couple of women that came up to give me a BIG HUG and said that theyw ere so glad that I won and that I had the best costume of the night!!

The judges even before leaving came up to me to Congrats me!

YIPEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!