2023 April Miller Update

Another month has flown by and again we are way behind on certain things.

It feels like we are constantly overwhelmed and always behind on our tasks. This month we focused on social interaction which was very exhausting. Took a few days out of our week every week just to recover after each. Even then I STILL was trying to get little things done here and there.

Despite the stress and hectic month...we think we were quite successful. Let's cover what we've been up to!

A big one was heading down to a funeral for Jaron Miller, John's youngest brother. Of course exhausting because of an emotional funeral...but I had 4 hours of sleep and drove 8hrs that day. Didn't eat anything the whole day due to stress. The following day I was still on adrenaline and took care of John as he crashed. The next day it was my turn to feel the hit and then passed out for 18hrs that day. John then took care of me that day. Our adrenaline can take a while to calm down. So a few days after required for recovery. John needed an extra week longer than I did.

We are also working with Crafty Clique to create a community with fellow artists who are looking for projects and ideas, see what others are up to, purchase products or supplies, look for craft events, and more. It recently got started so please excuse the mess! We will also be sharing some of our processes there such as our ATCs or even our unique papermaking process! Lots of plans are in the works and we hope this year will be full of fun art and craftiness!

Next came the Who Gives a Scrap event at the Ruth Holley Library where we set up our Artist Trading Card table for visitors to create cards with us! The Who Gives a Scrap Event happens once a month at a different PPLD library where you bring old/unused/unwanted but usable art supplies and trade them for other art supplies you are interested in using. We absolutely LOVE this idea and have excitedly traded lots of good stuff. It was a lot of interaction but well worth it. Took another few days to recover from. The next event will be May 13th at Cheyenne Mountain Library from 1pm-4pm!

(We technically got this for free! Traded a box of beads I couldn't use and the family didn't want for items we are needing right away. Like that sign in the back? You'll see it in being used at the Pikes Peak Makes event! Even Sherlock enjoys going through the new stuff and stepping on everything as her stamp of approval.)

A few days after that and a day before my procedure I went to get an MRI on my back to see if there were any changes in my back since the last check almost two years ago. The bulging disc is gone! And one of my 4 herniated discs has shrunk a little! Doesn't sound like a lot of progress but I'm just thrilled the changes were all in the right direction.

The next day came to my back ablation procedure. That went well and I was doing quite well by the end of the day! My back was starting to really hurt with a lot more nerve zings I was supposed to have two procedures within two weeks of each other. One side of the spine one week, wait two weeks, and then the other side. However, on the day of the appointment for the second side, we had a very bad blizzard and had to reschedule. That happened to be a month and a half later the soonest. (This was also the blizzard where it said that emergency vehicles would NOT come to get you unless it was a life-and-death situation). I still had to be careful of my back the week of the procedure limiting my ability to get some tasks done. Time went both slowly and quickly~ Mostly did mental planning and writing in preparation for when I could get up and do them.

(I've been working on making art and using up as many of the art materials we have as I can. There are a few more added to this picture I haven't been able to put up yet.)

We had a few days open to rest and catch up on responsibilities and tasks. That was about 5 days? After my first two days where I didn't want to overbend my back or else feel the stab holes...I had a little bit of time left to prepare for my ATC event on Friday, as well as prepare for the PPLD Pikes Peak Makes the day after.

We have been extremely worn out with event after event and task after task. But that's life, isn't it? Gotta keep going.

The ATC event went well but strained us a bit more than we expected. We tried to have as much fun as we could but the worry of preparing for the next day's event with so many people and for such a long time period drained us before it even began. April's focus was going to be on Individual and group challenges. As a group, we each started a card and started drawing for a minute. After the time was up, we passed the card to the right and then drew on the new card for a minute. After that time was up, we passed it again until everyone had a minute with each card. Some of the attendees wanted to have it and they also got to work on their card one more time before calling it complete. They all looked SO COOL! I was so stressed I completely forgot to take pictures of them. I'll have to come back and edit this post of the one I got once I can. Our next event will be May 26th at the East Library from 3:30pm-5:30pm with the focus being Tools Test! We will meet in East Annex and try out different tools such as crimpers, silly scissors, puffy dots, shape punches, stamps, and more!

With such little energy before our ATC Event, would we have enough to survive the Makes event? Should we even go?

Well, we did!

We were so glad we did! Yes, we did get burnt out (even more), but we knew that the following day we were going to be able to shut off from everyone and rest. We interacted, made art, met some nice and interesting people, and overall enjoyed our time. Also, thrilled many people were just as excited about ATCs as we were! Can't wait to see what they create! We passed out maybe 50 by hand and then had about 30 be picked up at the edge of the table. I'm so glad I made as many Top Hats as I did. I had a few left by the end and needed to make more.

(We are really getting up there in numbers aren't we?)

With that, I do want to announce that Debbie, who entered our free raffle from the Makerfaire, won! She now gets to choose either an ATC Jar Kit or an ATC Size Guide that we personally designed and created. Message us to let us know which you prefer and where you would like to pick it up. =)

Unfortunately, we thought we would be able to rest but that Sunday was not restful, nor could we fully rest knowing it was the last day of the month and bills needed to be paid, groceries needed to be picked up, and reward points used up before they expired...just more stressful events popped up that day that made me just want to break down and cry. John's been doing his best to take care of me and we've been doing our best to keep moving forward. It's so much but we are trying to stay positive and keep going. There is so much promise we don't want to miss.

So we will be using most of May to stay home and recover while catching up on home tasks. Of course, we will still be a part of the WGAS event and be hosting our end-of-the-month ATC event at the East Library. There was so much we wanted to get done for summer and this may be the last time to push that done before we switch to summer mode!

Let's get ready for some BIG changes! <3

See you in the next summary!