Not for the faint of heart!!

You know those commercials that used to be on for that one product that dealt with toe fungus...the one where the little gremlin looking guy walks up to a toe and lifts up the nail and you cringe because that seems as though it has to be one of the most painful things in the whole world...yeah well I am here to tell you...I have felt WORSE!!

Let me tell you a little tale about a dog, a ball, and the demise of the prettiest big toe you ever did see!! It goes something like this, Ben and I were up at his parents cabin for a visit, our time together was drawing to a close and it is usually about this time that I start warming up to the dog. It was a hot summers evening, dinner was in the beginning stages, Ben and his mom were out talking flowers on the porch. I was also there, however, not partaking in the flower conversation, nope the only one paying any attention to me was the dog. You see, the dog has this ball and he is making it very clear that he wants me to do something with it that results in him running after it. Well, he has been playing with this ball for awhile now and I am not about to touch it with my hands, so the next logical thing in my mind was kick this ball that was at this time thought to be soft rubber ball. Since I wanted the dog to be gone, chasing this ball for as long as possible, I wound up and kicked that ball as hard as I could...so hard that it cleared the front portion of the yard, disrupting no floral life...so hard that it took my breath AWAY!! For this ball was no ordinary ball, it was no soft rubber ball, no...this ball was incredibly HARD PLASTIC!! NOT a ball made for KICKING with BARE FEET!! This fact I was made aware of AFTER the fact by Ben and his mom and by the UNBELIEVABLE PAIN that shot through my toe and into my pancreas...yes I believe even my pancreas hurt at that point!! There were no tears, if I remember right there was no yelling...for there was NO AIR!!!
After a few days the throbbing subsided, the blood vessels around the toe became less inflamed, and the purplely color had even started to grow on me! Now, I know that it was only a matter of time before the nail actually fell off, but I thought I was going to have a little while longer with the one body part I love most, my beautiful foot!!

The other night as Ben and Kaylynn and I were all going through our nightly routines of brushing teeth and washing faces, I decided I wanted to turn on the TV and watch the beginning of the Late Show. I didn't bother to turn on the lights in the room, for I knew right were the TV was, problem was I did NOT know right were the pile of traverse curtain rods were on the floor and I hit them HARD with of course that precarious toe and this time there may not have been tears but there was screaming!!! The screaming was followed by a mad dash to the bath tub since there was now a brown fluid leaking all over my foot. Well, I guess you are dying to know...this is what I saw...

Yeah, it was only connected by the bottom right hand corner, and after much convincing (more like telling Ben) and a phone call to Ben's dad (the "am I gonna lose the nail?" expert), it was decided that the nail needed to come the rest of the way off. Now, I knew that I could not do this to myself, though I desperately just wanted that thing off at this point, I had some sweet talking to do to get Ben to step up to the plate. Kaylynn documented the story with photos (which I am sure you are thrilled about). So there we sat, the three of us on the edge of the bath tub, Kaylynn on my left with the camera, and Ben on my right with a look of "Please do NOT make me do this!!" Hey, he's a strong man just give it one good yank, or two, or apparently THREE strong yanks and it was off and again more brown nasty!! Well, now what do we do?? Another call to Ben's parents only this time to his mom the nurse, to which she was disappointed to find out we had no gauze and no medical tape. Apparently what she wanted was a big ol' bandage...well, we may not have gauze and medical tape but a big ol' bandage we can do. With a little imagination, a lightday pad, and some 2 inch masking tape, we have ourselves a big ol' bandage (yes I made Ben sign it)!!

Just to set the record straight as far as those commercials go, they have no idea what a nail bed looks like...this is what a nail bed looks like!!








You are welcome!!

Celebrating 2 whole years of wedded bliss... or is it 3?

Awaited by great anticipation and requiring only minor cajoling, I am publishing the aforementioned blog about our celebration of 2 years of blissful matrimony (which I mistakenly recounted recently as 3 and a half years... it HAS seemed much longer... but I count it all bliss--choosing not to recite the idiosyncrasies of my spouse--I'll let you get that from the pictures ;-)

So the first celebratory venture was picking blueberries west of town. Unbeknown it was the first day, we WAITED IN LINE to PICK BLUEBERRIES for 45 minutes. However, it was well worth the wait... or weight... especially for the price (which I also lowered by quaffing an extra 3 pounds in my stomach--which also keeps the berries around for a few more days at home during recovery.

Then it was off to the city. We took the train up and stayed for two nights... relaxing and doing whatever we wanted... even sitting in Starbucks for 2 hours one morning, reading the newspaper... nothing else to do... no projects... no chandeliers... nothing!



We enjoyed some fantastic Chicago dining and during the day, we took in some pretty impressive people watching by the lake!










We visited "the bean" and walked through the gardens in Millennium Park.



















Our last stop was a movie on the lawn in Grant Park... watching "All About Eve" with our newfound friends who gave ample notification (and entertainment) to those around them when all the "big lines" were coming. "Fasten your seatbelts... it's gonna be a bumpy ride." All in all, it was a fantastic weekend (all thanks to priceline.com... the new sponsor of our blog).

Summer Projects continued

Well, it is not that the projects are finished by any means but we thought that you all might enjoy an update thus far. The kitchen is still in the midst of moving and therefore I have no pictures yet, but soon! Since our last house update we have moved all the rooms around, well, the furniture in all the rooms anyway. However, do not get too used to this, for I HATE IT and we will be returning everything back to its original position. But not until we get curtains up in the dining room to assist in blocking out our new neighbors who...well...need some additional boundaries, if you will.

This summer we have painted two rooms downstairs and will be moving upstairs next. The first room to receive a cosmetic makeover was the living room that is now the dining room that will soon be the living room again. This room went from a pale blue to a caramelesque color.

The second room up for cosmetic change was the front room, now the living room, soon to be the front room again. This room actually had paintable wallpaper left from the previous owners. They left it white, but decided to tackle the project of actually painting it. First we put on a coat of green paint, and then Ben added a brown glaze over top of the green (yeah, I took a nap during all of the glazing business…oops). Anyways, it was a long process but we are very pleased with how it turned out!

Thanks for NOTHING...The Battle of the Chandeliers

Clearly there are 19 of you that have little or no concern for our marital conflicts...so I am going to give you another chance to redeem yourselves!! Ever since the moment THE chandelier went up in the dining room it was destine for competition...and competition we now have!! In addition to 19:16 chandelier we now have three other options. I will give you all four options with as little bias as I can possibly keep stuffed in my core!

Option #1 will remain the original point of contention. View previous post for synopsis on option #1















Option #2 is a smaller green, what they call a porch chandelier, but we have no boundaries when it comes to home decor! This of course did not break the bank however, was not free like option #1, we purchased option #2 from an actual store for ~12 bones.

Option #3 is a crystalesque beauty, she is also smaller than option #1, less blinding to the naked eye. Option #3 was not free, but was not purchased in an actual store, she was taken into submission during a Ben garage sale conquest for the small price of $10.

Option #4 comes to us from the great state of WI. I received option #4 through the US postal system. It was with great anticipation, glee, and assumption that this was a birthday present that I began to open the box addressed to myself. It did NOT take me long to realize this was more than, if at all, a birthday present...this was none other than OPTION #4!! I can't imagine that you would still be wondering this, but really, how could you put a price tag on such a gem, this was of course a gift from WILLA...THANK YOU WILLA...we know no one more thoughtful than you!

Off to the left you will find a poll to which we request your well thought out and heartfelt consideration! You have all the facts...please vote NOW!

Mr. President

Benjamin and I have been married for two years, two years that can be summed up in two simple words..."learning experience!!" I have learned everything from the proper way to load the silverware tray in the dishwasher, to proper techniques for keeping the least amount of moisture in the bathroom. Most recently one of my favorite teachable moments came in the form of appropriate national holidays that lend themselves to the flying of the American flag. I recently received a phone call from my beloved about 7:15 am to inform me that its Father's Day and I can put the flags out. Who knew that Father's Day warranted THE flag...my husband knew AND felt it to be of the utmost to call home and get me to fly the flag!!

As for the 4th of July we not only flagged it up, but thanks to Gayle we also had those banister flag things. Needless to less our house was totally AMERICA for the 4th. Ben and I were not the only ones that were oh so proud to be an American...Moses also got into the spirit of the day. He came out onto the porch in all of his state and with enough attitude that it warranted the newest title of Mr. President, to which he had no objections! Ben said, "Well, if Moses is president than I guess that makes you vice president!" I said, "Well, if I am vice president than you must be the SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE!!" Ironic isn't it...