When it rains, it pours...Also a silver lining in this cloud

Oh my heck! As if things weren't bad enough for us right now. I was sitting in my favorite ($5 yard sale) chair on Friday night and the heater kicks on. And I said to the hubster "wow that sure smells damp and moist".
So I went down to the basement where the heater is, and discovered that we have a leak somewhere in our plumbing. Now, Mr. Clay ( as we all lovingly refer to, as my hubby) can't make the trek downstairs right now, on account of his oxygen and the open flame of the furnace. So it was up to me to figure out the situation. Mind you, I made this discovery near bedtime.

We have a small ( I mean COZY ) home. It is an old miner's camp house, only 766 sq ft on the main level....And then there is the basement (which I call the dungeon). Half of the basement is a big dirt slope and the other half I took over for my studio. On my side I painted the bricks white, wallpapered the ceiling in light colors, and put in a white linoleum floor over the concrete. Since I share my space down there with 'The Dark Side' (the wild untamed and not well lit, dirt side), I have approximately 57 spider traps so that no spider or creepy crawlie can make it past into my domain. It took me the better part of last summer to complete, and when the temperatures heat up, it is the coolest place in the house; everyone wants to be there!

Now the leak is coming in on the 'Dark Side', and the dirt is damp looking and dangerously close to my studio side. And of course there is all kinds of crap piled over there-not quite junk, but certainly not stuff I want to go poking around in-old tools and boxes and such. I went to bed with the words of Mr.Clay rattling in my brain "well I hope it doesn't break loose and flood the whole basement". So naturally I slept a whole 20 minutes that night!
Yesterday, Saturday, I got an early start and began removing everything from the dark side, taking it upstairs and outside to a trailer to be able to sort it later. It took me almost all day, and I still have a couple of heavy misc. items to take care of today. But I got it cleared out enough to know that the leak has made it more than just 'damp'; there are rivers and puddles, and mushy mud...I laid out boards to walk on.
I made it Mr.Clay's job to call a plumber-since he is the one who didn't take care of this plumbing issue years ago when I asked. Of course, it's Saturday afternoon, and no one is answering their phones...except one-and he is out in the desert riding horses...lol. Did I mention we are out in the country? Desert country :)
Now we have been quoted 6K, 8K, & 10K in the past to redo our plumbing; and there is no way that we have that kind of $$$ right now, but we can't afford to ignore this problem. So Joe plumber comes after his horse ride, and says the leak is from the water line coming into the house, and we'll need a back hoe to dig up the front yard and also to hand dig under our brand new sidewalk, and I'm thinking "Ka-Ching!" And says he can do it for $1,400 !! And that includes replumbing the bathroom and kitchen too...And he can have it done on Monday!
How lucky was that???
The leak however, has saturated the dirt so badly that I didn't want to take a chance on it running over to 'my sanctuary', so I filled 8 five gallon buckets of water, called the city, had them turn the water off, and we are now roughing it til Monday.
But oooh, I slept like a baby last night knowing my side would still be white when I woke up this morning :)

Now for some more goodly news- since I couldn't sleep Friday night, I was visiting the forums on Etsy , and there was a lady feeling generous-she wanted to make banners for 5 shops who have never had a sale or less than 5 sales. Since 12MidnightOils has never had a sale and was in desperate need of a banner, I jumped on the chance to grab a graphics designer to create one for me. And I absolutely love it! Her shop name is Drunce and I thank her 100 times over. Please visit her shop, and see if you find a treasure there for yourself. One of her specialties is making banners, and I peeked in at the other 4 shops who won, to see their new banners. All of them were fantastic! Thank you so much Drunce . There was definitely a silver lining to my 'leaky basement' cloud :)

Update on My Hubby's health

Well winter has not left here in our neck of the desert. It snowed on and off today, and never made it out of the 30's. It is nearly midnight as I write this, 18 outside, and the wind has not quit blowing all day. It sure put me in a melancholy mood, and I napped this afternoon trying to shake off the blues.
I wish I had better news on my husband's health, sadly I don't. The pulmonologist Dr. called a couple of days ago and told him the surgeon is not going to let him return to work. He also told him that all the damage that has been done in the last year is irrepairable, that the disease is terminal, and is very aggressively attacking his lungs. He ordered a new drug (Imuran) for my husband to try that will attack his immune system, and will leave him vulnerable to any germ or cootie out there. It is the only chance we have at slowing down the progress of the disease. He only started the new pills yesterday and I can already see a decline in his breathing, and he is now feverish. Tomorrow we are calling the Dr. to say the pills are making him worse.

Before he had the lung biopsy, I figured he would have to go on disablilty. Now I am wondering how much time he has left. I have begun checking stem cell research programs on line. But hubby wants me to wait to contact anyone, til after Tuesday's follow up appointment with the surgeon who did the lung biopsy. He wants to see what the surgeon has to say about the pathology report.
I guess I really don't have to say how scared out of my mind I am. I don't want to be a widow, nor am I ready for it. Watching a loved one suffocate and not being able to do anything for them is the most frightening thing I have ever gone through. Please, if anyone reading this can help, leave me a comment and how I can get back to you.

Tsavo's Story

I found Tsavo (pronounced SAH-voh) while I was browsing through treasuries one day on Etsy. This cute little face is not the first kitty I have seen on Etsy, but there was something about his eyes that made me take a double look.

Tsavo's owners have a shop on Etsy called NightBlooming , where they sell hair sticks, jewelry, and other products for your hair. But also in their shop was this story that tugged at my heart strings. (Tsavo is the one waving at you-how cute is that?)

Here is Tsavo's story(as told by his owners):

We were so excited to get our Bengal kittens, Tsavo and Zerah, in early November. Sadly, though, we realized that something was wrong with Tsavo. While he'd chase a toy on the ground if you picked it up he'd treat it as though he was invisible- quickly we realized that he couldn't see, and had been tracking the toy by sound alone.

After waiting two months to see a specialist, Tsavo was diagnosed with birth-defect cataracts in both eyes. He has almost no vision in his left eye and only about 25% in his right eye. The good news is that he has a fantastic chance at gaining his vision back with surgery- a 96% success rate which should give him about 90% of his vision back.

The bad news, of course, is that the surgery is astronomically expensive, a conservative estimate placing it at a few thousand dollars without complications.

Many of you know I recently had cataract surgery; and the delays I faced waiting for that surgery because, I too, had to save up $$$ for it. Near the end of my waiting period my eyesight had gotten so bad that I could no longer see to drive, or even create art. I had completely lost the sight in one of my eyes. I cannot begin to tell you how great it feels to have my eyesight returned and how different the world looks with clear vision.

Can you even imagine the joy this little kitty will have once he can see? Just think how much wonder and amazement Tsavo will experience when he can finally see for the first time in his life! It will open up a new world for him

I am hoping that by sharing Tsavo's story, you will find it in your heart to help this little guy. In NightBlooming 's shop I found tiger eye pins to purchase in different $ amounts. Check in the right column and you will find a mini etsy with the direct links to Tsavo's donations, OR if you don't want to purchase contact NightBlooming and ask how to make a donation without purchasing as I did. Every little bit will help. Take a look at his little face again and tell me you could turn him down?

Tsavo's story touched me, as I could totally identify with his eyesight problem. If you have ever had cataracts or have someone close to you that has, you know the difficulty this problem presents.

Please help him now while it is fresh in your mind....
And watch how it comes back to you ten times over!

The gift of sight is precious for ALL creatures great and small...

Have a great Sunday everyone :)

I won the Sisterhood Award !!!

I am slowly but surely catching up with all my online obligations since my stay at the hospital with my hubby. When I logged onto my blog yesterday, I saw that I was awarded the "Sisterhood Award"...woo woo!

It's the first time I have ever gotten an online award, and I want to thank my very special friend Kay of KayzKreationz for awarding me with this honor. Kay's etsy shop has very unique stained glass items and I am particularly fond of these beach sandscapes . Be sure to check out her shop; I'm sure you'll find something that will catch your eye.
Ok, now I get to pass on the award to some other great blogs I follow; and here's the rules:

1. Put the logo on your blog or post.
2. Nominate at least 5 blogs which show great Attitude and/or Gratitude!
3. Be sure to link to your nominees within your post.
4. Let them know that they have received this award by commenting on their blog.
5. Share the love and link to this post and to the person from whom you received your award.
Here's my 5 blogs and Congratulations on your Award:

♥ NatureWithMe

♥ CelebrateLife

♥ Pahavit's Universe

♥ ThursdaySweetTreat

♥ DZFANTASY

All of these blogs have a link to their Etsy store, except Pahavit's Universe and so here is the link to her store . Be sure to congratulate them on their award!

Time flies when...

Oh my heck! I cannot believe how many days have flown by since I was last here.
Since then my hubster has been in the hospital for a lung biopsy, and it took longer than we had hoped for him to recuperate enough for us to be released from the hospital. But we are home now and he is resting a little more comfortably.
He has been diagnosed with Interstitial Lung Disease; which does not have a good prognosis. Every job he has ever had in his whole life has been hazardous to his lungs. He has been a farm hand from small boy til he went into the army, done asbestos abatement and worked with asbestos brakeshoes; hauled coal; hauled cement; and he smoked.

This man is a workaholic; it is all he has ever known his whole life, and now this disease has taken him down in the last year to the point that he is out of breath just getting dressed in the morning.
We are currently waiting on the pathology report which MAY help direct the Dr. to a treatment, but at this time the only treatments that we have heard is steroid doses and oxygen. Since he has been on several rounds of steroids in the last year, we already know that all it does is give a temporary false sense of "I can conquer the world" feeling. He is now on oxygen 24/7 for the next 2 weeks til the post surgery checkup. The Dr's have already told him that he qualifies for disability.
My hubster is holding out hope that he will be able to return to work after he is done healing from surgery...PLEASE PRAY FOR HIM !!

FREE ACEO Card

I have curated my 2nd "Guess My Treasury Theme" treasury. To win one must guess the theme of the treasury. What is the prize? It is a free ACEO card from my alter ego 12MidnightOils. Here is a screen shot of what the treasury looks like and


for all who visit here and read my blog, I will give this clue: Each row has one thing in common...hhmmmm???? Please do not share this secret clue on the forums or in the treasury. I will not be giving any clues there.

My Prize Treasury

Oh this was sooo much fun for me.

I got this idea to do a treasury with a secret theme. What is a treasury, you ask?

Well on Etsy there is a section called 'The Treasury" where one can showcase items from the shops of other Etsians. These treasuries only last 2-3 days before they expire and are gone.

Each time a treasury is created it is given a name/title. Usually, there is a general theme for each treasury such as a color, like items, etc...One of the objectives of a treasury is to get people to click on your treasury and THEN to get them to click on all 12 of the items you have featured. When an item is clicked on it takes the viewer to that item/store and you are able to see the full description of the item, selling price, etc...

In order to attract people to look into your treasury, I have found that a catchy title is the key and we are only given 31 characters for the title. So I titled my treasury " Guess the Theme of my Treasury"...inside my subtitle was "An Win a FREE ACEO card from my alter ego 12Midnightoils" (which is my oil painting shop on Etsy)


The rules were simple: the 1st person to post the correct answer in the comment field would win. The theme was a phrase and each item in the treasury represented one word(s) in the phrase.

The comments field below the treasury was where people would submit their guesses.


Here is what my Treasury looked like :
(and in case you would like to play along, I won't give the answer until the very bottom of this posting.)

And so it began...I got all kinds of answers involving peace, love, and harmony. Then I got real long drawn out answers where the guesser tried to tell a story and use the items in their story. Some of them had me LMAO.

On day 1, it was established that PEACE and LOVE were correct. Then the dove card that I had in box 3 sold and the link to that store no longer worked, I scrambled to find another replacement and then let everyone know that the DOVE had been replaced.

When people click on the items in a treasury, they usually click and go unless it is something that really catches their eye. So I tried to make it so that people would pay attention to the item being sold.

On day 2 I asked everyone if they had actually paid attention to the items, or just hurriedly clicked thru them, and reminded them that some pictures were not what they seemed. For example the little coffee and donuts are actually beads. I don't know how many guesses I got that had coffee and donuts in the answer! At this point I began to doubt my own memory and wondered if I needed to check with the author to be sure if I was indeed remembering correctly.

On day 3 people started getting frustrated. I started getting comments like "Is this just a phrase you made up or is it a common phrase?' I really wanted a winner, so I grouped all the clues together and told them that all they had to do was write it out. They already had PEACE, LOVE,DOVE and told them they were over-thinking the whole thing. Just write out what was in each box

SPOILER ALERT !!! SPOILER ALERT !!! SPOILER ALERT !!!

When it got down to the last 8 hours, I finally got a guess that was so close, that I let everyone know it was only missing two words. Within the hour someone guessed it perfectly and identified the author as Tommy Chong - Cheech & Chong. For those of you who are of the younger generation, Cheech & Chong were a comedy duo very popular during the 60/70's and they portrayed a couple of potheads that...did what potheads do...very funny stuff for all us aging hippie types. The phrase was:

peace, love, dove, bells, beads, light shows, incense, crash pads, Hari Krishna, right on , and power to the people!

When I said earlier that I had began to doubt my memory, I actually googled Tommy Chong and found he was on MySpace. Since I already had a MySpace I invited Tommy to be my friend, so that I could personally ask him if I was remembering something I spent hours trying to memorize. So if you look me up on MySpace and look at my friends you'll see Tommy is one of my friends now......still after all these years! Yeah, right... after all these years, he still doesn't know who I am, and he never answered me back. Guess he's too "busy"...LOL

A good time was had by all. I got so much positive feedback from this Treasury contest that I am looking forward to doing the next one.

I think I did it FINALLY

Yay!!..I think I finally got the tweaking just right so that my columns don't smoosh up against each other. Now I can concentrate on adding widgets, slideshows, my favorite blogs, etc...And my next post I am hoping to feature my "Prize Treasury" that I had this last week on Etsy. And since I had a winner, I need to go package up their prize and send it off to them. so off I go ...BBL