Roller Coaster of Life

Gracious me, it's been some highs and lows over the past few days.

Friday, in am attempt to do a good thing, a helpful thing, I sent wrong emails to 500 or so people. Actually half were right but how could I pick out the wrong from right? So I sent a retraction email asking everyone to ignore the first. But no one got it. So i send a third saying please ignore the first, seems no one is getting my second. You want to talk about confusing people because they ended up getting all three- at about three am. 

Did I mention I'm having weird heart issues? So When I first realized what I had done my heart felt like it was going to seize up one or fall out of my chest. My vision tunneled and I couldn't breathe I was so upset. Thankfully, it didn't kill me - I was a wreck. 

I got home about eight that night, walked into my house and it was beautiful. Cleaned from top to bottom. Tablecloth on the table with colorful flowers displayed in a mason jar in the center. All the dirty dishes gone. Clean clothes in the closet. My Christmas tree was decorated for the beach. Oh my gosh it was wonderful  

I cried. 

I totally lost it and bawled. Sobbed. It was such a horrible ending at work and I was feeling so low about myself.

To come into a house like this, where obviously someone loved me so much they came in and cleaned up my mess. Wanted me to come home to peace and calm and beauty. Thank you much, Mom  and Sister, I'm touched beyond words. 

Look at the pics and keep reading, there is more. 

Yes I have mismatched pillows. I sleep with so many and seriously, no one sees my pillows so all I care about is them being soft :) 

Ok so moving on to Saturday - I work six more hours trying to undo the email debacle and come home to crash. The past several month of long hours and stress are wearing me down. Everyone in the family is worried about me and how totally exhausted I am. 

I'm asleep by ten thirty that night. Wake up at four am and see a text message from my sister asking if I'm up, sent at midnight.  I text her - are you ok? And get a message back. "At kings mt bad pain in side. Don't know anything yet. Gave her morphine and antibiotic and something for nausc" - what?!?! Katie, my sister, was throwing up she was in so much  pain and had called mom and dad to help her. No one woke me because I'm so exhausted I needed my sleep. !!! So Dad was with Macy and Mom was with Katie and her husband was out-of-town. First dose of Morphine didn't touch her pain so four hours after her getting there, the ER decides to do a CT. She has a huge cyst on her ovary that needs to either decrease or rupture for her to get relief from the pain. They sent her home. 

Not knowing what was causing the pain and having it not respond to morphine really put us all in a panic. I prayed and prayed, texted a few friends to also please pray. God heard out prayers and gave Katie relief with the second dose of morphine. 

So Sunday was spent worrying about her. Her husband made it home by ten or so and has watched her like a hawk. Macy is having a slumber party with Mawmaw and Pawpaw. Katie was still in pain last night but it was manageable as long as she didn't have to get up and go to the bathroom. That caused more vomiting. Since I got no phone calls, I'm assuming no additional trips to the ER were needed last night. 

I'm ready for a break from stress and drama, y'all. I didn't mention I had my own ER visit last week? Week before? Plus two Dr visits after that due to fear. So I have a cardiologist appt in 8 days. And a host of doctors bills that should keep me broke for a long time coming. 

Y'all please pray for us - we are out of the woods yet with Katie and my life will improve once this final election is behind us. Thank you all so much. Share something wonderful about your life so i can celebrate with you - PLEASE!!! :)

Happy Birthday, Sweet Nice #2!

I am so excited to wish my baby sweet niece a happy (belated) birthday!  Little girl turned two on Saturday and we had a wonderful time at her birthday party.  Well... semi wonderful, what time she wasn't screaming about other kids playing with her favorite gift: the pink car. Regardless, it was great to see everyone and celebrate this beautiful blessing God gave to our family: Macy.

First of all, check out the invitation I made using Publisher.  I'm pretty excited about it! Publisher can be limiting, it's not really a heavy-hitting design program, but I manipulated what I could and liked the end result.  Then I took these to Office Depot for printing.  I may do a tutorial on how to create your own when I get a chance.

Obviously, it was a Hello Kitty theme (love!).

We created a fishing game that was easier than setting up cardboard and hiding someone behind it while kids tossed a hook over the edge.  This was SO much easier.  The pool was one of her presents and since all my fish were pink/orange/yellow, we put a blue plastic tablecloth in the bottom for "water." The fish were cut out two at a time from folded over colored paper and we drew fish details on each one.  We put a paper clip on each fish nose. Macy had a kiddie fishing rod that had never been used, so I threaded baker's twine through the loops and attached a pipe cleaner on one end, shaping it like a hook.  Add a strong magnet with some glue to the bottom of the hook and you are ready for some fishing!

As the kids "caught" fish, they redeemed them for prizes, which ended up being their goodie bags. Bracelets, candy, sunglasses, etc.  Fun stuff. No hiding behind a piece of cardboard.

The bubble machine was a huge hit.  Dancing in bubbles, what's not to love about that?!

A good ol' fashioned hay ride around the house, complete with quilts to keep little legs from being prickled by hay bits.  Sweet Niece #1 is always a HUGE help at toddler events!

This toy is what caused melt down 2.0.  Oh my, don't even think about getting in her car. OH no no! Yes, sharing is one of those things being worked on, but you know how it goes. No Nap + Birthday Excitement + Terrible Twos = MELTDOWN! *sigh*

Two super cool gifts - the handpainted chair, with West Virginia logo! - what a hit! Love it! and the handlettered and handpainted birthday card from Paulene at Leen Machine (go check out her work at Esty!)

At the end of the night, after dinner and smores, Aunt Donna and Macy chilling out, reading some books. We had a great afternoon, evening celebrating Macy and her 2nd birthday.  I thank God for both of my nieces, two wonderfully special adorable girls that I love so very much.

:)  Happy Birthday, Macy Mae.  Aunt Beth Loves You.

photo challenge pics

Y'all know I quit trying to take a photo everyday. There are only so many pics of the same drive into work that you want to see. But I do still take pics and enjoy sharing them here.

May 24:  Happy Birthday to my twin aunts that turned 60!! My mom is one of 12 and all are still living. Here are the 11 that showed up for the party :) my mom is towards the left behind Linda, in purple. From left to right: Ann Jimmy Frances Barbara Linda Brenda Mack Faye Gary Kathy Dot

May 25: The family had nursery duty at church and I snapped this pic of Macy. Sundays are rough on her because we are at church during her nap time. 

PawPaw promised her a tractor ride after lunch, but it ended up being after her nap! So this is what I found in my backyard. 

March 26: Happy Memorial Day! Thanks to those who gave their lives to protect our nation!  Macy enjoyed a "swim" and ice cream cone! 

Happy Birthday, Donna! We had a paint party for her 39th - so much fun!! We had options of what we wanted to paint. Brianne ( bottom right) and I were looking at the same pic and look how different our pictures are! 

My finished product. It now hangs in the craft room :). SC gals are all about the Palmetto tree and moon!!

June 1:  two beat grandparents and a sweet niece :) 

June 5: oh yes, shortly after this pic is a blurry one where she tried to touch me. That took some quick moving to avoid!! 

June 8: my sister's family went to the mountains and she sent me this. Love it!!! These two are so stinkin cute and sweet. Love love love 'em. And missed them like crazy while they were gone. 

June 11: a beautiful rainbow!! So pretty, it was cool driving home with this peeking in and out of view :)

Ok folks. It's been several long weeks in a row and it ain't over yet. I'll keep posting when I can!  Miss keeping up with y'all! 

Happy Belated Easter

Ya'll, life has been so crazy busy, I had a stack of Easter cards that were never mailed.  I feel horrible - I wanted to share Easter wishes, but it just didn't happen.  So, ya'll will get them next year (but seriously, you know I'll forget and buy more next year.)

Well, I never posted Easter pictures, either.  And Easter in our neck of the woods was quite a mess because Sweet Niece #2, her daddy and I were all sick.  No church for any of us.  No cute dress for Macy.  So the photos are less than Eastery, but are still cute (in my opinion).

 My mom practiced hiding and hunting eggs with Macy inside, so she did pretty good with finding them and oh-so-delicately tossing them into her basket.

AH was good at hiding them HARD.  She thought she had stumped Mom and Katie, only to discover they had already found the egg she was giving them hints on!

I adore these two girls.  They are so incredibly loving with each other, despite the age difference and half-sister status.  They are sisters of the heart and are so sweet with each other. I'm so very thankful for them!