The Creepin' Crud and an Altered Book

I've been sick for the past two weeks and it is getting really old.  My boss was sick in mid-November, going into the Thanksgiving weekend.  By the time Deb and I found out he was sick, we hadn't been taking precautions of swiping stuff down with Clorox wipes.  I admit since the swine flu scare went away, I've grown lax about using Purell, although I do wash my hands a lot. 

Deb came back to work from Thanksgiving, with it too.  By that Wednesday, I had lost my voice as well.  The clients and the other attorneys who called kept asking why we were even still there at all.  We were both coughing, sneezing, blowing our noses....croaking into the phones....getting overheated and sweaty from standing at the copier for too long.  Or just standing for too long.  He sent us home Thursday and I went to the doctor on Friday.  I was good and sick.  Fever.  Freezing cold.  Headache that would not quit.  Earache. Painful lymph nodes....They made me wear a mask at the doctor's office.  I got my antibiotics that morning and spent the rest of the weekend sleeping and shivering under a blanket on the couch.  I was so weak that I couldn't even sit up straight at my craft table.

The antibiotics started to work their magic fairly quickly, but now this creepin crud is just hanging on for dear life.  While I'm not full blown sick, I'm still not 100% either.  Do you have any idea how uncomfortable it is to sleep sitting up?  I have no choice b/c I start coughing if I don't.  It sucks.  My nose got so sore from blowing it that my septum was torn to shreds and scabbed.  But every time I blew my nose or sneezed, all the cuts would open up and gush blood.  Oh and let's not forget about the "other" side effects from taking antibiotics....I'll spare you the TMI images but you all know what I mean, esp. if you are a chick, which most of my readers seem to be.  I've had more energy and was able to do a variety of crafts over the weekend which was awesome.  But I'd really, really like to shake this bone weary exhaustion and coughing.  My right ear still feels full although it doesn't hurt.  And I cannot get enough to drink.  I just had my bloodwork done the day I went to the dr. and my glucose is normal so it's not diabetes. I'm just thirsty, cold and tired every day.

It concerns me to think that these illnesses are becoming more and more drug resistant.  Deb's still coughing pretty much nonstop.  She and I are both over 2 weeks into this and it's not going away.  I wish I could go into work late for a few days, so I could sleep, but as usual we are straight out with cases.  I'll be very glad when the holiday season is over.  I'm ready to put this year to rest.

Anywho, over Thanksgiving weekend I worked on an altered book project that I've wanted to try for awhile. I have some favourite papers, ephemera, and other trinkets and decided to finally put them together into one place. The book is a plain, white thin foam board craft book from the scrapbooking section of the local craft shop.  I covered each page with pretty papers and stuff.  

My idea was to cut windows into some of the pages, and then insert a frame with glass in the center, with designs on each side of the page.  Once it was all done I sanded all the edges of the pages so that they'd be even, then inked the edges with green aging ink.  Click on the pics for a closer look, as the papers are so pretty.

The left page shows another glass 'window' from the hole I cut in the cover page.  I do want to add a couple more watch pieces and faces onto the right page.

I used some quotes that I liked, about living your life on your terms.  There's another window on the right page with glass covering a quote.

I love keys.

This page has a removable little card.

Left page is the reverse glass frame of the long window page.

Another removable card on the left.

The butterfly and dragon fly are attached w/ foam mounting tape to give it a 3D effect.  The bottom border is stacked on 2 layers of the foam tape.  I was trying to go for a garden fence look. It looks better in real life.

This is the back cover and I covered the spine with a piece of ribbon.