Getting Crafty

 Hi and welcome.

I didn't even post a Happy New Year with how I intend on blogging more or my goals for 2022. They are pretty much the same...blog more, exercise and eat better, journal (which I do already). One thing I plan on doing is memory keeping with photos. I should say "more of that" but to be honest, I didn't do ANY memory keeping last year. I got so overwhelmed with choices, either by the traditional 12x12 album with page protectors by Becky Higgins Project Life method, or Heidi Swapp Storyline Chapters (shown here by Jamie Pate) or 6x9 albums, 9x12 albums and everything, even sketches! I tried them all in January and like I said, I got so overwhelmed I landed up not doing anything. It was pretty sad considering it's my favorite hobby. I have so much catching up to do because I really like documenting in chronological order instead of randomly doing scrapbook pages. 

My thoughts are, I haven't completed a whole Project Life album in a few years so that isn't working for me. I'm going to finish the ones I've started in the manner of how they are right now with the page protectors etc. and this year, 2022 I'm using the 6x9 Storyline Chapters to tell my stories. I'm excited for the change. I'm excited to use stamps, ink and cut up paper etc. I even purchased a QR Code app that links to my Dropbox account so I can put that on some photos where there's a video I want to share. 

I'm going to use a lot of Ali Edwards Stories By The Month which I subscribe to and I might even do Ali's A Day In The Life. How fun would I think it would have been to see a photo album with pictures and journaling just of a day in my mom's life or my grandmothers. Wow! 

I noticed in my last post titled "landscaping part 1 of 2". Well, since the landscapers were so very late finishing, (it was actually snowing) I will post part 2 in the spring.

Lately I've been in a crafty mood. Who am I kidding? I'm always in a crafty mood! Not sure if I mentioned it here or not but I bought some really cool yarn a while back called Monopoly Sock Yarn. 

Even came with a little green house 😄

When I decided to start the socks, instead of using my yarn winder, I attempted once again (again face palm) to wind by hand. WHAT A DISASTER!! Paul was such a trooper. Helped with it for probably a full week! I have finally learned my lesson! 

I then divided it in half using the kitchen scale so each sock would have the same amount of yarn. I found a beautiful local yarn shop close by Chickadee Knit Studio. The owner's family is actually from Avon-Avon Lake area and she was great with helping me pick out some coordinating yarn for the toes, heels and ribbing for the top of the socks. I've never done contrasting colors before, always just straight up socks. 

Got the toes done. 

I think they turned out awesome and I love the yarn, super soft! 

For Christmas I decided to make each of the kids a Santa on a cross stitch canvas, which is the exact Santa I made back in 1992 only I made mine on needlepoint canvas which are just bigger squares. 

The reason was...I don't think people are doing hand made cross stitch or needlepoint much any more and to buy supplies is like pulling teeth!!  When I started cross stitching  40+ years ago, you could find a handful of cross stitch stores around as well as all kinds of stuff at box stores. As I started on each one, I realized I would need to replenish the supplies I used for the original I made myself. I sure am glad that I kept the pattern!! For the pom-pom at the end of his hat, I had used this thread called Santa's Beard & Suit..

This is what was left over from the original.

The pen outline where the pom-pom will go.

Of course this isn't something you can just go down to the local cross stitch store (which there is only 1 near by and that's in Findlay) and buy. So I found a store online that carried it and ordered a bunch. And then I waited. Over a MONTH! I decided to email them and they informed me that it wasn't in stock and they were waiting for it to come in. Sheesh! You'd think they would have let me know! Anyway, I cancelled that order and took a little road trip into Michigan and found something similar to use. Needless to say, one of the Santa's pom-pom is made from leftovers from 1992 (see above), one is made with a combination and one is made with the new stuff. 

I think each Santa turned out pretty damn good. 😊

I found some picture frames and took the back and glass out. I forgot to get pics so I had Steve send me a picture of his..

They took me way longer than I anticipated but #1. I'm happy I started back in February and #2. I'd do it all over again in a heartbeat!

Okay, enough about the Santa's. I'm just pretty proud of them. I did find what I thought would be a cool Christmas card holder. I attempted to get the wood pieces that they used but that didn't work out for me. Paul helped me put it together and once I got the cards hung on it, it kind of grew on me. 

I landed up taking it downstairs and working on a long table and gluing the jute to it. 

Turned out pretty good. I'd like to get a star or something for the top for next year. Speaking of Christmas cards..we were right? 

I joined in a Christmas card exchange so to speak. On one of my crafting sites they put everyone who wanted to participate in an excel spreadsheet with your name and address. Most of the cards hanging up there are from people I don't even know. But! They were kind enough to either make or buy a card and send it to me. I did the same with about 40 maybe. 

I cut out the J & Y using my Cricut. Most of the snowflakes I bought in a package at Michaels. I'll show you the cards I made...

This snowflake was cut on my Cricut.

For Christmas, one of the things Steve and Laureen got me was some yarn. I asked if there was anything they'd like knit with it. Laureen said she'd like a hat. I used a basic hat pattern as I didn't want to distract from the self striping yarn. I think it turned out really cute. She hasn't seen it yet but I don't even think she knows I have a blog. I get all my pom-poms from Etsy here fffabuknits.

One last crafty thing I'm working on right now is my windows. We have this huge set of windows in the living room. Last year we bought shades for them because in the summer when the sun is setting, you can't even see each other in that room because you're blinded. Well, when we put up the Christmas tree this year, we decided to put it in front of those windows. To me, the room looked cold and uninviting. More office like. I just really didn't like it.

So I went on the hunt for curtains. Ugh!! I couldn't find any I liked that were long enough, then on Pinterest I came across a post where someone made curtains out of painters drop cloths from Home Depot! Huh? It's true! So off I went and grabbed some that were 9x12'. Cut them in half length wise, folded over the tops and used the circle clips to hang them. Got one of the small windows done and I have to say I'm over the moon happy with the way they turned out!! I'll get two drop cloths for the large middle window. 

Not bad eh? Oh, curtain rod is from Amazon. 

With all these crafty things I have going on I'm definitely never bored. Paul keeps saying to me "we really need to make some friends out here". Do we though? 😉

So, thanks for sticking with me this long. I'll post again soon as I have tons to talk about. Ethan's birthday, Christmas, my Orlando Girls Trip...all kinds of stuff. 

As always...thanks for stopping by.

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. 

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.

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 😉.

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.