Card For The Month

This month I was assigned to do a wedding card. I have to admit that with everything that was going on, I forgot all about all of this and went into massive panic since I have something every night this week when Tre goes to bed, which is my crafting time.

Anywhoo. . . . I luckily came up with this and with a few swear words and a couple of screw ups, I think it turned out okay. Thank goodness for my Sihouette that did most of the cutting for me. However, I now know to make sure that the blade on my Silhouette is not dull when cutting out these intricate designs. The cuts didn't go all the way through and led to a lot of extra work and not the cleanest looking. Oh well. They are done.



This is the card itself. There is white only on the one side on the inside to write a message on.

Here is the envelope. I like how it matched the card. Yep, made those too.

You can kind of see the background paper that I created. I did an engraving technique of a heart lace pattern and then blended grey and red chalk to give it a muted look. I think it turned out pretty good.

Forgive Them, For They Know Not What They Say

Yesterday, when I told a friend, who is currently expecting her second child, that the doctor informed us there is nothing more she could do and I was struggling with accepting that. She said to me, "We'll you should just be happy because you have one."

What I wanted to say, "Well then you should give up your new baby for adoption because you have one and that should be enough and you should be happy with that." Seriously?! Some people say the stupidest things!

A much better response would be: "I'm so sorry. That must really be difficult for you. Is there anything I can do to help support you through this?" And people wonder why there are times I don't want to talk about this with them. Sometimes people unknowingly say the stupidest and most hurtful things. I know I have and then have just felt horrible when I hear the rest of the story. So while their words may sting, sometimes you just have to chalk it up to lack of knowledge and understanding and let it go.

In the meantime, I will return to my cave and hide out to lick my wounds a little longer.

"Physician Heal Thyself"

Having been a licensed therapist and social worker for over ten years now, I have been privileged to help a countless number of people through the cycle of grief and coming to that stage of acceptance. How funny it is that now when I find myself in that position, I can't seem to find that same resolution. Here I have all this knowledge and training and yet, none if it seems to help or apply.

Currently, I am in the anger phase, and am truly struggling to get past it. I can't even watch the news or read the paper anymore. It seems like every day there is another story about a dead child at the hand of their parents. Not to mention the fact that I am surrounded by women who are either currently pregnant or just had children, when they can't handle the ones they already have. (Which I know about because we go to the same church and they come to me for "free therapy" or help with their children.) I just truly don't understand the injustice of it all. Why some really great people who would be great parents can't, and others who are monsters pop out children at record speed only to hurt or kill them.

I guess I would feel differently if it was our choice, but to have that choice taken away from you without any say . . .Words can't describe it. This is especially when you belong to a religion that teaches that having children is one of your main functions in life. It just doesn't seem to make sense and is one of those big questions that no one on this earth can answer.

As I begin this journey trying to come to terms with it all and figuring what my place or purpose is, I am finding that there are a lot of unknowns right now. So dear reader, please be patient with me as I begin on this new journey. It is going to be bumpy, at best, but hopefully with a good outcome that we can all live with.

Please Forgive Me and Try To Understand

Dear Family and Friends,

Tomorrow is my birthday, and while I usually try to make the most of that day and interact with others that will not be the case this year. Please understand that right now I am going through a really difficult time that I would rather not share at this time. So while I know that many of you will attempt to call with birthday wishes and merriment, I will not be answering my phone. I'm okay or will be. I just need some time to myself to reflect and regroup and decide what is the next step in my path in my life.

Feel free to leave a message or send an email. It is welcomed. However, please do not be offended if I do not return calls or respond to emails right away. I am just one of those types of people when they are hurting likes to be alone to figure it all out and push myself through it.

Again, I will be okay. I will survive and overcome this. (Feel free to contact my husband if you aren't sure.) Just please respect my need for privacy right now.

All my love,
Adrienne

Operation Grass Is Greener

Here is our work in progress of our kitchen:

The Before:

Here is a word to the wise: Never, and I mean N-E-V-E-R put in white countertops. They show every speck of dirt, nick, etc. And when you have had previous owners who didn't believe in cutting boards or hot pads, that leaves a lot of nicks and burn marks. Not to mention the chips and scratches the sink had. It just did not look good and would not show well, especially in this market.


So first came the granite countertops. My husband wanted to have a lip around it, since they had to remove the laminate "backsplash", but I told him no I would rather have all tile since we are planning on tiling anyway. Don't you love the yellow stripe? Yeah, that had to go.

Here is our granite close up. A word to the wise: finished (polished) granite looks a lot darker than it does in the showroom. In fact when the installers were putting it in, I had to re-check the color code on the granite because it seemed so much darker. Glad we went with the lightest colored stone there. The only bad thing is that now it is hard to tell when the countertops are dirty. ha ha ha I clean them even more now . . . maybe that is a good thing.

Here is my hubby hard at work with one of his new tools. Since I was "making" him do an all tile backsplash, I agreed to get him a wet tile cutter. He was a little nervous at first since this was his first time cutting tile, but actually became quite proficient! (That's great, because wait until you see what I have planned for the shower. hehehehehe)

The tile backsplash is up. Now we just need to seal and caulk around the edges which we can do tomorrow since we had to let the grout sit for three days. The grout ended up being a lot lighter than we had planned, but that is just the way it is going to be. We are not re-doing it. The next owner can. : ) However, I can't believe what a difference the tile makes. It looks like a different kitchen. Hopefully, one that a potential buyer will "just have to have."

When we are all done with the new hardware, the electric plates back in and the caulking and sealing done, I will put up the final before and after. (PS The flooring is being replaced too, but that is another post for another day.) 1 more step down, 3,569 more to go!

I Forgot to Tell/Show You . . .

I forgot to show you the roses I sent my husband as well for his birthday. They were so unique and pretty, I just couldn't help myself.

They are called Celebration Roses. He loved them, and was definitely surprised.

They Say It's Your Birthday . . . .

This year my hubby's birthday fell on a Sunday, which meant a day mainly at home. However, whenever he was asked what he wanted for his birthday, he said his number one wish was a drama-free day! That is exactly what he got. We: got up, ate breakfast, went to church, came home, ate lunch, had a nap, opened presents, had cake, ate dinner, had more cake, and then spent the rest of evening just being together. Nooooo drama! No nasty phone calls from people, which usually happens. Just a quiet and pleasant day.

I made him homemade egg, sausage, biscuits with pineapple/strawberry juice for breakfast. He loved it!

For lunch, he got brats.

For dinner a lovely grilled rib eye, baked potato, salad, and whole wheat rolls. (I am getting to the point I can grill to desired doneness. ie, medium rare/medium/well-done)

Along with all of that, I asked my husband what kind of cake he wanted and he made it VERY clear that he wanted just a plain chocolate cake with plain chocolate frosting, and vanilla ice cream. No fancy decorations, no fancy designs, just P-L-A-I-N! No fun! All that cake decorating supplies just sitting there waiting to be used, but noooooooooooooo.

So, he got his plain chocolate cake with plain chocolate frosting that was all completely made from scratch. (I had to go outside of the "box" a little.)

Here it is:



And a lovely slice:


I was quite impressed with how well it turned out. It was so moist! And the frosting, oh the frosting . . . . YUMMY! Thank you to Our Best Bites for the recipe! It was a lengthy process but so worth it.

My hubby would not give me a "wish list" so I told him his fate was in my hands! He has been begging to get a nail gun for years, since we have to re-do all of the trim downstairs. (You'll see why in future posts.) And if you have a nail gun, you have to have an air compressor. Of course, being the frugal one, have objected every time saying that surely there is someone around the neighborhood that would have ones that he could borrow since we just needed it for the trim and then it would just sit around and collect dust. However, his reply would be, that is just not the same. If he broke it, he would have to buy that person a new one and then he would still be out of having anything. So I took pity on the dear boy, and headed over to the "man store" of Harbor Freight Tools and bought him not one, but TWO nail guns. (They are different and use different things.) and a really nice air compressor that fortunately all had just go on clearance and/or sale and all came highly recommended by everyone I talked to.

I have to admit it was kind of fun to not have him know what was going on. It was almost as exciting as Christmas.

So here he is with most of his "haul" and of course, the "Unwrapping Helper Elf" is close at hand to help rip the paper:



Here he is ooing and awing over the tools. He was so surprised and impressed with my choices. LOL


Overall, it was a great day and one definitely deserved!

Operation Grass Is Greener . . . .

Remember when our backyard looked like this:

Now it looks like this:

Isn't that much better? There are still a few patchy spots, but they should fill in with time. Not too bad coming from nothing and only using seed. It is even pretty weed free, except for the patches of common mallow we have along our north fence due to our neighbors' having a belief against killing weeds. Go figure.

Now if we can just figure out a way to get the sprinkler system in the front yard, the yard is pretty well ready to go.

I Know, I Know, I Know

I know I have been slacking, but things have been a little whackadoo around here between the end of the semester, the Mother's Day fiasco, medical issues, family issues, and birthdays, it's been hard to keep up. However, pictures have been taken and hopefully I can commandeer the computer tonight to download pictures and post some more.

A Mother's Day To Forget (Updated)

I am sick, just plain sick to my stomach and crying sick. This morning I dressed Little Man in his new three piece suit and was excited to take a picture. I ran out to my car to get the camera out of the stroller to discover that it had been taken at the baby animal farm event we went to yesterday. Seriously?! Here we are at some nice family event for little kids to experience the wonder of baby animals and some toad takes my camera out of the bottom of the stroller when I had the audacity to turn my back for a minute to let my son pet an animal?! GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR . . . . .

I AM SO MAD! Six months of pictures GONE! Included in them were my son's first steps and first birthday pictures. Of course the first words out my husband's mouth were a lecture as to why I should download pictures immediately since there were six months worth of pictures that I hadn't downloaded yet. Like I didn't already feel bad enough and wasn't already in tears.

I also found out that the flowers I ordered and had to pay an extra $21 to have delivered this weekend to my mother- in- law were never delivered. Thank you FTD. NOT!!!! Grrrrrrrrr.

Not to mention the fact that I am very much being made aware of my infertility today for various reasons, including and especially our Sacrament meeting today. (Looooooooooooooooooooong story!)

So Happy FREAKIN' MOTHER'S DAY! I'm going back to bed.

Too Much?

Where my ob/gyn practices there are 5 doctors, 5 PA/NPs, and several midwives that all see patients all day long. That's a lot of people. Consequently, when I went yesterday for an appointment, the receptionist greeted me by my first name as I walked in the door. Definitely a sign I have been there waaaaaaaaaaaaaay too much. : )

Another sign: We maxed out our FSA contributions this year and it was already gone by then middle of April. YIKES!

One Step Closer!

Today our last "car" payment was made, and it was worth the extra $7 I had to pay to pay it online (which is ridiculous, but that's Idaho for you)! Now just 25 more days until the order is considered closed. What a happy day that will be! I am sooooooooo ready for this drama to end!