Death, Gimp, Writing

I made it through Easter weekend!

It’s the Monday after Easter and…I made it through.  There’s been a lot of death and sickness going on among the people I care about, but I made it through this Easter weekend.

For those of you who don’t know, my mother passed away on a Good Friday.  She’d suffered with Multiple Sclerosis my entire life.  Her immune system was shot.  It was so busy destroying her nervous system, it couldn’t fight simple things like a cold or flu bug.  One day, my mother got sick with a cold, and ended up in the hospital ICU.  Her lungs shut down first, then everything else began to shut down as well.  After close to a month of being hooked up to machines, we had a family meeting.  It was time to allow my mother to die.  There’s more to this story, but the end result was that on a Good Friday in March, almost ten years ago, I signed the mountain of paperwork, the hospital took my mother off of life support, and 20 minutes later, she passed away.  I held her hand as she took her last breaths.

Cheery, right?  Unfortunately, death is a part of life.

Anyways, I did really well this year.  March was rough, but I reminded myself that we are now in April, and I got through this weekend, no tears.

I got a little writing done, though its been going slow.  Bah!  I also set up a Blogger account.   Yes, I can hardly keep up with this blog, so I REALLY don’t need another, but I got sick of Blogger being so fickle when I’ve tried to comment on my buddies posts.  If you already have a Blogger account, I’m:  http://julihoffman.blogspot.com/

I’ve been playing with GIMP.  I hear that books eventually need covers, and I’m determined to finish the ending of Book 1, but I still think that at home dentistry would be easier.  LOL  Some of the tutorials I’ve been playing with are pretty cool.  I’m in awe of the ideas people have.  Yes, I do have a talented buddy who does some AMAZING covers for  crazy reasonable prices, *cough* Joleene Naylor, but I’d like to a least TRY to create a…something.  I’m stubborn.  I am NOT an artist, but I have a heaping pile of stubbornness and I would LIKE to be able to say, “I did this, the whole thing!”  We shall see how that goes.

Playing with Gimp Tutorial

Take care, and have a great day!

Juli 

8 thoughts on “I made it through Easter weekend!”

  1. You’re not giving up this WordPress blog are you? Because I hate trying to comment on blogger. 😦

    I know it’s hard to come upon anniversaries of loved ones. This May 1 will be the first anniversary of my best friend’s death, and I’m not sure how I’ll handle that. I still find times when I think “I need to tell her this….” only to remember I can’t.

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    1. I’m not giving up WordPress. WordPress feels like home. I know that sounds silly, but that’s how I feel. I just got SICK of trying to comment on blogger. What a pain!!! I figured, if I got a blog on there, it should let me comment easier. But again, what a pain!!!!!!!!!!!!!

      I am SOOOOO sorry for your loss. I have times when I wish my mother could see how my kiddo is doing. My son was born after she passed away. It’s hard. 😦

      Take care, Lauralynn!

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  2. Oh – I see when your birthday is We had a nice Passover I’m sorry about all the sickness. The stress is sometimes worse on the healthy ones. You had to make difficult decisions. I hear gimp is good though I use other programs. I do not have a blogger account but then I have no trouble commenting on blogger either. It would be handy for following up but there are just so many hours in the day

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    1. I’m glad you had a nice Passover!!!

      I’ve got a couple of programs I’ve been playing with, but no matter what program I use, I feel like I’m back in kindergarten, drawing with the over-sized crayons! LOL Hubby got me a digital pad thing, but I haven’t made much use of it. It’s like you said. There’s not enough hours in the day!!! 🙂

      I plan on using wordpress as my primary blog. I don’t have many blogs that I follow, but it sure makes it easier to comment on blogger, now that I have one foot in each door.

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  3. Sorry about your mother – MS is a *insert profanity here*. Anniversaries and reminders can be so tough.

    Hope you’re doing okay with everything that’s going on around you right now.

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  4. sending belated hugs your way!!! (I’ll send double since they’re late!) I hear it gets better every year, though I have to admit I don’t know about that right now 😦 The people are moving into Mable’s house across the way and bleh…. I am hoping the USDA loan works out.

    Glad to hear you’re writing, and yes! It’s fun doing the cover yourself 😀 Gimp is a cool program, though I admit I have not used it much, but I have used some tutorials made for GIMP and messed with it a bit and it is pretty powerful! I say BAH to photoshop!

    * disappears to blogger* YAY! you have an email subscription available!!! *subscribe*

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    1. Thanks Jo! Though today, I’m typing one handed. Grrr…

      That must be hard, seeing people move into her home so quickly. Hoping your loan works out, too!!! I’ve got another paint program, hubby gave me. Regardless of which one I use, it’s just of sitting down, and forcing myself to learn.

      *giggles* Thanks for subscribing, Jo!

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