July 2016

Hello everyone! I am feeling up to blogging which means I am doing well right now. I had a rough few weeks but the last few days have been better and I'm "catching my breath" and enjoying it.

 We've been to the beach twice in the last three weeks and it has been such a blessing to live this close.

 One day the water was super clear. There is no shock in stepping into the Gulf right now. It is warm and perfect.

 We found a free beach chair & umbrella and it is great for me. It reclines back and sits very low. My favorite thing to do at the beach is put my legs in the water and just watch the Gulf. Last week I saw a manatee swim so close and surface.

A photo from our honeymoon in 2002.

 We recently celebrated 14 years of marriage. I cannot even put into words how blessed I have been by this man. He makes me laugh every day and continually looks for ways to bless me and encourage me.

 We found a reclining wheelchair on Amazon for less than $275 which was a phenomenal deal. We've been looking for months and even used they were so pricey. The CRPS is in all four limbs and the front of my groin/hip area. Sometimes I cannot sit at all and others it hurts after a few minutes, even on pain meds. This new fancy wheelchair will recline completely flat. I've used it twice and it is SO much better.

I have been eating mostly raw food for awhile now but after watching a documentary on the Paleo diet, my husband decided to give it a try. He wanted to support me and so two weeks ago he gave up almost everything he ate and switched to produce, seeds & nuts and grass fed meat. He is finally starting to feel better after about 10 days of sugar withdrawal and I'm so proud of him.

Have I noticed a difference on the "new" diet? Yes. My joints don't hurt as badly which is wonderful. Things I eat include: bananas, cherries, blueberries, strawberries, pecans, spinach and chicken with raw honey and lemon essential oil. That is about my diet every day. I will hopefully add in harder foods once my mouth gets straightened out (another root canal is scheduled for tomorrow). I found that pineapple still bothers my body and it must be the acid. Foods I miss? Black olives!

Happenings around the house:

We hadn't planned on starting the last room (the second bathroom) for awhile but my husband ran across a pedestal sink for $15. The old vanity was fine honestly but the bathroom is small. After deciding that he could fix the tile, wall, etc etc, he purchased the pedestal sink and has thrown himself into the bathroom.

Before

Before, without the vanity top

We posted the old vanity on OfferUp for free and it had a lot of interest. We were glad to see it being used elsewhere. He then painted the ceiling white and the walls went a shade of blue-green-gray. We thought about navy and dark teal but ultimately we had leftover light blue paint and I couldn't bring myself to spend $30 on paint. Thanks to the Home Depot Oops paint section, we purchased a small can of green paint for 50 cents and dumped that into the gallon to get the paint you now see on the walls. Perfect!

Thanks to my mom & sister for their anniversary gift!

Our free shell light! My husband pulled this out of a home that was being demoed last summer and we saved it. It is from the 1960's.

This is the current state of the bathroom. We are waiting for a faucet deck plate to install the faucet and then the pedestal sink. My husband was able to find a few of the matching tiles at Home Depot and friends had a tile cutter (thanks Mikey & Rob!) so he was able to do all the work himself.

 We took "off" from finding free stuff and yard saling for a few weeks so I don't have as many fun finds. It was a rough few weeks since I had cut back on narcotics. I do this every once in awhile because if I didn't I would just be taking more & more which is something I can control right now and don't want to do. 

You were so close to being perfect for us sofa!

We have again been looking for a sofa. The perfect sofa search never really ends here. The brown sofa is an electric reclining couch and is super comfy but it doesn't lay completely flat. And my hips would do better to lay flat. We bought it used and so I know we can sell it for more than we paid.

This Ikea blue sofa was perfect. It had a section I could lay down on and wasn't hard to get up from since it was low. We paid $157 for it. The previous owner washed a few of the cushions with Downy and the thing reeked of it. (Sorry to all those that like the smell of Downy) I don't care for strong smells and so my husband took off every piece of material and we washed it. It turns out that Downy really sticks around. It was so bad that I didn't consider keeping it and we sold it the next day for $240.
Some random selfies. The first photo I'm wearing make-up. Oooo. Fancy! I have been dealing with some dentist/mouth issues and have found that looking nice directly relates to being treated better at the endodonist. Do I like it? Absolutely not. But I have one more appointment there and I need to be taken seriously when I say that my tooth has pain. Once they took me seriously, they found a 4th canal in my tooth which was missed with the first root canal. Another will be done tomorrow and I am looking forward to that tooth not being in pain. I then have one more crown and a few fillings and I may be done with my teeth for awhile. Yippee!

Florida weather makes me smile. Almost every summer evening it pours and we have fantastic thunderstorms.

See that little dog butt? We have been thinking about a dog for awhile. We signed up to be a foster family for small dogs but they get adopted very quickly. This dog butt belongs to a neighbor who let us borrow him for awhile. He was adorable...and too fast for a photo! 

Callie

Last night we were checking the pet shelters and came across a dog named Callie who would be perfect for us. She is a service dog for those with anxiety and is a Maltese mix. She is 6.5 pounds and so cute.
There has been a lot of interest in Callie but we did fill out an application. If we aren't able to adopt her we will keep looking.

My husband leaves me a note each day. We are both hoping to hear something about Callie soon :)

Outside our house we have a front & side "yard". Thankfully the side yard is completely paved. Our front yard was mostly dirt when we moved in and my husband has been also working on that. Yesterday he put pavers under the fence (so if we get a dog he can run around) and sand over the dirt. Eventually he will put pavers over the sand but I am really liking the sand look. 

Some book recommendations that I have read & loved recently. These have no sex, no cursing, no violence and were great.

My husband sings at retirement communities almost every day and this was a few weeks ago. It makes me happy to look at him with Doris, one of the residents. He printed the photo and will be bringing it to her when he sings there next.

Thanks for reading and for all your encouragement, support and comments! They truly bless my soul.