IT'S HALLOWEEN!!!!!!

Gruesome Greets All!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN to you all (yes Bonnie that means to you too!)  I hope you are all having a creepy good day in your neck of the haunted woods.  It is cold and grey here with the wind blowing the leaves around.  I didn't get many Halloween cards done this year since my "heart event" so no pics of cards.  However, I did decorate the house and front courtyard for the holiday, so I thought I would share those photos with you.  Take a look:

This is my courtyard as you come to the front door

These are the inside decorations:

HAUNTED BEDROOM MANTEL

Printed creepy photos off of the internet, framed them and set them around.

Spider web lace draped on lamps

Disgusting Dining Room (Plates say "Poison")

Jars I made - brains, tarantula, skeleton fingers 

Bloody Hand Print on Glass at Front Door

Gunther Sleeping with Rat on Pumpkin (real pumpkin)

I Made This Miniature Graveyard Topiary

Real Pumpkin (Isn't it beautiful???)

Witch's Broom I made (painted handle black, added various ribbons and added weird markings on the handle with Stickles)

Something Creepy in the Fireplace!

Pumpkin "Throwing Up Dip"  LOL

Baked Werewolf Hand!

I got a lot of my ideas from Pinterest (the meatloaf hand, graveyard terrarium, bones in fireplace).  I am so hooked on Pinterest now.  Such a great idea for a website.  If you've not been there, go join - it's free and what a great place to go for ideas!

Picture of the Week:

Thanks for visiting.  And thanks too for the great comments you left on my last post.  I can't tell you how much they are appreciated.  I love reading what you have to say and thank you for the time you spend to do it.

Again, HAPPY HALLOWEEN!  Love you guys!

Best,

Curt O'Brien

"God, please help me be the person that my dogs think I am."

WEDNESDAY EVENING POST FOR OCTOBER 24, 2012

Hey All!

Hope this post finds you all well and happy.  I'm happy to report that I am feeling great.  I've got my blood sugars back under control, I've lost almost 28 pounds, and I start cardiac rehab next week.  After I received the hospital bill in the mail yesterday, I almost had another heart attack. . .$76,000.00!!!  I can't fathom that.  I really paid attention to this wake up call and I intend to take care of myself from now on.  There are too many people depending on me (including my boys), and I can't let them down!

Thanks so much to all of you who have sent me cards and get well packages.  You can't imagine how you made me smile and made my days when I got the happy mail.  I just can't get over how lucky I am to have you guys "in my life".  You have made my recovery that much quicker and I sincerely thank you from the bottom of my heart.

Lots of you have been asking for updated pics of the new house and here they are.  I had my open house for all the people in our old neighborhood so I took some pictures before everyone got there since everything was "tidy".  LOL  Here is the invitation I sent for the open house:

You can't see it in the picture, but the back of the chair was done in silver glitter as well as the flames on the candles and the stripes on the lamp.  Nice and sparkly in real life.  Here are pics of the inside of the house:

Dining Room

Breakfast Room

Laundry Room and Guest Bath

Food!  Part of Kitchen

Kitchen looking into the breakfast room and pool beyond

Master Bedroom Fireplace

My craft room facing west

My craft room facing east

Great room

Great room as seen from entry hall (pool beyond)

Entry Hall

Great room fireplace

The open house went really well, and it was so nice to see so many of the old neighbors again.  It felt somewhat like a reunion.  I still have lots of painting to do and other things to be done, but it is getting there and it is certainly starting to feel like home.

Well, that's it for this post.  I'm slowly but surely getting around to all of your blogs.  If I haven't been to yours yet, I'm coming!  Thanks so much for your wonderful comments, thoughts, well wishes and prayers.  They have certainly meant the world to me.

Next week, pics of my Halloween decorations and "graveyard" in my front courtyard!

PIC OF THE WEEK

What do you see???

Hugs,

Curt O'Brien

"God, please help me be the person that my dogs think I am."

HEART ATTACK

Hey All. . .

I'm just going to come out and say it without any sugar coating. . .Wednesday, October 4th I had a major heart attack.  One major artery was 99% blocked and another major artery was 80% blocked.  I was told that I was very lucky to have survived it.  I had been having chest pains for two weeks prior but they would only last 2 - 3 minutes so I attributed them to stress and anxiety.  But they continued and I was having more "episodes" every day.  I went to see my doctor on Tuesday October 3rd and he set up a stress test  for Friday.  Obviously I didn't make that appointment.  The chest pain woke me on the morning of the 4th, and never went away.  After two hours I decided I better go to the emergency room.

I drove myself to the hospital (a heart hospital is 5 minutes from our house thankfully) walked in and told them I was having chest pain and felt as if  I was going to pass out.  Within 7 minutes, I was in the operating room.  My blocked arteries were angioplastied and stints were put in place.  They estimate that because of the severity of the heart attack, my heart has about 15 - 20% damage.

But, believe it or not, I'm now sitting here at home updating my blog 3 days after suffering a serious heart attack.  I just can't believe the technology of today's medicine and the level of care I received at the Indiana Heart Hospital.  Now I face a whole new lifestyle change that must be permanent.

My sister and mom did an amazing job of stepping up and doing what needed to be done when it came to the care of Jay and my boys.  I was worried sick about Jay getting his medicines and the boys getting fed and let out.  My sister and mom took care of everything so that I could just focus on getting better and getting home.  I honestly don't know what I would have done without them.  I will never be able to repay them for all they did to make sure Jay and the boys were well cared for.  On a side note, this was the first time I had ever been away from the boys, not even one night.  I was so worried how they would do in my absence.  Jay said that Gunther propped himself up on a chair in the TV room and for hours watched out the window for me.  I love them so much. . .

OK, that's it.  I just wanted you to know what was happening and why their was no post last Wednesday.

And for those of you out there that are letting your health slide for whatever reason, let this be a lesson to take better care of yourself.  I never thought this would happen to me. . . 

Love you guys,

Curt

"God, please let me be the person that my dogs think I am."

SURPRISE!!!! I'M BACK!!!!

Hey All!

I have so missed you all, my blogging, and my craft so much these last few months!  You have all been so wonderful with checking in on me and leaving comments, sending emails and cards etc.  I just love you guys so much!

The move was hard on us, but we made it. . .The new house is now starting to feel like home.  "The boys" had absolutely no problems adjusting to their new surroundings.  They LOVE the pool and have spent many, many hours in swimming bliss.  Gunther has become quite the diver too.  Here are some swimming pics:

GUNTHER CHILLIN AT THE POOL

"POOL BOYS"

SWIMMING WITH DAD

POOL FOOTBALL

CHAMPION DIVER

MAKING A BIG SPLASH

STANDING ON THE BOTTOM

DAD WITH FURRY DOLPHINS

The back yard pool area is lush and parklike.  It is a wonderful place to sit and have coffee or a "beverage" and just relax.  Lots of little creatures too. . .

CHECKING THE TIME

HUNGRY HUMMING BIRD

STOPPING FOR A DRINK

We moved in on the first day of Summer and I simply can't believe that we are now a few days into Fall.  It is all a blur.  I've been working hard on getting the inside of the house the way I want it.  So far, I have painted the kitchen, dining room, breakfast room and entry hall.  There is a lot more work that needed to be done than I had previously thought.  The owners were not completely upfront with some things and that was disappointing.   Hopefully the next post will contain the interior pics.  I'm hosting an open house on October 13th for all of our old neighbors  so they can see the new place.

My craft room is up and running and I've made my first Halloween cards of the year.  Take a look:

I sponged the background masking a moon then stickled it.  All the rest are dies.  The tree, ghosts, and graveyard are all Memory Box.

 All of the images on this one are from the $1 bin at Michael's.  I mounted the image squares onto sparkly black cardstock for extra glitz.

 You all know how I love to make card sets.  This is one for Halloween. . .the box I made is from  a Gina K. Designs free template and is one I use often for card sets.  Here are the cards inside:

 These are also all $1 bin stamps from Michael's.

This one again uses a die.  This one is from Impression Obsession.  To make the scene stand out a bit, I put a dimensional right under the hill under the house to give it more of a 3-D look.

So, there you have it.  I'm back and I love being back.  Now I've got tons of catching up to do on all of your blogs!  I truly can't wait to see what you have been up to.  You'll be seeing me soon!

PICK OF THE WEEK:

Thanks for stopping by!  I hope you are all doing well and everything is wonderful in all of your little corners of the world.

Hugs,

Curt
"God, please help me be the person my dogs think I am."

Hey All!

Gosh I've missed each and everyone of you!  I wanted to give everyone a quick update as to what is happening.

Right now it is 1:47 AM on Wednesday morning as I write this.  I'm taking a break from loading all my boxed stuff on a rented truck.  My sister took the day off to help me tomorrow, so I wanted to make sure I got a head start.  It is pure adrenalin that is keeping me going right now!  But I'm so worn out that I just had to take a break and write to you all!

Thanks to all of you who remembered me on my birthday!  Wow did I feel majorly special.  I even got the birthday song sang to me on voicemail from my dear, sweet friend Bonnie in Canada.  Others sent cards and emails and I can't tell you how much it meant.  Thank you from the bottom of my heart. . .

We successfully closed on both houses Tuesday.  It was touch and go on our new house for the last 3 days, and we didn't think we were going to be able to close on time.  But a guardian angel named Russ, posing as a loan officer, worked some miracles and saved the day.  I don't know what we would have done with out him and all the work he did to make this happen.

Tomorrow my sister and I will move the small furniture and boxes.  Then the "big move" will happen on Thursday.  We will be done as of Thursday night with the moving process, but then comes the unpacking phase!  LOL  But I'm really looking forward to that.  That is when the house really becomes "ours".

OK, I won't bore you any longer with all of this, but I wanted you to know how much I appreciate everyone checking up on me and making sure I'm OK.  More after the move!

Love you all!

Curt

"God, please help me be the person that my dogs think I am."

I'M SO VERY LUCKY

Hey All!

As the title of this blog post implies, I truly am a very lucky guy.  I want to thank all of you for the incredible support you have given me as I traveled through this change in my life.  It's just not the selling a house you love, buying another house to start again, and moving, it is all that and the reasons for having to do so.  This is really a new chapter in my life, and as the journey begins, I know I have all of you traveling it with me. . .thank you from the bottom of my heart.

Here's the news. . . .Our house sold in 12 days and we bought our "pool house" the very same day.  It was touch and go for awhile because the day we received our offer, the pool house received an offer.  We ended up in a bidding war, but the war was won!  We close on the properties at the end of June and I couldn't be more happy, excited, and relieved.

Someone asked if I would supply the link to the new home and I would be more than happy to.  You can see pics of our new house HERE.  When you see the main picture of the house, click on it and you'll see the pictures in a bigger format.  I'd love to know what you think.

Again, thanks for your prayers, positive comments, and good wishes.  They, as you, mean the world to me.

Hugs,


Curt


"God, please help me be the person that my dogs think I am."