Life at Our Home

When I do a "life at our home" post, that's when the truth really comes out and you're going to get a whole lot of truth today. This post has been written and deleted, written and deleted, and written and deleted again. It's a post I wish that I never had to write. I've taken an unintended break from blogging. Life at our home was turned upside down. In July I got a phone call from my mom telling me that she had breast cancer. As she was talking to me that day I felt like someone had knocked the wind out of me. I really couldn't catch my breath. The days and weeks that followed have been filled with doctors appointments, tests, hospital stays and lots of fear. Helping my dad and caring for my mom is the reason for my absence here (and everywhere else). Mom started chemo and was hit with a serious illness that resulted in her spending weeks in the hospital. I won't go into details about my mom's diagnosis, that's not my story to tell.

I will tell you my story. My mom is my best friend. Her diagnosis has been devastating to me. I have so many emotions: fear, anger, sadness, hope, strength, love, and comfort. It seems as though I've felt all of those emotions within minutes of each other (sometimes in the same minute). I wish I could say that I have a constant feeling of comfort and security. The reality is, whenever I need comfort or security or reassurance, I always go to my mom. As I've watched my mom face this challenge I've been amazed at her strength, fearlessness, and courage. She's facing many weeks of treatments, surgery, and then more treatments and has faced her challenges thus far with courage! Her mantra has always been "be brave." Not long after mom's diagnosis she gave me this necklace. I love having this constant reminder that I can be brave through this, I can!

Not too long after mom's diagnosis I was visiting with my uncle. He told me:

Life at Our Home

A Life at Our Home post is long over due. (You can find my last post HERE). I'm so excited for this Summer. All of the kids are out of school. It will be a quiet, lazy Summer for us. We're planning very few events/vacations. We're going to have picnics in the park, read LOTS of books, watch a few movies, we're going to play with cousins (a lot), and just be for a couple of months. This past school year was a busy one for us. I spent SO much time running kids to and from school it seemed that I was always on the go. I'm ready for a break!

My little man graduated from Preschool today. I can't believe it. FYI I was NOT the mom sitting on the front row sniffling with streaks of mascara down her cheeks (I was in the second row, ha ha). 

Life at our Home

It's been a while since I've blogged about life at our home. We made it through the craziness of December. We had a wonderful Christmas and enjoyed spending lots of time with family. We were lucky enough to spend Christmas Eve and part of Christmas day with my grandparents. I remember so many wonderful Christmas's with them growing up I was so excited to have my kids spend Christmas with them. I took tons and tons of photos but this one is my very favorite.

Isn't this a great photo? I think my grandparents are the cutest! I'm so lucky to have them!

On Christmas Eve we play minute to win-it games. In this game Nana & Papa were trying to get ping pong balls to go into the basket by using a book as a "backboard". We had so much fun with them.
I really want to emphasize to my kids that the holidays are about family and making memories, not presents. We don't focus a lot on presents. At our house we do the "something you want, something you need, something to wear, and something to read" gifts. The "something you want" gift comes from Santa and the rest come from mom and dad. When I look back on Christmas's when I was a child I don't really remember what I got but I do remember spending time with grandparents, cousins, and aunts and uncles. Hopefully, that is how my kids will remember their Christmases as well.

We've settled into the quiet of January. (Well, as quiet as things get with 3 kids.) We all got lots and lots of books for Christmas so we've been doing lots of reading. My girlie has been reading some classics as well as some new books. She got a kindle for Christmas so she's taking advantage of the free classics. She's loving Little Women and the new Diary of a Wimpy Kid book. My little man is reading lots of Little Critter books and lots of the Berenstain Bears books. My oldest is reading Brian's Winter it's a sequel to Hatchet . I loved that book growing up! I'm not sure what my hubby is reading. He loves to reread books. I think he's probably reading a western novel or something by Clive Cussler. I should probably pay a little more attention to what he's reading so I can get books for him sometime, I'll work on that.
I've read a TON in the last few weeks. I've been loving anything by Sarah Jio. I got hooked on her books when I read Goodnight June (this quickly became one of my all time favorite books). It's a fun easy read. I've also read: The Rosie Effect and The Storied Life of A. J. Fikry. I loved both of them. I've already loaned them out to friends. I've read a lot of great books lately. Have you read anything good lately? I'm always up for a good book. Amazon Prime is my favorite...but it may be a little too convenient. My collection of books is already out of control.

As for my health, I would like to say that I've found the right treatment and that I feel great all the time. That's not how things are going though. I've tried a few treatments without success. I started a new one this week. I'm crossing my fingers that this will be the medication that my body needs. I'm doing my best to keep up with the kids and all their activities. I do pretty well most of the time. Of course, I have good days and bad days. Last night as I crawled into bed frustrated and exhausted because I knew I hadn't accomplished nearly what I needed to get crossed off my to-do list. My little man crawled into bed next to me and kissed me on the cheek and snuggled in right next to me. He put his arm around me and just laid there. The thought crossed my mind that I needed to quit feeling sorry for myself and that I had so many things that so many others long for. I have a beautiful home, three beautiful kids, the best husband I could ever ask for that takes such great care of me and the kids. I've got a job that I love and family close by to help and support us. I really shouldn't be whining about not crossing a few items off of my to do list. Looking forward, I'm still trying to keep up, be grateful for what I have, and just keep trying!

I've also been doing a LOT of scrapbooking and paper crafting project. I thought I'd share one of my recent favorites with you. I created this using bits and pieces of the Open Book collection and some bits and pieces from Gossamer Blue.

This is such a low quality photo but I love it and I had a story to tell about it. I love how these two collections came together.

I stitched along the edge of my layout and a few places throughout with gold thread. I LOVE how it looks.

I haven't added ink splatters to one of my projects for a while, I don't know why but I remember how much I love the look of it. My favorite gold spray ink is Heidi Swapp's Gold Lame. It's the only bottle of ink that I'm even close to running out of.

 I tried a different method for attaching my journaling strips and just stitched them right down the center. I like how it turned out.

Here are a few of the supplies that I used on this layout:
Crate Paper Maggie Holmes Open Book Chipboard
Crate Paper Maggie Holmes Open Book Chipboard Frames
Tiny Attacher



I have a lot more fun projects hiding up my sleeve. I can't wait to share them with you. 

Thanks for hanging out with me today and sharing a little bit of life at our home.

Life at our Home

I was thinking that it was about time to let you have a little peek inside our home again. It has been a while since my last installment. I received the kindest most positive messages and emails from you. It meant the world to me to hear from you!
Things are going well. We're as busy as ever keeping up with the kiddos and all their extra activities. On my busiest days I make 6 trips a day running kids around. Yes, they're busy kiddos and that makes for a busy mamma. I've been doing pretty good at keeping up with them. We've gotten into a good routine and I'm learning how to manage my energy and I'm learning when its time to stop.
A couple of weekends ago my brother and his wife came from Nebraska for the weekend. I was SO excited for their visit. They have 2 little girls that I adore and I want to spend all the time with them that I can. We had a wonderful weekend! The weather was beautiful. We didn't do anything very exciting. Mostly just hanging out at my moms house visiting and playing with the kids. It was fun to have all the cousins together. They spent hours and hours playing in the sandbox at my parents house. The kids (and my parents house) were constantly covered in sand.

 I had my infusion treatment a couple of weeks before they came (around the first of October) and I worked really hard the week prior to get my blogging/scrapbooking work caught up so I could have the whole weekend to spend with my family (I over did it and got a little tired). Then the weekend of their stay came and we hit the ground running I was up too early and stayed up too late for a few days and didn't follow my diet as closely as I should have (I over did it and got a lot tired). As a result, I got run down which left me vulnerable for infections. On the day they left I came down with a case of the shingles. I went to urgent care and got the treatments I needed and pretty much spent the rest of the next week in bed. Not only was I hurting but I was exhausted too! Luckily, I recovered quickly and I'm almost back to normal...almost. I'm back to running the kids and playing a little bit of catch-up as far as my creative projects go.
While I was recovering I spent way too much time watching Netflix and not enough time reading. I did finish one book though, (Mrs. Lincoln's Dressmaker) I really liked it. It was an interesting perspective on the presidency of Abraham Lincoln. The next book I'm reading is The Last Letter from your Lover by Jo Jo Moyes. I adore Jo Jo Moyes. She's one of my most recent favorite authors. I'm going to try to spend more time reading and less time on Netflix in the future...(please, ignore the fact that as I type this I'm watching an episode of Everybody Loves Raymond, yep, on Netflix). I can't read and type at the same time.
While I was recovering (toward the end when I was feeling a little better) I decided to create a few scrapbook pages...just for fun. I don't remember the last time I created a project just for fun using the products and theme that I wanted too. It felt so good! I'm going to make it a priority to do that more often. Here's one of the projects I created. I used lots of brand new goodies from the Paper Issues store. This project primarily came from the Gramercy Road line from Gossamer Blue and the Crate Paper Open Book collection by Maggie Holmes. I think these collections are adorable! I loved working with them It's a different color palette than I usually use but it was fun to do something a little bit different.

 Last Sunday my husband and I celebrated our 14th anniversary. I took a quick picture of us and made a collage and added it to this layout. I actually scrapbooked this page on our anniversary. 

 We looked like a couple of teenagers when we got married (we weren't though). I can't believe it's been 14 years. I'm so lucky to have such a great guy that is so supportive and takes such great care of me.

Looking forward I have some fun projects that I think you'll love, lots and lots of holiday projects. I'm excited about a project I'm working on with Christmas cards. I can't wait to share it with you. I'm thinking we'll spend a whole week talking about Christmas cards. I love me some Christmas cards! I do have a few questions for you regarding Christmas cards...

1. Do you send out Christmas cards?
2. If you do send out Christmas cards do you make them yourself or do you buy them premade?
3. If you send out Christmas Cards do you include a photo(s)?

If you could let me know in the comments below that will help me to pull all my projects together in a way that I know you'll love!

(This post contains affiliate links, by purchasing items through these links you will not pay more for any of the items I will just receive a small percentage of the sale. These affiliate links help to keep my blog up and running.)

Life at Our Home

When I read other blogs my favorite post are those that give me a glimpse into the bloggers life. I love learning about other people. It's nice to know who is really behind the words and photos. Today, I thought that I'd give you a little insight into life at our house.

I'd like to tell you that things are going super, fantastic, and nothing is ever wrong or out of place. Maybe I wouldn't like to tell you that. It's never fun to hear that everything is "perfect." I've mentioned before that I was diagnosed with Ankylosing Spondylitis just over 2 years ago. Most of the time things go well. I do well on my medication and other than a little soreness and tiredness I don't think much about it. For the last couple of years when Fall has come around things have changed quite a bit. (The cooler weather is the culprit). I get a lot more tired and a lot more achy, which makes me a lot more cranky (and it turns me into a poet too apparently, LOL). Things that usually run pretty well around our house start to run a little less smoothly.

The kids started school and I did well for a few days. Then, I got hit with a flair-up and I've really been struggling, we've all been struggling actually. I've been able to do the very basics...and I mean VERY basics. I take the kids to school and I pick them up. That's about it. I don't cook, I don't clean, and I don't do laundry. I spend my time either on the couch or in bed, some days are better than others. After my diagnosis my husband rearranged his work schedule so that he goes to work earlier and comes home when the kids get out of school. This schedule has saved our little family; especially lately. Lately when he gets home from work, I go to bed. Yes, it's only 3:30 or 4:00 in the afternoon when he gets home but that's when I've needed to get some extra sleep. When my A.S. flairs up I need lots of sleep sometimes 14 hours a day of sleep. For the most part I've been able to keep up with my scrapbooking committments. Most (actually all) of my recent projects have been done either in my bed or while I'm laying on the couch. I'm so grateful for a great husband that picks up the slack when I'm not well. He does amazingly well at keeping our home up and running. Even with his help it's not been a great 3 weeks for our little family.

Other than momma not feeling well the kids are doing really well. They LOVE school and are so excited about their new friends, classes, and teachers. The two older kiddos have started taking music classes at school. We're now a family with a flute, a violin, a guitar, and a piano. They're so excited to be playing their instruments and can't wait to share each new note or technique they learn. The little man started preschool. If you follow me on Instagram you'll see that I've had a hard time letting him go...he's my baby. I only cried on the first day I dropped him off, since then it's been all smiles at preschool drop-off and pick-up.

So, there's the long version of why things may seem a little different here on my blog. I'm trying my best to keep up and as of today I'm feeling better. Not completely better but enough better that things are starting to return to normal. I'm going to bed at 8:00 now instead of 4:00 (that's a pretty big deal). I started a new treatment on Friday that I hope will make things significantly better. It takes a long time before I will see any change in my symptoms but I'm hopeful that I will see a positive change.
 

I am working on a couple of projects behind the scenes that I'm excited to share with you in the coming weeks. There are some fun holiday projects, fabric projects, some DIY home projects, and videos that I know you'll love.
Thanks for hanging in here with me. There are better days ahead...have a great Monday!