New days

I can't deny that yesterday was rough.  Hellishly rough.  I woke up in a bad mood, Christopher was home and grouchy, his dad called about the Disney trip we can't make because no one is willing to go when we can, and then his mom said some things to the kids that just really set me over the top.  I can't tell you how many times I cried.  The frustration level was just unbearable.  I prayed, and I prayed some more- for peace, for strength, but it just didn't come.  I didn't sleep well, either, and woke up with a very sore back.

This morning, though, I woke up renewed (albeit for a sore back).  I made the kids fresh pancakes for breakfast.  I don't have all of the anger built up inside anymore, though I made the kids answer the door when my mother-in-law brought back Kate's cookie form this morning.  I'm not ready to let that one slide just yet.  But it's proof that God gives us new days for another chance- another chance to make things better, to love more, to experience life.  God answered my prayers with a new day, and I'm thankful.

Last weekend, Kate had to work on a diary project for school.  They'd been studying Anne Frank and had to journal different topics relating to Anne's life.  One of those topics was to tell about a time in her life when things weren't looking up for her and include pictures.  She chose to write about when she got her tonsils/adenoids out- she was one SICK little girl for several months.  By the time we got her referral and in to see the ENT, her tonsils were literally eating themselves apart (per the ENT).  She was on a constant round of antibiotics because as soon as the finished a round, they'd swell up and cause a high fever.  He airway was the size of a pencil.  She could barely swallow anything except for tiny bits at a time.  The apnea at night was terrible, so she barely slept, and neither did we between the snoring and then very loud gasp of air followed by a coughing fit.  It was scary.  I wish we'd gotten the referral sooner, but you can't say we didn't try.

Don't know why her hair looks so red in this picture

But God answered our prayers with a new day and a fabulous ENT that not only took great care of Kate, but went on to care for Preston through all of his ear issues/surgeries in the past 5 years.  That morning, Kate was ready.  Not many 5 year olds are 100% willing to go into surgery with no qualms- a testament to  how horrible she'd been feeling.  When Dr. S. came out of surgery, he said that her tonsils and adenoids were the biggest he'd ever seen in a child.  They were literally the size of golf balls.  Although we were told that that nigh would be the roughest for her because of pain and coughing, that night was her best.  She didn't snore.  She didn't cough.  By the second day, her pain level was so low that regular Tylenol did the trick.  She had energy again (not good though when she had to be calm to prevent bleeds), she was happy, and she wanted to eat everything she could find.  It was so wonderful to have the old Kate back!  A new day brought us so much!

This picture is too cute not to share.  We came upon it while trying to find pictures for her journal entries and she decided it had to go on the cover of her journal.  This picture made it into the newspaper.  She spent a good hour or more feeding this horse at a kids fair when she was 4.  She was horse-crazy like no one else!  She begged and begged the lady who owned the horse to let her have it.  Silly girl!  

Fast forward 9 years and we're sitting in her language arts class for her parent/teacher conference.  At the end, the teacher told Kate that she remembered her from when she was a little girl (I knew the teacher looked familiar).  She then told her about a little girl with blond, curly hair that begged and begged to have her horse at a kids fair.  She didn't give it to her, but ever since that day, if anyone asked about her horse, she told them that it wasn't her horse, that it belonged to a little girl named Kaitlyn.  My Kaitlyn!  That was such a sweet moment.  Since this diary project was from her class, Kate knew that this picture with her horse was the perfect one for the cover!

Upcycling

Jennifer Francis had a post the other day about upcycling thrifted items.  This is one of my favorite things to do.  You can get something pretty cheap that someone else doesn't want, and make into something really great.  What's not to love? 

I bought the above dresser at a garage sale a few years ago for $10!  It was nasty, white, and had a chunk taken out of the top.  I'd went with my mom to the city-wide sale near my sister-in-law's house, so my brother had to haul this 50 miles home for me.  Thank you, Seth!  It sat in my grandpa's garage for 3 months while he patched the chunk out of the top and I stripped it down and refinished it.  I painted it a light blue/turquoise and bought some glass knobs for about $2 each at Look In the Attic.  Then once we got our new floor laid, we hauled it home and it's been my favorite part of my dining room ever since.

Kate had been needing a desk and I found this one at a garage sale at the Catholic church for $5!  It really only needed a new paint job.  My in-laws decided she needed a hutch for it, so they got her that from Pottery Barn.  I wouldn't recommend the hutch, though, as it is very cheaply made, but it works.  In fact, two came that were missing major parts before this one finally came (and they gave them 50% off).  I've never gotten around to getting new knobs, but I'm about to turn them into Union Jack flags since her entire room is British themed.

Right now I can't wait for garage sales to start back up.  I need a permanent sewing table so I'm not setting it out in the dining room like it is right now, or on a foldout table downstairs.  Besides, I bought this GORGEOUS embroidered tapestry from Habitat for $1 and I can't wait to frame it and have my own little sewing nook!

Tuesday

Well, everyone is well and back in school.  The past week was a rough one around here!  Thank goodness Christopher and I were spared from the strep the kids were passing around.  And after having to cancel twice already, I was finally able to get my hair done today!  Phew!  Now no one has to fear going blind from the glare off of my greys!  Not sure I'm 100% pleased on the color, though.  No matter what we try, the little bit of natural red in my hair comes through.  The last time it was really orange, this time it looks very deep red.  Not the best look when I'm trying to match my almost black natural color.  But at least there are no greys.  That's the main point.

It is COLD today.  COLD.  It was 11 when I woke up.  Even though the thermostat says 70 degrees, it certainly doesn't feel like it!  This morning I had to put on a sweatshirt over my pj's and an extra pair of socks.  That tile floor is like ice.  We're still trying to get the heating zones back to normal after that one nasty windy day.  Christopher takes a poll each night to see if everyone was warm enough, and how warm they were.  Now, the basement, which is usually warm because of the boiler, is cold.  I'm guessing he turned off the two registers down here.  The main level is the coldest, though.  Upstairs is like an oven.  You can't go in the bathroom and shut the door without breaking into a sweat.  Pleasant, huh?  I'm ready for spring!

I'm in such a cooking rut and it's driving me nuts.  None of my recipes sound good.  Nothing on Pinterest sounds good.  I'll plan out my weekly menu and by the time it comes around to cook, nothing I planned sounds good.  Even though Christopher's cholesterol is back into normal range, he doesn't want to eat red meat.  We maybe have it once a week.  No one likes pork (except ham) and no one likes fish, so that leaves chicken for every night.  There's only so many ways to prepare chicken before you get sick of it...  I got a dutch oven for Christmas so I'm going to try it out with a roast tonight, and I'm actually excited (because it's not chicken).  The last time I cooked a roast in the oven, it didn't go well.  Let's hope this one works out a bit better.

I'm so glad that January has been a slow month.  After being so busy in December, it's nice to not have to be somewhere every day, and have so many things to get done.  I've been able to do some sewing and finished two dresses for my shop- I'll share them later this week when I finish the third.  I've got Kate's scrapbook caught up through her last birthday- Preston's is at his 8th (way behind there...).  Lately I've been busy planning Kate's proppa British birthday party.  Sorry to all of my Pinterest followers who've been bombarded with everything British this past week.  I can't wait!  We're even going authentic with the food.  Not sure how well that one will go over, but the birthday girl insists that we have to be authentic in every way.  I'm even going to pick up a refrigerator box from Sears closer to the party and turn it into a phone box.  Should be a great time!

A case of the sickies

Our house has been a veritable haven for germs lately.  Spring can't come soon enough! 

Preston woke up at 4:30 Friday morning and I could tell as soon as he lay down in bed that he had a fever.  Neither one of us got back to sleep.  He started complaining that his throat hurt and didn't eat his breakfast.  When he won't eat, I know something's not right.  I looked at his throat, but it didn't look bad, but I took him in anyway.  Good thing, because it turned out to be strep.  We got him started on some Zithromax and by Sunday he was back to his old self.

Friday evening, Kate had plans to stay at her friend Jenna's house.  She has a bad record of coming home from Jenna's sick.  One time she came home with a 103 temp and spent 3 days in bed not able to do anything.  So when we found out Preston had strep, I made sure she was well before I sent her, and gave her orders to call me immediately if she even thought she was getting sick so she wouldn't give it to everyone there.  She is the queen of strep, after all.  She actually came home well!  But then yesterday morning she woke up with it.  Thankfully our dr. will call in a script for anyone else in the house who gets if someone has a positive strep test, so we didn't have to take her in.  But when I went to pick up her meds, the dr. had called in a ml that didn't exist, and instead of them catching it and calling *before* I got there, they waited until I arrived and then told me they'd have to call them and get something else.  So I ended up making two trips to town before her meds were ready.  She still isn't feeling too hot, but hopefully she'll be back to normal tomorrow.

I'm praying Christopher and I don't get it!

New year, new hope

Happy new year!  I still can't believe it's 2013 already.  I'll still be writing 2012 on checks until March like always!

Our NYE was pretty uneventful- the night that is.  I had a ton of exchanges to make, so we decided to go to Fairview to get them all done and Granny came along with us.  We knew snow was forecasted but decided that we'd make it a quick trip since it wasn't supposed to start until mid-afternoon.  Well, overnight they changed the snow to mid-morning and it started snowing hard halfway there.  We buzzed around getting stuff done as fast as possible to make it home before the roads got bad, and thankfully, made it home with no issues and only one slick spot.  Phew!  The rest of the night was pretty par for a normal night other than a pan of brownies.  Preston insisted he was going to stay up until midnight- maybe 2:00 if he misread his clock, but was asleep by 9.  Everyone was in bed by 11:00- real party animals, huh?  I figured it was 2013 somewhere in the U.S., so I didn't need to stay up another hour.

Today we enjoyed more sledding and and afternoon with Granny and Pa.  Granny fixed ham and beans for dinner for good luck and it was delicious.  I'd better have really good luck with the amount of beans I ate!  Kate ate one bean, Preston ate none, and then while sledding after dinner, they both had a wreck with each other, ending sledding for the night.  His tablet also stopped working tonight and has to be sent back and replaced.  Lesson learned... eat your new year's beans!

I'm looking forward to a new year, new experiences, and hope for the future.  I have an exciting project that I'm looking forward to sharing in the future- a seed God no doubt planted in my mind as it's been on my mind constantly ever since.  I'm hoping to get into it in depth once the kids are back in school next week.  Until then, I wish each of you a prosperous and blessed new year.