Happy New Year! Welcome Year of Trials and Tribulations

A little over 2 hours ago, my husband and I changed the television station from the Three Stooges marathon to a network station and watched the final 4 minutes of 2014 slip by.  At midnight I kissed my husband, then we toasted to the year 2015, me with cheap champagne and he with sparkling apple cider.  We looked at the live shot of Times Square in NYC, before turning back to the Three Stooges marathon.  I plugged myself back into my computer and listened to showtunes.  It all went without much ceremony.  Just a quiet New Year's Eve, just the two of us.

As I look forwards to the new year I have to wonder about 2015.  I'm going to be 35 in less than two weeks.  That's the age when childless women really start to rethink their decision not to have children.  I probably can't have my own children anyway, I have PCOS (Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome), but sometimes I do want to be a mom.  Children are out of the question, we simply can't afford them.  We can barely take care of ourselves.

2015 brings in some medical concerns.  My husband will most likely have his back surgery in a few months time.  We pray it will greatly improve his quality of life.  Back surgery is a scary thing to undergo, though I suppose open heart surgery is worse.  We just have to trust the surgeon not to sneeze during surgery, paralyzing my husband.  (I'm only kidding, honey, that won't happen).

I hope the Bruins improve in the year 2015.  They had a lousy Fall of 2014, let's see if the new year brings new attitude and strength to the team.

So to all those that are experiencing the New Year by celebrating with alcohol, PLEASE do not drive drunk.

Abstract Paintings For Sale

My paintings are now on sale at www.etsy.com/shop/AbstractArtByJStorer

I have only added 10 to the store at this point.  I don't have measurement for most of them as they're still wrapped in storage.  I will need to pull them out, measure them, and add them to the site.

As I mentioned in the last post, I can't paint again until I buy more paints in two weeks.  But I have over 70 in storage so keep checking back as I will add a few each day.

I Need Acrylic Paints

I painted for the first time in almost 4 years on Christmas.  I painted again the following evening, only to discover that many of my paints were dried up or almost gone.  Black was a crushing blow, as "The Cliffs of PEI" required a black coat.  I improvised and used dark purple instead, since both tubes of black had rubberized.

To solve this problem I asked for gift cards to either Michael's or A.C. Moore from anyone who wants to give me a present.  My mother-in-law is going to take me on an A.C. Moore shopping spree the day before my birthday, which is less than two weeks away.

But in the meantime, I can't really paint, and I really want to!  My husband suggests that I sketch, but I just am not as into sketching.  I do have watercolors, perhaps I can experiment with them.

We ordered a toy for the piggies for Christmas and 3 of their birthdays,  Penny and Bernie just turned 3, and Amy will be 3 in about a week.

I don't want to talk about the Bruins.

Here is my latest abstract painting, "The Cliffs of PEI"

All I Want For Christmas...Is Paint

I got a lot of things we desperately needed for Christmas this year.  A month ago, our last fitted sheet for our King Size bed ripped.  I got two sets of 600-thread count sheets.  I also got, towels, dish towels, a calendar, socks, hay for the guinea pigs, 2 plush PJ pants, and an HDTV amplified antenna.  It was a good year.  I appreciate all I got and I only wish I could reciprocate.

I got home from spending the afternoon with my in-laws, and a strange urge to paint came over me.  I didn't know what I wanted to paint, but I wanted my acrylics and I couldn't for the life of me find them after an hour of searching.  After initially giving up, I decided to attack the pile of boxes in the corner of the living room.  Sure enough, in the very last box I opened, there they were.  I haven't painted in years.  I had blank canvases, paints, and a drop cloth.  I think my easel didn't survive the move last March, so I set up shop on the bed, using the head board to lean my canvas against.  An hour and a half later, I was finished.

When I had asked my husband what I should paint, he suggested a landscape.  He can't stand my portraits, as he feels like the eyes are staring into his soul.  So for Christmas I gave my husband a painting to hang in our purple bedroom.

'Tis The Season

I have only a 320GB hard drive on my computer, and it's almost full.  So for Christmas I asked my father for a TB internal hard drive.  It arrived and I created a recovery disc, and then backed up all my files onto an external TB hard drive we have.  The backup took almost 5 hours.  Then my husband removed the 320GB hard drive and installed the TB hard drive.  We placed the recovery disc into the DVD drive and booted the computer, only to find out we needed to create a system image.  So my husband took out the TB hard drive and put the 320GB harddrive back into the computer.  But the system image was too big, so I deleted all my music, photos, movies, and videos.  I got it down to 70GB.  After 2 hours of creating the system image, We switched the hard drives AGAIN and loaded the system image onto the TB hard drive.  Then I retrieved the files from the external TB drive.  After I'd done that, I went into My Computer to look at all the free space I now had, only to see it was only registering 320GB!

We searched online and tried updating the BIOS but to no avail.  Finally we called HP, the manufacturer of my laptop.  After trying to charge us $59.99 to help, the guy finally admitted that my computer won't take a TB hard drive, it will only use 320GB.  I was distressed.  So we decided to return the TB hard drive.  But it already had all my files on it.  So we downloaded a drive wiping program and changed the boot order to boot this disc.  That took 20 hours to wipe the internal hard drive.  We removed the TB hard drive and put my original 320GB hard drive back in.  Then I retrieved my files from the external hard drive only to discover that my playlists in iTunes were no longer there.  So I spent the last 5 hours recreating my playlists.

My computer is now exactly as it was, with little room to add anything else.

Instead of the hard drive, we bought an HD amplified TV antenna for our TV, since we got rid of cable.  Between that, Netflix, and a free sports website my brother referred me to, I think we'll get by.
We also got socks for ourselves because our bedroom eats socks.

Yesterday we went to The Yard in Manchester, NH to see two of my husband's aunts, their significant others, and his parents.  It was a lovely family brunch.  They practically had to kick us out we were having such a good time.

Today my father came to our apartment to visit.  We had coffee, Christmas cookies, and a nice chat.  Then he took us to Walmart to buy Sparkling Grape Juice for New Year's Eve, and a present for my husband's parents.  It was nice seeing my father.

The Bruins actually won a game.  It was sad though, that it took overtime minutes to beat the Buffalo Sabres.  I mean come on, it's Buffalo!  I'm praying that with the return of Chara and Krejci they actually start winning again.

The Patriots are AFC division champs.  And since Denver lost tonight, the PAtriots will have home field advantage for the Playoffs. Yay!

Searching the Soul For Plastic Surgery

I am overweight.  But I'm not as obese as I used to be.  I am 5'8" and at my heaviest, I weighed 322 pounds.  Standing on that scale was a wake-up call.  So since that moment 8 years ago, I have been losing weight.  I'm down to 245 pounds but that has plateaued out and I'm stuck.  My abdomen is covered in loose skin and under my arms are more sagging skin.  Now I lost the weight on my own with no gastric bypass surgery.  I have lost 77 pounds, which is like dropping a 10 year old off my frame.  So what do I do about all the leftover sagging skin?  

I talked to my PCP first and she said there really isn't a way to get rid of it except for surgery.  So she wrote a referral for me to see a Plastic Surgeon.  I was referred to someone who didn't take my insurance and was told that even if they did take my insurance, it wouldn't be covered since I didn't have gastric bypass.  I felt as though someone ad locked me in a prison.  So I called my nurse case manager at my insurance company.  She told me not only would they pay for the consultation, but would most likely pay for the surgery!  She is going to get back to me on Monday with a name of a covered surgeon.  

I confess I am very excited about this, though surgery really isn't anyone's first choice.  But there are physical health reasons I want to do it, not just the mental ones.  I am still carrying a lot of weight in the extra skin which is affecting my posture, balance, and causing me back pain.  In the summer I get heat rash under them.  I would be so much happier if I could get this skin removed.  

I broke the news to my mother last night and surprisingly she wasn't against it.  I told my father tonight, and I was so sure he would vehemently be opposed to it, I was shocked to hear him be supportive.  Not because he's a bad dad, but just because he doesn't blieve in unnecessary surgery.  But I think my parents know how much this would mean to me and can see the benefits of helping me.  

I have had a little bit of negativity, but I haven't definitely decided to do it.  I want to meet with the surgeon first and see what he/she has to say about it.  

So I've been doing a little bit of soul searching, and after all, it's not to make me look more beautiful, it's to make me healthier.