Spring Mantlescape 2013 (and other things)

If you're happy and you know it, clap your hands. 

No? Me neither.

I'm not happy. No hand clapping here. I am so burdened with the recent events, how can one blog? When is the appropriate time, how much time should elapse...I haven't blogged in over 2 weeks, does that count? I'm not blogging about the tragedies, does that make me a bad person....that I like to hide my insecurities and bravely show the world my accomplishments? 

If you can call a mantlescape an accomplishment, that toys are not strewn about and dust bunnies are dethroned for the moment an accomplishment.

Believe me, I am praying and have a broken heart for my fellow Americans, and I am NOT part of the camp that maintains that if it didn't happen to me it didn't happen at all....I'm one of those people that have to be reminded to carry on. Lord, I could go from 9/11 through Newtown (and prior, I know) and discuss the effects but (and here I go again) since being diagnosed with a incurable disease, I know that you have to put one foot in front of the other and move forward because we have to learn from the mistakes....don't we? Yes. We have to sustain. Yes.

I've gotten hardly anything done on the kitchen project and I'm and not ashamed. Between chemo treatments, blood transfusions and of course recuperating, not to be confused with sleeping....I've been going to the movies and shopping for my booth. What really gets my goat is that I have not done any wreaths for my Etsy. That really ticks me off. Wreaths are one of my most favorite things to do!! I have not learned to balance it all and it is so frustrating.

I have had , for lack of better word, a blank mantle since Christmas-egad! Use to, I'd have changed it 3 times by now.....no since thinking about the the 'use-to's' in my life...this is the right now and present and I got a  mantlescape. Ta-da. I can still decorate, cancer has not taken that ability, thank God...It's not like I've got math to fall back on.... 

I found these beautiful peonies, silk, of course, and they inspired me....along with the brass findings. Will I ever buy new again? ;) The mirror never changes, that bugger is too heavy...but I did more of a collected look than my normal formula.

The turquoise vases, you remember those right? I had those in my bedroom and brought them back out....this time with no curly willow and flowers in one....I just left the lids on.

And books, I know, old school right? Been done a million times, but I'm getting such a nice collection of old books going and the mantle is certainly a place to showcase them. I love reading through them, if you are with me an Instagram, you saw a passage from  an old book, c.1935, called The Falmouth Survey of Professional Practices (oddly the Falmouth Institute is in Boston, Mass.). It discusses personalities in professional settings and the studies that go along with it...I found it very interesting. It has a list of introvert characteristics (among other things) and believe me, they haven't changed much...#13. The introvert daydreams a great deal. Truer words have...well, you know.

I don't know how I got off on that....accessories! Brass. A dirty word to me a few years ago.....although I was knee deep in it back in the 90's but somehow I became anti-brass....I suppose the ebb and flow of the design world....but now, I have no problem mixing metals...and old brass is what I'm gravitating towards. My MIL is still in shock, you have no idea how anti-brass I was....however, I still exhort that shiny stuff...I'm talking about the old worn, tarnished stuff that you find on the bottom shelf in the back of the antique mall. Case in point; that loverly brass tray: Hello! Little brass etched vases: How you doin'! Said in my best Joey voice.

The fuchsia peonies look fantastic in brass as well, and then of course you can't beat fuchsia and turquoise together.

 

Am I weary of orange yet? Nope, not yet, it's still a present color in the way of accessories and such. 

I found that graphic pillow at Big Lots. It does a great job of lightening up the charcoal fabric on the chair....not to mention speaks to the grey on the kitchen walls that are oh-so-close.

And straying away from the mantle for a moment, the coffee table....accessorized with a Threshold (Target) tray, a couple of books, coral and a brass shell that opens. Logan hides his candy in there. I've got to be a bad parent when the kids are hiding candy....like I wasn't going to find that.

That little butterfly specimen is vintage too and real, my MIL found it for me along with a couple of others. I really like that one, Lord knows how old it is. It reminds me of The Butterfly Place in Branson, anyone been there? They have a large population of Blue Morphs. Man, I am all over the place today.....

 I might change the curtains, or I might not...I honestly just didn't have the energy to change them to the springy ones I made last year...oh well.

I hope you've gotten a little inspiration for a mantle, I know most everyone has created a spring mantle...I'm late to the party. This will probably stay like this till summer. Speaking of summer, I am going home again this year, which I am really excited about. My nephew is graduating from East Carolina University( Go Pirates!) and I will not miss that! I have less than 20 days until I leave and I'm just hoping chemo doesn't screw things up. ;)

And speaking of chemo, I have that on Monday, so there will probably be radio silence for a while again. I want to talk to you again though, so we will chit-chat later. Just keep swimming!

Choosing My Attitude

As I write this, the year mark of chemotherapy has come and gone. I had some preconceived notion of how this new part of my life was going to go....discover that cancer has joined me again (uninvited, mind you), 6 months of chemo, tumors were going to vanish, I could proclaim "I'm cancer free!" and move on.....but it just isn't that cut and dry. Why on earth did I think it would be?

   Attitude is everything isn't it? Whatever we face in life from the big things (like cancer) or the little things (laundry-ha) attitude can really make a difference. I've been told how strong I am, and I often pause, because, I don't really don't think about it in terms like that....I don't think to myself; "Today, Michelle, we are going to be strong!"....I open my eyes each morning, and I am aware of the blessing that is. I opened my eyes this morning. I am alive another day...and go from there. :) I think a lot of it comes from my personality, easy going, flexible, laid-back..."Oh? We're going to change my regimen for the 4th time? K."

The drug that I am currently on bottoms out my white blood counts, so the doctor has changed my regimen again...chemo every other week with a Nuelasta shot the day after. So we will see how this goes.

I haven't blogged in a while and I would like to announce allllll the things I've done, but, quite frankly not much has been done. On a couple of days that I felt decent, I did do some leg work on figuring out what new counters I am going to select for The Kitchen Facelift: Phase 2. I also purchased some cabinetry (not all) to start that part. It is slow going...but I'm focusing on the going part not the slow part. See? All in the attitude ;)

Another ludicrous ER visit that I have to tell you about. I was innocently eating dinner one night, and because the chemo has weakened my teeth, I cracked a molar in half. Oh no, I think, dental work and chemotherapy is a big no-no (high risk of infection)...so I call the Dr. the next day, I get my blood checked, and he oks me to get the work done. I make an appointment with my dentist and we decide to extract the tooth. I get home after my appointment, everything had gone ok, then around 3 o'clock in the afternoon, I start bleeding from the extraction site. I am changing gauze A LOT. I call the dentist and they tell me to hold ice water in my mouth to help the blood clot...I do this and it doesn't help at all. I will not gross you out with all the details...but we decide to go to the ER because I never stop bleeding. Fast forward to getting back home around 3 am (yes, I bled for a long time) and I am not home 15 minutes and I start bleeding again! I wait to see if it will stop again (another several hours) and it just won't....off to the ER again. As we are rolling into the ER, I check the gauze and I've stopped bleeding. We wait in the parking lot to see if it is going to start up again and it doesn't. We decide to call the cancer institute because my MIL is worried that I haven't eaten or drank anything that I'm dehydrated. They get me in right away and I get a bag of fluids and start feeling a tiny bit better. The bleeding has continued to hold off and we head back home and go to sleep...one of the worst experiences. Ugh.
Fast forward to April 1st (just 4 days after the bleeding saga), I have an appointment to have chemo, guess what? Yep, you guessed it, my hemoglobin was too low to receive chemo. Ugh again. But it was all the blood loss from the tooth extraction (RBC's) not the WBC's as normal. So they send me over to the hospital to get a blood transfusion...which I have never had a transfusion before...so I was a little nervous. It was a very slow process, I got 2 units of blood, and I finally made it home just in time for The Voice. ;) It was a long day. They told me I would start feeling better by today and since I am writing, I suppose I am...the house is still a wreck, but at least I'm awake.

On some much more exciting news...someone that wished to remain anonymous, bought this fantastic necklace for me! It is made by a gal that lives in Joplin (right by me). I first discovered her work at the 2 Friends & Junk Show that she had a booth at...she has an Etsy shop called Tarnished Charm. So somebody saw that I liked this necklace and had it sent to me. I can't believe how generous people are! Remember when a friend sent a juice book to me (Hi Susan!!)??? I am just so thankful to whomever got this for me...actually, it's killing me! I really want to know who it is!! Ha!

Isn't it just beautiful? Thank you to whoever sent this, I love it so much! (just leave your name in the comments, I won't tell anyone)

 

That is everything that has been going on with me lately. I have had a few meltdowns in between, but still trying to maintain a certain level of peace by choosing my attitude.

Thank you for sticking around with me. I hope it won't be too long before I'm back...we'll see what this new juice does for me! :)

Kitchen Facelift {Phase 2}: The Plan

One of our biggest home improvement projects to date was when we did the kitchen facelift just over two years ago. If you remember, we live in a small basic builder home and we painted the basic oak cabinets....which has been so great for our family. I love it because it's not all white, not all black....it's a happy medium and you basically can add any color and/or pattern to a black and white scheme and it just works. When we did the facelift, the footprint of the kitchen remained the same and now that I'm ready to do the second string of updates, once again I'm keeping within the existing footprint. There just isn't a budget for a full gut job so that it why we are doing it in phases/layers and within our means.

This is right after the Phase 1, or better known as the Kitchen Facelift 2 years ago (click HERE to see all the befores and afters):

 Thanks to the beauty of Pinterest, I have collected about 77 pins on dining areas. Naturally, a reoccurring theme emerged.....built in seating. I started thinking about how the eat-in part of our kitchen could be utilized more efficiently, give me more storage, a pantry, and built in seating.

What I like about this picture is the symmetry. Of course I do not have tall ceiling like this, but I like the seating flanked by cabinets with a rectangular table. 

This picture demonstrates another great use of space that I could incorporate. L-shaped seating and a round table. The only thing about this I don't like is that the people sitting on the end of the banquette wouldn't actually be able to access the table. In my small space, this wouldn't quite work. I still love everything in the picture though.

In this picture, even though it's a much bigger house...the door and window are set up nearly like it is here. Another great option...and how cute are the framed flip-flops!

All pictures from HERE

So from this view back, you can see what I have to work with. Beyond the peninsula, it's approximately a 10X11 area. If funds were unlimited, I would bump out the back of that wall, make this whole area the kitchen, get rid of the peninsula, and add some lovely French doors...but that just isn't going to happen-so I am going to work with what is here.

As painful as it may be, I am going to store my hutch for a while. I considered selling it for a while, but I think I'm going to hold on to it for a little while...Justin and I worked really hard on that thing! The reality of it is...there is a lot of wasted space around the hutch.

So here is what I've been toying around with. Keep in mind that the right side of this drawing is the existing kitchen and not changing at all....and yes, I realize that this is old school, doing it on paper ;) So, originally, I thought I would butt up the banquette along the back wall and peninsula and add cabinetry and a pantry on the left. Use a round table and 2 (maybe 3) different chairs. Then I thought it looked too tight even though this is the rough drawing and not to scale-I went back to the drawing board.

This is the final plan to scale. By centering the banquette on the back wall, I can put full base cabinetry (30") on either side, the pantry (24"X72") by the back door and some sort of custom thing in between that I will have to call a cabinet maker in for.

  This also includes new counter tops that I have been patiently waiting for almost 9 years for. I've thought long and hard about what to get, and I originally thought quartz...but in my heart of hearts I want marble, and after pricing both, marble is in our future! I think that it would look fantastic with the base cabs black and the uppers white-as they are. I'm hoping to find a vintage round table or talk Justin's Grandma out of one she has (it's an extra one). 2 or 3 new chairs, I've already listed my existing painted ones on Craigslist.  I want to add in some more pot lights and I found a fantastic vintage fixture that I will be using (see below)

Aside from the counters and the cabinet on the left, we are hoping to do this ourselves. Now that the plan is established, it's time for the real work to begin! It will most likely go pretty slow, and I'm not going to put any time constraints on myself.

Here is the vintage fixture I found-I cannot wait to incorporate this!!

So. On the subject of marble, I want honed but my MIL thinks polished. Do any of you have experience with the pros and cons of marble? I need some input!

***
Thank you all for the love and support! I want to talk to you about chemo stuff, but later...

The Chemo War

Where did I last leave you? Oh, that's right...I was going to come back after I had recuperated from my last chemo. The thing is I never recouped.

First though, before I delve into cancer issues, I know some of you guys may be disappointed, bored or don't want to read about cancer (not in a bad way, just in a I can't relate way). I just want to say, I get that and I totally understand. In a "blogger" perspective, I'm doing everything wrong...infrequent posting, blogging outside my niche and too far too often, getting "too" personal and probably a whole host of other things that I'm not even aware of. But, I just want to say that if you are here, if you are reading, I want to thank you. Lord, I just typed that and I just rolled my eyes at myself....but if I were in your shoes, would I want to go from reading a fairly active DIY, decorating and crafting blog to reading about cancer??? I don't know. 

Now that I am wearing those shoes, I think about things in a different perspective. I'm not the young go-getter with non-stop energy working all the time and trying to build a brand and get my foot in the door of a world I thought I wanted to be in....Maybe that is what God is trying to teach me? To slow down, look around and enjoy what I have and stop the incessant need to be constantly moving forward, perhaps in the direction He doesn't want me to go. To be at home, to spend time with my boys and family....to...COOK, for crying out loud! :) To teach me to except who and what I am right now. Right here. And not think about petty things that really don't mean anything. I am not talking about giving up on my dreams, I just mean...I'm getting my priorities straight. So, if you're here along with me, I so appreciate that...you guys are this net of lives that when I fall, you catch me and help me get back up. Ugh. I said too much again didn't I?....

SO. I had the new drug...if you remember, the tumors had grown, the doctors switched my chemo after only 3 treatments and I started something new. It was a weird regimen too...chemo on Day 1 (which ever day I started), Day 8, Nuelasta shot on Day 9, then treatment again on Day 21....then the cycle would start over. I had my first treatment on Day 1 and it was ok, we sort of have a routine down now, basically my MIL takes over for me till I feel better...I was so tired and that is normal, but I never started feeling better. Now it's time for Day 8. They always do labs first and I couldn't have chemo because my white blood cells were too low. 2.2 and I think the range starts at 4.4...so I couldn't get chemo and they sent me home. The next day, they call me in to get a shot to help my WBC, something similar to Nuelasta, just fast acting. I went back the next day to check my blood. If the counts had been low still, I would have gotten another shot but they weren't-they had shot up to 13.9!! That is off the charts! I went back home, chemo was to resume on Day 21. I still did not feel good at all and was sleeping a lot...and then the effects of that shot took effect. I still don't fully understand, it is suppose to stimulate white blood cell growth which in turn has a side effect of bone pain. The shot that they gave me was a 'fast acting' type of Nuelasta and the bone/joint pain was so severe, I was laying there on the sofa in tears.

Day 21 is slowly approaching...I am still shuffling around the house and my biggest accomplishments are "I loaded the dishwasher today!". The Sunday before President's Day, Logan and I are at home alone. I get up to go to the laundry room and come around the corner to see that Daisy (our beagle) has gotten into the trash. Ugh. So I'm cleaning up the mess and something happens. I am still not sure exactly...I started getting REALLY hot, dizzy and darkness over my eyes....I walked a few feet and felt this incredible urge to lay down. So I did. Right in the floor. I can't move my arms or legs, I can't get up. I am able to talk and I tell Logan to call Grandma...luckily, there is an icon on my phone, he didn't have to dial any numbers...I hear him calmly tell her that mommy is sick and laying in the floor...I still cannot move. Elaine (my MIL) rushes over so quick she didn't even put shoes on...she's trying to figure out what was happening...I've started hyperventilating....and she decides to call the paramedics (thank you Webb City Paramedics!!!). Anyway, long story short, I finally put my head on my own pillow around 4 am with absolutely no idea what caused what I now refer to as my "episode". I had a follow up appointment with my doctor, I explain to him what happened and he tells me that I had a type of seizure brought on by the antidepressant that he had started me on. Just great. Needless to say, he took me off the antidepressant. Day 21 came around and because of my issues, the doctor dialed back my chemo drug by 20%. Let me tell you...I could really tell the difference. I was still tired, but I started feeling better by the end of the week. I have even had another treatment (another Day 1) and by yesterday I was feeling better (annnnnd another week goes by). I have Day 8 tomorrow, so I hope to bounce back again in a week or so. It's such a tiresome cycle.

That's why the doctor started me on an antidepressant....I mean this chemo thing is just never going to end. I know the reality of my situation...I am terminally ill with stage 4 cancer, at this point the chemo is just a measure to try to stop it from spreading. That's the reality of it...my latest "spring craft" is not reality...not that I have one. :) 

More on reality, I have been trying to eat better to maybe help myself.....who knows.... Steve Jobs was a vegan his whole life and still died of cancer....so I am holding on to the knowledge that everyone is different in cases of cancer. Not that I am going vegan, but vegetarian, with a few slip ups here and there. It's not easy changing how you've been eating your entire life overnight....but I have been trying and that is what counts. 

You might remember that I am a big fan of Kris Carr and inspired by her with her battle with cancer and she recently put out a cookbook for healthy eating (if you are with me on Instagram or FB, you know this). I've tried several of the recipes and I gotta tell you, for meatless-but-you-wouldn't-know-it recipes, I love the book! I have made crab cakes that didn't have crab, but SO good...Justin went crazy for them! Quesadillas made with black beans and avocado and cashew cream cheese that even Logan ate...I mean, maybe I can do this! I bought a food processor people, that is how serious this is!

So that is everything that has happened the last month since I left you...geez, the drama. Some fun DIY news for the near future though...we are going to start on Phase 2 of our Kitchen Facelift. I would go into it now with you but this has just been entirely too long as it is, so I will save it for the next time. 

I want to say that I will talk to you after I recoup from chemo tomorrow, but I don't want to jinx myself!-Ha I will just tell you that I will talk to you soon and thank you so much for your support!

If you want to catch up with me from everything from the Chemo room to my newest necklace ;) find me on Instagram at sweetsomethingdesign or on Facebook: Michelle Edwards.....If I was savvy enough, I'd link to those two things.....but anyway. 

A Fresh Look For The Booth

After Christmas, I packed up what little bit of Christmas things I had left and moved some things around in my booth. I added some new things and tried to accomplish a fresh, bright Spring look. I moved in the freshly painted dresser (see HERE if you missed the 'before') and moved other pieces around.

Remember this is only a 10X10 space so it's not a whole lot to share...but I moved the chalkboard doors over to the left hand side and flatten them up behind the dresser to hide as much of the pegboard as possible. For now, I've got artwork and plates hanging versus chalk art. It might look a little weird in the pictures having black on black, but in real life it doesn't look too bad. The dresser is high gloss and I really like it against the matte black of the chalkboard paint. I ordered in some huge purple snowballs and put together a giant arrangement.

I bought another bi fold door at the Restore store in Joplin and decided these would be perfect in the color of the year. Here the door is before I painted and took it apart:

I took each panel and painted it in a beautiful emerald (Emerald Lake from Behr) and set them on either side of the chalkboard doors

I hung some funky sconces on them too. I love the added color...how are you liking the color of the year? I might bring a little bit of it in the house here and there, but much like here at the booth, just as an accent.

This cabinet is from the Restore too...it's a nice tall narrow cabinet. It was pretty beat up  and a coat of paint was a sure fire way to liven it up. I have it priced, but it's really more for display. The before with doors closed:

...before with the doors open:

...and finally in place all painted. All black with teal inside. I really wanted the milk glass to pop off that blue. Keegan and I moved the walnut buffet over to the right side of the booth (it was along the back) and put the cabinet on top.

I'll be adding more things soon and I'll take even more pictures. Hope you've enjoyed my little booth space so far!

I have chemo again on Monday (boo) so I'll be away for a little while until I recuperate again. I'm itching to do a mantlescape at my house so hopefully I can get that done, it's pretty bare right now, for me anyhow!! Talk to you soon!

Little Black Dresser

 Now, I can imagine that if you read blogs long enough, that a simple paint job transforming an old piece of furniture is, frankly, getting old (so I hope you find this interesting). But for me, I never tire of spying a piece of furniture in it's current run-down form and imagine what it could be. Deciding what approach to take, what color, what sheen, should I replace the hardware? Questions and decisions circle feverishly in my head until I decide.

 Sometimes it's a quick process, sometimes it's slow, but above all, I let the piece tell me what to do.This dresser clearly has good form, nice lines and in fairly good condition. Since the finish is outdated and the top is covered in cigarette burns, I ultimately decided on paint.

 Because of it's fantastic shape, it really said regency to me...which in turn calls for a classic color, so I settled on black. Again, just your normal paint job with black I had on hand and a thin layer of polyurethane for some added shine.

 For the handles, I considered replacing them, but why? They are certainly in scale with the dresser....I just had to come up with a technique to make them stand out.

 First, I painted them black and let them dry. Next, I used a painter's brush (one of my gnarly ones) and Rub-N-Buff  to get a gold tone over the black.

 It was just what it needed. A good solid color, a lot of shine and a little glam.

This one almost stayed home with me but alas, it's available for sale in my booth. Sigh.

I'll be showing you some more of my booth in the coming days and show you how I've incorporated the color of the year: Emerald. Talk to you soon!

***

Thank you for commenting on my return to blogging. I had chemo on Monday with the new regimen. I have been down and out for several days so much so my dear MIL had to keep Logan for me....I just couldn't move. That's to be expected I suppose since it's a new drug and my body has to get use to it.  Luckily, no vomiting, knock on wood. Knock.Knock.Knock.

Hello Again and What's Happening!

 Hello friends! You've waited for me and for that I am so grateful. As you know I took the month of January off to reevaluate some issues, spend time with my family and do other stuff, you know...life. Cancer. Chemo. Cocoa Puffs.

 One of the thoughts I was reevaluating was keeping my booth space or not. I was torn because, well, I wasn't sure that I should be spending my time on a 10X10 space when in reality I'd like an entire store. Having cancer offers up a whole other host of  fears when stepping off into the unknown of opening a store....it's been a dream of mine since I don't know when but now I feel like "opening a store?" what if I can't maintain it, take care of it, run it? Business ownership is not easy. Throw cancer and a dose of chemo in there and it's just not sensible. Right now anyway, and I can see that clearly. I will be patient....and in the mean time, I will make my little booth the best it can be and do what I can to make it excel.

And the cancer. Naughty, naughty cancer. I was doing ok on the new regimen and had a CT scan after 3 treatments. The new regimen is not doing any good. The tumors on my lungs are bigger and another showed up on my liver. Needless to say, "I ain't happy!" The doctors decided on a different regimen that I actually start tomorrow. There was no sense continuing the current regimen when the tumors are growing. So tomorrow, I start a new treatment, or as the doctor called it: "the 3rd line of treatment" (is there a 4th?, don't know). It's a weird one this time...1-3 hour treatment on Monday, then another 8 days later, then another 8 days later and then a Nuelasta shot the day after, then a free week...then it starts over again. We'll do another CT scan in 3 months and see how I'm doing. The side effects seem to be the same as always, but hopefully I will tolerate it well, the doctors seem to be happy how well I tolerate chemo at all.

As you can see from the bad phone photos below my hair is coming in quite well. I no longer look like a cancer patient, just like I have a short hairstyle. 

Justin and I went to see Silver Linings Playbook this weekend. We had a pre-chemo date night. :) Wanna know how long it's been since I've set foot in a theater? 3 years. I know crazy. It has to look like a REALLY good movie before I will actually spend the insane amount of money on movie tickets and concessions. And let's face it, Bradley Cooper will get me to the theater. 

We went to eat at Applebee's afterwards which is another place that I haven't been in a really long time....probably 7 years? I don't get out much-ha!

 My hair is coming in so nicely that I actually called my hairstylist to shape up my neck...it was looking really scraggly. I was in the chair for exactly 8 minutes which I thought was hilarious.

 I found this old blurry picture of me right before the cancer came back, I've got a little way to go!

 Another thing I decided while on hiatus was to pick up my schooling again. I started out strong, but then when I got sick I put it on the back burner. I have decided that I WILL get my interior design degree. My goal is to get it on, in or around June 2013....pending chemo side effects. This was another one of those things that I was like "what are you going to get a degree for?" Lord, I have a lot of those nagging questions....but I can do this.

 Anyway, I am so thankful you all are here and thank you for sticking with me through this. I know this is just a blog, but you all offer such a support system for me and I'm happy to be here again. I'll let you know how the new treatments are going and I have to show you how the booth is looking too, so I will talk to you soon!