Recovery

Recovery has gone well. A lot better then I thought.  I started driving this week so it seems like I have been running a lot errands.  Today I had therapy this morning then did some errands and tonight I crashed, Today wore me out but I guess I need to be prepared.  Tomorrow is the same and its just preparing me for when I go back to work.  Connor has helped me due my exercises.  I hade to put the towel on the bottom of my foot and pull.  This is him helping :

 

Early this month we attended a funeral service for a hero that recently died in Afghanistan.  We did not know him, but his name was Justin Whitmire and he was 20 years old.  He went to Hillcrest as well as I did.  It was amazing seeing the amount of people that showed up to pay respects. Never in my life have I seen anything like that.  Over 2000 people, it was reported that it was the largest military funeral ever in SC.  That makes me proud that the Golden strip area pulled together like a real community.   I did decide to take Connor with us, and thought it could be a great learning experience.  I did talk to Connor about what a solider did to protect our country and we were going to pay our respects because he was in the army to protect us.  Another lesson for the day was about the American flag and how we shouldn't let it touch the ground.  The whole thing gave me a greater appreciation for our country and soldiers. 

All in a days work

The other day I completed two projects I had been working on / needed to do. Here they are :

I made a cute Valentine’s Tulle Wreath. 

AND

Drum Roll Please!

I installed a new kitchen faucet ALL BY MY SELF!

I think I am the proudest of that.  I knew we needed a new one and after someone falling through that was going to put it in for me, I was a little irritated and not being able to count on people so I said what the heck I will do it.  I looked a video up on YouTube, so I thought it looked simple enough.  Sure enough it was pretty simple and a day and half later it was done and WORKING!  I am pretty proud of my self.  Next project is switching the thermostat out to a programmable one, I watched a video on that also. :)

MLK Day

Today is MLK Day and not only are the kids out of school, but it is a day we celebrate a great man, Martin Luther King Jr.  In the car today I was talking to Connor, he asked if his new shoes would be in the mail when we got home, I told him no, that we were not getting any mail today because it was a holiday.  He asked what kind, and I said MLK Day, he said like Christmas?  I said well just like Christmas when we celebrate Jesus’ birthday, today we celebrate Martin Luther King Jr.  He then went on to ask why, and my response was that he was very powerful man who did a lot to get black people the same rights so they were able to do the same things white people did. He turned to me and asked well who are black people?  I said they are all around us at school, church, the stores, our neighbors and family members. His next question brought light of how truly racism isn't an aspect in his life, he asked well then what color are we? and I said we are white. He sat there for a minute and thought about it, then looked up and asked what his brother was. My response was Hispanic, and he said well like brown? I told him he could look at it that way because he was not white or black. I told him that it didn’t matter what color anyone’s skin was because we are all made up of the exact same things on the inside.  I know until that moment that he had never looked at anyone as in what color they were, just as EVERYONE should. If only everyone could see through the eyes of an innocent 4 year old. 

Pinterest

Back around October I found this new little site called Pinterest.  It is a virtual pin board that you can organize and put things all under different boards, and group them how you want.  I will admit I have falling in love and I am addicted!  These next pictures are just some of the ideas I have got from the site and completed.  I am working on more. 

 

From Left to right.

Tomato Cage Christmas tree

Yarn Wreath with felt flowers

Snow Ball yarn Wreath

Marbled Paint Christmas Ornaments

Christmas Ball Ornament Wreath

Thanksgiving Turkey

Christmas Decoration

Mini Upside down pineapple cakes

Elf on the Shelf

This year we continued with our new tradition elf on the shelf. Last year (2010) we started it in the middle of December.  This year we  were able to do the full month.  The story is the elf comes to the child right around the holidays and watches the kid and then reports to the North Pole to Santa when the kids are sleeping tight.  In the morning before they wake up they fly back and have taken on a new hiding spot.  The main rule is no touching the elf or he or she will loss their power to fly back to Santa.  It has a cute little story that goes along with it.  We knew he was going to be coming soon so we read the book.  He showed up the morning after Thanksgiving.  On Christmas Eve when the elf hears Santa's bells on the sleigh he leave with him and will come back next year.  On Christmas Eve we all got to hold, hug, and kiss the Elfy goodbye.  Connor loved being able to actually get to touch him.  We named our Elf, Elfy and this is just a couple pictures showing what kind of trouble he got into.  Sometimes was a well behaved elf.

 

  The Note says that he hopes Connor likes what he did with the bathroom.  He put up a snowman shower curtain and rug.

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The note says for him to go look in the mirror, as you can see the elf is holding a paint brush with red paint on it.  He painted a Rudolph nose on Connor while he slept!

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Saying our Goodbyes…

December

This is always an extremely busy month for us. With my birthday, Christmas activities and now my surgery was lingering around the corner. I wasn't sure how long I would be down for so there were many lose ends I felt like I needed to tie up both at home and work, guess that is the OCD in me.

I celebrated my 29th birthday. Its hard to believe that I am almost 30, which plan to celebrate with a bang! This year I wanted to do something fun, and since I am older bar scene isn’t my thing anymore. I heard about wine with design and thought that would be perfect. Wine with Design is a studio downtown Greenville, and you can bring wine and appetizers with you as you paint a picture. Now I was really scared of painting a picture starting with a blank canvas. I might be crafty but I can barley draw a stick person. It was something I wanted to try. There were 6 of us and was so much fun. Michelle and I have talked about how we can not wait to go back and do it again. I was also pretty proud of my painting! Although we all painted the same picture they all looked different.

Every year the Hospital System host cookies with Santa for employees, we have been going for the past 3 years since I started there. The lines can get pretty long but for me it is worth it because we get to see Santa have pictures taking and it is FREEE. This single momma with a fixed budget likes that word! Plus the mall Santa and pictures they have for you to purchase are not always the greatest.

I also held our 3rd Christmas party. I love doing it because I can see everyone and one time. The house was FULL of kids, but it was great! The first picture is of all the kids, I think one was missing, just shows how full the house was! The second is of me and my sweet Alice. I love this kid to death and she holds a very special place in my heart, for a reminder she is the one I helped deliver this past April.

Connor had been talking about horses, and about the same time my friend Angie from work offered for us to come out to their house and to come and see and even ride the horses. Connor was excited, I was really hoping he would get on one but he didn’t want to. He did get close to the horse pet her and brush her which is a huge step for him. Mr. Keith also took Con out on the John Deer tractor and let him drive all by him self (steering where ever he wanted to go), for the rest of the day all he talked about how he was a farmer now since he got to drive the tractor. We also played hide and go seek with her hound dog, and saw the chickens, it was a fun day.

I ended up finding out about this house on Facebook that has tons of lights and was free, we ended up going three nights and it was awesome. Never anything I had seen before. It was the Clark Griswalds' of all houses!

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My Cousin Courtney Smith did our Christmas Pictures. I really wanted something with our Christmas Tree and railroad tracks.

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Our Christmas Card for this year!

Christmas Time! Michelle and Kyle came come up and were here the morning of. Connor for a long time had been asking for a DS from Santa then about 3 weeks before Christmas started asking for walkie-talkies and handcuffs. Santa was able to give him all the above. He got tons of stuff and of course the house was a mess.

My surgery was Dec. 29th, it went well and my pain surprisingly has not been that bad, and not anything I expected nor prepared my self for. I have not been to the Dr. for my post op yet I am am not sure when I will be able to walk on it or return to work. I ended up renting a thing called a knee scooter and it is pretty much just that, it is an alternate for crutches and it is soooo much better also.

November

As I try to catch up on this blog I have a hard time thinking what the previous months held for us, thankfully I can look back at pictures!  Around this time, well about the month before, I found Pinterest, and will admit I have become obsessed!  It is a virtual pin board and you can pin anything and everything you find to boards.  I have boards, for crafts, my dream house, organization, tips and tricks.  Anything you can think of and you can find it there.  I have always loved crafting and enjoyed scrapbooking many years ago when Connor was first born and I was able to stay at home, but to be honest there isn't enough time now.  Along with not having enough time its also the hassle of pulling everything out and having to clean up.  I think if I had a designated space it would make it simpler.  As for now I don’t and that has gone on the back burner.  Back to Pinterest I have found so many craft ideas and DIY, and have started several projects.  One of them being this yarn wreath with felt flowers pictured below. 

I love the fall time, the colors, the cooler weather and of course Football.  I was able to get to one USC game this year.  I had fun, and can’t wait until next year when I am able to take Con to his first one.  He will be 5 and I think that will be a perfect time to start taking him.  He loved football and this past weekend bowl games were on and he chose to watch football over cartoons! 

At the football game I also had to lug this pretty (sense the sarcasm) little boot around.

 

I originally did something to my ankle the previous Oct. (2010). I was told it was a torn ligament or maybe a tendon and over time it would get better.  In my case it kept getting worse and got to the point I was no longer able to wear heels, I could only wear flat shoes, because it hurt so bad.  The week of my sisters wedding I went back to the Dr. and he recommended me wearing a boot for 6 weeks and we would go from there.  Come Nov. I knew the boot wasn’t helping and requested for his to go ahead and order the MRI as we previously discussed. The MRI ended up showing that I was born with a small accessory bone and of course my luck it had broken off, so it was kind of just in there not attached to anything just hanging out.  Of course he said surgery which I knew was coming.  I decided the best time would be to schedule it for the end of Dec.   Until then it was me and the boot.

November also brings thanksgiving.  This year was no different then others we all ate way to much.  We also got to meet my cousin Courtney’s boyfriend, and also my Cousin Blake’s Girlfriend Rebecca.  Connor loves getting to spend time with his cousin, Coleman and although Coleman was not in a good mood Connor still played very well with him.

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We also made a trip (Olivia & I) one Sunday down to Columbia to visit Michelle.  Connor for a while had been asking when he was going to be able to go and spend the night with Shell again, she kept telling him after the wedding.  Well the night of the wedding he literally thought he was going to get to go home with her. I had to explain it would be a couple weeks later. Connor hadn’t seen Michelle in a couple weeks and was missing her really bad and kept asking over and over when he was going to get to see her. So Michelle said he could come down, and spend the night.  I meet her half way and they had a fun night together, baking cookies.  We very rarely make the trip to see her because she is always coming up here, so Sunday I decided to drive down there and hang out. I took Olivia with me also so she would have something to do. It was a rainy day so we ended up going to the Children's Museum. 

Other Random pictures of November.

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Connor was able to build part of a sleigh when we went into Lowe’s Of course Grandma being the “handywomen” she is helped him. 

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Helping me bake and licking the betters. Loving his aunt Shell. In the third picture Con kept asking if he could have his own Christmas Tree for his room, and he likes Charlie Brown, so I thought the Charlie Brown Christmas tree would be perfect.  It even plays the song.  In the last picture this shows how funny he can be, he did all this on his own and was just hanging out watching TV!

The four of us (Mom, Shell, Connor and I) all decided to head downtown the Sat. after Thanksgiving.  It was my moms idea and she usually is not able to because of her knee I knew we had to jump on the chance.  It was a nice day as you see Con got to skip his Jacket for part of the day.  We walked around for close to a total of 5 hours!  Well we were down there a total of that time we also made sure we ate!  Con wanted to have his picture taken with every statue we saw.  We also walked across the Liberty Bridge, that crosses the Reedy river.  No matter how many times I see that it is still always a beautiful view.  Last but not least Michelle and I both cut our hair we now have bangs, and look more alike then ever!