Getting Back On Track..

My deepest apologizes for not keeping this up-to-date. :( Our house has been CRAZY! With the kids back in school, AJ starting her dance classes again, and Kyle playing football, we've had hardly any time to breathe! Jim's foot has become much worse, and there wasn't much (in my eyes) being done, other than medications that weren't helping. So, I decided to start my own research. Literally. I printed probably over 100 pages of studies and such, grabbed highlighters and went to town. We sat at Buffalo Wild Wings for hours and just read them over, highlighting what we found interesting or potentially helpful. It was somewhat depressing, I suppose...neither of us had really dug that deep into his condition. I've always been so focused on my medical health, I've never had time to even think about his. Since he has many doctors on his case, many of whom he trusts, I never felt the need to intervene...until recently. I found a (very) few studies on Ketamine and the results of patients with RSD/CRPS afterwards. To me, it sounded pretty good....though not guaranteed. I also found a couple of studies on HBOT therapy. I quickly notified Jim of my findings, and he forwarded the information to his medical team. Since then, it's been an uphill battle trying to get the approval for the Ketamine drip to happen...not only does it HAVE to be through the VA (as Jim's injury is service-connected), but it must be approved as a treatment altogether. :( Since it's been taking some time to gain approval, and Jim is getting worse every day, I began researching other facilities who specialize in this treatment. I found a couple in the US that I was impressed with, one of which is in Florida. My plan (for now) is to (somehow by a miracle) get Jim to Florida for treatment IF we cannot gain the approval for it to happen here in Omaha. I hope it doesn't come to that, but when we discussed it (happened to be on my birthday, which is the one day of the year I absolutely DREAD), I saw tears in that man's eyes (for the third time in my life). To me, that was gut-wrenching. I PROMISED him that I would get him to Florida if all else fails. I will take out credit cards, do fundraisers, whatever it takes. We've been (trying) to work extra here and there to help with MY medical bills and the house......and we're (kinda) failing at that...so I will need to come up with a better plan. For now, we are trying to focus on his treatment being here. While we do love Florida and miss it very much, we would rather do this closer to home, as it is a very big deal. I recently talked with Jim about trying to journal or blog about his diagnosis and treatments. I find it (kind of) funny that my blog went from wedding planning, to house remodeling, to ttc, to medical issues that are keeping us from ttc. I am proud to say that he recently started his own blog, which is a HUGE step for him. If you could, please check it out and support him, even if you really aren't interested in his diagnosis. If you are interested enough in me and you're on my blog, you should be interested in Jim, as he IS my husband, best friend, rock. 

Jim's Blog

 Anyway, with all of this going on, I've been doing better until just the last couple of weeks...starting to get headaches daily again, however, I think it may be due to the insane Nebraska weather, i.e. 70 degrees today, 30 degrees tomorrow. Just sayin'. :) We have done SOME work on the house, though not nearly as much as I would have liked. We were stopped due to the bathtub leaking into the garage...I found the ceiling falling the the floor one day. Seriously. So...that was about a week's worth of labor. :) Meanwhile, I refinished all of the doorknobs in the house, which was a HUGE pain in the butt! The paint would NOT stick, so it took forever! Lesson learned. I've also started to sand and re-stain the window frame in Kyle's (future) room....Jim finished the closet and made a rack for his clothes, so I started staining those, as well. I'm beginning to think about doing the baseboards, and I HATE them throughout the house, and buying new is soooo expensive. Not sure yet. Next is pulling up the baseboards and carpet and putting up the wall, then painting. For my birthday, I asked for a Home Depot card to help us get some things done around here. :) ahahahaha These are some pictures of the things I just mentioned.I also recently changed our mailbox. As you can see, our old one was HIDEOUS, not to mention the condo of many, many ants that would crawl all over our mail. We clean, sprayed, and shook that mailbox, but they always came back. We found a used one for a few bucks, so I quickly bought some glitter paint and texturizing paint and went to town. :) Jim jokes that that mailbox is for the home of Edward, the sparkly vampire. :)

Bye bye, old mailbox!

Covered with some kitchen wrap. :)

Mod podge did NOT work with this, so I just sprayed a sealant instead.

Covered some of the numbers, but you get the idea. :) So sparkly!

For Kyle's closet!

Working on the ceiling. :(

Meanwhile, I had my own projects on the other side of the garage.

Kids helping Dad with the ceiling.

More trim. :)

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Just Keep Drinking...

So, with my exciting history, I have a tendency to dehydrate very easily and very quickly. It's been a couple of years (knock on wood) since I've ended up hospitalized for fluids, and I don't miss it. I've learned to catch it and reverse it fast. However, that wouldn't be the best idea while being pregnant...heck...it's just a bad idea anyway! I am one of those people that hates water. It gives me a tummy-ache, and I easily go days/weeks without drinking water. On top of that, I'm NEVER thirsty, so I don't drink much of anything in the first place. Well, I fell pretty ill in the matter of about 8 hours the other day. I thought I felt it coming, but I realized I was dizzy and having a hard time concentrating. Whoops. I tried and tried to get fluids in, but I was too late. Luckily, I didn't end up needing the ER or hospital. I did see someone at my work, and they helped me get the right things before I got worse. Thankfully, I was feeling better that day. It's ironic, though...last week before all of this, I was at Walgreens and saw this cute water bottle on sale for $2.50. I bought it and measured (realistic for me) amounts and wrote the goal times on the bottle. I only did times for the days I work, since those are my most "fluid-depleted" days of the week. I was in a class and noticed that I'd surpassed my goal by hours, so I took a pic to prove it to Jim. lol 

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Our Honeymoon Seashells!

I've still got a few truckloads of wedding/honeymoon keepsakes that I need to go through, but we'd intended on keeping the seashells that we'd collected while on our honeymoon in Florida. Problem was, we didn't have any ideas! So, they they stayed in the beach bag. I came up with the idea of using that with a map of where we were in Florida. Jim suggested that we use our beach picture (on the windiest day of that week) and put the shells around it. I knew they wouldn't fit in a regular frame, so I used one of the leftover shadowboxes from when I made AJ's ballet shadowbox, since it came as a set of 3. We tried to "swirl" them around our photo, but that didn't work. So, I glued them with super glue around the picture and used leftover black cardstock from our wedding. I double-sided taped the picture on beforehand. One of the shells got stuck to my finger and broke, so we had to glue it back together. :( Anyway, here it is! (Another bad iPhone pic. Sorry!)

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Please Remove Your Shoes Sign

I'd seen something similar on..you guessed it...PINTEREST! I HATE stained carpet (though I should try to get used to it, what with two dogs, two cats, two kids, and a man, right?), but we do make a habit of removing our shoes. However, not everyone sees us in socks or barefoot when they come over, nor do they notice the pile of shoes nicely displayed on the rug RIGHT NEXT to the front door prior to the stairs coming into the house. SO, when I saw cute little signs, I decided that I had to have one. This was quite simple, however, I couldn't place it where I originally had intended, as the wall wasn't quite as wide as I thought. I was at Michael's (shocker) and found these frames in the clearance rack (it said $1, but somehow it rang up at .75....no complaints here!), some $1 ribbon, and I had bought some orange scrapbooking paper for the frame...HOWEVER, I was exhausted and messed up, so I was going to buy some more this week, but remembered that I had A TON of paw print paper left, which I'd used for Oscar's big shadowbox, AJ's Mom and Me book, and our "barf bag container" in my car. lol It matches our orange and green walls, so I figured, what the hell. Mod Podge and made a pic of AJ and me after her first pedi blue-ish. I copied lettering from a font online. I tried to trace it, but the paper was too dark, so I had to free-hand it, then went over it with a Sharpie pen. Mod Podge again. I took a furniture touch-up pen to the lighter wood color to make it match our decor. Drilled small holes into the top to thread in the ribbon. The "hangers" were a PITA to find. It's not at all what I'd envisioned, but it works. They're actually little letter "G's," but I'd flipped them. I had to take a permanent marker to them, as all of them were pretty torn up at Michael's. Whatever works. There ya have it!

Coloring kinda sucks...It was taken from my iPhone. Sorry!

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Doggie Cookies!

I get so annoyed with the prices of pet treats, ESPECIALLY dog treats. My dogs don't even chew the small treats, let alone taste them! Since Sam had known food allergies as a puppy, I've always been skeptical about home-making anything for him. Now that he's older and we've tested a few different foods treats that we KNEW he'd had reactions to before, I know what he can and can't tolerate. (Go figure, I pick the dog with health issues. Apple, Tree....?!) I'd found a bunch of recipes online, but so many of them called for either off-the-wall ingredients that I wasn't about to purchase (or knew I couldn't find), OR they called for garlic (dogs shouldn't have garlic) or corn, which is one of his triggers. So...after much searching, I'd found a handful of recipes I wanted to try. I was planning on doing a couple of them, but I didn't realize that we were out of a couple of things I thought we'd had, and we only go to the store every 2 weeks after payday (except for essentials that run out, i.e. milk). So, I planned on making these cookies I'd seen that sounded simple. I'd bought cute dog cookie cutters at Michael's a while back, but hadn't used them yet. I didn't use one of them with these, but I did use the bones, dogs, and paw prints. I chose to leave out the dog houses. The only thing we struggled to find was carob, which I'd been searching for for months. Last weekend, I thought, what if a "health food store" had it, since it's "vegan?" We went to Whole Foods and found carob chips in with the bulk items that you bag yourself. WOOHOO! However, it was somewhat pricey. The only issue I had with making these nummies was, I'd microwaved the chips after baking the cookies, as the recipe said to, BUT it turned really thick and oily...almost like molasses, but worse. It wouldn't stick to the cookies. I'd wasted a whole cup of those babies. :( Jim melted them on the stove over boiling water, and that worked MUCH better. The pups LOVED them. It was funny...as I was making them (they STINK, btw. If you're a nurse, you know what I'm talking about when I say that the fragrance of molasses made my stomach roll. haha), they were sitting patiently right behind me and under my feet, which they don't usually do when I'm baking or cooking, unless something was dropped on the floor. They gobbled these up! I just stuck them in a big ziplock bag....I'm not sure on the proper storage. I suppose they should go in the fridge or freezer at some point if not eaten soon. I don't see that happening with our mutts. :) P.S. It didn't make as many as I thought it might, BUT I may have made them a little thick. Not sure.

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Front Door Sign

So, this wasn't that complicated, but took some time, considering we had to go to Kinko's to get it printed out, as it was bigger than what our NEW printer could handle. :( Anyway, I'd seen many different "No Soliciting, Don't Bug Me About Jesus" signs online, but I couldn't find one that had EVERYTHING I wanted to be said on it. So, Rachel decided to make one. :) I got this wooden plaque on sale at Michael's. We bought picture frame hooks and some pretty ribbon selections that we can change out. I'd never used Mod Podge, and was planning on just making some at home, but with our rockin' coupons, I decided to buy some outdoor Mod Podge anyway. So, here ya go! The only bad thing that happened was some Mod Podge leaked to the bottom and DID NOT dry clear, but otherwise, it's just dandy. :)

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FINALLY Getting Some Work Done Downstairs!

In preparation of an addition to the family (human, NOT another four-legged, furry friend!), we need another bedroom. We would wait and work on it later, but since I'm very high-risk and having to be SUPER DUPER careful, not to mention the extreme possibility of me being on bedrest for much of my pregnancy, PLUS the high chance that I'll deliver early, we have been forced to start everything BEFORE conception. Kyle will be moving into the BRAND NEW bedroom that we are building in the basement, AJ will move it Kyle's BIGGER room with the BIGGER closet (which she's not looking forward to at all...not planning her new walls, decor, or anything, nope), and the nursery will be AJ's old room. We'd purchased some drywall and other things for the basement, but just haven't had time, what with work, school, his football and music, her dance classes, Jim's foot causing us more grief than ever, etc. We finally got to moving on it last week. Jim's been working hard down there. I keep offering help, but he denies the need. I think he just needs some "man time." Hence, why I've been working on all these crafts...for one, to get them out of the damn way, since they're taking up space in the basement, which is where we need more space, and for two, just to get shit organized and done before I'm indisposed of and unable to work on anything except ROM to prevent DVT's while on bedrest. :S (maybe, maybe not..but I'd rather just have shit done, just in case. Plus, I'm sure I'll fall even more behind once there's a baby in this house. Just sayin'.) :) Here, he's working on insulating the "gutted fireplace" that was there when we bought our house. Fun times!

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So...I Have This Obsession...

Or maybe I just want to get all of this crap out of boxes in the basement and on display?! Here's my wedding shadowbox I made. I wanted my bridal bouquet in there, but I knew it wouldn't fit. I also wanted my ring pillow, but again, too big. I did manage to get Jim's flower, my hairpiece, garter, hankies, and Jim's shooter of Captain that was part of his wedding gifts from me. I wanted an inside AND outside look at our handmade invitations, so I made that happen, as well as our coloring book, program, and STD magnets we handmade. The petals are some that were actually on the aisle runner, which AJ was diligent about picking up. :) I also threw in our vows that we carried that day. Of course, I wanted an actual printout of our ceremony, the song list printout, DVD, rehearsal dinner card (front and back), and our keepsake certificate, but that would be too much and too big of a box. I guess I'll have to figure out what to do with the rest of our stuff....one day. :)

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Bridal Bouquet is FINALLY on Display!

Since it wouldn't fit in a shadowbox, I was frustrated on how to display my gorgeous, handmade bridal bouquet. As I was walking through Michael's for something unrelated, I saw doll stands. Perfect!!! I did have to twist-tie one of the stems to make it stand up straight, but that was it! Simple and cheap!

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Ballet Shadow Box

See a theme going, here? :) Anyway, this has been on my "To Do" list for quite a while...I'd just been putting it off. So, here it is! I used Velcro for the shoes and just placed a large picture for the background. Didn't turn out exactly how I expected it, but she likes it, so that's all that matters. I'd promised her long ago that I would do it.

Paw Print Shadow Boxes

When we took Oscar to be put down, we also had paw prints made for the kids, but I didn't know what we would do with them. Since they're so fragile, not to mention irreplaceable, I kept then hidden and didn't tell the kids until I had made these. Once I made the big shadow, which we placed in our living room, I thought about making a smaller box with the kids' prints and pictures. I waited for more Michael's coupons and bought these. We just used the backing that was already in the boxes, pinned their pictures, and used Gorilla Glue for the paw prints. I left them on the table where the kids eat breakfast as their "morning surprise." They love them!

RSVP Book

While I still have a LONG way to go :(, I have continued to work on our wedding keepsake items. I still have a huge green bin the basement FULL of items, plus things on top of that! :( However, I did manage to get one more thing accomplished while the kids were at school the other day. :) I made a binder book with our RSVP cards (the ones we received back, anyway). I was out of cute stickers, so I just free-handed the same lettering with a pen and marker. Not my best, I know, but it works! :)

Organization/Menu Board

I'd seen these little buggars all over the Internet, and while there was something about nearly ever one of them that I adored and felt the need to have on my board, I knew that if I included everything I wanted, I may as well use up an entire wall. With that, I decided to cut it down to our grocery shopping list, weekly menu, and a to-do list. I ended up buying new cookie sheets, as we were needing another one anyway. Originally, I wanted a different look for the design, but ad I was in a hurry and frustrated, I ended up buying this orange wrapping paper. I found a magnetic pencil cup in the school supplies section, and decided to go with green. The frames were previously purchased at Dollar General. I made the templates on Publisher I asked Jim to wrap the cookie sheet, as he is amazing with wrapping items beautifully. While he did that, I ripped off the props on the back of the frames, and DS-taped magnet strips onto the backs of them. I also bought magnet dry-erase markers. Jim screwed the sheet onto the inside of the door, and bam! It cleared up a bit of space off the fridge, and the kids like to see what's for dinner every night (and I like that they don't ask me every 30 minutes once home from school!), and it's helpful to plan ahead on what to take out of the freezer the night before or that morning. :)

Finally Decorated Our "Barf Bag" Container :)

Not perfect, but it worked just fine.

So, I'd already had an empty cleaning wipes container full of bags in my car, as AJ tends to get car sick, especially on long car rides. I had wanted to decorate it, but just kept forgetting to take it back out of my car. Well, I finally did it with some of the leftover scrapbook paper from Oscar's shadow box! Double-sided tape, and badda bing! :) I hadn't nicely rolled the bags before...they were just shoved in there. Now they're rolled and I have twice as many bags. Done. Next!
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Oscar's Shadow Box

Before framing

I finally did Oscar's shadow box. I wanted to find wider paper, like wrapping paper, but I wasn't able to, so I used scrapbooking paper and just stapled them down to fit. I place his collar and favorite toy with pins, glued three pictures in, cut a piece from his blanket and stapled that, Velcro to the water bottle, which had been his last drink at the vet :(, and Gorilla Glued his paw print. It now proudly hangs in our living room. We did have to squish the water bottle, as it was too fat to fit in the frame. My mom is going to help make his blanket into a pillow for Jim. The scrap I used for this was already falling off, so Jim said it was okay to cut it off. His items still carry his smell, and Sam kept sniffing. :( 

Finally Done With Our Cards Project!!!

Ever since I collected our wedding and shower cards, I knew I wanted to do something other than keep them in a box, which, unfortunately, all of our other wedding memorabilia remains...for now. :) I found some inspiration on Pinterest, and pinned it for later. I had a difficult time finding the binder rings, but I finally saw them while school supply shopping last week, so I jumped on the opportunity. I used card stock that we'd had for possible use with our many wedding paper creations... :) I also had some scrap booking stickers in the basement, so I just used those. I made two books, one for the showers, one for the wedding. I used one of our "J"' squares I'd made to use on our invitations go the wedding cards book. So far, I love them! The wedding cards book is quite full, so I hope that it doesn't rip cards. I used a 3-hole punch and just did one at a time. It was pretty simple. :)