Monday, October 25, 2021

Landscaping Part 1 of ?

 Hi,

Warning..photo heavy!! 

Well for starters, I'm feeling much better. Thank you all for the cards and well wishes. I have the best peeps, family and friends around!! I'm so very blessed and thankful! 

I've been meaning to post about our landscaping for some time. When we were first on the hunt for a new house in the Toledo area, one of our prerequisites were trees! We wanted something cozy like we had on Stonewood or Curtis. Well, we landed up falling love with the floorplan of our new home and realizing the yard would need a lot of work, we went for it. Paul was pretty excited about a clean slate in the yardwork department...that man loves playing in dirt. 

For starters back in May, we bought some trees for the front yard. I can't believe they built the house and didn't put one tree in the yard, either front or back. 

  





Notice all the stone along the front of the house. We like mulch because Paul loves his bulbs and I do too. Daffodils, tulips, and the dahlia tubers. So, can you believe he moved ALL the rocks? We used them in the landscaping for the backyard (didn't have to pay the landscapers for them) and he lined the fence with them, now he doesn't have use the weed eater along the fence. 



The previous owner had some huge dogs and he worked 3rd shift. He liked to leave the side door open so the dogs could come and go. He had a side door put in through the laundry room. Our problem with that is there's no way to get to the front of the house from the side. You have to either use the front door or open the garage. Our solution? Move the fence to behind the side door so now we can come and go to the front with ease. 

before


and after..


On to the backyard...we hired a landscaped company. Since our backyard has a pretty good sized slope, we wanted a retaining wall. 
The corner has a drainage hole and we aren't the only ones whose yard the rain drains into. You can see by the slope of the fence, how deep the slope is. Paul fixed that fence too 😍



before

after

Here's a video showing our backyard early summer. Not a bush or tree in sight. 



Paul told the landscapers that I wanted a little water feature in the backyard somewhere. They decided to work on that first. 







Just so happens it's right outside our bedroom window. Some pics were taken through the screen in there. In the summer at night, we get to open our windows and listen to the waterfall lull us to sleep, it's a little bit of heaven 😊.

They then moved on to the retention wall. Unfortunately, the stone the guy ordered looked like sidewalk cement and we were quite disappointed that we didn't get to choose the color. We then ordered a different color which took an additional 8 weeks to come in! So this project that was supposed to take 2 weeks is now into it's 3rd month. Plus, I'm not sure the stone looks that different. Oh well, it will be so worth it when it's done! 


outline of the steps and wall

digging out for the wall

encased barrier for the waterfall so it doesn't callapse during rain etc. 












Paul having fun with new plants.


Well, it's coming along nicely and we LOVE IT!! I'll post more pics in a week or so after I get back from my girls trip to Disney.

As always...thanks for stopping by. 

Wednesday, October 6, 2021

An Update..

 Hello! 

Well, things are certainly looking up!! In spite of the fact that I've been in the hospital twice in the last 3 weeks. 

After they let me go home on the 24th, the following Wednesday they did more blood work, my numbers were back up and they decided to admit me again. I landed back in there on Wednesday the 29th, one week later. It was quite a bit unnerving as I went in in the afternoon and they didn't have any beds. I was in a "holding" room in the emergency room. Now they explained it wasn't due to an overrun of COVID patients but a shortage of nurses. 

I finally got in a room about 9:30 pm. They told me no food or drinks after midnight as they might be doing a "procedure" in the morning. 

Morning came and no one really had an idea as to what this procedure might be. Some speculated a scope, others a liver biopsy. 

Late morning the GI doctor came in. Nice guy dressed in black scrubs. We chatted for about 30 minutes and he said after all the blood work and information from me, like no pain etc. he's 99% sure it's from the Augmentin antibiotics I was on. He said he didn't want to do a liver biopsy as he felt there was no need and my liver IS working, it's just really pissed! He did say it will heal! Yay!! Unfortunately there isn't really anything we can do other than wait. They are continuing to do blood work every few days and my numbers are gradually coming down.  

Before the GI doctor left my room, I had to mention that I had tickets at the end of October to go on a girls trip to Orlando and did he think I could go? 

He said "GO! HAVE FUN!!" Universal, Wild Kingdom and Hollywood Studios, here we come! 

I'm feeling my usual guilty self. Jenn and Dan's babysitter quit the first of September. The sitter and her husband babysat together but he took a full time teaching job at Bowling Green and she didn't want to do it by herself. So Paul and I decided to help out for a while. Well, little did I know I'd land up in the hospital and he'd be watching two little ones under the age of 3 by himself. 

Luckily I'm on the mend and I'm able to go over and help him out. You forget when your kids grow up, how it was when they were little and you were in your 20's and not your 60's lol! These kids make it pretty easy though, they're so happy go lucky and Elliott is always ready to help.  

We celebrated Paul's birthday on Saturday. Steve and Laureen came and Laureen baked an awesome lasagna! Jenn and Dan brought a cake and we sang. 

Since then, Elliott gets a kick out of singing happy birthday now to all of us! It's lots of fun! 

As always...thanks for stopping by.

Monday, September 27, 2021

W.T.H....

What the hospital?! 

Yep, that's right. I landed up in the hospital on Thursday with as my doctor put it, "extremely high liver enzyme levels". Yikes! 

Let me back up a bit. For a couple of weeks my urine was getting darker. I felt ok but on Tuesday I thought I'd better make an appointment to see my doctor. They said they could fit me in on Friday at 3:15.  

On Wednesday I started feeling weak, tired and I was itching all over. I was feeling nauseous after I ate. So I called back to my doctors office and the receptionist said to come in tomorrow morning (Thursday). 

Doctor sent me next door for some bloodwork. It said "STAT" on the order and I've watched enough tv shows to know what that meant πŸ˜‰.



I get home and about 15 minutes later I get a call from the doctors office saying my liver enzyme levels are extremely high and he wants me to pack a bag to go to the hospital. The receptionist said she will call me as soon as they have a room. I'm like !?!?! 

It wasn't 5 minutes later she called for me to head over there. Here I am in the waiting room getting ready to be admitted. 

So, they get me admitted and into a gown. Let me tell you, I wasn't as nervous as I probably should have been with my condition..I was freaked out because of COVID!! I mean really! I'm in a freaking hospital!! So I kept my mask on as much as possible. Every hospital staff member who came in would say "oh, you don't have to wear your mask in your room", and I of course wanted to know if they were vaccinated or not. Ugh!! I didn't know if I was being rude when I asked but they kept saying it's ok to not wear your mask. Ugh!! 

The attending doctor came in and said I had acute liver damage. Not sure why or how I got it. So he ordered a CT scan on my abdomen. IV was in a weird place on my forearm and hurt so bad every time they injected something into it (I'm such a pansy!!). Notice my own pillow in the picture above? If nothing else I was going to try to get some sleep. 

About a month ago, I had a horrible UTI and went to the urgent care down the street. The girl put me on Cipro, twice a day for 5 days. Then about a week after that I came down with a sinus infection that made my sinuses feel like they were filled with cement. The doctor put me on Amox/Clav Augmentin for 10 days.  

They asked in the hospital, when I had eaten last. That was around 11:00 am. They figured they could do the CT scan 8-10 hours after. I couldn't eat anything all day and then around 6:30 they came in and had me drink the contrast dye stuff. Then did the scan at 8:30 pm. I finally got back to my room and got to eat a sandwich etc. around 9:30-10. So my pillow was for naught since eating that late kept me up with indigestion and bad thoughts about the results of my scan 😬.

So the next day, Friday, they weren't completely convinced the CT scan was showing everything they wanted so they ordered an MRI and more blood work. After getting the results of the MRI they at least said they could rule out the big "C" and nasty stuff like cirrhosis of the liver. That was huge relief. We waited for the bloodwork to come back. Later in the day it did and they said my numbers were coming down and I could go home. They said absolutely no Tylenol or acetaminophen as that is processed through my liver. They said to take Ibuprofen if I needed a painkiller. Hmmm, good to know.  

So, home I am. I'm still yellow, tired, nauseous after I eat and my urine is still dark but I called the doctor this morning and he said to get more bloodwork done on Wednesday and we'll go from there. 

The doctors now believe my liver has suffered because of either the antibiotics or some kind of virus. Could be Hepatitis A from eating contaminated food or water and thank goodness no long term affects. They are leaning towards the antibiotics as the cause. 


 
So, please keep me in your thoughts and wish me luck. 
 
As always...thanks for stopping by.


  

Thursday, May 20, 2021

Thankful Thursday...

 



Well, as most of you know we lost our little buddy Bentley on Saturday May 8th. We're just now (on May 20th) able to talk about him and look at some pics without crying. It's been difficult and we both miss him terribly. 

He used to sit in Paul's lap every morning while Paul worked at his computer and then when I got up, he curled up in my lap while I drank my coffee. 

At night, 95% of the time, he slept with me, crawled under the covers (have never known a dog to do that). It's hard walking in the door and he's not there to greet us.  

Here's a few pics before I go on to what I'm thankful for. 


On my lap

                                    

With his buddy, Sawyer


I'd like to say he loved playing catch but it was keep away he loved! 


He loved car rides


He loved Willow


But most of ALL, he loved his dad πŸ’“


I'm thankful this Thursday that we have Katniss and Arya and that Arya greets us at the door when we come home. It helps. 

I'm thankful that Arya sits on Paul's lap in the mornings and tries to fill that void. 

I'm thankful I have the best friends and family anyone could ask for. 

I'm thankful that we've all been vaccinated, and no one in our family was hospitalized with Covid.

I'm thankful the country is on the mend and we now have lifted the mask and 6' mandate (although I haven't been in a store yet without my mask). 

I'm thankful I have a beautiful home to wake up to each morning. 

I'm thankful I got to spend what little time we had with Bentley. He was a goofy dog and we loved him. 

What are you thankful for? I'd love to hear. 

As always...thanks for stopping by.

Monday, April 19, 2021

February...

 Ugh! It's been months!! So, let's go back to February and try to catch up month by month. 

Our little man Ethan turned a month old on the 16th. What a sweetheart he is! 

And...after mourning my Toby for 6 months and realizing I can talk about him without balling my eyes out, I decided it was time to give love to another cat. This time we decided to get 2. When I called the shelter asking about a little boy kitten, the lady told me he wasn't great around kids. Well, that fell apart quickly. She said she had a little calico named Sparkles that was available. Well, I've always wanted a calico kitty. She mentioned that the kitten had become quite attached to another female kitten that was really shy. They thought Sparkles would help the other kitten socialize etc. 
So, Paul and I took the drive to Fenton, MI. 

We both fell in love with these 2. Took us a week or so to actually come up with names for them. As their personalities began to show, we knew the calico would be Arya, from Game Of Thrones. 

Arya

And the other little doll we named Katniss, from The Hunger Games. 

Katniss

Both are named after female bad asses 😁 This is the first time we've ever had females, cats or dogs.

We had a big concern with Bentley. He's sooo jealous and has a terrible time with anyone new entering the house. So, we set up the spare bedroom with some toys for Katniss and Arya, the connecting bathroom had their litter and food and water. We decided to keep them in there and gradually introduce them to Bentley.
Well, after just a few hours, we opened the door with a baby gate put in place hoping if the kittens needed to get away from Bentley they could easily hop the gate whereas Bentley could not. It went SURPRISINGLY well! Katniss was very reluctant but Arya was so curious about the house this long haired dude. He got pretty excited and is now best buds with Arya.




Jenn, Dan, Elliott and Ethan came over. Elliott got such a kick of playing with Arya. Katniss was hiding in my closet. 
 
My baby girl turned 36! 


I finished Paul's scarf. Yay!! 

So the girlfriend scarf now has a new home at the Goodwill 😊



FINALLY!! After almost 5 months our bed arrived. 

Before



After...YAY!! We love it! 



We got snow...boo!!! 



Looking at these pictures of snow if February makes me so happy we've already made our reservations, flight plans and everything for Imperial Velentin Riviera Maya next February...✈🌴🌞 I can't wait!! 


So, February turned out to be a busy time. I have loads of pictures and I'll leave you with a few of those special ones. Paul will probably kill me for posting a couple of these πŸŽ€πŸ˜‚











He just looks so natural with a bow in his beard. 



As always...thanks for stopping by.