My Sunday Blessings!

Ahhh, Sunday! A day of rest. And resting is about all I have the energy for, because it's been a long, tough week for me. Even though the Doctor upped my neuropathy medicine dosage, it seems to no longer be working. At all!!! So I'm back to constant foot and leg pain, with night-time electric pain and very little sleep. NO FUN!!! I have an appointment this Thursday and I'm going to discuss with him other treatment options. I've done some research on different medicines and we'll see what he thinks. The higher dosage wasn't more capsules like I'd been on, but a much larger tablet. Knowing the military likes to go "as cheap as possible", I'm going to ask him if perhaps it's a different medicine I'm currently taking, because it's not effective at all. We shall see. All I can do is pray and hope we can figure this out together. I'm blessed to finally have a Doctor who cares, and after the one I had to deal with in Germany, it's a huge blessing!!!

The weather seems to have cleared up a bit, which is fabulous! It was soooo overcast and dreary, and it was killing my sinuses. It's still a bit hazy, but the sky is definitely blue again and we have the sun back. Temps are slowly lowering, so the building is cooling off. I still can't believe they shut off the A/C arbitrarily like that. We also found a standing fan at the PX yesterday, so we have that in our bedroom. It even came with a remote control of all things, so you can regulate the speed and whether to oscillate or not, plus turn it on and off. Fancy Smancy!

Although we had a bumpy start, we finished our homeschool week on a high note. Friday was a very easy day (no math on the schedule!! Yippee!!), and we got to go to the school's book fair and picked up some great books for Bella. The school was really huge, and Bella mentioned several times about how glad she was not to have to go there. So she has some fun books she picked out for her daily reading, and we will also be using her new microscope and slide collection during science too! Should make things fun!!!

The sleepless nights and nerve pain have really kept me from doing the unpacking/decorating on the apartment as quickly as I would have wanted. What little energy I had was used to do homeschool, and minimum housework. Then it was time to collapse on the couch!!! I did most of the rooms already, but my stamping studio was really still a hot mess. But every now and then I would go in there, unpack some things or organize a shelf. Finally on Friday and Saturday I got a bit more serious and by Saturday afternoon I was completely finished, including hanging up some "pretties". There were a couple of things I couldn't hang because I had only saved medium and large cement nails from Germany, not the small ones. But I think it looks great!!! Want to see????

View when you first walk in.

The cubby unit is my wafer thin die collection.

My WorkBox!

Getting a bit worse for wear with each move, but the old girl is still standing!

Two bookshelves and plastic drawers (was used in my bathroom in Germany)

This took a long time to get "just so".

My little table, with ink stand and ihome.

I use this table to use my Big Shot mostly.

IKEA cubby

Holds my embossing folders, Magnolia collection, Big Shot items

and Rosalina from Italy!!!

Most of the things are where they've been before, but some small changes.

Many things from below the desk were put into storage.

Ribbon and flower stand

FINALLY got all my ribbon untangled and ready to go!!!

Inside the closet

The larger IKEA unit had been in our old livingroom, on it's side. I had a closet with shelving in Germany and this pretty much replaced that for me. I have most of my photo polymer stamps on the left side and 8.5 x 11" paper on the right. The bottom two cubbies I used the canvas drawers to hold 12 x 12" cardstock and DSP. It's super heavy and this is a great place to store it. We also found the smaller unit here in the PX, for the "overflow" of paper and other misc. items. Very handy!!! My new baby, Scan 'N Cut is on the shelf above.

Close-up views

And here is where I will sit and create....hopefully soon!!!

My Sunday Blessings

This was a pretty slow weekend, and not nearly as productive as last weekend was. Sleep hasn't been that great, and that affects everything else in my life. *sad face* And I didn't get time/energy enough to do much crafting at all. I did finally manage to get three cards done by the time I went to bed, but only have one to share with you today.

So....what's new....

Thomas' unit has raised enough money to have a Daddy-Daughter Dance!!! Bella is over the moon excited, and is counting down the days until February 27th!!! They will have a fancy dinner with dancing afterwards. There will also be a professional photographer there! Obviously, the first thing on Bella's agenda was to get a dress!!! There was nothing to be found at the PX (no surprise there!), so we started looking online. Bella wanted a dark pink dress, preferably with some sequins on it. So I searched and searched and gave her about 8 options that fit her requirements and were available in her size. And this is the dress she chose!

Isn't it pretty???

She will also be getting a new tiara too! She already has a lovely pearl-beaded sweater to wear over it, which she can take off when they start dancing.

Here's Thomas, being silly and becoming a real live Sims character, lol!

There are many, many wonderful reasons to participate in What's On Your Workdesk? Wednesday!!! One of them is find super cool things like this....

A handmade, one-of-a-kind knitted hedgehog!!!

AND HE'S ALL MINE!!!!!!

"Lunch Lady Jan" is currently making tote bags and little owls as part of a fundraiser for a friend battling cancer. And then she came up with this guy!!! I was so lucky to be up and about early that day so that I could claim him for my own!!!! His name is George, and he's now upstairs in the Stamping Studio along side my favorite Italian hen, Rosalina! I'm not really a stuffed animal person, but these little guys really spoke to my heart and I love 'em!

And last, but not least!, here is the card I finished for Alex. It's an unusual Valentine for my Alaskan living daughter!!! Lots of lovely Lawn Fawn goodies, with a new SU punch for all the little hearts, and colored with Copics.

Like I said earlier, I did manage to get two other cards completed before bedtime, but I haven't photographed them yet. There's soooo much I want to do, but finding the time and energy is a different story. Hopefully this week will be better and include MORE STAMPING!!! :D

My Sunday Blessings

Well, it's Sunday evening and I have to say it's been a pretty great weekend! I started off the day today by cooking blueberry pancakes for breakfast, and starting Beef & Broccoli in the crock pot afterwards for dinner. Then I stripped and remade Bella's bed and started the laundry. I had a quick lunch and then headed upstairs for some Mommy Crafting Therapy!!!

I made getting upstairs in my craft room a priority this weekend, and I think I'm the better for it, lol! I made four cards yesterday (already blogged those), and I sort of "putzed around" up there today. While I didn't complete anything, I tried my hand at some Distress Ink watercolor backgrounds for cards I will make later, as well as trying out some embossing powders I've had for a while, but hadn't used yet, on a new background stamp I recently got in. I even tried out some gilding flakes on that background stamp too! It would have worked out great, the first time, if I had reviewed the directions beforehand, lol! Ugh, did I ever make a mess of it the first go at it!!! I GLUED the cardstock to the stamp! That's really some sticky stuff, I tell ya! Oh well, lesson learned! So I have all kinds of pretty handmade papers to use on upcoming cards. Lastly, I stamped out a bunch of images from my newest Lawn Fawn sets, to be colored with pencils and Copics. They're things that I can pick up and put down quickly, to work in and around the home school week.

Speaking of which, I hope we have a much, much better week coming up!!!! Last week was one of those rough weeks, where you feel like you'll pull all your hair out in frustration! Not.Fun. We'll be finishing up our chapter in Science on cells - something Bella was really into - with a chapter test on Friday. It was a lot of information to learn, Biology always is!, but she's done well with that. We plan on buying her a microscope and telescope after we get to South Korea. It's been a chore getting through Math lately though, even though it's review work and super simple stuff (like graphs for Pete's sake!!!) Complex alegebra and geometry? No problem. Word problems? No problem. Reading a simple bar graph? *crickets* It's always, always the simple stuff that trips her up!!! Her attitude and tone haven't been that great either, so we're still working on that.

And no, we STILL haven't taken down our Christmas tree!!!! LOL! I told Thomas that we were doing it this weekend "for sure". Oh well. He'll bring up the ornament box from downstairs tonight, and I will take down the ornaments and lights myself (less stress that way!), and after dinner tomorrow he can help me take the tree apart and carry down everything. I could have done it today.....but it was a weekend and I wanted to play for a change!!!

Sleep issues continue to be a sucky part of my life! It's not the insomnia that's killing me, it's the nerve pain again. I thought I had it licked and was sleeping quite well, and without pain, but we're right back to square one again. I just don't get it!!! My feet have been particularly bad and it's just not something I can "ignore" or sleep through. What can you do??? This too shall pass....I suppose! I'm trying taking a dose of the lipoic acid in the morning with my other supplements, and now one at night too. It had been helping, but then everything fell apart again.

Still, I have so much to be grateful for, and I am!! I'm just going to think happy thoughts and hopefully have a fabulous week ahead. I hope you will too!!!

My Sunday Blessings!

It's been a long week! I started in on the non-sleeping thing again, but not because of insomnia, but because of my leg and foot nerve pain. It's been off the charts BAD!!! I don't see how I can have a couple of really great weeks, and then BAM! I'm right back in the depths of pain again, with no clear cause or reason. The only consistency seems to be IN-consistency!!! *ugh*

But, life goes on!! Bella had a really great week in school and we had a lot of yummy dinners! I'm so loving my new crock pot cookbook. Tonight we're having apple & cranberry pork chops and they smell so delicious already!!!

Thomas & Bella had their alone time together yesterday, and while home alone (the quiet - I love it!!), I was able to finish up the last three of my Magnolia winter cards! Really pleased with how they turned out!

These are now in their envelopes, addressed and ready to be sent out Tuesday morning! I'll be doing some cards next with my newest Lawn Fawn sets - both in water color with Distress Ink, and also with my Prismacolor pencils. You can't have enough coloring mediums!!!! Speaking of which...

A new Distress Ink color every month!!!

Oh.Happy.Day!

Lawn Fawn Goodies from CHA!!

Can't wait til these are available!!!!

My Lil Nugget - Emmett!

He's such a handsome and sweet baby!

I hope this pain goes away and I start sleeping better again. It was a pretty great couple of weeks while it lasted!! Here's hoping we ALL have a fabulous week ahead!

My Sunday Blessings!

 Yeppers, it's my birthday today!! The big ole "48"!!!! And trust me, I'm feeling every single one of those years today, lol! Oh well, I'm still kickin' and that's a lot to be grateful for. Big thanks to Heather for posting this silly image on my Facebook wall!!!! Totally love it!

We started getting snow the day after Christmas, and it's been snowing on and off ever since then. We got another 3 inches or so last night, and everything looks so white and pretty outside. Mind you, I'm admiring it from inside the house, as the cold weather doesn't appeal to me very much!

 Bella & Thomas, though? Yeah, they love it! :D

 Bella's new fox hat!

Bella got a Rainbow Loom for Christmas, and a megaton, box full of rubber bands, beads and charms to make bracelets!! Here she is making her first one!

She's made two for herself, one for me, one for Thomas, one for Sissy and one for Nathan is next. There are a huge variety of styles you can make, and lots of videos on YouTube as well. She's so happy to have another crafty thing to do!!!

Right after Christmas I stamped out a bunch of Lawn Fawn images, colored them with my beloved Copics and die cut them out. Now it was time to get them made into cards and sent off!! I finished the last of them today, and now that they are photographed they can be mailed out tomorrow.

 I made two of these.

 And I made two of these as well.

So 12 new cards going out in the mail tomorrow! Pretty good for me lately!!! I have so many new toys to play with, and while tidying up my room today I ran across tons of things I had forgotten about, lol!! I have so much stuff.....I know, you're shocked. NOT! Stupid stamp companies are always tempting me with "must have goodies" and I can't resist their siren call!!!! Oh well, gotta spend it on something, right?

My Sunday Blessings

Ahhhh, it's Sunday! I love Sundays!!!! It's the no-rush, relax, no errand running, stay-at-home kind of day! Except when you've procrastinated all weekend on the laundry and it becomes this epic, ohmygosh we're all going to go around nekkid tomorrow if I don't wash this veritable mountain of stinky, damp clothes. And towels. And sheets. Oh my! Bummer.

But still, I'm grateful for:
- Having clothes, and towels, and sheets to wash. And my own machines to clean them in. And a home to wash them in. Some people don't and would love the opportunity to stay home and do laundry.

- Having the house to myself for the afternoon. I might be doing laundry, but it's still quiet and peaceful while Thomas & Bella are out at Megaplay. And if I hurry, I might be able to squeeze in some crafting!

- My health improving. I think I'm finally "used to" my medications and the seemingly endless amount of supplements to help me get "used to" them. I'm getting more and better quality sleep (most nights!), which makes everything else in my life easier and better!

- Online shopping. Americans are so used to having whatever they need sold in a nearby store or mall. That isn't the case when you live overseas. Yes, we have to wait for it to be delivered by the sometimes SLOW mail, but it gets here. And it's like Christmas when it arrives! :D

- Having a husband who understands the concept of fun!!! Yesterday we went a bit crazy shopping for Halloween decorations to decorate our truck for the upcoming "Trunk Or Treating" the USO is hosting this year. We've never really decorated anything before for Halloween, so this was something fun and new. We bounced ideas off each other and had a blast filling our cart to overflowing! Life is often hard; live it with people who know how to have some fun!

- Homeschooling. Not every day is fun, and we don't always demonstrate the best attitudes. But we are able to do it our way, on our schedule, and we don't have to stand out in the cold and rain waiting on a bus!!! Or have to get dressed. We get mid-morning cookie breaks. If we don't have any cookies, we can stop and make some. We can take our time. Our day isn't supervised or regimented by bells or a clock. We love and we pray. It's pretty much the best thing ever!

- My life. I like who I am and who I'm becoming. I didn't always, but I'm older now. A little wiser. A lot happier!

My Sunday Blessings

Friday the 4th was a super busy, super productive day in the Kupsh household! Even though it was a "holiday", it was still a Friday so a school day for us. We had our regular school, and then I did my weekly "teacher" paperwork afterwords. I also did my regular housework, including stripping and remaking the beds, laundry, cooking, cleaning, etc. We normally do our errands on Saturday, but I really wanted to have a more leisurely weekend, so I talked Thomas into heading to post for a quick PX trip and grocery shopping at the commissary. Unfortunately, all that go-go-go all day long caught up with me and when it was time to head back to post for fireworks, I was pooped! They didn't even start until 10:30pm and that's already 30 minutes past my bedtime, lol! My bad knee just wasn't up to sitting on the ground - *sad face*!!!

Luckily, Thomas pulled through and took Bella on post himself!

Bella sitting on the grass with some friends.

She suckered Daddy into buying her a candy necklace, lol!

Snuggling and watching the show!

Apparently it was a short, but great!, show!