goodbye 2007...hello 2008!

Happy New Year everyone!

The surgery went fine, I am healing up well. I am still waiting for the date for my back procedures. It should be before January 14th, which is the next appointment with the specialist. I am really happy with my new doctor, he is quite familiar with managing the results of a failed back fusion. Apparently, my entire fusion has slipped and is crooked which has caused more nerve impingement among other issues. I guess it is good to know it isn't "in my head" but sucks to know there really isn't anything I, or anyone else for that matter, can do to fix it. A total disc replacement is on the horizon, but being 32, I am quite young for something like that. Ok, so onward and upward!

We had a beautiful Christmas. The weekend before we were able to spend with Paul's family in Oregon, Mom and I had a quick, but successful shopping adventure. I needed some better shoes and fell in love with her clogs. So we went to the place she had bought them in Ashland, Oregon. They were out of hers, but they had a big sale and I was able to buy two pairs of shoes for the price of a little more than one pair normally costs. I got a cute pair of clogs and some ballet flats. Paul and I were able to go to a party with his family also....Caden spent time with his cousin, and we went out alone! Our first party without kid since I was pregnant with him! We all had fun. Christmas day was spent at our house. Caden made out like usual! Everyone sent such great gifts this year. My mom got Caden a cute Gap sweatshirt and great toys. He also got two huge lego sets. He got so many toys that we decided to go to ikea the following day to get a storage unit for all the new books and toys. (We need to go and get one more for his room, the first one filled up so quickly that there is no room left for 'sheldon' the turtle who will be arriving later on this month). Paul and I decided to save money this year for a vacation and to not exchange gifts. But strangely enough, our cat Suki must have gotten out to go shopping because I got some perfume from her and a beautiful necklace from Caden. One of the many reasons why I married Paul, very creative guy I have! After the Christmas toys and joys were unwrapped, we enjoyed a quiet day and prime rib dinner with my Dad. New Year's Eve was also quiet, we looked for trouble, but all we found was the back of our eyelids well before midnight. Caden and I woke Paul up for the countdown for a New Year's hug and kiss!

We have two possible deals in the works for our house in Michigan. Please pray for us on this matter if you can. We so miss our house, our neighbors, our yard...it would make a beautiful home for someone, just a shame to sit there vacant. We have been advised not to rent out because we are so far away and it is more difficult to sell. If something doesn't take place soon, we will be in a really bad place. We need the house to sell so badly. The new year is looking up!

That is it for now, I am trying to update once a week and add more pictures too! I will upload Caden's school pic this week so everyone who didn't get one in the mail can have one--we only paid for four prints this year and the CD, school pics are so pricey and we thought that this way was a smart option.

Happy New Year! Stop bye often and soon! Take care for now!

Well, I have been waiting to post until I had some new pictures to share, but that isn't going to cut it. The hard drive is on order for my regular laptop which has a card reader for our camera. I cannot find out portable card reader right now so I thought I would just pop in to say "hi" and let you know that I have started Caden's Christmas list on the side of the blog.

Caden is going to be a bat for Halloween. I made his wings out of an old umbrella for his wings and made felt ears and a mask. To make it more realistic looking I needle felted "fur" in the ears and on the sides of his mask. I have pictures to share, but they will need to wait until I can upload them to the computer...sorry :(.
This picture was my jumping off point....
which is from the craft queen herself, I ended up taking all of the metal parts out of the umbrella because I just didn't trust Caden not to poke his eye or someone else's eye out. Better to be safe than sorry is my motto.

This weekend was full of jack-o-lantern creating. Our cat Suki really wanted to help us out, she kept stealing the tools and trying to take the smoochy innards out of the pumpkin and spread them throughout the house.

We are pretty much settled into our house. Paul even surprised me by setting up my crafting studio in the corner of our garage. I have been excited to get back to creating. We need to get some shelving for me to use to dry green ware and for display. We also need one more table for me to use to roll out clay. A trip to Ikea may be in order for this next weekend.

A busy week!

This has been a very busy week for us....lets start from the top.....


Introducing Poppy, the third (and hopefully final!) in the succession of replacement gold fish since the unfortunate demise of Bob. Apparently the chlorine in the water was killing them. We did not have city water in Michigan, so that must have prolonged Bob's life. These weeks of dying fish has made us leery of the water but, in a strange bit of coincidence the "Today Show" had a city water contest where critics judged various water from cities around the United States and Columbia was in the top 3! I was shocked.

Tuesday was Paul's 31st birthday!



Caden and I decorated the house. Paul was really touched, he doesn't like people making a big deal for his birthday. We usually do something low-key, but we changed things up this year and I think we all had a good time.



The cake matched the wrapping paper, it was a little feminine for Paul but, hey, it was summery and cheerful!


Caden helped his dad blow out the candles!

all and all it was a good day.

Ok...lets see....every day this week Caden has been attending VBS at the church that we have been trying out for the last two weeks. He has had a lot of fun and has made some friends. He even has a "girlfriend" named Marissa. She turns six today. They are really cute together. I had to go over some "rules" with Caden...like no kissing! They would hold each other's hands and sneak away from the group. When I asked Caden what he likes about her he said she has a beautiful name and that she likes what he likes. Hey, what more in life do you need? The following day after they announced that they were boyfriend and girlfriend Caden wanted to bring her a dollar so she could "get something for herself that she likes". Thankfully he forgot about his plans before we went to VBS. We will be ending this grand adventure by going to a small water park with the church tonight for the VBS finally.

Last but not least, yesterday was our tenth anniversary! Ten years...wow. We have been through so much. He is still my best friend and all that I could ever ask for. God has blessed our lives. We found each other young, and we have grown so much, gone through cancer twice, eight back surgeries, 4 cross country moves, and one Caden! I am thankful for each and every day we have had together and I look forward to many many many more years, and hopefully decades together.





Paul sent me the most beautiful flower arrangement. Sunflowers + aubergine lilies = one happy girl. In addition he purchased the last band for my wedding ring. I got him a digital picture frame to record our memories past, present and future. We went out for a really nice dinner while Caden was at VBS. (It was the best week for Caden to go to VBS, we really lucked out!...being new to the area and all, we do not have a baby sitter yet!) After Caden went to bed we took a dip in the pool.

So that is our week thus far...we also have made arrangements to go out to California to visit family in August. My dad paid for Caden and my plane tickets (for my birthday gift) which enabled Paul to come out for one of the weeks. Things are tight here with owning two houses right now. Caden and I will spend a week with my dad and when Paul flies out, we will be going on his family's annual camping trip for five days up in Trinity National Forest. It will be the first time in three years for Paul to see his family. Caden hasn't seen Paul's family for two years, and the last time we saw them it was only for a couple of hours.

The real estate sales in Michigan are scary right now. My uncle has had a beautiful new house for sale for over three years and they had an open house last weekend and no one attended. Our house has had a lot of action on the website, lots of people viewing it online and at the open houses, which is good, but no offers yet. We do have one very good possibility but it depends on things working out right on their end too, so, if you can, please pray for things to work out and the house to sell very soon. We had a two hundred dollar electricity bill for our Michigan house and no one is living there (the pool and maybe ac for the open houses)....I have no idea what is up with that...hopefully that will be taken care of for next month-it is ridiculous...I think someone left the pool running or something. It is hard not to have any control over you own house. So, once again, if you can, any prayers for a fast sale on the house would be so appreciated, we need this stress to be taken out of our lives!

Thanks for stopping by! Have a lovely weekend!

The move is over!

the hammock is hung, we are home....

Well, we are mostly settled into our new home in Northeast Columbia, South Carolina. It was a long move, one thousand miles on the dot, but not our first long move, just the first in a long while. Many of you know our moving history, but for the rest, let's recap...we moved from California to Oregon 1998, then Oregon to Michigan 2001, Michigan to Oregon 2002, Oregon to Michigan 2003, and now this move. The Michigan to Oregon move in the middle was us running back to be with family after Paul's first battle with cancer. He got cancer again in Oregon and we decided that cancer sucks anywhere, so we might as well live where we feel at home. We loved living on the shores of Lake Michigan, but the economy was tough on us. South Carolina brings us new prospects and hopefully more stability. If anyone wants to experience the beauty of Michigan we still have our three bedroom, two bath ranch with 2200 square feet, in ground pool set on a half acre lot backed by the wooded section of a golf course :) It is for sale... (hint, hint)we decided not to lease it out. We just have too much on our plates to keep up with two properties. Our realtor and some good friends are helping to take care of the property until it sells.


It is beautiful here in South Carolina. Sometimes the weather reminds me of the feeling when you stick your head into a warm, moist dryer full of damp clothes, but I have heard that the rest of the year is quite seasonable. We sold our snow shovel and plow, now we have the pleasure of visiting the snow, or once in a while have an inch or two visit us oh so briefly.

Paul and I had pretty much decided on a house when Caden and I came down for our three week visit in May. But at the very last minute...literally Paul decided to visit a house that had just come onto the market. It has a pool and an overgrown, but beautifully landscaped yard. It is a three bedroom, 2 1/2 bath with a large bonus room and cathedral ceilings. It has windows everywhere and great light. It just spoke to him, and I trusted his judgement, so we decided to switch to this house. It is in a great, safe and quiet neighborhood, and in the best school district in the county. The pool looked like Shrek's swamp, but we were told it would be taken care of...more on that later.


the pool before---well midway, we had to drain it, it was full to the brim with green muck and leaves...no vermin though!

So the actual move was great, the gas prices had just gone down a bit, Caden was so well behaved and didn't complain at all. Even our cat, Suki-whose previous car rides were full of meowing and complaints, settled in and quietly enjoyed the long ride. Our beloved boogie eyed goldfish Bob even made it down here, but once we introduced him to fresh Columbia water, he passed on to the big fishbowl in the sky. He had a small, prayer filled service led by Caden and now is buried under the bird bath in the back yard. The little replacement "bob" we got even passed away (err..got a cold and had to be traded in, so Caden thinks, it was too much death too soon). Little "speck" is the newest replacement fish and is thriving. Fingers crossed, we will have this little fish for a long time. We have been drinking bottled water ever since just in case the water had anything to do with these fishy deaths....;)

We took the move slow...about three days to get down here as to try to not flare up my back anymore because I had to drive our SUV behind Paul who was driving the 26 foot rental moving truck. We sold half of our stuff in our yard sale, which was a good thing, because even at that we didn't have enough room for everything. We left behind our futon frame, all of the houseplants, the fridge, my slab roller ( :( ), and some other stuff, about a small trailer full. We will pick it up later in a month or so, or when the house sells.

Please pray for the house to sell soon, it would free up so much room of our minds that are currently full of stress.

Once we got here, well things stopped going so smoothly...The electricity wasn't on, which meant the pool hadn't been serviced and the house was like 140 degrees. (well it seemed like it anyway) It was unlivable.....when they turn things off down here, they turn everything off, the water, sewer, gas, electricity....everything. The house was filthy, the carpets were nasty. They hadn't done what was promised whatsoever. We ended up having to stay in a hotel three additional nights due to everything, which then messed up our help that was scheduled to help us move things in. Eventually, the house cleaned up beautifully. And we called the realtor to help us find professional movers, they cost us extra, but it was so hot and humid, I think Paul would have killed himself getting everything in.

So we are all moved in. We put the studio upstairs in a spare bedroom. We will need to go to ikea to get a couple of storage lockers and a large work table. But that will be later when we have a little more time and spare funds, for now, I am thankful for the folding tables. We have quite a few things to hang up on the studio walls, but after that is done, the studio will be ready to roll. Caden's room needs to be repainted as well as the master. His room is painted an awful teal sponge paint and ours is an ok green but also sponge painted. The rest of the house is a neutral light sand color, the dining room is a nice grey shade. I was excited about that because I have always wanted a grey room. I am thinking about a blue-grey for Caden's room (he has a red,white and blue quilt, denim suspender curtains, and a sorta retro camping theme). I really wanted to paint it navy blue, but I am worried it will be too dark. Target has the cutest red lanterns for $19.99 each, with a couple of those, his room would be so cute. Also at target, in the came Woolrich camping collection they have a tent bed topper for $29.99 that would really spruce it up. He doesn't have a bunk bed anymore because the ladder broke. Who knows, maybe on that trip to ikea in Atlanta, we will find some more bedding for him. I was looking at a number fabric collection in their catalog that looked cute. He has requested his own hand-made quilt now that I finished our quilt. That is -why I am thinking a blue-grey would be a lot more neutral for me to mix and match, because I like to change things up so much. I want to do a grass cloth affect in our room. We have vaulted ceilings in the master, and our bedding is red, so the light beige grass cloth paint job would be a great effect. Having a new house is exciting, it gives us so much opportunity for new dreams and projects. Like in the kitchen, it is fine now, but eventually I would love to paint the cabinets white with a little burnt umber rub to antique them a bit, install slate flooring and a dark granite counter top with a rich red wall. We have a small half bath on the main floor and I would love to paint it a shocking rich color like orange, or maybe a bright limey green. We also want to replace most of the lighting in time. We have so many ideas, we definitely won't be bored!

So now that things have settled down for us, I will be blogging at least once a week....please come back and check in often! I have missed you all, thank you for your emails and checking in on us! It sure made us feel loved!


the pool after four hard days of work.


caden jumpin' in and a tiny glimpse of me scrubbin'


our new home from the front. The lawn needs revitalizing and we have since done a lot of trimming of all of the overgrown shrubbery. I love the driveway-it provides a perfect place for a basketball hoop, eventually.


the living room fireplace


the living room looking from upstairs.


living room/dining area


the front door

we interrupt this lack of posting with....

a brief message...

We are visiting Paul in South Carolina. We found a house, but are not quite ready to financially support two homes. It is a scary thing...coming up with another down payment, moving to another state, changing everything...AGAIN...but also exciting. Seeing new places, visiting the Atlantic ocean and Charleston. Learning new things, meeting new people.

We miss our home, our kitties, our beds and our family and friends. But it is so nice to be together with my husband, even though we are camping out on airbeds in the spare bedroom of an apartment rented by a co-worker friend of Paul's. Life is an adventure.

I cannot wait to settle in and experience life in this new area, set my studio back up and start working on my art again. This will have to wait about one to two months.

Caden is taking a vacation from school and I am home schooling him with the work provided by his teacher. Caden misses school and his friends. He turns 6 on Thursday. He is so excited and the countdown to THE DAY is repeated over and over every day. He is very thrilled that we are swing set shopping for the new house (but has the understanding that the house has to be purchased, school needs to get out, and we need to move before we can purchase said swing set/fort contraption). Just something he can look forward to.

ok.. off to entertain one bored little guy who has been harassing me all day.....we both miss school!

photo free for all....

Well, the car lot has not come through for us, Caden and I are still car-less. The "rental" they had offered ended up to be broken. Just like a lot of promises....Luckily my mom was able to pick us up to get a couple of errands done and we were able to get a ride to Caden's school to go on the field trip that he has been looking forward to for days. Needless to say, our life has been filled to the brim with stress. Ok, enough of that ugly subject!

We were able to get away from the hustle and bustle and attend the spring kindergarten class field trip to the Grand Rapids Children's Museum and Frederick Meijer Gardens. I will let the pictures to most of the talking....

This week in pictures starts with April 15, the evening Caden lost his second tooth.

the tooth fairy left $1.50 in quarters which is burning a deep hole in Caden's pocket already!

Tuesday's field trip began with the Grand Rapids Children's Museum. Caden has been there two or three times. I think this will be the last, unless they do a major change up, it kinda gets redundant after so many trips.


domino stacking...

mirrored tunnel posing...(this is the only unsolicited pose I got, Caden bemoaned the fact that I was shooting so many pictures)


Caden particularly enjoyed working at the wee bank drive Thru window, and had his go at robbing the ATM also.

as always, the bubble area was a big hit.


such concentration!

and finally a little practice for backyard camping in the summertime..



Next it was time to go see the butterflies!

they set out nectar fulled sponges for the butterflies to feast upon. You can see the star of the show on the left, it is a clear wing butterfly. Beautiful!



views inside the butterfly incubator....


the moon moth, my favorite this year.



so pretty!

so many cocoons in various stages of development. What a wonderful sight!









and moments after:

it hopped onto my pant leg. We got it safely off the walkway.





a final close-up on another clear wing.

They also have a beautiful display of orchids...







and a family of flightless Japanese quail, but only one little guy kept following us around...


we finished up our day quickly observing some of the sculptures in the sculpture garden and playing in the playground.


sculpture made out of bicycle parts.

As you can see I got a lot of practice using the macro setting on the camera!

ps...Caden did his own hair, especially "spiked" to give the butterflies a place to land! so cute!