A Health Update

Well it has now been just about 4 months since I started this crazy hormone filled journey!  I am happy to report I almost feel like a brand new human being!  We have made much progress in a short amount of time.  Both the doc and I are pleased!  Not everything is at optimum yet, but it is definitely a major improvement from where we started.  I feel full of energy and motivation most days and I don't wake up feeling so groggy.  Another plus....my cramps around that lovely time of the month are so much less severe!  They aren't gone, but then, I don't think you can ever eliminate them entirely, but at least I don't feel like I'm going to die from them!

I won't lie, this process has been VERY HARD for me.  The changes in diet and lifestyle aren't horrible, it's just not what I'm used to.  It's hard sometimes to balance what I'm eating with medication and I feel frustrated.  I keep reminding myself though that this is what will make me better and will be what helps us have babies someday and usually that's enough to help me keep going on days that I really would just rather give up and give in!  We have many sweet family and friends who have prayed for us and we are so so grateful!  We are truly blessed with amazing friends and family.  This has been good from me from both a health standpoint and a spiritual stand point.  I have spent a lot of extra time working on myself, I spend a lot more time in prayer than I did before and it has helped me feel so much inner peace.  My faith and confidence in my Heavenly Father have been strengthened immensely.  Even on days where I feel discouraged, if I just take a few minutes to pray, I feel like He has it all handled and I feel peace again.  There have been many tears.  I won't deny that.  Sometimes I do have days where crying feels like the best option, even though I know it's really not....but sometimes you just need to!  It's usually when I'm alone in the car and I hear a song on the radio that is speaking to me in that moment.  It happens often when I hear the song "Need You Now" by Plumb.  The chorus says "How many times have you heard me cry out "God please take this"?  How many times have you given me strength to just keep breathing?"  While it doesn't seem like much, it is so true for me.  On hard days, I have just broken down and begged him to take away the pain and the hurt and the dissappointment.  For the record, His answer hasn't directly been "NO" but I know this is meant to strengthen me and make me better.  I know that this is a trial and a lesson I need to learn to help me, my family and others.  I'm not sure that everything I am learning is clear yet, but I do know that this is what I need even though I don't particularly like it.  And I do know, that no matter how many times I break down, He will always give me the strength I need to keep breathing, keep pushing, and to keep climbing.  He's pretty awesome at that.

Things have been very busy as we continue to prep for the arrival of Uncle Rob and Rhonda.  I'm frantically trying to organize everything to accomadate two 1200 square foot houses worth of stuff into on.  I'm not going to lie, I'm kind of stressed out about it.  We are still dealing with clean up from the giant remodel.  There seems to be a never ending supply of drywall dust and mud and who the heck knows what else.  We are thankful that we are done with the big ugly part for now.  We are still hoping that we can do the floors in the kitchen soon, but we are thinking it just won't happen before Rob and Rhonda get here.  That's okay though, because they can always be done later!  I don't think we'll be able to paint the rest of the living room like I wanted either but that's okay too, because I'm sure we will get to it at some point before the end of the year so we'll still make my goal!

We have finally saved up enough money to get gravel for the yard!  So we'll be able to put that in very soon we hope!  We're thinking since the next few weeks are crazy busy, we won't get it done til the beginning of March, but at least it will still be fairly cool at that point, any later and we'll probably just hold off til fall so we don't die in the heat.

That one time we built a wall and no one died

 You might believe that I died after my last post....fear not.  I am just really lazy.  In fact, this post was actually a draft that I started a week before I ever wrote the post about my sleeping husband......but I never got around to finishing it.  Oops!  Here it is now though!

I don't know if you know this about me yet, but I kinda really suck at documentation through pictures so this isn't going to make a whole lot of sense, but I'm going to go for it anyways..... Our backyard sits way lower than any of our neighbors.  The concrete footing for their fence is a good 3-5 inches higher than our highest point of dirt in the yard.  It's kinda really ugly and there's kinda not a whole lot we can do about it.  The yard already slopes downward toward the house, so we don't want to make it worse by just adding mounds of dirt that will also just run toward the house in the event of extreme water (monsoon season people, i know it only rains here twice a year, but it's too much for my little yard to handle.) So we decided that the best option might be to build a little fence that could double as a planter or seating or whatever we decide we want it to be!  We had no idea how much this would cost us, but we knew it had to be relatively cheap.  The initial thought process included a regular cinder block, 8 inches wide, 16 long and 8 high.  Those turned out to only be about $1.15 a piece, and we only needed 70 so that wasn't too bad.  Then when we got to the store, we discovered that they had some that were 4 inches wide, 16 long and 8 high and they were only $.78. Being half the siza AND nearly half off, we decided that we'd go with those instead.  Less digging, less money, less lifting.....Beautiful.  So we loaded up 70 of those suckers and brought them home-they are still heavy, they are still awkard but it was only one trip!

 

 

  

The next day, Josh's best friend from high school came over to help us (you guys, it was seriously 27 degrees outside at 8am this day, it was seriously the coldest week in the history of this state......it was horrible.  it got up to 36 the whole day!).  He hangs out at our house after church every week, so this time it was just working instead of hanging out!  But he is kind of a freak and he thinks that yard work is incredibly fun....he was seriously over excited to start this at 8am in the morning.  But whatever, we love him and his weirdness about digging holes and laying brick.  He's seriously the world's biggest help and he has a vast knowledge of random things after working for years at Lowe's.  We love him.  So we dug down a few inches all the way along the patio.  Here you see the part they are trying to dig out by the fence.  It's hard to see, but at the back of the picture, you can see the base of the cinder block fence, it looks like a tiny shelf holding dirt.  It's not very obvious that it sticks out above all our other ground since we just dug up everything and dumped it on top, but trust me, it does. 

Here is the first row of bricks in the ground, pretty darn straight for being amateurs.  Speaking of amateurs....we forgot to pour a footing for this. Oops.  They are about 4 inches deep and we reinforced with rebar, but it's usually best to pour a base of concrete to set the blocks in....oh well, if it was a real fence it would be an issue, but it's not, so it's all good!

So here's the part that coincides with the title.  As evidenced by this photograph, they boys rented a concrete saw to complete this project.  Seriously you guys, it is a miracle that no one died doing this okay?  they just threw the block out into the yard, and just started cutting it by eyeballing (we are obviously really serious about measuring around these parts.)  So one of them would stand near the fence, in front of the block and the other would hold the saw close to the tile, and then the guy at the wall would yell at him if he went crooked.....mostly this worked out fine, and they even had minimal crookedness!  I don't know if you are educated about blocks of concrete at all.....but concrete is mixed with sand and small rocks when it is made........okay so everything was mostly fine about their system until one time on a cut, Josh hit one of said small rocks just right and sent it whizzing right into the dead center of Kyle's forhead.....the whooping and hollering and laughing that followed was HILARIOUS.  I felt horrible for laughing cause he had a nice little welt, but thank goodness he didn't lose an eye (he shouldn't have anyway cause he was wearing safety glasses...but you never know).

           

 

              

So this next picture is both hilarious and sad.  At the end, we were one brick short....so it meant one more dang trip to Home Depot for one stupid brick.....at least it was only one! We spent another $.36....

 

At about 9:30 pm we finished up all of the mortaring process, my hands were so frozen and dried out..

 

 

 

 

 

The above photos are Josh torturing the poor beasts..... he thought it would be extremely funny to put them in the wheelbarrow and cart them around the yard....they did not agree and hopped out as soon as he let go.

 

And here's a Pano view of the wall and our dirty back yard in the daylight!  Hooray for projects that only cost $140! 

 

Up very soon, I will document all of the kitchen remodel!  Lots has been changed.  Even this cute little wall we built got a stucco layer while all of the remodel was happening!

The slumbering beauty

You probably cant tell, but thats my sleeping husband and the pile of laundry I am currently working on-his favorite Thor shirt. I dont know if you can make out the number on the clock, but its after midnight. I wasnt home all day since I was at work, and we wont be home tomorrow because joshs uncle is flying into town so we'll be together all day tomorrow. No one knows this, but I rather suck at being a housewife. Its been nearly 2 weeks since I did a load of laundry. I just cleaned the bathrooms tonight after what I think has been at least 3 weeks (thank goodness for whoever invented those lysol clings bowl cleaners for toilets), I finally emptied the dishwasher load that I washed last sunday, bathed the dogs and washed 4 loads of laundry since 8pm. I want to have a clean house, I just never seem to be home to keep it that way. How it gets so full of ceap everywhere is beyond me...tho we are pretty much pros at dumping whatever is with us and running back out the door....anywhoooo
I felt compelled to post this. Why? I have no clue. Maybe because im discovering I like this outlet for my thoughts. Marriage is not always what it seems and I wanted to document it as it is in this moment I guess. ( if I never have another post on this blog its probably because the slumbering husband discovered this picture and killed me). Tonight the aforementioned man decided to hook a giant computer box up to our tv and take up a cubby of the entertainment center. We went to walmart for some ever so important adapter so he could complete this project. Did we get to do the grocery shopping there? No. Because we just needed that adapter. Why do we need this computer set up? Because what if you ever want to access the entire internet from your tv? (I hope you feel the sarcasm) I could give two hoota about all that. But whatev. So we now have a tv with a computer hook up. He spent 3 hours getting it set up and making sure that the sound worked. Then he nade sure to watch many YouTube videos to test it. All while im doing laundery and scrubbing bathrooms to death. In his defense, he did ask if I wanted help foldig a load before he ceawled into bed. And he doesnt feel so hot after dinner, so I shouldn't be irritated. Why am I? Dunno. But I am slightly irked about all of this evening. While I was balancing the newly dried load on the end of the bed, trying to keep him from rolling over on it or impaling himself with one of the shirt hangers, I realized that this is just our life! It just is weirdness and unexplainable stupid projects,  its messy and exhausting and totally imperfect on every level.  We argue, we get angry, I get irritated thinking that while hes sleeping and tangling himself up in the blanket I am standing on my tired feet folding his socks and going to be freezing cold since I cant get that blanket back when I crawl in bed....but this is who we are. This is our wonderfully imperfect life. We are happy in it the way it is. I love him tremendously,  and he loves me back. We irritate the living snot out of each other somedays. There are some days that this whole marriage thing is really hard. But I would never trade it, even on it's worst days, it is still the biggest blessing of my life.
So I'll go crawl in bed now, without a blanket, probably with some serious snoring and a head/arm/leg/body all up on my side of the bed. And ill probably be irritated about it for a minute, and then I'll settle in and smile to myself. Because thats my slumbering husband, snoring and hogging the bed and the covers, but he loves me. Despite the fact that he almost didnt have a clean pair of underwear anymore. And this imperfect messy life full of laundry at midnight is ours. And im okay with that.

How to Build a Backyard Patio.....Sort Of

Okay so as you can see below, we had pretty much nothing in our backyard when we moved in.  The longer we lived here the more we realized how very imperative it would be to get this giant dirt land taken care of.  Especially with two dogs who like to dig, and wrestle and run around....which brings fabulous amounts of dirt into the house and gets all over everything.  We WASH our furniture, we don't dust it.  We also wash every cup/dish/pan we pull out of the cabinets because after 2 days in the cupboard, you can guarantee there will be some dirt on those suckers.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The other reason is this happens when we have some raindrops 4 times a year.  I feel as though this does not require explanation or reasoning.  If you love to mop all day every day and wash your interior kitchen walls of mud splatter than maybe you would choose to leave your yard like this.  I do not like to do those things, pretty much ever, let alone multiple times a week.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Another massive problem is that this girl really loves to dig large holes. Here is some pouting after getting out in trouble for digging large holes. 

She also really enjoys making forts under the patio. Obviously. (You can't tell from this photo, but she was like a foot deep and 2 feet under....dang dog)

 

So we decided that the first thing we would do to fix these problems was extend our patio out a little bit, give us some space for a grill or some patio chairs, somewhere you could stand without being in the dirt. We thought this would be a fairly simple and cheap task. Better than hiring someone to come pour concrete anyway, and less permanent in case someone ever needed to rip it out. So we began on the last cool day of May when it was about 80 degrees.  We started with digging.  There were hours and hours and hours and hours of digging.......and of course I have no pictures of that accomplishment.  It was hard as rock, took pick axes and sweat and blood and almost tears.....but we got about 3 inches down so we could FINALLY get started.  The next task was to visit the good ol Home Depot......about 7 times since you can't pick up 3500 pounds of concrete in one trip.....weird.  After 7 trips your patio should look something like this.

 

 

 

 

In case you didn't want to count, that's about 100 bazillion 12x12 concrete tiles.  actually it's only about 234.....roughly.

 

Next, you should buy some cheap lumber and outline the area in which you plan to place about 234 bricks, making sure it is level.  During this step you should also call your Dad and have him come rescue and help you since you are completely exhausted and entirely clueless about how massive home projects really are.

At this time, you should return yet again to the Home Depot and buy a ridiculous amount of sand in no less than 3 trips...... pour that sand into your framed area and spread as evenly as possible with the back of a metal rake.

 

Have your genius Dad show you all the tricks to actually making a patio work.  Using a very straight piece of lumber, level out your sand about 2 feet in front of you as a working space to lay your tiles.

Here you see Josh laying the tiles. starting at the edge and being careful not to put huge dents in your sand, slowly lay the tile flat.  It is best to create a small indent with your finger first along the edges of the two tiles already in the ground so the tile just fits right in.  then you are less likely to undo your leveling.

After you drop a tile in, have your dear old Dad pound that sucker with a rubber mallet.  Actually pound very lightly!  It's only to level out the tile a little bit and get it situated.  This should be done after every tile.  Obviously I was slow on this whole picture thing.

 

Take a rest in the wheelbarrow because you are now hot and exhausted.

 

 

 

 

In the places where the patio doesn't measure an exact even foot, turn a brick sideways and you'll save yourself the hassle of freaking out about how it's off by half an inch.  Plus, your exhaustion will get the better of you and you won't even care anymore......

 

 

 

 

Isn't it lovely?  On a completely different day, when you have recovered from the horrible tiredness of building out your patio, clean off your wooden border so you can install some bricks to make it look finished.  This is the sort of part I mentioned in the title.....see most people actually make a border with bricks and mortar.  Here's two things you should know.....1) I am lazy about DIY, but I am extremely picky that it looks nice.  2)  I am extremely cheap and could not afford the amount of mortar.  Nor did I want to spend extra days on this thing.

 

We inherited some free thin brick a while back!  You should probably have some sort of brick on hand for the next part.....this thin stuff is perfect cause its light weight and it looks just like a normal brick once attached to your border.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next, visit the Home Depot YET AGAIN.  Buy an insane amount of wood glue.  Or just a gallon and a small bottle you can squeeze- preferably one you can handle squeezing for like an hour, or sometime until your hand falls off.

Add a decent amount of wood glue to the back of your brick and lay that sucker down on your wood.  I am OCD about making sure the glue looks nice even on the backs of things, so that's why mine has this loopy design.  Don't over glue.  You don't want that stuff dripping everywhere, that just causes you massive pains later.

Remember when I said I was lazy?  Lay out like 7 bricks at a time, put glue on all of them, turn them all over onto the wood, save yourself some time and give you glue arm a break!

 

 

Try to space the bricks fairly evenly apart.  For perfectionist purposes and for the laying of mortar later.

 

 

 

Here's what it should look like when you are all finished with the glueing process.  I have yet to mortar between these suckers, but once I do, you will never know that there is lumber underneath.  Tricky tricky. 

 

Happy Patio Building!

 

And I leave you with the addition of these two areas.  We had a massive amount of excess tile left over.  And guess who was trying to build a fort under the AC unit?  You guessed it.....so we fixed that problem by blocking her out with pavers......or so we thought....she's started digging under those this week. Freaking furry kids. 

 

In case you were curious, our total cost for this project was around $700.  That included all of our tiles, lumber, mortar and sand.  Not too bad, considering we added 200 square feet of patio! 

Happy Anniversary to our House

In honor of the one year anniversary of owning a house (which is now officially 1 year and 3 months of ownership because I am a horrible slacker at posting), I thought I would FINALLY post some pictures of our little abode.  I took these in FEBRUARY with every intention of putting them up.....and then I decided they sucked cause they were taken by my phone.....and then I couldn't find the digital camera sooooo anyway, you get them now, with Valentine's day stickers on the bathroom mirror and all......eesh.  I'm going to post all of them, even tho I have redone the master bedroom photo wall and Josh's drum room is now a certified man cave... And i still have yet to paint, BUT i have bought two cans, and as soon as I can afford the rest of the paint, the kitchen is getting a makeover baby!! I also just bought tile for the back splash like 3 days ago because it was on clearance at the home depot.  it now changes my original idea for my kitchen colors, but one compromises when tile backsplash is 3 dollars.  So here's some pics of the house nearly 1 year after I took them....maybe I will do a follow up post of some of the things we have changed.  Shall we go for a little tour?

 

 

Guest Bathroom

Hallway

Drum Room/Mancave

Guest Room

Master entry

Master Facing Hallway

Master Bath





Dining from Hallway


 

Living Room from Hallway

Kitchen Entry

 



Kitchen

Kitchen/Pantry

Pantry with a dog in it

Living room from Kitchen

Living Room

Dining

View from Front Door

Garage (those cabinets were being trashed by my parents neighbors so we salvaged them for storage!)

the beautiful wall of china in the dirt backyard.  it kept the dogs out of the ac where they were chewing the wires.

and here's the view from the front. you can't see our extra long driveway that holds like 7 cars, but it's pretty sweet.  we love living here.

The house actually doesn't really look anything like this anymore since we've been trying to make some changes to make it our own.  I will do a follow up post on the redesigned backyard (complete with tips and tricks for totally faking a patio).  We are planning to make a LOT of changes in this 2013. i've already started replacing light fixtures and picking new doors and paint colors.  be prepared.