Surprise!

So my friend Rachel over at Fifteen Minute Plan nominated me for a Libster Blog Award. And I figured it was a good reason to reactivate my blog and start blogging again.

The award: it's an award given to new or up and coming bloggers who have less than 200 followers. It's then passed on to other bloggers in the same category to help spread the word and support one another. What I have to do, aka The Rules:

• Each blogger should post 11 random facts about themselves. 
• Answer questions the tagger has set for you.
• Create 11 new questions for the bloggers you pass the award to.
• Choose 11 blogs (with less than 200 followers) to pass the award and link them in your post. Don't forget to go back to their pages and tell them about the award.
• No tag backs (but please leave me a comment on this post with a URL to your Liebster award post so I can learn more about you.) 

11 Random Things

1. Andy and I have been married for three years. We have two cats (Izzy and Josie) and two dogs (Pepper Anne and Murphy). 
2. I am sort of a nerd. I love Harry Potter (like in an unhealthy way, considering getting the Deathly Hallows symbol tattooed on my person) and have recently become addicted to Doctor Who. If you haven't watched it, do it!
3. If I could I would eat mashed potatoes every single day. 
4. Whenever I get sad or feel hopeless I read Journey into the Whirlwind by Eugenia Ginzburg, it really helps put things into perspective. 
5. I have way too much fun with my husband, so much so that I am not sure if I want to share him with children. (I realize I am selfish.)
6. I own the sound track to Pitch Perfect and probably could sing the whole thing to you right now.
7. I work in customer service but I am a serious introvert, I pretty much have to fake it from the moment I walk in the door to the moment I leave.
8. I am attempting to write a book just for fun.
9. I grew up in a Disney fanatic family, I have been to Disney World probably closing in on 20 times and am planning on going more. I'm slowly converting my husband. Muhahahaha
10. My husband and I have been on an epic 15 month long journey to get rid of two of our three cars and get just one car to replace those two. There have been multiple test drives, tons of online research, and still no consensus. Currently in first place is the Mazda CX-5, in red. That will change in a week.
11. I just got my first full time job since graduating college (which was nearly three years ago) and I have no idea what to do with the extra money I have. I know, you're all like boo hoo, beeotch, send it my way. 

Rachel's Questions for Moi

1. Why did you start blogging?A: I started blogging because I wanted to remember all the stuff surrounding our wedding and then it kind of grew from there. I started a newlywed blog and then we started to build our house and I was like, why not? Let's roll with it and see how it goes. I'm not very faithful to it, but I do enjoy it when I have the time.
2. What is the first concert you went to?A: That would be KC and the Sunshine band when I was in 7th grade, but I don't like to count that because it was with my friend's parents. The first concert I went to sans parents was Vans Warped Tour in Columbus when I was 18 and it was incredible. 
3. If you could have one super power (but not flying or invisibility-because those are way too easy), what would it be? A: That's easy, I would be a time traveler, but I would have to have the ability to move through time and space. I'd love to see the past (guess that's the history major in me) and look into the future, but you know, not have any consequences. I watch way too much Doctor Who.
4. Coke or Pepsi? (Warning: Your answer here could affect our ability to be friends.)A: HA! Ok I'm going to tread lightly, I say Coke when it is cold but Pepsi when it is warm. Meaning the temperature of the drink itself not outside. 
5. What is the best purchase you ever made?A: I have two answers. Alive, that would be Murphy. I did buy him from a breeder and even though I felt guilty about it for a long time (I am super for adopting from shelters when at all possible, 3/4 of our animals were rescues) I am happy that we bought him, he is the perfect match and personality for Pepper Anne and us. Non-living purchase is tougher, but I would have to say our house. Even though it was a joint purchase I think I had a heavy hand in it, I was the first to bring up building and I pushed Andy into looking at models. It's been a really good fit for us and I am really happy with our home.
6. What's the dumbest thing you've ever done? A: This question is vague to me. Are we talking dumb like reckless? Or dumb like just acted like an airhead? Or dumb like I-totally-regret-this-can't-believe-I-was-so-thoughtless? Because I have very different answers to all three of those. Let's go with reckless. I had met a guy through an online dating website when I was 19, we had been talking for a month or two and one night my friend Allyson and I decided to just go visit him where he lived in Michigan. We just took off, we left a note for her step-mom as a just-in-case and headed to his house. Allyson put an ice scraper in her purse in case he tried something but everything turned out fine, but looking back that was a really dumb thing to do. 
7. Who is your celebrity crush? A: Matt Smith. I have begged Andy to take me to comicon to meet him. 
8. What artistic talent do you wish you had?A: Any. Ha, ok seriously, I really wish I was great at writing. I would love to be able to write stories that would engage and delight people.
9. If you could chose to be really famous, would you be? (Like Kardashian famous)A: Probably not, I'm a super high stress and anxiety person and I couldn't imagine living in the spot light like that. 
10. What is your biggest pet peeve? A: Bad customer service. Hands down. There is no excuse in the world for poor customer service. 
11. If you had to eat the same dinner every night what would it be?A: Fried rice. In fact that seems to be the only thing I've been eating lately.

My Questions

1. What song is currently stuck in your head?
2. What's the most adventurous thing you've ever done?
3. What three non-living things would you grab if your house was on fire?
4. Apple or PC?
5. You have an entire night to yourself at home, no partners/kids/friends, what do you do?
6. What's your dream car?
7. What's the best vacation you've ever had?
8. If you could change something in your past, would you?
9. What are you currently reading?
10. IKEA love or hate? And why?
11. If you could do any job in the world what would it be?

So now comes the hard part, I'm suppose to nominate some people. Well here's the problem, I know like two bloggers, and they don't really blog much. I guess it never hurts to try, first I nominate my friend Michelle over at HerHowTo.  Two, Lauren my sister-in-law, over at Little T and the family, but she has two little ones running around and a good excuse not to blog. 

Maybe this is what I needed to motivate me to blog more.

Eight days: Days six, seven, and eight

The last leg of Andy's hospital stay was rather uneventful, which was a welcome reprieve from the previous days of chaos. I spent quite a bit of time at the hospital, just sitting with him while we waited for his digestive system to start moving again. The doctors wanted his system to start working before they would feel comfortable releasing him. It was really a lot of waiting and, unfortunately, a lot of pain for poor Andy. We originally thought he might be out on day seven or eight, which would have been on a Sunday or Monday but things were slow to start so he wasn't actually released until Tuesday afternoon.

The whole debacle didn't end with the hospital stay, the next few weeks at home were really rough. I stayed home from work that first week to take care of him, which was needed because he could barely get up and down the stairs with help. I guess perhaps the title of this post should be days six through fourteen, but I'm not really going to document the weeks at home since it's mostly boring recovery stuff.

I'm happy to say its been nearly a month since this incident and Andy is doing well physically. We are both a little emotionally drained. I can't even begin to describe how scary and upsetting this whole ordeal was. I wrote these posts to hopefully help myself get over this and move forward. I think that it's working. Some days I still look at Andy and fear grips my heart and I have to fight off tears. I came so close to losing that wonderful man, my best friend, I just can't believe it, and I can't believe by some miracle he is still here, smiling at me. But those days are coming further apart and my hope is one day not too far down the line I will be able to look back and just remember this as a bad time in our lives.

If you have read this series of posts to this point I have to thank you. Thank you for sharing in my fear, in my sadness, and for helping me to get over this terrible incident. It's really lovely to know there is someone out there reading our story.

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Eight Days: Day Five, Surgery Day

First, I want to apologize for how long it has taken me to post this. The whole hospital trip was a nightmare, I thought just going through it was hard but re-living it and trying to write out my feelings about it has been even more difficult. I know that I don't have to put this out there and there is no need to make such a personal experience public, but I'm really struggling to get past this event and Andy and I firmly believe that writing it out will help me get over it, so let's get on with it, shall we?

Day five was surgery day, was a day of waiting. Waiting for them to take him to pre-op, waiting for them to take him to surgery, waiting for him to get out of surgery and waiting to be able to see him. Andy and I had decided that I would go to work that morning and work until he called to tell me they were going to take him down to pre-op. Every single person at worked asked why the heck I was there, but the truth was I was grateful to be doing something to occupy my mind. At around noon my parents called to let me know they were in town. I decided at that point I needed to leave, I was too distracted to be of much help at work. It worked out well because Andy called on my way to meet my parents to let me know they would be taking him to pre-op in an hour or so. I met my parents at the house and we decided to grab some lunch before we went to the hospital.

We got to the hospital around 1:20 and were there for about 10 minutes before they came to take him to pre-op. We were directed to the waiting room, where I was given some information and a pager thing (like the ones you get in a restaurant) that would buzz anywhere in the hospital when he was out of surgery. Once they got Andy settled in pre-op we were allowed to go and sit with him until he went back. This turned into a nearly five hour wait. It was ridiculous and nerve-racking. Luckily enough I had my iPad so it helped us pass the time, but it was so frustrating to not know when he would be going. Barb (Andy's mom) arrived around 5:00 and joined in the never-ending wait. Eventually the doctor came to speak with us about the surgery. The basic idea was that they were going to go in laprascopically and see if it really was Meckel's, then depending on the size of the inflammation they would remove it laprascopically but if it was too inflamed they would have to open him up. Obviously we were hoping for the former, which takes less recovery time, but there was no way to know until they were in there.

Around 7:00PM they took him back to surgery and all that we could do was wait. My parents ventured out to check on the dogs and grab us all some dinner. After about an hour and fifteen minutes the surgeon came in to let us know everything had gone perfectly, they had gotten the Meckel's out through a small incision in his abdomen and he would be sent back to his room in a little while. My parents had to head home a little after this, so Barb and I waited for word on when he would be moved to his room. This wait wasn't too long, though we were the last group in the waiting room for the night. We had actually decided to move out of the waiting room so the cleaning people could get in there when the phone rang to let us know he was going up to his room.

Seeing Andy after surgery was hard because he was in a lot of pain and very uncomfortable, but I was so happy that we were over the hump. I thought once the surgery was done everything was going to be downhill (for the most part it was), we had gotten through a really difficult thing and while he was still going to have to get through recovery, I didn't feel so worried anymore. We didn't stay too long with Andy because he was uncomfortable, in pain, and tired, plus it was going on 11:00. We headed back to the house and I actually got to have a pretty decent nights sleep.

Eight Days: Day Three and Four

I had every intention of getting up early on that Wednesday but I ended up sleeping until 8:30. I had my alarm set but I think I shut it off in a sleepy daze and went back to sleep for another hour. My mom and Barb both convinced me that I needed the sleep but I was a little mad at myself for oversleeping. We got to the hospital around 9:30 and saw that Andy had already swallowed the pill camera and it was snapping pictures inside him like the paparazzi trailing the celeb du jour. He was still in the CCU but they were going to move him to a regular room at some point during the day. We decided to sit and chat for a bit but by 11:30 he seemed to need a nap so we opted to head out for lunch.

We headed to the Cracker Barrel, which had sounded good to everyone. On the drive there my mom had decided that since Andy was looking so much better and being moved out of the CCU she could probably go home. I didn't want her to go but I knew she needed to get back to work. Barb had also mulled over the idea of leaving, since it seemed Andy was on the mend and there wasn't a lot to do besides wait. We all had a delicious lunch then headed back to the house to check on the dogs and I also wanted to do some cleaning. Around 1:30 I got a text from Andy saying he was being moved and letting me know his new room number. I was pretty excited so we decided to head back to the hospital pretty quickly. We all decided to drive separately this time because the moms had both decided to head home and I was going to stay at the hospital for a while.

When we got there we checked Andy's new room but he wasn't there. I asked a nurse at the station where he was and after some phone calls we found out they had decided to take him down to the nuclear lab to do another test. We were told it was going to be about thirty minutes, my mom was anxious to get going so she decided to head out. Barb and I waited in the family waiting area until Andy texted to say he was back in his room.

It was amazing how different he looked that afternoon, he was brighter and his complexion wasn't so pale, I could just tell he was feeling better. I think the fact that he was going to be allowed to eat that night was also a big help as he hadn't eaten since Monday morning. Barb and I visited for a while and found out that the nuclear test they were doing was to see if Andy had a rare birth defect called Meckle's Diverticulum. Andy was fairly certain that wasn't it because it was so rare and most symptoms appear before the age of two, but the doctor hadn't found anything yet so it was worth a shot. We wouldn't have the results of that test until later in the day or the next morning. Barb left after a short visit so she could get home before it got dark, which left just Andy and I for the rest of the afternoon. I didn't actually stay much longer because I wanted to take a nap and decompress a bit. I told Andy I would come back after dinner .

To be honest, Wednesday evening is a bit fuzzy in my mind. I know I went home and tried to nap, I got some food at some point and I went back to the hospital. I'll blame the total lack of sleep for this and skip ahead to Thursday

The biggest news came on Thursday, which was good because I got up super early and got to the hospital before the doctor came in to talk to Andy.The tests results from the day before concluded that Andy had a congenital defect called Meckel's Diverticulum.  Basically, somewhere in his small intestine was a small area where there were stomach and pancreatic cells, these cells act like the stomach, producing stomach acid which had eroded Andy's small intestine and caused the bleeding. Why it waited 32 years to become symptomatic they didn't know but they did know that this meant that he would have to have surgery. The doctor said the surgeon would be in at some point during the day to talk to him.Unfortunately the surgeon didn't stop by until after 11:00PM Thursday night because there was some miscommunication and I had gone home and to bed at that point. With a fairly definitive diagnosis I felt comfortable going into work that night, but spent the majority of the day at the hospital with Andy and came back before I went home for the night.

Eight Days: Day Two

I woke up around 6:30 on Tuesday morning after maybe three hours of sleep. I decided to just shower and get on with it because I really wanted to get back to the hospital to see what was happening. I got ready fairly quickly and then took the dogs out. Michelle had slept on the living room couch and was sitting there when I went downstairs. I told her what had happened the night before and thanked her profusely for being there for me and helping out. She had to get to work that morning so she took off, leaving just me and my mom. We were ready to go by 8 so we were to the hospital by 8:05. I seriously cannot say enough how wonderful it was to have the hospital so close.

Once at the hospital we hit up Tim Horton's for some coffee and a donut, (it was so nice to have some different options from the regular cafeteria food) then headed up to Andy's room. It was such a relief to see him that morning. It seemed the atmosphere in the room was much more relaxed and less hurried. He seemed to look better even though he was obviously uncomfortable, he wasn't as pale or confused as the night before, which was wonderful for me. He told me that they were going to take him for a colonoscopy and an endoscopy some time today to see if they could find the source of the bleeding. He was nervous about this but I told him that it needed to be done so we could get him out of there. My mom and I ended up staying a couple hours until it looked like Andy needed a rest. I knew his mom, Barb, would be to our house soon and I thought it'd be best to wait for her there.

We returned home but it was such a nice day we decided to run the dogs to the dog park so they could exert some energy. We got back to the house right about the same time that Andy's mom got there. We got her settled in and then took her to the hospital to see Andy. I think this shook me up some because she hadn't seen him the night before and he definitely looked bad. We all visited for a little bit but decided to leave a little before his procedures so we could grab lunch. I asked his day nurse Larissa to call me when he was out and able to see us. The three of us ran to Wendy's for lunch and then went back to the house. We all decided to take a nap while we waited for Andy's nurse to call.I think I slept maybe an hour and a half. I got up and waited downstairs with Barb for the phone call, they called around 4:30 and we went right over to see him.

At the hospital we spoke with Andy's nurse who told us that the doctor didn't see anything in the upper GI or the lower GI. The next step was for Andy to swallow a little pill camera that would take pictures of his small intestine, which would be done the next day. He was kind of groggy from the meds they gave him but we sat with him until 5:30 when we decided we needed to get back to the house. My sister-in-law had sweetly offered to bring over dinner for everyone and as an added bonus we got to see my nephews who can light up any bad day.

She got to the house around 6:30ish and brought City BBQ which was delicious. We all sat around and played with the boys after dinner. I sent videos to Andy, which helped to cheer him up. My older nephew Charlie got caught in our cat tree, which was hi-larious, and I may have taken a video with my phone rather than helped him. They hung around until 8ish and after that I got the moms settled in and decided to sneek back to the hospital.

Once I got there Andy seemed more alert and up and his nurse, Mike,from the night before was back. I really liked him because he said that I could visit whenever instead of during regular visiting hours, plus he told us everything he knew about Andy's case as simply and concisely as possible. He answered every one of my questions. It was great to have such a wonderful staff of nurses for Andy, it really helped make me feel at ease. After talking with Mike, I slipped off my shoes and crawled into Andy's hospital bed with him. We held hands and talked. I told him I was scared, he told me not to worry. We talked about anything and everything and to be honest I didn't want to leave that night. I wanted to sleep at Andy's bedside, holding his hand for dear life, because even though it seemed he was out of the woods, I couldn't help but fear that he would slip away in the night while I slept right down the road. I eventually started drifting off right next to Andy and he convinced me to go home. He knew my fears and assured me that I wouldn't be getting rid of him that easily. I left around 10:30 and headed home.

At home I said a quick hello to Barb who told me my mom had gone to bed earlier. I headed up to bed but decided to read for an hour or two to relax my mind. I ended up reading until almost one in the morning before letting myself try to sleep.

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Eight days: Day one.

Warning: Parts of this post may be graphic.

This post was one of the most difficult I have had to write, but I know in order to heal that I needed to write about the worst eight days of my life. I need to get it out and write about how I feel. More than that I think our friends and family would like to know what happened to Andy, why he suddenly was in the hospital.

October 22 I woke up around 8:30 and went downstairs to see Andy. He made a face when I walked in and I asked him what was wrong, he told me that he wasn't feeling good, that he was having some diarrhea and there was some blood. I was concerned, but told him to just keep an eye on it and if it got worse he should go to Urgent Care. We both went about our morning routines, Andy working in his office upstairs and me cleaning a bit and having my coffee downstairs. A few hours later I wandered upstairs to see how work was going and he was feeling. He told me he had another bout and I suggested he go to Urgent Care just to get checked out and make sure it wasn't something serious. He hemmed and hawed a bit but agreed to go. I stayed home to get ready for work and waited for Andy's call.

Around 12:45 he called and said the doctor couldn't do anything and suggested he either go to the emergency room or drop off a sample at a lab. I felt that the ER was a better bet and told him I was calling into work so I could take him. We are very fortunate in that the hospital right down the road from our house and also accepts our insurance so we went there. We got in fairly quickly for the ER and were talking to a doctor by 3:00. They decided to do a CT scan and try to collect a sample to get a better idea of what was going on. They couldn't see anything on the scan but the doctor was fairly certain there was an upper GI bleed somewhere, and by 6 they decided to admit Andy hoping to do an endoscopy in the morning. I was worried but hopeful at this point. We texted family to let them know what was going on and I decided to run out for some food and pick up some stuff from home for Andy since they said it would be a little while for transfer.

As I left I got a text from my mom asking if I needed her down here, I called and told her yes, it would be great if she could be here because I was scared. She told me she wouldn't get down here until late, maybe around ten but she would be there. I don't know why I asked her to come down but I am so, so grateful that I did. After that call, I ran home first and grabbed some comfy pants for Andy and the blanket I made him last year for his birthday, also let the dogs out and played with them a little. It was here I had a little breakdown, I cried for a minute, so worried about Andy. I pulled myself together and left the house to go get something to eat. I returned to the hospital around 7:30, just in time for them to move Andy to a regular room. We headed up to his room and I got him settled and sat with him a while. I met his nurse, plugged in his charger for his phone, chatted a little and decided to leave around nine so I could take care of the dogs. I kissed Andy goodbye and told him I'd see him first thing in the morning.

I came back to the house, fed the dogs and made myself a cup of hot chocolate with some Bailey's in it, topped it with some whipped cream and settled on the couch to wait for my mom. I sipped and watched some TV, I can't remember what. At 9:30 my phone rang, I saw the number, and thought it was the hospital. I remember thinking there was probably a problem with some paperwork or something. I answered:

"Hello"

"Hi, is this Amanda?"

"Yes it is."

"This is Andy's nurse at the hospital. There is a bit of a problem here and you need to come back. I was taking Andy to the bathroom and he lost consciousness and started bleeding profusely."

"Oh, my God." I started to hyperventilate.

"Now calm down, he told me to tell you that if you freak out he is going to kill you."

A strangled laugh came out, that was so something Andy would say.

"Ok."

"I need you to calmly and quickly come back to the hospital. Be safe. We are taking care of him."

"Ok, goodbye."

I remember feeling a thousand things in those moments with that nurse on the phone. I was so scared, I felt so small, so out of control, so lost. I hung up and raced out of the house as quickly as my body would allow. It was awkward because I was shaking all over and crying. As I left our subdivision I called one of my good friends, Michelle. She lives not to far from us but I knew in those moments that I had to be in control of my car she would be able to keep me focused long enough to get to the hospital and she did. She told me not to worry, that he was in good hands, that he would be okay. She offered to come to the hospital but I refused. Let me get there and assess the situation, I said. I think I was in denial about how bad it was. Once I got to the hospital and off the phone with Michelle I called my Mom. I repeated the phone conversation to her as I walked into the hospital. She told me she would be there soon and I got off the phone to let her drive. In the hospital I headed back to Andy's room, when the elevator doors opened I think I knew it was bad, his roommate sat in a wheelchair at the desk, commotion and organized chaos took place down the hallway. I asked the nurse at the nurses sation where to go. She informed me that they hadn't moved Andy yet, but to go wait in the room he was being transferred to in the critical care unit. I walked the halls to the critical care unit and went into an empty room with no chairs. A nurse walked by and saw me, I can only imagine I looked like a little girl, scared and confused, she asked if she could help. I told her they were moving my husband to the CCU and I was told to wait here. She told me it would be better if I waited in the waiting room and offered to walk me there. It was during that walk I burst into tears, repeating I don't know what happened about five times. She rubbed my back and said I know. I walked into the CCU waiting room and about two dozen sets of sad eyes looked at me. People were huddled together with their families, praying, talking quietly, some even sleeping. These people knew what I felt, I could see it as they looked at me. I found a chair and sobbed quietly to myself. I decided I needed someone and called Michelle to come. I needed a hand to hold and my mom wasn't going to be there quick enough. She told me she would be there soon and that was enough for me to calm down.

I had to make some phone calls to Andy's family and it wouldn't be good for me to be hysterical on the phone. I scrolled through my numbers and decided to call Andy's brother Adam first because he is a nurse and I figured he could shed some light on what was going on. I really don't remember the conversation, but I know he was very calm and that helped me. Next I called Andy's other brother Matt and his wife Lauren to let them know, they decided to call Andy's mom for me, which was good because my panic was building and I didn't want to freak her out.

After the calls were made I had some time to myself, a million thoughts ran through my head. What is going on? Why is this happening? What are they doing? Is he going to be okay? Is he going to die? What am I going to do? I felt small and defeated. The worst part wasn't the worry, or the fear, or the confusion, it was that the one person I wanted to talk to, who can always calm me down, and is always there for me was somewhere in the hospital, his life hanging on the line. I have had to face many things in my life, but this by far was the biggest challenge. My best friend, my soul mate, could possibly be dying and I couldn't talk to him about it, I couldn't hug him, hold his hand, or just simply hear his voice, that was the hardest thing I've ever had to deal with, because he wasn't at my side to walk me through it.

After what felt like an eternity Michelle arrived at the hospital and sat with me. Not long after my mom arrived and I had hands to hold and shoulders to lean on. I am so grateful for those two, they made an unbearable wait a little bit easier. At 10:40 a nurse named Mike came into the waiting room calling for Andy's family. I ran to him, hoping for any shred of news. He walked my mom and I back to Andy's room, explaining what was happening. Andy had passed out when he had been taken to the bathroom earlier in the evening, he started bleeding profusely and had lost one third of his blood (later in the week we would learn it was actually half of his blood, which makes this even scarier), he went into stage three shock, they had to call a rapid response team to revive him, his hemoglobin/red blood cell count went from 15 to 9, they had to insert an IV into his femoral vein so that they could do a blood transfusion. They were going to take him to nuclear medicine to see if they could figure out where the blood was coming from, but we could see him for a minute before they took him.

We walked to his room and I when I saw him I started to shake, he was awake, eyes open, looking at me. I was so grateful that he was awake but he didn't look like my Andy. He was pale, almost grey, he looked so small, hooked up to so many machines, but at least he was awake. I sat on the edge of the bed and touched his face, he held my hand and I told him he scared the hell out of me. He said he was sorry, and I laughed because it was funny that he thought it was in his control. We stayed only a minute before he had to be wheeled off and it was back to the CCU waiting room.

In the waiting room I confessed to Michelle that I thought I may have left my hot chocolate on the coffee table and I was worried that the dogs would drink it. She volunteered to go to our house and check on them. It was such a silly worry at the time but she took it seriously. She left and went to our house where my hot chocolate was on the island and the dogs were fine. She fed the cats and offered to stay with the dogs who seemed upset by my sudden departure and absence. This left my mom and I at the hospital to wait for Andy's testing to be done. We talked and drank coffee, trying to stay awake and distract ourselves. Eventually my mom dozed off and I took to wandering the halls of the hospital because sitting was driving me crazy. I eventually found myself in the the hospital chapel. I should state that I have a very complicated relationship with God (that's a post for a different time) but somehow wandering into that chapel helped me get through that night. I sat in the utter silence of that small chapel, an island of serenity in a sea of madness, and I did a thing I don't often do, I prayed. I knew better than to ask God to save Andy, God will take those he chooses to take and if he was choosing to take Andy I knew I couldn't change his mind. I asked Him to please be with us all, to watch over and protect us, to help me get through this difficult time, to never let Andy feel alone, to help the doctors find the cause. It was a short prayer, but it helped me to calm my nerves. I stood up and read the book that was left at the altar for visitors to sign, many wrote that they were thankful for the healing of their loved ones, I hoped I could write that soon.

I returned to the waiting room and saw that it was nearly 1:30AM I decided to check to see if Andy was back to his room and he was. I got my mom and we sat with him for a few minutes. The test didn't reveal any bleeding, the doctors had decided to do a colonoscopy and an endoscopy in the morning, there was nothing more they could do tonight but let Andy rest. We left the hospital around 2:00AM.

At home I took a sleeping pill, got my mom settled in the guest room and took the dogs to bed. Normally they get kenneled at night but I couldn't bare to sleep in that big bed alone, knowing Andy was right down the road in the critical care unit. I couldn't sleep, though I knew I had to, even it was just a bit. Eventually I fell into a fitful sleep only to wake up every half an hour terrified I had missed a call from the hospital, terrified Andy was dying.

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Laying Tracks...Like a PRO

Hey all, Andy here. Seeing as I finished up the floor I’ll be finishing up the floor posts. Convenient.


So after waking up nice and early on a Saturday morning, I decided to grab another can of Kilz and go over the half of the room with the cat smell a few more times. I figured more coats couldn’t hurt. It wouldn’t slow me down waiting for it to dry as I was planning on starting on the otherside anyhow. Here’s a picture with the floor all clear and primed.

Just the beginning...

I next had to plan out what the angle I’d be laying the floors, seeing as we had the idea of doing them diagonally. I was originally planning on just doing it 45° from the walls, which seemed to be the standard, but I quickly noticed that the angle of the entryway from the front door area was more like 55°. Being the gigantic nerdy engineer I am, I decided to make a quick AutoCAD sketchof the two possible layouts (45 vs 55) and send them to Amanda for approval.(Entryway is the top left corner area)

45 Degree Layout

55 Degree Layout

We quickly decided that 55 would be better, even though it meant it would be a lot harder for me to do. 45 degree layout would require me to cut everything at 45 degrees; I’d just have to figure out which direction I needed. 55 degree layout means I’d have to do 55 or 35 degree cuts and in two different directions, so I’d have to be extra careful in figuring out which way to cut each board.

So next I grabbed the staple gun and went to work laying out the underlayment. We got simple foam underlayment to help with noise reduction. Nothing fancy but it'll still get the job done and it won't echo downstairs in the basement. I stapled down half of the room while the other half was still drying from the primer.

Underlayment down, ready for first board

First board was actually pretty easy to nail down. I know we wanted to keep the angle of the entryway throughout the floor (“so it flowed”) so I started there. I centered the plank on the entryway and nailed it down. BEHOLD!!

One down, a "plethora" to go...

Now that I had my first piece down, laying the rest of the boards should “theoretically be easy”. I actually said that… out loud…. I’d just have to keep them snug up against each other and have the seams set at randomlocations so it looks all professional and such. Never mind that I had to do this 224 more times. That part I stashed away in the “do not want” area of my brain.

Anywho, I decided to finish up the corner nearest the first plank so I could just start cruising through the rest of the room. What I didn't think of, however, was the fact that laying the planks in that direction would cause me to be unable to use the floor nailer. Because the floor nailer shootsnails though the “toe” of the board where the tongue is, you can really only use the nailer when you’re laying boards in one direction. However, because I started at the entryway I’d have to go “backwards” to the corner. So for all of these boards I just drilled pilot holes and top nailed these boards with finishing nails. After I was done I’d have to go back and fill the holes with putty, but shouldn’t be that big of a deal. This method, however took a LONG time.

Corner dun. Nailer getting lonely, wants hugs

It was already nearing midday and with only the corner done I needed to start layingdown rows and chug right along. Here’s what I learned about laying hardwoodfloors diagonally: you have to do a TON of cutting boards to fit. And you're going to screw up measurements. And you’re going to cut boards the wrong direction. And you’re going to cut boards with the wrong angle. And you're going to be dripping with sweat. And you’re going to be cursing. And your back will be cursing from using the nailer. And you’re going to be taking “sanitybreaks” with the pups to make sure you don’t lose your mind.


But regardless of all that, I got about half of the frontroom done by the end of the day. That included the corner where I had to topnail all of the boards and the one vent in the room, which slowed down production considerably.

End of Day 1

I figured I should be able to get the rest of it done in one more day. However, because Amanda’s family reunion was the next day I’d have to wait till Monday to get it done. My aching back was very appreciative of the break.

Next post: Into The Hallway And Out Of My Mind

Laying our own floors: Prepping

Once we picked the floors, we had to wait a few weeks until Andy would be home. He decided he wanted to do the floors on a day I worked since I wouldn't be of much help in the actual laying process. We picked a weekend I worked on a Saturday so that we could do the prep on Friday. Earlier in the week we went and picked up the floors and brought them home so that the wood could adjust to the temperature and moisture level in the house. So our front hall looked like this:

 

On Friday we took to prepping the floors, which was surprisingly easy. Andy took all the baseboards off in the front room and down the hall, he said this was kind of a pain because of the way the installers had nailed it but it went quick. Here's a picture of the floors without baseboards:

Once the baseboards were off it was time to roll the carpet and padding up and cart it away:

That was really easy, very heavy, but easy. Especially since there are still construction dumpsters on our street. Shh, don't tell. Voila, no carpet:

Now the next part was probably the most difficult, we had to take all the carpet strips that held the carpet in place out and also pull up any staples or nails in the sub floor. It was more tedious than hard and took the most time. I pulled the staples while Andy removed the transitions. Once all that was done we had to sweep up all the debris, which was not that pleasant, I found some things under the padding I'm not pleased about, like dead insects and some dirt clods from the construction aspect. The very last thing that had to be done was sanding the floor and priming it so our naughty kitty couldn't find the spot she had peed.

Sorry for the blurry picture, I was tired by this point.

We used Kilz 2 on the floor, which we had read would cover the area where the cat missed her litter box and keep her from smelling it. That had to dry for a few hours and at this point it was around 9:30 so we decided to give it up for the night and Andy would continue on in the morning.

Andy will be posting about the next steps because he was the one doing them, so it may be a few days before that post goes up.

 

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Laying our own floors: The what and the why.

We decided, pretty much as soon as we moved in, that we were going to slowly replace all the flooring in the house. We opted for the most basic carpet in most of the house, minus the kitchen and master bath, because it was free and the upgraded options didn't do a whole lot for us. We figured that as the carpet wore we would be able to just replace it with better options. Well that happened a lot sooner than we imagined it would in the front room, due to a trouble making kitty and the fact that our builder used crap carpet and installers. This sped up the process a bit and we had to decide on a flooring type. We landed on hardwood/bamboo because the front room is rarely used and we figured it might be a formal dining room down the line. So we took on the task of finding a color/type. This took way longer than expected. We went to about 5 different stores and brought home dozens of samples. Nothing looked great with the purple paint in the front room and if it did it turned out to be too expensive. Finally after weeks (yes weeks!) of deliberation, we decided it was easier to paint and pick a floor that we loved and fit our budget. We landed on this:

Sorry about the flash glare!

This is Home Legend hand-scraped bamboo in cafe, which can be found at Home Depot. We loved the color, the hand-scraped detail, and it passed the durability test (we hit it with a high heel multiple times, didn't leave a mark). Once we picked it we had to pick a time to lay the floor. It was going to be a few weeks at the time because Andy was going to be gone. Next post, I'll talk about prepping the floors.

 

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Beige begone

One of the more problematic aspects of building was the paint color; builder beige as it is more affectionately known. It's in our whole house and while it's a nice beige, its not what you want to stare at day after day. So on Labor Day weekend we decided to chip away at the beige. We had already painted our living room and part of the front room, but we decided the front room was too dark so we did a redo of the three walls in New Bamboo by Behr. The forth wall we did in Weathered Moss by Behr. Take a look:

I'll be honest, the green is bright. I'm not sure about it. I love the grey, I am considering doing the whole room in that color but I'm going to live with it with the floors in and see how I feel. We also decided to paint our bedroom as well in Pencil Point also by Behr.

I love how the dark grey contrasts with the white furniture, but it's so dark I was scared to do all the walls so I stopped with one and will again live with it for a bit before I decide what to do. I will also take opinions on all of the above, please and thank you!

 

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Project budgeting

Like I said in my last post, things have been busy in the SalTal household. Andy and I decided a few months back to start a monthly project budget. We decided that we would take X amount each month to tackle major projects on our list for the house. This does not include small DIY or crafty projects, which rarely are more than $50. For example things like painting a room, redoing floors, a kitchen backsplash, we would consider a big monthly project. We decided to do it this way so that it didn't seem to overwhelming and it's been working out nicely. We have taken on three big projects since we instituted the budget: the kitchen backsplash, the bamboo floors, and painting two spaces. All of which I plan to blog about in the near future. Three projects may not seem like that many since we have been utilizing the project budget for a little over five months, but we created a rule that we could roll over a previous month's budget to tackle something we really wanted to do. We had to do this with the floor project, which was totally worth it. I don't think that we will always have a project budget every month, eventually the house will be settled and we will only want to take on bigger projects as needed, but for now with so much to do I think this system will work.

How does everyone else tackle major projects? Do you save a little over time or just budget it in each month? Or some kind of combination of the two?

 

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I'm back! And in need of some advice.

 

Why else would I be back? I kid, I kid. I just haven't had regular access to a computer and the idea of blogging from my iPad scared me, but I finally took the plunge and it doesn't seem to hard yet. We have done a ton of work around the house and I am very excited to share that with you all but first I want need your advice. Our living room is looking great but there is one area that is giving me fits. Take a look and see if you can guess:

It's that massive space behind the couch. I'm not really happy with the branches, they just don't give the look I wanted them to. So I found some options I liked, let's take a peek shall we:

 

All images are from Aldari Art Studio Etsy Shop http://www.etsy.com/shop/AldariArt?ref=top_trail

This is where you come in, I can't decide if I like the three prints or the four (and which would look better behind the couch) and if I would rather get the prints in burnt orange or dark teal or a combination of both. So please help a decorating-challenged blogger out and tell me what you think. Thanks everyone!

 

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Happy two years!

Yep, today marks our second anniversary, which is frankly really hard for me to believe. We've been through a lot since our wedding, had our share of ups and downs in two short years but we are better for it. We are so happy, it's crazy, I just can't imagine it getting better but it does and it always surprises me. Andy is my best friend, he is just so amazing, I could go on for days but I won't. He knows how much I love him and how much he means to me. Happy anniversary love! To many, many more!

Decisions, decisions

I recently ordered these wall panels from The Container Store in black and had the chance to hang them this weekend in our front room.

I love the way they look but I'm not completely sold on the black. They are plastic so it would be easy peasy to spray paint them if I decide to change the color but I thought I would get some opinions first. More than likely I would go for a pale green or white if I painted them but I am open to suggestions. Tell me what you think.

A New Toy

Andy and I decided to splurge and replace my dying laptop with an iPad. At first I was super hesitant because it feels like a toy to me and not a computer. However, once I realized that the majority of my computer use is web browsing I figured what the heck. I still have my laptop if I really need to type out a document or access my files, the only issue is the charging port is wonky so I need to have the charging cord just so in order for it to work. Basically it's kind of a pain to browse on so we decided my laptop will go into my office and the iPad will be my new living room toy. We got it Wednesday and I'm fairly impressed with it so far, in fact I'm blogging from it right now as a test and it is passing with flying colors. Any other iPad users out there? What are your favorite apps?

Shape up!

One of our goals for this year was to get our butts in shape. Andy and I have fallen prey to the if-you-are-happy-then-you-eat-more/gain-weight-stereotype that I have heard many people in happy relationships do. So we decided to start taking better care of ourselves. Andy already was a pretty healthy eater but I am a lover of carbs, snacks, and junk food, I would eat mashed potatoes and ice cream every night for dinner if I could. So my first goal was to start eating healthier before anything else. I took out the book The Women's Health Diet: 27 Days to Sculpted Abs, Hotter Curves, & a Sexier, Healthier You! and read it cover to cover in a few days. I really liked the book but I wouldn't really call it a diet; it's just eating better. I sort of adopted the eating habits they cover in the book and slightly modified the way they distribute the calories through the day since I work more nights. I am really simplifying this but basically the book says (read it if you are looking for a good diet book) more protein, whole grains, fruits and veggies, less sugar, carbs and processed food. I have to say I have probably cut my carb consumption in half, which is incredible for me and I've also really increased my protein intake which is a feat for me because I have never been a big fan of meat. I probably eat just as much now as I did before but I eat a lot healthier. I'll be honest I haven't been sticking to it as much as I should but I have got the hang of it and I am going to be a little more strict now since we are getting closer to vacation.

Being 70 some days out from our vacation I realized I needed to do more than just watch what I eat, it was time to start working out. Ugh. I hate working out. Every time I get started I end up crashing after a week or two because I just resent it. So I decided to try something new this time. I broke down and bought Zumba for the Wii and I love it! I have been doing it for about a week now and it's been great, I've combined it with some light weight lifting and ab work outs and I have to say that I think I found a something I can stick with. What's nice is that I can mix it up if I need to. There are classes in our area I can hit up if I need the extra motivation but when I don't feel like going out I can do it in my living room. The best part is the workouts are only 20 minutes so there is no reason for me not to do it, 20 minutes is nothing! Plus I can do more if I feel like it.

I'm really excited and really motivated to get myself healthy by the time we go on vacation in May!

Anyone have any tips for staying motivated and sticking with a diet?

Adventures in Adulthood

I very rarely feel like an adult, usually I feel about 16, but a really awesome 16 year old who lives with her BFF and has expendable income. Anyway, I sometimes get a wake up call and realize I have grown up. One of those wake up calls happened the other day when we decided to go shopping for tile and I got excited. Like freak-out-OMG-YAY excited. Yes, I got that excited about tile. WTH happened to me? I remember hating going to home improvement stores as a kid but now I love it. It's moments like that one that make me realize I am a little bit of a grown up. Only a little.

Anywho, more on the tile later. Yay!

A Demo

We have only been living in the house a couple months but we have already found an area to demo. Right off of the garage there is an area our builder calls an e-zone. Basically, it's a small desk area and in the model it seems like a great idea. In reality it's really just turned into a dumping ground. Take a look:

Yep, it's not pretty. It's a cluttered mess and I can't stand it. So we decided we are going to rip it out and replace it with a mini-mud room area. Allow me to show you our inspiration:

Anna White's Smiling Mud Room

House of Smith's entry-way

Small mud room- found on Ana White

These are the three inspirations we are working with to come up with our design. Let me share what we love about each one. From the top, Ana White's smiling mud room is lovely, very bright and open. What I loved most about this design was the curved dividers and openness which we need because there are light switches and sockets in the way. From the House of Smith design I really loved the mail slot idea with the metal boxes and the bead board, plus they took a space they hardly used and turned it into something useful which is the same plan we have. From the last design I just love how they utilized the small space. As you can see the space we are working isn't very big and I wanted to make sure that we utilize every inch.  Before we start we have to know what we are doing and Andy also need to wrap up work on the media console before we can start on another project. I have been working on a design right now, trying to measure and draw out (rather poorly) what we want. Hopefully, I can share something with you in a few days just as long as you promise not to laugh at my ridiculously poor drawing skills.

Poof, I'm back!

I apologize for taking the blog off the public sector for a little while, we were dealing with some legal stuff with our old rental company and didn't want anything to come up. I don't want to get into it too much but we decided not to pursue it anymore as it's not really worth our time and energy. We would like to focus that energy on making our new home kick ass.

I will be honest there wasn't really much to post about while we were offline. We kind of took a bit of a break from all things house after the party. We were in hyper drive for a few weeks so I think we needed a break. However, now we are starting to get rolling on some stuff and I'm excited to share it with you. Just a little preview of the plans in the works:

• A demo will be taking place in the near future
• A journey into the land of grout and tile
• More painting
• Some awesome hand-drawn designing
• An adventure in re-covering

Plus I should probably share some pictures of the house since we painted and furnished it. All this and more to come in coming days/weeks!

Ohh em gee!

Seriously, I apologize for the lack of blogging, it seemed like Andy got home last Wednesday and we hit the ground running. We've been planning a get together for the first weekend in February since we moved in, partially to hang with our friends but partially to light a fire under our butts to get the house in some semblance of order. With him being gone so much it's been a bit of a challenge, especially last week when I managed to hurt my neck and couldn't do much more than laundry. However, he got home Wednesday afternoon and once I got home from work we started running errands and really we haven't stopped since. There's been a lot we've needed to pick up for the house and a lot we've had to do. I have lots of projects to share but just haven't had the time to share them. Promise to do so soon.

Also if you are around Saturday night stop by the new place, we would love to see you!