Home Projects

Now that it's been MONTHS since I said I'd post about a few projects we'd been working on, the list has grown and so has the post =)

In August we moved to our new apartment and we have gradually added a few details that help to make it feel more home-like.  Big blank walls are sometimes difficult to fill... our den area is fairly open and had two such walls....

Andrew had these paintings done in Mexico several years ago.

My parents were over for dinner one night and helping us hold up various wall-hangings to see where we wanted them.   My mom had a great idea for the location of these two paintings =)  But they needed to be framed.... calling for some quality time in the framing department of A.C. Moore!  Andrew agreed to go with me and after over an hour of configuring frames, matting, etc, we decided on:

An idea of the before and after look

As for the second blank wall, it's pretty sweet to be married to a guy who can create what my brain pictures but I certainly could never actually make happen =)  A couple in our church were getting rid of a very large mirror and inquired if Andrew had any use for it with any of his construction projects.  I happened to hear the conversation and immediately had a use for it!  He proceeded to tell them that he did not need it.... After finding pictures similar to what I was mentally picturing, he called the couple back, we proceeded to haul this very large mirror across town, and the project began.  First an evening playing with design/layout in Lowes....

Then Andrew cut the pieces and put it all together...

Painting in progress... it is one of the hammered metal spray paints...

Somewhere along the line of building this, Andrew was checking the wall where we planned to put it to discover it was anything but level =/  He got it in place non-the-less!!!

Sorry these pics are taken from different angles, but blank wall on the left is where the finished mirror is in the right side pic...

After Thanksgiving, we found some good sales... I really wanted a bench for under the mirror/shelf....

And some lamps that help to make various parts of the apartment more cozy =)  When we moved the TV and cabinet out to make room for the Christmas tree, we discovered it looked Significantly better in the corner than the TV, lol!  So when I finally decided it was time to part with the tree after Christmas, rearranging the den ensued... along with taking the TV to Goodwill... LOVE the new arrangement!

More recently, we acquired a little table from my sister's attic... I'd mentioned wanting a table next to our bench and she found a possibility in their attic!  So home it came... and after a minor repair, cleaning, and a bit of spray paint... you can see the transformation!

 And finally, I was eager for spring in early March, had time on my hands, and decided to make a spring wreath!  Best part... only thing I had to buy was the grapevine wreath for a few bucks at Old Time Pottery =)

The Knee...

About time for another blog update... I'm not too good at keeping up with it, but here goes...

After getting home from our trip to Ontario in early February, I had a few friends evaluate my knee and sadly all confirmed my most probable diagnosis of my injury.  Thankfully I was able to get a brace that allowed me to function better (and manage at work).  Wednesday I had an MRI and saw the orthopedic surgeon, confirming that I tore my ACL (anterior cruciate ligament) in my knee.  Surgery really being the only viable option, was scheduled for the upcoming Monday.

Waiting...

The nurse checking my name, etc. before giving me my IV.

IV in and waiting for the anesthesiologist...

And.... I don't remember this pic... or anything after it until the surgery was over!

Surgery went very well, the doctor found no further damage to my knee during surgery, and was able to reconstruct my ACL (use other tissue to give me a new one).

Home and resting on the couch with all my post-op apparatuses.

It is certainly different being on "this side" of orthopedic surgery... the one getting operated on and having to go through the recovery and rehab myself instead of helping others through it!  I certainly expected the worst and it has not been Nearly as horrible as I thought it might be.  Not to say I care to go through it again, but could have been Much worse.  Andrew took very good care of me after surgery, and my mom came over during the day for a few days that week to help me out so that Andrew could work which was very nice.  She was such a help for me getting around when I needed to but also just doing whatever needed to be done from laundry to dishes to food preparation among other things... not to mention just having the company.  So blessed!

Since I was rather incapacitated and didn't plan for Valentine's Day in advance... my mom helped me bake some brownies for Andrew's Valentine's chocolate =)  Needless to say it was a very simple Valentine's which was Just fine!  I thoroughly enjoyed my roses  (which I didn't get a picture of) sitting on the coffee table since I was spending many, many hours on the sofa =)

After a week I was able to get rid of a crutch and just use one... did that for the second week, and that was really the end of the crutches... thank goodness.  One night during that first week or so, I wanted to get out of the house for a while.  Andrew needed to go to Lowe's, so I accompanied him... legitimate chance to ride the scooter!  Way too slow to be much fun, but nice to get out regardless =)

The range of motion in my knee and strength of surrounding musculature progressed very well post-op and continues to do well.  The recovery road is long any way you cut it with ACL reconstruction... at least 6 months... but I am very thankful to have the first portion of it behind me!

because everyone takes pictures of injuries and recovery progress... =P

Hello 2013!

Not sure where the last 2 months of disappeared to, but here it is March, and I figured I could write a new blog post =)

We had some rather pleasant weather in January, and on this particular Sunday, we went hiking at Paris Mtn. State Park, which is located nearby.

On January 25th, we began a road trip to Ontario to see family!  Since Andrew had received his green card just before the first of the year, we had been trying to figure out a time to make the trip north... Due to bad weather hitting here on Friday, schools let out in the morning, and we decided we should get out of town before night to try and get ahead of the worst of the ice storm hitting the Carolinas.  By the time I could get things situated at work and we left Greenville around 3pm, a lot of freezing rain had already fallen.  I drove the first few hours (thinking I would let Andrew drive once we got into worse weather, snow, etc).  Turns out, the Absolutely worst roads were through South and North Carolina =/  Ice is No. Fun.  But the Lord kept us safe as we passed accident after accident.  We had a stop to make in Charlotte, NC... after that Andrew drove and we got an hour or so further before stopping for the night.  The view leaving the hotel the next morning:

The roads through the remainder of NC were a fairly icy in spots, but once we hit Virginia we had much nicer weather and clear roads.

Cool tunnels through the mountains...

Beautiful West Virginia countryside

We had some snow fall along the way, but thankfully no further ice issues.  We reached the Canadian border Saturday evening =)  And on to Andrew's parents' a few hours later.

The view from our window the following morning... pretty...

(Joia... I took the same picture as you apparently... but didn't even notice the population =)

The next day was much snowier...

We had a relaxing week and wonderful times with family and friends... including meeting our brand new niece, Galina!

Wednesday evening was spent with immediate and extended Woodford family.  We were also celebrating Galina's birthday and Andrew's cousin Alex' birthday.

Alex couldn't be there, so Brayden helped with blowing out the candles =)

On Saturday, we went to Blue Mountain to go skiing! It was my first time... I was rather excited, but it didn't go so well... My first trip down the mountain ended like this :(

I fell, skis got tangled and didn't release, and my knee took the consequences... So I spent the remainder of the day in the cafeteria.... leg propped, icing, doing exercises... nothing like working on vacation (i.e. treating myself), lol!

My window view of the hill around middle of the day...

....and the view as about 4 inches of snow was falling through the afternoon!

Pic from the ski lift that Andrew took

The view from the top of Blue Mountain.

We had a bit of a detour for the first part of our drive back to Norwich due to an accident blocking the road we needed to travel... lots of beautiful snowy scenery along the way!

Sunday, we began the drive home!  I am so thankful that my knee actually improved pain-wise through the course of the day, we had smooth travels, and arrived home that night!

My car has never been so dirty as on this trip!

Holiday Happenings

November began with my niece Kara's 7th birthday!

Thanksgiving was spent at my parents'.  It was a great day with the majority of my immediate family plus my sister-in-law Brittany's family.  That Saturday was my Dad's 60th birthday party!

And for a sweet end to the month, Nathaniel Quinn Davis was born November 30th to my sister Allene and her family!  This pic is from when he was a few weeks old...

Quinn

We celebrated our our 6-month anniversary in December with a date night to J. Peter's Grill for dinner and Hollywild Lights Safari afterwards =)

Crazy number of cars lined up to get in!

Basically we drove through the zoo and they had various lights displays.  Some smart people in the car in front of us for a while had a flashlight so they could search for animals in their cages!

Awesome whale of lights...

At the end they had a "Deer Forest" and people could get out and feed the deer.  We didn't care to feed them, but it was Insane getting to the exit!  Cars absolutely Everywhere in this huge field, some people out of their cars, herds of deer... it was nuts!

Needless to say, we made our way out and headed home.  Was a fun albeit interesting experience!

Later in the month we celebrated my brothers' birthdays.  No pics of them, lol.  Just one of Quinn and I =)

Andrew and I wanted to do stockings on Christmas day, and I wanted to try and make them.  I'd seen online about making stockings from sweaters.... so I decided to give it a try!  With help and an afternoon at Allene's using her sewing machine, followed by an afternoon at my Mom's with her help and serger (Extremely important to the success of this project!), and then a few hours of hand stitching... both were finished and ready to be hung =)

Basically how they started, except that for Andrew's, the sweater had a turtleneck that I incorporated into the stocking.

All finished!

Our first Christmas tree =)

December 22nd, we celebrated "Barron Christmas" with the extended Barron Family... 28 of us... only missing 4 people I think!

Andrew made Swedish Tea Rings, which were a big hit...

We had a great time eating, talking, exchanging gifts, and playing goofy games... one of which was dividing into teams and dressing up all the dads/uncles as Santas.  Hilarious.

Christmas Eve, we had a candlelight service at church and then spent the night at my parents' place.  Andrew made cinnamon rolls for breakfast/snacking until Christmas dinner which typically is mid/late afternoon.  Before everyone else started getting there, we celebrated our first Christmas as a married couple!

I love this guy =)

Ready to unload our stockings....

So blessed.

All my immediate family gradually made it over, and we started opening gifts.  For as long as I can remember, we have rotated around where each person gets to pick a gift out from under the tree that is to someone else, they open their gift, and then we move to the next.  It helps us all get to enjoy the gift giving aspect more, and necessarily it means opening presents takes a Long time! So we opened for a while, ate Christmas dinner, and went back to finish with presents.  And before the day was over, a family picture was in order =)