My First Stitching Retreat

I had an amazing weekend. It was exactly what the doctor ordered. I turned off notifications on pretty much everything, packed a suitcase and a project bag, and toddled down to a resort in Myrtle/Surfside area for the Barefoot Needleart Stitchy Retreat. It was my first stitching retreat and a ton of fun! What better than hanging out with +/- 150 other people engaging in a favorite hobby. 

It was held at the Ellie resort in Myrtle Beach near Surfside. It was a beautiful facility and very comfortable accommodations. We enjoyed the food at the pier and the hotel’s restaurant, too. 

I had a finish while there: Happy Harvest by Frosted Pumpkin, and got some work done on my Cryptid SAL (Witchy Stitcher) and Halloween Delivery (Plum Street Samplers). I also prepped some fabric and thread for upcoming projects. 

A wicked fog rolled in on Day 2 but I still went for a walk on the beach and had some delightful interactions with people. 

Thanks to Memory and Amy and their team for all their hard work and a wonderful event. Thanks to my table mates for making me cry laughing for hours, for the snacks and advice and overall good fun. Thanks to all the ladies who took me under their wings and showed me the stitchy retreat ropes. And thanks to everyone for sharing their beautiful work with us all, especially during the smalls exchange. I’ve already decided to do it again in October.

I couldn’t get the whole room in, but it was a huge event!

Liz brought tongs and …

…made bowls to put snacks in so we wouldn’t dirty our fingers

Sweetest little pincushion I bought while there

(Following links on this blog may result in my earning a small fee. As an Amazon associate I may earn from qualifying purchases.)

Guest Announcement: ConCarolinas 2025!

Exciting news to share, now that the paperwork is signed and sent. I’m pleased to say I’ve accepted an invitation to be a guest at the 2025 ConCarolinas convention in Charlotte, NC! This awesome event happens May 30-June 1 at the Hilton University Place. Get your tickets and come out and see us! Link in the comments. 

I’m so stinkin’ excited! Who’ll I see there?

Get your tickets to this fantastic convention HERE.

It’s a multi-genre convention featuring sci-fi/fantasy, paranormal, cosplay, book/author, and other tracks. It’s family-friendly, well-run, and safe. 

I’ll post more information about panels and schedule here once I know them.

(Following links on this blog may result in my earning a small fee. As an Amazon associate I may earn from qualifying purchases.)

Someday It'll Be Me. Someday It'll Be You.

[CW: end of life topic; deep thoughts ahead; crossposted from Facebook]

There's nothing like attending a deathbed to make you consider where your priorities really are. Today I walked into a room immediately after a woman had passed away. We sang for the family while the undertakers respectfully waited to take her. There was so much love in that room, so much care, that it touched my soul profoundly, especially as the family each reached out to hug us tight, and as they hugged me, to whisper their thanks, their love for their mother, everything we’d been holding space for. There was healing and closure for some people today.

And while there was closure for them, it opened up a whole  something else inside of me. I’ve been pondering for literal hours:  Do we (humans) have our priorities straight? Where are we putting our energy for however long we have left here in this existence? 

Someday it'll be me. 

Someday it'll be you.

How will you spend the rest of your life? Are you living for the now or living in the past? Are you living from love, forgiving hurts, saying sorry? Or are you spending energy fighting online about stupid crap, holding grudges, going to bed mad?

This isn't meant to sound preachy, by the way. I hope it doesn’t come across that way, and my sincere apologies if it does. It's just meant to stimulate whoever is reading this (and I believe that if you are reading this, then perhaps you are meant to see it) to focus on the good stuff too and perhaps to consider a priority reset if you’re feeling bogged down in negativity.

Themes that show themselves to me again and again these last several years: 

Heal old wounds. 

Nurture worthy relationships. 

Let go of what isn’t healthy for you (including people).

Breathe. 

Be Love.

I’ve been saying this since the first time I died: LOVE is the key to the absolutely everything. It’s what runs the universe.

Another thought that occurred to me on the drive home from hospice today: Who do I want to be when I move on from here? 

I want to be Love. And I hope to be remembered as someone who cared.

So who do you want to be?

I know it’s not always comfortable to read about topics like this. I was changed by today's experience—so deeply affected that I had to share. I appreciate you reading.  ❤️

Photo by Jamez Picard on Unsplash

Kicking Butt

(Following links on this blog may result in my earning a small fee. As an Amazon associate I may earn from qualifying purchases.)

Sure didn't have "get the worst cold I've had in 10 years" on my bingo card for Halloween, but here we are. Even when I had two cases of the corvids I did not feel this bad. Fred showed signs of it on Sunday and is mostly better so I guess it's a five day thing. I did the cooking and the caring while he was sick, and now it's his turn:

Fred: "Call me if you need anything"

Me, croaking: "No voice"

Fred: "Come kick my a#% if you need anything."

Me: (see gif) 

🤧😂

#blessed #marriedlife 

#SnippetsOfMyLifeWithFred

(crossposted from Facebook)

Halloween Sip n' Paint

Yesterday some friends and I had a ton of fun doing a Halloween-themed sip n’ paint at one of our homes. This is only my second time painting anything, and I had such a blast. I’ve learned I enjoy painting and plan on continuing doing tutorials and such. But most of all, the company (and the homemade chili and wine) were stellar. 

Here is the channel whose tutorials we used. If you try them, have fun! 👻🫖🐝

I painted the "Boo Bees" (🤦‍♀️ at that name, though)

Michelle painted the ghost

Elizabeth painted the haunted teapot

You can get art supplies at your local art or craft store, or HERE.

(Following links on this blog may result in my earning a small fee. As an Amazon associate I may earn from qualifying purchases.)

Book Recommendation: The Illumination Code by Kim Chestney

(Following links on this blog may result in my earning a small fee. As an Amazon associate I may earn from qualifying purchases.)

[Adapted from a post I made on my Facebook page.]

The other day, a friend of mine asked her list “What made you happy today?” And I replied, “I got to be on a contributor panel at a book launch for a friend, and it was such a great time.” 

The Illumination Code: 7 Keys to Unlock Your Quantum Intelligence is the book whose launch I attended as one of the contributors. I wanted to share this book with you as your next potential read, but first I want to tell you a little bit about the author.

I met Kim in January 2018 when some idle scrolling on Facebook surfaced an advertisement for a one-day intuition retreat she would be presenting at a local yoga studio. I felt a sense of calmness as I clicked the link. I felt excited as I signed up. I thought, “Yes this retreat is the right call for me…”

…But I really had no idea what I was getting into.

What I got into life-changing. At that retreat and since, I’ve not only learned how my inner language speaks to me in various scenarios (such as feeling overwhelmingly good about clicking that link), but I learned to trust myself again. 

As many of you know, after I nearly died in 2006, it took me several years to explore who I was as a person and why I was still here on this earth. I had to remember who I am and find my calling—as a creative, as an editor, as a threshold singer—and getting in touch with my inner self really helped with that. 

Many people helped me along the way, including Kim Chestney. Since that day in 2018, I have met many people who have been helped by Kim, who is so passionate about her work. This book is a true labor of love, and she presents the pathway toward inner knowing in a fun and accessible way. Not only that, but she has created a warm and loving community of people through her Intuition Lab. 

And bonus: you’ll also read contributors’ stories, including a really cool thing that happened to me and the author not too long ago.

I hope you’ll pick up and read this book, and when you do, please don’t forget to leave a great review for the author. Many people don’t realize that reviews help books reach more readers; they are vital to an author’s work. 

Kim, I am so proud of you, my friend. And I’m so glad that we are still working together since that day we met at your retreat in 2018. 🙌✨💛

#quantumintuition #quantumconsciousness #illuminationcode #intuitionlab 

[Photo is of a book, The Illumination Code: 7 Keys to Unlock Your Quantum Intelligence, by Kim Chestney.]

National Blood Clot Awareness Month

This is slightly edited from a Facebook post I made. Feel free to follow me over there, by the way. 

I became aware that March is Blood Clot Awareness Month, and today I am celebrating what I call my 18-year do-over-versary.

 

Photo credit: National Blood Clot Alliance

Often the first symptom of a pulmonary embolism (PE) is death. I was one of the lucky ones.

For me, I had all the classic signs leading up to it: I had a broken ankle and developed a deep-vein thrombosis (DVT) in my lower leg after being laid up for a while. Unfortunately, despite showing symptoms (swelling, calf pain, etc.), having high-risk factors, and intuitively knowing something was very wrong, I could not get a single doctor to take it seriously or even test me for it for 3 weeks. 

THREE WEEKS they ignored me and let me just about die.

When someone finally decided to test me and found my leg full of clots, he let me go home again instead of immediately admitting me to the hospital, with the instruction to take an anti-inflammatory for my fracture pain.

Even when I ended up in the ER unable to breathe, the staff there did not follow a blood clot/PE protocol, making me walk around on crutches for countless tests until it finally became too much for my body. 

The last thing I remember was my vision getting smaller and smaller, til I couldn't see anything around me, but I heard my then husband telling me he'd gotten ahold of my parents and they were on their way from Dallas, TX, as well as a lot of rushing around and frantic beeping and someone telling me to stay with her as I basically suffocated. 

Do you know how painful suffocation is, by the way? Try holding your breath beyond your capacity to do so. It hurts, right? Multiply that tenfold. A hundredfold. I don't know. It freaking hurts.

So I guess I decided to leave HERE for a while and go THERE—somewhere way less stressful—and now I’m able to tell you about it. 

I’m one of the lucky ones. According to the eMedicineHealth website, 25% of people with PE were diagnosed because they died. 23% of those diagnosed who don't die right away die within 3 months, 30% die within 6 months, and there is a 37% chance of mortality after one year. 

Miraculously, I fully healed, even after being told my blood vessels were permanently ruined. Miracle of miracles: every single one of those blood vessels rerouted and created clean, new pathways.

Since then, I've told many doctors my story, and they've all been horrified at how I was treated against protocol and amazed I lived through it and healed.

Please: familiarize yourself with the signs of DVT, PE, and other blood clots. You can find more info here: https://www.stoptheclot.org/about-clots/

In conclusion, our time here is short, even if we’re here 90 years. How will you spend that time? I’ve learned a few things since 2006, and I’d like to share some of them with you:

Live *your* life, not someone else's.

Have gratitude. 

Love more.

Breathe.

Be happy.

And know all will be well. 

✨❤️✨

#bloodclotawareness #pulmonaryembolismsurvivor

(Following links on this blog may result in my earning a small fee. As an Amazon associate I may earn from qualifying purchases.)