Saturday this n that not all lupus

 Hi Everyone!

This is kind of long, sit back and enjoy. It's not all about lupus. 

 

On top of all that lupus does to the body the one that really upset me was my voice changing. 

When my Mom, Nan and Sister were still alive. 

I hadn't seen my mom and Nan for about a year. My sister and I walked into our mom's house and surprised them. Nan lived with mom and was almost blind by this time. She was 101 years old. I walked into the living and said, "Surprise, Hi Nanny!" She looked up and the first thing out of her mouth was, "Your voice has changed." I really didn't notice it until she said that. I used to have a strong deep voice. Over the years even Mr. M. has noticed that my voice is higher, not as heafty and at times breathy. Yeah, thanks lupus. 

Lupus can affect a person's voice by impacting the vocal cords and diminishing speech and voice quality. 

The condition can lead to several voice related symptoms including hoarseness, difficulty speaking, vocal fatigue and the breathy speech. All this can be caused by joint issues in the throat, acid reflux or 

tissue damage. I have some tissue damage.

 

Now wanna see some fun photos?

Mr. M. and I (bit the gas bullet) and drove over to Charleston, Or. It's about 55 miles away. Nothing is close to where I live. Charleston is the only place that sells marina supplies. Mr. M. wants to work on the little boat he made back in 2009. It needs some painting and a few repairs. So off to the "boat" store. OMFG!!!!! The prices were out of reason. Mr. M. didn't want to buy it but I told him I had a gift card and to just do it. 

He never spends money on himself. 

After that we drove over to the marina. I got some photos.

If you know me at all you know I really dislike living by all of the water that surrounds my area. With that said, I love boats. Little boats, big boats, huge ships. Your won't catch me ON ONE of them but I like seeing them. 

  

I walked down to the dock

 

To see if this place had any fish for sale. 

Two guys were just unloading their catch for the day and allowed me to take a photo. Rock and Lingcod. They had several of these containers of fish.

 Wherever there is fish there are harbor seals.

 

This is the fishery. Boy did it smell bad. 

All of these fish are made of wood and attached to the building.

 

On the way out of Charleston we got stopped by road work. "shocker" However, I was able to get somewhat of a shot of this geodome house. The photo doesn't show it but this place is huge.

A month or so ago Mr. M. and I had to drive to Coos Bay to get some items at Harbor Freight and of course I had to go into the Ross store. As we were leaving we noticed several huge animal art pieces in the parking lot. These are all made of garbage from the ocean.

 

 

I've been in salad mode. I have never been one to put dressing on my salad. I want to taste all the elements that make the salad. This is from last week with chicken. Tonight I made a taco salad but forgot to take a photo.

 

Nothing like a salad sandwich. LOL

To end this long post. My garden lupine is finally blooming. 

Because I can't stand not to grow some kind of food. I planted some radishes about 4 days ago. This container is already coming up. 

I try not to make long posts but I hope you stayed to the end and enjoyed it.

Have a great Saturday

Nicole. 

Friday Face OFF 5/15/26

 

Welcome To Friday Face OFF (FFO)

This is the place to show off your face art.

You know, ANY type of face, nature, the face of a flower, photography, drawings, paintings, AI. There just needs to be a face in your blog post, a link back to my blog and please use the image below. 

Thank you.

Thanks for all the well wishes. I'm better now. On a prednisone high. I love it!!! Energy and no pain. YAY!

I started this portrait a few weeks ago. I could only work on it a few minutes at a time. However, slowly I got it done. It's my Sister-in-Law, Linda. I took a photo from her FB page. It's a selfie and so her head it tipped just a bit. It was quite difficult to get that just right without making her nose look piggy. 

Here is the image.

I did make it black and white. 

 

 

My drawing started like this, well I'm pretty far a long before I realized I hadn't taken a photo. LOL

 

Then this.

 

And I finished with this.

I noticed I didn't get her exactly right. But overall I like it. 

 

I have a photo of my brother that I want to start then when it's done send both portraits to them.

 

Here is some AI I played with. 

Here are a few features. If I don't say it enough, I want all of you to know that I am always so very impressed with your art and the images you share with FFO. 

Thank you

My dear friend Kwarkito 

Sherry is new to FFO and look at this graphite art. Amazing. I hope you will stop by and make her welcome.

 

Don't forget to join in for 

Sunday in the Art Room 

Joining Gillena today

 

Now it's time to show me your face.

Nicole 

Lupus Fatigue and brain fog.

 Hi Everyone!

Well the last few days have been in lupus fatigue.  I could barely get out of bed. However, I had to go to the dentist for a teeth cleaning, and do some grocery shopping. Thank the gods Mr. M. goes 

with me. 

This image is so true. 

Lupus fatigue is like a battery that has gone dead. Naps don't help, Vitamins don't help, in fact vitamins can actually hurt someone with lupus. One time I had a lady tell me to drink orange juice for the fatigue. I just laughed and walked away. I can sleep 16 hours and still my entire body is done. There is no strength to even get out of bed.  I, like so many other's with lupus, force myself to get things done. That doesn't always work either and can bring on lupus brain fog. But I don't have to be fatigued to have brain fog. LOL. It's not old age, it's not dementia, it's actually inflammation in the brain.

 

I know what I want to say but just can't find the words. Or I will be in the middle of a sentence and I can't think of the next word. The brain fog upsets me most of all, especially in public. People can be pretty mean. At home Mr. M. and I laugh about it. Hey, if I don't laugh I will cry and I don't want to do that. I don't want to feel bad or sorry for myself and I don't want anyone else to either. 

If you know someone with lupus be there for them. Ask questions, don't give advice. Offer to help, but don't just take over. Include them in get togethers but don't pressure them if they say they can't make it.  There is a good reason for it.

Have a good evening!

Nicole
 P.S. Yeah I know whoever made this meme didn't spell purse correctly. 😁

Monster Monday and more

 Hi Everyone!

No Monster Monday today because yesterday was World lupus Day 

So much is going on with lupus world wide that it's hard to keep up. As long as I can make people aware of what it is, I'm doing my small part. 

One of the fun things I did was this lupus quiz. I didn't know all of the answers but I hit the high mark.

I hope this link sends you to the quiz too.

Sorry the link didn't go through.

Oh wait try this link.

lupus quiz 

 

No monsters today. lupus is monster enough. Here are some AI I have made over the last few weeks.

These three are the same but different.  

 

Light houses in the night. 

And a few pretties.

 I must have had Japan on my mind. LOL

That's it for now.

Have a very nice Monday

Nicole  

Happy Mother's Day SITAR

Welcome To

SITAR is about ANYTHING art. Your art, someone else's art, writing, photography, the art of cooking, the art of sewing and textiles. Sharing historical art, street art, a story about art. Do you have a question or need help with art? Write a blog post and link it up here. We will all try to help with it. My only rule is that if someone asks for critique it must be done with generosity and consideration. 

This is a place of learning, encouragement and inspiration.

Happy Mother's Day!!!

Today for SITAR I'm sharing art made for Mother's Day. These are not my art or photos. All from the internet.

 

 

That's all for today. 

Wishing everyone a very good day  for for the mom's

Nicole