House Pictures - Finally!

I have been promising pictures for a while and I finally dug AJ's camera out and took some. Things are no where near as done as I want them. I figured out a good reason for that. I keep getting distracted by random projects.


Dining room. It is still lacking the personality I want it to have, but it is getting there.


The china cabinet. I LOVE THIS!!!! I LOVE THE CHINA TOO!!!! We have AJ's grandma's on both sides china. I think it is so awesome to have family stuff, it makes me feel closer to his roots. The cows that are in there are salt and pepper shakers that I thought were just to cool to pass up at Salvation Army. They made me smile and I got the set for $1.50.


Our pineapple kitchenette. This area makes me smile. I really like the sunny yellow color. Waking up to this makes me happy. I painted my little table I got from my grandma. A couple of years ago I painted this set with black and white polka dots on the table and bright red chairs. It looks so different being white and yellow, but I love this look in this house as much as I loved the polka dots in my flat in Gainesville.


Having the cookbooks next to the kitchen is amazing! It is something I have never had before, and what a difference it makes. I am more willing to try new reciepes if they are closer to the kitchen for some reason. I also wanted to get a closer picture of the little bird I found at Lowes. He is supposed to be an outside thing, but he was just too cute to pass up.


This area is along the staircase wall that houses the 1/2 bath. Still not sure how this is going to evolve, but so far I like it. The dresser is great storage for all of our games. The funny part is that even with all that space we have more games that don't fit. I picked up the mirror at a garage sale today for $3. I think it fits well in that space. I don't like mirrors at all, but I am learning that they are ok to use as design and decorating things.


My elephant 1/2 bath. I am really excited about the potential of this room, but kinda stuck on it right now. I want to paint it a nice light green, but I am a little burnt out on painting lately. If you look at the elephant on the floor that is the one that the head keeps coming off. I fixed it again today, and I am hoping it holds this time. The picture that is on the wall I got today at a garage sale for $1. That really is giving me some more inspiration.



The elephant picture. Isn't it just adorable? Can you tell I have a thing for elephants? When I get my little collection all figured out I will post pictures of that too.


Our bedroom. I am still looking for the metal candle holders that I want to use for the headboard... they are in the garage (under AJ's tools which are to heavy for me to move). I am still torn about the curtains, but we need something to block out light because that room is just to bright early in the morning. I made the pillow cover on the little pillow out of two napkins I found on clearance at Wal-Mart. AJ built the little bench at the end of the bed, I just need to get him to put some sides on it so I can paint it.


My vanity. I am excited about the possibilities with this little area. I got the desk of craigslist, the mirror at Salvation Army, the tea set at a local thirft store, the lamp at a garage sale today, and I had the metal chair (it was just black and red to match the polka dots). I like the lamp a lot, I am just not sure it is going to stay there or that lime green. It is a really old metal lamp and it is just fun. I was really surprised it worked when I put a bulb in. I got another one that is a burnt orange color that I can't get to work, but I am hoping we might be able to re-wire it and get it working too.


I painted the chair and recovered the seat cushin with this fun brown, white, and blue fabric. I was so thrilled when I found the fabric and it was $1.50 a yard. I got 3 yards. I plan on covering some of the other throw pillows I have for the bed. I just ran out of steam and time before I got the camera. I also found this really nice soft blue fabirc and covered a little throw pillow I had. It works really well as the back cushin.

Looking at the pictures I am starting to see how much work has gone into things. They aren't where I want them to be, but they are making progres. I keep thinking things aren't getting done, but looking at it from a different perspective was kinda nice. I still need to take pictures of the guest room, but right now it is a staging area for AJ's library bookcases. I also need to take pictures of my new improved yellow playroom, but I need help haning my pig pictures and I need to finish cleaning it up some (making pillows is a messy project).

Random Thoughts On Cooking In The New House

I have been thinking about cooking in the new house. I have also been cooking a lot in the new house. So, now I have some random observations:

1. I like cooking even more now. I didn't think that was possible, but apparently it is. 

2. I LOVE having space to play with my food. 

3. I don't use near the kitchen "gadget" appliances that I thought I would. We dedicated the entire inside of the island to appliances, and I have only pulled one thing out of it - the collander and that doesn't even count as an appliance.

4. Lamb is a very sticky meat. It also is one of my least favorite things to clean.

5. I like chopping vegetables... makes me wonder why I don't eat them as often.

6. I baked! I actually baked something other than food, not that cupcakes aren't food, but well they aren't hearty food. I am not a baker. 

7. I love having my own stove that I know hasn't been abused. That also means that the oven holds a temperature, and the burners WORK!

8. I am learning not to cook on high on burners. I think it has something to do with the fact that they actually work on a setting other than high.

9. I love having my cookbooks by the kitchen. I feel inspired to try new things.

10. I got to really cook for my parents. I think that it stunned them that I really have learned to cook. They have never really gotten to eat with me because there was never really any place for us to sit down and enjoy a meal together. 

Response to Birth Control

I was randomly wandering through my friends friends on twitter and came upon this blog:

http://www.beautyfromchaos.com/

Well, the post that happened to be the first one on the page was about birth control, the chemical kind. And since that is always a sensitive subject to me, I had to read their thoughts. 

Wow! I am kinda dumbfounded on their take on birth control. I was also taken aback by the majority of the comments about the post. Apparently, according to them I am a horrible person because I take Seasonale (I really do take that specific one).  The thing that no one is really taking into account is that it isn't always an easy choice to be on this stuff. I would almost give my left arm not to take birth control, but that isn't an option.

My Story- 

I was 12, I had been having my periods for about 3 months. I started waking up in the middle of the nights screaming in pain in my abdomen. My parents (being good parents) took me to the emergency room. After hours and hours of test and no real answers the doctors sent me home, saying to talk to my primary doctor about the problem. Everyone kinda thought that it was an appendicitis that never fully developed. So we went to the doctor and he thought that it might be a minor problem with my ovary, so he put my on birth control.  Well the pain went away. 

I was only on it for about a year, and then I came off, thinking that the problem was over, and that no 13 year old should be on this stuff. Well, slowly the pains started coming back. Also, I started having real problems with my periods... they were missing randomly, they were long, they were very heavy and painful, and just horrible. So, the doctor put me back on birth control. It had been about two years since I had taken it last. They figured that my ovulation should have worked it self into a normal routine, but it hadn't.

So, fast forward 7 years. I had taken it fairly normally for that long. OK, I did my research, I wasn't sexually active, I didn't like what it was doing to my moods (come to find out the hormone levels weren't what I needed from that particular brand), and I didn't like the cost. So, happily off I come. It was amazing! I was free from that crap.  

Well, turns out stopping taking it was one of the worst ideas I had ever had. During the last year I was taking it I was starting to have pains in the abdomen again, and spent many a night in the ER and getting no answers. It kept coming back that they thought it was a problem with my appendix.  Turns out it wasn't. 

One day I was out running errands. I got the most horrific pain in my side and stomach I had ever felt to that point. I rushed myself home and was sick as a dog. I took pain killers, and no help. I called a friend who rushed me to the ER. This time there was something major going on. I was in the ER for 18 hours. The final conclusion was I had an ovarian cyst - the size of an orange on my ovary. The first doctor sent me home. Told me to see an OB/GYN later and not to worry.

Four hours later, I was being rushed back to the ER. A new level of pain was occurring. I get back into the ER, they rush me in, put in a morphine drip (which come to find out has absolutely no effect on me), and call the OB/GYN on duty. He takes one look at the CT scan from the night before and starts getting me prepped for emergency surgery.

My "minor" ovarian cyst had flipped itself upside down (an ovarian torsion) and was killing the ovary. I later discovered that this is fairly rare, and the doctor was impressed to get to see one because as he put it, "You can go your whole career without ever seeing one of these in OB/GYN." Yay, thanks! He tried to save the ovary, but by the time I got to surgery it had already gone necrotic. So, I am down to one ovary.

The next week for my check up, the doctor laid out some hard cold facts for me. I have to be on birth control until I want kids, or their probably won't be another ovary to have kids. I was floored. I didn't want to do that. So, I choose not to for about 6 months. I wanted time to heal and to think about what that meant. Well, my body knew what that meant... make more cyst on the remaining ovary.

Two more ER visits later with small to medium cyst on the remaining ovary convinced me the doctor was right. Back onto birth control I went. I talked to him about other hormone options or natural methods, basically for my problem there are no real other options. They don't work as well as the birth control does. And, honestly, I still have a lot of problems. I still have lots of pain, I still have rough periods, but not as bad as they were.

So, we played around with about 10 different versions of the pill before we landed on Seasonale. Some versions allowed more cyst, some allowed bigger cyst, some I bled continuously for the three months that I was on them testing them out, and others made me suicidal. I felt like a guinea pig, but I want kids. I have had the fake "morning sickness" more times than I can count as my body tries to get used to a new formula.

This journey and this "choice" that I have sucks! I would never wish it on anyone. I would honestly give up anything to not have to live like this, but I don't want to give up my future kids. It hurts me to have to live with this choice. I cry every time I have to get a prescription filled. It makes me feel horrible. 

My husband knew all of this going into our marriage. He knows where my faith is and that I believe life starts at fertilization. He knows this isn't an easy choice for me to make. And, we both know that the last 15 months of our marriage have not been the time to start trying to have children. We both have prayed over this choice - both to continue the pill and to wait on kids, and we know when the time is right God will show us that. 

My husband even came to one of the OB/GYN appointments to talk to the doctor himself about what the pill does and why I have to be on it. That is strength in my world. We have both fought this situation. 

I just want people to understand that God fearing Christians do occasionally have to take this stuff, even when it is the last thing they want to do. I hate looking at that purple box sitting next to my toothbrush, but I have to keep in my head... "If I want kids, I will do this. If I don't want more surgery, I will do this."

Honestly, my other options are - stop the pill and freeze some eggs and then have to go through InVitro, or stop the pill and know there will be pain and surgery.  Neither of those sounds healthy. I know that after we have our kids I am going to have to have the last ovary removed. I also know that for me that means I am on hormone replacement therapy for the rest of my life. This last one is a life sentence, but taking that stupid pill every morning means one more morning that I put off loosing the ovary. It means that I could have kids (there are some other issues to worry about in actually having the kids - all as an outcome of the surgery).

Just be careful how fast you judge a person and their motives some times.

Working on the House.

I worked on the house today. It is the first day I haven't wanted to just lay in bed and suffer through this infection. Actually, I couldn't sleep or rest if I wanted too. The doctor put me on prednisone (a steroid), and I don't react well to this stuff, but luckily it is only a lack of sleep.

So, today I got stuff done. Nothing major, but enough that I feel like I made some progress. I did take a couple of pictures, but I realized I took them before I had finished some of the projects today. 

I unpacked the china that we got as an early Christmas present from AJ's grandma. It looks awesome in the china cabinet. I love the dining room set we have. AJ's grandparents are moving to a retirement community in a couple of weeks and they sold us their set. It looks amazing in our dining room. The china cabinet also has a set of china from his Grandma Peck, too. The sets look so nice next to each other. They are also in there with a partial set that I picked up from a garage sale. It is a partial set because it is missing most of the eating parts of the set... mainly the large plates, so I plan on using it is a dessert set.

I glued my elephant's head back onto its body. During the move from Gainesville to Orlando, Scott cracked the head, and then a couple of weeks later the head fell off. I had meant to throw the thing away before we moved into the house, but AJ kept saying to just glue it back together. Then my momma saw it last weekend and she said the same thing, and that I should use it to hold towels in the half bath downstairs. So, the elephant has a newly fixed head and is waiting to turn into a towel holder. 

I worked on finding stuff in the garage. That is not a fun task. I almost want to just go to Wal-Mart and buy the stuff over again so that I don't have to about die from heatstroke in the garage. I found some of the things I wanted, but I am still missing a shoe rack that I want to put in the bedroom. I found the shower curtain rod for the guest bathroom... now that means I need to silicone the shower so that it is usable. Maybe I will tackle that this weekend. I also found AJ's missing lunch box. We have been improvising and I think that has been annoying him.

I worked on re-organizing kitchen stuff. I got the appliances a little more figured out. Right now, I don't see the point in having the bread maker in the kitchen since it will probably be a while before I am ready to start making bread again. So, it actually went back into the garage. I did find the toaster... I have been hunting that bad boy. So, he got his home out on the counter next to the coffee pot and blender. I also found some great black porcelain containers that I had bought to put in the kitchen before we bought the house.

I am really surprised that all of the things we have for the kitchen match our kitchen (other than our white coffee pot, but that is ok). I think it is awesome that a lot of the things we registered for when we got married work in this house. I did find a hat rack that I bought to put in the kitchen to hang my aprons on, now I can't wait to get that up and hang all my pretty vintage aprons up.

I also re-organized the deep freeze. I know that isn't the most useful of my time, but it really needed to be done. It was getting annoying to have to pull everything out to try to find what I wanted to cook. I did find all the frozen juice we had gotten AJ. I told him it was in there somewhere, and of course it was on the bottom. I also found something that I need to let my sister-in-law know about.  They are yummy frozen meals that still require some cooking, but it is a complete meal that makes four full servings. We found them at Wal-Mart. They are amazing, quick, and just plain yummy.

Rain!

Yesterday we got rain at the house. Thank goodness, we needed the rain so badly. The grass looks green today instead of the nasty burned brown look. I need to go check on my tomato plants. They were looking pitiful yesterday when I got home and I was going to water them, but by the time I could water them (water restrictions down here) it was raining.

Watching the lightning from the living room windows was awesome. I am really liking the views that the triple sliding doors gives us. I need to find some kind of curtains to go in that space though. I don't like the plastic vertical blinds. Actually, I really hate plastic vertical blinds. It is a symptom of living in apartments for too long, they just make me feel like I am in a cheap/ sterile environment.

On a side note, the rain did not help my head. I have a really bad sinus infection. I went to the doctor and he checked my ears (which are hurting really bad). Apparently my ear drums are so retracted that my ear bones are projected out through the membrane. Yikes! No wonder I haven't been able to hear lately and they have been throbbing.