Accident and Incindent Report

Under this lovely dressing is a 2.5 " wound and 5 stitches!

Did you ever just have an awful week?
I think this was my week.
Things just seemed to "happen".

I came down with a case of bronchitis, of course it was Saturday
and no Dr. available, so off to the Minute Clinic I went, on Sunday.
Armed with cough syrup with codeine and an inhaler, home I went, to bed.
The week progressed and I was getting better, the coughing eased up and
I felt better. I went to the hairdressers on Friday and
she colored my hair.....a little more blonde than I expected,
and when I got home, everyone gasped!

On Saturday, I came down with a UTI! Of course it was after
office hours at the Dr., so on Sunday I went off to the Urgi Care.
I took my shower before I went to the Urgi Care and
dried my blonde hair and burnt my forehead with the curling iron.OUCH!
Armed with an antibiotic, I went home to bed, again.
Tuesday I went back to the hairdresser and
she calmed the blonde down a bit.

Wednesday we get this snowstorm that dumps 12" of snow on us.
Stuck in the house again.

Today I was getting the trash bag out of the can
and while Adam pulled it up I held the can down
because the bag was stuck. As he lifted the bag,
something sharp poked through the bag and cut my left hand.
There was blood all over.
Quick, washcloth, direct pressure, get some socks and shoes on,
locate insurance cards, can't find immunization record....
and head to the Urgi Care for the 3rd time in a week and a half!
Do I remember when I had my last tetanus shot......NO,
so I called the Dr. Office, and they are "out to lunch".....go figure.
So I called the Health Department, where I get my immunizations
and they were OUT TO LUNCH!
But the receptionist was very helpful when
I explained that I was on my way to the Urgi Care
and she looked it up. Tetanus shot was good!

Walked into the Urgi Care with my hand elevated and
they asked if I was bleeding and I said Yes.
Off to the back I went, no waiting.
I didn't even have to fill out paper work....
I just told them I was there on Sunday.
The receptionist filled out the forms, all I had to do was sign.
Nice physician, very patient. Injected Novocaine into the wound and it didn't work.
Stitched me up anyway.
An hour and 5 stitches later, I was on my way home.
Ice and rest, keep it dry, come back in 2 days for a wound check,
stitches to be removed in 10 days.
I think I need another vacation. Or a padded room!

I Heart Faces

This weeks category for I Love Faces is JOY!
There are many photos I have that could represent Joy,
but the one I keep coming back to is the one from my older
son Chris' wedding to Tiffany.
All I can see is the joy in their faces on that day!
They are still like that today!


And the little orbs floating in the picture....
are bubbles! Because it was so hot the day they got married,
we had the wedding ceremony inside the air conditioned building
instead if the sweltering heat.
So you can't throw birdseed or rice inside, so we blew bubbles!
For other photos of JOY in faces visit http://iheartfaces.blogspot.com/

SKYWATCH FRIDAY

Welcome to SkyWatch Friday

This week's entries were hard to choose. I had
two photos that really inspired me.
The first one is a sunset photo. We have been
under the clouds for days on end here, and this
was the first glimps of the sky I had seen in days.


The second is the icicles that have been forming off the roof line.
I was under these looking up toward the sky.
They are becoming massive in length and size, and they can
become dangerous if they fall on your head, so of course
I got under them to look up through them!


For more sky pictures, visit
http://skyley.blogspot.com

Remodeling 101

We live in a 1960's three bedroom ranch with one bath. It is paid for and it is warm and comfy and has served us well raising 2 boys.

On the farm we are rough. There is always dirt, hay, feed, dog hair or something else making it's way into the house. While raising the boys we never had time or money to "redo" the house.

Necessity changed all that several years ago.

Back in 2001, we decided to do some remodeling. If you have done anything major to a house, you will know that nothing goes as planned. For every step forward there are two steps back.

We decided that we would do one room at a time, and as it worked out, it turned into one room or project a year.

The first question is what do you do with all the stuff in the area you are remodeling?

We started with the garage..... then we would have space to put the stuff from the house when we got that far. Dave did the garage the way he wanted, adding drywall, more electric, lighting,

a tool room and shelving.

We had to do some foundation work with the garage project, but it worked out well and I gained a breezeway addition to the house. It was a nice place to put coats and boots and other things instead of dropping them in the kitchen as in the past. I paneled the walls, laid ceramic tile and decorated the breezeway. Room one was done!

Life went on and we got to the kitchen. Walls had to come down, ceilings and joists repaired, new cabinets had to be custom made and flooring had to be installed. We lived, and ate in the living room with a microwave, and electric skillet and a sandwich maker for 6 months!

During this phase of the project, we also decided that we needed new windows, and if we were going to do the ones in the kitchen, we had to do the whole house so they would match.

One step forward, two back.

After the kitchen, college for two boys, a wedding and two surgeries interrupted the projects. Smaller bedroom projects were tackled and only consisted of paint, new carpet, and window treatments. This past summer, I finished the last bedroom by refinishing the hardwood floors and redecorating the room. In between all this, life went on...one day at a time.

During all this time there was never enough room in the garage to move the stuff out of each room as planned, so we moved stuff from room to room in order to have space to work.

This past few weeks, I started the the living room........ Then I interjected a project at my mother in law's house, installing ceramic tile floor in her breezeway..... I put my things on hold for about a week, did her project and returned to my work at home.

Although it isn't the most complicated project, we live in this room. We do not have a family room and so most activities and such are in this room. Not only did we have to paint and get new blinds, the furniture either had to be replaced or recovered and the biggest project was to refinish the floors.

Our budget didn't allow for new furniture and having one of the boys still at home with his friends, we decided that covering the older furniture would be best for now. I used denim to make slip covers for the cushions on the furiture.

This is also not the time of year to do the floors, so I tackled all the other projects and decided to leave the floors until Spring and warmer weather.

I finished sewing the last of the throw pillows for the couches last night. Whew!!! What a relief.

It has taken us almost 8 years to get to this point, and I can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel.

The last project is the Bathroom. We only have one, so it will have to be done quickly. We can go to Grandma's for showers, but we need the facilities daily. We will wait for warmer weather for this project.

So here is a peak it the living room as it now. I can't wait to do the floors. It will make a big difference when they are done.

Living room with new blinds (I love my new blinds)

recovered Love seat and new lamp

Can you see the faux finish on the walls?

Recovered chair

Skywatch Friday

Look! Up in the sky! Is it a Bird? Is it a Plane? Oh! It is sunshine!

Something we haven't seen much of here lately!

I was so happy to see the sun, even though it was only

5 degrees out when I was taking photos!

Oh look! It is a bird!

I have silly guinea hens that roost in the trees,

and they don't seen to care about the cold.

This one was out all night while the rest of the guineas stayed in the barn.

Such foolish birds!

Make sure you take a moment a visit

Skywatch Friday at http://www.skyley.blogspot.com/

to see more amazing photos of the sky from around the world!

Good News, Bad News

Good News
Today I went for my follow up visit with the surgeon.
He evaluated my range of motion in my shoulder.
He thought that I was progressing well
He encouraged me to remain off work for the next 3 months
to build up my strength before I return to UPS.

Bad News

He also evaluated my hands. I have Basal Joint Arthritis.

there are several things that can be done to ease the pain,

cortisone shots, Advil or Aleve, ice packs ( brrrr, not when it is 6 degrees outside)

and splints, but eventually the joint will have to be replaced.

He injected both hands today in order to give me some relief and ordered me some splints.

So here are my new pals for the next few months.

I will try to adapt to doing things with them on,

but I can already see that they are going to be in the way.

First I couldn't get my gloves on.

Then it is hard to button your jeans, and wash your hands after......

so I will try my best and hopefully the Velcro won't get stuck in the blankets!

I Love Faces

This is a new blogspot I am trying.
I HEART FACES
Each week I will enter a photo of a face.
This week I am sharing my Mother in law
in a Nanook of the North hat.
It was a gift to my son on Christmas, but Mooey really enjoyed modeling it.
Visit http://iheartfaces.blogspot.com/ to see more photos of faces.

Nanook of the North

I had to put up Mick's picture on the blog. I bought him this hat for Christmas and he just loved it. He is sitting on the couch with his girlfriend Jen.

Mick always makes me laugh. I am so glad I have such a funny kid!

Back to Normal

Visit www.skyley.blogspot.com for more beautiful skies!
Key West Florida










After my trip to Florida, it seemed like there was no time to get to blogging.
I did get a chance to read a few blogs here and there but I didn't have time to post any new things.
I began to feel guilty. Then I read a blog that said, "it is OK not to blog all the time"
Whewwww!
The guilt left me and I began to focus on all the other thing going on in my life
and realized I had to set some priorities.

The holidays were here and gone in a flash. The stress is over and it seems like every
January we get the remodel bug here at the house.
It was no different this year. Except for Dave's bright idea......
"Let's do Mom's breezeway floor in ceramic tile as her Christmas present."

For those of you that don't know what a breezeway is, it is a "room" that separates the main house from the garage area, mostly found in older ranch homes. They vary in size and functionality depending on their structure. Some are no more than a screened in porch while others are actually part of the house and are considered a room.
Mother in law's breezeway is a room. Actually an area to deposit all my father in law's junk!! YUCK!
Well it took 3 days to remove all the junk and things my FIL had acquired, then the old tile had to removed and the floor area prepped. Ceiling tiles were removed and stored, and "things were removed from the walls. Remember, I said we were going to do ceramic tile on the floor.....except now the whole room had to be done and everything had to be color coordinated.

So that meant shopping for paint, and fixing and painting the walls. My DIL Tiffany, bless her heart, was super and helped me wash and paint walls, in two colors. On January 1st, Dave, Adam, (one of our friends) and I began the process of laying tile. My brother Frank, who is in the floor covering profession, came to lend his expertise and layout suggestions.
It took two days to lay the tile and 2 days to grout the tile. I was working carefully and slowly because my knees and my shoulders were subject to injury if wasn't careful.

On Friday I will go and finish sealing the grout, and finish the base board trim.


OH did I mention that Dave figured we could do it for about $300.00.....guess again. MIL has different tastes than my husband and she didn't choose the 77 cent tile, no it was the $2.77 tile!
I think with everything, the floor is closer to $1000.00, with our free labor!





I does look good though!






But did I forget to mention that I had already started my remodel project on December 25th!
I decided to paint the living room with a faux finish! Thank goodness for Shannon at the Home Depot! She was a life saver to a novice faux painter. I had help form Mick and Adam. the boys were excellent painters and did a great job.




A few new lamps and some re-upholstering of the furniture with denim and it will be done. I will have to wait until Spring to do the hardwood floors.
So if you were wondering what I have been up to.... here it is in a nutshell!
I really didn't have time to do much of anything else.
And how were your Holidays?