Ding, Dong the glitch is gone...

 the wicked glitch is gone.  I've got my computer back and it is working so much better.  Hooray! for the Geek Squad.  Just in case you don't recognize the parody in the title; your really need to get hold of the Wizard of Oz DVD.  One of the all time greatest classic movies ever.
Anyway my computer's working better.  My new programs are installed and I have two new editing programs to play with.  I'm so excited.
Emily is going great.  The doctor is very pleased with her recovery.  She spent last week learning how to teach freshman English.  She said that instead of sprinkling them with knowledge; they used a fire hose.  This week she starts working on her Masters degree and teaching freshman English class on her own.  Well, sort of on her own; BYU provides plenty of support and their attitude is you are here to get your Master's degree and teaching comes second.  She has also found a study buddy who is doing the same thing and they have agreed to help each other.  Good deal for her.

I have recovered from the stress of the last couple of weeks.  Due to the fact that I have Addison's disease; it takes me a long time to recoup.  Having Addison's means my body does not make the hormones necessary to cope with stress be it good or bad.  It has caused my electrolytes to go kind of haywire, my blood pressure to drop dramatically and just those two things can make anybody so weak that walking more than a few steps makes them feel like they are going to fall on their  face.  There is so much more to what the stress hormones do that sometimes I do get discouraged.  Even with all my varied health problems this is the worst and makes the stress of my other problems so very much more complicated.  This is an orphan disease which means there are not enough people with it to warrant research.  It's the pits.
However I am learning to deal with it better and better.  Not near as many hospital visits as I am learning to deal with it at home and I have a PA who is helping me through the process of learning to deal.  How grateful I am for modern medicine. 
Between Emily and I we have truly learned the miracle of modern medicine and a miracle it has been in our lives lately.  Add to that the prayers and support from those around us and our lives have been so very richly blessed.
We are both alive and able to continue to see the beauty in this world in which we live.

 Enjoy

♥♥♥Johnina♥♥♥

PS remember to come back tomorrow for the drawing of my mail art giveaway- there is still time to enter- see the post Giveaway #1 Mail art

Giveaway#1- Mail art

This birthday has been full of ups and downs, but mostly good and we are still celebrating, still getting presents and the grandkids wanted to to celebrate Grammies birthday too.  So tonight we had pizza (more about that later) and a birthday cake that Hayden helped me pick out.  We went to Wal-Mart and I showed Hayden all kinds of flavors of cake and he kept saying 'no, birthday cake' until we got to the funfetti cake mix and he got all excited ' birthday cake, birthday cake' so we had funfetti cake  tonight.

With all that I have recieved, Emily's recovery (still in progress), lots of birthday wishes (never had so many), grandchildren here; I decicded to give something back.

I've been doing lots of mail art lately.  Instead of doing my my artwork in a sketchbook, I do it on envelopes.  That way it can be enjoyed by many more people and not just stuck in a book to hardly be looked at.  The postal workers love to see me, they  just love the brightly colored envelopes.  So to spread this idea around I am giving away a cd with the jpeg images of these 5 envelopes for someone to win and use.  They are designed for 6x9 envelopes.

Rules

This is going to be a random drawing.

If you win you may use the cd to print out your own envelopes as long as you leave my blog address and copyrights on the image.

These are  my designs so you may use the cd for personal use only, no commercial use allowed.  The contest runs from now till Aug 30.

 How to enter:

There are three ways to enter

1.Sign up to Follow my blog- those who already follow my blog are automatically entered.

2.  Leave a comment- not just please enter me in your contest-  I want to know what you like or dislike about my blog or how it could be improved.  Leave as comment or e-mail me.  Each comment is one entry.

3. If you have a blog  with a blog list that you follow and you like my blog, please add me to your list then leave a comment or e-mail me to let me know.

Have fun and thanks for making my birthday so wonderful!!!

Enjoy

☺☺☺Johnina☺☺☺

Pass it along- Mail art

I am a firm believer in spreading the good; of putting out good 'vibes', that in doing so you can make the world a better place.  I have found the old adage "What goes around; comes around" to be true, although I don't worry about what's in it for me.  Mail art has given me an opportunity to share my art with not only the recipient but with everyone who handles the mail in between.  I used to do it a lot more than I have recently and I have decided that instead of doodling and sketching in a journal that I would once again use it to decorate my mail; where all could see it.  How often do we send a beautiful card in a plain envelope?  While the person who received the card might enjoy the beauty or cheerfulness it really limits the enjoyment that could have been created by that piece of art.  When I was doing it on a regular basis the postal workers were always glad to see me and see what I had done and I was always greeted with a smile.  It didn't matter that it was dinosaurs that I had drawn for my grandson or flowers for my daughters and friends, I even spray painted boxes and stenciled them.  The postal workers were always curious to see what I had done.  Now postal workers may get paid pretty well but they are never going to get rich on their salary and if I can bring a smile into their day it makes me feel happy too.

Think about what you could do to bring a smile into another life even if you never see it.  I do not see most of the people who handle my mail.  Try it, make it a habit and see how your own life will change.

ENJOY

☺☺☺☺☺Johnina ☺☺☺☺☺