Further to Fly

WARNING LOTS OF WORDS HERE!!! ;-)

I'm going to suggest you stick with the stuff above that dividing line down there for the lite version. This is the stuff about the scrap page. Down there, more stuff about the page, but I do have a bit of a rant. So, feel free to read the condensed version! It won't hurt my feelings none. I believe in freedom of blog reading!


More paper and the little blue frame from Glitz Design. Little gems from Prima, I really love the quality of these. They come off in one piece and hold their shape.

The two tags are something I picked up along the way hiding in a pile of scraps at a Scrap Event that they were giving away free. I added a bit of gesso & alcohol inks to tone down the ripped paper somebody had added, but I thought they were so cool I couldn't wait to use them! I added a variety of letter stickers and some crackle glaze from Tim Holtz which I really enjoyed. Changing up the black lamp from Marilyn with some glitter and ink was super fun too! I ended up cutting out a clear piece of plastic to give the ink a spot to slide across, a bit like stained glass. The number paper is from Marilyn too but was too green, so more gesso was added to that!

The little rumply rose was one I made from white ribbon and used a heat gun on after coloring with some alcohol inks. I was so pleased with it, although it rumpled up a lot faster than I thought it would. I am thinking maybe it was the addition of the ink?

The title was also, yet again, inspired by a song, Further to Fly by Paul Simon. It's a great song with awesome rhythm. I always interpreted the lyrics to mean that there is always further work to do with life in general.

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I really truly struggled with using this photo of myself. Just being honest here. Hubby took it on a birthday trip we took.

Recently our kids were off with Grandparents and we had a dog sitter....planets aligning we figured we'd head to Ottawa and have couple time for the Hubby's Birthday. A hotel reservation later, we were speeding through the beautiful changing fall leaves to our destination.

Sadly, Hotels.com lied when they booked our room (no in room hot tub which was our sole reason for crossing the boarder and heading for a large city). I did promise them nicely on the phone that I'd make sure to tell anyone who cares that they only booked the room for us to get the booking and lied. But, since at least a month has passed since then, I am mostly over it. Not over it enough to recommend booking a room that way though! Call the hotel direct!

Anyhow, this black little dress I'm wearing in the photo was a present to myself that was promised quite some time ago and book marked. I believe in some nice goals especially when you have to do things that aren't always fun like exercise and the like. So, my personal goal of meeting a weight and sticking with it involved a fun dress.

And, since we have so many formal affairs here in the North County (I wear a ball gown a week, honest!) I really had to wait 'til the right time.

It was fun, but like anything that you're not used to (that would be wearing a dress with heals while drinking wine) it had it's moments of not being as fun as you thought it might be.

I did also want to mention a few other things along the same lines as Breast Cancer Awareness Month wrapped up yesterday and about being a woman in general...and the struggle we go through liking our bodies and ourselves.

So, recently I had the fun opportunity of having my yearly woman appointment. (oh yippee) And since I'm new to the area I made a point of getting previous records prior to my visit. It look me 2 months to get in, so I had a lot of time to get the records sent. Plus, I had to work around the many balls and parties I attend.

So, I am sitting there while the nurse goes over my records.

She turns to me and says: You are 37. Why did you have a Mammogram done when you were 35? (use a condescending tone here when you are reading this to get the full affect).

Me: Um, because a while back during a routine exam they thought they saw something so I went in. (I am now remembering that awful week where you wonder at the back of your mind if life as you know it is about to tip upside down and then they spend time smashing the ladies to check, fun times there. It certainly wasn't something I requested!)

Her: Well, did they find any thing?

Me: No, it was fine. (In my head:  YOU have the reports lady, does it say I had/have breast cancer?)

Her: Well, sniff, it's typically not done 'til your 40ty.

Me: Um, well, OK. (inside my head screaming, hello! It's breast cancer awareness month, isn't the whole point catching things early and all that! And, do you want the number to the doc that felt something so you can yell at them for being cautious?)

So, fast forward a bit and the doc comes in the door.

Nice lady. Not mean like the nurse.

She looks over my chart, records, etc. We do the normal questions.

She looks at my chart again and says....Everything is pretty good on here except.....your BMI.

Wait, she is talking about my Body Mass Index here. Since they only took my weight and my height, I was a bit confused. I know they can figure it out from there, it's not exactly accurate.

I blink.

I look at her in the eye and say....I exercise like 5 times a week...sometimes more.

And, then, she looks down and says....Well, it doesn't take into account muscle mass.

I want to high five her in the face.

How about asking me FIRST what I do on a daily basis before commenting? Isn't that the point of the initial get to know you exam?

We move on and I'm left with the lasting impression that I really don't think I'll be going back to this office ever. But, regardless, my point is that it's your body to do something with and to keep track of. They are your boobs, your numbers, all yours. And you have a choice. A choice of course of not getting something checked out, a choice to switch doctors to someone more compassionate, and also a choice take care of yourself. And when it comes to lumps, including the ones that life hands out, I'd err on the side of caution every time regardless of what scary mean nurses think.