Straws & Camel Backs: This Too Shall Pass

Soooo 2008-2009 was a rough time. We lost my Dad, my paternal Grandpa, my maternal Grandma and I also got married (our marriage is still alive I only list it since it was also life altering)... Since that time I am very VERY aware of the differences between:

• An emergency & an event that requires Action (stabbed in chest with big knife vs. slightly sliced finger with edge of paper)
• A disappointment & a tragedy (hearing your favorite team lost vs. finding out that you need to go be at the bedside of your dying loved one)
• The appropriate time to use extreme adjectives (Worst, Most Horrible, Tragic) and when things merely require adjectives (Bad, Not Great, Sad)
• The understandable times to use strong language and abusing profanities/volume nuances (boulders falling from the sky vs. just realizing you need to go back home to grab something you forgot)

That being stated I would like to briefly vent about some events of the past two days and provide a severly abbreviated back-story. Yes we are still alive but I may or may not tend to be a bit over dramatic in what follows (consider yourself warned). 

• Husbie spent 3.5 years looking for teaching jobs... while substituting and working part time at a charter school... gets one interview but job goes to lady applicant in the male dominated field... after 1 year that position is cut so really its kind of a good thing he didn't get it... but still disheartening that a 4 year degree, license and hard work leads to no job.
• Now after a giant career shift and 2 years of school and another licence this time in Nursing it is taking longer than planned to find a nursing job.
• Savings depleted
• Credit cards VERY nearly maxed out  (had to put nursing degree on credit cards b/c this is his second degree and he was not eligible for any grants/loans.. and food stamps DOES NOT cover food for 2 adults and 1 baby. Also car trouble multiple times...)
• Getting $ help from parents (b/c we clearly were just not humbled enough)
• Husbie will not have his current job after the 5th of next month due to having his nursing license for 90 days at that point.
• After interviews he thought went very well HR is encouraging him to apply for other positions (could still be good but we are thrown off by this)
• Close friend loses Mom after a very long fight with Cancer
• I accidentally get cell phone submerged in water... had phone insurance but still had to fork over a significant amount to get a replacement.
• I forget to sign a check this morning to be deposited.... (but THEORETICALLY I'm a step ahead b/c I caught it right after I did it and am already working with bank to avoid fees)

Now here is the straw... you know the one... the one that makes me cry tonight/breaks my back until I pull myself up.

• My car will not start... and we think it is the battery. 

However!!!! Here is my happy list

• God still loves us
• Husbie & I still love each other & our beautiful daughter
• We are all alive
• We are all generally healthy
• I have a good friend in town for the whole summer & if she wasn't with me the last couple days I totally would be a lot more broken/beat down.
• We have food & water
• We have shelter
• We have family that loves us and really has been aMAZing in helping us financially right now.
• And even if I have NO IDEA of where it is necessarily going to come from next month: we have been able to pay all of our bills for this month!

As posted by me earlier on facebook:

I am just so Thankful that cars, phones and money are not health, life or happiness. We'd have all sorts of issues otherwise.

Settling In One Room at a Time: Upstairs Bathroom

So as I get different rooms in the house completely unpacked/settled and possibly clean :) I will take pictures to share. This is mostly for curious out of state family but also a bit of another chance to feel accomplished one room at a time :). So this one is dedicated to our lovely upstairs bathroom. It is my mini "spa" and therefore the mermaids and blues were all of my choosing.

Installing a curved shower curtain rod and using the laundry basket on the wall to hold towels are a couple ways that make the bathroom more functional for us.

I took an old Mermaid Avon bottle that I found at a yard sale and filled it up with water with blue food coloring to make my happy blue mermaid. I also used photoshop to create my pinterest-inspired peg legged pirate/mermaid bathroom door sign.

Found a good place for my magnet makeup board and decided to use a cheap placemat on the back of our toliet kind of like a doily for the tissue box and a couple of decorative items.

Husbie installed my happy mirror and I decided to use a paper towel holder as a toliet paper roll holder. It usually holds 3 extra rolls, however we were running a bit low when this pic was taken.

A Gnome's Paradise: My Patio is Pretty

MY MAMA:

So many of you who know me, also know that my mom is an AMAZING gardener. Her thumb was Green from birth and I'm convinced God gave her the ability to breathe life into dead plants as she has saved many of mine. Here are a few pics of the gorgeousness that is my mom's gardening... she also just created a Pinterest Board as well.

Mama's Front Patio

Mama's Side Front Flower Bed & Gorgeous Window Boxes Courtesy of my Step Dad

ME:

My green thumb, however is still VERY MUCH in training (to put it nicely). I have only recently been able to sustain a few houseplants (I have 4 now!)

Philodendron & Palm-esque Spikey Plant (lol see not much of a plant person)

The Newbies (that don't count until they live a few months first)

 When it comes to "real" outdoor gardening... I stick to potted flowers. My dream garden is a rock garden with a few potted plants. My Pinterest board for all things landscaping/outdoors is "No Green Thumbs Needed" (Don't judge I've been pinning ideas for a mini fairy/gnome garden).

No Green Thumbs Needed Board on Pinterest

So when we moved into our new town home and mom offered to help me clean up our back patio I literally heard Handel's Alleluia chorus in my head. It took mom and I about 3-4 hours to clean up, put down landscaping paper, mulch, pot flowers and arrange patio furniture. Since then I have found homes for my current Gnome collection and a few turtles (left from a high school turtle collection).

Here are some pics: