Shingles, they aren't just for roofs anymore.....

Sadly enough, Cam has SHINGLES AGAIN!!

 At 19 years old, this boy has had shingles 3 times in a matter of 4 years!!

He has had them once on his stomach, once in his hair and 

NOW on his forehead and chin and even one on his eye (which we learned, is scary!!)!

The doctor is a little baffled by them and wonders what to do next...

but as for now, Cam is being treated very aggressively with meds and we hope that

this will be the last of his SHINGLES outbreaks (one can hope, can't they?!)!

AFTER ALL, Shingles are meant for those OVER the age of 50~

I keep telling him that he must have an "OLD SOUL"....

"Hoarding, Buried Alive" INTERVENTION!

I have been watching "HOARDERS, Buried Alive" on Netflix...as much as it makes me 

cringe...I can see how it happens...just a "little at a time". My house is no where near

having heaps of clothing piled to the ceiling or pathways made to get through the house...BUT 

watching that show has made me want to PURGE and clean and organize what I do have, so that someday

I won't be sitting on my front porch, in a chair, watching people go through my stuff and wondering

how I let it "get to this"!!

TO start off my purging adventure I went through my shoes (yes, yes, I know...I have TONS). 

They are all nicely organized in boxes on shelves...BUT there are many I don't wear....

AT one time they fit, but my feet have taken a sudden change in shape and many I can't wear anymore, SO WHY keep them (I keep asking myself this question)? WELL...I was able to get rid of a whole 

pile of them...with no remorse (I'm so proud of myself)!

AREN'T these sandals ADORABLE??? it was difficult letting them go, but I stuck to my guns and passed them along to someone who could use them!

AND THEN there is my purse collection (a girl's got to love an adorable purse now and again!!)! I love purses (and shoes, and clothes, and dishes, and stuff...and...and....and...........................) I was able to get rid of 10 purses, some never even used

 (I know, what a waste...oh well someone will thank me for my generous gift)

....and it felt SOOOO good!

 AND then there is my "DISH collection"...I don't know what it is with me and cute dishes, but I love them! 

I think I get it from my mom, she likes dishes too. WELL, truth be told, I am down to only 4 people living at home and I don't need 36 bowls or 57 plates...I can never possibly use that many at one time. As much as I think I "MIGHT" someday like to entertain, with crowds of people lurking in my humble abode, I realize it will NEVER happen and if, on the slim chance that it ever did.... CHINET makes a great PAPER plate that I can purchase from the store AND I can throw them away after (ah, now someone was a genius when they invented the paper dish!!)!!

SO...I found someone who NEEDED dishes and passed them along...what a great feeling to help out 

a friend and free up some cupboard space in my own house! 

Its a wonderful feeling to clean out cupboards, drawers, closets, storage spaces and corners...
I feel like my own "HOARDERS, BURIED ALIVE" intervention has begun to take place and it feels OH SO GOOD! SEE, there is benefits that come from watching  frivolous television programs, who knows what I can accomplish~ ONLY TIME will tell!

Is it?? Was it??

With all the hype of "Meteors" zipping across the skies I was a little taken back when I saw this in the sky....lucky for us it was just a jet stream with the light from the sun catching it "just right"....but you never know, it could happen......

Sew SIMPLE maxi skirt~

With the "Maxi Skirt" being "all the rage", I thought I would try my hand at making one (or two or three) for Halle and I. They were SOOOO easy and took very little time. I learned that the fabric has to be "quality" fabric or you skirt won't hang nicely. I learned that not "all patterned fabric" makes up to be a cute Maxi skirt. I also learned that I love wearing maxi skirts to church during the winter, they keep your legs warm out there in the cold....but having said that, I am looking forward to wearing them in the summer with SANDALS! They are versatile skirts for sure!

I had a great Saturday making a few of these adorable skirts!

Going, Going, Going....just not quite gone~

The snow is starting to melt around here!! 

We have had a few days above freezing (barely) which has left us with 

the sight of "brown" blades of grass peeking up from under the blankets of snow!

It also uncovered the bags of leaves that we raked back in October....THAT NEVER got taken

out to the trash...guess I will slowly be adding them to the trash cans now until they are all gone!

Even though its only February and chances of us getting more snow are quite high, I have to say that its a
nice change to see that the grass is still under all that ugly white stuff and eventually it will turn green again and be anxiously waiting for me to mow it.............................AWWWWWW SPRING,  come soon!

Pinterest Test...Has Me Going "Banana's"~

I am addicted to Pinterest (along with thousands, maybe even millions, of other people)...I pin project after project that I want to make and create. I pin cleaning tips, crafts, quotes, paint colors, house decorating ideas, recipes, gardening ideas and kitchen tips~

THIS is one of the "kitchen tips" that I pinned and wanted to try out:

One of the pinners on pinterest said that if you put foil on the stem of the banana's it would slow down the ripening process..........SOOOOOOO, I bought 2 bunches of banana's, put foil on the top on one bunch and didn't put any on the second bunch. I left them in the exact same place and didn't do anything different with them...then watched to see what happned~ 

END result WAS: 

The banana's that had foil on the stem were approximately ONE DAY behind when it came to the ripening process. I didn't notice a big enough difference to continue to foil wrap the stem each time I bought banana's. It looked to me that the ones without foil got brown spots 1 day before the others....not a winner for me. I thought it would hold off  the spots by DAYS and that my banana's would last another week (maybe I'm just an optimist....hoping for miracles).

                                                 
It was a fun experience...BUT I wouldn't waste my "small amount of foil" or the "small amount of time" repeating the process! Am I glad I tried it??? YES....I'm always up for a good "trial"....Will I continue to try and test out other Pinterest tips??? YES....this banana trick must have worked for someone, but it didn't work for me. I have no doubt that there are other tips out there that I will love and be glad I tried...

Now back to the drawing board for something new to try out~

HOME sweet HOME!...FINALLY

Kayson James Wilkerson is HOME!!!

He arrived on Thursday, February 7th....after spending 3 months 10 days in the NICU at the

University of Utah Hospital!

TODAY he weighs a healthy 11 lbs 12 oz and is such a sweetheart!

Kayson trying to figure out who we are....

we must be boring him right to pieces because now he yawns and yawns~

Testing out his adorable little tongue.,....

and telling me stories............

THE END.....

NOW I'm ready for sleep....awwww....goodnight!

He is starting to "coo" and make cute little baby noise's and even sports a darling smile sometimes...he's so much fun and we are so happy to finally meet him and get to know him. Its amazing how much love babies give by just being "babies". We sure do love this little snuggle bug!!

Lesson's Learned...the hard way!

Valentine's Day has never been MY holiday. I think its over-rated...I guess mainly because its not a holiday that my husband celebrates on a regular basis, which in turn, ends up being a day I don't look forward to (EXCEPT this year, when he surprised me with dinner, an awesome movie AND a new outfit!!! Maybe things are changing!!)! I spent the morning cleaning and somehow ended up in my son's room, cleaning up his mess. We just put a new, bigger bed in his room which made the space smaller...which then left a few things needing a "new home". His banana chair was my first "item of business" and I decided the top of the closet was going to be its new residence. As I proceeded to pick the chair up and squish it into a space that wasn't big enough for it, I happened to knock the metal bar that was holding the closet curtain up....you guessed it, the bar came down, right on my eye! I knew immediately that I was going to have a black eye, but I had no idea that it had split my eye open. When the bar hit me, I got dizzy and nauseated so I closed me eyes and held onto the closet shelf until the "feeling" left. I opened my eye when I felt what I thought was sweat, running into my eye. It wasn't sweat, but blood...which just kept running and running. Being on blood thinners doesn't help the fact that head wounds bleed a lot anyway. After spending hours trying to butterfly tape it shut without any results...I decided to head to the clinic to see if they thought it needed stitches...YEP! 

 Day one...black/purple eye...I was relieved that this was all I was going to get, OR SO I THOUGHT~

 As the days passed, the color of my eye spread from the top down into the bottom~

 Which has left me with one black and sore eye......

 But with a little make up...I can almost cover it completely!.

You might say that make up is MY FACE SAVER!

NOW on Day 7...my eye looks so much better...stitches are out and the colors green, yellow and purple 

are officially fading, now to get rid of the lingering headache I've had since the mishap....

LESSONS LEARNED from this experience~ 

       1. DON'T EVER clean children's room

       2. NEVER say "it won't happen to me" (never had a black eye and I could have gone my entire life

                       without one)

       3. Purple, Yellow and green are NOT my colors

       4. Valentine's day can be a fun day if both participants are willing to celebrate :)

Birthday BOY....

SOMEONE in our house turned 19 last week! 

Honestly, each and every time my children have a birthday, I wonder where

the time goes, because to me....their mom...it seems like LITERALLY only yesterday

that they were just babies and I wondered if they would ever grow up!

NOW my 2nd to the last child is a full grown adult and ready for 

new adventures in his life!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY Cameron Mikal!!

May all your wishes come true!

Cameron and Averee....it was just last year that we had a picture ON CAM'S birthday

that looked just like this one :)

Cam told me to SURPRISE him with a birthday cake of my choice...

I WENT for an "Ice Cream Sandwich Cake"....pretty tasty!

It will be only a "few short" days and Cameron will be featured in ANOTHER 

birthday post....and I'm sure it will feel like "just yesterday" that I posted this one...

TIME flies...and thats NO LIE!

Sleep Overs...a grandma's dream

Years ago I was talking to a lady about her grand kids, she told me that once a week she has a "grandma day" and all her grand kids come over and spend the night at her house, at the time I think she had 4. She bragged about all the fun stuff they did, about them sleeping in a great big bed with her and how much fun it was to wake up in the morning to little chitter chatter and tiny fingers rubbing her cheeks. She said it was her favorite time of the week. Since then I have always wanted to be THAT grandma. I have always wanted my grand children to get excited to come to my house and play or to hang out, whether they were 1 or 21. WELL it all starts with this little man...because he is our first grandchild! His mom and dad went out to spend the weekend with his baby brother, Kayson, so Little Mister got to have a sleepover. He is SO GOOD and so fun. He never cries when he's here. He is so patient and loving and gives the best hugs and kisses...it melts my heart and makes a rotten day into a great day! We had a fabulous time!

We played with the toys.....

 We learned a new word when the camera comes out....CHEESE~

 He told me all of the colors of his blocks...AND got them all correct (he's 2 1/2)

 We played with his train....

AND he showed me his tongue, his nose, his eyes and his cheeks....he 

is such a sweet heart and I'm so grateful I am his grandma...aka "boogga boogga"

I sure do love this little guy!

One day I will have a "grandma day" with all of my grand kids...its a tradition I plan on keeping. I 

don't think it will end up being once a week because I will have grandchildren

spread throughout the state I am afraid,

 but once a month would be wonderful!!! 

Being a grandma is a gift...a beautiful, special gift!

It only takes 6 months...but hey, its done~

I started working on these adorable posts back in July. I built them and glued them together....THEN they sat in my garage and collected dust until I painted them in September...then they sat and collected MORE dust until I brought them in my house at the end of December when I painted them ONCE AGAIN. You would think that would have been the last thing I had to do,  but I didn't like the look of them, they were so...PLAIN! So last week (after they collected dust ONCE again) I put an antiquing glaze on them and added the hardware....happy to say this was the last and final stage of my project and these beauties now adorn my hallway with a cute little grapevine wreath on the hook. I love them, don't know if its because they  took so long to complete or if its because they are REALLY that adorable...either way, they are a great accent to a boring hallway!

Girlies~

There is something special between Mother's and Daughter's....I'm really missing my older girlies!

Looking forward to spending a weekend this
summer with them, along with Halle, at a SPA and laughing our heads off!