Our new apartment! Yay!!

We got a very good deal on an apartment and we jumped at it. This is the first time in years that we will not have roommates. We are both looking forward to some alone time together. I get to set up everything just how I want it (well.. I guess Tom has some say in it to *grin*). It is just a bit daunting to think about though. Kind of weird because its something we have wanted to do for a while and now we have it and I am not sure how to feel about it. Silly Johanna with her 2nd and 3rd thoughts..

I get a room all to myself as my new work space! That is really where the fun will be happening. I am going to be picking up my shelves from storage in the next few days. I have to get something to put under the feet first so they don't cut through the carpet. Tom said maybe a big metal washer for each foot but I have to look and see what I can find. Another funny thing is after living with others for so long we had really paired down our own stuff and now we are realizing we don't have such things as can openers or a toaster.

We gave away most of our pots and pans to my sister because at our friends in Leitchfield they had everything and our stuff would have been in the way. But I do have plenty of dyeing pots and pans which are not really for making anything for human consumption. It makes me want to laugh a bit though because I mentioned the lack of pots and pans the other day while someone saw my dyeing ones and said what about those? I said oh those don't count. I dye in them! Funny stuff but I think you probably had to be there.

Today I have to take some photos of finished yarn and roving and list them. Then I have to go to the store for a necessities run. All in all I am so glad to finally be "home"!

Here is a really cool video about being alone!

Love yourself because you are worth it.

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I made a decision yesterday to be happy. I know that sounds simple or silly, right? I have a great life with a good partner. I have loving; supportive family and friends (who I believe are my extended family really). I have a business that I love. I get to be as creative as I want. What's not to be happy about right?

I know that you all know if you read my blog regularly that I have had several miscarriages this year. What you may not know is that I suffer from constant chronic pain. I went to the Dr for this off and on in Florida to try to find the source so that I could fix it. In my search to feel better I went from Dr to Dr to Dr. They all ran a lot of tests, usually some the Dr before they ran, and usually came up with no identifiable cause or a Fibromyalgia diagnosis. (now what I am about to say may cause some of you to get angry but I ask that you continue reading and see my full thoughts on it) I find the diagnosis of Fibromyalgia to be a cop out. Please do not get me wrong here. I know that those diagnosed with Fibromyalgia are in pain and that it is real. My disagreement is that any major chronic pain just gets tossed under the generic heading that is now Fibromyalgia and then the Dr only treats the symptoms. The underlying issues are not addressed, and no further reasons are deemed to be necessary. There has to be a reason for all this pain. I just think that once you have been labeled to have Fibromyalgia the Dr mostly pat your hand and give you a pill.

The last time I discussed anything in regards to my pain my Dr recommended a pain clinic where they wanted to put me on narcotics as a preventative. I have a major issue with that for so many reasons. One because they will never again take your pain seriously. Two my dad was a drug addict, and I don't want ever to feel that way. Three they have to be out of their friggin minds if they think I'm just going to take a pill and go away. I did finally find a neurologist who took me seriously and helped me find some alternative methods to deal with the pain. He recommended high doses of magnesium and nerve blocks for my migraines. The nerve blocks last for a while and the immediate pain relief at first confused my senses because I did not know how to deal without having pain. Anyway, I am getting way off track.

The point is when you have chronic pain it drags you down on all your levels. The pregnancies have also done this to me. It is time that I realize it will continue to hurt, and I can either keep sitting on my butt feeling sorry for myself or I can work within my abilities to come back to the person that I am. I need to be happy and healthy for me. I need it for my relationship too. I need to take my vitamin supplements daily. I need to exercise daily. I need to do yoga again because I love it. I need to color my hair whatever random color I want because it makes me happy to have bright, cheery hair, and it always has. I need to quit trying to fit anyone's idea of me except for mine. I want to be happy. I am going to work as hard at feeling good and being happy as I have at feeling the opposite. From this day forward, I will always strive  to remember and know that life is great and that it is worth living, and living well. I will be happy because I can be. I love you all and its time I also remember to show myself that I love me too. *hugs*

This post needs a happy photo, so here are 3 of me and my happy hair!

I have been dyeing roving, yarn and batt ingredients!

I am enjoying dyeing again. The colors taking shape just makes me so happy. I have been putting together new batts too. Some are totally new and some are new takes on old popular batts. I am thinking that I will start doing a weekly update for my shop. This would give me a set time to do updates and allow anyone interested know when to check out my shop for new stuff. I am open to thoughts on this and I would love to hear some input.

On the shop fronts I have been using Etsy, Artfire, and Zibbet. A friend, Carolina, who's webpage you can check out here is helping me to redo my own website! I say helping me in the very loosest since of the word since technically she is doing everything for me! She is such a sweetheart and she has a fabulous blog so check it out! Right now the website is set up still for when I lived in Florida and was an LMT there. It also still talks about the stuff I used to sell that I sewed.

Once I have my new website up and working I have a few plans. First I plan to transition to selling from my site. i also plan to start blogging there. I am hoping to have a gallery that has past things I have made, current items, and inspirations for you to choose from for custom items. Those are the plans. So thats whats happening in a nut shell for today!

What is your favorite summer memory Contest!

Summer is the time it gets hot around here and most places. People tend to have a lot of family time and make some memories. Some of my happiest memories involve the great out doors. I remember when we were kids and we would go wandering through the woods and fields. We would go swimming in the creeks and come home a mess. We still enjoy getting out in nature to go hiking, or even just hanging out with friends. Even just earlier this summer we had some good times swimming and sitting around the fire talking. I would love to know some of your favorite summer memories. Please share them here. I will be randomly choosing one of the postings there on September 22, 2011 since the start of Fall is officially September 23, 2011 to win a $25 gift certificate to my shop. All you have to do to win is post a memory!

One of my happiest adult memories for the summer involved my husband Tom, and are good friend John. We went hiking one of the trails in Kentucky (I have no idea where) and it was so much fun. We splashed around in puddles. We took lots of fun pictures too. We also found some huge rocks in one of the partially open caves and sat on them talking about life. It was so relaxing and peaceful there just laying back and listening to the water while we all talked. I think it will always be one of my favorite times. I can't wait to read some of yours!

Shop update on Order Ship outs

hello everyone! I am doing much better than I have been. Tom started working 2 weeks ago at a job he is enjoying that lets him use his technical know how. Slowly we are catching up on bills and things. The money got very very tight there for a bit because of the quick move, and then my medical expenses. I know there are orders that already late, you all do too but I wanted to sort of put out there whats happening and give you some idea of when to expect it.

Tom will get paid next Friday. This matters because we are really broke. I had to use the money in my paypal (where my business money is kept) over the last month for expenses we had not expected. I have a very limited health insurance and the specialist that I have to see is 2 hours one way. For a few weeks there I had to go several times a week. I am telling you all this because the money I should have to ship I had to spend. Its embarrassing to say but i can’t have you all wondering where your stuff is with no explanation. We had no income for a few months other than what I could bring in with my business so my account got tapped out. We are going to start putting money back in from Tom’s paychecks to do things like ship out orders due and get new supplies slowly as we can.

What this means to you all in order limbo, is that the Sal packages and all other regular orders, will ship out on Aug 29th now. This is for certain and there will be no further delays. Also after this you can expect packages to start shipping out as they should be which for normal orders is usually with in the week they are purchased, custom or pre orders with in 2-3 weeks depending on what the listing says, and Sal/Kals to go as planned. I hope this answers any questions you might have had. Thank you all for understanding, your support, and for basically being you! With out you all I would not even be here so please know that you all matter to me a lot!

TTC: Today is ok

I wanted to take a minute to say that today I am ok. I can not tell you how it feels to know that even in times like this there are great people in this world. There are times when Im cuddled up with Tom that I really feel that it will all be ok and that we are ok. Tom is going to help me figure out a schedule of doing my business stuff so that I can be more motivated with it. We have also decided to take some time and get healthier. Between the hormones, clomid, getting pregnant, and emotional eating I have gained quite a bit of weight in the last year. There is an indoor pool in town. We went and talked to them about it and found out the hours and the cost. We are going to start going up there because one thing I used to really enjoy was swimming laps. I think it will help me feel better, get healthier and lose weight. Tom is going to go with me so it will also be together time when we can. We are sticking in this together. We are talking more this time around and I know it helps me & I think it helps Tom. We feel pretty good about our chances to do foster care and eventually adopting. *hugs to all of you out there*