Thanks for a thanks :)

http://vampwritergrrl.blogspot.com/2012/01/lbushman-studios-on-etsy.html

This linke will send you to Robin's blog. She's encouraging everyone to buy home crafted items, to support families like mine, and thanking me for the items she has received.

This woman has, even through her own personal turmoil, helped me when I most needed it. We lost a lot of money when my daughter was in the hospital. My husband didn't lose his job, but he was only 6 months in and had already used most of his sick/personal days up. He had to take the one extra day he had of personal time before FMLA kicked in, so he did get a bit, but other than that, he didn't. Between the extra gas, money for me in the hospital, his time off work, and a medical garnishment that started that month, we were down about 3/4-1month's pay. That may not seem like a lot, but to us...it hurt. So I started trying to sell my paintings. My friend told me about etsy, how to go about everything, was my first customer and told me so dos and don'ts.

I didn't make much, but I did get enough to get gas money for my husband to get to work before the next payday. What I gained though, was confidence. Confidence to put my stuff out there. I still haven't made as much as we lost at that point, or enough to pay for any of my other medical bills, but I have had that little bit come in when I needed it most. Almost *all* of my money I earned has gone to gas and groceries. Very little back into my art. I need to do that now and my next sell, I'm buying yellow and green paint LOL She's also been encouraging in my writing and a fellow groaner as we cut/edit/look for just the right word, and dream!

Between her and my MIL, I can believe in myself even when I don't.

Thank you!!

Going out with a whimper

I sure hope April goes out with a whimper. The start had enough of a bang, thank you very much. And now, some of that bang has come back to haunt us. For a recap since I can finally do it without breaking down into a million pieces:

As everyone knows, my duaghter is in the hospital. She did get out of the ICU (again!) Tuesday and is currently undergoing therapy of different sorts. I'm a little muddled on what all kind she's getting.

April 3: in the hospital
April 5--8: catheter intervention for the HUGE blood clot, filters and stents put in.
April 9: Out of ICU
April 14: Emergency brain surgery on emotional lobe. Brain bleed, blood clot (stroke)
April 14-26: ICU waiting for all the STUFF to go right and get brain tube out.
April 26: Moved to recovery floor
April 27-Present: Begin therapy. Assessments done on her emotional, mental and physical state to determine if in hospital care, or nursing home.

In the midst of all this, came the other reasons I've mentioned that April can #effoffApril and those aren't counting the every day trials of kids, travel with one car and little money, and babysitting for the days husband worked and during her surgery.

I did manage a bit of writing throughout this mess. I think I'm around 7-8k. As my regulars know, I usually do that a few times a month and average about 3k a day, depending on how much of my time is spent editing and networking (or playing :)

But what all the problems have caused is a new one. Money. I'm going to be starting an etsy page to sell prints of my paintings and my paintings, including the dragon at the top of my blog. I'll keep people informed as I do this. My main concern is my writing, which, thankfully, is picking up!

So, I'm going to concentrate on the future. My up and coming writing career, the paintings, the love of my friends and family and I'm going to keep writing.

Thanks to all of you who've helped me through this. In the beginning, I started a list of people who helped and supported us with their thoughts, prayers and positive energy and there were so many of you, that I couldn't keep up from the hospital! Thank you so much to all of you. All of you have helped to make this past month bearable. I consider you my family. THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU

YOU GUYS ROCK!

PS One of the aforementioned problems was our Xbox360, our only movie player and most of the games and some movies getting stolen which turned out to be a major crisis for only about 24 hours. Someone gave us a DVD player @Witchywoman2118 and someone else gave us an older game player @mercedesmy which I lurv since it has old games like Qbert on it LOL and someone gave us 15 via pay pal @VampwriterGrrl to help start replacing the games!! Special thanks. My kids are back to working hard on getting school and chores done in a timely manner!

Excerpt

Thanks to everyone who showed their concern and niceness regarding my daughter's well being :) Some on twitter and some here (and a couple both ways!) And to those who helped me through a rough patch yesterday. Thanks for being the bestest. Now, back to business, so to speak.

So, I'm editing, very, very, very, very, slowly. I mean, sllllllooooooooowwwwww. but it is good. Here's a quick excerpt from my paranormal, the Damian series that I am currently calling Ghost of Kristen's Past.



Before she responded, the detective's eyes glowed strangely and he turned toward the door. "Kenny is here."

Kristen could not remember the last time she had been in such a nervous state. Her mind fumbled for coherence and her body was in fight or flight mode. She mutely turned back to the door and opened it.

She was so not surprised to see Kenny coming up the walk. She let Kenny in and turned back to Detective Damian.

Kenny strode purposefully into the living room. "I'm here, obviously. What did you want?" he said abruptly as soon as he saw the detective.

"I need you to tell me everything you know. Half of Hell is after you and the other half will be once they find out that the two of you are Soulmates."



You like? That's the end of a chapter :D I really like that last line. One of my favorites. I know a book is good when I have favorites...

Happy Winter!

My brother

This month is about over, Thank God. This is the month of my brother Tim's Bday. He would have been 26. The family misses him. On his bday my mom wasn't answering calls. It's the first one since he died. The holidays were hard. I keep putting things away to the back of my mind, but they won't stay there. His lovely daughter, a few weeks older than my son, is beautiful and wonderful to see with her cousins.

She looks to be as fun loving as her father was :D I'll prob lose my regular internet connections soon, so I wanted to say thanks to all those who read my blog. And a big thanks to all of my blogging community. They have been a big help getting through this, even though they didn't know it at the time. I didn't say anything sooner because I needed the "normality" of my friends when I could get on and read.

Writing is keeping me sane. You all are keeping me involved. Tres importante.

Have a great weekend and know that you are all appreciated.