The Long Run (Book Review), Art, Grad School, Recovery

Today is the last day of AEDM which makes me sad, but I signed up for Creative Every Day so I'm not terribly sad just a bit.  Anyway, today's art was a art journal entry about a book I just read called The Long Run

This book tells the amazing story of Matt Long, a Firefighter from NY.  Matt was a marathoner and an Ironman and he was run over by a bus will biking to work one day in 2005.  The doctors gave him a 5% chance of living.  He struggled but eventually he recovered and in 2008 he ran his first post-accident marathon. 

This story was very inspiring to me because I have been struggling to recover from my hip surgery for the past year.  The book reminded me a lot of myself.  Many people with serious injuries that result in chronic pain have trouble progressing through the 5 stages of grief (source):

Five Stages Of Grief

1. Denial and Isolation.
   At first, we tend to deny the loss has taken place, and may withdraw from our usual social contacts.
2. Anger.
   The grieving person may then be furious at the person who inflicted the hurt (even if she's dead), or at the world, for letting it happen. He may be angry with himself for letting the event take place, even if, realistically, nothing could have stopped it.
3. Bargaining.
   Now the grieving person may make bargains with God, asking, "If I do this, will you take away the loss?"
4. Depression.
   The person feels numb, although anger and sadness may remain underneath.
5. Acceptance.
   This is when the anger, sadness and mourning have tapered off. The person simply accepts the reality of the loss.

In the book, Matt goes back and forth between the stages - a lot of this book really hit me hard because, like I said, it reminded me of my own situation.  After a year I think probably 80% of the time I am at the acceptance stage, but that other 20% I go back and forth - depression, bargaining, anger... and isolation well that comes with the fact that I am unable to do what most people my age do because I get tired so easily. 

This book has really inspired me because if someone can fight back from such a terrible situation and regain their life in way that makes them happy then why can't I?  If a 40 year old can be run over by a bus and 3 years later do a marathon, then why can't I?  So... I know it will be slow going and I know I may not make it to where I would like to be, but I am going to do my best to strengthen my muscles and increase my endurance.  I am going to see about having some personal training sessions - more for the assistance in making a workout plan than in learning how to workout.  I cannot do a whole hour of cardio exercise but I have to do a whole hour of pt so I need some help figuring out what I can I do without causing pain or injury.  The good thing is that they are finally letting me go to the gym during pt so I can use the elliptical and stationary bikes.  After my 20 min that I can stand on those (10 min each) then I can do weight lifting the rest of the time. 

Ok, so back to the art journal right?  I just wrote a bit about the book and how it inspired me - its nothing fancy:

If you, or someone you know, is struggling with anything difficult in their life (especially if its a physical ailment) then I completely recommend this book.  If you are perfectly healthy and need some inspiration to push yourself hard then I completely recommend this book.  It was a great book and it moved me to tears several times. 

For list it Tuesday... I have this list I made trying to write down all my to-dos:

Other art that I've made in the past few days that somehow got passed over on the blog:

Snowflake Mandala

Zentangle in my small art journal

This is kinda of out of order but tomorrow I go to have my knees x-rayed to see if anything is wrong with them.  I am pretty sure the x-ray will be just fine which means then I will have to ask for an MRI.  There has to be a reason why they swell up and hurt, right?  Anyways, as soon as I get the results I'll fill you guys in!

Also big announcement:  I finally submitted my complete application for the FSU Graduate Art Therapy Program.  So, my part is done, and I have 3 out of 4 (3 is the minimum requirement) letters of recommendation already submitted as well.  Its 100% done.  Now I just wait to see if I get accepted.  Everyone think good thoughts!

Ok, well friends, that is all for now.  Hope to see you tomorrow.  Again, I recommend the book - you should read it.

Thanksgiving Day

Now that I am home and I have the cord for my camera I can show you guys the pictures from Thanksgiving day.  First the food pictures:

We made Walnut-Chocolate Pumpkin Cupcakes:

 

The frosting required us to make Ganache...it was out first time to ever make it... Start with some dark chocolate in a bowl:

 Next you heat up some cream until just before boiling:

 Then pour the hot cream on to the chocolate and let it sit for a bit so the chocolate will melt:

 Stir it all up

 Ta-da!  Ganache:

 The final frosting was the ganache whipped with some butter to make a chocolate butter cream frosting.  The cupcakes were AWESOME...the frosting not so much.  If you make this recipe then just use some good ole frosting from the store!  I used a pasty bag to frost the cupcakes:

 

 Then I licked the spatula when I was done.

 I left a few cupcakes free of frosting in case any of our guests were not dark-chocolate fans.

 I only ate one....I had such good will power! 

 Up close you can see the chocolate chips...but the best part I think was the walnuts.

 

 At the end of Thanksgiving day we only had 2 cup cakes and a mini cake (made with all the remaining batter after filling 12 cupcakes) left.

Usually on Thanksgiving we have a sweet potato casserole which is delicious but very unhealthy... it uses something like 3 or 4 sticks of butter and sugar and brown sugar and pecans...good but bad for you.  So, this year we decided to go a bit healthier.  Mom made a bunch of sweet potatoes - just baked in the oven, and then topped some of them with low-sugar caramel and a few mini marshmallows.  They were a hit.  I just had a plane one, but it was good too.

 

And the Family pictures:

Mom, Uncle Bob and his wife Donna, and Dad

Brandon (my brother), Me, Uncle Bob and his wife Donna, and Dad

My brother Brandon at the table

It was nice to see family and have a nice sit down meal.  I have not seen my brother in a year and a half so it was good to see him.  It had also been a long time since I had seen my Uncle Bob (he is my favorite relative on my dad's side!) and I had never met his wife.  So, it was a good day with good food.

Of course we had turkey - no pictures of that.  If you wanna check out the ham, you can see it here.  Other food for the day was some stuffing mom made - it was the best stuffing I have ever had - and some broccoli. 

I had a great time seeing my family over the past few days and I can't wait to see them again in December!

Even More Ornaments

Finally today I finished some really cute ornaments!!!  I am very excited to show you.

Reindeer

Blue with Silver Glitter Swirls

Gold Glitter

A Very Fluffy Santa

Christmas Pig

Frosty next to Santa

Now that feathers and glitter are EVERYWHERE - its time for me to go back to NC tomorrow and mom gets to deal with the mess...but she also gets to keep all the ornaments! 

Ok, friends, that is all for now.  Hope to see you again tomorrow!

More Ornaments

For all the crafting we did today there is not much to show you.

1) How to dry your ornaments:

Its a hanger with paperclips clipped to the bottom and the ornament hang on it that way.

2) We sealed all the ornaments from yesterday.  Just spray with a spray sealer.  Easy.

3) I finished a frosty ornament today:

Start with a light bulb coated in white paint.  Add eyes, nose and mouth.  Next, add a circle of black foam with a circle cut out in the middle for the end of the light bulb:

next add the string for hanging the ornament, and hot glue it so it comes straight off the top of the bulb.  Then, put a long rectangle piece of black foam around the bulb to make the stove pipe part of the hat.  Lastly you put another circle on top, with a small hole for the string, to close off the hat.  Then your done!!

Isn't he cute?  We are doing another frost as well, slightly different, but he is not finished yet and therefore I have no photos for you.

I am also still working on a Santa ornament, mom is doing a pig ornament and we half some half-way done blue and half-way done black ornaments as well.  Hopefully tomorrow there will be more to show you!!

Up-cycled Christmas Ornaments

Today mom and I did yoga again - much better experience today than yesterday.  They gave us a 10 classes in 10 days for 10$ deal so I am pretty sure I am going to go back and do yoga there tomorrow and Monday.  That way I will be on track for both weeks for my 4 days of yoga a week goal. 

After yoga we went to Hobby Lobby - I love going to craft stores.  We went there to get items for today's project.  First though I have to show you lunch pictures.  Its Saturday so of course we went to Cracker Barrel:

Mom got a house salad and added cranberries and almonds to it when it arrived.

I got chicken tenders with carrots and green beans.

The  whole reason for going to Cracker Barrel - lima beans - we both had a side of this.

 It was great as always!

Ok, now time for the Up-cycled Christmas Ornaments!!
1. Get a bunch of old, burnt-out light bulbs:

2.  Wipe all of the light bulbs with a wet cloth and then dry with a dry paper towel:

3. Get some craft paint.  Basically any type of craft paint will do - here is a picture of a bottle we used:

4.  Paint your ornaments with the craft paint:

It may take several layers of paint before it is not see-through anymore.

4) After you get it really coated with paint then put one more coat on - put it on thick, and then sprinkle it with glitter.
5) Ta-da!  You have an ornament! 

Here are some before and after shots:

You can do many other combinations as well - and we will be back tomorrow to show you some more.  We decided we had reached our crafting limit when we started to accidentally mix paint and glitter and then I noticed mom had Styrofoam in her hair and I couldn't stop laughing:

I used some of the paint and glitter to play in my art journal too:

So, tomorrow we will make some more and be back to show you how to do it too!!

AEDM Day 26

Hi!  How was your Black Friday?  Did you go out shopping?  We avoided that like it was the plague!!  This morning mom and I went for a walk around the block.  Mom took all the Thanksgiving decorations down and I helped a little here and there and also did some art.  Then we went for a yoga class - mom's first ever yoga class.  I was a bit disappointed because it was nothing like anything I have experienced in yoga yet.  I think the teacher was new to teaching and he certainly did not have experience working with older and injured people.  Since mom and I are both injured it threw him for a loop.  Either way I was glad that we went and we did something good for our bodies.  Tomorrow we are going to try a different place - hopefully its more like my home studio.

While we were taking down the decorations a kitty kept visiting us:

This cat actually comes around my parent's house quite a lot.  They don't feed it or let it in the house but it always comes around when they are outside.

Today for AEDM I did my very first Zentangle!! 

What do you think?  I am very happy with the results!!  The background (colors) is acrylic ink (see post here)

Hope you have a great Friday night and hope to "see" you tomorrow.

Give Thanks

Hey there, hope you all had a great Thanksgiving.  I have had a wonderful day because I got to spend time with my family!!

I forgot the cord to connect my camera to my computer so I will have to use my mom's camera for the next few days to take pictures with.  Did not realize that I forgot the cord until just now, so most of the pictures from today are on my camera.  : (

Anyways, today my art for AEMD and NaNoJouMo was an art journal about everything that I am thankful for:

Well, I don't know whats going on but it refuses to put the picture on here the correct direction, so for now this is as good as it gets.

We do have one picture of the food from today on mom's camera.  She made a ham, following the Stone Soup recipe and it turned out great:

Ok, that is all for now.  About to go out to see Harry Potter with my Dad and Brother.