Brandon and I were married on the oh so original 4/4/04 (at 3 o'clock, 4 was taken!) which means that we are in our 9th year of marriage.
Ahem.
That makes me incredibly giddy. I want to act like an elementary student and stick my tongue out and blow big huge raspberries at the ones that said we'd likely not make it through our first year of marriage.
9 years.. almost a decade.
Take that. *sticks tongue out and wiggles it around*
But I digress.
We had planned to go to Florida for our 10th anniversary. If you are new to SimpleBees (which I doubt any of you are...) we have an obsession with Disney World and had dreams of going for TEN days in honor of our 10th anniversary.
As homeschoolers we don't pay attention to the public school calendar and so it doesn't matter to us that Richmonders don't take their Spring Break during a lovely event also known as Master's Week, which is always the first full week of April. Our anniversary sometimes falls in that week but if it doesn't, it is at least close by!
It didn't matter until this coming school year.
Brandon and I are enrolling to finish our degrees.
YAY!
But the distance education portion doesn't even get holidays. They get 10 days between terms.
Womp, womp, womp...
And of course, of course, they care nothing about Master's Week.
Anyway, the break is at the beginning of March. MARCH? Who has Spring Break in March? Well judging by the peak rates at DisneyWorld... a ton of people. So it is out of our budget that we have set as two poor college students with five kids. Ahem.
So what are we doing? We are taking it back to where our marriage began. We are planning to go back to Myrtle Beach.
I know that March is a bit early in the year for perfect beach weather, but uhhhh I don't swim where I can't see the bottom anyhow. Have you seen RiverMonsters? Now just imagine what is in the ocean! We found a resort with indoor swimming and a small waterpark for the kids. And we'll have a full kitchen and a washer and dryer. Going in early March means that the nights are charged at a lower rate so it fits in our budget.
I can't wait.
After 9+ years of marriage, I knew we could have a good time anywhere. This past year, we had a $1 Redbox and Panda Express date in our bedroom since I was still recovering.
It doesn't matter what you do, it matters who you are with.
~Stephanie
Thursday, May 23, 2013
Thursday, May 16, 2013
Brassy to Classy
(Ahhhh... my computer issue is almost worked out. Waiting on the new one to be delivered any day!)
One of the supplies I picked up during our Lowe's trip was some black satin high heat paint.
See, our fireplace insert was horrible brass. It glared at me from across the room. All I could think about some days was painting it black.
So I did.
I didn't take a good "before" because I taped it up rather impulsively.
The high heat paint is S-T-I-N-K-Y! And thin. So if you try this at home, go slow to prevent dripping. It took two very thin coats. The first coat almost was enough but you could see some brass showing through the brush strokes. So I did one more super thin coat.
And it looked amazing!
This painting thing is a sickness! I taped up the mantle and painted it white like the trim.
Ahhhh so much better!!!! Then I taped up a few paint samples and stared.
One of the supplies I picked up during our Lowe's trip was some black satin high heat paint.
See, our fireplace insert was horrible brass. It glared at me from across the room. All I could think about some days was painting it black.
So I did.
I didn't take a good "before" because I taped it up rather impulsively.
The high heat paint is S-T-I-N-K-Y! And thin. So if you try this at home, go slow to prevent dripping. It took two very thin coats. The first coat almost was enough but you could see some brass showing through the brush strokes. So I did one more super thin coat.
And it looked amazing!
This painting thing is a sickness! I taped up the mantle and painted it white like the trim.
By the way, I love our video monitor. See it in the bottom right of this picture? How did I ever parent infants without it?
~Steph
Saturday, April 27, 2013
Monday, April 15, 2013
*Hangs head* I'm back!
What.a.year.
After I wrote the last post I was hospitalized for a week. Brandon had to call my Aunt and ask her to come help with the kiddos so that he could still work.
It was insanity here.
Did I mention we hadn't unpacked yet? Ha.
Anyway, I'm around and well again. My endurance took a big hit, but seems to be slowly going up.
We did some house projects this past weekend that I'm totally excited to share. Just have to write them up.
Thanks for being patient. (All four of you that read. LOL)
~Stephanie
After I wrote the last post I was hospitalized for a week. Brandon had to call my Aunt and ask her to come help with the kiddos so that he could still work.
It was insanity here.
Did I mention we hadn't unpacked yet? Ha.
Anyway, I'm around and well again. My endurance took a big hit, but seems to be slowly going up.
We did some house projects this past weekend that I'm totally excited to share. Just have to write them up.
Thanks for being patient. (All four of you that read. LOL)
~Stephanie
Friday, March 22, 2013
Cuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuut!
We hosted company on March 9th and had a blast. Then we were happily ticking things off of our Massive To Do List when I got sick.
When I wasn't getting any better, I went to Patient First and they were very alarmed by my elevated white blood count. They asked me to the return the next night to re-run my blood work.
So I returned and it had gone up even more. They sent me to the Emergency Room. The ER doc didn't know what to do with me. He prescribed antibiotics and gave me a bag of fluids. He did a chest xray, abdominal xray and checked to make sure I didn't have a urinary tract infection.
Nothing was found. He told me to follow up with my PCP on Monday.
Sunday, I woke up with what appeared to be sinus congestion.
Monday, my doctor reran my bloodwork. He changed the antibiotic I was on so that it was able to cover more bugs.
Tuesday, I got a message telling me to report to the hospital and enter through the Emergency Room. We happened to be walking into the PCP's office with three more sick children when we got the message. (Four of us were seen on Monday.) My doctor gave me my blood report. My white count was 29.5K at that point. Normal is up to 10K or 12K depending on who you ask.
I also had developed head/neck pain.
So Brandon took me to the emergency room. I again, stumped the ER doc. She spoke with the hospitalist and I was admitted. And I continued to puzzle everyone. They ended up consulting a hematologist.
When the hospitalist read that I had had hives for over 3 years off and on now, and he realized that the white cells that were wildly out of control were allergen/inflammation markers, he put me on iv steroids.
And he sent me for an MRI that came back normal.
As of Thursday afternoon, my WBC dramatically dropped. I was in the 14K range. The allergen/inflammation markers went from 50% (normal is below 5%) to .1%.
I've been told I most likely have an auto-immune issue. I was discharged on a two week steroid taper and will follow up with the hematologist on April 26th. This should give me time to finish my steroids AND to see how my blood work does without the steroids. Will the crazy high WBC come back?
Here are our prayer requests:
1. That the steroids do their job. Right now I have a very specific list of symptoms and if any of them appear, I have to go back to the ER.
2. I'd love to be healed and leave everyone scratching their heads. I'd love to be able to say that God healed me while I waited for the appointment.
3. We are supposed to be leaving the next week for a convention. I'm praying that no matter what we find out, we can still attend the convention safely. We need some relief!
4. I'm praying for peace. My hematologist actually works inside a Cancer Treatment office. I've been assured by several doctors that at this point, they do not suspect cancer. (There is a long list of leukemias that high white blood cells and other symptoms I had can indicate.) Still it is a bit unnerving to watch the name come up on our caller ID, listed on all of our paperwork, etc.
Unfortunately this sort of derails some goals I had for myself. I was doing great in the weight loss part of my life, and the steroids can cause an overactive appetite. I also am not to get myself get worn down, so 5-6 days a week in the gym will not be happening.
Some of the house projects have now been placed in a holding pattern as we wait to see how much our third hospitalization for our family this year will cost us. Womp, womp.
But I'm hanging in there. These are all temporary things. Trust me, I had plenty of time to think about things. I've never been so happy to hear I may have *just* an auto-immune disorder.
Perspective changes everything!
~Stephanie
When I wasn't getting any better, I went to Patient First and they were very alarmed by my elevated white blood count. They asked me to the return the next night to re-run my blood work.
So I returned and it had gone up even more. They sent me to the Emergency Room. The ER doc didn't know what to do with me. He prescribed antibiotics and gave me a bag of fluids. He did a chest xray, abdominal xray and checked to make sure I didn't have a urinary tract infection.
Nothing was found. He told me to follow up with my PCP on Monday.
Sunday, I woke up with what appeared to be sinus congestion.
Monday, my doctor reran my bloodwork. He changed the antibiotic I was on so that it was able to cover more bugs.
Tuesday, I got a message telling me to report to the hospital and enter through the Emergency Room. We happened to be walking into the PCP's office with three more sick children when we got the message. (Four of us were seen on Monday.) My doctor gave me my blood report. My white count was 29.5K at that point. Normal is up to 10K or 12K depending on who you ask.
I also had developed head/neck pain.
So Brandon took me to the emergency room. I again, stumped the ER doc. She spoke with the hospitalist and I was admitted. And I continued to puzzle everyone. They ended up consulting a hematologist.
When the hospitalist read that I had had hives for over 3 years off and on now, and he realized that the white cells that were wildly out of control were allergen/inflammation markers, he put me on iv steroids.
And he sent me for an MRI that came back normal.
As of Thursday afternoon, my WBC dramatically dropped. I was in the 14K range. The allergen/inflammation markers went from 50% (normal is below 5%) to .1%.
I've been told I most likely have an auto-immune issue. I was discharged on a two week steroid taper and will follow up with the hematologist on April 26th. This should give me time to finish my steroids AND to see how my blood work does without the steroids. Will the crazy high WBC come back?
Here are our prayer requests:
1. That the steroids do their job. Right now I have a very specific list of symptoms and if any of them appear, I have to go back to the ER.
2. I'd love to be healed and leave everyone scratching their heads. I'd love to be able to say that God healed me while I waited for the appointment.
3. We are supposed to be leaving the next week for a convention. I'm praying that no matter what we find out, we can still attend the convention safely. We need some relief!
4. I'm praying for peace. My hematologist actually works inside a Cancer Treatment office. I've been assured by several doctors that at this point, they do not suspect cancer. (There is a long list of leukemias that high white blood cells and other symptoms I had can indicate.) Still it is a bit unnerving to watch the name come up on our caller ID, listed on all of our paperwork, etc.
Unfortunately this sort of derails some goals I had for myself. I was doing great in the weight loss part of my life, and the steroids can cause an overactive appetite. I also am not to get myself get worn down, so 5-6 days a week in the gym will not be happening.
Some of the house projects have now been placed in a holding pattern as we wait to see how much our third hospitalization for our family this year will cost us. Womp, womp.
But I'm hanging in there. These are all temporary things. Trust me, I had plenty of time to think about things. I've never been so happy to hear I may have *just* an auto-immune disorder.
Perspective changes everything!
~Stephanie
Thursday, March 7, 2013
The Great Switcheroo
The next thing that caught our eye when evaluating our space, was that all the light switches and outlet covers were different.
I had six different types of switch/outlet covers in my kitchen... ALONE.
I spy with my little eye:
#1
#4
#6
So we bought a 5 contractor packs of outlet covers, 2 contractor boxes of single light switches, several doubles and a triple light switch cover (in style #3 above) and a few hours later things looked much more uniform. I have two gallon bags full of light switch cover plates and outlet cover plates!
I also walked around the house and used over 60 child safety outlet plugs.
Just another place where we took things and changed them to something more our style.
Slowly but surely!
~Stephanie
(PS: Another thing crossed off of our list!)
I had six different types of switch/outlet covers in my kitchen... ALONE.
I spy with my little eye:
#1
#2
#3
#4
#5
#6
So we bought a 5 contractor packs of outlet covers, 2 contractor boxes of single light switches, several doubles and a triple light switch cover (in style #3 above) and a few hours later things looked much more uniform. I have two gallon bags full of light switch cover plates and outlet cover plates!
I also walked around the house and used over 60 child safety outlet plugs.
Just another place where we took things and changed them to something more our style.
Slowly but surely!
~Stephanie
(PS: Another thing crossed off of our list!)
Wednesday, March 6, 2013
Curtain Call
After we spent the Thursday night here, we woke up a little discombobulated.
It took us all some time to remember where we were. I told Brandon it didn't really feel like "home." Our things were here but something just wasn't quite right.
He had to go meet the carpet cleaners at our rental that day and so I began the day alone with the kiddos trying to hold down the new to us fort.
As I sat on the couch, I finally figured out what was bugging everyone. The doors had everything closed off.
So I grabbed the electric screwdriver while the kids were watching cartoons and went to town.
I removed four doors and their hinges.
And sat back down on the couch with Isaiah for a feeding.
I heard the curtains calling to me.
"I'm old. And dusty, and totally not your style."
So when Isaiah was done, I took down five rooms of curtains.
Let's examine the artifacts the previous owners left us:
Dining room:
Living Room:
DeLainey and Julianne's Room:
It took us all some time to remember where we were. I told Brandon it didn't really feel like "home." Our things were here but something just wasn't quite right.
He had to go meet the carpet cleaners at our rental that day and so I began the day alone with the kiddos trying to hold down the new to us fort.
As I sat on the couch, I finally figured out what was bugging everyone. The doors had everything closed off.
So I grabbed the electric screwdriver while the kids were watching cartoons and went to town.
I removed four doors and their hinges.
And sat back down on the couch with Isaiah for a feeding.
I heard the curtains calling to me.
"I'm old. And dusty, and totally not your style."
So when Isaiah was done, I took down five rooms of curtains.
Let's examine the artifacts the previous owners left us:
Dining room:
Homeschool/Playroom:
Two of these, short sides facing each other.
Living Room:
DeLainey and Julianne's Room:
Fourth Bedroom:
See? It totally felt like we were staying at Grandma's or something. The dust was really thick. The dining room, homeschool room and living room had custom curtains. I found the tag when I took them down. But I think they were custom made shortly after the first owners moved in, over 33 years ago.
Out with the old and in with the new!
~Stephanie
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