Sometimes it's just one of those lives.......

Believe it or not, I used to be a really optimistic person. I KNEW I'd be able to figure out a solution to any problem that had the nerve to cross my path, that I'd soon have life running smoothly again. I had bumps along the way, just like anyone else, but the bumps didn't really shake my faith in my ability to fix whatever came my way. But, following the divorce, the ex trying to get custody of my boys, and most of all my disability that left me unable to work, and effectively took away a large part of my identity, and I'd be the first to admit that my outlook on life just isn't as cheerful as it used to be.

But every now and then, out of the blue, someone reaches past this newly formed pessimistic shield of mine and makes me feel genuinely happy. Brings a real smile when one is needed the most. And usually it probably seems like a small thing to the giver, but believe me when I say it's huge from where I sit.

A friend of mine from Rav, a swap partner, sent me a package that has made my day and probably the best smile I'll find for several weeks. Part of the swap was to be a "softie" , a small stuffed item, either bought or made. And I don't know what hand of divine providence put the wheels in motion, but she made for me the very softie I would have chosen if given a choice, and out of yarn that I really love! Meet my alpaca. There were lots of other goodies included in the package (which made it's way to me from Belgium!). There was a skein of lovely robin's egg blue yarn, some super cool pens, several nifty notepads and cards and candy. Yeah for candy! The candy didn't make it into the pix, but then, it seldom does, lol! I'll be sending my package to my very thoughtful partner this weekend, and can only hope she likes it half as much as I love mine. If she does, it will be a great success.

Didn't realize how long it had been

Life has been going along on it's usual path and I just didn't realize how long it had been since I had last posted here. The high- (or perhaps I should say low) lights of June were finding out that I have Rheumatoid Arthritis, and my favorite cat Chuck Norris dying. His death is still something I can't talk or even write about without falling apart and crying. So we will go on to something more cheerful, my new diagnosis. I was so hoping that the pain and difficulty in using my hands was not Rheumatoid Arthritis, but my doctor sent me to a specialist and yup! that's what it is. On a positive note, the med the specialist put me on is used for malaria (in much larger doses), so my PCP says I'm now protected against getting malaria. Great isn't it? I've been trying really hard these past few days to find some kind of positive in life, and I have to say it has been hard. But as least I'm trying. We did go to the Ohio Hills Folk Festival yesterday, at the urging of my Mom and Dad, and it was fun. I'm trying to get an afghan made in time for my nephew's birthday at the end of the month and so I'm working on it at every opportunity. May sound strange, but I took it with me to the fest and got quite a bit done. I figured there would be times I would need to sit for a bit and rest, and I also worked on it while we were watching the square dancing. I had to fix a few mistakes then, it was sometimes hard to concentrate while watching, those people really get into their dancing! It was fun to watch. It was good to get out of the house, and even though today I feel like I've been hit by a truck, I'm glad we went. I took some pictures, some of which are posted here, the rest can be seen on my flickr page at this address: http://www.flickr.com/photos/fadedlily/