Post Surgery

Surgery yesterday went a lot easier than I thought it would. There were no ugly gowns or caps. No yucky anesthesia that makes me barf after. No wheelchairs out- I walked out on my own! Matt was there with me it was overall a really short procedure.

The doctor gave me some meds to relax me, brought me into the OR and had me lay on my tummy on the table. He then numbed the area with a series of shots and began the next series of shots to numb the nerves in my spine. I was awake and talking with him throughout the procedure and then sat up, walked to recovery, and after enjoying some juice and pretzels (it was a fasting procedure), I walked to the car and went home to rest for the day.

I took a nap yesterday (sorry to those of you who called and texted me and I didn't answer- thanks for your love) and watched some movies with Hunter at my side. I didn't sleep really well though and still have some soreness and stiffness in the area. I'm not sure if it didn't work or if it's unhappy from being poked and prodded. I have to keep a journal everyday and bring it with me to my follow up on March 30th.

Matt leaves for China today so I'm hoping all goes smoothly while he's gone and I don't have a ton of pain that leaves me stranded. My parents are also coming to stay this weekend and see the new place so it's nice to know I'll have their company and help, should I need it.

If you give Staci pretzels after fasting and surgery....then she'll want apple juice too...

6 injection marks up the bottom of my spine

Surgery

Tonight I hurt. My back aches and screams. I can't get comfortable sitting, laying down, moving, or stretching. 

I try to not take pain meds most times. I want to be tougher than that. I want to be able to "take it" and show it I'm the boss. Tonight I can't.

I can't take it. I feel tears come to my eyes and I can hardly hold them back. Tonight I listen when my husband hands me my pill and tells me to, "Please take a whole one," with concern written on his face. 

Tomorrow morning I go into surgery. Outpatient. Diagnostic. I want to hope that we'll find answers in a week or two, but I'm afraid that even if we do, the answers won't be good. If it is my facets then there's nothing they can really do and I'm left to explore other options that require frequent doctor visits in attempts to find relief but never a cure. 

I'm tired of all of this, but for now all I can do is start with tomorrow. 

Making a Menu

I have always loved cooking.  I remember growing up and following my dad around the kitchen while he was cooking dinners or breakfast on a Saturday morning. I also remember my Auntie Den making fresh bread as an after school snack when we would come over to play. It always smelled so good and melted in your mouth. I was determined to make my own bread someday just like her. So in eighth grade I took a cooking class at school and my parents have this picture of my "first meal"- danish hamburgers, mashed potatoes, gravy, and a made-from-scratch peach pie. I have a huge, proud (yet goofy) smile on my face!

Growing up, I envisioned myself making dinners for my family someday. Menus, grocery shopping, and working over the stove on some delicious treat. Well a few months back I got married and had my family, but found my husband over the stove instead of me. While I greatly appreciated his hard work and abilities, I was missing out on my dream and that hurt. So as you know, with a slew of health troubles, we decided to have me quit my job, work part time instead, and be happier over the stove than over the steering wheel during rush hour traffic. It's been a fantastic change! I was laying in bed the other morning thinking that despite my constant pain, I haven't been this happy in a long time. I am SO blessed to have such a hard working husband who provides me this opportunity to do what I love and take care of those I love.

Part of me staying home means finding ways to save some money. To do that, I've enacted my skills at planning a menu, shopping for it with coupons, and executing the menu deliciously. (Humbly too of course.) I keep my receipts for the month and challenge myself to try to get my weekly average down each time. Right now I'm at about $50/week for 2 people to eat healthy, yummy meals. I try to allow for us to eat out about once per week as a special treat and also a back up plan if I'm having a really crummy pain day.

Other than being an amazing, talented, and humble chef, I like to think that I have a creative side as well. I love making our house a home and cleaning things up, keeping them fresh, and making them cohesive. My most recent project is to organize and decorate our message center. This is a wall that has our calendar, message board, shopping list, and cork board for notes and such. Right now it's a little hectic for my taste and not very pretty.

A long while ago, I had made a picture frame into a message board, and this inspired me to create a photo wall of sorts for our message center. Ah-ha! Brilliant! This will be a work in progress as I stop into thrift stores and find frames I like. I just picked up a new one yesterday and made it into my menu board (see... bringing it back around to the beginning with the cooking). I'm pretty much in love and can't wait to see it completed someday.

Current message center with the message board I made previously. I'd eventually like to make it a photo wall out of a message board, menu, shopping list, and a pinboard. They would all be frames with scrapbook paper behind the glass, except for the pinboard which would have cork board and no glass. 

New Menu. This will eventually be a part of the message center. Frame with scrapbook paper and stickers behind the glass.  

Current location of menu. Sorry- the sunny window in the corner makes this photo look funny. 

Sometimes a project that takes time is more fun. I like having something to look for when I shop, and something to think about and envision. It will be fun to have it completed, but some things are worth the wait. :)

More Pictures

Today was my day off from work and I had intended to putz around, rest, and maybe do a few little projects. Well, I'm going to be in BIG trouble when Matt gets home tonight because once I started on a few little things, it just steamrolled away from me, and I conquered just about everything. Oops. It's certainly not finished- we still have boxes and trash and outside/sports things to organize- but it's definitely coming along. I have a few other little projects to do along with hanging photos and putting out candles and things like that.

Guest Room/Office
We originally planned for me to paint this room but ran out of time with moving and all so the tape is still up in parts. We haven't decided if we'll paint it eventually or not. There's still things to hang on the walls and finish settling in, but for the most part I think it's all set.

One of my best friends, Kristina, is coming to stay with me next month. I think it inspired me to get it all settled and ready for company! :)

Desk

Width of room: plenty of space to put an inflatable blow up bed (with memory foam top of course).  I plan to hang some curtains in here eventually. 

Our little library

The armoire holds the TV and DVD player on top, with room below to store my arts, crafts, sewing things, and extra office supplies. My husband is a saint to let me put some of my favorite and memorable stuffed animals out.  <3

Closet: this side is storing our Christmas and other holiday decorations, along with our guest inflatable bed and bedding. There's a few things left in here that would ideally go in a storage shed outside. 

Closet: on this side I've hung our dressy clothes. Since we don't use them as often, I liked keeping them here to give us more space in our bedroom closet. 

Living Room

As promised, here are some pictures of the living room.  I'd like to hang a photo wall over the couch eventually. (Sorry- We still have some boxes to take out to the trash. You can see them in some of the photos.)

Living room. We got this great rug at Home Depot for $50. We weren't sure if Hunter was going to want to eat it or how it would hold up in the space so we decided to start with a cheaper carpet for now. I love that it anchors the space and gives you a warm spot to put your toes when sitting on the couch. 

This is the TV wall. We moved on Matthew's birthday but I still made sure to get him our  traditional birthday balloons. The little hall to the right accesses the closet under the stairs and the half bath. 

Looking towards the front door. Matthew hung the curtains and our key hook. I think it's finally feeling cozy and homey. Eventually I would like to get a chair and ottoman, or a chaise, to go in the corner under the window instead of  my grandma's rocking chair. That may go upstairs or on the other side of the couch. 

Dining Room 
Right now our dining room is between the living room and kitchen. We needed the space in the kitchen for the kitchen storage cupboard, and also for Matt's bikes for right now. We're looking for some sort of outside storage shed to put his bikes and things in, but for now, they're in the kitchen to keep them safe. I also have some shelves that I would like to repaint and hang over the kitchen table to put photos on. We're still looking for two more matching chairs for our dining table.

WIP

Here are some pics of the new place. It's definitely still a work in progress but it's well on its way. (Note: I took pictures of the living room but then we hung curtains and got a new side table. I'll take new pictures and post those soon.)

Our Bedroom
We're still looking for two matching nightstands, and you can't see much of the room from this picture, but you can get the idea. You can also kind of see the blue, green, and tan color scheme. Our new dark blue, blackout, curtains are hanging up. So far we love them and they also help with maintaining the temperature in the room (cool or warm).

This view looks at the mirrored closet doors. There's a whole organization system in there that's great. 

Guest Room/Office

This room is obviously still under construction. At this point we've put all the other boxes and projects in here for now, but we do have the desk, computer, bookshelves/books, and armoire all functioning. The closet and bathroom are also functioning.

Guest Bathroom

We really love having the second full bathroom. It's been great to keep a full supply of shower stuff in there so we don't have to worry about waking each other up in the morning. Ok. Let's face it. This way Matt doesn't have to worry about waking me up in the morning if he's getting up early. :)

Kitchen

The kitchen was the first thing I set up, and yet the first meal I made in it was pancakes because we didn't have any groceries. This week we're back on track with a full menu though, including beef stew and biscuits, BLT's, and spinach pizza. Tomorrow I'm making Sandy Fuller's chicken noodle soup in the crockpot! And with a rainy weekend ahead I think there will be some apple cider too!

*You can click on any of these pictures and they should show up larger. 

Entertainment Center Reno

I love my handy hubby.

Shortly after renting our new home I realized there was a real lack of storage in the kitchen and started thinking of creative solutions. I decided to try to make an armoire or entertainment center into a storage pantry for my mixing bowls, pots, pans, and such. I searched and searched and searched Craigslist and found one in San Mateo that I liked (along with the cheap price!). That's where my handy hubby comes in.

We drove up and he somehow fit it into the Jeep, got it to the new place, and then headed to Home Depot for some supplies. For the next two nights after work he got out his tools and sat down to create what I had in mind...and then tweak it as I changed my mind. What a saint! When he was done, I busted out my cleaning supplies and spruced it up.

I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out and how much I can store in it. Out of sight, out of mind.

(You should be able to click on the photo for a larger image. Please excuse the mess surrounding it as we move in.)

Before & After: Painting

Sorry for the delay everyone, but with moving comes turning off your internet service and playing the waiting game to get it set up at the new place. After multiple appointments, as of this afternoon, we were finally connected again. Hooray! Here's a little update about some minor reno's before we moved in. 

When we moved into our new place, it wasn't painted, but the landlord agreed to pay for the paint if we did the labor and wanted to paint some accent walls. So I took off the Thursday and Friday before we moved and I headed to Benjamin Moore and picked out two colors: Baby Fawn for downstairs and Beacon Gray for the bedroom (remember the color may not be true due to your computer screen). I spent two days painting and one afternoon touching up and finishing up. I think we're happy with the results. Here are some before and after pictures to give you an idea.

Before: Front wall with front door

After: Front wall with front door

Before: Living room/Kitchen wall

After: Living room/Kitchen wall

Before: Bedroom wall (painting the wall to the right, and continuing around to the wall opposite of the closet)

After (this is the all to the right of the closet, and painted the wall to the right, which is opposite of the closet)

We will take more pictures after things are moved in and settled a bit more. We finally got things settled enough that we can relax (FINALLY- yay!) tonight, but we're definitely not close to being picture worthy. 

If you haven't been to our old home then I'll give you a color scheme idea so you'll know why I picked the colors I did. Our living room and kitchen is a mix of tan/brown (which compliments our furniture in natural woods like pine, oak, and cedar) along with light greens. The bedroom is a mix of green, tan, and dark blue. 

We also bought an entertainment center and turned it into a storage cabinet for dishes/pots/pans in the kitchen. I'll be taking pictures of that and posting them later for y'all to see. 

Some other projects we're working on still are : unpacking boxes (for now they are piled into the office and under the stairs), putting up curtains, putting up wall decor, getting some more furniture (like an end table for the sofa, another chair/ottoman, more chairs for our dining set, and nightstands), and generally finding a good flow of things which means setting up and moving things around as you use them. We've been scavenging Craigslist, yard sales, antique stores, furniture warehouses, and consignment stores for our other pieces of furniture. So far we haven't found anything in our budget but we're still having fun looking and learning more about our new neighborhood. 

I'll post more pics as things get settled. Stay tuned!