Sunday, August 29, 2010

Leveling Up........

Sometimes I wish camera were more like the naked eye.  I have lots of layers on this but it surely is hard to tell in the photo!!  The layering technique is called Leveling Up and is one of the techniques in the August Technique Junkie Newsletter.  The background (black and gold) is also a TJ technique but in my haste to get this post done, I don't have time to look the name of it up.  I used black glossy paper and Lumiere paint to create it.  I used a piece just like this on a tiger card that was published last year in RubberStampMadness magazine. 

The image on this card has such rich colors......I really love it.  It is from a collage sheet from a company called Twisted Papers.  Their images are all digital and oh so easy to use.  I printed this particular image off three times.  Once a little larger than the other two for the bottom layer of the image.  Then I cut the cob and the husks off one layer and mounted them on the last layer to give a 3-dimensional look.  In real life it is just beautiful!! I added a little copper yarn fiber to give it a little sparkle.  I hope that you like it too.

Now for a long overdue car accident report:
I am STILL going in for treatments from our car accident.  My shoulder is almost 90%.  I can move it pretty good now.......just a little tight towards the end of the movement.  My bulging disc is causing a little more problems than I would like.  The physical therapy didn't seem to be doing any good.  In fact, I think I can say that I think it was doing more harm than good.  So.......the PT was deleted from the treatment plan and acupuncture was added.  I was a little scared to do it because I thought it would be really painful.  BUT I was sooooooo wrong.  I rather like it!  I think that it is helping....at least a lot more than the PT was!!  AND I also had Spinal Decompression added to my treatment plan.  This is a unit that provides a type of traction on the affected discs.  Way different than just plain traction though.  You can see the unit and how it works on my chiropractor's site:  http://hilltophealth.com/index.php    This is not my regular chiropractor, whom I really love.  I would have rather had my adjustments by her and the SpineMed by the other doctor but it had something to do with the insurance coding that prevented it.  I've had two treatments with the SpineMed so far.   There wasn't any soreness after the first one but I was sore after the second one as the poundage was increased about 10% from the time before.  One of these days I hope that I can say that I can feel my toes again!     

On another side note:  I went in to the Pacific Cataract and Laser Institute to see if the floater in my eye would be blast-able (is that a word?).  Unfortunately, it seems that the floater is too close to my retina so the irritation of the floater being right in the middle of my vision will stay.   They did offer a solution......they take out all the vitreous and replace it with a man-made material.  Uh.......I don't think so!!!!  Maybe God has something special planned for it!  Hmmmmm............      They also did a Glare test to see how much the slowly growing cataracts are affecting my night vision.  If my eyes measure at 20/50 then the insurance would pay for the cataract surgery.  My left eye is at 20/50 but my right eye is at 20/40 so nothing for me yet.  Maybe in another couple of years. 

Now......let's make it just a little longer of a post!  ;-)  Just after the 4th of July we made a big change in our family room.  Well......at least it was big for us!!  We took down the 20 year old 'college' plank and decorative cinder block bookshelves and replaced them with real ones!  Then as the old ones came down, it was obvious that the back wall should be painted.  I hired my son-in-law (who needed some work) and we painted it a gold color.  Well......I really like it.....it matches some of my painting really well.  Ray, on the other hand........hates it.  I told him that if he really didn't like it after a year that he could take down everything, unload the bookshelves and repaint it white.  ;-)