Before, During, and After: My Craft Room

Hooray!

:o)!!!!

Are you ready?
Come on in...

The first thing I loved about this room is that the window opens up to an atrium. The door that you can see outside opens up from the kitchen.

A terrible photo of an amazing and fun project:

This is someone we hired to retexture the walls:

My BIL {Doug's brother} Don helped with the floors:

Doug on a ladder...    {hehe. Because it's my blog - and I can...}

Ok! Enough of that. This is it now:

Still not as organized as it will be, or as embellished as it will be, but it's my space and I really, really love it! I originally wanted white walls so that's what Doug gave me, but now I think I want color...still thinking on that one... {I think my grandmother's dresser and mirror would really pop with a color behind it...}

We replaced the closet doors throughout the house but I wanted something different for this room. Carrie had some vintage sheets she'd picked up at the thrift store so she let me pick my favorite and I turned it into a closet curtain. {I just folded it over at the top to get the right length and used clip-rings to hang it.}

Wanna' see the mess of stuff inside? Ok...here you go...

Showing the inside of my craft closet kind of makes me cringe...it's so packed with a random overload of stuff. But to be honest, it kind of makes my heart sing too. It's taken me a long time to collect all that stuff, and I'll use every bit of it...someday...right?

One last look - notice the hallway through the door - you can see our wedding picture in the distance.

November Attitude of Gratitude:

* I am grateful for a handy husband. His talent goes far beyond the paint roller!  ;o)

* I am grateful for a craft space to call my own - one that has a door that can be closed to hide my "work in progress" and to keep the cats out.
* Even though the volume is a bit embarrassing, I'm really grateful for my collection of craft stuff.

An Attitude of Gratitude {for November and always}

Last year, during the month of November, I committed to ending each post with a list of things I am grateful for. I'm doing it again this year.

One thing that I love and admire about some people is the ability to be grateful in times of strife. It impresses me so much that it makes me want to be that way.

Feeling grateful all the time? Well, I'm far from it. I post a big brave turtle face on this here blog. But with lots of practice I think I am pretty good at counting my blessings.

Because, really, when you start counting your

blessings how can you be that sad about anything?

An attitude of gratitude for November:
* I am so grateful for my mom.
* I am so very grateful for Team Teal.
* I am thankful for my well lit kitchen and...
* I think it's cool to own a gumball machine.

Things I learned this past week. {I'm back!}

Greetings, blog friends!!! I'm spending my morning catching up online, but before I go any further I promised Carrie that I would create a post to let you know I'm doing well and on the road to recovery. {Many thanks to my sweet girl C for guest blogging for me!!!} Your sweet comments, emails, cards, thoughts, prayers and love lifted my spirit more that words can say. I'm am deeply grateful for each and every one of you.

Flowers from Doug, Carrie, and my mom & sister. Doug
brought framed photos for me on the first day I was there. :o)

Without further adieu, following are a few points of interest from this past week:

* "Infection and perforation of the bowel" is a term I never want to hear again.
Kind of a gross way to start the list, but it is what it is. And let me tell you, it was brutal. It started as a tummy-ache that lasted for a few days. I was exhausted but thought it was because Doug and I have been going full-speed-ahead for the past several weeks. It's hard to know when to call it quits and realize I needed medical attention.

* Going without food or water for several days in a row is a miserable existence.
This might sound corny, but I have a whole new appreciation for world hunger. When we were kids we didn't have much money, but we were never hungry {thanks, Mom}. My stay in the hospital brought a new awareness to me...must do something to contribute...

{LOL - kind of a puny meal, but I was SOOOO grateful for this!!!}

* Potassium through an IV Burns.Like.Hell.


* Even in my weakest hour, my brother Ron can make me belly-laugh like no one else on this planet.
He was in town on business and I missed out on having dinner with the gang, but he visited me in the hospital and that was awesome.  :o) {thanks, Ronnie!}

* Never underestimate the power of prayer.
Even though I was sicker than I've ever been in my 50 years on the planet, I've never felt so uplifted and loved by so many amazing people.

{love.}

* There are angels on earth and they appear when you need them most.
♥ Brandon, a young nurse in the Emergency Room who was patient and caring and reassuring and amazing. I made him earn his pay that day!
♥ Deepa, a beautiful young woman of Indian descent. She was my day-nurse the first two days of my hospital stay and I knew instantly that we were kindred spirits. This woman was born to be a nurse.
♥ Mohamed, the night charge nurse who answered my calls over the intercom with a cheerful "How may I help you Mrs. {last name here}" He pronounced my last name correctly from the first time {rare}. Come to find out, he knows my sister-in-law Janet who has been a nurse at that same hospital for over 30 years. :o)
♥ Ronald, a sweet young man from the cafeteria who came to my room on the day I could finally eat something. He took my food order as if I were a VIP customer in a five-star restaurant. I loved that.

{I plan to write a letter of gratitude to the CEO of Chandler Regional Hospital.}

* Hospital gowns have an opening in the front too.
So, on my last day in captivity I was told I needed to get up and walk around. Knowing there was a gap in the back of my hospital gown, I slipped my walking shorts on and scooted myself out and about, making the loop around the hospital floor I was on. When I returned to my room I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror and realized that the 5-inch gap on the upper right side of my gown clearly revealed one-half of my womanhood. Nice.

And on that note, I'm off to see what I've

missed in blog world this past week.

♥ !