Crazy Times... Sad Events

Man, the last few weeks have been hellacious! Seriously!

I had the opportunity to attend a local art retreat (Paper Cowgirl) for a day at the end of June, and really enjoyed the classes I took. I participated in a few swaps, and brought home some incredible treasures. 

Maybe it's karma getting me back for taking some time away for myself, but since then... it has been chaos around here. And, oftentimes wondering what's going to happen next.

The Sunday after PC, Steve was oh so sick. Two days later, I was too. I stayed home from work (so not like me) and 3 hours into the day, Fred was sick too. Talk about misery. It took us the rest of the week to get over it.

Later that week... the hard drive in my mac died. Totally, unrepairable, dead. All of the documents, photos, videos, etc that were on that drive are gone. Yes, I had a backup, but... it was erased due to other technical issues. The drive is actually going to go visit a drive doctor, but i'm not putting my hopes up that they'll be able to find or save anything. So, the good part of the story is that instead of replacing my computer, I put in a new kickin' hard drive and doubled my RAM. Wooo hooo - love the guys at Frye's Electronics in Irving. Saved me some serious dinero.

Then the dishwasher died. Steve saved it. YAY!

The next sad, and heartbreaking thing to happen is likely the worst of all. Steve's grandfather, Fredric Dempsey (who is also Baby Fred's namesake) passed away after a long fight with cancer. It's been hard on Steve, as he greatly looked up to and admired his grandfather. It wasn't until I read Grandpa's obituary that I realized how very much alike they are. Our hearts are hurting, (Steve's more than anyone's) but we know he's in a better place now.

As if the above wasn't enough, the next issue we got to deal with was me. Somehow I managed to get a series of bites by what a local nurse thinks is a spider (but it could have been some kind of bug) that got my leg to swell up and get all ugly looking. The swelling is down, and the bites are looking SO much better (ironically they look like scrapes, but I don't know where it would have happened).  I'm likely going to have marks on my legs for a while, but i'll get over it.

All of this fun fun stuff gets coupled with my new job stresses. I was given a promotion to work (which took me to a salaried instead of hourly pay), and our new team went live. So, as with any job there is an element of stress to overcome. 

It's been a long couple of weeks!

But, on the plus side, I got the sweetest gift in the mail from a  Bella. It came at a perfect time, when I was completely beat down by all of the events. (Please excuse the lack of editing... i haven't had a chance to install photoshop yet). Sweet, sweet Christina from Sweat Pea Ink sent me a Bella Kindness package. Inside were some wonderful treats and items that I'll be using soon in various art projects.  It was packaged So adorably, and I'm having a hard time finding a replacement for the box - as it is so perfect I want to pass it onto another Bella in return.  Christina, your package brought a huge smile to my face and warmed my heart when I truly needed it. Thank you so much for your kindness! Bella's be on the lookout - and be sure your address is in the address book! You never know when some kindness may be coming your way!

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