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We Made a Little Progress

Posted on January 22, 2018 by Georgia's Pampering

The wait during the adoption process is killer.  I’m going to be very straightforward about that and I’ve had a really hard time handling it, especially with the take control kind of personality I developed.  I have a sincere belief that the only reason I survived some of my struggles is because God was preparing me for this journey.  I went through different traumas to prepare me to help my girl through hers.  

 

Now, please bear with me since this is going to take me a while to write, because I’m not good about being this vulnerable.  We still haven’t gotten far, but it turns out that it has taken longer than expected because there was a massive computer issue that caused problems on our profile and it snowballed.  However, the silver lining is what matters.  As the wait continued we began to worry that we had been rejected for some reason and it finally got to the point that I was absolutely terrified of it deep down, although I kept trying to hold onto that hope.  When they contacted us about the computer issue and what things they needed, etc., our case worker officially said that we are in the process.  There’s a lot more ahead, but finally some confirmation and now we wait for the next step.  From there we use my training and God’s direction, and we will get our missing piece.  I will be a mom.  I hoped, I dreamed, and I tried to prepare in every way I could come up with during that down time, but I was still so scared underneath.  I’ve gotten used to wearing a mask because of my Fibro; “It’s my mission to get through everyday doing the best that I can.  When you say I look ‘perfectly fine’, I know I am succeeding!  I have years of experience with this now…and because you do not see the pain that I am in, I know that I am accomplishing my best.  So, thank you!” (Fibro Affirmations, specific author unknown.)  Since I’m so used to my Fibro mask, it wasn’t so hard to put on my “It just takes time” face, apparently.  And I tried to mask it inside so that I wasn’t so aware of my fear, so that I could keep pushing and preparing.  Now my second mask can come off and I can have full faith that I get to be “mama bear”.  *grin* Who knows how much longer it’ll still take to get to that next step, but it’s in writing.  We’re going to get there.  We’re going to be parents.

 

While I was desperately trying to cling to hope and belief, L gave me the most beautiful Christmas gift to keep me going during such a hard time.  He flew my best friend since childhood from California to host a Motherhood Shower for me.  (A Motherhood Shower is like a Baby Shower, but they’re celebrating that rite of passage into motherhood that most adoptive mothers never get.  People celebrate, give gifts, encouragement, and advice with a biological child.  Or even with people that adopt babies.  The age shouldn’t matter; this is still my first daughter and will always be my first child, no matter if we adopt another or not.  I will be her mother for the rest of our lives, through the good and the bad, no matter what.)

 

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I cropped out the details and names, but that was the theme and those were my colors.  1800 miles and we were able to do a bang up job of coordinating a neat little Shower, and it was truly a celebration of my journey into Motherhood.  Best of all, getting to be with her for several days after nearly fourteen years without face to face contact, gave me such faith and hope.  Not just in the adoption either, but in being strong through the struggles with my Fibro progression, my fear of failing Kiddo because of my illness, and so many more things that are so vulnerable that I’ve only ever talked with her about them.  Some of them I never admitted to anyone else and worked through them with her help, and will never discuss them again unless my daughter needs to hear what I went through and how I got through all of it.  

 

Back to the Shower now that I have cleared that annoying water that was pooling in my eyes (nope, I wasn’t crying.  I don’t cry.  Nope.  I’m just going to keep saying that until I believe I’m just that tough. lol).  I used to think I lost a lot of friends due to Fibro, but what really happened was that I learned who my true friends are, and some of those special people are family for us and will be for Kiddo.  They’re the family we chose, so right from the get go Kiddo knows it’s not about the genes for us.  It’s about love and friendship.  And a small group of our family and friends came to my Shower.  It really couldn’t have been better, other than having more time for some (I picked a day that had a bunch of stuff going on that I didn’t know about, which made it extra hard for some to attend the Shower, and made it extra special that they did).  We went all out with pink and black, and glitter, oh my!  *happy sigh* It was a slow prep process, but it really helped keep me working on the adoption in some way, which kept that flame of hope alive.  As the invite says it was a cocoa buffet, so we had the most decadent and delicious hot cocoa (I’ll share the recipe later), with tons of mix-ins, and a few snacks, plus my mom got me the most perfect cake shaped like a puzzle piece, since our theme has been that we’ve been looking for our missing puzzle piece. 

 

Sorry, had to take a pause and look at the ceiling.  Might have been a cobweb to watch for.  Not because I was teary eyed or anything, so stop thinking that!  It was all so perfect for me.  Intimate, loving, an amazing host that kept the pressure off of me, the encouragement, the games, and the most beautiful tradition of sending our hopes for Kiddo and my motherhood journey out into the world.  It wouldn’t have been quite so perfect without L’s gift.  Not just because she’s the best coordinator and host in the world, hands down, but because she’s a huge part of this adoption.  When I was faltering in my faith due to another set of struggles there was no judgement, just love, compassion, and help.  And that, plus the little bits of the Shower that we have up as reminders, helped me get through until we got the official confirmation that we will adopt.  We. Will. Adopt.  I just needed those reminders of His handiwork while preparing us for this new chapter in our lives.  And next, a few pictures of our little set up…

 

 

As you can see, even Skully got in on the party, although I’m sure he wasn’t too thrilled to be in a frilly women’s masquerade mask, but he’s been dressed up in different things all year long for years, so I couldn’t leave him out.  And all of those little hand painted puzzle pieces that were used as table scatter…my friend had the most brilliant idea of filling an empty candle tumbler with them, so they’re right by the tv and a constant reminder of our beautiful puzzle piece that we will get to meet someday.  And next is the cake, now that my eyes aren’t so itchy.  *grin*

 

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I had to keep the party very intimate, so if you weren’t invited, it isn’t that you were snubbed, please believe me.  We weren’t sure until a few weeks before that the Shower would get to actually take place and all venues were booked by then, so it had to be a tiny crowd that could fit in our cozy little living room.  And this wasn’t the official Adoption party that everyone will be invited to.  This was for me, my journey, and how best to help my daughter when we start out.  If Kiddo agrees to an Adoption party, believe me, there will be a total loss of control and I’m going to go hog wild with a big ole party to celebrate her!!  

 

Anyway, we’re so blessed and thankful to finally get to say that it’s confirmed that we will get to adopt.  We still don’t have details on the delightful young lady, although daily it bewilders me how I can love someone so deeply without having met them or even know their name, or how I feel like the love continues to grow.  It just took me a while to work up the courage to talk about something so dear to me and to admit to my stumbles to get to this point.  My Faith isn’t something that I take lightly, so it was hard to admit that I questioned it to a degree, as things kept dragging along without any word.  My hope is that this admission will help take the burden of guilt off of another future “mama bear” (you better believe after all of this work, waiting, and Faith, I will love and protect my girl so fiercely that I’ll earn that nickname, as will any other Adopting mom! *grin*).  If you’re reading this and going through the waiting phase with your adoption, reach out to me.  I’ll wait with you.  Anyone going through adoption needs a lot of support and sometimes we find it in new, unexpected places, like a tiny blog about a weird nerd and her bath and body craft.  🙂

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H P Mallory

Posted on January 20, 2018 by Georgia's Pampering

My mind right now is much like going down the rabbit hole, so prepare yourself for a week of wildly unrelated subjects, until I get a little more used to my new meds. Consider yourself warned and hopefully you enjoy the ride. *laugh*

I’d like to introduce you to an awesome author today that has some really fun books in a couple genres, but is legitimately an awesome person from all of the interviews and blurbs I’ve read. I’ve followed her writing for years, since her stories are less predictable for me, and her price point has always been so affordable. To top it all off, she’s a self published author (or started out that way. I stopped stalking interviews and went for the books after I got addicted. Lol). I have massive respect for indie authors and try to support them when I can.

Now, her stuff is a little steamier than I would normally discuss or promote on here, but I’ll stick to the innocent stuff and let you take a look here on your own to see if you might be interested. (If you know paranormal romance and a little cursing just isn’t your thing, please skip the rest of today’s post.) I’ll start with pics for some of the first books in her series (I checked – that’s how the dictionary said to put the plural, so it’s not my fault it looks weird when I’m talking about three different sets of books!).

When I was notified that she has branched into two sassy affirmation books, I hurried to order and support her. Now, these are definitely sassy, so if a bit of cursing or eye candy bothers you, don’t click the link. *laugh* One is an adult coloring book with an affirmation on each page. I actually use the coloring as therapy to help with getting better control of my tremor and grip, plus the humor and coloring is great for stress relief. The second has some of the same affirmations, but have a different pairing with the affirmation. Here is the description with kind of a nicer take on curse words…

So, if you’re a bit sassy and could use some affirmations, but need humor or coloring to help you remember to read some, check out Speak It Into Existence and we’ll just call the other Affirmations for linking purposes. Lol

You’ll get gems like:

Originally I truly did get these two books to be supportive, but they really make me laugh, so I wanted to share despite the risqué content and wording. If you’re a Charlaine Harris fan, I think you’ll definitely love the e-books and you’ll probably find some laughs with the paperback affirmations. If you’d like to read more about Ms. Mallory, please check out her website. She runs some great sales and some are even in the Kindle Unlimited program if you subscribe (if you read a lot, it is SO worth the subscription!!).

Anyway, I’m sorry if any of this was a little too taboo for any followers, but think she deserves a big kudos for really bringing indie authorship into the limelight and I also think that sometimes we just need something funny to help get us over the bad days. 🙂

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Boxing

Posted on January 17, 2018 by Georgia's Pampering

I took up boxing shortly after I moved back home following my escape from an abusive relationship. I’m one of those people who handles things by finding ways to be in control of at least part of whatever is wrong. I hated feeling vulnerable, watching over my shoulder, and wondering if the next time he found me would he finish the job (he did a bit of stalking after I escaped, so it has been a legitimate fear for years)? So I found emotional strength and control by making myself physically stronger and prepared. Although I thankfully haven’t caught sight of him wherever I’ve gone or been for around ten years now, I still find inner peace with boxing.

My canvas punching bag accidentally got wet and basically turned into cement, so I gave boxing up for several years. Two years ago my husband bought a strike shield, but was unavailable to hold it when I got the urge to box, so we hung it on our bedroom door. When I closed the door it would hold the pad in place. However…it sounded like I was breaking the door! Needless to say, I went back to Wii boxing, but the satisfaction just isn’t there when there’s no impact. *laugh*

As an early joint Christmas gift we bought one of the BOB stands (Body Opponent Bag), which was a display and a price match, so we got three discounts on it, making it one of the most guiltless workout pieces we have ever bought. *grin* Until we get our spare room situated he hangs out in our living room. I’m going to put some “ink” on him once I make up my mind on what scars and tattoos I want in him, but in the meantime we made him into white thrash. I named him Eddie (there are just too many impolite things BOB can stand for, so I couldn’t do it lol). The name is a play on part of my ex’s name, but we don’t have to actually soil our home or conversation with his real name. I really wouldn’t want to say the bastard’s name all of the time, honestly, and especially not have my husband say the name often (excuse my language). The name comes up enough when we work through my trauma, so I decided a play on it would help. And it makes boxing doubly satisfying and therapeutic.

L poured 350 pounds of sand into the base to keep it in place, which is the max. Recently we discovered that if I’m upset about anything I am actually able to hit hard enough that I moved Eddie all the way until the base was stopped by the wall. Needless to say I was impressed! I truly didn’t think I had that in me. The flattened ring pattern on the carpet from where the base used to sit is like a badge of honor, so I haven’t tried to lift the pile there yet. *laugh*

If you’re like me and need some physical release, but can’t do much exercising, and especially if you’re dealing with the lifelong effects of abuse, try out boxing. It’s great for helping you get into working out, you totally lose the dreaded “droopy chicken wings” on the underside of the arms, and it may just help you become a little more emotionally fit, as well. After lots of broken and bleeding knuckles, I caution you against ever using tapes or training gloves on canvas bags or BOBs. I just wanted to throw that out there in case you’re interested in picking this up. It’s worth spending more for the pro gloves, trust me! If you would like more information or tips, don’t hesitate to contact me. I’m totally not professionally trained, but I love it and have learned a lot along the way, so I’d be happy to share what I’ve learned.

So this is one of the Habits I established for myself for this year (see my resolutions post for an explanation if you’re lost). It’s a three-win for me. Have you started or plan to start a new habit for the year? If you need someone to encourage you while you make it into a habit, I’m happy to help! After boxing, don’t forget to do a little pampering, of course! 😉

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A Little More Behind the Scenes

Posted on January 14, 2018 by Georgia's Pampering

I thought I’d continue pulling back the curtain on prepping to make products and my processes.  This won’t be nearly as detailed, but rounds out the view.

Storage and organization of the products has been a really difficult thing for me to manage since we have a cozy sized home and the only space we could dedicate was the space for a shelving unit.  It’s a blessing now, because it helps keep me from having too much on hand that can go bad before anyone ever wants a product that uses those ingredients.  I’ve lost a lot of money on expired ingredients and it was a hard lesson, and taught me to budget for my creative endeavors a lot better.  Now that I am getting help on occasion and may utilize product creation as a bonding and learning opportunity with Kiddo once we have placement, I decided that I really wanted to make things easier for locating ingredients.  (If I’m being completely honest, I’m also thoroughly delighted with my label maker and it is soooo satisfying for me to label where things are!  Yeah, I know how weird that is.  *laugh* I figure it’s in the same part of my brain as my love of spreadsheets.  *grin*) 

 

Each shelf has a general theme and then, as you can tell by the labels in the right picture, there are sections for specific items.  My containers are either stored and labeled in that little black stand in front of the shelving unit or in shoebox totes on the upper shelf of the curtained area.  The bottom is kind of my overflow area, especially since containers are much cheaper when purchased in bulk, but take up so much room, and I also put a lot of my creation tools, like pots, the scale, and cutting boards, down there because it’s easier for me to reach than that top shelf.  *laugh* Sometimes, due to my balance issues from my illness, my doctor(s) advise me to not climb, so I’m not always allowed to bring a chair or my ladder over.  So about a month ago I got smart and moved some of those things down.  *grin*  And then my four shelves have a curtain to close them off to the rest of the kitchen, minimize any possible dust contamination to things like pipettes, and it’s another one of my “feels like I’m organized then” things.  lol

 

The night I took pictures of my creation process I also took a few of prepping for experimenting on making some soaps.  The left side shows preparing to handle the base and mix the scent with stabilizer (I bought a cheap set of butter knives to dedicate to this, since I found they work the best in those tiny cups and can actually get into the edges to guarantee that there aren’t oils hiding unincorporated).  I honestly have so much to wash and disinfect anyway that I try to reduce needing to wash equipment when possible, so I use a lot of wax paper.  *laugh* I can toss it out once I’m done or if it becomes contaminated and it saves me one of my few energy “spoons”.  My plastic gloves are right beside the cutting board and then I put the rest of the box in an open gallon bag tacked to the other side of the half wall beside that counter, so I can grab another set quickly and easily if needed. 

To the right are some of the molds I was considering to use in those formulas, plus my box of wax paper sheets and trusty bottle of alcohol.  The microwave is above where the picture cuts off, so I can heat the base, add and adjust coloring, and then add the scent (or blend, herbs, etc.), and pour right into a mold, so the soaps don’t develop issues.  If it cools too much then you can get a funky chunky look to the bottom of the soap, kind of like when you are frosting a cupcake and don’t get that nice little twist end, but instead end up with a blob of frosting at the tip.  Also, if I move a mold when the soap is even barely cooling you’ll see a wrinkled appearance to the bottom of the soap (the exposed area when in the mold).  There are a bunch of other possibilities for epic failures in this stage, but you get the drift, so I try to keep things easily accessible.  Once the soaps are in the mold and they’ve cooled for a few minutes I cover the soaps with wax paper to prevent any contamination or air particles/dust settling while they set.  

 

 

That night/early morning was when I changed my mind on Grandma’s Pie, so I swapped out the pie slice mold for another spoon mold.  They’re by two different companies with different depths and different levels of success.  *laugh* I really would like to do a “Spoonies” soap to offer and to even be able to successfully make to give to people I meet that are newly diagnosed along with the printout of the Spoon Theory.  I’m not happy with either version, which is in the following picture, so I’ll end up reworking the formula and playing with how much I fill the mold I like.

 

As you can tell the two molds are incredibly different.  The brown one makes the really deep and short spoons in the foreground in the right picture.  The purple one is so shallow that the soaps resemble bubble blowing wands despite filling the cavities to the brim.  You can see the best shallow soap behind that thick soap.  Just look for the hole in the middle where it’s a lovely wax white shade.  *grin* The only way I can make the shallow mold work would be to pretty much pour until the whole top of the mold becomes solid and then I have to cut each spoon out of the blob.  Um, Xacto knife cutting is okay for tiny detail work, but I really doubt I could safely cut a whole mold full of soaps neatly.  Okay, I even doubt I could neatly cut those soaps at all. *laugh* I’m realistic.  As you can see with the thick soaps they’re so thick they don’t really look like spoons, so I’m going to see if maybe a half deep pour, instead of filling the cavities fully, will be better.  I wish the color came through better, but hopefully it will if I can get these worked out and then do a photo box photo shoot of them.   They are an eggplant shade with the gorgeous shimmer from the mica.  *happy sigh* They are gorgeous.

 

Since I all ready shared about my labeling addiction, I’ll close with a confession.  I’ve labeled almost every single cabinet and shelf throughout the kitchen and laundry room, plus every fabric box that holds my crafting supplies, and even on pet items like brushes that are used on Teddy only.  If your resolution is to get more organized, send me a note and I’ll help direct you to my favorite items.  😉

 

 

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Big Changes

Posted on January 11, 2018 by Georgia's Pampering

All sorts of fun things are happening that I want to share with you.  First off, I’m not starting at the right time, but I’m going to try to do the month of daily blogging challenge again.  Settle in for a wild month!  Kind of like that famous box of chocolates – you never know what you’re going to get.  *grin*

Second, my website is under construction and will be for a bit longer.  Some is pretty familiar, but I’ve specifically developed a Monster theme line and a Whimsical line, and that’s going to be a main focus for now in my creating, as well.  For some reason that’s what inspires my creativity right now and I’m really excited about them.  So, my overall theme is no longer about pampering with natural benefits; more like making your bath and body routines a little more fun with some creative products.  I haven’t really decided on a tag line yet, honestly.  I also seriously overhauled the shopping content on the site.  It’ll now feature products I have on hand, in my featured themes, or my best sellers.  I’ll give a scent, a price, a description, and it won’t be so complicated anymore with so many options.  I’ll totally welcome custom requests, as always, and will make most of my older products if requested, but there won’t be long pages of scents to choose from anymore or the kind of build your desired product concept.  I’m really liking the organization and streamlining of the site so far, although there are a lot more pages than there used to be.  We all know that I’m obsessed with organization, so I’m totally fine with having a lot more organization!  So if you are interested in ordering anything while the site is in disarray, please don’t hesitate to contact me and I’ll get the information to you, I promise.

Next, I am going to have guest bloggers!  I’ll introduce them soon and give an idea of what their focuses will be, but it’ll diversify the blog content, hopefully help some readers in ways I definitely am not educated in or good at, and also help prevent some of these spans of silence.  We’re hoping our adoption process will progress further soon, so I may have all of my attention focused completely away from my business and blog.  The other ladies will keep things running and interesting.  I’m also facing the possibility of a couple of surgeries this year, so it’ll be a relief to know I have some pinch hitters when I’m bed bound and cranky.  *grin*

Also, I’m going to blog a lot more about my personal life instead of the crazy creation process and epic failures.  Expect some information about adopting that I’ve learned, so it’s out there for people looking for reliable information about adopting teens.  A lot of the research and information we went off of in the first half of our process was all completely inaccurate.  It really lit a fire inside of me to provide a resource for people considering adoption and hopefully even raise awareness of the need for people to adopt teens and youths instead of focusing on infants and toddlers.  You can also expect a lot more tidbits about my Second Life (SL), which is an online community I’ve been a part of for a decade now.  Some will just be my fun adventures, or adventures of those close to me in SL, and some will be helpful resources for SL avatars like free items or where to access some fantastic tutorials.

Basically, it’s going to be Whatever Wednesday any day of the week from now on.  *laugh* I’m excited to add some new dimension to the blog and new insight into my life, especially with my journey of changing my perspective of losing my former life due to disability and instead gaining a new version of life with new abilities.  I’ve struggled a lot in the past year with my health and an unhealthy perspective about it, focusing on the limitations and losses, and hopefully I can help a few others in their changed journey in life.  In one post you’ll even get to see my attempts at making Spoonie soaps (Spoonies is a name used for those that suffer chronic illnesses with a lot of fatigue.  If you’d like a great explanation of the theory, please read this wonderfully written description.).  

So that’s the big update with lots of info that I probably should have broken up to use for several days of posts, but I want to share all of the big stuff together first.  Until tomorrow…happy pampering! 🙂

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It’s Been Awhile

Posted on November 14, 2017 by Georgia's Pampering

To start, I’m really sorry that I promised to try to get back to writing and then dropped off the face of WordPress. I really do try to keep my word, which is why I often don’t give it (knowing that my illness often ruins any plans). I’ve honestly just been in a bad place mentally and physically.

I’ve had some continued complications from the surgery back in March, which is probably partially just my Fibro finding a new place to cause havoc. I’ve also had a sinus infection for probably four months of this year, now. Three antibiotics and one round of steroids later, I am getting a brain and head CT within a few weeks just to make sure it’s all really been a sinus infection that just doesn’t want to give up. That’s a nice little thought piece to try to avoid thinking about, especially after working for a neurologist and being the voracious learner that I am. Yeah, I look forward to getting past that little test and just getting the results.

What’s really been hard is that the adoption has taken so much longer than we ever expected. There is no light in sight yet, although according to everything I read, we’re past the worst case timing scenario and should at least be in visitation, if not placement. One child we were interested in has been adopted, another has aged too far, and now we’re waiting to see what goes wrong with the young lady that we are really hoping for. This process has taken quite an emotional toll, and although it’s been an incredible learning process and we are beyond excited to get to be parents for any period of time, it’s getting harder to hold onto that bright hope. It almost hurts to go into her room and realize it’ll be around a year probably since we started work on it before she even walks into it.

For me the worst has been that we don’t have her in our lives for Christmas. Growing up with rotating holiday visitations and different family get togethers according to who has what days made me always dream of when I’d have my own tiny family unit that can have our own traditions, stay cozy and full of cheer together Christmas Eve and Christmas morning, and spoil the living daylights out of our child with surprises and loving tokens. I’ve longed for that sense of closeness, completeness, and absolute belonging. I know that sounds odd, but I’ve never really felt that I fully fit in anywhere and was always being told I had to go somewhere, or feeling obligated to do something else, or whatever. I’m loved and I belong with certain people, don’t get me wrong, but I’ve looked forward to when I’d have my little family and my own little place I’m meant to be. When I was in junior high I told my best friend that the only goal I’d hold myself to was that I wanted my own family; a husband and at least one child. For me, that’s where my life was always supposed to lead, even if I became a war correspondent, a meteorologist, creative writing teacher, or newspaper writer. I was meant to have my own family and they would be my home. When I had the dream of finally having that family Christmas as I came out of my anesthesia from surgery in March, I was filled with such peace and joy that all that I’ve been through still led me to what I felt was my meaning of life.

I know we will still have that, but it’s hard to let go of that dream, and even harder to believe that it’s taken almost the whole year all ready to try and even meet a child in need. It’s mind boggling and makes my heart hurt. Especially wondering if our daughter’s foster family loves her and is going to try to make Christmas special for her, or is she going to be looking at Christmas lights at night and wondering why no one wants her. It’s hard to let go of the conviction I had that we would have her and make this the Christmas that she felt so wanted and loved, that she would never doubt how much happiness and love she has (will, now) give us, despite the hard journeys behind and ahead of all of us.

Since these haven’t been the most uplifting of topics, and so incredibly raw, I withdrew and tried to distract myself, which left me not writing and I’ve actually missed it. I haven’t been physically capable, but at least I have a few ideas for my business in the meantime! So let’s end with some happy notes on that topic! 🙂

First, I want to make “Grandma’s Roadkill Pie Soap”. Yep, I’m still morbid, but I think this should be great. Instead of trying to do the bacon slices that turned out so badly last year, I’m going to do the Maple Bacon FO in pie slice form, with little soap chunks that are either scent free or have a complimentary note. I considered Apple Spice, like one of those pork pies, you know? Or maybe Summer Ale FO, since citrusy notes go so well with pork. Since I have some scent creation strips now (I put dabs of FOs on them and can create my own scent instead of actually having to waste MLs on bad combos), I look forward to trying some different options. Next, I really want to send a little customized gift basket to a YouTube channel called “Sharuf”. It’s a fun show with an Irish entertainer and a muppet, plus guests usually. I thought some handmade items from Kansas would be fun to receive in Ireland, plus he gives shout outs on his small channel, and a lot of his followers are ironically American. I might actually get some customers. Lol Lastly, I bought a silicone spoon mold. When I explained the Spoon Theory for Fibro I told how the spoon is now a uniting symbol for Fibro sufferers. I really like the idea of making some soap spoons and even if they never sell, giving them in an informational support basket to a newly diagnosed person would be a beautiful thing. So, those are the current ideas spinning on my hamster wheels for my business, along with still wanting to do a package for Good Mythical Morning. What do you think? Are there any concepts or scent combos that you think I should try?

In the meantime, thank you for sticking with me through my journey, and always being a supportive haven for my creativity and thoughts. Pink glitter for everyone! 😉

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A Big Announcement

Posted on June 27, 2017 by Georgia's Pampering
A Big Announcement

It’s been a few months since I’ve posted and I actually have some really good reasons.  First, I had a really difficult recovery from my surgery.  I swear that I started to think I would never recover and the doctor didn’t do the greatest job with the reconstruction, so I was kind of in a funk mentally for a bit.  Second, we’ve been doing renovations to our house and every time I got a bit done, then I’d be sick or flared for a few days, and kept repeating the cycle for the past few months.  It bites to try and take care of things when you have a chronic illness trying to win the contest over your body.  *grin* Third, is the best reason of all and it includes a TON of paperwork and just plain work…

announcement

We’re adopting!!  It is a LOT harder than we expected and a lot more intrusive of a process, but we are so excited.  We had thought and prayed on it for a few years actually.  As I came out of the anesthesia from my surgery we agreed that without a doubt we had been called to adopt a teenage girl.  I can’t really explain it any better than that.  Part of the reason for the age is due to my health issues.  I simply cannot handle taking care of the physical needs of an infant or energetic young child, sadly.  In a way, it’s for the best though, because teens up for adoption are so rarely adopted and have such heart breaking statistics for their adult lives when they’re not adopted.

 

At this time the house is almost completely ready and we start our adoption classes this Thursday night.  Her room is completely ready and is so beautiful.  It’s neutral, but luxurious and has just a few feminine touches.  She can change it up however she wants, of course, but we wanted to have it ready to move in and show the Social Worker/Inspector that we are seriously committed to this commitment.  I’ll share some pics of our journey soon, I promise.  All sorts of things went wrong every which way we turned.  *laugh*  We learned a whole lot though, especially me!  We also learned the hard way that my balance issues are dramatically increased when I am off of the ground, and I’ve had some nasty injuries from working on the ladder.  It’s all been worth it though, no matter what happens.  In 10 weeks, if everything goes right, we will literally be licensed to be parents.  What a bizarre concept!  50 pages of paperwork, a scrapbook, 30 hours of parenting classes, lots of renovations, and a whole lot of tears, and we will finally get more information about our match(es).  That is, if the house passes inspection, so if you’re so inclined, please say a little prayer for us that our house passes inspection the first time, so we don’t have to wait even longer.

 

Since teen adoptions are so needed, in theory the adoption itself should go faster and easier than younger ones do, and we get a little more ability to pick who we feel is a better fit for our family, according to the mini bio we get.  We have one that we are really hoping for (I honestly can’t imagine any other girl but her when I daydream about our upcoming family adventures) and our social worker said that there’s a really good chance that as long as no one else has all ready selected her, we should get matched, which makes my breath catch and my heart thump each time I replay the conversation.  Of course, she has to review our stuff and decide she’d like to meet us, too, so I’ll try to dial back my crazy long enough.  *grin*

 

The agency required us to make a scrapbook about our lives, interests, and home, to help all prospective matches get to know us a bit and have a more informed decision if they would like to meet us.  I went into that part of the process totally lost and believing this would be torture.  Thankfully one of my dearest friends was a lifesaver with tons of information and answers for me, and it turns out that I am a total nut for scrapbooking.  *laugh* I absolutely had a blast making this timeline and visual biography of us, and it helped me feel so connected to this girl.  I actually love a child that I haven’t even met yet.  That’s mind blowing, but the honest truth.  I just hope our teenager will be interested and learn to love us too.

 

We decided to wait until we were starting our classes before announcing, although I wanted to as soon as we had decided, but thankfully Larry is more level-headed than me.  We will also mail out some physical copies of the announcement, but sadly the printing company cut the beginning of a few words on the left side.  At least people can extrapolate the message still and we get to finally share our joy with everyone.  We can’t share any information about our prospective daughter yet, since we don’t really know for sure who we will be matched with, but I really want to share about this difficult journey.  I had a lot of time on my hands during my recovery, so I was able to get far ahead of our class peers and do all of the paperwork and scrapbooking that is required, that they will do during the 10 weeks, but I was also able to do a lot of research.  Sadly there’s limited information about adopting and preparing for teenagers or older children, and I hope that maybe I can put a little bit of information out there and help someone else.  It’s easy to get discouraged with such a difficult process that really puts a strain on your relationship and your own mental health, in my opinion, so if I can offer a little education and reassurance, I can pay forward a bit of God’s blessing.

 

In closing of this big post I want to thank those of you that have helped us on our journey and have been such a big support system.  We thank you for helping us to keep this private until the time was right, for the encouragement, for your happiness, and for your embracing our journey with enthusiasm.  Our daughter will be so very blessed to have you as part of her family and we are so very thankful for that.  Truly, you have all been instrumental in getting us to this point and helping us get to the courthouse soon, hopefully, and we can never thank you enough.

 

“He gives the childless woman a family, making her a happy mother.  Praise the Lord!” – Psalms 113:9 (NLT Version)

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Today

Posted on March 17, 2017 by Georgia's Pampering

Right now we are on the way to take me to surgery. A month ago I had a blood vessel come to the surface and burst, and then created an abscess while I went through seven doctors to finally get this far. It took the sixth, my brilliant specialist, to get it figured out and call in a favor to get me seen by a surgeon he trusts. So in two hours I will be going under anesthesia and right now I’d beat someone with my cane just to have a drink of Dr. Pepper.  Lol. Fasting from midnight has sucked!  Anyway, I appreciate all of the support while I’ve been trying to get to this point and hope to come out the other side of this with a lot less problems in the end. Thankfully one of my best friends kept me texting about other subjects yesterday so I couldn’t think about panicking and canceling. Sometimes knowing too much about all that can go wrong is a really bad thing. *grin* I hope you all have a wonderful St. Patrick’s Day, even if you’re just have some honorary Irish in your ancestry for today. 🙂 

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Finally Some Answers

Posted on February 25, 2017 by Georgia's Pampering

Well, it took my specialist yet again to actually get to the bottom of things and diagnose my problem.  He’s never seen it either, but agreed that it only made sense that I had a blood vessel surface, burst, and get infected, probably due to pressure from coughing, on top of a weak system.  He’s going to call personally to a few surgeons to see if they’d be willing to at least consult with me and see if they can fix the area.  Unfortunately it’ll be a very painful and difficult recovery from the surgery, but at least they’ll be able to cauterize any blood vessels in that area, which will take a huge load off of my shoulders.  I’ve basically been afraid to do anything for fear of causing it, or another vessel, to suddenly rupture, and go through another month of agony.  It’s a relief that he agreed with the diagnosis I had come up with and that he wants this to be handled immediately, instead of dragging it out again.  I have to say every single time I see him I am in even more awe of his abilities and his brain.  He is truly the most brilliant man I’ve ever met.  I will always be thankful for my former boss asking his old colleague for the favor of doing a consult of one of his employees.

 

There is a pain scale from 0-10 that I always have to evaluate at every appointment for my different trigger areas, and even on my bad days I rate those at about a 7, because I’m still making it through the day.  While my wound was bad and I was concerned about sepsis (thank goodness for antibiotics), I rated my pain at a 9 for the very first time.  When I told my specialist that,  I think that’s when he realized just how serious and scary it had been for me.  He said that he doesn’t want me living in fear that any moment anything I can do could put me back at that stage.  At a 9 it’s hard to push to keep trying to get through the day and you seriously wonder if it’s worth it.  Like maybe your body got a memo that your brain and soul didn’t yet.  So I’m thankful that I have a doctor that knows me well enough to know my limits and my needs, and who is taking this seriously.  It was a long path to get there, but I’m thankful he was consulted on this.

 

While I’ve been going through all of this I’ve had an awesome support system and want to thank all of you that have been there for me, have left me FB or email messages, and have given me the encouragement to keep making my way through this journey.  I appreciate every single attempt to contact me, especially since I tend to get even more introverted when I’m dealing with difficult things.  Please know that I am working on not being quite so introverted and that I thank you for being patient, especially when my health takes a turn.  You all mean so very much to me and are true blessings in my life, whether in “real life”, social media, or my “second life”.

 

I’m hoping to hear Monday about the surgeon, so please cross your fingers for me that he is able to convince his top pick to do a consult.  After all of that I can focus on my big marketing idea that I can’t wait to share, but seemed stupid to share when I didn’t know when I’d ever get the chance to actually do it.  So I’ll tell you all about that soon!  In the meantime, I hope you all have a wonderful weekend full of happiness and health, and maybe a little extra pampering. 🙂

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I’ve Stumped 4 So Far

Posted on February 21, 2017 by Georgia's Pampering

I’ve gone a bit introverted for the past few months as I deal with things and I’m just honestly not dealing so well. I don’t want this to turn into a whiny blog, so I tend to not blog if things have been difficult…so my blog lays silent sometimes. I realized that this needs to stop. First, what’s been going on. 
I had a sinus infection with possibily bronchitis for a few months. The doctor prescribed the first time she saw me, but it was a short term, and I never got over any of it fully. Went back in and she was uncomfortable prescribing again so soon (oh ye, who hasn’t read five inches of medical records and has little faith in my helpful info), so the infection progressed. One night I had an intense coughing jag and had the weirdest feeling. All of a sudden blood was pouring out of a swollen wound. Thankfully elevation, pressure, and comforting phone chats with my mom and husband, all helped the bleeding stop. I was sick, had just bled a bunch, and really didn’t want to expose my immune system to even more stuff, so I decided it was smartest to stay home. 
During the next few days I didn’t do much moving. I was weak and sore, and every time I did much of anything (oh sneezing was horrific!) I’d start bleeding again. I finally went to my PCP and she was very thorough. I give her that. She really tried her hardest, but said she had never seen anything like it and had no idea what to do, so she prescribed some heavy duty antibiotics to minimize the swelling, to hopefully stop the inflammation and bleeding. Unfortunately it wasn’t enough and she referred me on. An emergency consult with a Trauma Surgeon turned into a visit with three of them, and all of them are puzzled. So they put me on more antibiotics and thankfully some true pain killers that allow me to function a bit, instead of staying in bed curled in a ball from pain. Although to be honest I stay in bed sleeping a lot of the time right now anyway, since my system is wiped out. Anyway, they learned that I have my biannual follow up with my hero Dr. Jones on Friday (10 days from when I felt like I joined the circus), so they were just going to put a prescription bandaid over it all and want him to diagnose this. One of the surgeons actually said “You stumped a Trauma Surgeon!” as if that was a feat I had on my bucket list. I have enough puzzling health issues; I was not amused. 
So now I’m mostly out of it and when I’m not, I want to be. The bleeding has improved as the infection has improved, but I still have a massive inflammation of tissue and an odd spot for spontaneous bleeding. Not to mention if I do anything for more than five minutes, even just standing, the pain starts to override the med, and I’m trying to stay light on the Hydrocodones. If it closes I’m afraid they’ll have to open and debrid the area, since it’s still a big inflamed extra area of skin, but if it stays open, maybe there are easier cures. It just depends what the brilliant Dr. Jones thinks. I just hope he remains as awesome as ever and is a stellar diagnostician on this, too. I’d like to be able to resume life again, even if it was fairly limited. I’m hoping (and it’s logical to me) that I just caused a blood vessel to surface and burst with the intense coughing, and that it then got infected because of my stellar immune system. My luck doesn’t generally go that well though, so they’ll probably have to do filet me open for some exploratory surgery (as long as it’s not the one unimpressive Trauma Surgeon!). 
During my “present” times I’ll try to blog about some of the fun ideas I’ve had for when life resumes and I will introduce you to my Second Life sister, who is going to help blog a bit on here. She will test some recipes (she has less limitations and a more diverse palate, so you’ll get some variety finally *laugh*), blog a bit about rejoining an online community (SL), and some other happy topics. I want to breathe a happy air back into this blog and not have as many obvious dead times when I’m down, dealing with health issues. Look for an introduction to her soon and look for me to update my website. She pointed out that it was still set up for Christmas. Ah, the things that get overlooked. *grin* 
This Friday hopefully I get some answers and maybe even get to go back on the Marinol. I lost 7 pounds in the past 4 days, which I could use in general, but not in this way.  At least this time I’m not having to worry about cancer, thank goodness. Just another issue that doctors can’t figure out, much like the years it took to get my CFS and Fibro diagnoses. Been there and they didn’t even give out lousy tee shirts. 😉 

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