“Blood,” Sweat, & Tears

Just like Gary and I years ago, our daughter LeeAnn is teaching her children to work. Both Jesse and Kacie were able to earn money by helping us get ready for the two shows we have done this year. Gary had taught Jesse to make the mounts, but yesterday, Jesse had to learn the hard way that power tools are dangerous!

He is lucky he still has his finger. Fortunately Grandpa was a high school shop teacher and knew what to do to stop the bleeding until Lee got him to the emergency room. Being in “shock” also slowed the flow of blood, but when the packing was removed, the blood pulsed out and they were fortunate to be at the hospital where they could handle the emergency. The injury went right to the bone and the artery. After stitching it up and packing it well, he was able to attend the concert he had been looking forward to that evening, but by the time he was in bed that night, the pain medication had worn off and he had a very rough night! If Lee had known, we could have built a sling (from hook and loop tape of course) and hung it above the bed to hold it up to keep it from throbbing.

My first instincts were that this was not going to work and I was sure Jesse would never want to touch the mounts again, but he has a great attitude and his mom assures me that it will not keep him down. Now Grandpa gets to finish up this batch. He had to just turn out the lights and will return to clean up the bloody equipment in a day or two!

Thanks Jesse for your great efforts!

One year ago today…

I had been in a cast with a broken right wrist since falling on the ice a month earlier. I had worn out the little piece under the thumb by turning my die cut machine too much and had just gotten a soft brace cast put on when the X-ray showed it hadn’t healed. I had my daughter drive me to the post office and then I dropped her off and felt OK about driving two blocks home. As I passed the fast food restaurants, suddenly a 3/4 ton pickup driven by an 18 year old girl plowed into me. Could she have been on her cell phone or texting? My kids tell me not to judge, but I think she was. Anyway, my left wrist which was holding onto the steering wheel snapped and I found myself in what I thought was smoke, but was really caused by both air bags going off. Somehow I managed to unbuckle my seat belt and open my door and fall out on the ground so I wouldn’t burn (or I thought burn). Thankfully, someone called my daughter for me and an ambulance and after what seemed like hours I was taken to the hospital which was also only a couple blocks away. My collar bone was also broken and I had surgery and metal plates put in it and the wrist a week later. A few days later, horrible pain resulted in gall bladder surgery

So, today I’m thankful for two hands and wrists that I can craft with, and hold grandbabies with and make cinnamon rolls and little Wyatt should be arriving in about 5 minutes. Also today I get to tend my twin granddaughters, Jaden and Courtney — age 6, and Also Claire and Curtis, ages 2 and 6. My first grandson, Jesse — age 16, is coming to learn how to make clear acrylic stamp mounts from Grandpa, so he can help his mom as she takes over HALOS. We have signed up to do a show in Las Vegas in early March and there’s much work to be done.