A Day for Change ...

Last night I decided something.  I wanted to wake up and get dressed and do some cleaning.  Turn on the music and just ..... DO SOMETHING ... I can't do much, I'm still sick, still injured, still blah but I want to do SOMETHING and feel better.

So I got up this morning, and I got dressed and I turned on music and I did my hair...  and yeah.  I CLEANED.

I ended up calling up my friend *M* and instead of jamming out to music, talked to her ALL DAY.  LOL ...

But, I completely cleared off my shelf next to my bed... and re-organized it.  (Next going to do that with the brown bookshelf.

I cleared off and scrubbed down the bathroom sink.

Cleaned up other random stuff and vacuumed too ...

Folded Laundry

It doesn't seem like much, but it's a lot for me.  Especially sick on top of my normal Fibro I suck pain

But I got up, and I got dressed... and I did my hair.

I have been diffusing Sweet Orange & Lemon today.  And everynight I diffuse Peppermint and Eucalyptus .... I seriously LOVE my oils.  

So as I was talking to *M* ...  we somehow got on the conversation of being "hairy" and I brought up how Noah is literally a Sasquatch ...  LITERALLY ....  she didn't believe the extent I was trying to explain to her, so I sent her this......  this is Noah's (my 14 year old, almost 15 year old) leg...

I also sewed up my quilt.  there was a tear in it, and it ended up getting bigger.    So as I was on the phone (actually sitting on my quilt as I was sewing it up) ...  so I sent *M* this picture too.  HA HA HA ....  no, I am not the best with the needle and thread, but I get it done.

Sooooooooooo .....  If you know me, you know I am a major Kellie Martin fan.  I <3 her.  Life Goes On was one of my favorite shows growing up.  She was on Hallmark's Home & Garden show  So I recorded it and was watching it.  First off when they started off the show and were panning around (before announcing that Kellie was co-hosting) ... I saw her sitting there and I thought ... OMG, is that Chad Lowe next to her????   (If you were a Life Goes On fan, you know he played her boyfriend on the show.) ... and it was!!!  I got super excited.  He had such wonderful things to say about Kellie too.  Also, Kellie's daughter was there also.  Super cute segments with Kellie, Chad and her daughter.

Anyway - they made this SUPER awesome bird house.  I want one.  Seriously - like... yesterday...

If you want to watch the video from HOME & FAMILY on how to make these AMAZING BIRDHOUSES ...  DO IT!  I want one.... like now...... (looks at DB, he snores in response.)

Soooooooo ... my sister got to her parents house tonight to take the items she wanted to keep to remember them.  Her Mom and Step-Dad ....  the smell was unbearable...  because the smell of decomposing flesh is like a cake walk (NOT!) ...  but it sticks to EVERYTHING.  It sticks to every surface, seeps into everything and lingers...   and he was there for 3 weeks (crying) ...  the smell was horrible.  She sent me photos of his bed, where he had died and laid for 3 weeks.  Don't worry, I will spare you the photos.  Even I won't share those, and I share pretty much E.V.E.R.Y.T.H.I.N.G. ...   my heart broke for her.  Breaks for her.  I know her's is shattered.

Today is the 3 year mark of Noah getting his braces!!  THREE YEARS!!!  And now he's just a few days away from finally getting them off.

It's been a rough day though...  Something started around one or two in the morning.  One of my best friends was having a rough night. I messaged her to check up on her and was met with her depression and it had dug her deep down.  She was feeling like no one loved her and I reminded her that her Mom did, her kids, me ... we all loved her.  My psycho ex.  We got on a brief discussion of how she says he didn't love her but she thinks he loved me at one point, and I told her he never loved me because you are honest with the people you love - and he was never honest with me.  He was at least honest with her (more than me anyway) ...  regardless at the end of the rather short convo, she basically said she loved me, appreciated everything, and that her husband could give me the details if he decided to care.

I had a rough night because Nathan had actually gotten sick in the night - right about that time I was talking to her - and so when I got up in the morning and re-read it, I got really worried.  So I messaged her, asked her to PLEASE message me right away to let me know she was okay.  I text both of her phones  ...  I heard nothing.  It got to the point where I messaged her husband just asking him to please let me know that she was okay.  I didn't go into details other than saying that she had a rough night and I just needed to make sure she was okay.   I was freaking out all day - but at just before 11pm she messaged me to let me know she was alive.

Which made me kinda angry.  I worried about her all day, ALL DAY and she didn't think to once message me and say "hey I'm okay"  She had just recently gone on about how my ex was making suicide threats and basing them on her talking to him. "If you stop talking to me I'll kill myself."  "I can't live without you in my life" type stuff.  It's too much pressure on her.  So she knows how it feels but yeah.  I ended up telling her that I was upset it took her so long to let me know she was okay cuz I was worried sick all day.

So there was a TWITTER WAR!  The #BestOneEver!!!!   It was called #CuteAnimalTweetOff ...  Zoo's would post photos of their cutest residence and smack talk every other Zoo...

Here are just a few examples of the CUTENESS OVERLOAD ......

It was the BEST ........... like, EVER!

DIY: Rocket Pack or Jet Pack

Nathan and I were looking at Pinterest to see if we could find something to make for Halloween instead of buying a costume.  He saw it and IMMEDIATELY wanted it.....  This is the ORIGINAL POST  ....  which we found via Pinterest....

But let me share our experience.

Things we needed:

• Silver Metallic Spray Paint
• 2 empty cleaned out 2 liter bottles (we used A&W cuz they were clear) 
• Felt (we used Red, Orange and Yellow ... we got two red sheets, one orange and one yellow) 
• Black Strap (we went to a craft store and looked in the *ribbon* area) 
• Some Cardboard (we used the thin stuff from soda boxes) 
• Glue Gun
• Glue Sticks
• Printer to print out a Flame Template (I just goggled it and found one I liked - but I will add the one I used at the bottom) 
• Masking Tape
• Scissors

First thing I did was cut a piece of the cardboard to a size smaller than his back, I took some masking tape and I taped it to his back, and then I started to set up the straps so that they were the right size for him.  He is an extremely little guy due to his rare growth disorder, so I wanted to make sure they fit him right.  One Size Fits All does't work for him.   So I would take the strap, tape it to the cardboard, and then wrap it around him, tape it, cut it and repeat on the other side.

 You can see the finished result on the notebook in the last photo ...

Then I started to work on the flame.  (The template I used is at the bottom of the blog) .... I cut out two red pieces, one orange and one yellow for each of the sides.  We got two red sheets of felt when we bought them.  Cut each one if half - and then cut out two flames out of each half of each half of the one sheet.)  I would make sure to not follow the template exactly too - a little character :)   Then I cut off the largest flame, exposing the edges of the middle one, and used that for the orange felt, cutting two pieces out of the one piece of orange felt.  And then cut down to the smallest one and used that for the yellow, cutting two yellows out of the one piece of yellow felt.   So all together - you should have 4 red flames, 2 orange flames, and 2 yellow flames.

Putting it together, you have two red pieces of flame, the orange one, and a yellow one.  

After finishing cutting out the flames, we moved onto the "jet pack" ...  I had two pieces of cardboard cut to the same size.  One I used for the straps, the other I placed on Nathan's back (where the straps one would be, plan is to glue the two pieces of cardboard together, enveloping the straps where I glued them together, for extra support... so working with ONE piece of the cardboard with the straps right now, and using the SECOND piece of cardboard to work with the 2 liter bottles) ....

So I figured out where I wanted the two liters to be on his back, and glued them to the cardboard where I wanted them to sit on the straps.   After that we took it outside, and we have a large piece of cardboard we use for spray painting and for painting for Nathan ...   and we used that under our bottles so we didn't get any spray paint on the properties landscaping or sidewalks.   Then we sprayed the two liter bottles,

Once that was done - and drying - I started to work on the straps again.  I started with the bottom pieces - slipping some glue under to hold it all into place, then the upper straps, and then I did a better job of gluing them once they were in place.  2nd picture they are all in place and glued down.  The third picture is the back of straps cardboard.  This is the one that would be against his back and exposed when it's not on.  I'm thinking....... I don't want the 7-up box showing........ So I took some of the extra felt and made a "N" and a yellow cover to cover up the exposed 7-up box.  The last picture is the two pieces of cardboard glued together, making the straps and jet pack one piece.  So I glued the side I had glued the straps on, to the exposed (and painted) side of the one on the jet packs.

After we glued the two pieces together, I made Nate try it on to make sure I had it all placed the way I wanted.  I was satisfied and then I glued the felt pieces together (just at the bottoms, I glued the yellow to the orange to the two reds, and the two reds together enough ... then I shoved the bottoms of the felt in the opening after putting some hot glue in there.) ....

 So I was looking at it on him and - although super cool - though ...... I wanted a little more on the actual jet pack.  So I added some felt puzzle pieces for Autism (because Nathan has Autism) ...  and a crappy red line that was suppose to be like a flame, with  couple pieces of yellow and orange peeking up ...  ....  and another N ....

Finished product!!!  

Not planning on using the Angry Bird PJ's as part of his costume, but the monster hat he'll be wearing because it's chilly outside, he melts down if he doesn't have a hat or mittens on....

This picture (below) is my favorite!  Neither of his feet are on the ground and it looks like he's taking off!

I actually looked up "Flame Coloring Page" and found this one.  I liked it a lot better than the other ones.

I have to be honest and say I would probably use thicker cardboard - something that isn't so forgiving in movement.  During trick or treating, the two pieces of cardboard came apart a couple of times.  We ended up using those paper clip clamps on it.  I might actually super glue a few paperclips to the cardboard or something to make it more sturdy.  You know paper clip the two pieces together and then put super glue around them them so they don't move.  A lot less forgiving and much more sturdy.

Otherwise, it was a HUGE HUGE hit!