A Perfect Day

Have you ever had a perfect day? 

Today was the first day that I've woken up since Sunday that I haven't been in pain. For those of you who don't follow me on Twitter (and you should, I can be pretty amusing), I've been battling an infected tooth this week with antibiotics and pain meds. But today I woke up and my mouth was a little sore, but tolerable. 

 

I had to drive Amazing Boyfriend to Portland for his chemo treatments. We arrived early, and got an awesome parking spot in under 5 minutes, which is amazing since I have actually driven around the parking structure for over 20 minutes before trying to find a parking spot. We saw the Dr. early, who informed us that things looked good and scheduled a new CT scan for the day we wanted. We got up to the chemo floor early, his labs had already been drawn, he chemo had been ordered and ABF got his chemo started right on time, we didn't have to wait for anything. One of the awesome nurses, even changed his pick-line before they started his chemo so we didn't have to hang around for them to do it after. It took me longer to ride the elevators down and back then it took to turn his prescription in or to pick it up, which is so rare since you have to take a number and wait.

I got a good start on the baby blanket that I'm knitting for one of my best friends, while ABF was having treatment and am super happy with how it's turning out. 

Today was beautiful, sunny and warm, which has been a rarity for Oregon this summer. 

ABF's treatment was finished at the earliest time we've ever been done. We had an easy commute home, and didn't even get stuck in traffic where we usually do because of construction. 

ABF was in a really good mood, because the day went so smoothly. And even though treatments are still hard on him, he didn't feel as crappy and nauseous as he usually feels. He was even chatty most of the way home, when I'm used to him passing out and driving with only the sound of the radio as company.  

And the whole time, I was FREAKED THE HELL OUT!!!! 

I wonder what it says about me when a day in my life goes pretty smoothly. The whole time we were at the hospital I kept waiting for something to go wrong. Before we left the parking garage, I checked all the fluids and tires on my car, just in case. On the drive home, I kept wondering if I was going to get into a crash, one of my tires would blow, a big rig would change lanes while I was in his blind spot crushing my Jeep, that I would get pulled over for something.

But nothing happened.

I'm beginning to wonder if I'm becoming a little jaded. Ever since ABF was diagnosed with cancer, I don't seem to be surprised with something else bad happens. I just suck it up and deal with it. I feel like life has been kicking me in the teeth, and instead of staying down, I pick myself back up, give life a bloody smile and keep going. I force myself to keep going. 

In my mind, there is nothing in the world that is worse then the feeling of defeat.

I've become determined not to let myself be defeated. Not by life, not by cancer, not by crappy circumstances, not by lack of money or what other people think about me. 

    Today was a really good day. 

I think it's time that I let myself enjoy it.

 

Life Is Like A Box Of Chocolates...

Sorry, couldn't resist such a catchy blog post title opportunity.

Last week, I was going through link parties and found the cutest ring holder made out of a cigar box that Ali from Found in the "Ali" shared. She even had a tutorial on how to make it, which was awesome and so easy to follow. 

Of course, I wanted to copy her genius, but I didn't have a cigar box. But I did have a chocolate box... 

So I took my chocolate box, some foam, fabric and hot glue and made this...

Awesome, right?

The best part is that I had all the supplies already (thank you Mom for all the random craft supplies you send my way), so this project was FREE! I don't know about you, but I love free.




I'm sharing this post at the following link parties: 

Welcome to the Basement!

As many of you know, Amazing Boyfriend and I (and you can't forget our dog, Luna) live in the basement of his Mom and Step-Dad's house. It's actually a daylight basement that has a sliding glass door out into the back yard. There are two rooms, the big room which is currently being used mainly as storage, and then our room. 

Our room is actually pretty good sized, and ABF has commented that it actually feels more like a studio apartment. Which is actually pretty accurate. 
 

ABF thought to make it a little more homey that we needed a welcome mat. And being me, of course, I wanted to make it myself.

 

Pretty cute, huh?

Wanna see how I did it? 

Supplies: 

doormat

spray paint

painters tape or masking tape
vinyl or contact paper

ruler or yard stick

I started this project by taping off a rectangle with masking tape. My doormat had a woven pattern that I mainly followed to make a rectangle, but you could easily measure out what you wanted. 

When I had my rectangle taped off, I measured the inside of the rectangle to determine how big to make my letters for my welcome mat. 

Next I used my Silhouette Machine to cut out the word welcome out of contact paper. Of course, all I had on hand was clear contact paper, just to make it really hard on your guys. I peeled off my contact paper letters and applied them to my mat, making sure to press them down really well.

When I had everything taped down just how I wanted it, I went to town with the spray paint. I used Krylon's Italian Olive, since ABF's favorite color is green (and since I had it on hand, because I picked it up as a backup color when I made my clothespin mirror.) ABF was pretty excited that I was using the green spray paint since he liked it so much. 

When the paint was mostly dry, I pulled off the painters tape and contact paper to reveal my pattern. 

When I was finished I had my own personalized doormat! 

So I know it's not perfect, but it looks pretty darn good to me! 

The personalizing possibilities are endless. You could use your last name, favorite graphic,  funny phrase or another language to personalize your own doormat even more. And it's pretty easy to do, too!  

I'm sharing this post at the following link parties: