BUMC

I thought it'd be fun to share some of my pictures of the basement of Baylor University Medical Center in Dallas. For any newcomers, I spent a total 9 weeks at Baylor Institute for Rehabilitation after I broke my back this last spring. The hospital and rehab institute are across the street from each other and are connected by a subterranean tunnel. The cafeteria is in the hospital so at least once a weekend, Chris and I would take the tunnel from BIR to BUMC and walk through the old and somewhat creepy halls of the hospitals basement to grab a tasty bite to eat.

Ouch!

So, here's the deal. I fall off scaffolding, brake my back and now I'm paralyzed from mid ribcage down. I'm not supposed to feel anything from my point of injury down...well, that's not entirely true. Many people with spinal cord injuries suffer from neuropathic pain. So, technically I do have sensation below my point of injury. Why can't I have the sensation of soaking in a warm bubble bath or being wrapped in a soft blanket, fuzzy slippers on my feet or a relaxing massage. Instead, I have the sensation of someone pulling my toe back by the toenail, a burning sensation throughout my legs, a constant wedgie, a bra strap rubbing over sunburned skin or the feeling of having been dragged across a frozen lake, on my tush, with no pants on. I suppose that's why it's called neuropathic pain.

Milestone #1

Well, it's not actually my first milestone. I've had at least a dozen by now (chuckle chuckle) but this is the first one I'm blogging about. When I took my shower this morning, I washed my own feet for the first time since the accident! I had two things that were hindering me from being able to do that. The first thing is the HO (Heterotopic Ossification) in my right hip that wasn't allowing me to bend very far at the hip, and the other was the fear of bending forward and falling off my shower bench (since all the things I have to hold on to are wet and slippery). I have conquered that fear and the daily stretching of my legs has put some much needed range of motion back in my hip. Yay!

Makeover time!

Last Sunday my friend Trish was so nice to come over and color my hair. I have been slowly getting gray since high school. I haven't wanted to be bothered with coloring for the last few years because I just didn't want to deal with the hassle but, let's face it, I'm looking much older than I really am these days. If the color of my hair is something I can change...let's do it! Funny thing is, it's a much bigger hassle now that I'm in a wheelchair. I also have a new friend from my church who is a hairdresser and is willing to come out to our house whenever I need a haircut. Needless to say, I'm very thankful for these wonderful people!

Before

During

After

OK, I must admit that I didn't realize how gray my hair was.  I guess ones' eyes get used to it, just like ones' nose gets used to bad odors...you know what I mean,

In a nutshell...

Now, a good blogger would have kept his or her readers up to date on all the latest happenings, developments, musings, even posted pictures from the hospital bed and wouldn't have used that as an excuse not to. Well, I'm not a good blogger, and I will use that as my excuse :P.

To get you up to date, this is the basic timeline of what has happened:

June 15 - Fell off scaffolding and broke my back.

OUCH!!

June 18 - Had surgery to realign my spine.

June 23 - Took a long, and at times, bumpy ride in an ambulance to Dallas, TX for rehab at Baylor Institute for Rehabilitation.
July 31 - Returned home from Baylor, at which time, I was also injured by my brace that was a little too long and digging in to my groin without me knowing (due to the fact that I have no feeling below my point of injury).
August 2 - Went to emergency room and was admitted for what appeared to be a blood clot and so was treated as that.
August 4 - The blood clot turned out to be a hematoma.
August 7 - Came home from the hospital.
September 29 - Returned to Baylor to address issues that had developed while back at home. It's been hard to get the care I need as a person with spinal cord injury here in Northwest Arkansas.
October 17 - Returned home once again from Baylor.

That should get you up to speed. Needless to say, much has happen since June 15th, but I don't have the stamina, or memory, to fill in all the details at this time. So I shall say "good bye" for now. Thanks for stopping buy and see you again soon.

Life can change in an instant

This post is a little overdue but I'll admit that I've been a little busy lately...at times I may have been busy resting, but busy none the less.

On June 15th of this year (2009) I climbed up the scaffolding that was set up at the back of our house, ready to work on painting the new siding we had installed with the help of our friends, Sam and Chrissie. We only had one more weekend left with the rented scaffolding so I was feeling the pressure to get the work done. It was a Monday and only Abby and I were home. So I worked on painting while Abby played in the back yard. Next thing I know I opened my eyes and was laying on the concrete looking at the sky. I thought I was waking up from an odd dream at first, but as soon as I could feel the warm sun on my face and could hear Abby running up the hill calling for me, I realized it was not a dream. I touched my legs but couldn't feel them and knew I would probably never walk again. I realize now that that may not have been the case (and still may not be). Thankfully, I have absolutely no recollection of the fall. Abby ran up to me and asked me if I was Okay. In a whisper I told her "No...go get Sheena". It was hard to breathe. Sheena is my friend who lives across the street from us. I could hear Abby yelling for Sheena all the way up the stairs, through the front door, across our yard, across the street and all the way to sheena's front door. I could hear the squishy sound of blood in my hair. I felt the back of my head and got blood all over my hand. For some reason I ended up wiping blood on my face, then I tried to wipe it off with the same bloody hand (stop Cris! You're making it worse). I felt no pain at all. It wasn't long before Sheena was there, calling for help. To make a long story short, in no time (although it seemed like forever) I was in an ambulance taking a slow ride to the hospital in Bentonville. They didn't keep me there long and I had my first helicopter ride to the hospital in Springdale. The flight wasn't as fun and exciting as I hoped...it was very short (although massivly expensive) and I only got to see the ceiling of the helicopter. So many things happened when I got to Northwest Medical Center in Springdale that I really don't remember many details. To say the least, much has happened since June 15th. It's going to take me some time to get the blog up to date so the best thing now is to post some pictures of the event early on.

This was at Northwest Medical Center one day after the accident. They still had me wearing that uncomfortable neck brace, but I did get to take it off that day since there was no evidence of a neck injury.

My bunny boots, designed to prevent foot drop.

This is my "sister", Trish. We were roommates a couple of years while we attended Black Forest Academy. It's great that we both live in Northwest Arkansas now. I think she spent every evening at the hospital with me from the day I got hurt, 'til the day I left for rehab. If she couldn't make it in the evening, she was there in the morning.

Trish said I reminded her of Mother Teresa...I think I'm watching television in this picture.

In my hospital room with Trish and Abby.

Me, with no glasses, just before surgery. I really need to consider contact lenses again.

Starting to get organized

Our good friends, Sam and Chrissie, have been so gracious in helping us with the siding on the back of our house. As you can see by the picture below, we've been doing some painting as the biggest part of the job is done.

On the first weekend here (we've been at it two weekends now) Chrissie looked in one of my studio closets and thought it would be easy to compartmentalize it for easy organization. AWESOME!! When they showed up last weekend, she had spent the previous week cutting up wood that would make up the shelves in the closet. As much as she wanted to get the shelves up that weekend, we got a little busy with working on the siding, not leaving much time left over for that. So today, I walked into my studio and thought it would be a great idea to try installing the shelves myself. I'll keep this short.

It's hard to believe that this is my first time installing shelving, isn't it?

OK, so by no means is it perfect and I'll spare you the details...many stripped screws, a bruise on my arm, the soap, the sheer amount of time it took me to install the first crooked shelf, etc., but its' functionality will be priceless. Thank you Chrissie!

My new Etsy shop!

I finally did it! I've never liked my original Etsy shop's name...mybusyfingers. I'm just not known for coming up with clever names. I originally was just going to have one shop and I needed a name that encompassed everything I did...I like to try my hand at anything (I think it's a disorder for me), hence the name and yes, I realize I could have come up with something better but...ugh! No. Let's face it, I couldn't have come up with anything better. So, after months of agonizing over the idea of opening a second shop, I did. And I'm glad I did. I needed to separate my artwork from the rest of the stuff I make. Etsy doesn't recommend opening multiple shops but they also recommend continuity...so I had to do it. My new shop's name is artbycrixie. It's going to take me four months to move everything over, but I figured this is a good time to make the move since I don't have a whole lot of traffic coming through my doors.

Art on hold

The warm weather has put a stop to my artwork lately. It's been set aside as we're working to re-side the back of our house...something that has needed to be done for a couple of years.

Before.

Part way to after.

The warmer weather has also brought out some nature (besides the plant life) in our back yard.

This is a black rat snake that is apparently living in the rocks of our retaining wall.

A wolf spider with babies on its back. I found this one one morning when I let the dogs out. It was haging out on the side of the house next to the door to my studio.

To list or not to list

Yes, it happens. Occasionally I'll work on a piece that I just don't like once it's completed. I really admire those artists out there whose work seems effortlessly created and each one appears to be a masterpiece. Maybe I don't know what it's really like for them. It's possible that they allow the world to see only their very best. Well, I guess I'm just willing to admit that sometimes I fail. I actually fail a lot, especially when I'm trying something new, but as long as I don't give up, it's the only way I'll really learn and eventually get better. But still, what do I do with the tiny painting that took me three hours to complete. It hurts me to just throw it away...I just can't do it (but I don't want it). I've learned in the past that just because I don't like something, it doesn't mean someone else won't. I've also learned that just because I'm exceptionally pleased with one of my paintings, it doesn't mean that others will feel the same way. Art truly is subjective. So eventually I'll be listing this ACEO, whether I like it or not.

May 3, 2009

Just thought I'd add some pictures from our outing last Sunday. We were sick of sitting around the house so decided to go to Pea Ridge and visit the national military park up there.

A fence.

Another fence.

More fence.

One of the many cannons on the property.

More fence. Yes, there was lots of fencing but as you can see by all my pictures, I was quite enamored by it.

I believe this was a tavern. It's not original, it was rebuilt at some point.

A moss covered stone bench.

One last picture of yet another fence.

A little visitor

Earlier today I was fixing myself some tea when I heard something hit the kitchen window. I tend to ignore occasional unusual sounds, but I could tell that something hit pretty hard...so I decided to investigate. I went downstairs and out the back door of our walkout basement. I looked around and saw nothing but kept on looking...I couldn't imagine something hitting that hard and not being fazed by it. Sure enough, on the concrete I saw some movement. I almost didn't see the little bird since it was about the same color as its surroundings. I knew it wouldn't survive the dogs or the cat, so I put it in a box where it rested for a while, and about 15 minutes later, it was ready to fly off. I was afraid it was hurt, but it looks like it may have only been stunned.

We've reached our quota!

When I let the dogs out this morning, I found this Luna moth on the side of our house.

On Average we see one a year out at our house so it looks like we've reached this year's quota. It was hard to get the picture I wanted because I'm a little short and it was high up on the siding. I realized I could have gotten a stool to stand on but I didn't want to risk it being gone when I returned.

I'm so glad I have a good camera this year...my old camera would have never done this moth justice.

Another ACEO completed!

Yesterday afternoon I completed another ACEO that I'll be listing in the near future. Off to start working on my next one!!

Spring Cleaning

This was the view out the back door from my studio one morning last week. I really just wanted to add some color to my post and this was as relevant as I could get. I love Spring! I also love not having to run the heater or the air conditioner.

Business is slow at my Etsy shop, and even though that's not necessarily a positive thing, I will make the most of it. It's the perfect time to work on cleaning out my extremely cluttered, messy and overcrowded studio (which tends to stifle my creativity). I'm making a little bit of headway which is encouraging. I'm also using this time to work on some new inventory that I will list in a couple months or so. Below is one of my latest ACEO's that will be up for sale when I start listing new artwork again. Off to work I go!

Here goes nothing!

Okay, I am not much of a writer and I never thought I'd see myself blogging. But I'll admit that at times I've found myself on someones blog, learning a little more about the life of another fellow Etsier or artist or crafter (and enjoyed it), so I thought maybe, just maybe, someone may want to learn a little more about my life. Well, quite frankly, my life is nowhere near as exciting as most bloggers. My days are filled with taking care of my family (daughter Abby and husband Chris), the house, the dogs, the cat, the mouse, doing every day mundane chores (which sometimes I quite enjoy, and when I don't, I still don't mind doing) and working on something for my Etsy shop. Ever since I was little, I wanted to be an artist, but I have a hard time considering myself as such. Sometimes I feel like an impostor because I've had minimal training. I just love art and I'm so thankful to get paid to do it. I may not be super talented, but I'm able to put food on our table with what I earn through my Etsy shop (in a normal economy, I must add). I feel like I'm babbling so it's time to sign off. Ugh...I'm still unsure about having a blog. Well, here goes nothing.