A Lot of Selfishness

Life around this house has been crazy lately.  Not because I'm happily (well, mostly) home with kiddos all day 7 days a week, or that I have a million spring clean projects to do, or that I've felt icky because of the pollen.  Oh and then there's Chloe's whole fall off the bike, end up in an AirCast incident.  The reason real is that my mother in law had a heart attack over two weeks ago.  And honestly, in the beginning I was an ugly daughter in law who hates to admit her selfishness!

Let me back up to 3 years ago.  "MIL" we'll call her, had a heart problem which required minor surgery and lots of appointments.  Since "DIL" (dad in law) was not in the state (another story for another day), I had to take her to several appointments and the ER which was more than inconvenient with 2 kiddos.  It was serious, yes.  Did she almost die? Well, not really but depending on who you talk to, she did.

Then there was the fact that when my mother had major kidney problems requiring 2 major surgeries and a removal of one kidney and the possibility of cancer, no one seemed to have much sympathy for how I felt. Yes, poor me.  See my selfishness???

So, when we got the call late on a Saturday night that she (MIL) was again in the hospital.  I thought ok, we will just wait and see how bad it really is.  So, we waited while the tests were run and life went on for 2 days.

That Monday we visited, which made me irritated since it was over an hour away and we wouldn't be home till really late.  And, we had to take the grandparents who are over 80 and can't drive such distance.  Upon arrival I was able to speak directly with the nurse who informed me just how serious her heart condition was.  I was speechless. She told me that her heart was at 20% function, she had in fact suffered a major heart attack and they weren't sure why. Her heart rate was through the roof and unstable.  More tests needed to be performed.

All I can say is God was convicting my heart as I had been so selfish and only thought of the inconveniences this had put on MY life.  Very embarrassing to admit.  God was calling me to sacrifice whatever was before me in order to help in whatever he had planned for my  MIL.  Not to mention she was the one lying in the bed and my DIL had been sleeping on a small pull out chair for 7 days and he's not the smallest man on the planet!

God has softened my heart more than he could ever before. As we visited this weekend after her stint surgery, I wept as my dear Chloe cried for her grandmother.  Seeing her sweet tenderness allowed me to see God through my daughter.  It reminded me of the unconditional love that God has for all of us and the compassion that I need to show as well.  I was convicted of how much I do for others, but tend to forget my extended family's needs.

We're praying that she will recover quickly as there are still many unknowns.  She may need more surgery, she may need rehabilitation.  We just don't know.  What I do know is that God is in control and I have peace in that!

What to do with an AirCast

To say our life has been a bit overwhelming lately would be, well, an understatement.  In the midst of the chaos (more on the details later), my dear Chloe fell off her bike!  Let me just say her coordination comes from her mother.  Unfortunately.  I sprained both wrists playing soccer in high school  Yes, both wrists.  And yes, I realize you play soccer with your feet.  Enough said!

Back to Chloe.  We had a sweet friend's Hub come look at her ankle and he suggested an x-ray. Though it wasn't broken, the orthopaedic suggested a cast in order to allow the muscles and the surround "tissue" to heal properly.  Luckily, we were able to get her fitted for an AirCast...a walking boot she can remove for sleeping and showering.  Yipee!  Praise God it wasn't broken since she has a away field trip in 2.5 weeks and we just got insurance coverage for the girls effective March 1st!  So blessed!

Out we walked (bye-bye crutches) with a bad-boy of a grey walking cast that just wasn't very pretty.  So, upon the suggestion of a friend, we decked it out and girlified that bad-boy and turned him into a bad-girl of a cast.  Let me just say that Daddy was NOT impressed.  Chloe loves the result and I'm pretty sure we could start a trend around these parts, what do ya think?

Thirty-Five

Thirty-Five.  Closer to forty than thirty.  That's the age I turned in February and I'm still getting used to it.  My sweet family doted on me all day long and we enjoyed a quiet meal at one of my favorite spots, Big Chow Grill.  It's this cool stir fry place that I absolutely LOVE.  I'm not a huge restaurant fan, so the fact that I have a favorite besides Chik-fil-A and Panera is huge.  Ask my husband!

Anyhoo, instead of a cake, the girls and I made cake pops and that was how we closed the glorious day.

Here is a horrendous picture of me, but hey, it's all I got!

Quick update

I've become a stalker on this great facebook garage sale in our area.  It's amazing and I'm addicted.  Constantly watching what goes up and I've snagged some crazy deals.  I've also sold quite a bit on there.  Let's say I'm no longer going the traditional garage sale route.  I mean seriously, I can post something and literally 30 minutes later it's sold and I've arranged pick-up!  Score!

Since we still have builder grade light fixtures 5years later, I scored 2 of these fixtures for $5 each.

A little bit of frosted spray that I love:

 
and brown spray paint and this is where we're at:

 Not my dream light fixture, but so much better than the ugly Hollywood Light Strips we currently have!

Dasher's New Home

Remember our cute little turtle the girls talked daddy into before Christmas? Well, he has been moved a few times and I have finally found the perfect spot.  Of course, the only problem was that I didn't have a piece of furniture to house him and he was NOT going on the countertop!  No way!

My dear friend who also gave me my newly redone buffet/homeschool storage, gave me an old filing cabinet.  I decided to spruce it up and make it look beautiful!  Out came the paint and a week later (yes, a week), Dasher had a new home.

Sorry I do not have a before picture.  Let me assure you that it was an old laminate ugly, beat up, dark cabinet.  I primed it and painted it the same color as the dining room.  Then sanded the edges and sprayed the handled an brownish bronze color.  So much better!

Bragging on The Hubs...The Reveal

Few days ago I bragged about my dear Hubs and his handiwork on Meme's shower while he was hunting for employment.  Welp, here is the big reveal:

 Meme requested a bench to make showering a little easier.  Again, I was jealous!

 We found this really cool shower head.  He has a mini one attached so that the she can clean the shower easier.  Yes, the sweet woman is a master of cleaning at 82 years old!

 Vanity unchanged other than fresh painted walls.

 The new closet, old shower space.  Meme is a woman after my own heart....she is a freaky clean organizer!  Everything is perfectly in it's place.  She insisted that linens must be stored in a linen closet!  Oh, and apparently the vacuum too.

 Hubs tiled the outside walls per Meme's request...I wasn't so sure but it turned out well. 

 The floor was also tiled in large 18 inch tiles.  It's much more divine in person.

And it's done.  I forgot to mention that half way through Hubs got a job.  Which is why it took a couple months to finish.  Not the plan Hubs had going into it, but it worked out. 

It took a bazillion hours and lots of sweat, but Meme is loving her new shower!  And that is all worth it!

Bragging on the Hubs

I just have to brag on my dear husband whom is the Mr. Handy and can fix just about anything.  While he was unemployed, he took on a project for his grandparents.  A HUGE project.  I wanted to share his handiwork because I'm pretty darn proud of him.

His grandparents are sweet dear souls and are in their 80's.  They needed a bathroom update and didn't want to spend a fortune making a shower that was more accessible so they enlisted the help of their favorite grandson!

Here is the before:

 The shower was the size of a small closet.  In fact, that's what it would become later. 

No need for a garden tub, so that would come out and be replaced by a shower.  The commode is behind that little wall and it would stay put.  The sinks and vanity are to the right in this picture facing the tub.

Now for the demo, and framing stage:

 The old shower is now a linen closet.  Can you believe how tiny it was?

 Here you can see the vanity.  While the layout isn't a dream, he worked with what he had along with Grandma's requests...whatever Meme wants, Meme gets!

 The new shower reflects in the mirror...you can see all the framing work that had to be done.

 The new shower floor and step...ideally it would have been nice to have a zero entry to the shower, but it just didn't work out.  Meme also picked out some divine tile....I was so jealous when she brought them home!

You'll have to wait for the big reveal!  Now, I must finish schooling the girls!