New Reasons to Keep Going

Hello friends!  Today has been an interesting day of people reaching out and friends crawling out of the woodwork!  I am so thankful to have so many awesome people in my life.  I have been making friends and finding people who have the same condition as me or the same hobby as me like crazy today and I must say, I feel mentally so much better than I did this morning.  Thanks to all of you for keeping me going.  I woke up in a funk, with a ton of pain as usual and I really had just a negative mindset, but that has all changed after getting calls and emails and just really checking out all the fun scrapbooking blogs out there.  I can't do much with my hobby right now due to the pain so it really helps to have all these awesome sites to go to on the Net.  The other thing about it is it makes me realize that there are really truly caring, loving, wonderful people out there and when you're home all the time by yourself, sometimes you forget that.  I definitely feel distanced sometimes from the real world so it helps to have all these great resources.  For those of you looking for some great scrapbooking blogs, hit me up and I can direct you to all my faves! 

I was thinking today about learning how to create some video tutorials to post on my blog.  I will get my super techy husband to help me with that if you would like!  Shoot me some feedback please because I would like to know what kind of videos you would like to see.  The best blogs usually have them and I want to be one of the best for sure!

I am working on a few projects, slowly but surely, and I thought it would be a good idea to post the info here so I can hold myself accountable and you all can get on my case if I start lagging behind! LOL - I have started a tray for bed (a bed & breakfast type thing) and I am having a hard time deciding where to go with it.  I painted it black with metallic blue glittered edges and was going to do the Halloween in Wonderland theme b/c I love Alice in Wonderland, but I already bought a hanging tray thingy to do that with.  My next thought was something Harry Potter, but I'm not super keen on that idea (cause I want to make a Harry Potter monster book instead) so I need some help!  Something that would go with black, metallic blue and kind of a darker theme.  I'll post a pic either tonight or tomorrow so you all can see what I'm talking about.

Well, my arms are getting really sore so I better go, but thanks for listening to me ramble on and I hope all of you are having a wonderful, fun day and are able to do the things you love!

XO ~ Amy Jo

#3 Happy Scrappers Top Sites

Hi friends!  Thanks so much for voting for me on the little link on my page.  I have made it to #3 and I can't believe it!  I am so excited!!!  I started this blog, never expecting that people would actually read it (LOL) so to make it to #3 on this list is just too cool!

I am still having a TON of Fibro pain, but it is very slightly getting better by the day.  I have to go in to work today, but only for a half an hour so I'm excited that I can actually get out of bed to do that!  Also, I'm doing some online Cyber Monday shopping today.  My website www.beyoungeo.com/amyknight is having a 20% storewide sale today on all products!  Check it out, you might find some great gift goodies.  I certainly have.  I plan on stocking up on my essential oils so I can make some awesome bath salts and custom blends to sell and give as gifts.  Let me know if you're interested!

While I'm here I wanted to post a card that I created.  This one was made for a friend's birthday.  I just love the way it turned out!  I love it when I get to use my Cricut.  It just makes my day so much better! :0)  I used pearl stickles, cutouts, Bo Bunny buttons, and a pretty little pink ribbon.  This was a super fun one to make and, in fact, I think I'm going to go make some cards right now!  I'm inspired!

Have a great day everyone!
XO ~ Amy Jo

Another Great Giveaway - Just Click This Header!

Thank You Card & Morning Ponderings

Good morning Friends!  Wow, this is a first, I think.  I am never up in the morning.  Trick is, I took two sleeping pills last night.  Actually, I'm not really sure they worked well as far as putting me to sleep b/c I was still up til 2 something in the morning, but I stayed asleep once I was there.  I am up now and can't seem to go back to sleep, even though I'd love to!  My pain levels are still super high and it's been quite the rough go for a while.  It doesn't seem to be easing up at all so tomorrow is a doctor call day.  Wish me luck!  I am actually considering trying to get to the Mayo Clinic in Arizona because I can't think of anything else that I haven't tried.  In the meantime, I'm going to find someone to give me trigger point injections (those have helped before), although they are really painful, and also I need to find a good acupuncturist.  I have to give that a try too.  If I could get out of bed, I'd try some tai chi and some Qigong b/c I've heard those help a lot with chronic pain conditions.  The key is getting out of bed!

I made some progress last night and actually was able to get out of bed and create a card for my brother's birthday.  The card posted below is not it, however. LOL  The card I have posted today is a Thank You card I created and sold to a friend.  That reminds me, I need to get my Etsy shop really up and running.  I do have a few things on there, but not enough to really call it a "store".  You can look me up under Amy'sWay in the sellers search section.  There is no space between Amy's and Way. 

My sweet sister-in-law placed a wonderful order with me for Christmas cards.  She wants 22!  I am stoked and can't wait to feel better so I can get to work on them.  I have so many ideas, I only wish I had the new Jolly Holidays Cricut Lite cartridge.  :(  Can't find one anywhere for a decent price.  Ebay has 'em, but they keep going for around $40.00!

I have another dilemma and I'm hoping for your help!  I need a box in the shape of a book, made out of either MDF or chipboard, but not really wood, even though I'd take wood if that's all I can find.  I hear you can find them at Michael's, however, I can't get out of the house to get there, so I was hoping to find one online!  I've looked EVERYWHERE!!!  I can't think of what to search for other than "box shaped like book" or "book shaped box".  I've been searching for the past few days and it's driving me nuts so if anyone has any thoughts please let me know!  Also, if anyone happens to go to Michael's and spot one, please note the price for me!  If it's reasonable, maybe I can get myself out of bed and down there to pick one up.  I'd appreciate any help on this! :o)

Has anyone noticed how many awesome scrapbooking blog hops are going on right now?  I just LOVE those!  I hope to be picked someday to participate in one.  That is my goal!  For now, I will give you a little info on the card below and how I created it...

Recipe:

Yellow card stock cut to 4"x5 1/2"
The pretty blue part is actually a really sturdy kind of poster board thick sticker from TPC Studio.  I attached it with two yellow brads from Bo Bunny, then used a vellum sticker from a stack of vellum sticker quotes from DCWV and stuck it to the same yellow card stock, then pop dotted it.  I Cricuted the word "thanks" (not sure which cart I used) in black card stock and used black card stock behind the main sticker as well.  Easy peasy!!! 



Hope you all have a great morning and I'll be back soon! 

XO ~ Amy Jo

Shoppy, Shoppy, Fun, Fun

Hello my lovely friends.  How many of you went out into the crazy crowds today and if you did, why in the hell didn't you just shop online like me? ;0) LOL  JK, I wish I could've gotten to Walmart (the one place I NEVER shop) b/c they are the only place with the new Cricut Lite cartridges for sale.  I got online in the wrong spot, so I didn't find them until they were all sold out.  :(  I am so bummed about that, but I had a BLAST shopping on Joann's directly from my website www.amyjrockstar.com .  They have some great deals and they're goin on all weekend!  If anyone wants coupon codes (if you shop through my site), I'll be happy to get them to ya.  Unfortunately, online, they won't combine coupon codes so you can either get 15% off your whole order, free shipping after $35.00, or 50% off one item.  I chose the free shipping!  I'm going to finish up my order tomorrow and I will post what I'm getting. 

I just watched the coolest video for those of us who just aren't that great at making bows.  It's from another blog, but I'm going to see if she minds if I post it over here for you all to see.  It's the reason I got onto Joann's in the first place.  I finished my shopping this morning until I watched that video and found that awesome bow making tool!  Then, I started all over again! :p  Well, it was fun and I really didn't spend too much.

Also shopped at Kohl's, Old Navy & Gap, and Charlotte Russe, where I got the most stuff  My sweet hubby bought me some great clothes from Kohl's.  It was fun and got to do it all from bed while on massive doses of pain meds!  Don't worry.  I will be calling my doctors on Monday to see what to do.  And thank you for all your prayers, btw.  I appreciate it so much!

Hope you all had a super fun day and got some awesome goodies.  I really want to know what everyone bought, so please post those comments!

XO ~ Amy Jo

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving to all my friends!  I am so blessed to have you all as readers, followers, and friends.  It just makes every day so much fun and gives me so much to look forward to.  I look forward to reading comments and seeing if I have any new followers each day.  When I can't sleep in the middle of the night, this puts me at ease and helps relieve my stress.  Everybody needs an outlet and this is mine.  So thank you all for reading and giving me a reason to write.  Soon I will be giving away some BLOG CANDY of my own!  I just have to figure out how I wanna go about it. ;)

I've been slacking a bit on the blog and I'll tell you why.  I have been in the worst pain I can remember since last year around this time.  Must be the weather.  :p  We were so lucky as to be invited to a friend's family dinner today and I got all ready to go (even curled my hair), but about 10 minutes before we were set to leave, I got hit with a HUGE amount of pain that just doubled me over and I couldn't move, hardly breathe, couldn't even think straight.  I had to call my friend and tell her that we wouldn't be able to make it today.  I felt so bad for my poor hubby.  What a Thanksgiving for him.  :(  At least we have each other though and things could always be worse, right?  Our wonderful friends were so nice about the whole thing.  They are actually bringing us dinner!  How fantastic is that?  So lucky!  But this is why I haven't been posting as many creative things, etc.  because I just am so sick.  I haven't gotten out of bed in 3 days, except to go to the bathroom. LOL  My husband has had to take off of work to take care of me and I am so glad he works at a job that is understanding and tolerant of these things.  A lot of people don't have it as good as we do and I am thankful for his job and boss and so much more.  Today is the day of thinking about what you're thankful for and my list could go on for a mile!  In fact, I am going to journal my list, but I won't bore you with it here. LOL

Thank you all, again, for being here with me.  I truly hope you have a wonderful day whether you celebrate Thanksgiving or not and don't forget to take the time out and really think about the wonderful things in your life and all the blessings you have received.  I am thankful for you all. :0)

Happy Thanksgiving!
XO ~ Amy Jo

One Stop Shopping at My Store

Hi all, please check out my website for your holiday shopping needs.  No sense battling with everyone on Friday when you can stop at my website and get stuff from tons of different retailers or custom, made to order cards, bath salts, gift tags, whatever you may need created.  I use the finest essential oils for my bath salts.  I can also make massage oils, lotions and oil blends to use either in your bath, diffuser, or as a perfume!  I don't have them listed.  I make them based off of what people are needing, such as menstrual cramp formulas, sleep formulas, aphrodisiacs, muscle relaxing, anti fungal/antibacterial w/tea tree oil and many more.  I have studied the properties of these oils for a long time and can make something guaranteed to please everyone!  Go to www.amyjrockstar.com and you will have several shopping options!  Click on Amy'sWay for skin care, beauty, household, gift cards, health products, energy products, etc.  Click on Partner Stores and see all of my affiliates such as Best Buy, Joann's, Sears, Bass Pro Shops, Magazines, Office Depot and soooo many more.  If you shop through my site you get special shipping discounts and other deals that most people will not get!!!  It'so worth checking out.  Click on Custom Creations and you will see just a few of the things I can custom make.  If you can think it, I can make it, for a super reasonable price and get it out to you as soon as you need it.  I'd love to do some custom salts and custom cards/tags, etc. for people for the holidays.  I LOVE to create and really want to boost my business.  In fact, for each person you refer (who places an order with me), you will get 10% off your next order!  If you refer 10 friends who place an order with me, you will get 10% off your next 10 orders and so on, so forth!  Not a bad deal!  Also, after clicking the Amy'sWay tab, we have an AWESOME program called the Ribbon program that you can pull up. It's basically a bunch of different gift cards, with the price already set, for specific groups of items.  For instance, you can buy a Pampering Gift card.  What happens with that is you give it to the recipient and they log on and can choose one item from a number of awesome gifts related to pampering yourself.  It's much more personal than just a $ gift card and very unique!  We have cards for men, children, kitchen specific, jewelry specific, anything you can think of!!!  Please check it out and consider doing your holiday shopping with Amy'sWay at www.amyjrockstar.com.  I take care of my clients and you are guaranteed awesome products at great prices with the best customer service possible!
XO ~ Amy Jo

P.S.  Let me know if you've checked it out and need help with placing an order.  Any of the cards you see I can create if you're interested in the ones I've posted.

Awesome Giveaway, Check it Out!!!

Blogger Down

Hi Friends,
I am going through a really hard time right now. For some odd reason, my Fibro has decided to go full blown flare since yesterday at 7:30 in the morning and it just won't quit.  I almost went to the hospital, the pain was so bad.  I had to actually call my husband home from work to take care of me, because I couldn't even reach my pill bottles and my water.  I had a hard time last winter like this and I am so scared that it might be back again just like that.  Right now it's 3:40 in the morning and I've been awake for at least an hour now, in almost as much pain as yesterday.  I must say, I'm pretty scared at the moment.  I am having pain literally from my head to my toes.  It is in EVERY bone and muscle in my body, even my cheek bones and my finger tips!  It's a super squeezy, achy feeling and it won't relent.  I can't craft, I can't think, all I can do is wait til the next time I can take my slew of meds.  I have been crying and crying and crying, which is not like me at all.  I am going to call my pain mgt. specialist first thing in the morning and see what he suggests.  I really hope I don't have to go to the hospital for this.  Does anyone out there have any suggestions?

It's unbelievable how much scrapbooking keeps me sane!  It's all I wanted to do yesterday even though I couldn't move! LOL  - So I grabbed a bunch of my scrapbook magazines and looked through them for future ideas and just to keep my mind off of things.  I wish I had something cool to show you that I've made, but I just don't have the energy right now  to sort through my photos and post one.  I will as soon as I'm back on my game.  Maybe sooner cause it's so important to me to keep both parts of my blog up.  For those of you who are here just for the scrapbooking stuff, I apologize.  Please bare with me.  I'll get back on my game soon!

On a side note, my step dad is doing well and returned from the hospital yesterday!  He's up and about and feeling surprisingly good.  Yay!  Thank you for all your positive thoughts and prayers.

I have to go now, even though I don't want to, b/c the pain is becoming excruciating again.  Wish me luck and I'll be back soon.

XO ~ Amy Jo

Stylish Blogger Award

I am so stoked I have won the Stylish Blogger Award!!! One wonderful lady awarded me with the Stylish Blogger award. Thanks to awesome Theresa over at Juicy Creations http://juicycricutcards.blogspot.com/

Now this award comes with some Rules.....
1. Thank the person who awarded you
2.Share 8 things about yourself
3.pay it forward to 8 bloggers that you have recently discovered.
4.Contact bloggers and tell them about their award!

Here are 8 things about ME :)
1. I currently am not working from Fibromyalgia, which allows me to stay home and do all the crafting I can when I feel good enough to.
2. I used to work as an office manager and made excellent income before the illness started two years ago.  Have had many lifestyle changes.
3. I used to LOVE going out drinking and dancing and now I'm so happy to be home with my hubby, dogs, pig and all my crafts!
4. I have no self control when it comes to buying scrap booking stuff.  Instead of choosing one or the other, I just get both!
5. I have the best friends and family in the world. I am so blessed with a wonderful support system.
6. The next place I live will be Hawaii.
7. My father passed away 7 years ago.
8. My entire family have always been entrepreneurs and I follow suit.  We have worked together in many business, my family and I.  I made signs with my brother for over 9 years!

Ok now here are the 8 bloggers I chose. In no order..
1. Momo http://madebymomo.blogspot.com/
2. Rachel http://backporchcreations.blogspot.com/
3.  Kyle http://thegreencricut.blogspot.com/
4.  Heather http://miraclesmommadesigns.blogspot.com/
5.  Wendy http://disneydarling07.blogspot.com/
6.  Debbie http://craftydeb-ddscrafts.blogspot.com/
7.  Kassidy http://www.inkingitupcrazy.blogspot.com/
8.  Sarah http://www.pinkcricut.com/

Thanks again Theresa and to the girls who have won the award I will be contacting you!

3:43 AM and the Clock's Still Ticking

Hi friends, followers,and loved ones.  I'm having a fitful night of sleeping, so here I am.  Been blog hopping for a while (scrap booking blogs of course!) and must say, they are a lifesaver!  Who knew the world of blogging could actually be very good for the soul!  I can't believe I've only recently figured out what all the fuss is about.  Better late than never, right?  Well, as you can imagine (if you read my earlier post), I'm super worried about my step dad and my poor mom.  Talk about stressful.  He's in ICU still and they sent my mom home because he can't have any visitors right now, he's in that critical of a condition.  Turns out he had a MASSIVE heart attack and it's Amazing he's still alive!  They said he needs to lose 75 lbs and do a major dietary overhaul and I'm so worried that he won't do it.  You know how stubborn men are! :p  He LOVES his huge steaks and huge amounts of food.  Not a grilled chicken and veggies man at all if you know what I mean.  I'm supposed to go to my mom's for Thanksgiving and that has me nervous too, because we are supposed to be having major winter storms over the mountains for the next few days and, of course, we have to go over all the scary mountains to get there.  6 hours in good weather!  This is part of why I can't sleep... the other part is   I have been developing a cold or something the last few days.  Sore throat like crazy!  Also, my shoulder is REALLY acting up and just won't give it a rest.  I've taken enough pain killers to knock out a horse so I can't consume any more, safely.  Just gonna have to deal with it!  Husband and dogs have taken over the bed and are happily snoring away.  It's actually a pretty cute sight.  We only have a queen sized bed and two pit bulls, my husband, myself and about 1000 pillows so I can get somewhat comfortable doesn't leave much room to even lie straight!  We do kick the dogs out most of the time, but I wanted some snuggles tonight with my girl, Lexi.  She is the huggiest dog I've ever seen!  Loves that in time of sadness.

I have another card making project to work on, and am looking forward to doing that sometime today.  I also realized I had a tiny bit left on my HSN credit card so I ordered a scoring board and the awesomest goo punch from Martha Stewart.  I have been looking for that baby everywhere!  And, they were both on sale.
How cool is that?  They should be in, in a few days and I'll be able to make snow for trees, awesome boxes that stack and all kinds of cool stuff.  Check out the scoring board video on HSN if you get a chance.  It's pretty darn nifty!  Never knew I needed one til I saw the video! LOL

Well all, I better get back to my blog hop.  Just thought I'd pop in since I'm up!

Love and Light and all that stuff!
Xo ~ Amy Jo

Is This Really my Life?

Hi everyone.  So I get a call from my mom this morning at 8:00 and I instantly knew something was wrong, because we just had a discussion yesterday that I don't wake up at least until 1:00 in the afternoon.  Needless to say, I got 0 sleep last night and was really not wanting to answer that phone.  Well i did and found out my step dad had a heart attack and was being transferred to a better hospital urgently.  My poor mom!  He had been having chest pain and real trouble breathing, which isn't unusual for him as he frequently gets infections and pneumonia so they waited until this morning to bring him in.  Good thing they did, because it looked like he had already had one heart attack!  They raced him to St. Mary's in Grand Junction and last I heard, he had surgery and a splint put in his heart.  He is in ICU and I know nothing else so please send some good thoughts our way.  Thank you.  I am EXHAUSTED!  I of course, couldn't go back to sleep after that and am going on I don't know how many hours of no sleep, Lorazepam and the beginning of a cold and super sore throat for not only me, but my husband as well!  :[ Such a sad day.

I have to share something pretty with you and then I'm going to go create something pretty to make myself feel better and make myself stop moping!  So here it is... A card I created for my step dad's b-day just a few days ago  I used the cricut and two-toned the stars and popped them up.  I antiqued them and added Stickles to the center.  Love the way they turned out and he loved it too.  Enjoy  and I'll keep you all posted!

Much Love,
XO ~ Amy Jo

A Little Bit Nostalgic

Good evening all my beautiful friends and followers.  Hope you all had wonderful day today.  Mine didn't begin until around 1:45 this afternoon, when I woke up from my 12 hour nap. :p  You know, it's amazing how much sleep I actually get sometimes, yet I still feel like I could just sleep on.  If I didn't have SO much to do, I would love to just do that sometime.  Just sleep until it feels like I've slept enough.  Is it possible? 

I spent a good 4 hours on the phone with friends while cutting and creating kits for work and finishing up Thanksgiving cards for my friend, who so nicely hired me to make them. :0)  I love making cards and doing the things that I love and getting rewarded by actually getting paid for them!  Talk about a blessing!  It's awesome. 

I am also getting ready to throw a Pampered Chef party so if anyone is interested or needs anything for the holidays from Pampered Chef, please let me know so I can add it to my party totals.  I'd greatly appreciate that!  You can hit up my consultant's website at Janell's Pantry and enter my name as the hostess, Amy Courchaine.  They have some awesome stuff out right now and actually, I was surprised to find that the prices are not bad at all!  I haven't had a PC party in like 8 years or so and it looks like the prices are pretty much the same!  They have some things that I absolutely must have in my kitchen.  In fact, most of the stuff in my kitchen is from PC and obviously I've had it for a long time!  I'll be ordering some of their stoneware and some of their great gadgets for sure.  The party is on December 5th and items ordered from my party are promised to be at your house in time for Christmas.  So fun!

On another note, I am posting one of the cards I've created.  This was made for a friend who also purchases her cards from me, for one of her friends who does quilting.  I thought a patchwork card was definitely in order.  The buttons are just stickers and the cream colored squares were textured with my Texture Boutique.  I had so much fun on this and it was super easy.  I cut the squares from my old school original Sizzix.  Worked fantastic for this!  I added a couple of ties too.

I must say, I'm really missing scrapbooking, with all this card making I've been doing.  My mom told me a great story today about a great uncle of mine who died in 1946 in the war.  She actually has the original letter that was sent to his wife from the military, informing her of his death.  She is going to get that to me so I can scrapbook it and put with a picture or two of him, in my album.  I was thinking today, how sad I am that I can barely remember the wonderful stories my grandma used to tell me about when she was a little girl back in the early 1900's.  I'm also very sad that I didn't ask my dad enough before he passed away.  He was a cop back in Chicago (only white guy on the force at the time!!!) before i was born and I didn't get to hear most of his stories.  You know when you're a kid or a teenager, you just aren't that interested in listening to your parent's stories? Well, I really regret that now, so if you still have your parents or your grandparent's take the time to listen to their stories and, better yet, write them down or tape record them so you'll always have them and your kids will know where they came from.  I seriously doubt I'll ever have children, but I will pass on my scrapbooks to my nephew or my cousins.  Someone will treasure them as much as I do.

On  to the fibro side of things... Thank you all for your wishes for my friend.  I know she will be reading this and appreciating all of your support.  I have had a long bout of feeling just sick lately.  Constantly sick!  Sick to my stomach, headaches, body aches, insomnia, sleeping too much, pretty much everything you can have go wrong at once.  I don't know what's triggering this so badly, except for the weather, but it's actually been nice the past few days.  This is tough.  It gets hard sometimes.  I try to stay as positive as I can.  I believe in the power of positivity, but there are times when it just gets rough.  Luckily, I only feel like that for five minutes at a time here and there.  I never let myself go more than that because I don't want my life to be full of despair and I don't want to be a person who is always "oh, woe is me".  I am tired though and sometimes I need to vent, so here it is...  This disorder, I would not wish on my worst enemy.  It is debilitating, life altering, and earth shattering.  You think and you think and you think, this has to go away, I can't ALWAYS be in pain, but so far, it hasn't.  I have pain EVERY SINGLE DAY of my life and have for the past two years!!!  I cannot remember what it feels like to not have pain.  I have no clue.  That is the reality of it and this is what I'm dealing with.  It's scary sometimes.  Sometimes you honestly feel like, my gosh, am I dying or something?  How the hell can a person survive this?  But I do.  We do. It does not kill us though some days we wish it might.

On that note, to all my fellow sufferers, it's ok to have those days.  Don't feel guilty, but limit it.  Don't let it consume you.  You still have tons to offer and a life worth living.  It is not your fault.  You did not wish this and you don't deserve it.  We are all here to learn, and this disorder, condition, disease (whatever you want to call it) will teach.  It seems like an F'd up way to learn, but we do learn from this and we are here to help other people who tend to take life for granted, including ourselves.  Just remember that.

Love and light to you all.
XO ~ Amy Jo

Thanksgiving Card #1

Hello awesome friends!  I have only a second, but wanted to share the first really cute Thanksgiving card I've done.  I have others, but this is done with my new Cricut cartridge, Simply Charmed.  I have some MAJOR deadines right now so I have to go, but enjoy the pic!

XO ~ Amy Jo

Paybacks for Eating Poorly

Oh God, for those of you who read my last post, if I am EVER craving chicken nuggets again, make me stop!!!!  Dire, horrible awful pain!  I think I might keel over any second now.  My WHOLE body aches after eating and my stomach as acting weird enough to scare me.  In so much pain I think I might actually cry!  For future refernce, if you have a craving like that IGNORE it!  Aaaaaahhhhh!  Send some prayers my way please.

Gnite all.

Insomnia and Funky Cravings

Good evening all.  Hopefully, most of you are asleep like normal people.  I am up with my horrible middle of the night cravings, and no, I'm not pregnant.  My  hubby is sweet enough to go to McD's to get me some Chicken McNuggets which are totally bad for me.  My craving is making me sick enough that I feel like if I don't get some chicken right now, I will throw up.  However, when I get the chicken, it will make my stomach hurt and make me feel like throwing up as well, so I really don't know which is better (or worse)!  Does anyone else out there with fibro get these random cravings all the time yet still feel sick to their stomach?  Ugh, so frustrating! And most all of my cravings come in the middle of the night when it's absolutely inconvenient.  This is part of why I could never go back to a small town.  Whatever would I do? LOL

On another note, I had a fun time with my brand new book group.  There were only three of us, but we got a lot accomplished and a book picked out for this month.  It is Here be Dragons by Sharon K. Penman.  I heard lots of good things and can't wait to start.  This will be part of my nightly winding down ritual for the next month.  It was nice to have the girls over and just chill at my house.  I love being hostess!

I worked on absolutely nothing crafty today and the orders are piling up!  Tomorrow is a big day of crafting for me.  Luckily, I have no other plans at all.  I will be staying home, in my PJs, using all my new tools and goodies.  I am stoked and have a bunch of cute ideas for Thanksgiving cards and Christmas stuff.  How's everyone doing on their Christmas shopping/gift making?  I started my list tonight as to what I want to get everyone and that's as far as I am right now.  After Thanksgiving though, it's on! ;)

I don't feel like getting my camera out right now so I don't have any pictures for you tonight.  I'll try to get on that tomorrow....

I spoke with a really good friend of mine today and I am so worried that she has my symptoms, in essence, I think she might be developing Fibromyalgia.  I am sooooooo concerned.  She's having tingling and pain in her hands, which is exactly how mine started.  She's also having overwhelming fatigue and a sore body no matter what she does.  All she wants to do is lie down and she is depressed, but this is beyond depression.  My advice to her and to others out there to start doing the process of elimination, especially if you have no medical insurance, is to start by eliminating certain foods from your diet, cutting your activities by at least half, and allowing your body to rest when it's begging you to.  Most importantly, allow your body to rest and DON'T feel guilty or that you are being lazy.  It is not something you can control!  I still have to tell myself this some days.  I have the guilt factor for sure and if I'm not doing a million things at once, I feel like a useless slug and it's very hard to cope with.  Self forgiveness and understanding is KEY!

On that note, friends, please pray (if you do) for my friend and let's hope she doesn't have this horrible, life altering, disorder.

Thank you all and goodnight.

XO ~ Amy Jo

Hi there!  This is a good basic article for people trying to understand a bit about fibromyalgia.  Please read!  5 Fibro Myths and Facts

Ahh, it's a beautiful day when you are able to get out of bed!

Hello fun friends and followers.  How is everyone doing today?  I hope you all like my new layout.  I was bored last night. LOL. Please take a moment to vote for me if you haven't already.  I'd really appreciate it!  Trying to move up in the blogging world.  I had a rough night again last night...up til 3:00 again. :p  Got up this afternoon at around 1:45 and got myself up and around and went off to work a little early.

So out of all that stuff I bought, there were a few things I couldn't find anywhere.  I looked online even.  So I go into work today and what do I find?  The EXACT things I was looking for even though last week they didn't even carry these items!  I couldn't believe it!  Our little shop rocks.  I had so much fun there today.  I took home three different kitting projects to work on this week for some credit and I picked up a few kits for myself to play with when I have free time.  I have a pile of (no joke) about 20 or so unfinished kits and projects.  First off I have 5 Thanksgiving cards that I have to have done by tomorrow, so I can't start on my new kits yet.  I am working on a Halloween mini album and a Christmas album too at the moment.  Not to mention my Gratitude album, which I'm dying to start on!  I don't quite feel like I have the energy yet though.  Hmmm... Shouldn't have lied down!

On a totally different note, tomorrow I have a new little thing going.  I am starting a little book group!  I've never done anything like that and who knows when I'll have time to read an actual book, but I really wanted to do something to ground me a little bit.  While I really love crafting, it gets me all hyper and I can't sleep!  I want to make myself a new routine that includes at least 15 minutes to an hour of reading before bed so I can quiet my mind a little bit.  Does anyone else struggle with that?  If so, please give me some tips on what you do to relax!  I used to be a little better at it than I am now.  Now I have too many design ideas in my head!

I'm going to try to post a picture every day or two so today, I have a picture of a patchwork quilt card that I completed for my mom's friend.  This was a super fun and easy one to do.  It would be fun to make a challenge like this, but I've never done a challenge before.  The day will come, I hope.  Let me know what you think!

Well, I'm off to create some more cards and play with my toys!  Have a great night everyone, I'll post more either tonight if I can't sleep, or tomorrow for sure!

XO ~ Amy Jo

Shopping Hangover

Hi friends!  As you probably figured, I have been busy playing with all my new toys!  Was up all night last night and slept most of the day and here I am again on that same vicious cycle!  I have a few deadlines to meet, but wanted to pop in and say hello and hope you all had a spectacular Sunday. 

BTW, I sell the oxygenated water I was talking about.  If you're interested, please contact me so I can tell you all about it, but in the meantime go to my website www.amyjrockstar.com and click on Amy'sWay.  It's called Perfect water.  Do a search for it and I promise you it's the best water you've ever had in your life.  It's pricey, but for me, the health benes are way worth it!

Thanks for checking in.  I'll have more to post tomorrow!

XO ~ Amy Jo

Retail Therapy - Cure for Fibromyalgia ;o)

Ok, so of course it's not a cure, but man, when you've been in bed for almost an entire week, shopping can be the greatest thing ever!  I had a MAJOR shopping spree for myself, thanks to some awesome Craig's list sales and my good friend, Susan.  I have to share with you what all I got so I'm posting a picture because in true scrapbook form, a picture is worth a thousand words! Wow, that's a lot of stuff! 

First we went over to Joann's and then we went to Michael's.  I was armed with coupons for Joann's, but didn't have my Michael's ones on me and the saleslady was sooooo awesome, she not only did a 40% on one item for me, but a 20% off overall!  At Joann's I also got the 40% off and a 10% off overall!  Talk about a fun day!  We got out and about around 3:30ish and came home by 6:00.  I even had enough energy to work on cards! (I will be posting one or two tomorrow.)  I hope everyone had a great Saturday like mine.  :)

I just had to show off my picture of all my fun stuff, but now it is time for a Vicodin, Lorazepam, and Opana cocktail and some more card making.  Nancy, I read your comments and I have so much more to post, but have to use my energy tonight for card making deadlines so I will leave some comments tomorrow for ya.

Thank you all for following!

Hugs to all and sweet dreams!
XO ~ Amy Jo

Especially for Nancy

Hi there Nancy and all my friends and followers,

Nancy, I thank you so much for the comments you have left on my blog.  I am so happy you found me! This is the beginning of  a long and healthy friendship.  :) I know EXACTLY how you feel.  Lately I could just sleep forever and it seems like not enough.  Then comes the guilt.  I don't know about you, but I am normally an extremely active, hyper person.  There are a million things in life that I want to achieve and when I feel like this, it makes me go out of my mind!  I have a VERY hard time just resting and relaxing.  I am used to holding multiple full time jobs at once so this is extremely difficult to adjust to.  It does get better, then goes back to being bad, as this week has proven to be.  I have an option to move somewhere warmer as well, but I LOVE where I live and would HATE leaving all my friends.  I don't live close to my family, but I do live in the same state at least.

I have been through almost every type of treatment and I'll tell you the things that help me most are, painful trigger point injections, physical therapy with ultrasound and the TENS unit hooked up (electronic stimulator), and massage (although extremely painful).  Chiropractic care helps too.  Another thing that has REALLY helped me (when I stick to it) is a major diet overhaul.  I (for the most part) live gluten, wheat, egg, soy, dairy (not so much now), and try to have as little soda, MSG, and high fructose corn syrup as possible.  The other thing is sticking strictly to organic meats.  I did really well on this plan for quite a while, but then it got to be too tough to follow so strictly.  I know that I need to go back on it, I just need to be mentally ready.  I have found some fantastic alternatives to many things so if anyone has any questions or needs any help with that, I'm very familiar with what tastes good and what works.  Another huge problem for me are my vitamin levels.  I am low on chromium, Vitamin D (severely deficient and I take a super mega prescription), and all my B Vitamins.  I have some wonderful solutions to the vitamin B problem and the chromium problem as well and I will tell you all about it in another post.  Diet is a HUGE factor in fibro.  As far as anyone with it, I can suggest removing most of the top allergens from your diet and start that way for at least a good month, preferably three.  Also, through this diet I have learned I am allergic to peanuts!  I never would have known that, but following this plan, it's easy to figure out what works and doesn't work in your body.  Peanuts are a huge trigger for me!  Nancy, have you tried dietary modification?  I can help you with that.  Keeping a food journal is super important and a pain in the butt, but helps!  Also, I tried oxygen therapy and have some insight about that as well.  I have switched to oxygenated water so I don't have to do the hyperbaric chamber every week and pay a small fortune. 

It's amazing how much you learn and how in tune you are with your body when you have this condition.  I have learned more these past two years than in my whole life.  I have read book after book and article after article.  My doctors say I actually know more than them.  I say, it's because I live it and have to know everything there is.  You can't leave your care in someone else's hands because they will never care enough.  You have to be your own medical advocate and with the help of a great support system, that is what I am.

Nancy, this is for you today and I hope it helps at least a little.  Thank you for coming into my life and being my friend.  And btw, no comment is EVER too long on my page.  I LOVE reading them and please do continue!

XO ~ Amy Jo

P.S.  I am not a medical doctor and can't prescribe a remedy for anyone, but I can tell you what I've tried and what worked and did not work for me.  Please keep that in mind.

Weather is Better, but Fibro is not, New B-day Card Posted

Hello my sweet friends and followers.  I hope everyone is having a fantastic day.  I am still in bed, watching The New Adventures of Old Christine, episode 28.  Love that show and this particular one really reminds me of my life right now! It's hilarious.  If you can find that episode, be sure to watch it and you'll get a fun glimpse into some of the things that I go through such as weird effects from sleeping pills.  Always a great little pick me up.  When I'm feeling really crummy it's always nice to watch something to totally get my mind off of it.  Laughter is definitely the best medicine in this case!  The nausea just hit me and is overwhelming right now!  I woke up with an awful headache today and it just won't quit!  Anybody else out there having problems?  Sorry for the complaining, not trying to be a total downer today!  I was supposed to go to my friend's house to watch some Grey's Anatomy, but didn't even get there.  My goal tomorrow is to actually get to work.  Wish me luck on that one!

On another note, I made a sweet little b-day card last night and got to be pretty creative!  Today my goal is to make a patchwork quilt birthday card.  So far all I've gotten done are the squares! LOL - Absolutely need some motivation!  Here's the one from yesterday.  Most of the materials came from www.shopcapture.com - The little local store that I work at.  I used stickles (pearl), Bo Bunny buttons, twine, a brad, colonial shaped scissors, and a fun stamp set I got for $1.00 at Michael's!  Would love to hear your comments on this one.  :0)  The inside is just stamped "Happy Birthday" and has a couple of stamped hearts in white and green.  I stickled the Happy Birthday with cinnamon stickles.  For anyone who has never tried Stickles, you are missing out.  Best product ever!  I didn't think much of it until I started using it.  You can purchase Stickles from my store, through partner store, Joann's.  www.amyjrockstar.com, partner stores and services.  Well, that's all I've got for now.  Thanks for reading!
XO ~ Amy Jo

Thank You

To my sweet friends and followers.  I just wanted to say a little thank you for all of your kind words and your responses to my blog.  You have no idea how much that just picks me up each day and makes me feel like I have a purpose, like I'd actually be letting someone down (besides myself) if I didn't write each day.  Thank you from the bottom of my heart and keep those beautiful comments coming as I am going to take excerpts from them and create a beautiful Gratitude Journal as I am grateful for each and every one of you.

XO ~ Amy Jo

Weather, Time Mgt. Tips and Fibro Info

Good morning friends and followers.  Today it is grey and there is snow everywhere!  It's so beautiful, but so painful.  Fibro sufferers really don't like the snow ,unfortunately, and this is just the beginning of the season.  I might have to make a serious decision this year as to whether or not I can continue to live in Colorado during the winter months.  I plan on taking a trip to Arizona and one to California to see how I feel in the warm weather as opposed to the cold here.  Does anyone have any thoughts or experience with this?  I'm very curious as to how much it would help really.  I went to Maui about a year or maybe two (!) ago to escape the cold and to be honest, it was the best I felt since I've had this condition.  I felt very close to being human! 

This week, as you know, has been really rough.  I haven't been able to swing by my work to pick up the kits I need to create and haven't been able to keep up with the cards I need to do because I feel like I have a constant flu.  That is a very normal part of Fibromyalgia.  It is very comparable to having the flu chronically.  Basically, for those of you who don't know, you have aches and pains all over, your stomach is affected, you have chronic headaches and chronic fatigue, not to mention crazy sleep patterns and very bad insomnia.  It changes your whole life and it is super important to try to establish routines and schedules.  One thing I have discovered that helps me personally is to not schedule ANY appointments before 11:00 in the morning; even that is pushing it for me.  I can no longer just pop out of bed and get ready.  What happens is, you wake up, and it takes forever to get physically and mentally prepared for the day.  I always set my alarm for 3 hours before I have to wake up because I cannot get out of bed for at least 1 to 1.5 hours after I have woken up.  It's hard to explain, but my body just will not function!  I have learned that rushing can really make you sick and make it so you are unable to stick with your plans.  It was a hard lesson to learn!  I used to get up as close as possible to the time it was to leave and then rush and try on a bunch of different outfits, etc., but I learned that by doing that, I will almost always get myself into a flare so that is why I allow myself so much time to get ready.  If I need to change outfits, I pace myself.  Otherwise I get overheated very quickly and that is the one thing that will instantly make me sick and I can't shake it if I've allowed myself to get overheated.  So I have learned that and hope that little tip can help some people out there who aren't used to this.

The only real thing that I have heard from everyone in the medical field that is actually proven to help is mild exercise; however, having Fibro, it is the absolute last thing in the world that you feel like doing.  I got a little bit of inspiration today as I turned on a TV show I haven't watched before called Dance School: Julliard.  Watching all the graceful people on there just stretching and dancing looked so healing to me.  I actually did get out of bed a bit and did about 5 minutes of yoga and it did really help.  Felt so good to stretch out those super tight, sore muscles.  It is rare that I actually am motivated to do this, but sometimes a visual aid is most helpful!  I encourage you all to take a little time today and do a few relaxing (not difficult) yoga poses.  I have a fantastic book that I would recommend called Yoga for Fibromyalgia.  Normally I do better with videos, but this book is perfect for doing a few things here and there when you feel good enough to.  It is written by Shoosh Lettick Crotzer and it's pretty inexpensive to buy.  I think you can probably purchase it through my website actually!  If you go to Barnes & Noble As a client of mine you will get special pricing and shipping breaks sometimes.  Please check it out! I'd really appreciate it. :)

Well folks, I'm feeling a little bit (ok a lot bit) exhausted and dopey so I will sign off for now.  I hope I've provided some help for you today.  Please leave me a comment as it totally brightens my day and I love hearing from you all!

XO ~ Amy Jo

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Imaginisce Blog: Northridge Media CreaTV Videos with Kristine McKay...: "Have you seen the new blog for Northridge Publishing? They are the creators of some of your favorite magazines like Scrapbook Trends, Cards ..."

Serendipitous Day

Hello friends and followers.  I hope everyone had a spectacular day today.  I have been feeling sick off and on all day, but was finally able to create in the last hour or so.  I have made a card for my sister-in-law's birthday and will post it tomorrow, when the ink dries.  :)  I have two more to create at the latest by tomorrow.  I'm starting to fall behind and get myself into a little bit of trouble.  Uh oh. :p 

On a good note, my doctor's advice yesterday seemed to help.  I took a new medicine (essentially prescription strength Aleve) and it actually seemed to help quite a bit with the pain and the headache.  I'm truly shocked because usually, nothing works very well.  All my fibro friends, give it a try if you can stomach it.  I asked my doctor if there were drug interactions, because I swear I read that there were, but he insisted it was nothing to worry about.  All this time I could have been taking that to help and here I thought it would cause some bad interaction!  Who knew?

My day pretty much consisted of staying home, neurotically checking my blog to see if I got any new followers :0), selling on Craig's List, and thinking about what I could do if I felt well! :p  First off today I got an email from a cool fashion website and was able to put my two cents in over there.  LOL Check out www.lookville.com and look up my name (Amy Courchaine).  I posted some info there and can't wait to make that a part of my normal routine as I LOVE fashion and anything at all to do with it.  At one point I was attending the Academy of Art University online to get my degree in Fashion Design, before this illness hit.  Someday I really hope to go back to it, but for now I will be happy designing paper crafts. :)  Secondly, I was thinking about my favorite boutique and how I really wish I could write about them at this fashion website, but they don't have their own site so I couldn't do that.  Next thing ya know I get an email in my inbox from them (1st one ever!), and they have opened up an online boutique!  I am stoked and how weird is it that I was just thinking about it and it happened!  I feel like I should have a magic wand or something today. ;)  JK of course. *sigh*

Tomorrow my big day consists of going to pick up my ceramic creations and heading over to www.shopcapture.com to pick up some kits to work on from home.  I need to created about 15 kits for an upcoming winter card class, which of course, I plan on attending or at least purchasing one of the kits.  It's a habit that I just can't break!  I'm so addicted to the store that I work at and to scrapping in general that I really need to work about 10 jobs or win EVERY sweepstakes out there just to cover the expense! LOL 

I hope everyone has a great evening tonight and wish you all a restful sleep.  I am going to try to relax a bit, but if I can't, you'll see me back on here for sure!

XO ~ Amy Jo

Specialty B-day Card

Hi there friends and followers.  I feel I've been slacking on the creative end of things so I thought I'd share with you a custom b-day card I created.  Generally people give me a very basic idea of what they want and I just go with it and create one-of-a-kind cards that I sell.  If anyone ever needs something created just let me know.  My prices start at $2.00 and average around $4.00.  I love doing this.  It feeds my soul and keeps me going and the best part is when people get the card I've created, and love it.  That is the most important part!  I created this particlar card using my Cricut, two types of ribbon, glitter paper for the word "Kennedy", printed paper, card stock, stickles, stickers and a Zig marker.  Very easy to duplicate, but if you want the particulars just leave me a comment!  Thanks for looking!

XO ~ Amy Jo

Day 3 Part 1 - Weather Changes

Good evening fellow friends and followers.  I hope everyone is having a great day so far.  The weather change here in Colorado has just about killed me today!  I'm beginning to think I may need to move somewhere warm in the winter or I don't know if I'll survive this!  I had a pain management appointment today about an hour away from my house and thank goodness, I had a friend nice enough to give up her day to drive me.  When you have Fibro and the weather changes, it will pretty much throw you into a flare.  Meaning, everything hurts about 10 times more than normal and you have pain in places you didn't even know existed!  I mean, I have pain on the outside of the inside of my elbows.  How weird is that?  It's windy and rainy and snowy and just plain nasty here today.  There is snow up on the foothills.  Now, don't get me wrong, I love the changing seasons and I like to lay in bed and look at the snow, but when it affects you this much, it's not so pretty any more.  For the first time in a super long time, I actually went to sleep at a normal hour last night and woke up at a normal hour as well.  Unfortunately I woke up with a headache that still hasn't gone away (3 vicodin later). :(  My pain mgt. doc put me on another medication for days like this so I'll give it a whirl and see how it works.  That puts me up to 5 different meds a day, not including my multitude of multivitamins.  Now that's a lot to swallow! LOL  If anyone has any questions on Fibro meds, don't hesitate to ask!  I have been on every single one that is out there and have plenty of experience with what works (nothing) and what doesn't work (everything!). :)

On another note, I have been itching all day to scrapbook or work on some cards or do something creative, but haven't been able to due to all the pain so I will have to postpone until tomorrow probably. :(  I did bring my Gypsy (digital scrapbooking designer) with me to the appointment today, but didn't get to play too much.  I have some ideas in mind though of what I want to do.  First of all I want to do Jackie's card challenge over at http://www.sketchesforyou.ning.com/ .  They have some of the coolest challenges and some of them offer some great prizes if you win the challenge.  I haven't had a chance to even start on any yet, but I'm signed up for at least 4 or 5 of them.  There are some beautiful creations over there so if you get a chance check it out!

The only exciting thing to really happen today was getting the mail.  I had ordered some artwork from http://www.etsy.com/ from the artist, thelittlefox (do a search and search by artist).  It came today and I was very happy with everything I ordered.  I just love etsy and have only recently discovered it. I must have been living in a hole or maybe I spent too much time in the rabbit hole lately. ;)  JK - actually, what inspired me to purchase from this particular seller is her interpretation of Alice in Wonderland... my favorite movie and theme of all time.  I purchased some note cards and some prints to hang on the wall.  Go check it out if you have the chance.  She is incredible and her creations immediately draw you in.  You can also see her work at http://www.thelittlefox.net/.  Tell her I sent you! I am planning on making a collage of the postcards and cards that I ordered.  I will definitely post when I have it all finished up.  Trying to get my creative juices flowing!  If anyone has any awesome suggestions, let me know.

Well, dinner from Jason's Deli is almost here so I think I'll take my break and eat, but I'll catch you all either a little later tonight or tomorrow if not.

Sending love and light ~ Amy Jo XO

Day 2 - Part 2

Good evening lovely friends and followers.  I hope your day has been going well and hope everything went as planned.  I have been a bum as mentioned earlier, just like I said I was going to do. LOL  - No, I actually updated some Craig's list sales, checked my eBay sales and etsy too.  No action really anywhere! 

My Fibro took a bad turn today and I ended up in a bit of a flare.  I had to take a couple of Lorazepam to settle my stomach and get me a little more relaxed, unfortunately I got a little too relaxed and have been battling staying awake.  Oh, it's a vicious cycle cause if I let myself sleep too long, early in the evening, I will be up ALL night.  Never a good plan, so here I am!  Trying, but failing miserably at being productive.  *sigh*

As promised, I am posting a few pictures of some of the cards I have designed.  If you see any that interest you I can either recreate and sell them or I can give you the recipe and help you with the technique if you want to try it out on your own.  Let's give it a try, shall we?

The first one I'm posting is a Thank You card that I created for my mom (actually for my husband to give to her) for the birthday gift she sent him.  I'm going to try to upload it and see how it goes!  If it doesn't work, we'll try it again.  :)  Looks like it worked! Yay!  Please post if you have any questions at all and I'll tell ya how to make it.  Brief rundown is ribbon, card stock, patterned paper, brad, stickers, and hand made rose.  I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out.  Love the colors! Something like this I would sell for between $3.50 and $5.00.

There we go ladies and gentlemen, my very first project that I've ever posted!  I will be posting more soon, perhaps even tonight if I have my usual insomnia.

NOTE:  Previous 2 pages had a few broken links, but they are all fixed up and ready to use so if you were having any glitches or problems, please go back and try again and everything should work properly.

Once again, thanks for reading and being a part of my life.  XO - Amy Jo

Day 2 - Part 1

Good afternoon lovely friends and followers.  So glad to have you on board and thank you so much for the beautiful comments.  I woke up this morning so incredibly happy to see that not only have people looked at my blog, but I have comments and followers!  I feel fantastic about that.  :)  It's the little things in life that matter the most.  I have found that to be so true in my life.  Little things every day that you can be grateful for that were unexpected, matter so much when you don't feel well. 

I am having one of those days where I was up all night, woke up too early this morning and now I am suffering for that.  I am pretty bummed because I suddenly got hit with EXTREME nausea and have to miss my litte work shift today.  I was feeling ok, then it just hit!  Does anyone else with fibro get that type of thing?

I am also running behind on my custom creations and have several Thanksgiving, Get Well and Birthday cards that must get created soon!  I also have several scrapping challenges online that I really want to enter.  I found a super fun site to be a part of where you can create your own page and connect with fellow scrappers and card makers. It's like facebook for scrappers! Check it out at http://sketchesforyou.ning.com/ -  It's so much fun and the ladies are super encouraging and make you feel like you're actually creating something cool! LOL :)  I've made several new friends through the site and am very happy for that. 

I guess this is the month of Thanksgiving and, to be honest, I'm really feeling thankful lately for so many things!  Sorry if I'm getting a lil sappy here, but more often than not, we don't share how we're feeling and how lucky we are and I think it's important for people to know!  Most of the time we spend all of our breath complaining about what is wrong in our lives instead of expressing what is good.  Today is a day for me to express what is good and what I'm thankful for.  I would LOVE to hear from you all and find out what you're most greatful for in your life.  Feel free to list it ALL in a comment down below.  It reminds me of what I might have missed. :) In fact, writing this blog is inspiring me to create the Gratitude Journal that has been sitting in my "kits to be made" pile forever.  I will post pictures as I go along.  I got the kit at http://www.shopcature.com/ , the place I work.  I make the kits there, but don't design them.  They are always gorgeous and if your interested in purchasing them, I'd be happy to help you.  My boss would be thrilled! :)

I think I'm going to lie around and be a bum for a while and see if my stomach settles down a bit.  Might watch some TV or read some of Girls Like Us, a book about Joni Mitchell, Carly Simon, and Carole King.  Pretty interesting stuff!  Thank you all again for taking the time out of your busy schedule to read about my life.  I'll post some more later tonight when I'm not sleeping. LOL

XO - Amy Jo

PS - To my local ladies, check out meetup.com and Fort Collins Fabulous Females.  I'm the organizer of the group and would love to have new members!

Day 1 of Blog - Getting to know me

Good middle of the night to my new friends and followers.  Please bare with me as I have never created and stuck with a blog so I am just really learning the ropes.  I wanted to create this for a mish-mash of people:  First and foremost for people with fibromyalgia, like myself, to maybe get a little bit of encouragement in their day.  We all need that sometimes.  Secondly, I am creating this blog for people to learn all about fibromyalgia and what it's really like living with it.  This blog is for friends, family members and people who are curious in general.  Lastly, but not least, I am creating this blog for people who love to scrapbook and paper craft.  I am really getting going with this and it has kept me sane.  Especially on nights like tonight, where it's 2:00 in the morning and I'm not the least bit tired.  Pretty typical thing if you have fibromyalgia.  That's the good thing about having a hobby you can do at home in the middle of the night without disturbing anyone.  You might even be able to make a little money at it even and I know how desperately people with this condition need $!!! 

This is going to be sort of a diary for me and also a way of opening up to the world about the things I'm passionate about.  I guess that's what blogs are for really, right?  First I'd like to refer you all to my website to learn a little bit more about what it is I do.  http://www.amyjrockstar.com/ - I have several little hobby-type businesses to keep me going since I can no longer hold down a "real" job.  I have had to make drastic changes in my life and the job situation was one of the biggest ones and also one of the hardest changes.  I really loved my previous job as an office manager for an environmental testing and consulting company.  I felt like I had finally made it in life... was where I wanted to be and felt recognized for my abilities and very well compensated for it.  Amazing what happens when you just get to where you think you are supposed to be in life. :)

Now I'd like to refer you to a little place I work when I can.  It has become such a positive thing for me.  Check out http://www.shopcapture.com/ - It's a scrap booking store here in Fort Collins, CO where we hold classes and crops and I get to make the kits for those.  I get to make my own schedule and come when I can.  It gets me out of the house and in a happy mood instantly, the second I walk in the building.  I just love looking at all the pretty papers and stickers and everything else girly.  I spend a lot of time there just browsing even though I'm there practically every day and it's not a huge store by any means. LOL  I feel blessed that I can get out of bed to do that some days.  Some days I still can't get out of bed, but that is becoming more and more rare.  However, the recent weather changes have really been getting to me.

Thank you all for joining me tonight on my first blogging journey.  I will be posting pictures and fun stuff soon, just have to figure out how this all works.  I'd love to hear your feedback and comments and get some followers more than anything.  I'm an open person with a kind heart and I am always here to lend an ear, a shoulder, or a smile. :0)

Good night and best wishes for a beautiful day filled with positivity! XO - AJ