Week in Photos - 11/30/14

Happy almost December! I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving.

This week we had my mom & sister visit for the holiday. Since it was just the four of us, we decided to go to a buffet for Thanksgiving.

This is what my hubby's second plate looked like. I had little fried chicken drumsticks, a pile of black olives, corn and mashed potatoes. Yum!

November means major cleaning in our house. My awesome hubby cleaning out every cabinet and then retouched the white paint.

My sister got me this gray, yellow & white blanket. It matches my gray & white sheets perfectly. I love these colors together.

We made some fun peppermint body scrubs. Olive oil, peppermint oil (or extract), white sugar, coconut oil and a bit of red food coloring (optional). It smelled so good.

Here was our finished product. Here is the recipe (thanks Pinterest):
2 cups granulated white sugar
1/3 cup light olive oil
1/8 cup melted coconut oil
1/4 tsp peppermint extract or essential oil (we used both so it smells extra peppermint-y)

Combine all the ingredients and then divide the scrub into two bowls. Color one with red food coloring.

My mom topped one of my gifts with this adorable snowman. Growing up my mom had a set of these that we would put out every Christmas. That set is long gone but this little guy brings back so many memories.

Our file cabinet/TV stand/dresser/storage unit is done! I will be posting a tutorial next week.

I had this adorable t-shirt custom made. The Giving Tree is one of my all time favorite books.

And one last silly photo. My mom gave me dry shampoo. My hair is super oily. The dry shampoo turned my hair a lovely gray color. After I brushed it, it did fade and seemed to absorb some of the oil.

My Week in Photos - 11/18/14

 

We have a theme every year when it comes to the wrapping paper. We have had a lot of fun themes over the years including neon, blue & white, animal prints and pink & brown. This year we went traditional and did green & red. 

I wanted to incorporate the green & red theme into decorating the Christmas tree. However, when I laid out the ornaments (which was a lot of fun), I realized I had very little red and green ornaments.

And so I did a rainbow tree. We have a silver tinsel tree with fiber optics through the branches. It was my mother-in-law's and I ADORE it.

Snow. Need I say more? It is 10 degrees right now and the wind chill is -8. Crazy. Why do I live in PA again?

My doctor, who I see every week, wanted to know if my hands sweat. He said to put flour on my hands, sit in the sauna for 20 minutes and see what happens. I was out of flour and substituted powdered sugar. It turns out I sweat from my hands (which is a good thing supposedly).

My secret sister gave me this bracelet. Isn't it great? I love all the positive affirmations. 

I hope everyone is having a great week!

Week in Photos - 11/9/14

This week really took me for a ride. 

I went to my doctor's on Tuesday and he did this thing where he cracked my back really hard. So hard that he asked my 6'6" husband for help. Afterwards my wrists and hands felt amazing. They stayed that way for two days and I got a LOT done. It was the first time since the end of June that I had no pain. None. Yes, my knee still hurt. Yes, my back was killing me. But no wrist pain. 

And so I wrapped Christmas gifts. Almost all of my shopping is done and I had the wrapping paper which I purchased last year. My family does their gifting at Thanksgiving. We started it years ago and call it Thanksmas. SO exciting!

I went back to the same doctor on Thursday and he readjusted my back. And the wrist pain is back. Yesterday was one of the worst pain days in awhile. 

This doctor really knows what he is doing. We have trust in him and his methods. He is hoping to get some of the dystonia out of my wrists and wants to send it up my arms and into my back. This week was an experiment of sorts and I feel it worked. I don't have to understand the complications of why. 

We had snow again this week. Just a dusting but it was pretty. The first snows of the season always are.

The hubby took the chairs off the front and back porches to store them during the winter season. I will really miss our hammock and these chairs. Mostly I will miss the warm weather. 

My newest Jamberry. How adorable are these tiny reindeer? They really make me smile.

I hope you have a great week!

Week in Photos - 11/2/14

We are home! I love coming home. The trip back from FL was a bit tough. We missed our flight which was not our fault. The car rental place gave us the wrong drop off location. So although we left the hotel 3 hours early, we still missed it. However, we were able to catch another flight and got better seats. And we got back to PA only an hour after our original flight. 

More later this week, once my wrists have a chance to rest some more. 

Our slightly later flight allowed us to catch the sunset from the plane. Amazing!

This odd quote was on our hotel wall. After a quick search of google, I realized I loved this saying. It basically means that there is no happiness without suffering.

Waiting for our plane.

We visited Home Depot which was a fun "vacation-y" thing to do. Ha.

Pity Party in the Keys

Hi everyone! The hubby & I are on week two of our vacation. Last week we were at Pompano Beach. The weather was pretty rainy for the first five days but we got two days of sunshine before we left. 

We spent about an hour at a local beach. The beach had handicap mats over the sand which allowed my hubby to push me in my wheelchair. While there, I grabbed my camera and took photos of a few people learning how to paddle board. They were so fun to watch. The water was pretty cold and we are wimps when it comes to that kind of thing. So no swimming but we did enjoy the heat. 

I made the hubby go down this slide. He got stuck a bunch of times and had to push himself down. It was pretty funny to watch. Even the life guard was laughing.

Before we left my awesome hubby walked over to the paddleboarders and got their email address. I sent them a bunch of photos that night. I figured it would be fun to have photos from their experience. And...they emailed back and thanked me. Fun!

I am sure Jim would be thrilled to know I used this photo for my blog. Sorry Jim ;)

Yesterday we drove the 4 hours south to Key West. Our rental car is super smooth. I normally have a lot of pain from traveling due to the vibrations from the car. But we stopped a few times to let me stretch. I have to say I did pretty well. The drive was gorgeous. 

Our resort is absolutely darling. We used our air miles to book it and we weren't sure what kind of place we would get. 

Here is our back porch area. Love it! 

Now the pity party part. 

Yesterday we went down to the beach. The hotel receptionist told us that Key West doesn't have the best beaches. This was quite the surprise to us. They have three decent beaches and she recommended one close by. It was at a state park which had a cement walk way. I don't walk far without pain and it is quite helpful to have my wheelchair. 

I did pretty well walking from where we parked my wheelchair to the water (which was shockingly cold). I even "swam" a bit. It was quite fun. 

Me splashing around a bit.

Today I woke up with pain. It was the kind of pain that makes you wish you were dead. My knee hurt, my hands hurt. Parts of my body that normally don't hurt were killing me. My ankles, toes and even my "good" leg. 

And so we are at the gorgeous Key West and I am in bed. And now to be even more honest. I sent the hubby for alcohol. I didn't bring narcotics with me since I stopped taking them in July. I don't drink. Like ever. I think in my entire life I have maybe had 5 drinks. 

I hope hoping a couple Mike's lemonades will help with the pain. Tomorrow we drive back to Miami for the night and on Thursday we leave. It will be nice to be back home. RSD is not fun.

Week in Photos - 10/21/14

I am blogging from Pompano Beach, Florida this week and then we will be driving down to Key West next week. We arrived last night. It was my first time traveling in awhile and my first without narcotics. I did okay. Did I have pain and numbness? Yup. But, I survived. We packed my wheelchair and I was able to use that for the airport. Our flights were smooth and for that I am thankful. 

Our two bedroom apartment is gorgeous.

The view from our balcony.

We made it down to the jacuzzi & pool today and had the entire thing to ourselves. It was a bit chilly for the pool but we enjoyed the warmth of the jacuzzi for awhile. It is now raining which means reading books & relaxing. 

This past week we went to the library for the first time. I have lived in PA 13 years and finally got myself a library card! I packed 8 books for 10 days. Plus my Nook. 

While we are away, our house is getting a mini makeover. Our front and back porch roofs were sagging quite a bit.

After the ceiling fixes, we have a new roof going on. So exciting! 
 

And one last photo. We found this chair on the side of the road with a "free" sign. I made the hubby stop and pick it up. It weighed about a million pounds. I posted it on the Facebook yard sale site for $25 and it sold immediately. Gotta love free money! 
 

I hope everyone has a healthy week!

Week in photos (Fall Foliage Edition) - 10/12/14

I didn't take too many photos this week. We were busy but I forgot about the photos. We had friends come over twice, my weekly doctor's appointment and church this morning.

I am blessed to live in a rural part of PA. It is gorgeous in the autumn time. I am trying to forget that we also got our first flurries this week and that a lot more are on the way.

This is the view from the side of our home. How lucky am I???

The incline plane in Johnstown, PA. Sorry for the blurriness. Stupid cell phone camera.
I have only a month to go before I get a new phone.

The back view from our home. 

The hubby and I are taking a trip in a week! It was truly a last minute thing. My hubby's friend has a ton of time share Wyndam minutes. He sells them off for a low price so he can pay down his time share mortgage. We purchased some to stay in Fort Lauderdale for 8 days.  We had enough air miles to book a car and two nights in KEY WEST! I have never been to Key West.

I am pretty excited and pretty nervous. I haven't traveled in quite some time because of the pain. The last time was January and I had a lot of strong pain meds. This time I won't have those and that is where the nervous part comes in. I don't travel well. But, it was such a good deal and we are looking forward to the warmer weather.

We really hope to move to FL eventually. We visit Anna Maria Island every year which is on the gulf side. We have visited the Pensacola area several times. But we haven't really explored the eastern side of FL - the ocean side.

And...someone posted this on Pinterest.