prepping

This is what I've been up to lately... 

3 full days refinishing furniture in the carport

peach picking at Fisher's Orchard for the last weekend of peach season that I'm in town.  (alone)

putting furniture back together... the cabinet still needs hardware.

lots of stuff off the list... but the big non-fun stuff is still left to be done in the next few hours.

five on friday

One of the ladies I follow all the time, Beth Ann at My Life More Abundant did her first link up with Five on Friday last week... and I loved it.  So, I thought I would participate in this massive linkup.

The guideline for this linkup is : To "blog about 5 things..... things that you're loving, things that are on your mind, etc.  Really, any five things."  So here goes nothing:

one

kicks.  At 28 weeks, Myles is getting strong.  The doctor asked me on Wed. if I have felt him moving around yet (that I should be feeling him at least once a day).  I had to laugh.  Yes.  ALL THE TIME.  I just sit and laugh on the couch while he has my whole belly shaking and jumping.  Its so surreal.  And freaky.  And cool.  For now.

two

goshandgolly-Etsy : $43

mobiles.  I haven't really liked any in the baby stores... so I have been scoping out some DIY tutorials on them.  And since I have recently made the decision for his room to have an underlying vintage biplane theme, I think this cloud mobile would be perfect.  With my own little twist on it of course.  And since I have found a simple tutorial to make it myself... it will be significantly cheaper than buying it online.

three

peaches.  There is going to be one more major round of peach jam making happening very soon.  I can't get over how amazing the peaches are down here and I really want to take advantage of it while I can.  Especially since the last batch at the beginning of the month turned out so well. 

four

bread.  I love making homemade bread.  I sort of knew this was going to be a slippery slope if I actually tried it out.  It tastes amazing, and is pretty relaxing to make.  And oh so rewarding.  Except for my waistline.  I think there is starting to be more down there than just Myles.  Maybe I will stop being obsessed soon?

five

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the weekend.  Last weekend was Kyle's last time off for the next 19 days straight.  It sucks for him but I'm not completely tore up about it.  With the trip home happening over next weekend, I will be kept pretty busy preparing to be, and being, gone.  Which leaves this weekend to worry about.. but once again... going to be busy... and as I learned 2 weeks ago, it is a lot of fun to go visit him during the weekend.  Sort of feels like a mini-date that you are sort of trying to guess when he is going to have to "rush off and save the day".  Ok... so most likely he would just have to leave to take care of something silly but that mindset makes it a lot more exciting and a lot less annoying. Fortunately the "date" is being interrupted for an event where the "date" is occurring, and not at a fancy restaurant on an important relationship holiday across town (which I'm sure will happen in our lifetime).  So yes.  I am looking forward to having coffee or something with my husband for hopefully 30 minutes in the hospital cafeteria this weekend. 

thankful thursday : sunshine

This Thursday I am thankful for:

Sunshine.  It has been a dreary week and a half here in SC.  And cold.  Like not getting above 70, and cloudy or rainy and breezy.  Yuck.  It has been rather depressing, and the reason I am so far behind on painting the nursery furniture.  Finally.  Finally!  I woke up this morning to sunshine and warm/hot weather.  I could actually see what I was doing under the carport today!  

Granted... it has now come a little storm... but this is such an improvement over what we have had.  

And it will be gone soon enough :).

in a week

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It has snuck up on me.  We booked the flights about a month ago... and it hit on Monday that in a week, I will be flying back to KY for the baby showers.  And I have so many things I want to get done before then!

The weather is finally clearing up here... so we have finally been able to move the nursery furniture outside so I can work on painting it over the next several days.  I have never taken on this large/detailed of a project alone so wish me luck!  An old hutch bottom and that beautiful dresser we got a while back are about to be BLUE.  So I will be sanding, priming, painting several layers, and clear coating several layers onto two decent sized pieces of furniture.  Oh and all of those layers are supposed to be sanded in between. Thank you Papaw for that electric sander!

The big bombshell that has me a little thrown off... I am in love with the small batch of peach jam I fixed a while back... and so I knew I wanted to take advantage of peach season one last time so there would be plenty of jam to share... didn't quite realize that peach picking season at our local orchard ends about the time I get back from KY... so I need to pick peaches and make jam before next week too!  

If I have time... I will finish up my layers of white paint on some frames that I started this past weekend.  And I would LOVE to get the laundry room painted.  And since I'm kinda obsessed... I might have to do a little baking sometime too... its relaxing okay?

Oh and it would would be nice to get another round of groceries done so Kyle is able to feed himself while I'm away for 6 days...

I might be a little ambitious...

weekend replay : little brother

(I apologize in advance for the length of this post... I could have easily put it down to a few words and several pictures, but this blog isn't just for you... its for me too and I want to remember this weekend.)

It was an eventful weekend!  Lucas flew into Greenville Thursday afternoon.  I wasn't completely sure what to think about how the weekend would go.  Based on our last 4 years of life in Louisville... I was expecting a visit full of late night video games and being pretty much ignored by him and my husband. (No they really weren't that bad up there... but sometimes it felt like it).  But it was seriously a fantastic weekend.  

Kyle only had Saturday and Sunday off... so I had part of Thursday afternoon and most of Friday alone with Lucas.  We had a lot of fun, and the most surprising part... he was helpful.  In Louisville, if we asked him to take out the trash on his way to his car... HA!  His friends would end up doing it or it would be left by the door.  This time... I asked for help... "ok".  And it was done!  Maybe he has grown up a little while living at home the past month or two working for dad, but I still say its sympathy for the big bump on my front.  And for once.. I'm not complaining.

As mentioned the other day... I mowed the lawn... the back yard... the biggest yard... before he got here... And he fussed at me.  I mean I left the front yard for him... but he had planned on mowing it all for me.  I just felt bad asking him to do that knowing he had just spent the entire day before mowing and weed eating a whole campground at his other job.  But within an hour of him being at our house, my front yard was mowed!  Not only that... but he then started fussin at me for not cleaning up for him (our key spots in the house were still cluttered... its just Lucas...).  

Friday, I fixed some cinnamon rolls for us and we headed out to the mall.  He wanted some help shopping for some clothes and housewares, and I wanted to check out the maternity store's clearance aisle.  We both walked away with lighter pockets and full bags.  ( I might be exaggerating a little... but I did end up with 2 pairs of maternity pants and a shirt... ahhh the comfort!).  We also hit up Lowe's where he helped decide the paint colors for the laundry room and the baby's furniture... and carried everything out for me.  Shortly after, we found out that some family friends were going to stop by the house to see us on their way back to Virginia, so Lucas then HELPED ME CLEAN THE HOUSE.  But not before we discovered a major issue.  The dishwasher had sprung a leak.  Oi.  

it had been doing this for probably 3 days... 

Dinner that night was some cheap Japanese up the road from us... not bad!  Kyle was craving asian food (as usual).  The three of us spent Friday night watching a movie together before turning in.

Saturday started off with breakfast together, and then Kyle needed to work on a presentation for work, so me and Luke headed toward downtown to waste some time. Lunch at Mr. Salsa's up the road ended my time with them for the day.  They both retired to their computers to play video games and I got started on some small painting projects around the house and grilled some ribs for dinner.  

The night was finished for us with a late night run for hot Krispy Kremes!  And Myles was a happy baby.

Sunday was pancakes for breakfast, church, leftovers for a late lunch, more video games, and snacks for dinner.  Kyle had to go to bed early for work, so Lucas and I stayed up watching Food Network together.  

Monday morning, I let Lucas sleep in for his last day of "vacation" and took him to the airport around 1.  This weekend meant a lot to me.  We used to see my brother about once a week in Louisville.  He and Kyle, despite the 4 year age difference, did everything together.  And we became friends.  It isn't just the moving states apart that made this weekend important... it is the part where he is supposedly going to eventually move to Japan.  If the Air Force will ever get their stuff together and give him some official orders.  He was supposed to hear by this weekend if he would for sure be leaving Sept 30th for training in TX, but never got anything... so while I hate it for him with the whole not knowing anything for sure thing... I am kind of excited to have it almost certain that he will be in the US when his nephew is born.  I really want them to meet before Lucas moves so far away for a few years.  Because Lucas is REALLY excited to have a nephew on the way... and I'm pretty sure he will be a great uncle... even if it is just through Skype.

on cutting the grass

How to cut grass with a push mower:

Lesson 1 : If you must cut it while damp, don't run back over the cut stuff.
Lesson 2 : Don't wait a week and a half to cut it. 

Not following these lessons will result in the mower getting stopped up and cutting off multiple times during the day, lengthening the amount of time of cutting by a lot as you wait for the grass to dry out some and the mower to de-flood from your pitifully desperate attempts to get it started again.

Lesson 3 : Just wait until your brother arrives to SC and have him cut it for you. Stop being the nice sister.

thankful thursday : trauma alert

This Thankful Thursday I am going to do things a little different.  Instead of a list of things I am thankful for, it is going to be a long story of the most significant thing that happened this week.  Warning... its a tear jerker.  But I am oh so thankful for the lesson I got/ am getting from it.  I wasn't sure I wanted to write about it, but I have been feeling convicted with how little "real" stuff I have been writing lately, and I realized how much I needed to share this.

Let me start off with saying that the hospital gives every doctor a cell phone programmed to act as pagers, or just to send out their massive Trauma Alert texts.  This focusses on the alerts.  They go to every doctor, every hour of the day, regardless of who is working.  So Kyle gets these all the time.  It really only affects the doctors that are actually working at the hospital at the time of the alert... So they basically go ignored if you are off duty.  So far it has just been that interesting thing to talk about... "oh they got slammed last night!  I had 5 alerts while we were sleeping!".  "Oh it sounds like there was another moped wreck just now" (mopeds are a huge issue down here).  

That all changed early Monday morning.

At about 3:30am, Kyle's phone started going off.  I know what the alerts are, because his phone vibrates 3 times and the light comes on.  I'm a light sleeper... so most of the time it jogs me awake a little but then I go back to sleep pretty quick.  Because usually it happens twice (once for text, once for email) and then its over.  Not Monday.  It went off about 6 times in 30 minutes.  Kyle rolled over and groggily assessed it was an initial alert and then some corrections.  Being that it is now 4am and I know I'm going to wake up shortly again when Kyle has to get up, I was immediately annoyed.  I mean why couldn't they just get it right the first time or two?  Why did they have to keep interrupting MY sleep?  I even rolled over and complained on Facebook about alerts in the middle of the night.  I acted like a child.  And then I tried to go back to sleep.  No dice.  Damage was done, I was wide awake.  So I laid there and waited for Kyle to get up so I could really try to fall asleep again.  

He got up, and almost immediately had a phone call from his upper level letting him know he was going into a procedure immediately and Kyle needed to run the list without him.  That was a little weird.  Never had a phone call that early.

I went ahead and got out of bed at 5.  Only thing on tv that early was the news.  It was plastered with photos of a wreck that happened at 3:30am about 5 miles from our house on the interstate.  I was immediately taken aback.  For the first time ever, the trauma alert I was annoyed with coincided with the time frame of what I was watching on the news.  This was no longer an interesting conversation point between husband and wife.  This was real.

It got worse.

I started to learn details as the news channel got more information that morning.

An under-the-influence driver got on the interstate going the wrong way.  At the same time, a family of 5 was traveling back home from a trip to North Carolina.  Dad driving in a car alone in front, Mom with 3 children (3, 8, and 9) in the van behind him.  Dad on the phone talking to mom.  Dad sees the issue, mom doesn't.  He doesn't have time to warn her.  The driver slams into mom's van.  Dad watches his wife die and pulls his 3 children from the vehicle.  Children.  With very serious injuries.

My husband is on his Pediatric Surgery rotation right now.  He has seen the family all week.  His upper level was calling to let him know he was rushing in to work on one of the children.

Having knowledge of this tragedy has been a big low for both of us this week.  Kyle because he is a doctor witnessing the heartache everyday.  Me, because I was slapped into reality Monday morning.  And I am thankful for it.  I didn't realize how jaded I had become in less than 2 months of him working.    I was woken from my precious sleep while a family was being torn apart.  And because all they had been to me was a text message, I was annoyed.  

But now I know.  These 3 vibrations on the side table of our dark bedroom: they are real people.  They are real cries for help.  They are tragedies like a doctor would have been notified of last week of my brother's good friend dying in a motorcycle wreck because a driver didn't pay attention and pulled out in front of him.  They could be a friend of mine, or a family member.  And I would hope that the reaction from whoever received that message would not be like what I had, annoyed with the inconvenience of an untimely text message, but a realization/acknowledgment that a team of doctors needs to be ready to save a life.

I am not thankful for this tragedy.  But I am thankful for the kick in the pants I got from knowing about it.  Thank you God for that realization that I need to check my attitude in these situations and for showing me at 5am that these alerts are real people.

Because its easy to flippantly say "oh that's just another trauma alert", and forget what that word actually means:  Trauma-

A serious injury or shock to the body, as from violence or an accident. An event or situation that causes great distress and disruption.

Not something to be taken lightly at any hour of the day, even if you are just the doctor's wife.  

lets play a game

So last week I mentioned a project that two friends helped out with.  Well now I'm ready to tell you about that project.  Everyone has received their cards so I'm good with spilling it all on here.  Especially since it went over so well!

This little doozie was dreamed up over a month ago.  I had just met my friend Aly down here and found out she was into crafty things too, so I texted her one day and asked her for ideas for how to reveal the name of our baby.  Because lets face it... other than what he is going to look like for real, the name is all we had left to have fun with.  We didn't wait very long to let our families know about the pregnancy, and couldn't hold it in that he was a boy... especially since we had just moved and not settled in to our new surroundings/jobs.  So I am actually glad that Kyle decided at the last moment that we would not tell the name we had decided on.  Even though I was dying to tell everyone I talked to.

I knew I wanted to do a photo... but was quickly shown on Pinterest and Google Search that everyone was doing the same thing at the moment.

They are all cute ideas... I just knew that I wanted to add an element to the reveal... so all that to say... I was excited when Aly's reply was to do photo clues for the names.  

And so The Name Game was born.  I asked for Aly and her boyfriend Matt's help with the photos of Kyle and I...

We picked a Sunday we were all free and put it on the calendar.  Matt would take the photos, and for the sake of time, I would do the editing so I could print immediately.  So last week, we went to Reedy Falls Park after church and had a little fun.  Matt got some really great shots but only a few were right for THE photo.  Mostly... the belly wasn't very obvious... and what's a pregnancy photo without the belly?  Even so... I love these pictures!

None of these were quite right.  But I may still use them for my own personal collection.  But no worries!  Matt got a couple of shots just perfect for what I had in store.

So I picked, Photoshopped, printed.  All that was left was the main part of the project.  Creating the game.  This took an entire extra day of printing, cutting, decoupaging, and stamping.  But I just loved the end result!  Feel free to play along before you look at the last photos :).

Inside was "did you get it right?" followed by personalized messages and a copy of the chosen pictures (we sent out 2 different ones) with the answer.  So some of you reading this got one picture and you can see the other photo that went to others now!

In case you are playing along... the answer is coming up!

Soon!

Alright...

Now!

I loved hearing what people guessed.  Most people really over-thought the clues.  Kyle's parents broke out the atlas, my parents tried "decoding"the mile marker with a numbers=letters idea.  Others just thought the cities were options for names.  The game was definitely a hit and was worth the effort.

And the short explanation on the name:

Myles : the middle name of Kyle's grandfather Vernon who passed away in May.
Oliver : Kyle's dad's middle name and also the maiden name of his grandmother who just passed away.

We can't wait to meet our Myles!  I have been extra busy planning and working on his room lately!

a perk of staying at home

you have plenty of time to do this:

homemade french toast from homemade bread with homemade spiced whipped cream and m last peach from the orchard

because when you are home alone and pregnant, your life revolves around your next meal.

thankful thursday

this Thursday I am thankful for:

talented friends
because of a couple we have met at church, we were able to pull off a pretty cool project for our families this week.  I will share more next week when I'm sure all of the participants have participated.  thankful for their willingness to help out people they have just met and barely gotten to know, at the drop of a hat.

time
I have nothing but time.  And because of that I can leisurely decide if I want to work on the house or spend my time on fun short projects like I have all week.  Monday I spent several hours working on the above mentioned project, Tuesday I spent most of the day working on turning the peaches we picked this weekend into jam and peach butter for canning, and Wednesday I baked some fresh bread.  It has all been a lot of fun, and things that I could put lots of care and details into that I normally would not have been able to focus on.  And man has our house smelled amazing this week!

random moments that make you smile
despite the gloomy, rainy weather we have had around here, it hasn't been dreary around the house.  whether it is the baby making some crazy movements in the belly or the cats being ridiculously funny... it hasn't been a dull moment while stuck inside the house.

So what are you thankful for this week?

weekend replay : good man

This weekend replay (and Medical Monday!) is dedicated to my husband.  The hard working surgical intern who spends more time at work than any human should.  Dealing with crap no one should have to deal with (he is currently on his Peds rotation).  But he loves it.  He is settling into his new life, our new life, and he is a trooper.  I say this because the man gets 4 days off per month.  His program does "golden weekends" so this translates to 2 precious weekends off per month.  Which is great during a normal month but this month has 5 weekends... so not so great for him.  And I just filled this weekend with stuff I wanted to do.  And he was amazing.

activity 1

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Ok ok the first activity for the weekend was something he has been begging to do for weeks now... and it just kept not happening... partly because of circumstances... partly because there was nothing out that I was ok with watching... We went to see The Wolverine in 3D.  And it was awesome.  We have always enjoyed the X-men movies and this one did not disappoint.

activity 2

I tempted him out of bed Saturday morning with breakfast and then threw him in a car to go to Fisher's Orchard to do a pick-your-own peach activity.  Sure I could have bought the same peaches at a roadside stand a little closer to home for a slight upcharge... but I really wanted to go!  And he was very helpful.  He could reach the good ones higher up than I could :).  We picked a peck (about 12 pounds of deliciousness) for $10.  Today these gems will hopefully be canned in some form or fashion.

activity 3

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Once we had peaches, it wasn't quite lunch time (I had promised him Mexican food) so we made a not quite quick trip to The Home Depot.  He did need some safety glasses for work, and I had lots of loose ends to buy for various projects. Still didn't get everything I needed but I really need to finish some projects before I keep buying for projects I don't have time for yet.  He never complained once.

activity 4

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Still Saturday... I sent him off to get his hair cut before he mowed the lawn and lo-and-behold, he shows up with a surprise cherry limeade for me.  This is a big deal people.  This is a rarity.  He is a sweet man, but this trip was out of his way.  Made. My. Day.  I might have thanked him with a steak dinner from our grill.  And an evening to relax.

activity 5

After church on Sunday, we went with some friends out for burgers and a milkshake and then took a nice walk around Falls Park.  We had fun but he was ready to head home.  

This was the last thing I had planned for the weekend.  He needed to get some reading done at home and I had a few things I wanted to get done as well.  The rest of our evening was spent vegging out on the couch catching up on Supernatural.  I'm so grateful for Kyle and how he pretty much never complained this weekend.  It meant a lot to me to get to do all of these things with him.  It was a busy weekend, but it has prepped me for an even busier week.  Lots of projects to work on now!  

It is the first Monday of the month so that means its Medical Monday!  And this isn't a normal one either... its the one year anniversary of them so there is a giveaway going on!  So if thats how you found me, welcome to my blog, hope you have enjoyed it.  :)

coffee anyone?

Tiling the coffee bar.

This has been my favorite project so far.  This is what I was working with from the house tour about 6 weeks ago:

BORING

Sure painting the living room made a huge difference in our living space (sorry I still haven't put that change up).  But this one was so awesome to do.

Thank you dad for bringing your tools and helping me do this.  I feel pretty awesome after that one.  The difference it made in the kitchen is so neat.  It is the first thing I notice when I come in from the carport.  And it makes me smile.

Before we could worry about the tile, we had to prepare our space.  I removed the outlet covers, and then since we decided to install a light in the top of the space, we thought* we needed to drill holes in the nice piece of cherry dad cut for the new base of the space and the cabinet underneath so that we could bring the cord around and up behind the coffee pot to be plugged in.

*thought= we automatically assumed that the outlet we could see was the one we had to use.  Dr. Kyle, once home, reminded us that there was an outlet above the cabinet concealed by cabinet doors that was a shorter distance, would require no rewiring of the light, and would have saved our nice piece of cherry from getting drilled to death.  Check all of your spaces before drilling.

Now we could start dealing with the tile.

I found the glass tile back when Kyle's parents came to visit about a month ago, and had been dreaming up a way to incorporate stainless steel into the pattern.  I finally decided to do 2 rows of the brick pattern in the main part of the coffee bar but couldn't decide how to do the glass with it.

we chose horizontal.

Once that decision was made, we started cutting.

caution:  cutting glass tiles means there are little shards of glass flying... wear safety glasses and be careful with your fingers... a stray shard ended up under my finger where I was trying to put pressure to cut a piece and slightly stabbed my finger in the process.

Once some tile was cut I could start throwing on a thin layer of mastic to hold the tile to the surface.  Just throw it on and press the tile to it.  It wasn't too hard to wiggle the tiles to get them straight and evenly spaced after this.  

thick enough to hold the tile but thin enough not to squeeze through the spaces between the tile.

pressing and wiggling tiles.

Once all of the tiles were up, we let everything dry overnight.  Early the next morning I begged dad to get the grout mixed up for me.  Since dad already had it with him, and we agreed it would work with the tile, we used a dark grey grout.  I laid down a few layers of painters tape up against the tile to protect the rest of the space from the grouting process as best I could and then... once again... just a lot of throwing it on, pressing it in, wiping excess.  

Just wiped off the worst of it with the spatula thing I was using to put it on with.  Once the whole area was grouted, I took a large sponge and gently started wiping off more.  Mostly the goal was to get big amounts off of the surface of the tile.  Then wait... and repeat.  Let dry a good bit (I fixed and ate breakfast for everyone) and then used a clean wet sponge to get the last of the thin layer off of the tile.  

Few hours later, I used an old dry washcloth to polish it all up.  And this is the result once the cherry was turned over and the accent piece added to the top shelf (to eventually be painted white).

And all filled up for use!

Hope you all have a great weekend!  I'm going to try to finish a project or two over mine... we will see though... Kyle is off so I probably won't be too productive!