OK, I'm fed up with my allergies. I never had allergies until we moved and quite frankly, I'm glad I missed out on that for over thirty years. It seems to hit me in mid August and lasts until it freezes.
So, here are the top 12 reasons why I hate, nay despise, allergies:
1. My eyes itch and water -- it feels like there is something constantly stuck to my eyeball.
2. I am so congested my head feels like it will blow up.
3. My nose and upper lip are raw from blowing and wiping snot.
4. My throat hurts from having to breathe out of my mouth.
5. Allergy medicines either don't work or make me so tired that I am completely non-functional.
6. Essential oils don't help much either.
7. Traditional OTC cold meds work temporarily but I hate being on that kind of medication for that long.
8. I would really like to enjoy the nice weather outside but being out there makes me even worse.
9. Sometimes my nose runs but I am so congested that sniffing does nothing. And it comes so fast that I have a lovely snot line down my face or snot dripping on the floor. Yeah, this is gross but what can I do? Even if I have a tissue in my hand I still can't make it in time!!!
10. My sneezes are 10 times more powerful during allergy season, which really makes them hurt! And, instead of just my normal one or two sneezes, it takes eight or nine sneezes to do the job. Last year I threw my entire rib cage out laterally because of all my sneezing. That was really painful and took several trips to the chiropractor to fix it.
11. I have to sleep sitting up.
12. I have to sleep with the humidifier, which is cold and makes everything wet.
13. My friend, Ali, made note of another very important negative aspect of allergies. The supersonic sneezing is directly linked to a loss of muscular bladder control. There is not much worse than being in the middle of a sneeze and feeling yourself wet your pants uncontrollably.
I do have a greater empathy for my fellow allergy sufferers because of my own experiences. One thing I am grateful for is that Brad's and Jillian's allergies are so much better out here. Their dust allergies were so bad in Arizona that they frequently threw up. So I guess I'm willing to suffer a little for them to have a lot of relief.
Saturday, September 6, 2008
Thursday, September 4, 2008
I Love Color!!!!
For my birthday I told Brad that I wanted to get the painting done in our living room. Brad had painted the kitchen a few months before and I just wanted to have the living room done as well. I was so tired of bare, white walls and I really wanted to get some of my pictures up on the wall. I wasn't able to do that in Arizona until we were selling our house! I didn't want that to happen again.
It took me about a year to figure out the general scheme that I wanted and then another few months to pinpoint which shades but I absolutely LOVE how it has turned out. My kitchen is a coral-orange color and the living room has two red walls surrounded by a brown similar to what our house in Arizona had (we just loved that paint color!). Our trim is a deep chocolate brown. The trim isn't done yet but it will come. We still need to replace all the windows and get new baseboard but I can decorate around that. I just love how having color makes the rooms feel so much homier. Now I'm excited to get some things up on the wall!
Jillian and Logan spent Saturday at a friend's house but we made Jorja stay at home because she hadn't been feeling that great. She was a super helper and didn't once touch the wet paint! She was in charge of the foam sanders, which she called "swubbers" -- for scrubbers, we used to smooth out the drywall mud. She was so proud to be our big helper. Jorja really wanted to help paint so when I was doing the base coat for the red I let her give it a try. Didn't she do a great job?! I just love how proud of herself she is in this picture.
The final product! Here you can see both the kitchen and living room. The orange and red really compliment each other.
Looking from the kitchen to the living room. We painted the pop-out and love how it turned out.
Jorja and Logan just HAD to be in the picture! They are hamming it up. That red wall took five coats of paint. It really only needed two but we kept getting streak marks in it. Finally Brad told me to do it. I did the first red coat and it looked awesome so he wanted me to do it again. It took me 20 minutes and I got it perfect. Brad told me the next time he has to paint a house he wants me to come help him. How's that for a vote of confidence?!
It took me about a year to figure out the general scheme that I wanted and then another few months to pinpoint which shades but I absolutely LOVE how it has turned out. My kitchen is a coral-orange color and the living room has two red walls surrounded by a brown similar to what our house in Arizona had (we just loved that paint color!). Our trim is a deep chocolate brown. The trim isn't done yet but it will come. We still need to replace all the windows and get new baseboard but I can decorate around that. I just love how having color makes the rooms feel so much homier. Now I'm excited to get some things up on the wall!
Jillian and Logan spent Saturday at a friend's house but we made Jorja stay at home because she hadn't been feeling that great. She was a super helper and didn't once touch the wet paint! She was in charge of the foam sanders, which she called "swubbers" -- for scrubbers, we used to smooth out the drywall mud. She was so proud to be our big helper. Jorja really wanted to help paint so when I was doing the base coat for the red I let her give it a try. Didn't she do a great job?! I just love how proud of herself she is in this picture.
The final product! Here you can see both the kitchen and living room. The orange and red really compliment each other.
Looking from the kitchen to the living room. We painted the pop-out and love how it turned out.
Jorja and Logan just HAD to be in the picture! They are hamming it up. That red wall took five coats of paint. It really only needed two but we kept getting streak marks in it. Finally Brad told me to do it. I did the first red coat and it looked awesome so he wanted me to do it again. It took me 20 minutes and I got it perfect. Brad told me the next time he has to paint a house he wants me to come help him. How's that for a vote of confidence?!
Logan's Birthday
Tuesday was Logan's fifth birthday. I can't believe five years has gone by so quickly!!! I'm honestly having a hard time believing he is five because he doesn't look that old to me. I guess he got the "young-looking" genes from my side of the family.
I told the kids I wasn't going to throw them big parties this year. Instead, we invited a few family friends to the park, ate cake and ice cream and played. It was very humid and started to rain but we had a great time!
Logan wanted a cake with a monster holding balloons. Yeah, he didn't even get frosting. I bought the word candies at the store and just placed them on top. The cake was a yummy lemon jello cake, and he really liked that. He is holding the lid up because the wind started blowing right when we were lighting the candles and they kept going out on us!
I have to say that my boy has one of the cutest smiles on this planet. He is one handsome little guy!!
Last year for his birthday Logan received one of those bouncy balls you sit on. One day Jillian stabbed it with a knife so Logan asked for another one. Actually, after remembering the incident, he cried and cried again over his loss. Since he received the new one, he has spent many hours bouncing around the house.
One of the things our kids look forward to the most is receiving their birthday money. All my kids are crazy about money but that actually works to my favor. Logan also loves the wash rags that Mimi makes for him -- he uses them as blankets for his stuffed animals. And he was so happy to get a new bear to take the place of the one he "lost" -- I actually threw it away LONG ago because it was so ugly. It was part of a Christmas decoration and had dried up glue all over him. My parents and Brad and I all gave him some K'NEX kits and he has loved building cars, helicopters, and tractors!
Jorja and Logan love being pushed on the swings. The park we went to is up on a hill so, while it is usually windier, the view is really nice. The remnants of hurricane Gustav were rolling in as we had our birthday party.
Logan wanted lots of balloons at his party. Last year we did a balloon theme party but all the kids were afraid of popping the balloons, including Logan. It was kind of a bust on that regard so I told him I would have some water balloons again and that is it. So, I made 60 water balloons and we had a fight after we were done playing on the playground. By then it had started raining but we figured that didn't matter much. I think Logan threw half of them. They would bounce off of you and then pop on the ground. He had so much fun. Here Brad just got him on the head.
I told the kids I wasn't going to throw them big parties this year. Instead, we invited a few family friends to the park, ate cake and ice cream and played. It was very humid and started to rain but we had a great time!
Logan wanted a cake with a monster holding balloons. Yeah, he didn't even get frosting. I bought the word candies at the store and just placed them on top. The cake was a yummy lemon jello cake, and he really liked that. He is holding the lid up because the wind started blowing right when we were lighting the candles and they kept going out on us!
I have to say that my boy has one of the cutest smiles on this planet. He is one handsome little guy!!
Last year for his birthday Logan received one of those bouncy balls you sit on. One day Jillian stabbed it with a knife so Logan asked for another one. Actually, after remembering the incident, he cried and cried again over his loss. Since he received the new one, he has spent many hours bouncing around the house.
One of the things our kids look forward to the most is receiving their birthday money. All my kids are crazy about money but that actually works to my favor. Logan also loves the wash rags that Mimi makes for him -- he uses them as blankets for his stuffed animals. And he was so happy to get a new bear to take the place of the one he "lost" -- I actually threw it away LONG ago because it was so ugly. It was part of a Christmas decoration and had dried up glue all over him. My parents and Brad and I all gave him some K'NEX kits and he has loved building cars, helicopters, and tractors!
Jorja and Logan love being pushed on the swings. The park we went to is up on a hill so, while it is usually windier, the view is really nice. The remnants of hurricane Gustav were rolling in as we had our birthday party.
Logan wanted lots of balloons at his party. Last year we did a balloon theme party but all the kids were afraid of popping the balloons, including Logan. It was kind of a bust on that regard so I told him I would have some water balloons again and that is it. So, I made 60 water balloons and we had a fight after we were done playing on the playground. By then it had started raining but we figured that didn't matter much. I think Logan threw half of them. They would bounce off of you and then pop on the ground. He had so much fun. Here Brad just got him on the head.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)