Still Kickin'.....But from a new location!

Hello my friends.  I have missed you all.  But this has been one of the busiest, most hectic times of my entire life.  The last time I posted, it was February.  I had a brand new car, had just completed a show, and was fat and happy in snowy Colorado.  Then, like one of those Colorado avalanches, things began to change, and change fast.  For those of you who don't know, we have had a few really horrendous years.  In September of 2009, my mom took a fall on her patio and broke her shoulder.  She never came home from the hospital.  My daughter, Brandi, had been fighting melanoma and was too sick to attend the funeral.  She passed away in December of that same year.  We ended up losing everything.  Two people that I dearly loved, our business, and our home.  We suffered financially, emotionally, and physically.  I started working at my shows, Etsy shop, and blog.  My husband went to work for different companies.  We declared bankruptcy and for the grace of God, we were able to find a small place to rent.  We were there for 7 years.  My husband was diagnosed with several health issues including bladder and prostrate cancer.  Then, in the beginning of this year, our landlord, who had always been so good to us, raised our rent.....significantly.  So, we decided, it was time to take our meager savings and find a place where we could live within our budget, our forever home.



In March, Randy and I set out on an adventure.  We had looked at some homes on line in Missouri that we thought we could afford.  And we found a small home with 5 acres and made an offer.  Because of some issues on both our side and the seller's, plus the fact that our mortgage broker quit in the middle of the process, we were unable to close until the end of June.  But that was fine, since we made 6, yes, I said six, trips from Colorado to Missouri moving our hoard.  Each trip was nearly 800 miles one way.  So 12 hours, each way.  And we had so much help.  My son towed a trailer.  My sister and brother in law towed two trailers, and two of my brothers in  law came to help with unloading.  We stayed in our camper until the furniture was moved.

One week before the close, we were driving back from Kansas City and we were hit by an impaired driver.  We were uninjured, but my beautiful new car has severe rear end damage.

We had a nice visit with my daughter and her family over the 4th.  I miss them so much!

Then, just when things were starting to get routine, my husband got sick and had to be taken to the hospital by ambulance.  He was in CCU after being diagnosed with Ehrlichiosis, a tick borne illness, a strain of Rocky Mountain Spotted Tick fever.  He is doing much better now.  

So now I have caught you up all my sordid story.  But there is good news ahead!  I am booking shows and am starting on working on several projects.  Stay tuned to see my new studio and all of the home improvements that we are doing to our fixer upper!