Smith Mountain Lake-My Hometown

1980- The year I married my very best friend in the world and the year that I moved to Smith Mountain Lake.  Land given to us as a wedding gift from Dear Husbands parents to someday build our dream home on.  For the first 7 years we lived there in a mobile home, saving, scrimping and dreaming..... 

Smith Mountain Lake, which was started in 1960 and finally filled in 1966, is a man made lake consisting of over 500 miles of shoreline and bordering 3 counties.  My own great-grandparents farm was sold to make way for the lake.  My Great Aunt remembers standing and watching the lake fill up over where their house was and watching the watermelons float down the river.  Many, many peoples farms were taken for this development.  The lake was certainly bittersweet for many.

AEP owns the lake and the dam is  used for electricity to all the surrounding counties.

As for me and my beloved, we finally built that dream house in 1987.  It's the white one in the middle of the field.   That used to be a cow pasture!  We have now bought all the land from his mom that goes all the way to the shoreline.  Maybe one day we will build a smaller home closer to the shore.

Lot's of fishing, swimming, boating, and skiing go on around our house in the summer and that is what I tried to capture with my Hometown Tag swap hosted by Tammy. 

Fun in the Sun!

 

They have been mailed today!  Can't wait to see everyone else's tags!  I love tag swaps!

Hope everyone had a great weekend.  I ended up in urgent care with another migraine.  I am now on steroids to see if they can be stopped long enough to get on another preventive plan.  I have a Dr. appointment today.  Please say a little prayer that something will be found to keep these migraines away!  It's hard to stay positive when nothing seems to be working, but I know God has a plan and we will figure it out!

Blessings

Linda

Happy Dance Day

Happy Hump Day!  Thank you so much for the comments on my medication post.  I am feeling so much better now that I am off that medication.  I have never taken anything like that before and was totally unaware of how mind altering some medications are.  We are still working on a migraine plan, I go back to the neurologist next Monday. 

I am so happy to tell you that my name was chosen for the winner of Kim's super, fantastic giveaway!    Monday afternoon I got the package in the mail and was it ever filled with the sweetest and cutest stuff ever!

First there was this lovely, vintage purse that my niece is going to turn green with envy over.  She loves vintage, straw bags.  Inside the purse was,

Sweet little drop earrings

This tiny little table and chairs and teapot.  One of my peg dolls is already serving tea there and is as pleased as can be with her new table.

Lovely chinese lanterns that I am going to save for my me and my sister's birthday party that we have together every year.

A blurry photo of a pretty, little pink vase of flowers.. 

A crochted pot holder that I am using as a rug for my dolls table!

These beautiful embroidered pieces for the table...

and fun note cards!

Thank you again Kim, for such a fun and generous giveaway!!! 

On the craft front I have been busy!  I can't post what I have been making yet, but it involves lots of scrapbook paper in orange, black, purple and green.  Guess which holiday I am working on????

I can tell you it involves a Witch's Hat Swap from Viv, but the rest is a secret until I get it in the mail!

And also working on my Hometown swap tags that Tammy is hosting..

Hmmmm... what will my tags look like?????

Blessings

Linda

My Medication Nightmare

Ladies, let my story be a lesson to all of us to listen to what our bodies are telling us and be very aware when things are not right.

My Primary Care Physician started me on T*pimax as a preventative for my migraines.  He started me at 100 mg. per day then bumped it up to 200 mg.s per day back at the end of June.  Since then I have become increasingly depressed, anxious, there has been a loss of interest in most everything. 

The garden that I planted from seeds that I raised in my greenhouse, sat out in sun and dried up from lack of attention.  The only thing I bothered picking were the beans.  The tomatoes lie rotting on the vines, the potatoes are still under the soil, beets, cucumbers and squash, all gone.

New craft magazines, lying unopened in my craft room.  Usually I can't even wait to get home to look at them and will read them in the car.

Nights spent crying and crying, for reasons I can't tell anyone because I don't know myself...

Going to work every day, double checking every thing I do because I know that I can't focus as well as before.

Trying to live normally..Trying to act happy... Trying to do things I usually do.....but knowing that under the surface something is very wrong....

Still the migraines are happening almost everyday..

The Neurologist, says that's a very high dose of Top*m*x your PCP started you on, he is concerned.. let's stay on it just a little while and see what happens and start some physical therapy on your shoulder that is bothering you that could be adding to your migraine problem.  He didn't like the idea that my PCP started me on such a high dose.  Two more weeks of these horrible feelings, still more migraines.. until this weekend...

I couldn't take it anymore..all I could think about was that I didn't want to live anymore.. I couldn't stand the pain,  the Imitrex for the migraines quit working completely, they wouldn't go away at all.  My husband called the Neurologists office and they gave him an emergency number.  The Neurologist called and said to give me an injection of the high powered migraine medication they had given me and to start pulling me off the Top*max immediately! I was to only take 1/2 the prescribed amount that night.

The Doctor called yesterday and said he wanted me weaned off the T*p*max completely by Wednesday.  Apparently one of the rare side effects of this drug is depression and thoughts of suicide.  I was one of the few people who had almost all of the side effects of this medication.  I lost 11 pounds in a little over a month   My vision changed.  I became anxious and depressed.  There was a constant ringing in my ears.  And still I had migraines almost daily.  I kept thinking, "maybe it takes awhile for the medicine to start working, it will start working any day now".  Or I would say to myself  "This is just crazy, you need to snap out of this, it's all in your head".

Today I am down to only 1/3 of the medication and tomorrow will be the last day.  Thank God!  I feel better already!  The ringing in the ears is gone.  I don't feel like all hope is gone. 

Yes, we are back to square one with the migraines.  I have an appointment with the Neurologist today to start with plan B and  I have an appointment with my OB-Gyn, Friday to start testing hormore levels and having my thyroid tested, I am 51 years old, and this could be part of the problem.   We haven't found the culprit yet, but we will.

My point is...I knew something was wrong...I thought it was just me...I should have called and told the Dr. that something wasn't right.

 It's time to take charge to my health and be more assertive.  I've got to get well soon!  I'm waayyyy behind on Halloween crafts! 

* use of * and misspelling of the drug is because I don't want anyone searching for information on this drug to find my blog.  Sorry if that confuses anyone.

Blessings

Linda

Paper Crafts by my Grandma Bird

Good Morning All,

I was so surprised when I logged on this morning to find out that I had won the giveaway from Kim !  I am giddy with excitement!  I have been away from my blog because of the ever present migraine and because I am pretty sure the doctors are going to need to change my meds for my anxiety issues.  That is really hard for me to put out in the open.  I have never had to take any type of medication for anxiety before these migraines flared up like they have this summer.  Now it seems they have caused me to worry not only about my migraines, but everything.  This has never been a problem in the past.  Now I seem to "make up" stuff to worry about.  It's just crazy!  I will be talking to my Dr. about this.  Anyway, everytime I thought about doing a blog post, I got nervous about it, so I just didn't log on.  I know, crazy...

My sister is trying to research our father's side of our family and is really having a hard time.  He is an only child and is the only living relative and there isn't a lot of online information and she's hit a brick wall on Ancestry.com and with the library.  So she asked me if I would look through our Grandmother's scrapbooks and Bible's (I kept them when she passed away) and see if there was anything written down about our great-great grandfather in any of the Bibles.  There wasn't, however in a bag I found these great table place cards.  I do remember her and some other ladies making things for these luncheons.  I don't remember if it was these cards are not.

Grandma lived in a very rural area in Giles county Virginia in a farming community called White Gate.  Every so often the Extension Homemakers would meet and have a luncheon.

Whooooo????  I am so glad that she kept these......This owl made of felt is so cute.

This one  had little seeds making the flower on the side.

Wow.  Someone took a lot of time to hand draw the building where they met, for each card.  This would have been in the 1970's so I'm not sure that they would have had access to a photo copier.

Some were less elaborate than others, but look at the calligraphy handwriting...

A little window scene with a hand drawn flower pot and fabric curtains and my favorite... rick rack!

Is this not just adorable?  Felt hat with ribbon and flowers...but I saved my favorite for last.....

Can you imagine making at least 20 of these????  Her name is on the back of this...  It is made of yellow construction paper and black felt with gold trim.  There are little gold sequins in the center of the wheels.

While I was unable to come up with any information for my sister, I was glad that I found these.

Blessings

Linda

Naked No More!

Little Miss Priss has a brand new dress and Pinafore!  And a shiny new ribbon for her head.  I noticed she had two little holes in the top on her head so I think she may have been a carnival doll.  The kind that came on a stick! 

Miss Tammy sent me one of her delightful friendship banners so I made one to send to her.  It was so much fun selecting papers and embelishments to remind Tammy of my blog.

Red and Aqua!  Love those colors!  Rick Rack and old patterns...

I think we all love those vintage valentines... How would we ever craft without them??

The back of my bannner, my avatar.... always the majorette! 

Miss Tammy, it's in the mail today!

Today I had my appointment with the neurologist.  He thinks there may be a problem with the top of my spine and shoulder area that is causing my migraines and is making me an appointment with a physical therapist.  He also  gave me prescriptions for some heavy hitter injections to give myself should I have another migraine that I can't control with the Imitrex and Tramadol.  I will continue with the Topamax and see him again in 4 weeks.  At least it looks like we are at the start of getting these under control.

Hope everyone has a fantastic day!

Linda

What a Weekend!

Good Monday Morning Everyone!  It was a lovely weekend in SW Virginia.   No searing, scalding, can't catch your breath temperatures.  Saturday, even though I woke up with a slight migraine, I was able to take my meds and it was gone within an hour and we went out on the boat for a couple of hours!  It was the first time in about 3 weeks and I was in heaven!  After we came in and rested a bit I decided to walk out in the garden and see what was going on and low and behold even thought I have neglected the poor thing, there were tons of tomatoes out there so I got me a basket and started picking tomatoes, sweet peppers, jalapenos, banana peppers, and an eggplant that I will give to my sister because I don't like them, I just like to see them grow.  And what did I do with all that produce?  Why this of course!

SALSA!!!

I ended up with twelve 12 oz jars, I have no idea where I found those 12 oz jars, but I love them and wish I could find them again.  I also had 18, 8 oz jars and 6 pints.  Lots of salsa.

Then on Sunday afternoon I decided that I needed to run out to Michaels to pick up some supplies since I noticed that they had their paper packs 50% off and my supplies were gettings low.  BTW-  They are putting out their Halloween things!   My heart was doing flip flops!!!   Love Halloween!!  On my way I knew there was an estate sale on it's last day and things would be 50% off.  The sale was supposed to end at 3:00 and I pulled in at 3:15 I asked if I was too late and they said no come on in and I'm glad I did because I got one of these that I have always wanted and never could afford to buy,

A lady head vase!  Don't you love her pink dress with the white buckle thingy and strand of pearls! 

I also got this flow blue plate to add to my collection

Love the colors!

$10.00 for both!!!  At a normal estate sale they would probably be around $50.00!  So I was one happy lady.  And you know what made me even happier yesterday.  NO MIGRAINE YESTERDAY!!!!!!!!

24 HOURS WITH NO MIGRAINE!!!

So celebrating last night I decided to make one of my favorite Paula Deen recipes, Orange Brownies:

ORANGE BROWNIES

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour (I used self rising and it was fine)

2 cups sugar

1 teaspoon salt (leave out if using self rising flour)

1 cup (2 sticks) butter

4 large eggs

2 teaspoons pure orange extract

1 teaspoon grated orange zest

 GLAZE

1 cup confectioners sugar

2 tablespoons orange juice

1 teaspoon grated orange zest

Preheat oven to 350,  Grease a 13x9x2 pan.  Stir together flour, sugar and salt in a bowl; add butter, eggs, extract, and zest.  Using a hand mixer, beat until well blended.  Pour batter into prepared pan and bake 30 minutes or until light golden and set.  Removed from oven and pierce entire cake with a fork.

For glaze, mix all ingredients together and stir until smooth.  Pour glaze over cake.  Cool and cut into squares.

Delicious for these hot summer days!!!!!

Blessings

Linda

For your Paper Crafting Pleasure

It's hot as blazes around here again, and supposed to stay this way awhile.  I think the heat is getting to my little sis.  She called me last Friday and said " I'm dreaming about pumpkins and apples and making apple butter and haystacks!"  We had planned a "Sis" day on Saturday so I took her a stack of Martha Stewart Halloween magazines, some Celebrate Fall magazines and some Gooseberry Patch Autumn Cookbooks.  Hopefully that will get her through until the real cool weather arrives!



I am working on making my little doll that I bought at the last estate sale a dress and I don't have a pattern that exactly fits so I'm sort of making it up as I go along so it's slow go and of course with the nightly migraines, that doesn't help either.  But I will get it done, I am down to the pinafore.

This weekend I was canning some green beans in the pool house I remembered that I had a box of old greeting cards stowed in the shower stall (that we have never finished!) so while I was waiting for my 10 pounds of pressure for 20 minutes, I pulled them out and found several cute ones and decided I would scan some of them!  Hope some of you can use them with your paper crafts.

Blessings

Linda

Craft Room Banner

Good Thursday Morning Everyone!

I have had a good week so far and am cautiously keeping my fingers crossed.  The muscle relaxers and the "Linda" relaxers seem to be doing their jobs.  I was supposed to take this week off from work, however we had too many people out on vacation and after last weeks power outage we were a week behind and I just couldn't.  My doctor had a fit but I promised to take on things just one at a time and I have been doing just that and so far so good!

Last weekend while recouping at home in the blistering heat I was thinking about the banner swap that Elizabeth at Creative Breathing was doing with some of the amazing, creative ladies around blogland and decided to make a banner for my craftroom too. 

The actual banner in the pretty aqua, red and white I bought at Walmart in the dollar section!!  Then I just added the paper cutouts and embellishments.  Like this cute little apple valentine.  Apples...my favorite fruit!  And rick-rack...how I love rick-rack.  My Great Aunt used to put it on the dresses she made me.

This little lady seems to be in a hurry.  That's my problem.  I'm always in a hurry.  I need to learn to slow down....  or as my Aunt Nadene says "Linda, you need to pipe down!, you always go in a run and come in a trot"

A boy and his dog..  Reminds me on my Sweet, and Dear Son...

A sweet miss on her phone.  Did you know I hate to talk on the phone?  I have always hated to talk on the phone.  Can't tell you why.....

My Mom was a seamstress in a sewing factory when I was growing up and never taught me to sew.  I guess she had enough sewing at work!  My Great Aunt Clara tried, bless her soul!    My mother in law taught me to sew when I first got married.  I was hooked after the first stitch!

I've got a ticket to ride!  I love to drive.  If we are going on a road trip, I'm behind the wheel because I love to drive!   Thanks for the ticket, Tammy!

Not only does LBP sew, but LBP loves to cook!  I learned to cook from my dear Grandmother pictured above and from my Great Aunt Clara whom I lived with some when I was growing up.

Yeah, I hope I'm on the mend!  Lot's on Doctor's appointments ahead.  I hope there is a light at the end of the tunnel.

I hung my banner over my sewing machine and as always I'm the world's worse photographer because I have so much junk pinned to the quilt hanging behind my machine.  There are letters I had written to my mom when she was sick in the hospital, notes she had written on button cards, pictures of my son, my medals from running (will I ever get to do that again?), craft ideas, etc... but it's my space and I like it!

And my sweet sister bought me this Lucy candle holder dated 1972, that she bought at an Estate sale last weekend because she calls me Lucy (I was the bossy big sister), and I just love it!

Blessings

Linda

Unintended Blogging Break

Sorry for dropping out without a peep ladies, but of my goodness sometimes life throws you some curves.

Friday night we were hit with the storm of the century, out of nowhere!!!  It was called a Delrechee.  Which is a bended wind storm that hits fast and without a lot of warning.  Dear husband was outside when it came through and it grabbed his truck door and bent it completely backward.  Took it right out of his hand!  It took out power to 1.2 million people!  We we out of power for 4 days.  And when we are our of power, we are out of water as we are on a well system and have an electric pump.

Then we are having record heat.  It hasn't been under 100 degrees in over a week.  With no a/c there have been 14 deaths in our area because of the heat.

I have spent the last two days in the hospital with my migraines.  It took a team 11 hours to finally tame the migraine that started on July 3rd.  I think the stress of having no power at work and the heat inside the building bordering at 100 degrees that did me in.  I am home now with lots of meds and orders not to return to work until the air is working again.

Please pray for those in our region, and there are still thousands that are still without electricity and are trying to live in this awful, dreadful heat.   And I feel so sorry for the linemen for AEP who are working 16-24 hour shifts trying to restore power.  Those guys are exhausted.  I can't imagine working outside in this heat.

I'm too tired and medicine headed tonight... maybe I'll feel more like writing tomorrow.

Blessings

Linda