Pilgrims at Oak Ridge

So I am slowly easing back into some crafting. I am currently working on a very fun birthday related project for a certain nephew that I'm super excited about. Pics on that to follow. And Pinterest put me on a terrarium kick. Then I went to Lowe's and saw the most adorable cacti ever. Who knew cacti could be so cute?!? I bought some glass containers at Hobby Lobby for 50% off and made some cute ones. Apart from the logistical issues when trying to plant an actual prickly cactus, this was a very easy and fun project. I ended up making three of these - one for my mom, one for me, and then I still had enough cacti left to do one more. So I'll be keeping the third one for now unless I find a new home for it. I love my new plants!

I take care of lots of people who are mostly sick because of things they do to themselves. This week has been no exception. Two days ago, I admitted a guy with belly pain who also drinks a lot of alcohol. He didn't look great yesterday, and was complaining of belly pain which I attributed to stomach irritation from his binge drinking. His heart was beating fast and he also had a low grade temperature, which I attributed to symptoms of withdrawal from his chronic alcohol use. Today he looked no better. In fact, if anything, he looked worse. Still with a very tender belly, fast heart beat, and low grade temperature. Finally today I decided to do some further investigation. I got an ultrasound and checked his urine for infection. His urine was clear, but the radiologist actually called me because the ultrasound didn't look right. Then it was on to a cat scan to figure out the problem. Turns out he actually had perforated his bowel somehow. I am kicking myself that I didn...

Judah has been saying some really cute things lately. 1. We had a good friend from church babysit a few weeks ago and she must have used the phrase "two minutes" as a kind of warning for him that it was almost time for bed. So now, whenever Judah wants to do something for a little bit longer, he says "play two minutes." What is funny is that sometimes the first thing he says when he wakes up is "play two minutes." It's also really adorable when he says "wock two minutes" (rock two minutes) before it's time for bed. 2. He's started saying "good morning" but it sounds more like "good mornin'." He also will sometimes talk about wanting to do a particular activity "in da mornin'." 3. His current name for himself is "baby 'dah" as in "baby Judah." I am trying to convince him he's not actually a baby anymore especially since another baby is on the way, but my efforts ha...

I had hoped to write this post last week when this whole adventure began, but then, as home-related projects do, it started to drag on. We've had this enormous hickory tree in the back of our back yard since we moved in. (Obviously the tree itself has been there much longer seeing as how it was 100 feet tall and huge.) The tree always leaned somewhat ominously towards our house, but I wasn't that worried about it since it had been here for a long time. But since we've lost several other trees in our yard (including two hickories) and our neighbor just lost a similar hickory less than 50 feet away, we decided we wanted it taken down prophylactically as we were convinced that had it fallen it would have smashed our roof. After getting a couple of estimates, we found a guy who normally climbs up into the tree and cuts it down in pieces (we'll call this plan A) and hired him. He came out last week, shimmied way up high and started cutting down some of the branches. ...

Remember our front porch ? The one hiding behind the scary enormous bushes? We finally got a little more of our redo tackled on it. Two weeks ago we had our entire house pressure washed, including the porch railings and the back deck. I stained the porch last week and then we were ready to really start work on improving the curb appeal of the house. I love our new house numbers - it's hard to appreciate them in the bright light of this photo, but they look nice and more modern to me. The hanging basket and window box I found at Aldi (who knew?), and the bushes we bought and planted Saturday. There is still obviously more work to do - we need to fill in some more things in that bed and add a decorative border next to the grass, plus adding mulch for a neater look. I'm also envisioning a chair or two and a small table so maybe we can actually enjoy it. I'm loving how much better it looks already....

We had a great time this past weekend with Dave, Hannah, Jack, and Ashlyn coming for a visit. A few photo highlights: There was train playing,  Boating, A very fun meal with all five of Judah's cousins, And my personal favorite, one of my numerous attempts to get a good shot of all three cousins together. In spite of the tears visible in this photo, Judah had a great time with "Aunt Bro," "aunt Hannah," "Jack," and "Ash-wyn".

I don't know about all of you, but the last week and a half I've been watching a lot of sports on TV. I love sports, but I have found myself watching canoeing, horse jumping, trampolining, and many other sports I normally could care less about. A few thoughts: 1. I love the olympics. When we moved to Greenwood, the biggest reason we got cable was because of the 2008 olympics. I'm not sure if I have a favorite sport - I do love watching gymnastics, but seeing some of the other sports is also wonderful. 2. I think it is totally lame that you can tie someone in gymnastics, and then the person who had the lowest low score ends up winning the tie. I don't understand why you can't just award two bronze medals. 3. Judah loves to watch the diving. And the horses. 4. Although I love seeing many of the underdog-type countries do well, I cannot ever cheer for China. In addition to the awful human-rights abuses of the government and the despicable one child policy, the...

Proof our boy loves his olympic diving....  

1. Judah likes to watch the PBS show called "Super Why" on TV. But he calls it "poo-per why." Which makes me giggle every. single. time. 2. On a similar note, when I'm putting on his jammies at night, he often covers up his eyes to play peekaboo with me. But he says "Pee-pee-boo." I'm not sure why he seems to be obsessed with bodily functions, but I guess as I'm raising a boy I should get used to it. 3. I downloaded a new album on iTunes today, per the recommendation of my youngest brother who gives me all my music recommendations and has yet to fail me. The band is called " At Atlas to Follow " and its members are made up of one of his roommates and one former roommate. The EP was excellent and reminiscent of  Mumford and Sons and The Civil Wars, two of my other current favorites. So go and support this up and coming band! 4. I'm also totally obsessed with the Phillip Phillips single that is out. I did not really watch Amer...