SORRY IT'S BEEN SO LONG GUYS!

TRYING TO STAY BUSY, BUSY, BUSY...

Hey! It's me! I've been seriously slacking on writing this blog!I've been busy working on the redo Gran's porch project.  Let me catch you up!

So last Sunday wasn't the best day for painting. My porch painting was going to have to wait. Mom on the other hand decided to finish the wall on the side of the porch where the entrance is. I guess they had run out of material for the wall when they put up some new walls a couple of years ago and they just left it open. So my Mom decided to grab some scrap wood she had and pieced it together to fill in the wall. I on the other hand cooked dinner--chicken and broccoli alfredo with garlic toast. Then we went to pick up Gran from church. They were having some special ceremony that was a memorial for miners that had died in the mines in Everttsville. So she was there a lot later than usual but came home with leftovers from their meal--sandwiches, chips and dessert.

On Monday Mom finished up the trim work on her new wall. I was supposed to be meeting up with my friend Nicole later that day. She was in Waynesburg, PA to visit her family for a week. She had arrived on either Tuesday or Wednesday and we were going to make plans to hang out while she was in town. She lives all the way in California and only comes back to the East Coast every so often. She had to cancel on Monday and Tuesday but we ended up hanging out on Wednesday before she flew back home. I was waiting around for my prescription that the pharmacy had to order. They finally called late that evening that it had come in. I had been waiting since Thursday. The weather was supposed to be really good on Tuesday, but it ended up being just as nice on Monday so I started painting the porch in all white. 

This was our first coat of paint. Some of the walls were a faux red brick color with this lovely mint green ceiling! The white is so much better! So much brighter and an easy neutral to match everything.

Tuesday arrived and we had put one whole coat on the walls minus the ones that were already white and the ceiling, so we knew that we would need another bucket of paint. So we headed out to WalMart for my prescription, some more paint, more caulk, smaller rollers for cutting in and I also purchased little solar lights to line the pathway down to the house. When we got back it was time to go to work again. I also started my spray painting projects. I painted two wire shelves that Gran uses for plants and other little knick-knacks a nice bright green color. Mom rolled the ceiling with one coat of white paint to somewhat cover the mint green color it was painted.

Painting is so much fun!

Wednesday came and it was time to see the doctor again. We had a 8:30 appointment for lab work and then my bone hardener shot at 9:30. Of course my shot took twenty years to get going when it only takes but 5 minutes for them to give it to me. This time they had to track down my doctor to authorize my shot before they gave it to me. You would think that they would already have this taken care of, but they didn't even let me know that I  had any appointments. I had to call on Tuesday to double check. My last visit, the nurse stated that she was going to send my appointments out to me and that they were going to send my prescriptions over for their refill. She forgot to do both. I had to call about the prescriptions and I had to call to check when my next appointments were. I guess they just get too busy. So we stopped and grabbed some black spray paint that I needed for the patio table and the rocking sofa on the porch. I did a little bit of spray painting before Nicole arrived. We went to Gabes and met up with her friend Blue for lunch at Kegler's Sports Bar over near the hospital. It was good to see her because it had been about a year. 

This bright green is our accent color!

This was the first time I ever went to Kegler's and I'm from here and I went to college here. It was decent but they forgot to put cheese on my sandwich and I had to send it back. But whatever it still tasted good and I was able to eat the second half for lunch the next day!

Thursdsay Gran went to the doctor and when she got back me and Mom worked on patching the concrete floor of the porch and let it dry overnight. It was a patching product that comes in a big bucket and you just mix it with water. That was the biggest thing happening that day--oh and of course we had to watch Scandal. Crazy stuff going on there!

Sleeping with the President! Isn't Ms. Pope a naughty girl!

Friday was a full day too. We went to run errands early. Before we left, Mom said she some cows roaming up towards the woods by her house! She said that she thought it was a bear at first. It was big and black and some of our neighbors claimed that they had seen a black bear out here. (The black bear is our state animal, but I've never seen one. Thank God.) Turns out that it was just a couple of cows--one black and one brown. We don't know who they belonged to or how they ended up over here.  Craziness! So we headed to town so Gran could go to the bank and the post office. Then we headed to the grocery store. We went to WalMart for new patio chair cushions and I also filled a couple of prescriptions. I also found a storage bin solution for our recyclables. I needed more black spray paint and we got some stuff to try and rid ourselves of the carpenter bees outside the porch door. We went to the Dollar Tree too. When we got back we ate and watched  a little bit of Days before getting back to work. Mom actually headed to go clean the church and I finished painting the rocking sofa and was going to start the patio table, but couldn't figure out how to remove the glass. So instead of working on that, I moved all the stuff off the porch except for a chair and a box of books that would have been way too heavy for me to lift. Besides most of the heavy stuff was outside where I had been spray painting anyway. When Mom returned, we ended up having to take apart the table to get the glass out. I started painting the pieces and realized that I would need some more spray paint. Then we started painting the floor a light gray color. We left a pathway unpainted, but Mom finished it and then laid some boards on top for us to walk on if we needed to get out. I got reprimanded for doing too much and was told that I needed to rest--so I did.

The brightly colored new cushions for our rocking sofa and two of the patio chairs.

The rocking sofa is all black after three cans of spray paint!

The deconstructed table painted in black. Still gotta touch up the opposite side.

Our path in and out of the house. Thanks to these boards. We've got a nice neutral color palette with the gray and white. So she can always change up the cushions on her chairs to change the look without a lot of work.

 

We were keeping out recyclables in cardboard boxes but that wasn't really cutting it, so we found these bins on clearance at WalMart to solve the disorganization.

This morning, I headed back out for more spray paint. I went all by myself today!!!! Mom was down at the church doing a favor for Gran. It was nice to get out on my own today. I went to Big Lots, WalMart and the Dollar Tree. I also bought my Mom her Mother's day gift since she wasn't with me. So I got back and ate some lunch and started spray painting again. Mom says the porch floor is almost dry, so we should be able to set things back up tonight. I'll have to show you guys the pictures of the final product soon!

CANCER CUTIE OUTFIT FROM YESTERDAY:

 I haven't exactly been getting dolled up-been busy painting, but I actually had on clothes that matched and didn't  have paint dripped all over them yesterday. I've been bad about remembering to snap a photo when I do actually look nice, but anyways here's a video of my outfit from yesterday:

HOW I'M FEELING...

Great! I'm excited that chemo is almost over. I feel really good physically. I'm glad to see that we're having nicer weather. I'm excited that my brother, Candace and my niece are coming to visit for Mother's day. I'm glad that I had a chance to see my old friend Nicole this past week. Glad that I got to talk to Nekima and hear that she has good things going on for her. It was good to see my Grandmother get some new medicine to help ease some of her arthritis pain. It feels good to have the porch to work on and just gets me excited for when I get involved in my own renovations. I'm feeling great! I hope that everyone else is catching Spring Fever and feeling great too. Soak up some sunshine and get outside! Enjoy all the beauty that nature has to offer. God made such a beautiful world and we seem to take it for granted sometimes. Flowers, sunsets, birds or even the deer can be the just the beauty that you needed to see. Even if you have no plans on going outdoors--just not your thing--get some fresh flowers and put them in the room you spend the majority of your time in. They're gonna make you feel great every time you see them. A bright reminder that life is beautiful and you have to take a moment to truly enjoy it and all it has to offer. So here's a bouquet for you:

Enjoy!

MARK 13:31

Heaven and Earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.

CANCER CUTIE

Tina Bina