It has been a while since I have blogged. There have been many reasons.
First of all, I am thankful to God who took care of all 4 of us and allowed us to walk away from a horrible car accident. On March 22, 2014 we were happily on our way to Austin,Texas to visit our family. We were going to spend the night somewhere in Kansas. At least that was the plan.
On Friday evening, (the day before) our Ford Excursion would not start. On Saturday morning, David took the batteries to Sears who had them checked. One was bad and needed replacing.
Our water heater at home had been acting up. Before jumping into the shower, we had to make sure the water heater was working. If it was not, we had to relight the pilot light. We thought we could wait until we returned from Texas to replace it.
Car trouble and water heater were two factors in delaying our trip to Texas. Our plans to leave in the morning quickly faded with these two problems/delays. So, we left much later. I try not to think about "what if" because it can just make you crazy; but it's impossible not to.
We were just 6 miles west of Limon, CO. We knew a light snow had fallen earlier. When we left Denver, it was snowing lightly but that is not a big deal, especially when the day earlier it had been so warm. As soon as the snow hit the ground, it melts. Turns out in the plains, temperatures can drop suddenly and the road can flash freeze quickly. As we were on the road, it was cloudy but it was not snowing or raining. Without any warning, we suddenly hit black ice, lost control as the truck swerved across both lanes (thankfully no other cars were near us), then we spun around a full 360 across two lanes when suddenly it felt like we were sucked into a hole (actually when down a hill) and rolled over. The entire time, all I remember is I kept repeating, "we will be okay." I had no other thought. I have to think I truly believed it because there was no other thought in my mind. I wonder about that. What made me think or believe that? I don't know. Perhaps it was just having faith.
The impact was hard but thankfully, we all checked on each other to realize we were all okay. We were shaken, full of dirt but okay. The glass in the truck shattered. I just remember seeing broken glass and dirt and everything inside the truck completely was turned over. We immediately knew our truck was totaled. It's amazing how cold we all were. Strangers stopped to help us. David and Laura had to crawl out while Alex and I were able to open the door. A sweet young woman traveling from Idaho to Oklahoma had us seat inside her warm car while the Limon police, EMT's and firemen came to help us. The EMT's drove us to a hotel in Limon.
Since Laura gets carsick when she rides in the back on road-trips, she sits in the front passenger seat. We did not realize until Sunday, when we retrieved the rest of our belonging from the truck, (at the salvage yard) how close it was for this to have been a catastrophe event for our family. The damage to our truck is horrific. It's so bad, I won't post pictures because I don't want my parents or my mother in law to see them. I posted about this on my personal Facebook page and did not post pictures for the same reason.
The damage to the front passenger area was the worst. The bent metal frame came only inches from Laura's seat. We thanked God for taking care of us and letting us all walk away on Saturday, but it was on Sunday when we realized how lucky we really were. Our family was intact. Our family was relatively unharmed. God took care of us, and perhaps a few Guardian Angels too.
My friend Staci and her husband Ron drove to Limon on Sunday (March 23 - also my son's Alex birthday) to take David and Laura to the Denver airport to rent an SUV. Limon does not have any rental car companies. David and Laura then drove back to Limon to pick Alex and I up at the hotel. After we retrieved our belongings from the truck, we drove back home to Littleton. We were back home Sunday night.
Sadly, our plans were to celebrate Alex's birthday with the Wagner family in Austin. Alex was sad that his birthday was not what we expected; however, we were also thankful we were all alive. When we got home we were touched by the surprise our next door neighbors had prepared for Alex. Ryan is Alex's best friend. Ryan and his family decorated our front door with birthday wrap and a homemade sign to greet Alex. This not only made Alex smile but us as well. We are grateful to have so many wonderful friends. The photo of our decorated front door in on my phone. I will try to add it later.
During our Spring break we dealt with replacing a water heater, insurance, and taking Laura to the doctor. On Tuesday, March 25, we learned Laura actually suffered a minor concussion and a bit of whiplash. She has been receiving physical therapy for her neck and shoulder. The high school has her on a concussion protocol which means her workload can be lighted a bit and has been benched from playing tennis. When she gets home from school, she is exhausted. She has had to come home from school early a few times. She is getting better but it will just take some time for her to fully recover.
On Wednesday,March 26, we tried to salvage our Spring Break. We went on a day trip to Colorado Springs. Yes, we all had some road anxiety about being back on the road but I suppose that is natural and with time and future road-trips it will all get better.
Alex loves dinosaurs, so as a birthday treat, we went to the Rocky Mountain Dinosaur Resource Center in Woodland Park, near Colorado Springs. Alex loved it! He thought it was a great birthday gift. Afterwards, we drove to Manitou Springs. We had a great family time. We played many video games in an arcade area in Manitou Springs. We had a delicious pizza dinner then headed home to Littleton.
Getting back to a routine was a challenge but we are all doing our best. It took me a while but I finally found my creative muse and that has helped me so much. I have three shows coming up, Sugar Plum Bazaar, A Paris Street Market and Horseshoe Market starting at the end of April.
I always like to create new items for the shows, so although I am feeling overwhelmed it helps me to have a real deadline to have some things done.
I love vintage pattern illustrations. I have been collecting them for some time. I will provide more details in a posting later but this is a sneak peek at my newest items...still in progress
Dominoes Game pieces + Vintage Pattern Illustrations = Altered Dominoes Pendants
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| To my friend June...do you recognize the wedding dress pattern? It's your dress!! I will be sending you this dominoe pendant soon! |
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