Resin Earrings

One great perk of marrying a dental student is access to unusual craft ideas and tools. Last week, Chad brought home some "Ortho Clear" and "Ortho Resin" and we made earrings. Well, we are making earrings. I actually need to put the posts on the backs still. (Or maybe make them into necklaces? We're on the fence.)

Step 1: We started out with a concept--little piano keys drawn on paper with a pen. We sprayed the paper with a clear finish because Chad thought the resin might make the ink spread and ruin the image.

Step 2: We had some thin metal strips to wrap around the outside of the paper (I wish I could explain that better...basically, the paper is flat, but we wanted it to be suspended in the resin so we needed something to hold it all together.)

Step 3: Sprinkle ortho clear (a powder) into the mold a little bit at a time, followed by the ortho resin (a liquid), which solidifies the powder and causes it to dry clear. Repeat this step until you've achieved the thickness you want.

should have had the mask over my mouth--the resin stuff  smelled pretty toxic.

don't I look like I belong in a dentist's office?

putting his skills to good use.

pretty cool, right?

It was a fun way for me to play around with some of the tools Chad gets to use at school. And now I get to wear little pianos on my ears! Awesome. I would love to find out what the non-dental-tool equivalent of these products are (I'm sure similar things exist in the crafting world). If you know, do share!

Just Lovely.

Check out the beautiful view from down my street as I got home from work last night. I had to run in and grab my camera.

to the right of our casa: TOO MANY CARS, but what an amazing sky

to the left of our casa

So, last night was Monday. We try to have Family Home Evening on Monday nights. I'd have to say that it was just perfect last night. Chad and I had invited a family from Church to come have FHE with us, but they weren't able to come. So it was just the two of us, as usual. We had a great discussion about how Jesus is described as the "living waters" in the scriptures, and what this means to us. Then we watched the re-run of BYU beating Georgia Tech in Atlanta last weekend and decorated a little family of acorn squash for our porch (thanks to Mama Smith for the cool pumpkin stickers!). What a fun time!

3 Months and Goin' Strong!

Today is our three month anniversary (awwww!). Chad told some people today that he feels like it's been "forEVER!"--to which they sort of shuffled and laughed awkwardly. What he meant, I think, is that the first three months have gone so seamlessly and wonderfully that it's as if we were never NOT together. That's my interpretation, at least.

Chad is wonderful in so many ways. He is smart, ambitious, dedicated to his church calling. All of that. But he also makes some really sweet sacrifices sometimes that make me really happy--like purchasing my favorite Halloween movie with his i-tunes gift card money AND being a good sport about watching it with people we want to be friends with/don't want to embarrass ourselves in front of by showing them a lame movie. (Ever since I pronounced Better Off Dead as one of my favorite movies, Chad doesn't trust my movie judgement. I still stand by said pronouncement, but also declare that Wait Until Dark is, truly, a fabulous Halloween movie. And I think he actually agrees on that one, despite himself.)

We have a great life! Here's to at least three more months. ;)

Primary

Today was my first day as Primary Chorister in our new ward. I loved it!

We spent the majority of our time learning a new song for fall: "Oh, what do you do in the autumn time?" It's just like the summer-time version, if you know your Primary songs.

Oh, what do you do in the autumn time,
When all the world has changed?
Do you jump in some leaves?
Or swing in the breeze?
And watch all the birds go by?
Is that what you do?
So do I.

Oh what do you do in the autumn time,
When all the world has changed?
Do you sip hot cocoa,
Or wait for some snow,
As you watch all the clouds go by?
Is that what you do?
So do I.

I made picture cards for most of the lyrics (ie. a kid jumping into some leaves, a snowman, birds, etc.) and got some of the kids to come stand in a row and hold up their card when we got to it. We had them scramble up after everyone had the words down, and then I let some other kids have a chance. One of the best things about primary is how excited everyone is to be a "volunteer." They reach their little hands up as high as they can, and they yell, "Me, me, me!!" until you say, "I'm going to choose someone who's reverent. . ." and they all glue their lips shut but can hardly contain themselves and can't quite stay on their seats. At what age, exactly, do we lose that enthusiasm?

Another highlight of singing time was when we sang The Wise Man and The Foolish Man, and one of the little kids explained that the "rock" we are to build on is Jesus, and the winds are Satan. I was so amazed that he actually knew what the song was about.

I also visited the Nursery and we sang. There were six kids there but really only one of them was a singer. So really, he and I sang some duets, with the others looking on. He knew ALL of the words to his favorite song, "NEPHI!" (Nephi's Courage; extra fun because I know and love the people who wrote it).

I even got to go to Relief Society after it all--I have the best calling, ever!

Easy DIY Upholstery

I'm pretty proud of the way this turned out, so I'm sharing it.

Right after we moved to Louisville, we bought a table and chairs for $40 at a yard sale. The table needs to be sanded and re-finished, but it's sturdy and has 2 leaves you can put in and with a tablecloth on it, no one knows it technically still needs some work. Anyway, I've been wanting to jazz up the chairs for a while. Not that there was anything wrong with them, I just wanted to add some color to the room.

the original chair. not bad.

 So, I bought some cool fabric. I meant to purchase laminated cotton, because I thought it would be best to wipe up spills and keep clean. And in fact, I thought that's what I bought until it came in the mail. I guess I must have gotten distracted while looking at all the great prints, because what I had purchased was more of a sturdy, textured cotton (but not laminated). Anyway, I adore the print and think I'll shop around to see if there's some sort of finishing spray I can put on it. In case you are in the market ever, I got it from fabric.com for about $7.

cute, right?

The project itself was easy and only took me a couple of hours. I roughly measured the amount of fabric needed to cover each seat, and cut out the fabric. I unscrewed the seats on all four chairs, considered ripping out the current upholstery (but decided not to waste the time), and just wrapped each seat up like a little present with the fabric and hot glued it to the bottom of the seat. The tutorial I had read suggested using a staple gun, but I didn't have one and I figured hot glue would work just as well. So easy. The hardest part was screwing the seats back on to the chairs. I guess these chairs were probably made by hand at one point, and the screw holes didn't seem to line up quite right unless you paired the seat with the exact chair it came from. So that part took some trial and error. But overall, an easy project, and . . . voila! Here's what the new dining room chairs look like! I'm super happy.

INFECTED.

I had kind of a scary experience yesterday.

I've been fighting off what I figured was some kind of minor urinary/kidney infection for the past week or so. (I won't go into details, but I've had some experience with them before. I was experiencing some of the unpleasant, but minor symptoms. They're not really that bad.) Anyway, by Saturday, I had a pain in my lower right back that got more intense as the day went on. I took some pain reliever and was feeling better by Sunday.

Monday, I felt sort of off.

Tuesday, I started feeling feverish and achy, like I had the flu. And my lower back was killing again. I kept drinking water, and added cranberry juice to my regimen (a true sign I was taking things more seriously, right?!). By Tuesday night, I was a sweaty, shivering mess. I could not get warm all night but I was sweating through my clothes. It was awful. So yesterday, I called a few doctor's offices and, after being unsuccessful at picking up any last minute cancellations, I resigned myself to go to the urgent care center. Oh, the horror.

I'd been to an urgent care center once before, and I felt like it was a total waste of time and $60.

But, I was feeling pretty desperate. So off I went, still feeling feverish and ready to get a prescription written for some antibiotics. Of course, this wouldn't be a blog post if I had simply gone to an urgent care center and had a prescription written. BORING! So stick with me. I had the usual vitals taken and had to give a urine sample, and then chatted with the doctor. She said I had a pretty nasty infection, a high fever, my pulse was extremely elevated, and I was dehydrated, and so she suggested a fluid IV to get my system "flushed out."

I had never had an IV before. They sat me in my own little room with a TV, and put the IV in. They also gave me some blankets, because they said I might be cold because of the water pumping into my system. But the scary part was, I got really, really cold. And I could not stop shaking. And it went on for at least half an hour. I had this horrifying feeling I might die in that room alone, but I sat there watching dumb shows on afternoon TV. When I saw the bag of water was about half empty, I decided to get up and go to the bathroom. I had to wheel the IV thingy with me, which made me feel like a really sick person. One of the nurses saw me in the hall and asked if I was okay, because she noticed I was shivering. I just told her I was really cold. She brought me some tea. It actually helped.

The nurse took my vitals again and my temperature was at 103-something. Yikes! I don't think I've ever had a fever that high. Granted, I was drinking hot tea and covered in multiple blankets, but I was terrified to go back into shivering-shaking mode so I begged them to let me keep the blankets on.

The best part was when Chad came. He had finished his test at school and gotten my text about my needing to cancel appointments with clients and not having their numbers, and he called. He came walking in with his student doctor name tag and his scrubs, earning instant credibility with the nurses, who made jokes with him and let him look after me. He always looks handsome when he comes home in his scrubs, but sometimes he just looks amazing. And having him show up right then was such a huge comfort. He was also able to give me a Priesthood blessing. I felt so grateful for him and everything he does for me.

I was supposed to go home after the first liter of water, but my temperature wasn't going down so I got a second IV. I was already feeling better--in large part because Chad was there, and we were making dumb jokes and watching cooking shows and . . . I dunno, it was just more fun after that. Oh, and I almost forgot to mention the part where I got three shots IN MY BUM!! Wow, I can't believe I almost left that out.

The doctor and nurses who helped me were so kind and if I knew they were on duty next time I needed a doctor's care, I would definitely go back to the same place. And in the end, I did get a prescription for an antibiotic--isn't that what I went in for? Only took me 5 hours, a couple of IVs, three shots, and some lame soap opera TV to get it. :) I'm already feeling a lot better, although I have been commanded to act "like a noodle" for the next couple of days. I won't complain about that!

Fall Projex

I don't know why I felt compelled to misspell the title of this post--I never think it's very cute when people/companies do that. Whatever.

I got a job! A full-time therapy job! I am so excited. This lady is gonna be bringin' home the bacon, proudly earning the title of "sugar mama." Oh, and hopefully helping people change their lives. No big deal. I'm keeping my little private practice gig going on the side, so things will be a little busy. But good busy!

My job doesn't start until October 8th, so meanwhile, I am still the housewife. And it hit me today that I had better live up these last two weeks. This realization propelled me into ultra housewife mode--which to me means. . . CRAFTS! (I might be really offending some true housewives out there--my perception of housewifery is probably pretty limited if I think crafts make up a major portion of the housewife's work. Well, do they? The verdict is still out on that one.)

Anyway, check out a couple of my fall projects. I stole the candy corn tree idea from pinterest, and the wreath was an original creation. Fun, huh? What else should I do in these two weeks before full-time work sets in? Your ideas are welcome.

straw wreath, old jeans, t-shirt and jean flowers, twine, brown bag paper, hot glue.

dead branch found in yard, candy corns, hot glue, cheap vase. pretty nifty, huh?