Latest art and baby stuff

Sorry to not have blogged anymore, but I've been gone. Shown above is one of the reasons for my absence. After working off Wednesday morning, I drove down to Tuscaloosa with no sleep. Needed to see that grandbaby again, you know! Also wanted to help Emily out with a few things and see Holly a little bit more before she headed back to Texas. Wish I had gotten to see her more while she was visiting. It just didn't work out so well for that. As it was, though, she was able to help Emily on the days that I had to work. I had to take Holly to the airport on Thursday afternoon. Sad to see her go. This is Holly making a sad face right before we had to leave to go to the airport.



After seeing me blog about my experiments with combining photos with a painting technique on canvas board, Holly requested the 2 fall-looking ones. I really wanted to do a little bit more on making a hanger for them, like maybe with a twig and fibers, but since Holly said she liked them like they were and I didn't have a lot of extra time, they just ended up with a simple ribbon hanger.



I also got one of the 3 collages done for Thomas. I hesitate about showing it here, as I was totally inspired, shall we say, by someone's work on Etsy. I did make it my own by adding the sun and the letters, but the turtle is done much like hers. Decided to go ahead and show you, but link to her work and give her the credit for the inspiration. Her shop name is Kate Endle Collage. Clicking on the link will take you to her etsy pages. Her work is so wonderful. Being on a limited budget means you have to make your own sometimes. Emily had asked me to make some pictures for the nursery. She had seen something similar to these, wanting some art to bring more color into the room to bring together the bedding and other furniture pieces and toys. Went ahead and took this one on down, but still have 2 more to finish of an elephant and an alligator.

Thomas Jeffery Nolen

Arrived in the world, Tuesday, August 4th, at 10:22 am. He weighed 8 lb., 11 oz. and was 20 1/4 inches long. Emily had a c-section due to him measuring by ultrasound to be over 9 lb the week before he was born. The doctor was afraid to let him get too big and Em was having no changes at all as far as dilation, etc. As it turned out, it was a blessing. They found the umbilical cord wrapped around his neck twice, so they may have had to do an emergency c-section if there had been a normal labor.

Of course, just sharing a fraction of the photos on this post. There will be more. Trying to get a post in before getting ready for work. I was able to take a couple of nights off at the beginning of my week to be down there to see Thomas and help Emily some. Holly flew in from Texas Thursday and will be staying with them a week. I got to see her, too, which was wonderful! Just sad that I had to come back home Friday afternoon to go back into work Friday evening. Would have loved to stayed longer, of course. I was so wishing that it would work out that he was born during my off week, but then there were reasons that it happened the way it did. It can't be all about me, lol! They got to come home on Friday and are doing pretty well. Emily is very sore and Thomas is jaundiced. His bilirubin was 9 something the morning they left, so not too bad. Will have to go back tomorrow for bloodwork.

Craig is working 3rd shift now, too. Bless his heart, he had to go into work Friday night, as well. He's only been at his job a short time so he didn't have any leave built up. So it was Emily, Holly, and Thomas last night. Talked to them once about 1 am and Thomas had been awake since 9pm. Didn't hear anymore, so not sure how it went from there. He slept most of the day yesterday after being up all night Thursday while they did tests and worked with him in the hospital nursery to get hime ready to come home.


The new Mom with Thomas the day he was born.


The shot above was him in the nursery bed the day he was born.


This is my hubby, Kerry, also known as "Grampy" now.


Thomas at home on Friday. Sorry got my pics out of order when uploading. He had been asleep and the sound of the camera made him wake up just a little. Just enough to peek at the goofball that kept taking pictures.


The goofball and Thomas at the hospital.


Aunt Holly just in the door from Texas. She flew in Thursday. Her first time to fly and all by herself at that. Kerry picked her up at Birmingham airport. Emily came up with the name Aunty HaHa for Holly. Very appropriate!


From the left above is Uncle Blake(Craig's brother), Craig(the proud new Dad), and their Mom, Glenda, who wants to be known as Nana. We may have to say Nana Glenda since my daughters call my Mom, Nana. Craig's Dad, Jeffery, had to leave to go back to work, so I missed taking his photo with the baby.

Well, there will be more pics to follow.

Thomas will be here tomorrow!

Emily just got out of her doctor's appointment. No changes, so she is going in tomorrow morning, Tuesday, August 4th, for a C-section. The doctor doesn't want to wait any longer since Thomas is measuring so big. So, tomorrow we'll be holding our new grandson! Can't wait to see him. Just pray that everything goes ok for both Mom and baby.

Lovely surprise

Was received in the mail yesterday from a dear friend, Beth. It was so sweet of her to take the time to make and send this beautiful card! I love the artwork and then the sentiment is so appropriate: "Be glad of life because it gives you the chance to love and to work and to play and to look up at the stars"-Henry Van Dyke. Thanks so much, Beth. I needed that reminder. The colors are so pretty and of course I love birds and flowers. It is now on my bulletin board by my computer to brighten my days.

I did get some grapes picked yesterday afternoon, late, after spending the day with Mom. Before I could finish, a storm blew in. It had been cloudy but not raining so I was going to work until I was done picking the ripe grapes or it started raining, whichever came first. Well, all of a sudden the wind started blowing so hard and in such a fashion that the trees were just whipping around, so I high-tailed it into the house. Not a minute later, a fairly large limb broke off one of the black walnut trees in the back yard and landed about where I had been. It stayed stormy like that for about 30 minutes or so.

Still need to get those grapes processed and finish picking the other ripe ones if I get time or the rain allows when I do. Will be going down this evening to help Emily with some things and coming back tomorrow morning. I've been on the phone or the computer taking care of business and talking to some friends and family on and off this morning, so I've not gotten anything done(except sleeping late, which was on my list of things to do).

July is flying by

I'm cheating by using a photo I took last year of the butterfly bushes because I've not taken any good pics lately or completed anything artsy. When I'm working these 12 hour night shifts, it just seems to kill the creativity. I did work some more today on the pictures for Thomas' nursery. Not sure I'll get them done before he gets here, but I'm trying. I'm doing a set of 3 collage paintings, very simple ones of animals, that frankly I'm "being inspired", shall we say, by someone's work I saw on Etsy. I would have loved to purchase her art, but the budget just isn't there, so I'm making my own. There will be a turtle(the one almost done), an elephant, and an alligator.

Time just seems to fly by. I need to get so much done this week while I'm off. The grapes are ripening and I really want to put up some preserves this year. Last year we gave the grapes to a neighbor to make wine, as I was helping take care of Mom a lot more. I do need to take Mom to take care of some business tomorrow and go down to help Emily with last minute preparations since Craig is now working. May do that Friday evening and Saturday morning. The former Woodland laboratory employees are getting together Saturday evening at our most recent supervisor's home for a party. Sunday will be church. So, not sure when those preserves are going to get done. The grapes may not wait until next week, so I may try to get them picked, cut up, seeded, perhaps Friday, and then freeze them for making the preserves later on. I've read online that you can do that. Basically, none of this is really interesting, is it? I think I'm trying to plan my week as I'm typing, so please just bear with me. We'll call that a "time out", lol.

Good bit of news to share since I've not been posting that often. Emily is about to "pop", very miserable, and ready for that baby to be out of there! So she says! The due date is August 9th, but little "Thomas" is turning out to be not so little, weighing already an estimated 9 lb, 6 oz. by today's sonogram. There have been no changes yet so if no baby by her appointment on Monday they may then schedule a C-section. I was selfishly hoping he would be born this week while I am off so I would have more time to spend with them. If it is next week after I start back to work, then it will be hard to ask off at a new job, working a solo shift, for more than a couple of days. But, of course, whatever is best for the baby and Emily is what I want most of all. You will notice that all of the "stuff" I mentioned above would be no longer so important to get done if the grandson decides to make an appearance, lol!

The new job is going fairly well. The second week was better than the first, somewhat from me being more familiar and getting a routine, but mainly because it was not as terribly busy as it was at first. My first nights alone there were pretty awful, almost more than I could do. I was very worn out at the end of that week.

Seems like there was more than I was going to report on, but I can't remember it now. If it comes back to me, I'll edit the post and add it on.

Nursery pics for Holly

This post is especially for Holly as she is not getting to attend the baby showers or see any of the preparations for little Thomas firsthand. Snapped a few shots in the nursery on Saturday while visiting Emily and Craig. They still have a few more things to hang on the wall and are refinishing a shelf/cabinet for future toys and books, so some items are in there awaiting a home.

Above, of course, the crib and the changing table. The crib was given to them by my former SIL and the bedding they chose is from Target. Em found the changing table at a yard sale and she and Craig painted the letters hanging above it.



The chest of drawers was Craig's growing up as was the toy chest you can see in the center of the room. We moved it to the corner after I took the shot. They repainted both pieces and are having to strip the shelf cabinet I mentioned earlier. Well, Craig is since Emily can't use the stripper. They have done a great job, I think, picking the colors. I'm working on some animal collage pictures this week to hang over the crib.




This little Rock-a-Bye lamb was a thrift store find early on in the pregnancy. I found it at a Salvation Army store very near Emily's house. It was $10, I think, which is pushing my limit on a thrift store purchase, but since it was like new I went ahead. Felt better when we looked them up online and found out they sell for about $125 when new.

The last picture is the Pack-n-Play. That is something new to me since mine were babies. Very nice! There have been a lot of changes since mine were little!

Some fairly recent art experiments

I did these on our last camping trip at the end of May which I am so glad we got to take. Unknowingly my friends at work were already hearing rumors about the hospital being sold while we were away. They thought about calling me, but decided not to and I'm really glad they didn't. I blindly enjoyed several days of relaxation, resting, reading, and some art. Haven't done anything artistic since then. Just not had the time mainly, but also not really the inclination.

These are an experiment I wanted to do in using a photograph and incororating into a painted background. The inspiration for doing this was Angela Cartwright's technique as published in a recent Somerset publication. If you click on her name that will take you to her blog and here is a link to a piece of her lovely work she has on sale at Etsy, at really reasonable prices I might add. I'm too lazy to go hunt the magazine to scan those, but this one is done similarly. As you can see, her pieces have a simple color-washed background with designs done in the gesso. I started out trying to do this, but couldn't get it to look right. I ended up just working with the colors and backgrounds of the photographs to blend them. These were shots that you might remember me showing before from a trip last fall. The colors are prettier in person than they scanned,not as muddy-looking as they appear above, but still not any that I have in the house anywhere. Since they are lightweight I'm thinking on a way to make wall hangings out of them for the RV which does have this color scheme. As a matter of fact, the upholstery in the camper has a leaf pattern.

The canvases were thrift store purchases and were a pair of farm landscape prints on canvas minus their original frame, but only 50 cents each. Less than the cost of new canvas boards and I like the shape in relation to the photographs once turned up and down instead of sideways. I gessoed over the printed background with white and while it was still wet stamped into it and added texture with my brush. As it started to dry, I added gesso to the back of the photo and squished it into it deliberately so that the gesso covered the edges of the photo some. The color washes followed, but in trying to match to the colors in the photos, somehow I ended up with blah, pukey tones so I kept on working with it until they evolved as shown.

My thinking is maybe to add some wording and make a hanger of twigs to go with the woodsy look embellished with beads, fibers, or whatever strikes my fancy. May even have something hanging off the bottom.

I also did another larger canvas that I had to photograph since it won't fit on my scanner. This was another rescued thrift store canvas but it had an original painting of a really scary-looking face. I gessoed over that with black and then added an acrylic sand texture medium. The picture I chose to use on this one is the closeup I did of a leaf on a rock wall on the same fall trip. The photo is not glued on there crookedly. The photographer is just lousy in cropping her shots! Not finished with this experiment either. I was going to color wash this one, too, to bring the color of the rocks out into the background, but I like the look of the black with the gritty texture medium, so I can't decide. I am going to at least on all three unify the finish overall. On the bottom 2, think I will apply a layer of matte gel medium so the the shiny surface of the photos will be gone. For the top piece, I will most likely go with gloss gel medium.

BTW, do you need any confetti for any upcoming party or event? I have a confetti-maker I will hire out to you cheap! As an added bonus, she is really cute. Heck, some days I might even let you have her for free! Just kidding, we love her, but this is a picture of what the little stinker can do with plastic and paper.

Goodbye to Woodland!

Went by this evening for one last visit to my old place of employment. It was sad to see it almost empty and boxes being packed up everywhere. Made me think of my friends and coworkers and how much I will miss them and this place. Above is a shot of the people I work with or have worked with in the lab in recent past. We got together a week ago to get a group picture since some of us have already left for our next job.

My years at Woodland began in 1981 when I was a lab student doing my 6 month internship. There were no openings at the time I finished so I looked elsewhere and was hired at Huntsville Hospital. After only a couple of weeks, the lab supervisor at Woodland, Suzanne Porter, called me to say that one of techs had decided to leave and to ask if I was interested in a position. Of course I said, yes, as it meant not having to move to Huntsville or keep on with a longer commute. So as the story goes, I've been there since January of 1982 as an employee. The company I worked for has changed several times over the years. At first I worked for what is now Labcorp, but was then called Medlab. The hospital subcontracted the lab services at that time. Medlab was bought by Roche and that is who I was working for when the hospital decided they would make more money by running the lab themselves. I had to either transfer to Birmingham to stay with Roche or begin working for Woodland. Since my girls were small, I opted to remain at the hospital. Woodland has been under the ownership of several corporations. Not sure I could remember the names of all of them.

Emily was born in 1983 and then Holly in 1985. While they were young it was great to have a job this close to home. I worked for 7 years on 3rds while they were growing up to allow me flexibility in my day schedule so I could do what I needed to as far as attending school functions, ballgames, etc. I could stay up and sleep later in the day or get up earlier in the afternoon depending on what was going on. After a while I got physically tired and switched back to day shift for several more years. That was until the layoffs last year and then I went back to 3rds again.

I've put in a lot of years at this hospital. Perhaps one reason I've been here so long has been because I don't like change. My friends and family will verify that statement! But it seemed like about the time I felt like I needed to move on, I would be able to change to a different shift or negative job situations would change for the better. I also saw over time that people would leave Woodland and then come back because they missed it so much. It really was like a family. We may have fought and bickered among ourselves some(but not too much) but if someone else messed with one of our coworkers we would stand behind them like you would a sister or brother. As a matter of fact, if I find out anyone is not treating one of friends right now at their new jobs, all they have to do is call and I'll be there to take up for them!

This camraderie we enjoyed enabled us to work together to do the best job we could in performing our work and taking care of our patients, and we did see them that way, OUR patients. Some of our anguish in the hospital closing has been about who is going to take care of these patients now. There were many who came in as outpatients for labwork that we became close to over time. It was not just a job where these patients were a test or a number or a dollar sign. They were real people with needs and worries who we really cared about. This leads me to my other pictures.


Right before Woodland was sold a little over a year ago, while it was still CHS, there was a lot of money wasted initiating a program to inspire us as workers to provide better service. I mean there was a LOT of money spent on training executives and supervisors, books, CD's, computer programs, etc, etc. by a company that was about to sell us to another company? Go figure!?! It was a waste of time and money also because the employees of Woodland were already providing an excellent level of care. We didn't need pillars erected in the front entrance area to tell us what to do. My apologies if any of you read this that had do some of this stuff. I know a lot of you were just doing your job and had to do what those higher up the corporate ladder told you to do. But if any of you read this that made these decisions, I would like to let you know how it made me feel as an employee. I felt insulted, not inspired, and angry that so much money was spent by a company that would turn around and ask me to take time off without pay to save money near the end of the year so that budgets could be met and bonuses be paid. Then in turn you sell us to a company that then turns around and sells us again to another hospital who closes us down. All this was supposed to be done for the better of the community, the people. Below are some closeups of a couple of the "Pillars of Excellence" that were installed at the entrance to the soon-to-be-closed Woodland Community Hospital. In the end, you have to ask yourself, what was most important, the people or the finance?

Sorry to be away so long without a word

Life has been pretty hectic while I've been trying to finish out at one job and start at another. Worked extra days to get some training at the new position. Will be going in next Wednesday evening there to start my night shift work week. The first few nights I'll be working with someone, then I'll be on my own. I expected to be working my last week at Woodland right now but they decided to cut staff back and let the workers go on that already had other jobs lined up. I didn't find this out until the this past Tuesday, the day before I thought would be going in to start my final week at Woodland. I still had people I hadn't said goodbye to and thought I still had time to do that, take a few more photos, etc. I had to go on up and clean out my locker that evening since I was going to be working at Hartselle for the remainder of the week. It was hard when I loaded up my car and pulled out of the parking lot to realize that I would never be going back there again as an employee and that 28 years at this work place was over. Will really miss the place and the people I've worked with. Lots of memories!

The reason I'm showing the picture of Bama is that we have had another loss in the midst of all this. Bama started getting sick and was just not eating much any more. At first I thought it was because she was upset about Maggie being here, then realized that she was sick. Well, she started wanting to stay outside and one day last week, she disappeared and we've not seen her since. Bama was another of Emily's Tuscaloosa rescues that ended up at Mom and Dad's. We were of course not sure how old she was since we don't know how old she was when Emily took her in. So my computer buddy is gone. I miss her sitting by my hand while I tried to blog or surf the web. Also at night, she would come into the bedroom and lay on my side while we slept. If she needed water or food, she would sit by my face and stare at me, resorting to gently slapping my face if I didn't wake up and do what she wanted. So rest in peace wherever you are sweet Bammy! We miss you!

Ties That Bind Raffle is going on!

You can visit the Ties that Bind blog
or go directly to the raffle spot by clicking on the picture button below:



Here is some of the auction info:

"It was one year ago that we began this project. Everyone pitched in with their art. Now it's time to pitch in againby donating and spreading the news!Remember this is a tax deductible donation! Give big. Give often.If we can get 500 people to donate $20 over the next 4 months we will raise $10,000.How awesome would that be???????We can do this. If everyone here gets just 6 people to donate $20.....we can go beyond that goal!
THAT IS ONLY 6 PEOPLE DONATING PER ARTIST.

Tickets are 1 for $5 or 6 for $20

We would like to announce that Scrapbook Royalty will be hosting the Ties That Bind Art Doll raffle this summer.Donating will be sweet, simple AND tax deductible! Scrapbook Royalty....It's not just for scrap booking anymore.

Scrapbook Royalty is dedicated to raising money and awareness for worthy causes. 100% of the money raised by participants, silent auctions, and raffles is donated directly to charities. Scrapbook Royalty will not collect any fees from Ties That Bind. All money raised by the Ties That Bind raffle will be sent to the Ovarian Cancer Research Fund http://www.ocrf.org/ . Scrapbook Royalty is a non profit organization based in San Diego, CA and run by founder Elena Etcheverry with help from volunteers.

Scrapbook Royalty has held fundraisers, raffles and auctions for many worthy causes.

We've had a few people tell us that they would prefer not to purchase raffle tickets because *after all that is a big doll and I just don't have a place for her*....Well, you if you also feel that way you can just make a Donation ONLY.

When you click the donation button and sign into PayPal there will be a link that says:

+add special instructions to the seller

Just click on that and type in Donation Only - No tickets. That way no raffle ticket numbers will be assigned to your name and you have still contributed towards our goal of raising $10,000."


If you would like, you can see a gallery of photos of the doll. My charms are both in the picture that is used in the raffle button above. If you care to read my thought process, this is the link to where I posted about it right after finishing the charms. Here are my photos of the charms before I sent them on their way.

Sorry, I'm not been posting much

There are some posts that I want to get done, but just haven't yet due to time and computer constraints. The Ties that Bind auction is going on. Please check it out by clicking on the button at the side. I've been meaning to blog about that with pictures and links to the auction and the blog, but since the auction site has lots of photos, it was just taking a long time to try to do it at home with dialup internet speed. I can take my laptop to work and do it there, but I've been forgetting to do it once I'm at work. Think that is because when I'm at the hospital all I can think about then is the fact that I won't be working there much longer and how sad it is that the hospital is closing down entirely. That is what I am most upset about. Moving onto another job is kind of scary(ok, for me, really scary!) but the reality of this hospital no longer being in operation is hard to grasp.

To get back to the auction topic, the awesome doll that was made and being raffled off has been photographed and will be published in a Somerset publication, I think, and also in a book that is being printed to raise more money for the worthy cause of ovarian cancer research. I will do my best to get more detailed info on here soon.

I also have some pics from last weekends showers for baby Thomas that I could post, but I've not gotten around to that either. I am definitely not in the best frame of mind these days for many reasons. Father's Day has hit me harder than I thought it would. Since Dad's disease had made him not really be there as far as his mind the last few years, I thought I had probably already dealt with the Father's Day issue, but I guess not totally so.

Will be going up to train some on my "off" days from this job at the end of this week at the new job, so I'll not have much leisure time this week. So glad we got to go camping when we did. We had tentatively planned to go this week as we would not have chickens for Kerry to look after(they are catching them today), but will have to wait for a better time. It would have been really hot anyway, I guess.

Again, my apologies for lack of posting and any pictures. I will hope that better days are ahead.

Baby showers for little Thomas

Here is a still shot from the ultrasound of Thomas Jeffery, showing his sweet profile. As of a little over a week ago he already weighed approximately 4 lb. 11 oz. His measurements are ahead of where he should be in relation to the due date, August 9, so the doctor said he might be born a little earlier. All along with my pregnancies with my 2 dd's I measured bigger than I should but they were both late. They were just big babies. Emily weighed 8 lb. 13 oz, 22 1/2 inches long and Holly was 10 lb 5 oz, 23 1/2 in. long. We decided that was big enough and called it quits.

We've been busy this weekend with baby showers. Craig's family in Heflin, Alabama had a shower for them Saturday evening and then our family had one today here in West Point. They were blessed with so many lovely gifts. Thomas is going to be one well-dressed little fellow! Such cute outfits they have for boys now! Can't wait to see him! All in good and proper time. The only sad spot in the festivities was missing Holly. They filmed the showers though and Craig is supposed to be fixing it up so Holly can watch them. Emily and Craig gave Holly a webcam and hope to be able to get one themselves so Holly can watch Thomas over the internet after he gets here. That is one great thing about the internet, how it helps bring us closer together.

Now I'm praying that my work schedule will work out so I can be there. With changing new jobs, I'm going to have to swap weeks in my work rotation from what I am working now, meaning, if my schedule remains as it is now, I'll work 7 days in a row at Woodland and then immediately begin my 7 days on at Hartselle. My transfer is going through for me to work at this other hospital owned by the corporation I presently work for. It is not too much farther than I drive now, in the county just north of us. We keep hearing rumors that our corporation will be closing this hospital next, but then who knows!?! The employees will always be the last to find out, that much I know for sure. I figure at least it will buy me some time to get some bills paid off and be getting my resume updated.

I've still not gotten my head around the fact that the hospital is going to be closed down. It just seems surreal. I mean if I had left my job there in normal circumstances, the hospital itself would still have been there to go back to. Some coworkers would remain to visit. Going through this process is like waiting on a death that you know is inevitable and just as difficult. Each time one of my coworkers leaves it is like we've cut off a part of the body. Then we are going to reach the moment where, as in a code, the end is pronounced and those of us left have to accept the death and walk away.

I've been mad and sad, sometimes within just a few minutes of each other. Some of the literature that was handed to us the day we were told of the hospital's sale and closing was supposed to be about helping you deal with all the emotions to come. An "expert" who had written it warned that you might find yourself blaming your family, coworkers, or supervisors and offered suggestions for coping. I find this sadly laughable. I think we all know where blame can be placed and I know exactly where to direct my anger. I'm just going to have to learn how to let it go. It will not do me any good nor change the course of events. Greed and the love of money will remain as the root of evil that is feeding our corporations. Lots more I can say along this subject, but perhaps it is best left for another day.

I know this post has been up and then down, but that is my life right now. I have so much to be thankful for and am richly blessed in so many ways. Then there are the difficult and sad times that have come my way, some happening right along side the happy. Such is life I suppose.

Post #2-remainder of art deck cards

King hearts-windows theme


Queen hearts-Alice in Wonderland theme


Jack hearts-furry friends theme


Ten hearts-ocean theme


Nine hearts-sewing theme


Eight hearts-use ribbon


Seven hearts-use colors orange, lime, raspberry

Here are the remainder of the cards. Sorry some of the scans are not the best, but the cards and the holder are still in the possession of the publishing company. Not sure when they will find their way home again.

I want to also post sometimes the art project I tried while on our camping trip. Needless to say I've not been in the mood to do any art this week with the upcoming closing of the hospital.

Post #1-my art deck cards

Six hearts-Vision theme


Five Hearts-Numbers theme


Four hearts-Birds theme


Three hearts-Specimen theme


2 Hearts-Journey theme


Ace hearts-Time theme

These are part of the cards I made and sent in for the collaborative book. I only have the hearts suite done so far. I do plan to try to do all the others just for the fun of it and already have the folders laid out to make to hold them. As I mentioned last post, each card had a theme. I'll show part of them in this post and do another for the others. I couldn't share any of them until the book was published. As it turned out, the main focus of the book was not on the individual art, but the project itself and how it was done. Since you could only see the first card, I thought I'd show you the others.

Publication pictures and tentative good news

These are scans of the book by L.K. Ludwig, the cover shown above, in which some of my work was published. My first time in print, yay! The book is about collaborative art projects and mine was part of a group effort, Magpie Arts, whose work is shown below. The objective of our project was to complete 5x7" cards representing each of a deck of playing cards with each card being assigned a theme. These were not for a swap, but to keep for yourself. The idea being to see what each person came up with for the theme and to share the art online. I joined the group late so I was behind most of them. At the time the work was submitted for publication, I had only the hearts suite done. We were to make some type of holder for either the entire deck of cards or, as in my case, something for each suite. I decided on making a box whose top would have some type of roof shape to it, each different. Of course, I've not finished any of the others yet, but hope to one day. I have the cardboard cut out and ready to assemble for each "house". For the house of hearts, the roof is arched. It is in the scan at the bottom. My work ended up being featured in a different section of the book than the group art. As a matter of fact,my name is not even mentioned in the write-up about the group's project or even, unfortunately, by the picture of my house of hearts book with the cards inside. I contacted the publisher and heard back from them that hopefully this will be corrected in future printings of the book, the next of which will be done very soon. But I have to say I was bummed out that my copy does not have my name.

Overall the book is very lovely. Lots of wonderful art of all kinds is included. My piece was moved from the group pages to a section near the front about different ways art projects can be presented. L.K. seemed to think that was when my name was left off the caption.

In the good news department and in reference to my last post, I think I have a job position secured at Hartselle Hospital working the same shift that I am here. This will be a transfer, so that I will be able to maintain my benefits, vacation and sick days. I've nothing in writing yet, so it's not for sure and certain. Please continue praying that this will work out and that all employees here will be able to find other jobs.

In shock this morning

I just got calls from friends at work that our hospital is being closed next month, July 15th. I'm off work right now, but there are employee meetings being held today, so I'll be going in at 3pm for one to find out more. I'm posting here so that those of you who believe in prayer will be praying for the employees losing their jobs to be able to find new ones. Most of the nurses will probably be ok, as there are more nursing jobs, just maybe not as close to home, but other departments will be more hard-pressed to find jobs, especially in this economy. Lab jobs are not easy to come by so those of us who are left in the lab may not all find work in our field anyway.

I've had suspicions from some things that have been happening, but there have always been rumors surrounding our hospital and it's closing since it is the smaller of 2 hospitals in our county, so it was hard to know whether to believe them or not. As a matter of fact, we've been bought by the other hospital, thus eliminating any choices as far as hospital care in this area. There are rumors that it may be opened up later as a rehab center or something like that, but immediate plans are just for our hospital to be closed.

Again, just be praying for all those involved to be able to find jobs. I will have to have one, as my dh is self-employed, and so we need my income as well as the health insurance. I've been at this hospital for 28 years so it has been a long time since I've looked for a job.