Constance Pelkey Designs: Nancy

Showing posts with label Nancy. Show all posts

Monday, May 11, 2009

Hi, ho!

It’s nose to the grindstone day!! So, off to work I go!

I’ll be home shortly after 2PM eastern time and I’ll be in the studio around 3-ish. Come watch me on the web cam while I make beads with my rainbow cane I made last week!

We had a WONDERFUL weekend! Saturday was Nancy’s birthday and yesterday was Mom’s day! Great times!!

I hope everyone else had a good weekend too!

Wednesday, January 21, 2009

The greatest wealth is health. ~Virgil

Today, I saw the Dr. who ordered the barium upper and lower GI thingy last week, he says I have the innards of a twenty year old!!! Everything is running smoothly throughout my altered anatomy!! YAY!! There is no sign of any harmful bacteria in my stool, and I feel good!

It is time for my upper and lower probing though and before he gives me a 100% clean bill. He wants to get the results concerning my Barret's esophagus and it's time again for a colonoscopy. My Dad was a 17 year colon cancer survivor and his brother died of colon cancer. HUGE risk factors for me and my half brothers, so this will be my 3rd colonoscopy and I'm only 47 years old. Early detection equals prevention!

So, I've got the go ahead to pursue, once again the knee replacement! Yippee!!

Meanwhile, my partner Nancy is having a procedure on Tuesday morning and we are asking that all your good wishes, prayers and healing thoughts are with us.

thanks,

Copyright © 2008 by Constance Pelkey.

This bloggy feed is for personal, non-commercial use only. If you are not reading this content in a news reader or on a website related to Constance Pelkey, then where you are reading it from is in violation of copyright!
Thanks!! Connie

Saturday, December 27, 2008

Happy Holidays - A Blessed New Year for us all

Nancy & Ryan
Originally uploaded by conniepelkey

This is Ryan, 7 years old.
Ryan is autistic and ever since I met him as a toddler he has never voluntarily made eye contact. All that changed this Christmas.... he has jumped a major hurdle in his development!

Yay Ryan!

You go guy!!

More holiday pictures here!

Friday, December 12, 2008

Connie and Nancy in Maine are just fine!

Yep! We are fine here in Augusta - central Maine.

Our power never flickered once! Folks down in the southern ends of the state and on into New Hampshire and Massachusetts aren't fairing so well though! It's a total mess out there!!!

Governor Baldachi has declared a state of emergency and power workers have come from far and wide to help!

We are snug as bugs in rugs!

Tuesday, December 09, 2008

Happy Holidays - Elf Yourself

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Tuesday, December 02, 2008

Ryan Playing With Nero

Friday, we had Ryan sleep over. He LOVED playing with our little dog Nero. Nero is a VERY busy little black bastard (as Nancy endearingly ;) calls him) who never stops! Well, Ryan wore his little black butt out!! I NEVER thought I'd see the day when Nero was too tired to play fetch - with whatever happened to be laying around. (They are playing with a popped blow up ball!!) He is something, my little dog, but Ryan is TRULY something! We adore him!!

Wednesday, November 26, 2008

Thankfulness

I am thankful this year for many things, not the least of which are:

FINALLY having a part time job and an awesome boss who is willing to work with me on all the time off I've needed in this past year due to shoulder surgery, this latest emergency surgery as well as my upcoming knee replacement.
Having this wonderful ol' house to keep us warm and sheltered, despite the fact that it is an old house and needs lots of tender loving care; read: expensive at times! It has just about everything we need and it's full of good times, good memories, good food, and good folks! It also is the investment that is our future! (Southwest - here we come!)
Mom. Her health and attitude are better now that she is here with us. This is not to say that it isn't trying at times with her here, but my stress levels are much lower now that I don't have to worry about her being alone.
Our pets. Nero the dog, Henry and Twink the cats, Harriet and Hermione the hermit crabs and the fish. They all bring us joy and unconditional love.
My creative outlets. They calm and relax me.

And last but certainly not least...

My WONDERFUL partner, Nancy who has stood by me, being a rock, encouraging and supporting me during all these health issues. She is just simply the best thing that has EVER happened to me! I love her dearly, however I doubt she really has any idea how MUCH she truly means to me! Simple words cannot describe what she means to me. She is my everything!

Happy holiday to everyone!!

Friday, November 07, 2008

Emergency Surgery, Anyone??

Monday started out like any other day. I went to work until 10AM and then it was time to take Mom to her monthly lunch meeting of blind and low vision folks. We got back home and the rest of the afternoon was normal too.

Mondays are Nancy's long days at work so she wasn't due home until 8PM-ish.

As the evening went on I was feeling more and more terrible. I was having cramping in my belly that started to radiate around into my back. It got worse and worse. Eventually the only place I could find any sort of relief at all was flat out on the floor on my belly. Even that wasn't too comfortable at all.

As soon and Nancy got home she called 911 and I was brought to the ER.

Eventually I was diagnosed with a pretty major blockage in my intestines. Seems that once you have had abdominal surgery a couple times your innards get "tacky" and can slip and twist more easily. In the last 10 years I've had a hysterectomy, gastric bypass and my gallbladder removed. I had a large section of intestine that was just black on the ex ray. So, at midnight on Monday I was headed into the surgical wing.

The surgeon found that about one third of my large intestine was twisted up and inside itself and was getting no blood supply. Once he got things untwisted and organized again they pinked right up and everything was fine. I was brought to my room around 3AM and don't remember a whole lot of what went on until Wednesday. I was so sick and out of it.

I came home yesterday afternoon.

I'm feeling a little better today. I'm very sore and tired. I have about a 9 inch incision running from above my belly button to my pubes with staples holding it closed and I have a belly band with Velcro that I have to wear.

I'm fine and thanks in advance for the well wishes.

This bloggy feed is for personal, non-commercial use only. If you are not reading this content in a news reader or on a website related to Constance Pelkey Designs, the you are reading it from is in violation of copyright!
Thanks!! Connie

Saturday, October 18, 2008

Nero chasing the ball

Friday, October 10, 2008

Late summer, mid week get away

We went to Bar Harbor a couple weeks ago, Nancy was there for work. It was a mid-week thing and it was divine! She went up in the morning and I followed her after I got out of work that day. I *embarrassed blush* got lost!! A couple hour trip turned into a non stop ride to nowhere! AK!!

After I finally got there, we went to dinner at a little Mexican bar that had yummy, if long awaited for spicy fare. YUM!

The next day we got on the motorcycle and went down to the main touristy part of town. We did the walkabout window gawk thing and had a really fun time! After lunch at a really fun 50's style decor diner, we drove up Cadillac Mountain! It was wonderful!!

Nancy 'rigging up' for the ride down Cadillac Mountain.

More pics of which are here.

Thursday, July 24, 2008

Trudging along.....

Kind of a neat picture of a guy trudging along on wet sand in this "flickr find" I found -

Mom has been sick and not getting better for a few weeks now. We went to a "quick care" place a week ago, she had all sorts of tests and internal pictures done with no releif from the scripts he gave! *sigh* Then, Tuesday we went to her regular doctor, except he was on vacation, so we saw a PAC and Dr. who was on call... had more tests done and another ex ray done! Yesterday I was expecting some news from this doc on call and found that NOTHING was conclusive about her diagnoses! OY! So we now have another appointment on Tuesday afternoon to see her regular doctor who knows her! *SIGH* She is, among other things, having trouble breathing. Could it possibly have anything to do with decades of smoking!!??

Hmmmmmmmmmmm, I wonder...

Nancy and I've been working so hard to get the bathroom done so we can move her down here! It seems as if we are the guy in that picture trudging through wet sand! Akk!

It just seems to be the project that is taking FOREVER to finish!!! AKK!!! All I want to do is get her, her bed, her recliner and her TV down here so I can take car of of her!! I'm worried sick about her being alone when she isn't feeling well!

So, Monday I was off and I worked on the fauxing of the bathroom walls again. I got a good chunk of it finished. This morning I worked in there for a bit too. Here's a pic of the unpainted interior door with some of my faux work.

I have been scheduled for over 30 hours this week and will get probably get close to that many next week too! Covering other folks vacations. Good for my wallet, bad for my time to work on the bathroom!

I REALLY like the richness of the look on the walls!! I plan on waxing and buffing the walls as a final step in my process. Nancy is having a difficult time picturing what the final room will look like.

I've decided that the woodwork and trim is going to be yellow.... so I played with the last picture in my photo editing program to give her and all you blog readers an idea of what the cabinet and trim will look like in yellow.

Monday, July 21, 2008

An afternoon at the pool with Ryan

Ryan and Nancy in the pool!

Ready? ONE, TWO, THREE! GO!!

KER-SPLASH!!!!

Tuesday, July 15, 2008

Senate OKs Out-Of-State Gays Marrying In Mass.

Move Expected To Boost State's Economy

Senate has voted to repeal a 1913 law used to bar out-of-state gay couples from marrying in the state. The law prohibits couples from obtaining marriage licenses if they couldn't legally wed in their home states. After Massachusetts became the first state to allow gay marriages in 2004, then-Gov. Mitt Romney ordered town clerks to enforce the little-known law and deny licenses to out-of-state couples.

The repeal effort has the support of Gov. Deval Patrick, whose 18-year-old daughter announced last month she is a lesbian. The Massachusetts Senate voted Tuesday to repeal the law. The House is expected to vote this week. An analysis found repealing the law could draw thousands of couples to Massachusetts, boosting the economy by $111 million over three years.

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Thanks!! Connie

Sunday, July 13, 2008

More home improvement pictures

The whole reason we've been painting and redoing portions of the house is in preparation for Mom to move in, she's been having some difficulties living alone in her apartment. So in order to give me some peace of mind, and get the house ready for the market (once the economy turns around again) so we can can get what the house is worth, or at least what Nancy paid for it, we've been working our way around the house.

These pictures are of the fully completed (painted) double living rooms. As I mentioned in an earlier post, "P" came over last weekend - the 4th of July - and did the majority of the work in these two rooms. She is a GREAT painter and did a wonderful job! Nancy also did a great job patching two rather big holes in the plaster walls. There's so much trim in these rooms, 4 archways, crown molding, a chair rail, base boards and 4 windows! LOT'S and LOT'S of painters caulk was used!! Prep work, prep work, prep work! You can NEVER do too much prep work when painting out rooms!! Especially in a 100 plus year old house!

This is a shot of the second living room with the new paint color! The top is a terracotta and the bottom is pumpkin-y, and the trim is a sage green. We had the drapes and furniture, which go beautifly with the new colors! We still have to Kirby the area rug that will go in this room and a chair or two of Mom's will go in here too. To the right you can see the "key hole" arch leading in to what will be her bedroom.

I'm standing in the "front" or "first" living room here. You can see the "key hole" arch and on into what will become her bedroom. We will wash down the walls and perhaps repaint the trim in there, but the wallpaper stays. It's difficult to see in this shot but the orange-y reds in the paper really look good against the pumpkin and terracotta walls. I have to find or make a drape that will match to hang in the arch so she has some privacy in her bedroom.

Here's the front room. That love seat will go against the front windows and her green recliner will go in that corner. As you might or might not know, Mom is legally blind and sun and glare bother her terribly. The windows and front door (yep thats a piece of Kathi's stained glass art on the front door!) face east, so the sun comes in the front windows in the morning quite strongly. In the afternoon, the sun is in the west and the house across the street is white so sun reflects off it terribly through the front windows again! So, because the glare from the windows is so strong, in order for to see her TV, it will go opposite her chair, on the southern or driveway side of the house instead of in the front corner like we had it.

Here, I'm standing where her TV will go, next to the arm of the large couch you see in the first picture. This is looking in to the dining room. That's our 20 gallon high goldfish aquarium in the corner.

This shot is taken from inside Mom's bedroom, looking east out into the living rooms. You can also see into the dining room. That little built in houses my Great Grandmothers mantle clock. The chimney runs up through this portion of the wall.

My focus today will be to finish my portion of the downstairs bathroom. I finished texturing the walls with joint compound and I painters caulked all the cracks in the trim work the other day. Today, I'm painting out the ceiling in a light blue and then painting all the walls and trim a light sandy color. After that dries, I'll do a faux technique, wiping on and then off with a darker sandy color. The darker color will seep into the cracks and crevices I made with the joint compound and give an over all stucco, sandstone-y look. You can see the entrance to the bathroom to the left in the shot above. Nancy will then finish out the shower surround next weekend.

After the bathroom is complete, I'll finish up settling my new studio space. Then we'll take a bit of a break from painting while we pack up and move Mom out of her apartment and into our house. We hope to have her moved in by August. In the fall, we'll start painting out our living room (media room) upstairs. After that, it'll be the front hall and stairs (which we'll hire out due to the need of scaffolding and such) then perhaps early spring or even late winter, definitely by next summer -!!- we'll tackle the kitchen! Phew!!

Wednesday, July 09, 2008

July 4th tripity, trip! Food, fun and folks!

This was our annual July 4th lobster pot! Sunday we gorged ourselves on Lobster, corn on the cob, and fresh strawberry pie ala mode! YUM!!! We had Mom down and our friend "D" came over and ate with us too.

"P" house and puppy sat for us while we went to Peaks Island Thursday afternoon, stayed over one night and then back home.

She REALLY helped with painting the double living rooms downstairs! More pictures of that coming soon!

Last fall we went to a benefit (for George Carman who suffers from cystic fibrosis) motorcycle ride and pork roast. I won a gift certificate for a nights stay and a dinner voucher at the Inn on Peaks Island.

It was simply wonderful!! Gorgeous weather, beautiful views, delicious food, yummy drinks, fantastic company (smooooooch -----> sweet meat) super comfy king size bed, pristine room with a luxurious jet tub - simple divine!!!

This is The Inn on Peaks Island, where we stayed on the third. GORGEOUS!!

Arriving on the island.

Nancy and I on our private deck.

The king size bed!

The view from the couch.

Heading back down to the dock Friday morning.

Us waiting on the ferry.

The ferry we rode over and back.

A video on the ferry back to Portland.

Some of Augusta's fireworks. Taken with my new phone, a Samsung Slider.

More fireworks, even more pics and videos HERE.

Hope you all had a WONDERFUL holiday!

Wednesday, June 18, 2008

New wheels!!!

On Saturday after the yard sale was cleaned up "P" came up with her sister to pick up some stuff we'd been storing for her. Nancy was beat and stressed from the busy day she'd had and wanted to get out for a bit. She went over to Lowe's and found nothing she wanted, so she decided to take a trip around the car dealers lot.

She just purchased a truck a couple months ago and she spotted "her" salesman right away and he brought her to an '05 Dodge Stratus. She brought it home for the weekend.

TOTAL surprise to me!!

We/ I knew Jezzy Jeepster would NOT pass the state inspection at the end of this month. I was going to take a trip to the bank this week and see what I could do to find a new vehicle. You see, I was dreading this. My credit isn't good. Being on disability for the last 12 years really did a number on me! Let me tell you, it's nearly impossible to live on a disability check!

I've been on a mission to clear things up lately. Now that I'm working, I've been setting up payment arrangements with some of the creditors. Despite this, I doubted seriously that I'd get a loan on my own...

Like I said, Nancy totally surprised me with this turn of events. She took charge and made it all happen. She co-signed for me!! WOW! I was totally floored!

We did all the paperwork and such and signed on it Tuesday evening.

The weather has been so dreary this week, no pics of the car could be taken yet, so this is a shot of it from the dealers website.

It's a metallic-y gray with gray interior. VERY clean! it's a peach! Best car I have owned in quite some time, if ever! *G*

This little maneuver Nancy did was right up there with the surprise she pulled off last summer when she gave me my diamond engagement ring! *puuuurrrrrrrr!*

Sunday, June 15, 2008

Happy Fathers Day.

We went to lunch for fathers day with Nancy's family.

And for my own Dad... here's a few shots from an old family album...

Grammy Etta, Dad, and Aunt Thelma

Uncle Harold, Uncle Stan and Dad

Dad and Harold

Dad, ??, Harold, ?? Stan, ??, ??, ??, Teacher - circa: 1927

Happy Dad's day, Dad. I love you and miss your physical presence.

Tuesday, June 10, 2008

Blast from the past!

Didn't work on anything upstairs today at all! Went up to Mom's and we went to the cemetery. Then we had lunch and I came home and prepped the desktop 'puter for the yard sale this Saturday.

I found lots of fun files on it! Including these two VERY fun videos from our southwest trip a couple years ago!

A link to the video

Sunday, June 08, 2008

Motorcycle ride - not for slow dial up connections!

Isn't the price of gas

!!!????

Until my shoulder heals up some more I am relegated to the "b*tch seat" on Nancy's bike - Bella, an 1100 Yamaha V-Star.

I am wearing my new Skid-Lid, half helmet with a loverly purple rose on each side! Aren't you jealous!? You should be!! HA!

Here's a couple of little videos I shot while riding along RT. 196 from Topsham to Lisbon Falls. That's our freind "D" riding lead.

Link to first video.

Link to second video.

And a google map -

View Larger Map

Moxie only costs .99 at this little corner store in Lisbon Falls! *G*

We had a WONDERFUL ride!! It was warm, sunny, and there were luscious flower scents all along the way! We a GREAT ride!

The Purple Princess Speaks

Art for you and your home!

I make wearable art and more!.This includes bags, accessories, art beads, boxes, scarfs, functional and fun sculpture and just about anything else I take a fancy to!

From design to construction, I do my best work and hope that it shows in my items. I'm happy to answer any and all questions related to my work.

These items were created from premium, artist-grade polymer clay. I primarily use KATO brand clay. No paints, decals, stickers or drawing tools were used to make the designs–only the colored and translucent clays themselves.

Store your poly-clay art items in a cool, dry place. Avoid getting too much sun, aerosol sprays, perfumes, or chlorinated water onto them - as they could discolor your items.

I hope you have fun looking at my stuff and if you decide to purchase, thanks so much!

Copyright © '03, '04, '05, '06, '07, '08, '09, 10 by Constance Pelkey.

This bloggy feed is for personal, non-commercial use only. If you are not reading this content in a news reader or on a website related to Constance Pelkey, then where you are reading it from is in violation of copyright!

Thanks!!