Lots and lots of Oops

Last weekend was one of those counter productive ones.

 I brought up flour from the basement because I was worried that the flour was going bad in the bucket.

 With good reason... the lid popped off while I was coming up the stairs.
Bounced and then rolled spilling flinging its contents all over the place

 The Dude was quick to help.

 Well, he mostly wanted to blow into the vacuum hose.  Not sure why, but he thought it was fun.

 Miss Boo grabbed a broom, well, something resembling one.

We are both so tired.  We kept dropping things.

Making more work.  Hence, making us more tired.

And dare I say grumpy.

Mr. Finn took over cleaning up the flour and let me get out of the house.  My mood didn't lend to it being a pleasant clean up.

Later, he let me make up for it when he dropped three cans of Dr. Pepper on the floor.
That was a mess!
I am still cleaning it up.  As far up as the upper edge of the window and into the foyer.
It was nuts.

Upcycle

This is one of my new favorite words.  I have always been a bit of and "upcycler".  Some might have termed me as a bit of a hoarder.

Just a wee bit.

I get it from my grandmothers.  One was a true hoarder of rubber bands, plastic bags, etc.  My other is so thrifty and can stretch a dollar a country mile.

I inherited their genes that got activated during the depression.

It is an obsession for me to save things that I "might" be able to use later.  Since I was a kid I have been doing that.

Now, thanks to all those DIY blogs, I have more ideas than I know what to do with.
 Here are a couple of upcycles from boxes that I put together for Valentines.

 This box was hideous.  Seriously, who picks the colors and what not that goes on chocolate candy boxes.  I could see this in bright spring colors.  And, of course, not gold ric rac.

 I have fallen in love with ric rac.  Found a great deal on Pick Your Plum.
She has a new deal every day and sometimes it is something I will use.  40 yards of 4 different colors of ric rac.  So many uses.

 This was a card box.

 Perfect for one dozen chocolate covered strawberries.

Oh my!

Our little angel... seven years old... second grade.

SUSPENDED!

Yes, that is suspended from school.

At seven years old.

That's my little angel.

Third write up in a month.  All for anger issues.  This time she kicked a ball hard into a boy... well, you know where.  She didn't get suspended for that, it was running away and hiding while a teacher was trying to talk to her.

We have our work cut out with one.  So bright and creative, but so angry too.

Makes you really stop and think about things.  We are trying to be calmer around the house with the expectation from the children to be the same.

And lots of prayers.

Almost Done

 Many of you know that I started a project with my friend Laurie in December.  I was first offered the decorating portion and then the painting.  We thought, "Heck, we can do that!".

We quickly learned that 5200 square feet is huge and that we had bit off more than we could chew.

 This is one of our favorite rooms.  A consultation room for clients and staff.  The mirror was a wonderful find.

 It is really hard to get a good picture of the green.  It is Meadow Grass and can look differently under various lights.  We were really worried when we did the 1st coat because it looked like pea soup.  We just had faith that it would be as fresh as we wanted it to be for this modern look of an office.  We also went really "brave" and painted the doors Fired Earth.  Once again "trust" played a big part.  Thanks Laurie for believing in me and for being a great person to work with.  We did a great job together.

 We had to bully the contractor into making the reception desk this shape, but we are so happy we stuck to our guns.

Before:

After:

 In the two corners by the fireplace are TV monitors that fill up the space.  This area to the right of the reception desk is a counter for clients to make coffee, get a drink, etc.  And of course, check in.

 The hexagon window lets people look into the children's play area that is an undersea adventure.  The mural is "under construction".

I absolutely love the artwork above the fireplace.  Gives a bright splash of color.  See the picture above to see how we could put the artwork in there with all that green.  I love this rug.

 I had a vision in my head what the finished project would look like and I sighed a HUGE sigh of relief when it all came together.

 Ben (the dentist) had confidence in me that I sometimes feared, because if it didn't work out, it would all be on me.  I thank him though for his confidence.Believe it or not, but the picture above is the lobby.  Hard to imagine, huh?

 My shoes while we were painting.  I know... what's up with those pants?!
See how the paint looked pea green?

Before:

After:

 The Operatories are original but work well with the new floors and walls.

  The lab is the only place that has different cabinetry, but we had to try and keep the costs down somewhere.  After all, we did go with the wood floors through the entire building.

We used a lot of unique art pieces to pull this place together.  She (Laurie) leans towards ultra modern and I tend to classic, so it was fun to compromise and maintain the integrity of the office.

 Laurie and I fell in love with this sink.  We got mocked by the plumbers, but what do they know.

 I think we need a zebra covered bench for this entryway.  What do you think?  Not the normal white and black, but more of a caramel/tan and black one.

We are still decorating and finishing it up.  It's a lot of square footage that requires some thought to pull it all together.  Laurie was/is a blast to work with and not to mention an extremely hard worker.  We had fun working those late nights painting.  She made it easier for me to see the light at the end of the tunnel.  This was truly a conglomeration of our minds.  We are alike in many ways, but see the same things so differently which helped us both to be much more creative in creating this work space.

Words

I have a propensity for four letter words.  We always imagine the worst when we say "it's a four letter word".

There are a lot of good words that have four letters, but my mind always focuses on the bad ones.

Hence the reason I am going to be repenting till the day I die.

There is another four letter word that has a few more letters than it should.

CANCER

I have friends that have friends or family that have suffered through it and have lost ones to it, but I have never had to experience it that closely.

Until the phone call came last night.  I knew something was up when it was MomE's cell phone.  She never calls me on that phone.

Unless...

My Dad was diagnosed with Prostate Cancer.

It's one of those things that when someone tells about "someone" they know having cancer, you feel so much sympathy for them.  How can they be going through something so awful?  How are they not falling apart?  Just a few questions that cross my mind.  It has always been a four letter word to me.  Something so awful, it shouldn't be spoken.

It's funny that when she told me, I just felt calm.  I didn't know how I felt.  I can't even imagine how they are handling it.  It is so close and personal for them.

My daughter, Nyoka asked me how I was doing today when I told her and I said, "OK" and then I cracked a little.  I started to think about other things.  How much I didn't want my Dad to have to go through this.  My Mom either.  How hard it could be for them both emotionally and financially.  I thought about how this could cinch their not coming to their grand daughters baptism in May.

I feel sad and drained.  IT is not even happening to me and I am emotionally exhausted.

How will my Mom be ABLE to COPE?  She is stronger than me, that's for sure.  She will do as she always does and handle it gracefully, but I will pray and pray that she does not have a hard time with it.

I wish I were closer at times like this.

I am thinking of another four letter word.

CALM.

The LORD will bless them.  He is always NEAR.  Another four letter word.

LOVE.  I feel an overwhelming sense of love towards them.  That is why others grieve when there is tragedy or trials of loved ones.

HOPE.

PRAY

FEEL

NEED

HUGS

TALK

It's nice to be able to think of some "NICE" four letters words.  Maybe they will run out the bad ones that flit around aimlessly in my head and wait for an opportunity for me to open my mouth so they can rush out.