Today is the end of month One of the Art AppleA Day Retrospective – for information on the project click here.
NEW October 2020 ~ Day Of The Dead Sugar Skull!
I really enjoyed creating this Day of the Dead Apple for one of the NEW 12 monthly apples for this year! I am not a pro ~ at all ~ at digital art but I can manage in my cheating way! People who know how to create digital art can draw right on a tablet or computer. Since I don’t have the appropriate software or ipad my work around had been to hand draw an image, scan it and then optimize it to “allow” me to change out the colors digitally. It’s not slick and it most certainly isn’t perfect but it gets the job done!
I drew this Sugar Skull into the shape of an apple – the shape is so close that it was perfect for this inspiration! Then I added the flourishes that adorn sugar skulls. I had fun with that part! Then once I started coloring it in my computer I realized that I needed to do a few different color ways because I couldn’t decide which one I liked best.
I’d love to hear which is your favorite and any ideas you might have for November’s apple!
Today is Day 31 of the Art AppleA Day Retrospective – for information on the project click here.
Day Thirty One – October 31, 2010
Looking back 10 years ago today…
It was Halloween and the last day of my first month of Art Apple A Day for A.S. Awareness! I felt a sense of accomplishment that I had not missed a day and I had not quit! Only 11 months to go…
To see my original thirty first post ~ Apple O’ Lantern ~ from 10 years ago click hereor on the image above.
And the story will continue tomorrow…
Shifting to today in 2020 I’ve just finished up the first of 12 NEW monthly Art Apples! My plan was to have it done mid month but that didn’t happen. So today I spent in my studio instead of raking leaves in the yard. I enjoyed the creativity with this new apple! Head here to see it!
Today is Day 29 of the Art AppleA Day Retrospective – for information on the project click here.
Day Twenty Nine – October 29, 2010
To see my original twenty ninth post ~ Trick or Treat ~ from 10 years ago click here or on the image above.
And the story will continue tomorrow…
Apple Calendar Fundraiser:
Just a reminder that there is a fundraiser going on for ALL A.S. Charities. It’s an Apple Calendar – imagine that!!! See it HERE – $5 from the sale of each calendar goes to whichever AS charity you choose. The small profit I make helps me to be able to devote the time to this blog and raising awareness – I so appreciate all the support! xO
Oh – I almost forgot! Everyone who purchases a calendar before November 1st is entered to win an original apple. It’s this beautiful glitter apple. The photos doesn’t do it justice – it’s framed and ready to go too!
Today is Day 28 of the Art AppleA Day Retrospective – for information on the project click here.
Day Twenty Eight – October 28, 2010
Looking back 10 years ago today…
My husband inspired the day’s apple. We were discussing Halloween ideas and he suggested a Bat Apple which of course led me to One Bad Apple!
What’s interesting about the proverb “Don’t let one bad apple spoil the bunch” is that over time it has come to mean the opposite of the original proverb. We discuss the fact that, “One bad apple spoils the bunch.” and not the positive take and lesson of NOT allowing the one rotten thing to do so. I hadn’t really thought about this until I sat down today to write this retrospective post. I went to my original post from the day to read what I had written and look at what I had created. The link I shared 10 years ago no longer works – something I’m running into often so I decided to find a new working link and what I found was this NPR article discussing how the proverb had been so changed. Fascinating!
So as an apple aficionado I have decided to take back the positive spin and the original meaning!!! So there culture!
To see my original twenty eighth post and the link to the article about ~ One Bad Apple ~ from 10 years ago click hereor on the image above.
Shifting to today in 2020 I am thinking about the power of positivity now. I said in yesterdays post that I would discuss the first biologics I tried before getting on my current i.v. biologic. I promise I will get to that but positivity is in my mind…
I am a positive person. To some annoyingly so. I know this is somehow a part of my general nature and has a lot to do with a Dad who is exactly the same along with having had a very blessed childhood and family life. BUT…
I also work at being positive and happy. I believe that you get better outcomes by living as positively as possible. A quote I love is, “You can live in a positive universe or a negative universe ~ the choice is yours.” Now, there are many who will poo poo that we have a choice. I hear ya; bad things happen, struggles are real and unfair. I do hear that loud and clear and I know when pain levels are high everything is a full stop. Part of healing is finding every single thing that works to reduce pain levels over time. Positivity is only one in a vast array of things that can be worked on, implemented, and added into the lifeboat.
Since there are overwhelming examples of people overcoming and succeeding despite great diversity and challenges we must contemplate our power to elevate any negative situation. It is the essence of our humanity to thrive. So if you can buy into the premise or at least take a moment to contemplate it then many ask, well how do I shift from being in a negative, grumpy, the world sucks rut?
You first choose to TRY.
I recall vividly an observation by my then 14 year old step daughter Amanda. She was getting headaches at school and we were trying to understand so that we could help. We did as parents do and started asking a lot of questions, thinking maybe it was new glasses she needed or the glare from florescent lights. Then out of the mouth of babes, she unknowingly gave the most pure and innocent answer that has impacted me to this day. She said, “Well, when I’m having fun, I don’t get them.” Yes indeed, fun is life and the body really struggles to stay in a bad state during play, fun, joy, and happiness.
Here’s what I’ve learned over the years of working on happiness, positivity, joy, and gaining back my health (still working on all of the above).
The biggest key to this is being present to recognize you are in the low state of negativity that includes things like anger, frustration, hate, shame, apathy. You have to realize those emotions are currently in your body and mind. This is not as easy as it sounds.
Once you start to train yourself to recognize the state you are in from moment to moment, you can learn to shift. Here’s what it looks like with me. I’m driving somewhere, my mind drifts to something just heard from the radio news update. It makes me so angry to hear someone was robbed (just an example) I start to spin downward in internal questions about why the world is how it is. I used to be able to hold this in my mind for a long time and the thoughts could go anywhere and often did. Now, I recognize it pretty quickly because I’m in tune to it. Those negative thoughts are immediately felt in my body and that is a very bad thing in someone with a chronic painful disease. I have learned to shift as self preservation! Not dwelling in the unfairness and treachery of life doesn’t make one apathetic, it makes us powerful.
How to shift: You’ve recognized the downward spiral so now to attempt to get yourself out of it. My first thing is to turn off the news or the radio or get off social media. Or… walk away from the person taking you down the path. The next step is to replace the negativity with anything positive. Very often I will turn on happy upbeat music. If I can’t do that I will take deep breaths as I think about a beautiful calm happy place. Sometimes I ground myself by going outside to feel the air on my face and the ground under my feet. Sometimes I picture a large ball of light surrounding and protecting me from the negativity. Sometimes I light a scented candle I love or take a hot bath. I have a whole arsenal of things that shift me into the positive frequencies/states.
Here is an example of a recent shift I made. I was outside looking at the sea of acorns that fall all over our yard in the fall. The thought that entered my mind was, “omg these acorns are driving me nuts (bahhhh)” and as soon as I thought it I realized I was upset at nature. At source. At God. What a silly silly ridiculous thing to bring down my energy! I immediately replaced that thinking with, “Look at all the potential life that is everywhere in our yard! How glorious!!! These acorns are mother natures glitter and glory” and now I will never look at an acorn quite the same.
If you find yourself in a funk and you don’t know why and you’ve tried to get yourself out of it but can’t then what do? Well I play or laugh. My husband and I have started Saturday dance parties at home. Just the two of us. We play loud music and dance around the kitchen as we make a nice meal together. With the 2020 pandemic it’s been really difficult to be so shut off from so much that we love to do so we’ve turned that sadness and fear into fun! I dance, Doug plays air guitar, or bass, or drums… he always makes me laugh! But you have to decide to dance around the kitchen. You have to activate yourself into the equation of your life. A Saturday of dancing in the kitchen won’t magically make you a positive person but as you work on finding those type moments and stringing them together over time, there will be a difference.
I hope that is food for thought. The law of attraction states that we get more of what we focus on so we might as well attempt to focus on good positive stuff! Your mind and body will thank you! Remember, don’t let one bad apple spoil the bunch. OR… one bad thought spoil the moment! xO
Today is Day 27 of the Art AppleA Day Retrospective – for information on the project click here.
Day Twenty Seven – October 27, 2010
Looking back 10 years ago today…
I guess “Halloween Week” consists of a brief sidetrack! My husband and I were big Colorado Rockies fans back in the early 2000’s when we lived in Colorado. We had a fifth share season tickets a few years and a tenth one year when we lived less than a mile away from Coors Field. There is really nothing like being at a MLB park!
Inspiration comes from all over when you tune yourself to its whims. But when I was in the worst of the “crisis years” before getting a diagnosis of Ankylosing Spondylitis/Axial Spondyloarthritis I was numb to my abilities and talents. One way I describe the utter devastation the disease was having on ME as a person was that I couldn’t see the colors. They didn’t come to me in dreams, I didn’t get excited by them. The creative part of my brain was taken up by pain and inflammation. I later learned that with an auto inflammatory disease that systemic inflammation means everywhere not just your joints. My brain and my thinking was affected too.
As the treatment started to work (which was years). I first was put on two different injectable biologics (which was about a year and a half between the two) and although I could feel a benefit, it was short lived. When my Rheumatologist moved me to the I.V. infusion biologic I stumbled upon an article (wish I could find it now) that stated that the best chance of the medication working was to get a high enough dose at a short interval and right at the beginning of treatment. So as the first few doses showed some improvement – I pushed/advocated for more mg/kg and at a 4 week interval. After 6 months there was finally enough in my system to adequately block the very high amount of inflammation my body was producing. In the following years my Rheumatologist would call me his “star” patient – the turn around was that dramatic. This is when we first thought I might be able to say that I was in fact in a medical remission of sorts!
I’m sharing this because I’d like people to consider that perhaps they are failing a certain biologic because they either haven’t given it enough time or their dose is too low. I’m not sure why Rheumatologists are reluctant to prescribe up to the FDA approved amount for A.S. it breaks my heart that some might find a therapeutic dose that works if these things were tried.
I’d also like to mention that over the 14 years (this month) I have had numerous times I thought the medication had stopped working. One point a few years ago, my Rheumatologist and I decided to check to see if I had built up antibodies against the medication – the very expensive test – was worth running. I had not built up antibodies which gave me the knowledge that I needed to take a look at what I was or wasn’t doing that had set me into repeated flares.
My approach over these 14 years (I’m the longest running on this med at Dr. K’s practice) has been to not fix it if it isn’t broken. I have no idea if some of the medications that have come out over the last 14 years would work for me or not so why would I risk finding out if my current biologic is working?
To tie this into my apple today – I feel like I win the world series every year that I am “well enough” to do most of the things I wish to do. But… EVERY year it is a very long season getting to that point. I work to be in this situation. I keep up with current information, I try new approaches, and then there is the element of luck and the positive attitude and projection which I believe are huge factors. So many pieces come together for me to find myself on top of things! I hope that gives people strength and courage to keep working for themselves, their good health, and finding a way every day to push for better for themselves – you CAN win against this disease. xO
To see my original twenty seventh post ~ World Series Baseball Apple ~ from 10 years ago click here or on the image above.
And the story will continue tomorrow…
Side Note: Tomorrow I’m going to share about the first few injectable medications and the first year on the I.V. med I’ve had such success with. (Please note: there are posts from the original project that name all these meds – but in 2020 I am choosing not to) If you are curious you can do a simple search on the site or send me a message on my Instagram account and I’m happy to share!
Today is Day 26 of the Art AppleA Day Retrospective – for information on the project click here.
Day Twenty Six – October 26, 2010
Looking back 10 years ago today – I remember how much I love this apple! Sometimes the simple ones are the best! Halloween week continues on tomorrow and I will be posting one of my 12 NEW 2020-2021 apples on Halloween! Any guesses what it might be?
To see my original twenty sixth post ~ Ruby Slippers ~ from 10 years ago click hereor on the image above.
And the story will continue tomorrow…
Side Note: Today I am reminded how much stress and worry affect me and my health. My sweet Lucy pup isn’t feeling well and she was at the vet all day waiting for them to be able to get a peek inside her mouth. It has been a long day worrying. I hate to complain about my issues when she’s the one really having a difficult time but this is such a key reminder about learning how to use techniques to lower the strain and stress inside your body while things outside are difficult. Today I rested while I waited. It’s what I needed to do and thankfully I could. But I feel it. I feel the tension and the anxiety and I now recognize the change in my body. There are a few ways to work on lowering the anxiety and stress. Take a hot shower or preferably a bath with epsom salts. Play soothing music, and light a scented candle or put some drops of lavender or “peace and calming” essential oils in a diffuser. I hit the senses with comfort and do deep breathing. It all helps but the most important part is recognizing that it is happening so you can work on reducing the anxiety and stress so that you don’t head into a full blown flair.
I’m headed out to go pick Lucy up and hopefully antibiotics will help alleviate the lesions and blood work will give us some answers on what has caused them (autoimmune or kidney issues are some thoughts). Sigh. One day at a time.
Lucy came to our home almost exactly 4 years ago at the age of 9 – she has become my little wiggle sausage. Our Lucy Goosie. As she has progressively gained trust, she has become such an unexpected joy but it is so hard to see them suffer.
Today is Day 24 of the Art AppleA Day Retrospective – for information on the project click here.
Day Twenty Four – October 24, 2010
Looking back 10 years ago today…
It was the beginning of Halloween Week! I started off with this mummified green apple. Green apple instead of red because I thought red might be a bit morbid but in the comments of the original post you will see my husband Doug saw this apple a bit differently and of course… that’s all I see now. I may need to revisit the Day 24 Mummy Apple!
To see my original twenty fourth post ~ Halloween Week Announcement ~ from 10 years ago click hereor on the image above.
And the story will continue tomorrow…
Shifting to today in 2020 my husband and I had an extremely productive day! We were getting things closed up and organized for the long Maine winter ahead along with doing the usual weekend chores like laundry, watering the plants, changing the sheets, taking the recycling to the transfer station things like that. It was a very busy day even though my Google Fit only says 3000 steps I was on my feet all day. And so I’m now laying in bed with my laptop and my heating pad is on my back! An hour like this and I’ll be feeling ready to make our yummy Saturday dinner and dance around the kitchen. In the past I didn’t “recover” so quickly after a big chores day. Now I know I can go to the point of pain and as long as I haven’t been straining my body in an unusual manner (like my post last week about leaning over to paint) then I can rest for a bit and be ok (not great but ok) for the rest of the day. It is because of the vast array of things I do to contribute to my health and disease management.
I’m trying to add all the things I have to share about how I manage with A.S. here on these virtual pages but it will take time. But ~ that’s the goal ~ to share these things throughout the story of the apples and then index the site so that people can access those tips and bits of life experience in as easy a manner as possible.
So for today I want you to know about two trusty items that I keep in my lifeboat. The term lifeboat was something my Rheumatologist in Colorado discussed and it is something I take to heart and I always keep it stocked and ready to go. After straining and flaring my body last week in my studio I had to pull out my SI Belt and my neck brace. I hadn’t needed them in months and months but I knew right where they were!
When my body/spine/SI needs extra support I strap this thingy on low across my hips. The tag does directly over your SI joint (right above the crack in your tush.) Magic! I use it a lot for yard work and gardening especially raking leaves or things that require a lot of bending or twisting.
The neck brace I use when I do a puzzle or have a lot of studio work leaning over a table to paint or draw. I often paint flat even on canvas and my neck is fragile so giving it a bit of support really helps.
Neither of these two items are things to become reliant on because we need to be able to be as strong as possible but used occasionally they are powerful tools in the lifeboat!
Please let me know if there is a topic you’ve especially interested in me covering and I will make sure to add the information at a time that seems appropriate. xO
Today is Day 23 of the Art AppleA Day Retrospective – for information on the project click here.
Day Twenty Three – October 23, 2010
Looking back 10 years ago today…
I decided to run to the art store but we had moved into the country a few years before – running into town was a 15 mile trek. The art supply store was calling though so off I went. I dream about buying more paints mostly but I do have a new fetish for exceptional brushes and I was dying for a new Red Sable watercolor brush. Alas, the ones I love are pricey! I headed back to the ranch with a new set of soft pastels that I put to quick work to create this – my first of many pastel apples.
To see my original twenty third post ~ Green Pastel ~ from 10 years ago click hereor on the image above.
And the story will continue tomorrow…
Side Note: Just a reminder that there is a fundraiser going on for ALL A.S. Charities. It’s an Apple Calendar – imagine that!!! See it HERE – $5 from the sale of each calendar goes to whichever AS charity you choose. The small profit I make helps me to be able to devote the time to this blog and raising awareness – I so appreciate all the support! xO
Oh – I almost forgot! Everyone who purchases a calendar before November 1st is entered to win an original apple. It’s this beautiful glitter apple. The photos doesn’t do it justice – it’s framed and ready to go too!
