This Old House: Project New Floor

I've been systematically cleaning and organizing my house tackling little projects here and there. My next project was to clean out the extra room in my house and turn it into an official library - My books are just about taking over the house. I wanted to clean the living room before I started "project library."

I went to move my couch in order to sweep underneath it. The floor around the vent next to the couch looked a bit...odd. I stepped toward it to have a closer look and

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...OK so my foot didn't actually go through the floor, but it came remarkably close. As it turns out there is a ventilation problem under the house in the living room and dining room which has caused parts of the floor to rot and well, it's bad.

"Project Library" has now turned into "Project Save-the-floor-so-I-don't-fall-all-the-way-through"

Step One: Last night I moved everything that was in the living room or the dining room into other rooms of the house. This proved to be more difficult than I thought. The following was moved:
Bedroom - 12 boxes (11 of which were books), All the artwork, picture frames, a chair and a half with ottoman, tv stand and tv
Kitchen - Couch, loveseat, table that seats ten, and the piano
Guestroom - 10 chairs, 4 bookcases, 3 DVD shelves (including a standing clock), Lamps, picture frames and whatnots.
Plus the furniture these rooms already had. Its quite ridiculous.

A few current pictures of the insanity:

Kitchen

Bedroom

Guestroom

Empty Living and Dining Room

More to come as progress is made...

Endometriosis: An Awareness

Endometriosis. I remember the first time I heard that word. I remember nodding along as the doctor explained its meaning and I tried to grasp what was being told to me. As I have learned more about my diagnosis I began to become frustrated; not that I have endometriosis (although that is no picnic) but frustration at the lack of awareness. It is impossible to tell all that there is to know about any disease in one blog post, but I thought I would do my best to hit a few questions that I am frequently asked and share a bit of my personal experience.

1. What is Endometriosis?                                                   Endometriosis is a condition where tissue similar to the lining of the uterus is also found elsewhere in the body, mainly in the abdominal cavity. These cells, also called lesions, grow and thicken just as the tissue inside the uterus does. The difference is there is no where for the lesions to exit the body and so they continue to grow; forming adhesions, cysts, and causing chronic pain. The pain differs from woman to woman depending on where lesions have formed and how much damage has been caused.  (The picture to the right was taken during my surgery. The red patches circled were on the sections of lesion that were removed)

2. Is there a cure?    No, however there are treatments that can help. I, personally, tried pain killers and hormones before trying surgery. Every woman is different therefore no one thing will help everyone. I will not know how much surgery has helped me for at least a month or two. This being said, having a doctor actually look and see the lesions gave me peace of mind. I felt as though I could ignore all the dismissing comments such as "You just need to toughen up," "Yeah, I have cramps too," or my least favorite "Its all in your head." Most of these things I've heard from kind people who, I'm sure, mean well. However, chronic illness, including endometriosis can affect a person not just physically; but mentally, emotionally, and spiritually as well. Waking up every morning knowing that you are sick, knowing there is no cure, and knowing that there are people out there who will judge you for your illness as though you chose to have it is, well, exhausting.  I know now that a) it was NOT in my head and b) I will likely have some relief from the pain. Even surgery is not a cure and the lesions can and most likely will grown back, however if the pain has caused a major disturbance in your day to day life, it might be an option. 

3.Is endometriosis an STD or is it contagious?

No. While the cause of endometriosis is still not known; what is known is that it is not transferable from one person to the next. Endometriosis is estimated to affect one in ten women worldwide, however because the symptoms can vary greatly from woman to woman the average time it takes to get a proper diagnosis is roughly 8 years. 

A couple of videos that briefly explain endometriosis

Video #1                            Video #2

Please feel free to post any questions you may have. I am no doctor, but I will be glad to tell about my personal experience. I believe that in increasing awareness about endometriosis we can help those who have the disease with many of its emotional and mental challenges. 

Counters and Coziness

I've been doing a lot of cleaning and organizing lately. I finally got things clean... and when I say clean I mean cleaner than when I moved in clean. Then it was time to start on the projects I've been wanting to do. I mounted the TV, ran the wires behind the wall and stored the electronics in the closet. It made things look so much better. Then Friday night I was sitting in my nice clean house and at about 8:00 pm I decided that "Hey, I should do something about that old outdated counter in my bathroom." So I did.

It is made out of that cultured marble (which is just a fancy way of saying plastic that has swirls of color in it that someone at one time looked a little like marble). I did some research and found out you can paint it. Now, since I don't have the money to replace the counter, it will still be same all one piece counter with a sea shell shaped sink. (Horrible, I know) But at least I could modernize the color.

These are a couple of before pictures. Beware: the 1980's are about to slap you in the face.

The first step was to sand... a lot. All the gloss had to be stripped off so that the paint would stick. The research I found suggested that spray products be used instead of a brush or roller. So I went and looked around Home Depot. I found this super awesome waterproof high gloss primer and paint in one... in a spray!! That is what I decided to use because being able to skip the priming step sounded like a great idea to me. 

The next step involved me taping off 12" Paper with 2" tape. I wanted to make sure the spray didn't get anywhere except where I wanted it. Then I sprayed two coats of paint and primer. This is what that looked like

The next step was the polyurethane. That took some serious waiting time. I think that was the worst part. Spray... wait 4 hours...spray again....wait 4 hours...spray again. I only did one coat at night since I started this project at 11:00 pm. It took four hours to get the faucet off, sand, clean, let dry, sand again, clean and let dry, tape off, paint, let the first coat dry, paint the second coat, let that dry, and paint the first coat of polyurethane. Not too shabby. (Even if that did end up with me not going to sleep until 3:30). I slept on the couch because of the crazy fumes that had taken over my bedroom and bathroom. This severely confused my dog. But he was extra snugly and made my night on the couch very cozy. 

Fast forward to Saturday... 

The next day I did 2 more coats, let them dry then took the paper down and installed the new faucets and voila! New counter top! 

Before and After

The grand total for this entire project was $55!!! Even the absolute cheapest counter top would have been so much more than that. It has a few imperfections, but for the price and the fact that I started it Friday night and was finished Saturday night... I can't beat it. 

There will most likely be more home projects happening soon. But this is all I have money and energy for right now. 

Cruisin'

For the 3 or 4 possible people who will read this... I am still alive. haha.
Lets see.... I don't think I can do a proper update on my life since June. Well, I could but it would be a book. I'll just give you a glimpse at a few of the things that have happened most recently.

Surgery Post Op Continued: Day seven was definitely the worst. It was at that point when I realized WHY my ENT didn't have his patients come back to see him until two weeks after.... if I had seen him on that 7th day I think I would have punched him.  But six weeks later and I was back to my old self. And 20 pounds less of me. Its amazing how fast you loose weight when you simply cannot eat. Isn't it a shame I just can't cut food all together. I'd be thinner and I'd have more money. Ha.

Not actually our ship.. it was leaving as we were. But it looks like ours. 

Cruise: I actually went on a cruise just before my surgery. In fact, I had to move the date of the surgery to wait until I got back. But it was so unbelievably worth it. I had never been out of the country before. I loved it. We did so much. It was an eight day cruise with four ports. Grand Turks - La Romana, Domincan Republic - Curacao - Aruba.
    Grand Turks: Well, to tell about this port, I have to start by telling about the night before we got there. It took 2 days of our trip to reach. The first day/night I was fine. But the second night... oh my goodness. I have never been sicker in my entire life. I'm not talking "I'm feeling a little woozy." I'm talking an hour and a half solid of projectile vomiting. And for those of you who have not experienced it... let me just tell you... throwing up like that on a moving ship is something akin to that game you play as a kid where they spin you around with your head on a bat and then expect you to do something like hit a ball or run in a straight line... only you have to clean up after each time you miss. Luckily, after that I was good the rest of the trip... But I woke up late on the morning we arrived at our first stop... and missed the bus to our excursion!!! I was so bummed because it seemed like a really fun one. So I found a taxi and they drove me to the place (The whole island is like 7 miles long. It didn't take too long). I got to mark an item off my bucket list here... and then some. I had never ridden a horse. and that is what we did... all over the island while we looked at some beautiful scenery. Then.... we got to go swimming on the horses. I had no idea that a horse could swim so fast. It was insane. I have to do that again!
     La Romana: Our excursion here wasn't as exciting. It was a boat ride through the rivers. We had very fresh fruit from the island, got to hear a lot about the culture and relax. Then we got to walk around and enjoy an artist's town with some amazing flowers and breathtaking views. I particularly enjoyed the fact that I got to randomly dance with a local to some street music. It was so lovely... we didn't even speak the same language, but we communicated through dance. It made me smile. I do really love dancing. (Another bucket list item... dance in as many countries as you can.... at least I have a start now)
     Curacao: I got the chance to cross another item off my list here. (I tried to cross as many off my list as I could.) I've always wanted to swim with the dolphins. I think they are so beautiful and graceful. We couldn't swim with them, but we did get to go in the water with them. I enjoyed it a lot. I particularly enjoyed Curacao. It was so clean and laid back. I wouldn't mind going back there for a vacation one day and really getting to know the place.
     Aruba: I know Aruba gets a bad rep, but I enjoyed it. The people were friendly, and we  had such a fun time there. We took an off road drive... and I mean OFF off ... that ended at the top of a mountain. After climbing down MANY stairs, (I am using the term quite loosely here as they were more or less rocks that had been placed in a stair like fashion) we got a natural pool. It was so nice. i was really glad I had invested in a truly waterproof camera here.

      Here is a link to some pictures of the trip.

I think those are my two huge events. I have been trying to hit as many dance exchanges/workshops/out of town events as possible this year. I think Lindy Focus will make it 14 or 15. My biggest year ever. Next year.... I hope to top it and include at least one place out of the southeast. Somewhere I preferably  have to fly to.

I leave for Lindy Focus tomorrow. Be expecting lots of pictures and posts to come from that. It is going to be amazing!

That is all for the time being

Later,
-E

Surgery Post Op

Good Evening to my few readers. :)

I am day 3 post op from a tonsillectomy and adenoidectomy.
http://instagram.com/p/MYIfWxjYmH/

Day One - Surgery
I went in on Wednesday morning - at 6a.m! I thought I would have a very long wait and wouldn't end up in surgery until noon or later. I was very pleasantly surprised from the beginning. I walked in at 6:01. (My sweet grandparents were already there waiting on me, encouraging me). By 6:30, I had already filled out all my paperwork and the nurse had already taken me back to give blood and do all the pre-op funness. By the time I was finished with all that it was approximately 7:15. and they had my surgery scheduled for 8:00. I barely had to wait at all until they rolled me to the holding room. I thought I would be so nervous that I would be quiet. But I was quite the opposite. They rolled me into the holding room, which was full of male doctors and anesthesiologists. When we walked in (Or rather, when  I was rolled in) I said "OH! so this is where I needed to come to find a man" The whole room was laughing.
For the record, I do not like the whole anesthesia thing. But once I was awake, I felt decent enough to get down some water and some jell-o. They kept me overnight to check me out, but everything was fine and they let me go whenever I wanted to the following morning.
Day Two - Leaving the Hospital.
Since I had talked to the doctor Wednesday night, he said i could leave without talking to him in the morning. That quickened the whole leaving process quite a bit. I talked to the nurse around 5:30 am and asked him how late I needed to stay. She asked me when I wanted to leave... I enthusiastically said NOW. So we decided that after my next dose of anti-biotics and pains meds (which were coming up at 6:00am) I could leave. It was quite an easy I was beginning to think that this wasn't going to be as bad as I'd been told....... Then came Day Three
Day Three - OUCH
I'm still on water and Jell-o. I did manage a popsicle today as well. But the pain is quite worse today. I rode with my mother through the drive through at the bank and went to the pharmacy to pick up some more of my medicines. Today has been then worse so far. I'm not sure if it was just because of the process of the recovery, or if it was because I pushed myself a bit too far today. Either way, tomorrow I'm going to take things slower

I'd also like to add a special thank you. I had no idea the overwhelming outpouring of support and prayer I've received. Thank you, everyone, for being there for me. It has meant a lot

So much to say...

I haven't posted here in so long!
I have been on a cruise and started a second job and had surgery.
I can't wait to tell all about it. All those things were an adventure,

I'll try to post a little today, but currently my liquid Loritab is kcking in and I'm more than a bit tired.... So its off for a nap with my puppy for now.

Fun information, stories and pictures to come.

-E

2 of 25

2 of 25: Random things I love

- Post-it notes
- Catalogs
- Stinky cheeses
- Organizing
- Cooking
- Puppy breath
- office supplies
- ICEEs
- SUNKIST