Interesting Morning

So this morning was... terrible. I didn't sleep well last night, and this morning my nose started bleeding when I got up. So, I did the press against the nose thing again... irritated that the one bloody nose I had earlier this month wasn't the only one I'd get. 20 minutes later and it was still bleeding. I was told that if it lasts longer than 20 minutes you are supposed to go to the doctor. So, I called Chuck, and in the process of moving to the phone felt faint (I think it was more the idea of what was happening... plus I've been finding myself working at not panicking over the stupidest things... like buying flat paint instead of pearl). I had to call the barn and dad answered, and I tried to tell him I needed Chuck and started feeling faint, plus he couldn't understand me with my nose plugged (the other nostril started bleeding too). I could hear him outside yelling for Chuck. CHuck grabbed me some ice and got me ready to head to the hospital. The bleeding started at 7:20am, and we were at the hospital at 8:10. Grandma was there and told me to put the ice on the back of my neck instead of on my nose. I was afraid to let go of my nose.

Anyway, we finally got to a "bed" to sit on, and the guy was talking about looking in my nose, and the second I tipped my head back... whoosh... blacccchhhh. I wanted to faint or throw up or something. They told me they would have to put a "thing" in my nose to stay for 2 days. However, after I lay down I felt as though the bleeding had stopped (we had been praying it would stop... I really didn't want that thing in my nose). Thankfully... it had. They checked one last time and got me to get up and walk around (to make sure it wouldn't start up again), and we left... at 9:40. Went for breakfast at Timmy's. I was feeling sick to my stomach (still am) so I couldn't eat much. Thankfully I had a snack last night. Anyway... this morning was... terrible. So glad all that is over.

The doctor told me not to go out in the sun, and to take it easy for a bit. Sigh. Guess I won't be painting my babyroom today. However, Wednesday I cut my stair board pieces (took hours as I had to modify each stair piece seperately, and I had difficulties figuring out how to work the router for the first time and instruction manuals suck, and I had difficulty "unlocking" dad's mitre saw... I had it figured except I needed to push the blade down a bit before pulling out the knob). I also primed them and the doors, and bits in the babyroom closet. Yesturday I noticed I missed a few things... like one of the stair pieces (tiny thing, not going to have baseboard on it at all) so I cut that, primed it and a few more small things I missed, and then proceeded to try painting the closet door white with the paint I had. Turned out it had rust pieces in it, and my door got... the spotted treatment. So, I trashed that paint, bought fresh, sanded down the door, reprimed it (the primer in the areas I sanded took long to dry), then painted the stair pieces, a hall decoration, and the babyroom closet white. Later I finished the closet door. Whew. I was gonna paint the ceiling today, but... reconsidering. ;)

Anyway... that's a little update on my week. Chuck has been on the field all week. So please pray that I will have no more nosebleeds. :(

#12: Jazz Concert at the Forks

Today we went to the free jazz concert that was put on by the Winnipeg Jazz Festival. I'm so glad we were able to go, even if we got there a bit late.

Here is a 1 minute video I took at the concert at the Forks. It was located in the center section under the canopy. The woman's name is Elizabeth Shepherd, and the two guys are her brothers. They were really good! I really liked the bass. He was amazing! I have a recording of that as well, and watching him pluck away at those strings was incredible. I have to say, watching a live performance just is so much better than everything else. It's an experience.

We have not been to a concert together EVER. This is my first Jazz concert experience and I really enjoyed it. There is all sorts of stuff going on all week that I'd love to go to, but unfortunetly it is difficult to tell if we can or not due to the fieldwork and all. However, I'm hoping to go to another concert someday!

For more information on the Festival, click here.

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#82: To Do List for One month

I've been doing the 101 in 1001 for one month now. Right when I started, I also started making daily to do lists, and one of my tasks was to do so for one month straight. So, it's done. One month of daily to do lists.

I have to say, doing a daily list really helps me focus on getting things done. It's great. It's incredible to think about how much more I got done this month... and looking at the to do lists later is neat too. You feel like you've accomplished things. And checking off each item on the list each day is so satisfying.

I'm hoping to continue this trend for a very long time.

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Trials and Tribulations

I have many things I am learning through my devotional time. Not all of them are easy, and some are mostly just kind of like God talking to me, having conversations like we haven't had in years. Lately, I've been wondering why bad things happen.

There has been so much going on in my life, and that of my friends and family. So many people are going through such troubling times, and I find myself caught up in the "why". I cannot understand why certain things are allowed to happen. And I feel as though I have to help.

Granted, life has been great for me. Sure, there has been a bit of drama here and there, but on the whole I'm doing great, I'm excited about the future of our family, and so much celebration has been going on around us. Babies being born, weddings being planned, so many happy times occuring in the lives of my friends and family. But then there are so many other things.

I won't go into detail here, mainly because most of these people may not want others to read about these things on my blog, but something that seems to be happening in so many lives is seperation. Whether spiritual, marital, or deaths, it's happening all around me. I want to know why... I keep asking God why.

He says that while He is not making these things happen, He allows them to help people grow. It's to help bring us to a new understanding of who He is. He will not allow anyone what they cannot bear, but they have to go to Him to bear it. The trial will no longer seem to be the same once He is given everything related to it.

How hard is that? Very. But I have to say that I've learned through my trials and tribulations that bringing it to Him may be difficult, but in the end it is SO worth it. I hate giving over control, and giving these things to God is doing just that, but when I really think about it, who has better control? Me or God? I think the answer is obvious.

In the end, I need to learn to not let my emotions get in the way of giving over everything to Him. And I need to continue to pray for those in my life that are going through their own trial. Perhaps the reason I don't feel like things are so bad is because I'm not focusing on my problems anymore... I'm free of them. Giving things to God each morning, giving over people and situations, it really is a freeing thing.

Satan is on a mission, and that mission is to destroy homes, people, and Christians. By praying and staying close to my Lord, I can stand firm on the knowledge that Satan will not destroy me.

Anyway, that's my little blurb. I have other things I'd love to write about that happened earlier this week... but that will wait till later. For now, I'm just content to feel the little person squirming around in my belly like they don't have a care in the world.

#53: Repainting the Hall complete!

I started doing my painting on friday, the 13th. I'm so glad to be done today! Here are some pics of the completed work.

First, on friday I primed the baby room. I covered the mural with plastic, so it's safe. I'm kind of thinking of doing a bit of a castle theme, so yellows and tans in paint, and it can tie in the mural later no problem! I absolutely HATED priming the ceiling. I had to use a total of 3 coats of primer and it took 4 hours. Yech. Buying better quality primer next time.


On Saturday I painted the hall ceiling. Since the hall color was light, I didn't need primer. SOO happy with that! The ceiling paint color is another "yellow", but it doesn't have as much green to it. When I initially picked the hall color, I didn't think to see it in different times of day. It's gorgeous during certain times, but terribly green at others. Not nice at all. So, time for a change. The 'new' colors I put up are actually from the leftover paint I used on the main floor, and this ceiling paint is actual ceiling paint, which looks ten times better than normal wall paint on a ceiling.




Monday (yesturday) I did all the yellow walls, which was every wall but the one with the blue stripe (and there is one other blue wall where the window is). That took awhile too, especially since I had to do some "cutting" into the cieling paint with the yellow.

Here are some pics of me working on the paint today... cutting the blue into the yellow wall and ceiling. Not an easy job, especially over the stairs, but I've done it before, so I knew it wasn't that bad. And the ladder made my job much easier.

I got smart and put some of my blue paint into a small container so I didn't have to haul a can up... that and the bottom of the can sprung a leak just after I stirred the paint. It was perfectly fine before hand. Oh well.

Here is the finished wall! SO glad it is complete!

Now I have to start getting the stair extras done, put in new rug, then baseboards and trim. I'm so excited!! These colors look SO much better at EVERY time of day! :)


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Happy Father's Day

So, today is Father's Day, and I'm sitting at home after coming back from my parents house. I wish I had brought my camera with me, because we went for a bikeride, and my brother made a little baby basket for the bike that reminded me of one of those things that clips onto motorbikes. He used a chairpiece from the thrift store, two baby baths painted, and other metal and tires and such. It's brilliant. I guess I'll have to wait to put up pics until my sis sends me some! It was so fun. The seat on my bike feels more uncomfortable year after year however, so I may need a different one... or a new bike.

My brother barbequed, I baked a cake (the recipe and pics of what I did can be found here), and my mom and sis made potatoes and salad. It was delish! I did lots with cake. I made a double batch of the chocolate fudge cake on saturday, turned one batch into the cake I brought to my parents house, half into 15 cupcakes, and half into an 8x8 for Chuck's dad. He was thrilled that I actually baked him a cake... he originally thought Chuck was bringing him a Father's Day Cookie from Tim Horten's.

I've been so focused on painting lately. Friday I primed the baby room. It took longer than I figured as the primer I used was not the really good stuff and needed 3 coats and more than one gallon (which it shouldn't have as it was less than 400 square feet of area painted), but now I have primer for the doors and such. I also painted the ceiling in the hallway/stairway as that area needs different paint. The original color I picked is beautiful in sunlight... but in the evening not so much. It turns almost greenish. So I'm taking the paints that we had on the main floor and bringing them upstairs.

The ceiling I did yesturday, tomorrow I'll do the yellow walls (about 270 square feet) and the blue will be done either tuesday or wednesday (60 square feet). I'm hoping I have enough yellow paint... it's touch and go I think. Then I need to pick colors for paint for the baby room. That is going to be difficult!

I'm watching "So You Think You can Dance", the first elimination round after the top 20, and I think the hostess looks like she's wearing a bunch of cupcake papers as a dress! :) Anyway, that's my little pointless blurb, ha ha.

I can hardly believe it's been six months (27 weeks) already. Only three months till my due date. It's kind of exciting, yet scary to think about. I've been doing a lot of praying, and experiencing a lot of God. I've also been experiencing strange symptoms! I know what they are, thankfully, but these are things you aren't really told... well, I guess I was, but I wasn't expecting things quite like this. My stomach feels bloated, and I've been having dreams that my belly button will pop out. Baby likes to squirm like crazy. Plus there are other... discomforts. All part of the third trimester I suppose. I'm still loving being pregnant though.

I have to say, my emotions as of late have been doing all sorts of crazy things. I'm depressed one minute, then fine the next, totally forgetting everything that I was so super upset about earlier. I've been praying about it like crazy, as I don't want to be depressed. The rain coming in the house was terrible for me, and the smell of pigs while I need my windows open for the paint fumes, and all sorts of silly things like seeing garbage on a floor I just cleaned, and so on. It's annoying. It's crazy. So, I think I've become focused on goals and tasks as of late to try to combat this emotional roller coaster and not think about so many things that have been going on. I really need to talk to some people about some problems I'm having with certain things, but I don't think I can. It's very hard for me. Chuck has been trying to help me with this, and I'm so greatful for it, but it really needs to come from me. I'm so confused... so I'm focusing on tasks again. It's just so much easier for me right now.

I just hope I have fun with all the projects I intend to do in the next while. They're gonna be costly... sigh.

Have a great Father's day everyone. And I'll leave you with a photo of what I did for Chuck... yeah, he's not quite a daddy yet, but I figured, close enough! :)

#29: Coupon Booklet Complete

Yesturday I finished another project, this time in my "finance" section of the 101 in 1001. My coupon book. I've been tired of getting coupons, wanting to use them for various things (restaurants, grocery, etc) and then forgetting about them because I don't see them and have to sift through a bunch to find the one I need. I ended up trashing over half of the ones I had in my purse. So, I came up with a solution.

I purchased this "business card" organizer for $11. It's ringed like a binder, so it can grow with my uses (eventually could be a day planner as well, or include to do lists, address book, whatever I fancy). It came with tabs for organizing alphabetically the business cards you get, but I think I'll use those for addresses later. I made my own tab/dividers. Using cardstock, I took one of the current dividers, measured it, figured out how many tabs I'd need and how long each should be, and cut out 7 total dividers, and used my regular hole punch to create the punches matching those of the six ring. My tabs are as follows: Grocery, Restaurant, Baby, Clothing, Home, Office & Appliance, and Other. I put any membership cards right in the front, and the coupons are easily readable (including the expiry dates) just at the turn of a page. No more searching! Now maybe I'll make good use of all those coupons we get in the mail! ;)

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Weekend

What a weekend it has been. We went camping from Friday to Sunday and it was so nice. I love camping. We took over the site from Chuck's parents who were there Wednesday to Friday. It rained a lot on Friday, so we spent most of our time in the camper reading and just being together.

We went on lots of walks and bike rides. There is a ranch nearby for horseback riding that is really nice. We love to visit it whenever we camp here. We're thinking of actually going on one of their pack trails one time, it will just have to wait awhile since I can't go while pregnant.

Chuck took me on a date while we were here. He took me to the restaurant, I believe it's called Popeye's, and got pizza and popcorn chicken. We got one of the milkshakes from the ice cream corner around the corner and decided to try something different. Chocolate peanut butter ice cream, with mini chocolate peanut butter cups in it, mixed with chocolate milk and whipped cream on top. It was SOO good! We then went for a walk together and just talked about random things. It's so nice to go for walks again. We also played a game of checkers, and I had my very first raw cherry. Yeah, sounds silly, but I always hated cherries as the only ones I'd ever had were in pie, canned, Bing cherries in juice, candied... you get the idea. Raw cherries are pretty good!

Sunday was a wedding shower for Laurel. It was fun! There was one game where we, the group, got to see the questions Laurel's sister was going to ask her, and the answers her fiance had already given. If she said the same answer as he did, the one side of the room would toss her chocolate kisses. If she said something else, the side of the room I was on chucked lifesavers at her. It was hilarious! So much fun! I'd love to do that for another shower!

Anyway, today has been not so great for me. I woke up feeling sick to my stomach, and it's still not getting any better. Probably mostly heartburn... although I've never had it like this so I don't really know. All I wanted to do is sleep today, but I have so much to do. Then it started raining, which means my really long overgrown lawn (which only took a week to get to this state) will have to wait for cutting. Also, the roof in my workshop is leaking right by the door. I worked at it for 45minutes, trying to sop up the water and find some way to put containers down to catch it, but there is nowhere to put them as it's along the wall, right by the door between the house and workshop. If I want to stem the tide, I need to leave the door open, and then I hear the water, and worry the container will tip (because it's a sliding door, so NOT a flat surface). It splashes everywhere. The one box is soaked, the tools (thankfully not electric ones) are soaked, the floor had puddles I tried to sop up... it's a mess. I had a real good cry over it, not that it helped any, but it released the sadness and upset I've been feeling over a good many other things too, which I will not discuss. Anyway, it's slowed now that the rain has stopped, and we have a guy on the roof trying a quick fix as it's supposed to be a rainy week. Hopefully it will work. If not, well...

I am happy about one thing though. Chuck took down the doors and trim in the baby room, as well as the little bit of rug that remained in the closet. All I have to do is tape over my mural and it's ready for primer. I need to purchase it first however!

So, things are getting done, slowly but surely. Now I want to go take a nap.

Pregnancy symptoms

Well, today I had something I haven't had for at least 12 years... a nosebleed. Turns out this is actually a common pregnancy symptom. I can't say I like that at all! Hopefully this will have been my first and last.

Anyone who knows me knows of my aversion to blood. Now a nosebleed isn't terrible, and the bleeding usually never lasts long anyway, so I normally have no problems. This one lasted awhile, and I thought it stopped just to have it start up again. Not fun. I ended up almost fainting at one point... yeah... silly. My mom always told us to tilt our heads back and press on the bridge of our nose to stop the bleeding, and Chuck disagreed, so he looked it up and sure enough, he was right. You are supposed to actually tilt your head forward just slightly, mostly sitting upright with your head above your heart, and press the nose shut. He grabbed me a cold pack (which really wasn't all that cold yet, but oh well) when I started feeling faint (I always get overly warm just beforehand), which is supposed to help constrict the blood vessels. At least it got me to stop swallowing the stuff. How I love water! But to stop from fainting you have to tuck your head between your knees! Such a dilemma... the fainting symptoms won over and I ignored the "keep your head higher" for a short time.

The reason I felt faint? Knowing what I was swallowing... and Chuck reading about nosebleeds and pregnancy. Not a good way to forget what's happening, lol.

At least the bleeding stopped. I was holding my nose plugged for almost a full 20 minutes!

How can you tell I don't get these often!

New on my Blogspace

I just found out I can put a calendar on my blog! At the very bottom of my blogspace there is a spot designated for my 30-boxes calendar. 30-boxes is free and rather easy to understand and enter. For birthdays it will ask automatically if you wish to repeat the item each year, so you only enter it once, and it will repeat yearly for you. And, if you know the year of birth, it will show how old the person is turning as well (for your eyes only). You can put some items in, set to private, and it will not be viewable by anyone but yourself.

Anyway, I added a number of things to mine, including birthdays, the last day of my 101 in 1001, my due date, some festivals and fairs in the area, etc. It's nice to be able to see what is happening in the area in the near future, and summer is always so full of fun things to do.

Well, that's my blurb on 30-boxes. By the way, you can add it to your facebook account as well, and it will automatically add in any events you join on facebook, as well as showing pictures you added to your photos area. It was supposed to be able to add birthdays directly from your friends profiles, but I never did get that to work properly.

Have fun keeping organized!