Some much needed sunshine!

Just when I was feeling quite low, my dear blogging friend, Audrey, sent me a little ray of sunshine.  Audrey, you yourself are a constant ray of sunshine to me, and this award means so much coming from you!  Your creations inspire me, and your positive attitude and generosity are truly to be admired.

I'm supposed to pass it on to 12 other bloggers, and I will in a separate post, but first, I hope you will indulge me and allow me to pour my heart out and cleanse my mind.  It's a tale of how a a blogger can seem so put together online (at least I hope I seem that way) and be falling apart behind the scenes, and about how crafting can truly be much-needed therapy during tough times.  I've gotten so many wonderful emails from many of you asking me how I manage it all and how I find time to be creative.  As you will see, I don't always manage it well - and it's OK to have those times, especially when you have such a great support group like I have in so many of you. 

As most of you know, yesterday was my debut on the Tuesday Treats blog.  What most of you don't know is what went on behind the scenes.  Last week, just as I was just getting ready to put my project and tutorial together, my 16-year-old niece went into the hospital with a mysterious, life-threatening infection.  It presented as viral meningitis, but tests ruled that out.  The doctors were then unsure what it was and began calling other hospitals.  In the meantime, my sister - a pharmacist - insisted that they put her on antibiotics.  Thank God they did!  By the next morning, they had determined that she had something called parapharyngeal cellulitis, which is extremely dangerous.  The doctor told my sister that she probably wouldn't have made it through the night if they hadn't given her the antibiotics when they did.  Knowing how worried I was, I can't even imagine how my sister and brother-in-law felt!  This all came on the heels of a very stressful month at work due to a big project.

So, by Sunday night, I knew that my niece was out of the woods and resting at home, and I had to get to work on my videos!  I took half a day off from work on Monday to go home and make them, but due in part to my exhaustion and emotional state and in part to the electronics gremlins, it took me forever to get them made. It was one of those days when it seemed like everything I touched went wrong - camera battery was dead, tripod broke, my video software had gotten corrupted and had to be reinstalled, and a host of other small things.   I finally thought I had it all together and started, only to have to restart 2 more times.  By just before midnight on Monday, I finally had everything uploaded and ready to post.

The next morning, I discovered that I had done the wrong page assignment - flashback to high school nightmares!!!  But this was worse because it meant my mistake had messed up the person that was supposed to do the popcorn box cut, so now she had to scramble to change her plans.  I felt just horrible, but she graciously accepted my apology and told me it gave her a good excuse to go to the craft store and buy more stuff...LOL!  Thank you Elizabeth aka Emonty!  You're a doll!

Then last night at about 11:30, something made me think about the cartridges that I used on the popcorn box card, and I jumped out of bed to get my Gypsy and check it.  Yep, I had used both Plantin and George, but I had only listed George on the post (plus TBBM, of course).  I know few people have both Plantin and George, so I had intended to only use one of them. In fact, I had hoped to only use TBBM for everything but the envelope and lettering.  I figured that you could always find a ready-made envelope or use one from another cartridge, and you could use any font for the lettering.  In my hurry to get the files finished and uploaded in both DS and Gypsy format, I forgot to check. 

This morning when I got to work, I got online for a quick check of the comments on my blog, and there was a post that I did NOT intend to post yet!  It's about a project that is in progress, but not yet complete.  Instead of clicking on "save" after writing it, I must have clicked on "publish."  I don't even remember doing it.

Soooo....tonight I will be working on 2 versions of the project - one for George owners, and one for Plantin owners.  Of course, you'll have to have TBBM for either.  If you already downloaded the one from yesterday and don't have all 3 cartridges, check back tomorrow and I'll have the "fixed" ones uploaded so you can download the one you need. 

If you've read this far, God bless you!  I felt that I owed you all an explanation for my recent mental lapse.  I'm forgetful in the best of times, and the last month has not been the best, by any means.  The good news is, I have a saint for a husband, a wonderful family, and good friends - both online and in real life.  And of course, I have my crafting.  I think I need a vacation!!  Thank goodness I have a wonderful trip with my husband coming up in May.

Finally, I just want to say that having all of you to design and blog for keeps me motivated and happy, even when the things are tough, so THANK YOU to all of you, my newfound friends!