I did the unspeakable...

Today I did something I vowed I'd NEVER do in MY LIFE.

I scooped poop. (queue face of HORROR)

Here's the deal...Clay didn't feel that great this last weekend...so he didn't scoop poop or mow the lawn...something he usually does once a week. Well....it's been longer than that- quite a bit since the lawn has been mowed, and therefore a long time since the poop has been scooped. Clay is SWAMPED at work this week...as in...16 hour days type swamped. It's poopy. In so many ways.

He asked me today, to please scoop the poop...so his dad could come mow our lawn (I don't know how to work our riding lawn mower). I told him no. He said he would rather do it, but he doesn't have time and it needs to be done before its way too long and out of control (the lawn). I told him, can't we wait and see if you have time tomorrow? He says no. So...begrudgingly, I obliged.

I'm pretty sure that after what I did today, I can no longer be called a lady. It really was as horrifying as I thought! I can't decide which was my favorite kind of poop to scoop. The kind that was cemented to the grass...looking like an artifact that came from another century, or the nice fresh kind that still had flies feasting on it. Who am I kidding? They were both lovely.

I told Clay he better be thinking of something to make this up to me.

Really, I just hope I can recover from this.

So I want a picture taken of me...so what?

It took an arm and a leg to get Clay to take this picture of me. Seriously- he says I have him take pictures of me ALL THE TIME! What? Then why are there barely any on the blog? I'm sick of taking pictures of others and never getting any of myself! Yeah, that sounds self centered...but I don't care.
So I painted this big canvas I got Clay for Christmas one year. He painted it, and hated it so he said it was okay for me to paint over it. I primed it with Kilz and then went at it! I've never really painted with oils before. It was pretty fun! I did it in one day (I'm not very patient), its kinda crazy- but I love it. It's going right where my head is basically- by our table we have this great blank wall! I'm going to put that big canvas along with some other treasures. Super excited. Just waiting for it to dry and then I can hang it, take pictures and then show it off to you guys! Yipee!

Last weekend I decorated above our piano and I LOVE IT! I love the pictures Lizzie took of us and I just love how it turned out.
After I have everything "done" (if that happens ever) I will take pictures of everything.

Well, that's all for now. Hope everyone is enjoying their last bit of summer. I wish it would never end :( I might be excited for fall, if that meant winter wouldn't come! Oh- I have some really really fun holiday crafty stuff up my sleeve. I'm super excited about them! Till next time...

Oh yeah- if you are looking for something to pray about (does that ever happen? I'm pretty sure everyone has a LOT to pray about) or send good energy waves towards...I really am lacking in motivation to study. This is my LAST test (hopefully- still haven't gotten my score from the last one) and I just really need to get my buns in gear!

Saturday is a Special Day

First, I thought I'd share this quote:

"We knew before we were born that we were coming to the earth for bodies and experience and that we would have joys and sorrows, ease and pain, comforts and hardships, health and sickness, successes and disappointments, and we knew also that after a period of life we would die. We accepted all these eventualities with a glad heart, eager to accept both the favorable and unfavorable. We eagerly accepted the chance to come earthward even though it might be for only a day or a year. Perhaps we were not so much concerned whether we should die of disease, of accident, or of senility. We were willing to take life as it came and as we might organize and control it, and this without murmur, complaint, or unreasonable demands"
--Kimball, Faith Precedes the Miracle, 106

You know that scripture program I told you about? Where it e-mails you your scripture reading each day? Well, when you push completed, it takes you to a page that tells you how much of your goal is completed and has a quote underneath...it's always random. Anyway, today I was totally beGRUDGING this scripture reading and didn't want to, but did it anyway and probably got NOTHING out of the scriptures, but I read this quote...and I'm pretty sure it's just what I needed today.

Remember how I went 6 months without treats? No exceptions, no cheat days, none? Well...I was laying in bed this morning pondering and feeling sorry for myself for a number of things I don't even want to go into- but I kinda was thinking...GOSH. I'm just going to do that again. No treats. But this time the time zone is like...a lot longer probably. And the great thing, back then...I didn't know much about agave or honey or anything. But now, there are a few things I can do to help me out that involve some agave treats. So by no treats, I mean- sugar treats. In fact, I'm pretty much swearing off sugar as much as I can help it. There may be a few foods that have a smidgen of sugar that I can't help or whatever, but I'm going to try and avoid that as much as possible. My timeline basically involves having babies. Our doctor pretty much said she thinks in a year we'd probably be ready...and the fact is- I want both our bodies to be as healthy as possible, especially mine. Sugar feeds Lyme. Therefore, I'm done with it. I can't even explain the relief that flooded through my body when I typed that. I might have a LITTLE something on holidays, but I mean...probably not. I just thought about it and I want a baby SO BADLY. Way more than I want a brownie. And if you haven't caught on by now, this Lyme thing is kinda an un-curable deal...I will basically be done with it and better, but there are probably always going to be a few little bugs lying dormant throughout my body, waiting for me to feed it and become weak. Clay and I have decided that we ARE going to have children, so why risk feeding the lyme and therefore allowing my baby to get it? Anywho...I'm excited. Clay and I have not sworn off gluten for life. We think sugar is the important one. But don't get me wrong- we are still limiting that gluten monster a lot! The thing with this whole diet restriction thing I've realized is it's way harder if you find a billion ways to try and get around it or whatever...it's SO much easier when you just accept, adjust, and move on. That's what I'm doing.

So I've FINALLY printed a few of the pictures that Lizzie took of us back in November. I'm in the process of hanging them around the house. So excited about it. Our house is finally starting to feel homey. Why has it taken me so long to just put things on the walls? I'm just going for it. I've been so obsessed with furniture and what not, but it really does all come together once there's some wall decor.

The weather has been so nice. We've taken Dante for a walk everyday for at least a week. It's been so nice. The walk has been almost two miles (I looked it up- Clay didn't even think it was a mile...turns out it's almost two!). So it's really good for us. I don't want summer to ever end.

I made the elk meat the other day for spaghetti for the first time. It tasted just great! It made me happy cause I know it's so much healthier than meat from the grocery store.

Well, it's about time I get my bum in gear and start getting things done today. There's lots of things. Have a good weekend!

Piano

Of course I'm all insecure about it now that I'm showing you guys.

Here's the before:
As you may see, it was painted a poop brown color with some sort of shading as well. It just wasn't quite right. (This was the day we got it back in November of last year)

We (I) tried to paint strip it...but it turned out even uglier and it was just a mess and way too hard.
And then I spray painted it and here is the after!

We love it. Some parts turned out a little more "dirty" than I had planned....but whatever. It WAS perfect before that dumb mishap with the clear gloss (yellow splotch gloss) happened....but then after it wasn't as good as I had it before...so anyway. Bottom line...its about a bazillion times better than before!

Guess what? I went to a new thrift store in town and I. LOVE. IT. Holy smokes it's great! The clothes are SUPER SUPER cheap and so is the jewelry and books and basically all of it. I am so excited about it!

Happy Birthday to Clay!

Welp, Clay is 26!

He got lots of goodies. We went to eat at Johnny Carinos (italian) and I made the lovely Fudge Truffle Cheesecake (YUUUUUM).

We played the game "Would you rather" it's so fun. It's a card game and we LOVE IT! It's a good one for getting to know you or like...just to have some giggles.

Harmoni and Derek...her "friend"? Dunno...but we liked him :)

Makayla and CJ (boyfriend)

Patty and Paul, husband and wife :)

We had our Seattle appointment last week, and it went well. We think that Clay will be back to church by December hopefully, and we will probably be ready to try and have kids in about a year. Talking about it and thinking about it over the past few days have made me have more comfort in the fact that it IS possible for me to have a baby without giving it Lyme, and I have a lot more control if I choose to. So, that's good. I have been very anxious and insecure about that the past few months.

Clay went hunting! He got an elk and came home and said he felt stiff but not pain. WOAH- hold up. That is huge. THEN- the next day after he slept for 14 hours, when he got home from work he asked me to go on a walk. WHAT?! If he were to do that LAST year, he would've been bed ridden for days! Huge huge huge. This is great! So happy.

My piano is FINALLY back in my house. We had 4 men in the house today, so we took advantage of the situation and had em bring in the piano! I paid them with cheesecake :) I will take a picture tomorrow when there is more light.

Well, that's all for now. Till next time!

My 30 Day Experiment

So, up there is my face...

These pictures were taken about 10 minutes ago. I have no makeup on, it is completely clean. And....there's obviously a problem here.

I get these ginormous zits, that HURT, and are not very pretty! They don't go away for like...a month. No exaggeration. So I was reading online and it looks like a TON of people swear by honey masks. They simply coat their face in honey for 30 minutes to an hour. Well, then a TON of people also swear by Aspirin Masks. Where you dissolve aspirin in warm water, to make a mask. They suggest that people with sensitive skin (me) only do this 1-2 times a week. So I decided for 30 days, I'm going to do a honey mask 6 days of the week, and 1 day of the week I will do an Aspirin Mask. And maybe, just MAYBE, my face wont look and feel so darn bad. I know that some people have worse acne, and I feel so bad for those people. So, if you're one of them- maybe try it with me! Anyway...I really hope this helps. I read that it doesn't prevent acne, but it manages it quite well...as in- it will bring a white head to the surface quicker, it will make the zits not so ginormous, decrease inflammation, etc. So those things could greatly help.

I am currently sitting with honey slathered all over my face and part of my neck! It actually feels pretty stingy...which I wasn't expecting. So hopefully that's good. I surely don't want to go to work tomorrow with a irritated face.

So I took my test a week ago. I don't find out my score until the end of September (LAME!). I felt...okay. I mean, I didn't feel like "Oh no! I don't know anything!" but I also didn't feel like, "YES! I know EVERYTHING!". So...who knows. I felt about the same as the other tests...so hopefully that means I passed!

I painted my piano....and boy is that a story. So I spent ALL day Friday, half the day Saturday...and the piano looked LOVELY. I loved it. So to finish it up, I decided to spray on clear gloss paint to help protect it. The can said, "Fast drying, non-yellowing" and I'm pretty sure it should've said, "Don't use it if you don't want yellow splotches!" Cause guess what?!?! I sprayed it all over and what do I see after I look back at it? YELLOW SPLOTCHES ALL OVER MY BEAUTIFUL WHITE PIANO I JUST SPENT TWO DAYS ON. Oh my heck. I was pretty depressed for a minute. But then I just decided, well...I guess I'll just get another can of white spray paint and spray over it...then re-glaze it. GEEZ. But I'm happy to report that finally, TODAY- it is all done and put together just waiting to be brought inside again! Yipee! I will post a pic after it's inside.

I haven't been studying for my next section yet cause it's scheduled for October 19th...so I figured I could use a tiny break. It's been so nice! But probably next week I'll need to start it back up again.

What else what else. I'm just so happy because Clay and I both are feeling lots better lately. I finally feel like it's all working and we are going to get better. Such a comfort!

Well...I suppose that's all. OH- Bachelorette...I was so pleased with the outcome. I hope they make it. The odds are definitely not in their favor...but you never know! Till next time.