Thursday, March 17, 2011

A Toothpick !

What a freakin' couple of days. Tuesday night I stepped on a toothpick. It barely punctured the skin but just enough to stick and make me have to take it out. It bled out so little that I didn't need anything. I just wiped it with my finger and it was done. I put peroxide on it and laid down. The pain seemed to get worst as the night went on and I couldn't sleep so I took an 800mg Motrin for the pain. Shortly after I fell asleep. When i got up in the morning it was still sore but I just figured that feet just take longer to heal so I put my socks and boots on and went to work. As the day went on it began to hurt more and more. I took another Motrin and managed to get through the day. When I got home and took off my socks and boots, my foot was swollen...almost double the size of my other foot. By the end of the night I was in so much pain that I was in tears...mind you, I have a very high tolerance for pain. I left a message for the dr on call and took another Motrin to ease the pain. The dr didn't call back but it's all good because I actually fell asleep and slept good with the pain meds.
This morning I called and the nurse told me to come right in. No questions asked, no appointment, just come in. That alone made me scared. So the doctor looks at it and says it's infected and pretty badly. He has me on antibotics and I have to go back to have him look at it on Tuesday. It needs to go down...the swelling, redness and hotness of it. He drew on my foot and told me that if it goes past where he drew then I need to get into the urgent care asap, not to wait for the follow up appointment...talk about making me stressed ! He said that my foot is too swollen for him to be able to tell but because of where it punctured, it might have hit a tendon and if that's the case then they might need to do a surgical procedure to look at it and fix any damage that it might have done. He said a few more things after that but honestly, I stopped listening after he said "surgical procedure". I think that I went into shock.
This is insane ! It was a damn toothpick ! It just punctured the skin and that was all ! Now I am keeping a close eye on foot and praying that this heals quickly and propperly and doesn't require surgery.

Thursday, March 10, 2011

Turning a house into a HOME

When you are little, the words "house" and "home" seem to be interchangable. Then you grow up and realize that they are not one in the same. You can live in many houses before finding a home. In this day and age when the world is filled with cookie cutter houses, it become even more important to turn your house into a home. A home. A place you can come to each night and feel cozy and relaxed and it embodies you. It makes you smile. It makes you proud.

My house is no exception to the cookie cutter mold....the modular home mold. I am in desperate search of making ours stand out. In desperate search of making our home symbolize us. In desperate search of turning out house into a home. This time it's even more important to us because this will truly be our home....the place CJ remembers growing up in.

Our requirements for a home have changed dramatically with each one of our moves and the fear of the recent recession and fear of any future recessions as well. Everyone has learned to live wisely and on a budget....well, most people anyways. Home for me doesn't mean bigger, it doesn't mean all the luxury items (although I love having two bathrooms again). It means having what you need and making due with what you have. Our biggest concern has been finding a community. That must sound so strange when we live in a state filled with communities but ask many people and you will realize that the communities being created are not living up to their names. The first one we lived in was beautiful. We fell in love the moment we saw it. The house with the large southern porch. The manicured lawns. The perfect community in all its glory. But it never felt like a community. People didn't come together the way that we had hoped. The move after that proved to be slightly better with the community feel but the neighborhood proved to be something we didn't want the kids growing up in. It seems as though we have found where we belong. We have found the feeling of community that we had been searching for. Probably in the least expected place but it's a wonderful feeling. And I know that it's probably too early to know for sure if this community is all that we hold it to but it certainly has started off on the right foot and we are determined to keep it this way.

Boy do I manage to get off topic when I start talking...lol.

So anyways, I am feeling out our home. Moving furniture around. Putting up curtains. Making pillows. Doing what I feel is necessary to make our house a home. And I wanted to share one of the things that I recently added near our front door during my Simply Said party. It reminds me that is our HOME !

Friday, March 4, 2011

Adjusting to the Move

The move has left me really tired and just wanting to sit and relax. Between our move and then Kelly's move, my body is screaming for mercy but that is nothing that a soak in my new garden tub won't cure. :o)

The house is not coming along as well as I had hoped but that is simply because I haven't been doing anything. I have to admit it because it's the truth. Once things were moved I got lazy. I also hate to admit that we still have some things at the old house that we have to get out this weekend too. I will do a lot this weekend though because I am having people over for a Simply Said party and even though it's friends that know we just moved, I want to place to look nice. So I will have to do my tazmanian devil act and just go through the whole house. I can't believe that this is out home. It is so wonderful to know that we will be here for a while. To know that I can unpack and not worry about having to pack back up. It is a pretty amazing feeling.

Nathan has adapted real well to the new neighborhood. He made friends even before he started school. He is out playing with the neighborhood kids until it's dark. God, I remember doing that when I was a kid and it's all I have ever wanted for my kids. Nathan has always been sort of an indoor person. He has been stuck inside on the computer and video games but things have changed. It makes me so happy to see him running in the door when the street lights go on smelling of the outdoors. I never thought that would be a sweet smell to me but it is, even though I am quick to send him directly to the shower. To me, it means that he has been outside doing what boys do best. He is running around and getting all his energy out. He races to the playground in the development to go play football with the boys and even leaves for the bus early in the morning to get in some playing too.

CJ has really gotten to enjoy the outdoors since we moved too. He heads straight for his McQueen riding car as soon as he gets home and rides until it's dinner time. Sometimes he reaches for his bike or Nathan's scooter. The little boy across the street is usually outside too so he now has a friend to play with and I think that Sam, that's the little boy across the street, is only a year younger than CJ. It's cute to watch the two of them race in the cul-de-sac with their little cars. Sam just got a sandbox too that CJ has been invited to go play in...lol.

Larissa is really the only one who hasn't made friends in the development but she already has so many friends that she doesn't know what to do with them. She barely has enough time for them...when she is not on punishment...lol. She likes the new neighborhood because she can once again go for walks or go down to the playground. And in the summer, she can go down to the pool too.

So I just wanted to report to everyone that things are good even though I haven't had too much time to get on here and tell you all about it. I hope to have some nice pictures of the house this weekend. I hope everyone has a great weekend.

Monday, February 28, 2011

Slow & Steady Progress (pics of the house)

The unpacking has been a slow and steady process but it is coming along. We are are so warm with the idea of this being our long term home. The home that CJ remembers growing up in and Nathan too and that Larissa has fond memories of. It is so perfect for us and what we want. So without further rambling on...here are a few updated pics of the house.

This is our living room. You can see Nathan sitting behind the loveseat. The living is long so we have decided to give it areas. That area behind the loveseat will become our office/computer area. We still have a long way to go and a lot of boxes to unpack but I wanted to give you all an idea of how it's coming along and what it looks like with furniture in it.


This picture is of the living room too but taken from the opposite end, the end where the office area will be. That is our front door and what will be our entry area. Right now it is just full of boxes and stuff we have waiting to be unpacked. That table was godmother's table and it gives me great pride to be able to display it in our new home. I plan on keeping it there but without the chairs. It will serve as an entry table with maybe two lamps, a picture and basket to throw our keys and change into. Oh and a mirror would look nice there too.


I now move you onto my dining area. I am not sure how I feel about the green chairs that Jose got. We might end up moving them somewhere else and go back to my other chairs. They just seem to not blend well but I want to give them a little time before changing anything. As you can see, the area is really large because my table is pretty big for those of you who have seen it. You can also see my red dryer there. It is not staying there, we are waiting to get a shed and have nowhere else to put it. I am going to be painting this area an neautral color and putting up some nice curtains too.


From our dining area we go into my kitchen. Nothing too much has changed in here. I have my mini bar above my frig until I figure out where I want it to go. You can see my laundry room through the kitchen. And you can also see my kitty Milo in the window. That is his favorite spot to sit and watch the birds.


And last but not least I have a picture of the boys room for you. The room is much bigger that I had originally though. Nathan's bed is full size and CJ's bed is a twin and as you can see they fit in there nicely. My original plan was to buy a loft so that I could have Nathan sleep in the twin up top and CJ on the bottom and it would give us the full size bed for company. I am not sure that I am going to do that now since it seems to work well the way that it is now. That is the door to their walk in closet too. It has turned into a toy room. Most of CJ's toys are in there and it manages to keep the room a bit tidier too.

Here is a better view of Nathan's side:

And a better view of CJ's side:

And a tiny peek at the closet with the toys. I know it's a bad pic and kind of dark but you get the idea:

I hope to have pics of the rest of the rooms soon but like I said, it has been slow and steady. I am loving my new home !

Getting Back on Track

Do you ever feel like you have gotten so busy with the world that you have forgotten all about yourself? Or worst yet...lost yourself. I think that I was there or at least on the brink of it. So I need to get back on track.

I looked in the mirror this morning and saw my mother. I know that we all go through this at one point or another. And seriously, my mother took care of herself through most of her life and I would be proud to be like her in that aspect. But I am not ready to feel old. I feel like I still have so much spunk left in me and I have to plan a way back to myself. So the journey starts to find out what it is that I want to change and how I can do it. Once I have a plan, I will let you know...lol.

Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Packing, Moving, More Packing & More Moving !

Things are moving right along. We moved all the boxes packed already to the new house already and decided to move up our move date to this Saturday. Yes ! This Saturday. As in...3 days ! Sometimes I worry about the way that we do things. But things seem to be falling right into place.

The electric was switched over today. Cable/phone/internet should be on Friday or Saturday. Already signed the withdrawl papers from Nathan's school and picked up the enrollment papers for the new school. There will be a gap in days because of the schools but Nathan will enjoy that I am sure. I could use some prayers on the school front with Nathan. I am hoping that God has had a hand in this whole situation and is guiding me to the right place.

Saturday morning we are meeting a guy for a quote for the shed. Then we have to get the truck and then it's moving time. We have a lot to pack though from now until then. The living room is done top to bottom. I finished it last night and even cleaned it...go me ! Not sure what I am working on tonight. I guess the kitchen is my goal tonight so that we can get that into the new house. The dining room should be done tonight too, not much going on there except the boxes that I ended up packing last night and furniture. The drums will go tonight. CJ's easel will go tonight and his toy basket will go and then the dining room will be done too. Can't wait to sleep at the new place on Saturday already ! And can't wait for this whole move to be over. A friend asked me if we had even unpacked from the last move. Sadly we did and that is what makes it harder...lol. This is our final move though because this house will be ours. The feeling is def different I tell you !

Oh....and I ordered new slipcovers for the couches because they are really beat up and I am not crazy about the green covers we have already. So this is what they look like but I don't know how well you will be able to see them considering the picture isn't that good. Sometimes the quality of things on here surprises me though. I got the loveseat and the sofa cover the same.

Monday, February 14, 2011

Happy Valentine's Day

Today is Valentine's Day and I have everything that I could want. What more can I ask for than to have the keys to our first house together.

You heard me correctly, we got the house. Signed the papers and got the keys on Saturday. Which house you ask? Neither of the ones that we were contemplating to get...lol. Instead we went with another one all together. My best friend says "you are predictably unpredictable." Turns out the one with the large deck was for straight up sale and they wouldn't do a rent to own on that one. And since there were others to see, we did just that.

We ended up going with a sideways facing one, which is a small price to pay for what we got instead. We are at the end of a cul-de-sac and it's quiet and private. We have nobody behind us and our yard is larger because we are on the curve of the cul-de-sac. So our yard widens as it goes out. We are right next door to a cop too so it's added security when he brings his car home. As promised I have pictures !

Here is the front of the house in all it's glory. I can't wait to add my touches to it so that I can make it ours and not like everyone else. You can sort of start to see the land we have considering the kind of development it is.

And here is the back porch and back of the house. As you can tell, the porch is not that big but we do plan on adding a deck onto the back next year sometime after we have had some time to settle in.

and the back yard that needs some needed help and a much needed shed !


Now let's go inside ! This is my favorite...the kitchen ! I absolutely love this kitchen and the huge window above the sink. The door at the end of the kitchen goes to our laundry room and then to the back door.

Our dining area. I can't wait to get that wallpaper down and make it so much brighter. I can't wait to see my dining table in there too with the chairs that Jose got. Talk about a punch of color...lol.

Our living room that just looks like a box with windows. You can't really tell but the living room is a good size. I can't wait to move our furniture in a show you all what it looks like.

This is in our living room looking into the kitchen/dining room area. I wanted you guys to see how open it is. That is one of the things that I love most about it.

Our master bedroom...what horrible curtains these are. They will be one of the first things taken down...lol.

Our master bathroom with the great garden tub that I can't wait to suround with candles. And that horrible wallpaper again ! You can't see but we also have a shower with seats too...lol. Talk about luxury.

Our guest bathroom, not quite as glorious but it will do.


I have pictures of the kids bedrooms too but seriously, they are just empty rooms that would bore you so I will wait to get them decorated and set up before posting pics of them. Same with the master. Wow, it's a box with two windows, you have no idea what it really looks like or the size...lol. So that wraps up our tour for now. I will try to take pictures of the process. Our official move in date is March 5th but we are slowly moving things now to make the whole process easier. We can't wait to get in there and get started making it ours though.

Catching up...oh yeah, and I bought a house.

Catching up is the understatement of the year. It's been quite a while since I have been here. The truth is that life has been one adven...