House, Please Sell.....

When selling a house, one must stage it. What does that mean? Well, it is decorating, but at a minimum. I read somewhere that you need to sell a lifestyle, but not necessarily your lifestyle.

You want to make your house looks inviting. Since people have such a variety of tastes, you need to be careful. For example, wreaths on a front door are a HUGE no no. Besides, these doors are really pretty, so you don't want to hide them.

You want to show them off.  Everything should look clean, uncluttered and updated.

Especially kitchens. I love my kitchen, and everyone that has looked at our house loves it too. I believe this is probably the greatest selling point of our house; that and the backyard (which after this horrid winter, I need to tend to).

The room just off our kitchen, the one we use for our pool table, is a beautiful room. I have had comments, "Why in the world would they put a pool table in this room?" Well, it is the only room that it will fit in. I know, it is probably another HUGE no no, but our house is big enough were it can stay. Besides, it is a nice pool table. 

With Birch Judges Paneling in the room, it has a masculine side to it, and it has a very nice fireplace.

I love this little half bath. Whoever chose the mirror and vanity did a great job. It definitely is NOT your average little bathroom.

The view out our backyard is spectacular. Currently, I am working on getting our deck area back together again. It just won't stay warm or dry long enough for me to get out there to do anything. Maybe this weekend....

But believe me, it is really nice and we have enjoyed barbecues and eating outside and sitting and having conversations with friends and family in the evening. 

I am not sure why our house has not sold, or why we don't have hardly any traffic coming through. I realize we live in a small town with very little bringing new families in. I didn't expect to see anyone come look until May. We've had about three different families come, and none of them really had any negative except one wanted a master downstairs. I understand that, we would have like that too, but it's hard to find...not sure there are any two stories on the market here with that.

So, I sit. And wait. For that right family to come buy our house. I hope it won't be too long for a number of reasons. The main one is my husband. I hate for our family to be separated. One other reason, is, well, where we are moving....there will be 800 new families moving into the area this summer...yes 800! What does that mean? Housing will go WAY up, and then when everyone is settled, it will go back down. I really do not want to trade my beautiful house for a fixer up postage stamp that will wind up costing us way more than it is worth...or what we will get out of this house, and then... the house going down in value.

You Are Invited....

Update...due to Lori's health, the big reveal won't be until 10 May.
Hope you feel much better soon, Lori Anderson
(the one who is responsible for this wonderful blog hop)
Bead Soup Blog Hop 8

Is just around the corner....

Saturday, 3 May 2014

to be exact....

Here is the soup Tracy Martin sent me. I'm going to give you a little sneak peak.

I made some more paper beads to add into Tracy's ingredients.

I sent Tracy these beads with other ingredients of course. I have another string of these I kept, and guess what?! I used one, yes 1...ONE flower bead in a piece.

Ok, that's it for the teaser...Stay tuned :)

Essential Oils And My Cough

Here is another personal essential oil story...

I worked at Vanderbilt Medical Center for a number of years back in the 80's. This was before smoking was band in public places. During this time, I worked in a closed in area with zero ventilation with five other women, all of whom were heavy smokers. I have never been a smoker, and this bothered me, A LOT! I can remember getting bronchitis every year. 

three of our four little ones about 1993

After our first child, Miles was born, I elected to be a stay at home mom. I continued to have bronchial issues, and it seemed every year I would develop a nagging cough. It would last FOREVER. As the years went on, the cough would get worse and last longer. About three years ago I had a cough so bad that I could hardly talk. Singing was out of the question. I decided to try the essential oils I had heard so much about. 

Three drops each of Lemon, Lavender and Peppermint essential oil into a veggie capsule, three times a day is what I used. In about a week my cough was gone! The cough stayed away for over a year. Lately, I've been getting that little tickle, so I've been taking that lemon, lavender, peppermint cocktail twice a day for the past two days, and it's gone. 

I like to diffuse different oils in my house. It not only smells good, but I feel like it is a very healthy thing for my family. I hear my old work place Vanderbilt Hospital ER is even diffusing essential oils.

Essential Oils And Rashes

A couple years after we moved to Muncie, Indiana, I developed a rash on my left shin. It started around Thanksgiving, and went away after our yearly trip to Florida in May to visit my family. 

The following year, same thing...rash started around November ended in May when visiting family in Florida. This continued for the whole time we lived in Indiana. I went to the dermatologist several times and each time was given a very expensive cream. Guess what? It did not work. 

We lived in Indiana about 5 1/2 years before we headed to Louisiana. The first year in Louisiana...NO rash. YAY!!!! Maybe I was allergic to Indiana...lol. A year later, guess what? Rash. This time on my right leg, and it was to stay for long while! I went to two separate dermatologist on several occasions, and all I got was, "Oh, it's a rash, here is some cream."  I bet I went through over TEN different types of very expensive creams, none of  which worked. 

Fast forward to our move to Kentucky. Still the rash was there and worse than EVER!!! It itched so bad and I was not getting any sleep. I heard that Melaleucha was a great oil to put on rashes, so I tried that (from Walmart), and it got worse! Finally, I broke down and headed to the dermatologist there. Got the same thing, "Here's a cream...." Oh and by the way I was told that my lower right leg had the skin of an 80 year old. That...was due to all the creams I had put on my leg. No one ever told me that steroidal creams were meant for short term because it thins the skin...thank you very much.

Finally, after making several visits to the doctor, he sent me to a specialist three hours away in Louisville. This doctor is one of only about three in the nation that does this type of extensive allergy testing; which lasts a week. My mother in law went with me, and you can read about it here. I did find out that one of many things I am allergic to is Tea Tree or Melaleucha (no wonder the rash was getting worse). The doctor in Louisiville told me to stay away from a lot of stuff including "fragrances like lavender." I had just started investigating essential oils and knew that lavender was one of the more popular, so I asked about that. He said yes stay away! I was puzzled and then asked if I was allergic to the flower lavender. He told me no, so I assumed that lavender essential oil would be fine, since it is natural and the ingredients only come from the lavender plant. 

Anyway...fast forward to now. Just before all the fall holidays, I decided to do some hardcore investigating on the oils and my rash I had had for over TEN years. Still nothing was helping and I was suffering!!!! First I tried just Roman Chamomile and coconut oil.  It was ok, but the itching was so intense and I would not stop scratching. I would wake up at night with my legs bleeding. I knew I had to do something because scratching it, well it would never heal. 

In February, I ordered some Cedarwood. I layered one drop of that, one drop of Peppermint (for the itch), and one drop Lavender (thinking this might help me sleep better). I added coconut oil and slathered it on both my legs, as the rash was now on both shins. For the first time in a long time, I actually slept, and from what I could tell, no scratching. I decided to try this both before I went to bed and again in the morning. It took several weeks, but the rash is gone! 

During this time, my carpel tunnel started acting up again, and I am needing to wear my brace on my left had at night. Guess what? I'm allergic to the brace, and I had a horrid rash start up. I took the Peppermint, Cedarwood, Lavender, coconut oil concoction and put it on my arm in the morning. The rash quickly went away. I now wear a cotton sock under my brace, and no more rash!!!

I know a lot of you might thing that these oils are like a witch doctor type thing, but they are not. They really work. This is just one of my personal stories where I have had the oils work for an ailment. I will share more later on down the road on my blog. Right now I am investigating oils and autism. My sister has two autistic little boys, and for their birthdays in August, we are thinking about sending them some. I will let you know how that goes....

Bead Soup Blog Hop Is Just Around The Corner!

Remember all this cool stuff I got from my Bead Soup partner, Tracy Martin? Well, I have it all (most) of it made up into several pieces. I even wore one of them today...it's such a fun piece.

It actually had some of these pieces in it.

Guess what? Next week is the Bead Soup Blog Hop. I can't wait to see what everyone has come up with....stay tuned!

A Beautiful Sunset Wedding On The Bayou

I just got back from Louisiana. I had a great time and was very busy. Not only was I able to spend time with my husband who I miss so very much, I also got to spend some time with my oldest son and his wife, and....my middle son came back from BYU Idaho. YAY!!!!

During my week I did so much. I spend two days looking at houses, went to a crawfish boil, YUM!, checked out an "old ladies" tap group (they are very young at heart and I'm excited to join the group when we get moved and settled; yes, I'm old, but young at heart).  I had lunch with some friends, went to an essential oil class and learned about essential oils and ADHD and Autism. Some of my in laws came for a visit and we got to take my five year old Easter Egg hunting at the church social. We also celebrated my husband's birthday (Easter Sunday). Wow! For only being there a week, I sure did a lot! It was a lot of fun.

On Good Friday, I had a very good friend of mine get married. It was a beautiful wedding on the bayou at sunset. 

We all dressed very casual, jeans and a nice shirt, and the wedding colors were camo! The bride wore a beautiful short flowy dress with a bit of lace, and on her feet? Cowboy boots! I loved it! 

                    Here are her something old and something blue.

 And here's a big CONGRATULATIONS to the Bride and Groom, and a lot of best wishes for a very happy and successful life together.

The Color of Dreams Blog Hop

So, what are your dreams? Do you have any, or a lot? I think we all have at least a few. I have quite a few; most of which have something to do with my family...four children and a wonderful husband, and of course our dog, Sox. 

Lately, my dream  is to sell our house and get moved. My husband has already started working at his new job, so for now, we are separated...and both of us HATE it.  I do have faith, though, that all things happen for a reason. So, for now, I try to be patient. 

We haven't been in this house long, (since July 2012), but we have done a few updates (not much). We updated the light in our entry.

And added much needed lighting in our kitchen.

We've fixed up some of our storage areas;

It was pretty pathetic before don't you think...lol

We've painted, done quite a bit of repair to old things that needed updating that is really not noticeable (roof, etc), and we've added additional parking in the driveway.

We have also enjoyed our beautiful back yard. All in all, Kentucky has been a nice place during our short time here...lots of nice people and beautiful scenery, but alas, it is time to move on...again...

Ok, so that's my dream for now, and here is my piece...First I'd like to thank  Rita of Jewel School Friends for sharing this wonderful bead created by Patricia Handschuh of The Color of Dreams Boutique.  Isn't it one of the most gorgeous things you seen? I LOVE it and was very excited about getting it. I don't work with a lot of the brown turquoise combo, so this was a great thing for me; I could work outside my comfort zone a little.

I've been working on new thing for me...paper beads...and wanted to try to incorporate them into the piece. I thought off white freshwater pearls would go nicely too. Then, as I dug around, I found some turquoise chips and beads, and some brown Jasper. I also had to add a fun glass flower bead and lace.

 I really like the way this necklace turned out. I made it so all I have to do is slip it over my head, no clasp to mess with.

I can't wait to go visit the rest of the group to see what they did with their bead. Each bead is different, so I can't wait to see the different beads too.  There are about 50 participants, here is the list. Hope you enjoy!

http://www.jewelschoolfriends.com/2014/03/the-color-of-dreams-participant-list.html

Tomorrow is The Color of Dreams Blog Hop!

Stay tuned for tomorrow's The Color of Dreams Blog Hop....

WHY AM I INVISIBLE?

Have you ever felt invisible? I feel invisible a lot of the time, always have and guess I always will. Not sure how to fix that.

Seems there are a lot of us out there...those of us who feel invisible. I was just talking to someone about this the other day, she felt the same.

I can remember when my two sisters and I were growing up...I was the oldest of three girls...how our youngest sister was involved with everything. Head of this, head of that, great grades, talented, etc. She is still that way. Not shy and doesn't hold back. I wish I had some of that. She doesn't have a shy bone in her body, and people notice her...in a good way!

Have you ever stood at a fast food counter for some assistance of any kind, and not been seen? I have. It's a weird feeling. You stand there not wanting to be rude and interrupt to ask for something needed...maybe they are out of ketchup, and you have to ask for some. Even when the restaurant is not busy...you are not seen. It's like they look through you. I guess shy people are more transparent than outgoing people...hmmm...I don't know....

When I do get the nerve up to ask for things, I am then looked at as being rude, even when I'm being nice. Don't understand that either. An outgoing person can barge right up to the counter as if it were nothing, and say something like, "Hey, ya'll are out of ketchup. Can I get some form you?" The worker then just smiles and says,"Sure, here ya go." Like there is nothing to it. Then someone like me comes up, kinda stand-offish (in a shy sort of way), and in a quiet, polite tone asks for that same ketchup, and they look at me like I am in the way. With a great big sigh, they usually say something like, "Ya, just a minute...." Several minutes later there I stand, still no ketchup. 

Why is that?

Who knows...but it gets pretty tiring.