Update 103

March 4 – So begins 2010. Aside from Tanya the Tummy trying to get bigger than all the rest of me things here are just fine. Had my 6 month oncology check-up and all is great. They are so very happy for me as I am for myself. Good thing as I am running around like a crazy person trying to keep up with all the things I have going on in my life. New UGC business is going great guns and I am still travel teaching, working for Speedball Art and attending trade shows for both my own art stuff and for the glass stuff as well.

If you want to take a peek at what I am doing in glass go to uniqueglasscolors.com. If you are on FaceBook go to facebook.com/uniqueglasscolors and see what our customers are doing! Sooooooooooooo impressive. Daughter Jennifer is our webmaster/data analyst/IT – whatever tekkie stuff is needed.

Okay enough on the advertising!  I am the Director of Marketing so really, what can you expect!!!!!!!!!!! I am just so excited to be able to work with my family in a business – it is exhilarating! Me, Harold, Heather (niece), Jennifer, SJ (we have adopted him so he is now family) and even my great nephew Darcy comes in and counts bottles for us.

Just finished up my February Art Experience and as always, it was great fun. A bit hectic this year as I went to visit daughter Jaime in January, left the next weekend for CHA in California to work for Speedball Art, had two weeks to go the a glass trade show (here in Orlando, thank heavens) then a week later students arrived for the AE and now I am playing catch up with my business and the UGC business and finishing up my Angel for the new Decorative Arts Collection book (they are fabulous) and getting ready to film a new video on my new Margot’s Miracle MUD product (oh-oh, Advertising Addie  just popped in again!) and we all leave for Vegas the beginning of April for a huge glass show where SJ and I are teaching and UGC has a booth and then I get home on Monday and leave a few days later to work for Speedball Art again at NAMTA (National Art Materials Trade Association)  in Indianapolis and then…………getting ready to teach in May in Wichita for the Society of Decorative Painters and then on to Arkansas to teach and then on to Houston for the Artist Expo Convention and then August is FREE before it begins again in September. Still showing at galleries, too. I was the Seminole Cultural Arts Council Artist of the Month for February so got to take my AE students to the Art House to show off!  Also have work hanging in the corporate offices of the Fifth Third Bank here in Orlando and getting ready for a three month exhibit at the hospital where all my surgeries have taken place. They are creating a Gallery of Healing where patients can go and view art and “renew their spirit” while having to stay in the hospital.

So – not bad for a two time cancer survivor, huh!  I make sure I get a good night’s sleep and eat right (well, Tanya the Tummy can attest to that!  Maybe I should eat less of the “right” stuff!)

No real side effects left except an occasional bout with that awful persona, that Evil Leg and Foot Cramp Lucinda Faye! We are keeping an eye on Polly of the used to be Perky Twins. Since Dolly had to have that smooth implant she looks like she belongs to a 62 year old woman! Polly on the other hand is getting a bit hard (however she is still very perky!) – she did have the radiation, poor thing, but she is not to the point of hurting so she gets to stay there as long as she behaves. If she has to be replaced she will have to move down in the world to match Dolly so they can be real twins again. Right now they qualify as fraternal twins!

March 15 – Just a couple of random sayings I want to write down before I lose them! I come across these and just have to record them somewhere!  The first is by artist Jodi Hill and says, “She wasn’t where she had been. She wasn’t where she was going…. But she was on her way.”  Lordy, lordy, is that not an appropriate statement for someone in the middle of chemo or radiation? If I had that one when I was going through all that I would have placed it on a sticky note and put it on my computer screen so I could see it every single day. 

The second one is not so profound and has been around for awhile but I still like it. “Just when the caterpillar thought her world was over….She became a butterfly.

This must be my “random thoughts” day. I just took the short version of the Enneagram Type Indicator Sampler Test or RHETI Sampler Test to verify my personality type. My daughter Jaime swears by these things and we had determined that I was a three and she knew she was an eight. There is a longer version that you pay for and is more accurate but the free one I took is good, too. My test score verified what we suspected. I am indeed a three. Here is what it says – “The Achiever – The adaptable, success-oriented type. Threes are self-assured, attractive and charming. Ambitious, competent and energetic, they can also be status-conscious and highly driven for advancement. They are diplomatic and poised, but can be overly concerned with their image and what others think of them. They typically have problems with workaholism and competitiveness. At their best - self-accepting, authentic and everything they seem to be – role models who inspire others.”  I am also very close to a seven (The Enthusiast) and an eight The Challenger) which are indeed close to how I think. It is an eye-opening test because you get the bad with the good so you can’t go around saying how great you are without throwing in the not-so-good stuff but it makes you see yourself and more importantly how others see you. You can do this yourself by going to enneagraminstitute.com – go ahead and do it – it’s fun!

July 31 – Daughter Jaime and her family just left after being here for a couple of weeks. Every year when they come to visit I teach an art class for my grandkids and nephew and this year it was Fused Glass. They did great, even to cutting some of their own glass. They watched while I put it in the kiln and then we all took a deep breath when I opened the kiln so they could see their finished work. That was great fun! They live out of town so it was so nice to have the whole family together under one roof for awhile.

Getting geared up to go to my next 6 month oncology appointment. Going through a pretty severe bout of bursitis in my right hip at the moment. Began taking steroids yesterday so am beginning to feel a bit better. Here is how your mind works after cancer. Back and hip pain – OMG has the cancer gotten into my bones? Then your brain takes over and says to you – “Okay, you have overdone it AGAIN and I am showing you what happens when you do. You have had bursitis before so you should recognize this pain even though it is more severe because you REALLY OVERDID IT THIS TIME! There is a perfectly logical explanation for this pain.”  And then you go to the doctor at the urging of your hubby and friend and sure enough, after X-rays to be sure that nothing else was going on they diagnosed me with bursitis. However, I am not the only one who considered the cancer factor. We were all in the offices of Unique Glass Colors and Dr. SJ had his head down at his desk and said – “Glad you went to the doctor considering what the past…………….” so I knew then why he kept urging me to go to the doctor. Going to go get a massage next week to ease my sore muscles from walking funny to ease my hip. I am also going to get back on a regular maintenance schedule of massage so I am not so sore all the time.

August 12 – Just had my six month oncology check-up (still continuing with six month check-ups as he likes the five year mark but my oncologist will happier with ten years since I had the recurrence) and aside from the Harpy who has taken up residence in my hip I am fine and still in remission. Well, how boring is that! I can’t think of anything interesting to write since I didn’t even have the Heebie Jeebies this time before my appointment. It will be five years in October since the last recurrence so I am feeling good (except for Hippy Harpy) and sooooooooo busy. On August 18 we are celebrating owning Unique Glass Colors for one whole year so have yet another milestone in my life. Business is great for both of my companies and it is getting harder and harder to travel (one of the reasons Hippy Harpy came to visit) lugging all that stuff around and flying……………….well, don’t get me going on that subject! Anyway, I have decided not to travel so much by myself anymore and do conventions where Harold and SJ can help lug all that stuff and do more classes here locally as we have a great classroom at the UGC company so I don’t have to rearrange my home studio for any classes and can keep all my “stuff” out so I can work on it when I have a spare minute. I think DVD’s are going to be something I do more of also, as I won’t have to travel and will still be able to teach my stuff. Life is good!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Shall I explain about Hippy Harpy? Do you remember from mythology about the Harpies? Mean, evil sisters that looked like big scary birds with sharp claws? Well, that is what my hip feels like – one of them is in there constantly clawing at my tender flesh and I DON’T LIKE HER!  She needs to go the way of that Evil Leg and Foot Cramp Lucinda Faye who finally does not come to visit very often at all. Am seeing an orthopedic doctor because they thought I had fractured my hip and I hadn’t fallen so of course that scared the you know what out of me. I had a bone density test a couple of months ago at the request on my oncologist and my bones were normal then, so what happened?  If my bones were fracturing because of a heavy schedule then I was in big trouble. Had an MRI and then more X-rays and they showed nothing but I can tell you when the doctor said to me there was no evidence of a fracture and “no tumors” I felt my stomach drop. When he left the room so I could collect my stuff and leave I had to sit there for a few minutes because it took all I had not to break down and sob my relief. As it was I did a lot of gulping and had to call upon Controlling Constance for help so I could check-out and get to my car. I did cry there. Because you know the thought of a recurrence was sitting there in my mind – just waiting…………………….

Filming the intro for a new DVD today on my very own product, MUD, that we (UGC) developed and manufacture (how cool is that!), working as the CEO and Director of Marketing for UGC, working with daughter Jennifer who is our webmaster for UGC on our new website (uniqueglasscolors.com in case you are interested), getting ready for classes in both painting and glass, new article coming out in Glass Patterns Quarterly, laying in brick work down the side of my studio to extend the patio (that is on hold until the Harpy leaves) and purging my house of all unwanted and unnecessary stuff.  Not bad for a soon to be sixty-three year old two time cancer survivor is it!  In the last few months I have had people tell me they are too old to start something new and when I find out they are younger than me I go into my speech!  I also have a friend the same age as me and she got her degree in Psychology a couple of years ago and is happily working counseling women with substance abuse problems sooooooooooooooooooooooooo…………………………don’t ever tell me you are too old to do something you want to do – Just do it! Picture what you really want it in your mind – all the details must to be there – that is point C. You are at point A. Now begin to work on how to get to C. That is B but it is not a point as you keep moving along it so let’s call it the B-Line. However, you have to have C firmly in your mind so you can plan. If C is fuzzy then the B-Line will not be clear either.

I can’t even think of a good photo for this Update. I have just been working and working so I think I will just use my own photo to remind you what I look like!

Until next year – February is my next appointment – take care of yourself (coming from someone who must practice what she preaches!) and get mammograms, PSA tests, colonoscopies, etc. and stay healthy!

Margot    a.k.a.  Controlling Constance and Hippy Harpy

If you have any questions please email me

top of page